Holiday R&R

I cannot believe 2008 is almost over. I remember it like yesterday all the New Millennium threats and scares. It is so funny now J but what’s not funny at all is the fact that the same time next year, the first decade (!) of 21st century will be OVER…
It makes me realize even more how important it is to enjoy every minute of our life….

Holidays and the New Year are a good time to think about the past and future. I want you all to think about how much time you spend on treating yourself with things that you like the best – reading, hiking, hobby, gardening, or sleeping….anything you enjoy the most. You are probably like most of our society now and put your job, children, and community work first; and you are on the bottom of the list, aren’t you? This New Year’s Eve make a promise to yourself that you will spend more time with yourself. I promise you that you will get so much more energy to do all those wonderful things for your family, work, and community. Find that time, even before you go to sleep and think about all those wonderful things that you enjoy and promise yourself to do them in the nearest future - at the first opportunity. Put yourself on the top of the list. If you are not able to do the activities due to the weather or season, just make an appointment for a manicure, massage, or go to the movies or library. Just be with yourself for sometime.

In the meantime, though, Holidays with lots of food are coming. That may be dangerous for your body and soul. It is easy to get filled with fat, toxins and unnecessary calories, and your soul will feel guilty. In order to cover the guilt, you will promise to go on diet with the start of New Year. Then you will have to do something with the left-over’s, so you will eat them feeling guilty about not sticking to the diet and so on… Why don’t we all take some steps before the fact? Here are some great tips to feel healthy and not guilty:

- Always have a light snack a few hours before arriving at a party. If you turn up having starved yourself all day, you’re more likely to overindulge yourself when faced with a mountain of delicious food;
- Pile your plate high with traditional seasonal vegetables such as red cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. The more colors you have on your plate, the greater the variety of nutrients (remember the Éminence food palette!);
- Turkey is a great option. It is packed with protein, which helps fill you up, and provides many other nutrients including zinc, a mineral that keeps the immune system in tip-top shape. But best of all, turkey is lower in fat and calories than many other meats, especially if you go for the breast;
- Don’t smother the turkey with oil, butter, margarine or lard when you cook it;
- Often we arrive to a party thirsty and drink the first drink fast. Quench your thirst with a glass of water instead of a high calorie alcoholic or soft drink;
- Beware of all the extras such as cranberry sauce, bread pudding and white sauce;
- Position yourself far away from the food and drinks table so you are less likely to pick.

Have Peaceful and Relaxing Holidays!

Eminence

“Just like a fine wine, we get better with age, but that doesn’t mean our skin needs to look older. There’s no need to mull it over – the DiVine Collection from Éminence Organic Skin Care is the toast of the town” (Éminence Organic Skin Care). We are so excited to launch our first collection from Éminence. It smells delicious; it feels so smooth on your skin. This exclusive collection is based on Tokay grapes that come from vineyards of the Tokai Region of Hungary and are full of antioxidants. They also reduce inflammation and slow the oxidation process that causes the skin to age prematurely.

When you come to Spa Shawnee you should start your day with a relaxing massage using our new Mimosa Champagne Massage Oil followed by a Mimosa Champagne Exfoliation of your entire body in our unique Hydrotherapy capsule. Wrap up your visit with a renewing facial. Éminence refining Tokay Ice Wine Masque is packed with chunks of Tokay grapes along with apples to hydrate and renew your skin.
This season’s collection leaves one reminiscent of gentle summer afternoons, while making you feel pampered by the champagne bubbles of New Year’s Eve. Just a perfect Holiday gift for every body!

Since we want everyone to share our excitement, we offer great deals this month. Come and enjoy DeVine Mini Facial (30 minutes), Manicure and Pedicure for only $89. Get yourself (or others) the gift of indulgence. See you then…

Purple and White

This blog is the last of our food color installments. We are very excited to introduce our new product line - Eminence, that will come to Spa Shawnee and Salon in December.

Here we go!

Purple and blues are found in blueberries, prunes, red wine, cranberries, strawberries, figs, red apples, and blackberries. Blueberries contain more antioxidants than any other fruit or vegetable. Although all of these fruits mentioned above contain many antioxidant properties. Purple or blue fruits have shown to prevent nerve cells from weakening in the brain and perhaps protect against effects of physical aging. These fruits have positive effects on the heart, in that they prevent blood clots.

White vegetation is found in onions, celery, pears, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives and white wine. They are known to inhibit abnormal cell growth and are imperative antioxidants that a body needs. Some of the benefits are the rising levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol, decrease dangerous levels of triglycerides, which are blood fats, and easing the inflammation of asthma and eliminate colds and the flu.

