Issue 3

Hey elevate-rs!

Spill the tea, how are you?  How are you, really? Are you allowing yourself to feel what you are going through? Are you praising yourself for your accomplishments and being kind in your own mind? I sure hope so, because you are so worthy of that! So worthy of a calm nervous system, worthy of healthy thoughts and worthy of the abundance in the good energy that flows toward you. October through December are what I like to call the sensory overload months with a lot of noise, lots or colors, all the flashing lights and the never ending food. These are the months that it is easy to burn out on a physical and mental level, even if the holiday season is your favorite time of year. This is the time to set those boundaries strong and only say yes to the things that really excite you, prioritizing your energy and time where you want it and with those who deserve it. Prioritize your gut health for good mental health and skin health, stay hydrated to flush the extra snacking and sweets for a healthy mind-gut connection. Check out Issue 2 for enzymes and foods that will help with digestion during the holiday feasts.

Daytime and nighttime skin care

We already talked the importance in changing your home skin care routine with the seasons change to keep skin happy.  Now let's dive into the importance in daytime products and nighttime products, think protection for the day and restoration for the night. Daytime starts with morning cleansing to remove oils and products, includes protective spf, and needs moisture. Nighttime needs double cleansing to remove makeup and oils cleansing the pores, it needs exfoliation, restorative serums and moisture. Different acids you will find in products are geared toward time of day use as well, here is a little guide as to ingredients and products, and the best time to use them:

Daytime

-Soothing and gentle cleanser

-Toner to restore skins natural PH

-Spot treatments with salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide

-Vitamin C treats break outs but also protects us from environmental stress and UV rays.

-SPF all day! reapply all day long, when outdoors, when in the car and when in natural light indoor areas. SPF is not only for the summer season, use it in the winter on the face and hands. Don't forget your upper eyelids, your ears and feet during sandal season, these are the common places most skin cancer is found and where spf is forgotten.

-Azelaic acid- inhibits natural production of melanin

-TrueRenew-  the moisturizer that is better than retinol- made from biopeptides and NRF2 giving you cellular protection and  cellular anti-aging

Herbal & all natural home care routine, easy steps, clean quality.

Nighttime

-Double cleanse

-Toner

-Exfoliation 2-3 times a week. Glycolic and lactic acids, AHAs & BHAs are the common acids you will see and great for exfoliation. some cleansers have these in them, be sure not to over exfoliate.

-Active ingredients like retinol and retinoids, the clean version

-Masks for skin type and skin goals. Anti-aging, clarifying and moisturizing masks leave your skin pampered and renewed

-Serums with active and hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid and antioxidants.

-Moisturizer, taking the moisturizer down the neck and to the decollete (chest) area.

Brain exercise

Necessary for stress release, brain exercise has been proven to help with neurological aging and disease. Whether you like apps or puzzles, this type of exercise is an important form and often dismissed by a busy lifestyle. There are so many ways of enjoying this exercise through reading books and riddles, learning a new language, learning to play a new instrument or playing cards just to name a few. The app The Room is a really fun strategy game much like a virtual escape room, my whole family has enjoyed that one! Meditation and breathing exercises work the brain and nervous system giving the body, soul and mind a big hug, these are great forms to try to practice a few times a week as they boost serotonin and release major stress. The bottom line is to bring out your inner child in a way, get excited about the suspense you create through this outlet, dance your heart out and feel confident in your brain power.

Face Yoga With Kat Parks

I had the opportunity to meet Kat recently and just love what she is doing here, activating natural anti-aging by stimulating facial muscles with face yoga! Kat Parks is an experienced Face Yoga instructor and yoga teacher who has worked with thousands of students since 2013 at her studio, and at a top rated wellness resort in the country. With a passion for sharing the joys of Face Yoga in a fun and easy way to develop greater awareness and confidence, she loves to share the possibility of connecting to our natural beauty as we age, without the risks of invasive treatments. Kat hosts workshops, teaches private classes, and leads an immersive group program that empowers others to become more intimately acquainted with their face. I am so excited that Kat accepted the invitation to answer these questions for you:

How often should you do face yoga?