Color of Food November 12

While the orange and reds are almost gone from your beautiful Pocono Mountains, green is what we miss about spring and summer. Before our environment will change into white and gray, let’s talk about green, yellow today.


Green Indicates: Isothiocyanates, folic acid
Found in Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage family), spinach, bok choy, kale, peas, artichokes, and asparagus.
Sulphur-based sinigrin, a substance unique to the cabbage family (that includes Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower), converts into antioxidant isothiocynates, which cause pre-cancerous cells to destroy themselves.

Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower help to prevent cancerous cells from developing in your system. The deeper green vegetables contain folate, which has been known to prevent birth defects. Folate also aids women who are trying to become pregnant. If you do not like spinach, spice it up with salt, pepper, and (!) garlic (great anti-inflammatory) and add a tablespoon of cream cheese – use it as a dip for your tortilla chips, crackers or as a side dish for your meal. So far, my friends who are not fans of spinach – loved it. Serve warm for best results.

If you add garlic to steamed broccoli, sauté on a little bit of olive oil – they will taste really good, as well. Although we cook and boil a lot of vegetables, remember that fruits and vegetables have the most of vitamins and minerals when raw.


Bon Appetite!
To be continued….

Colors of Fruits and Vegetables (information provided by Eminence)

As the colors of Appalachian Mountains change every day from rich gold to deep mahogany and red go outside and enjoy the crisp air and deep blue sky. At the same time, remember to eat healthy and prepare for the cold and dry winter. Yes, dry winter – when many forget to hydrate their skin and body in colder temperatures. Cold, dry air dehydrates the body the same way as summer heat. Please remember to drink lots of water during fall outdoor activities.
Let’s go back to colors of fruits.

RED: Found in tomatoes, persimmons, watermelons and pink grapefruit.

Carotenoids are a fierce cancer fighter and can also help prevent heart disease by inhibiting the formation of harmful LDL cholesterol. The deeper the red or pink color found in fruit and vegetables, the higher the lycopene content. Studies have shown that a high intake of tomatoes, which are rich in lycopene, can significantly reduce the risk of prostate cancer quite.

ORANGE Indicates: Beta-carotene

Found in oranges, carrots, mangoes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, apricots, squash, rock melons and papayas.

Beta-carotene is a major antioxidant that lowers cholesterol and converts it to vitamin A. Fruit and vegetable skins are nearly always packed with nutrients. Beta-carotene is an immune booster that helps fight off colds, flu, cystitis and skin problems. A study of smokers showed that those who ate more beta-carotene had a lower incidence of lung cancer, but this was only true when the beta-carotene was acquired from food, not a supplement. Like lycopene, beta-carotene is fat-soluble. These orange fruits and vegetables are also high in the immune-booster, vitamin C.

Hmm…hmm… yummy!
To be continued…

Colors of Food

As I look through the windows of Spa Shawnee, I see the beautiful Delaware River and a whole palette of colors on the Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. October is one of my favorite months. Trees change the color of their leaves; the sky turns into deep, rich blue shades. It is a true blessing working and living in the area where nature changes from beautiful to more beautiful every day. We told you about the influence of colors on our mood and how our instinct tells us to change accordingly. Let’s talk about colors in food – do you think it matters? Of course it does! Apples are not red by accident. Animals use color to identify edible plants and the intensity of the color signifies ripeness. Colored foods (real colored!) encourage animals and humans to eat them and spread their seeds. The pigments in plants are created by a group of highly beneficial antioxidants called carotenoids that clean up harmful free radicals in our systems. Red and yellow hues signify the presence of carotenoids. They boost immunity and cancer fighting properties. We need a variety of colors in our diet, including each of these daily: red, orange, green, yellow, blue, purple and white. We should mix as many hues as possible with every meal. The deeper the color of the food, the higher the nutrient value. We are not able to achieve proper level of protection for our body with vitamin supplements alone, although supplements taken with the right foods are greatly enhanced.

Stay tuned for more information about color-coded foods. We are just getting started!

Natural

Many of us are looking for that quick, easy and guaranteed way of making our body and system as healthy as possible. It would be even better if we would never age after that specific treatment. I really believe there is no such treatment. Our health depends on variety of factors. We can only help to increase the effects of cosmetics, vitamins, treatments and every other way of making “us better” by using them regularly, positive thinking, and what we believe is the appropriate diet. I am saying that after my personal research of my family. Those, who ate the simple foods lived longer, were physically active to the end, and did not have any of the following ailments: overweight, diabetes, high cholesterol, or even high blood pressure. Amazing right? Fortunately, they lived with no preservatives (they used home made preserves, and salt), ate real butter, drank well water, and exercised every day through hard work. Hmmm….. Those times are gone.