Just like doing yoga or working out, consistency is key! Ideally, I recommend practicing Face Yoga every day. That being said, it shouldn’t be overwhelming – your practice can be 5, 10, or 15 minutes – it doesn’t have to be daunting! I like to practice all throughout the day: in bed when I wake up in the morning, when I’m driving to work, or while watching TV in the evening with my husband. As with anything, we get out what we put in, so if you have a daily 30-minute practice, you will notice changes more quickly than someone who practices for 5 minutes once a week.



What is the importance in keeping facial muscles active, and does face yoga benefit the skin?

We all know the importance of blood flow throughout the body – we exercise to keep our blood moving, or maybe utilize inversions to move the blood from our lower body back up toward our heart. But how often have you thought about the blood flowing in your face? It’s just as important, and there’s not a lot of it most of the time. Right now, you’re probably just blinking and swallowing – not doing anything super active with the face muscles. When we properly and intentionally move the face muscles, we bring more blood flow to those areas. That additional blood flow strengthens the face muscles, brings oxygen and nutrients to the skin, and turns up our healthy skin cell turnover, which slows down as we age.

Maintaining the strength and activity of our facial muscles is extremely important, not just for cosmetic reasons, but for our overall health and wellbeing. We’ve all heard “move it or lose it” and that adage applies to our face muscles as well. If we spend our lives not moving certain areas of our face, then those muscles can become undeveloped and can potentially impact how we look and how we function (speaking, seeing, interacting with others). Muscle activity is also vital for the health and longevity of our delicate facial bones. When muscle movement is inhibited, the blood flow to both the muscle and the bone is affected, which can lead to bone degradation.

Face Yoga is often utilized for its benefits on wrinkles and fine lines, by strengthening the face muscles we might not use in our daily life, releasing tension in those areas we use too much, bringing more blood flood to the face, and increasing our own natural collagen. A regular practice may be able to help us even out our skin tone, address acne, reduce puffiness, and smooth out lines.



How did you get introduced to face yoga and how has it impacted your life and business?

Back in 2019, I was about a week away from scheduling my very first Botox appointment. There was this line between my eyebrows that was driving me crazy and I was told that this was the only fix. That same week, an ad for the Face Yoga Method popped up on my Facebook homepage, and I took it as a sign from the universe! I was already at a loss for what to tell my natural-health-doctor hubby about a ‘tox appointment, and wanted to see if I might be able to achieve similar results on my own. I began practicing with a few poses and exercises I could find online, and started to see some changes happening in my face, so when I came across the Face Yoga Teacher Training program, I knew that I wanted to dive in and learn even more. In the three years since becoming a Face Yoga instructor, my face (and life!) has absolutely changed! I have significantly less tension in my face, and that dreaded line between my brows is almost gone (with no needles necessary!). With less tension being manifested on my face, I have less stress in my mind – this is a feedback loop that goes both ways.

After getting my certification, I began running my own Face Yoga groups and workshops online, and have now been teaching at Civana, one of the country’s top wellness resorts, for nearly two years. Over the last few months, I’ve been developing on my own high-level intimate group program called Find Your Face Freedom™, which empowers women to take control of their faces through natural, non-toxic methods to release tension, strengthen facial muscles, and develop awareness to become more intimately acquainted with their unique faces, cultivate self-love and confidence, and embrace the joy of natural beauty and life’s changes gracefully and gratefully without the risks of invasive treatments.

WOW thank you so much Kat! Great info and incredible motivation to move my face more!

Kat has an amazing course she is sharing with The EWC readers, for free! It is a Tension Release Guide that has easy Face Yoga techniques, plus other tips and tricks, that you can incorporate into your daily routine and start to relax your face today!

Check it out: bit.ly/be-easy-tension-release-guide

For more information on her 12-week group program, or to map out your own personal journey toward finding your face freedom, book a free call with her here:

Book the call: http://bit.ly/face-freedom-call

Kats Website: beeasy.life

Follow the routines and inspiration on her Instagram  @beeasyfaceyoga



That wraps up Issue 3! I hope this info has helped you in some way, comment your thoughts on this Issue, let me know if you'd like to hear about a specific topic.

Until next time, Be Well!

Nichoelle Adler

Issue 3 feature, Kat Parks