Our policy at Spa Shawnee is to use all natural products and mostly organic. That is why we are going to introduce our new services based on the Açai berry. We are going to incorporate Açai juice to our facial masks, and body wraps. The reason we decided to introduce them is that Açai has tremendous health properties and may be one of the best possible foods you can eat to stay healthy. Açai (pronounced (ah-sigh-EE) is a fruit that grows on the Açai Palm Trees in the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil. The Açai berry is small in size (smaller than a grape) and is dark purple in color. Açai is mostly seed, covered in a small amount of pulp. In fact, about 90% of the Açai berry is seed - it is important to note that no one eats the Açai berry seed. Açai has 10 Times the antioxidant power of red grapes and twice that of blueberries. We tested the masks, and body wraps on ourselves. Our skin feels moisturized, smooth and healthy. I personally tried it on my face and did not have to use a moisturizer for almost a week. In addition, the mask smells delicious – to the point that you want to eat it. Of course the results will depend on skin type and treatment, but I invite you to try one of them at our Spa. Just ask for an Açai treatment or facial.

Fall Beauty - Healthy and Colorful

Autumn is a time when we are more sensitive to nature. Being surrounded by a plethora of colorful leaves, fading flowers, and crisp air fascinates us. At the same time, we try to blend in with the environment by dressing in fall colors, changing hair color, and decorating our houses. The melancholy of passed summer is not overwhelming anymore. Fall is a really good time to take care of dry and tired skin. Summer with outdoor activities in the sun and water definitely has a big impact on our skin. Do not forget the benefits of massages.

During this time of year we should get deeper and more intense massages (Deep Tissue, or Shawnee Mixology Massage) that will strengthen your muscles AND skin. This form of forced muscle relaxations helps with the elasticity of the entire body, and will also make your skin firmer. 60 Minutes of a Swedish massage will have a tremendous effect on your body. You can also extend the effects of the massage at home – by an energetic rub with a bath towel. Better blood circulation is guaranteed.

We need to remember our face – which is exposed to the sun and pollution at all times. Make sure to deliver lots of vitamins through your diet. Face treatments like masks, fruit toners, and moisturizers are also helpful. This time of the year we should start using heavier lotions, creams and moisturizers filled with vitamins to make our skin look lighter, smoother and what is most important – healthier.

Enjoy the colors and nature!

Sea salt continued….

We mentioned some benefits of sea salt few weeks ago and now it is time to give you some more tips for your home spa. Sea salt is much more beneficial than regular iodized salt because it contains less sodium chloride. Like we mentioned earlier, sea salt is filled with micro and macro-elements (calcium, iron, selenium, silicon, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and many more) that help control our metabolism. Besides, sea salt helps in blood circulation. Peelings and scrubs made with sea salt make the skin smoother and firmer. Overall your skin will look healthier.

Home spa recipes:

Baths: Add about 500 g of sea salt to your bath – depending on the amount you add it will relax or energize your body - Use when tired or overworked.

Peeling: Wear a bath glove and use pure sea salt or mixture of sea salt and oil/lotion. Massage the mixture onto your whole body in circular motion. Do not be too harsh – it may cause skin damage. After this treatment your skin will absorb active ingredients from other products easier and quicker.

Compresses: Apply sea salt on warm and moistened towel. Put towel over your cleaned face. Keep for 2-3 minutes. Compress like this in antibacterial, and calming. It will also help with your acne, or in case if you are tired

Wraps:
*Add 2-4 tablespoons of sea salt to 1 quart of hot water; soak cotton bandages in that water. Wrap your body in those bandages and keep them on for at least 30 minutes under warm cover. It will help your skin to retain moisture, will make it firm, and help with aging and sun damage (do not use it in case of sun burn!)
* On your moistened skin apply sea salt using a brush. Keep that part of your skin under warm cover for about 30 minutes. It is ideal preparation for body wraps, masks, etc. You may use this treatment if you have problems with falling asleep.


Relax, Restore, Rejuvenate!

Music Therapy

One of the various proven prenatal therapies for moms-to-be and their unborn child is a music therapy. Listening to music involves many different parts of the brain. The left side recognizes the rhythm and pitch of the notes; while the right side – tone and melody. Everyone reacts differently to the sounds; the right music can bring peace and let you concentrate on a specific project. In adults, music therapy influences the brain, nervous system, blood pressure, hormone production, pulse, breathing, and mental balance.

For newborns and prenatal babies, contact with music starting at the earliest days of their lives teaches them harmony, feel the rhythm, and increases their sensitivity and flexibility of their nervous system. Japanese neurologists prove that listening to music at the early childhood influences future sensitivity to sounds. It is also proven that music helps to build nerve connections responsible for the development of language, memory, and equilibrium.

Research showed that the first sounds babies hear starting by the 6th week is their mother’s heartbeat. By the 26th week she/he can hear rhythm and melody, so the more sounds babies hear, the more developed their systems may become. Besides, music relaxes and calms the baby. Choosing classical and relaxing tones will make the baby feel happier and fall a sleep easier.
For Moms-to-be music can release the muscle tension, some pain, bring overall relaxation and harmony. Some women may feel overwhelmed by their pregnancy, but music, massage therapy, yoga or any other type of holistic therapy will bring peace and may ease those tense days.

We at Spa Shawnee offer our guests sounds of nature, classical music and calming melodies before, during and after their treatments. Our therapists qualified in prenatal treatments welcome pregnant women. Just let us know while scheduling your appointments, so we can prepare for you and your baby.
Enjoy the sounds of the Poconos!

D.Y.I Spa

Among other treatments - our spa offers services that involve sea salt and sea salt products. Our customer’s most favorite product is sea salt exfoliation performed with sea salt butter. This product leaves your skin so smooth, regenerated and soft that it is hard to describe. However that is not the favorite part of the treatment. Our guests will want to take a sample of this product not only for its health benefits, but also for the smell! All employees love when the door to our hydrotherapy room opens after one of the exfoliation treatments. The whole spa is fulfilled with sea salt butter aroma. You should come and try it. We also use sea salt mixed with organic oils for regular exfoliations, foot soaks, and pedicure services. As we all know, sea salt has many microelements and it is very beneficial for our health. Sea salt helps reducing acne, eliminate toxins, and helps to dry oily skin. Here are some examples of treatments for your home spa:


Two teaspoons of sea salt (not regular salt, which will hold water in your body); dissolve salt in a small amount of water – to get consistency of cream/mask. Put the mask on your face and set for 20 minutes. You may feel a little tingling sensation - that means the mask is working. Rinse with warm water. Your skin will be smooth and soft. You should test your skin’s reaction to the mask on a little area of your skin before, just in case your skin does not tolerate sea salt. You could mix that sea salt with olive oil or any other oil to get body scrub – for you feet, hand or the whole body.

Another tip: Warm compress with sea salt will help reduce breast pain for breastfeeding mothers.

More tips and sea salt benefits next week!

Think Before You Think

I believe that we all (including me) are individually responsible for everything that happens in our life – both good and bad.

Our thoughts create our future. Have you heard it before? I truly believe it. Each of us create our own experiences through thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts and spoken words create our destiny. Often times our own thoughts create certain situations, then we deny our power of creation blaming others for our frustration.

There is no person, place or thing that influences us, because only OUR mind is able to create our thoughts. We are able to create experiences, our reality, and everything that follows that. If we think of peace, harmony, and balance, we will find them in our life. If we think of all bad things that happen to us every day, (traffic, long lines at the store, somebody did not show up for their appointment, and so on...) then we put ourselves into a bad mood, we get frustrated more and more.

There is no end to those small unfortunate things around us. Believe me, I went through that so many times. Last week was an example of an avalanche of awful events. And you know what, I had that thought in my mind, that all those things will go away by Sunday. Guess what! They did. I knew that Monday would start a new cycle of my life and it started really well, with more peace and creativity. Also, I do not feel like the whole world just collapsed on my head any more, although I do not have less things and issues to solve today than last week. If you do not believe me, start analyzing your life; note your ”bad days” and ”good days”. They all depend on your thinking. We just have to realize that only one thing can change our life – it is our brain and mind. It is all in there – dreams, memories, feelings, and finally – THOUGHTS.

Count to 10! Feel Better Now?

How do we find harmony in our life while there is constant fear of illnesses touching our loved ones, friends or us? In addition, pollution, stress, a bad diet, and lack of exercise makes our system more vulnerable to all kinds of diseases.

Stress – does it sound familiar. Most of the times we stress ourselves over things that, by the end of the day, are not even important. For example, traffic – can you do anything about it? No. So stop yelling and beeping – the car in front of you is not going to move faster; stop and yield to others – it will only take a FEW seconds.

Many people find their harmony by using holistic therapies and treatments. The first step is to find peace with your inner self. By doing that, you will become more open for any spa service and you will enjoy it more. Just positive thinking, itself, can make your most stressful day easier to endure, or it can even turn it into one of your best days. I tried it, and it DOES WORK! You just have to take all your negativity and turn it positive. Here is my father’s way of dealing with stressful situations: If something bad happens to you, or you feel overwhelmed by anything, take a deep breath; look up (sky, ceiling - anything works!) count to 10 and by the end you will have totally a different perspective on your situation. It does not mean that the problem will go away – oh no, but you will find a solution quicker because your blood pressure will be lower than it was 10 seconds ago, and you will think clearer! Trust me, just try it few times, and you will see its effects. When I fight with my “significant other” and actually use this simple solution, by 10 I do not even want to respond to arguments any more because my perspective has changed.

Try this very simple stress reliever and it will be your first step to being patient, think clearer, and reduce the times that you find yourself helpless.

Good Luck!

Summer Hair

Although we think that going on vacation goes hand-in-hand with doing nothing; not taking care of our hair while swimming, surfing, sun bathing, and many other wild outdoor voyages – may not be a good choice.

The most damaging is salt, especially if we do not rinse our hair after swimming. A combination of sea salt and sun bathing may be destructive. Sunrays trigger chemical reactions with water and hair that are actually similar to coloring hair. The cuticle of hair (outer layer) gets damaged, and hair tends to split or break. Sea salt makes our hair dull, dry, stiff and rough. The smartest way to protect your hair is to use a swimming cap, but it is not something that you want to flash around with on the beach.

It is better to take care of your hair before, while and after a vacation rather than repairing the damage afterwards. Here are some tips:

- Go to the hair stylist. Cut your hair short or just a trim. It will make the hair stronger and your hair do will be easier to manage. Ask your stylist about products that will fit your hair’s needs the best.

- Buy products made for summer. They contain UV protection, minerals, pro-vitamin B5 and vitamins A, E, F, and H. By using these products your hair will get moisturized, smooth and replenish.

- Add more energy to your hair – even if your hair is in good condition, use moisturizing shampoo and mask at least two weeks before vacation

- Instead of using a hair dryer, take styling product – it will minimize the impact of additional hot air blown in your hair

- Use a natural mask – do it once a week on washed, damp hair. After application, wear a plastic hair cap and towel (to keep the temperature). Rinse after 30 minutes – make sure that you do not use any harsh shampoo. You will need: egg, lemon juice, and olive oil. In a bowl combine an egg and three tablespoons of olive oil, after that add lemon juice out of ½ a lemon. Mix until smooth.

This treatment will make your hair moisturized and smooth.

Have shiny, healthy hair and a wonderful vacation!

Beautiful Summer Feet

Summer is here and we all want to step out in sandals, colorful “flip-flops” or just walk barefoot in our garden. As soon as warm weather knocks on my door I think to myself – “I need a pedicure!” But then I also think – “How do I care for my feet in summer besides the pedicure” – they get dry, and tired; dust, dirt grass get on my toe nails, and my heels get callused. Well, a pedicure is the first step to get your feet smooth and healthy. After that we all (men and women) should care for our feet at home. I found that applying a generous amount of cocoa butter (or cocoa butter cream) every night and a good scrubbing while showering helps a lot. It is easy and does not require spending extra time. The secret of cocoa butter treatments is to massage the lotion on your skin before you go to sleep and wear cotton socks overnight. In the morning your feet will feel soft and refreshed.

There are many different products available, but you can easily make your own mini-spa on your own. Back in my home country – Poland we made our own mixtures for all kinds of beauty treatments. For example, there are a variety of vegetable oil based mixtures for feet, hands or any area with dry, damaged skin. You do not need much – some oil (organic blend or just vegetable oil) and different ingredients – depending on your needs. Simply mix that oil with additives and massage it on your skin; let it absorb for a while and you can get back to your daily routines. Here are some examples:

Add honey - to nourish your skin with plethora of microelements found in this natural mixture. In addition, honey helps in the healing process of many skin cracks, cuts or scrapes. Its low water content does not allow for bacteria growth. You could also use pure honey as a mask for your feet or hands, but remember – do not walk around your garden with honey on your skin – you will attract bugs or maybe even a bear. :)

Lemon - will make your skin hydrated and soft; it will also disinfect your skin. Citric acid in lemons, if used long enough can also make any blemishes or discolorations disappear.

Try it - and you will believe it. Mother Nature gave us many tools to fight the effects of daily life on our body – we just need to discover them and use responsibly.