Yoga and semi-permanent make-up by Melanie Clarke

Yoga and Semi Permanent Makeup – the perfect balance

Having your eyebrows or eyeliner tattooed is truly empowering. Many women who enjoy yoga, swim, run, or enjoy any type of exercise, opt for semi permanent makeup. However hot and sweaty you get, it is a fantastic feeling knowing all you need to concentrate on is your breath, keeping your heart open or your core strong, rather than worrying that your eyebrows may have wiped off. The confidence that you gain by having permanent, perfect make-up remains with you, whatever you are doing.

Semi-Permanent makeup is the art of implanting, or tattooing pigment into the dermal layer of the skin to perfect, re-shape and redefine your eyebrows, create permanent eyeliner or lip colour. Unlike traditional tattooists who work with ink, we implant medical grade pigment made of iron oxides, iron being the most stable and common of all elements, it is non-toxic, inert, innocuous and non-active, much like mineral makeup. The pigment then fades and is absorbed by the body over the course of years. Most procedure require a “top-up”” or “colour boost” every 12-18 months.

Emma and Mel of the Pennington Clinic offer over 15 years of Semi-Permanent Makeup experience. They can achieve a very natural look, no one need know you have had a procedure, but your eyes look brighter and your inner confidence glows! You can choose ultra fine lines to sit behind your natural eyebrow to mimic hairs and create the right shape and length for your brows, with a totally natural look, or a more defined powder brow, opening and lifting your eyes. You may choose a very natural lash enhancement for your eyeliner, a simple darkening of the lash line which often means you never need mascara again, or a more dramatic 1950’s eyeliner.

A procedure takes a couple of hours, most of that time is spent in the consultation, agreeing exactly what shape you want for your eyebrow, what look for your eyeliner. The procedures are pain free, topical anaesthetic is applied, clients often go to sleep! These procedures give confidence, a beautiful natural procedure can be truly empowering!

There are leaflets in the Yard offering “Yogi Discounts” grab a leaflet and contact Mel for a chat.

The  Pennington Clinic, Forest Row for more information 07833 628544mel@thepenningtonclinic.co.uk www.thepenningtonclinic.co.uk

January - The Month of Detox by Kate Sewell

Many people hear the word 'detox' being banded around, especially at this time of year when our bodies are suffering after all the indulgences of the Christmas season, but what does 'detox' actually mean?

Detoxification

The body works hard to eliminate waste produced from natural metabolic processes.  What our bodies don't use – the waste – is referred to as toxins.  The organs associated with eliminating toxins are the liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph, colon, and skin.

Why detox?

Our bodies naturally detox metabolic waste, but we often overload our bodies with xenotoxins - toxins from our environment and things we consume. These can come in many forms: alcohol, smoking, air pollution, chemicals, pesticides or medications from non-organic foods, eating too much, or not exercising or moving enough. 

To bring our bodies back into a healthy balance, we need to support the organs that contribute to detoxification through diet and exercise.

Ways to aid your body in detoxifying:

• Eating foods that support the liver, lungs, kidneys, lymphatic system, our digestive system and the skin.

• Doing hot yoga – clearing toxins through sweat.

• Doing exercise – pumping blood around our bodies, charging up the heart, lymph nodes, kidneys, liver, colon, breathing deeply through with our lungs, and skin through sweating.

• Doing inversions in yoga, (turning upside down, or bringing the head below the heart) - can stimulate our nervous system, bring more oxygen and blood flow to the brain, boost our metabolic rate and energy levels, work the core, rouse the lymphatic system, and help with circulation.

• Doing yoga – breathing and exhaling deeply filters air through our lungs.

• De-stressing – slowing down, meditation, walks in nature, doing something you love; a hobby, reading.

Foods that support the liver:

• Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, Kale, cabbage

• Beetroots and their greens

• Garlic

• Lemon

• Green apples

• Bitter herbs: dandelion and yellow dock.

Foods that support the kidneys:

• Water – drink 2 litres a day

• Parsley

• Coriander

• Green tea

• Nettle

• Alfalfa

• Cranberry

• Juniper berry

Foods to support your lungs:

• Mustard

• Turnip

• Radish

• Wasabi

• Cayenne

Foods to support your lymphatic system:

• Ginger

• Turmeric

• Lemon, lime, and grapefruit

• Seaweeds

• Garlic

Foods to support your colon and the microbiome:

• Lentils

• Chia seeds

• Fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, apple cider vinegar)

• Onion and garlics

• Apples

• Psyllium

• Aloe vera

• Dandelion

Foods to support the skin:

• Blueberries

• Purple cabbage

• Beetroots

• Walnuts

• Sunflower seeds

Detox is a lifestyle choice, not just a short-term fix. Doing these things in daily life, on a regular basis will help relieve your body of toxins we encounter in everyday life. 

Come and see Katie for one to one nutrition consultations and personalised nutrition plans to achieve optimal health. Book by emailing info@yardyoga.co.uk

Come fly with me...

Did I forget to breathe? I step into the familiar hustle of Heathrow Terminal 4 departure lounge. My life once more on my back just the way I like it, alone, Birkenstocks with warm cashmere socks on, a yoga matt strapped to my bag, no make-up, ready to fly. For those that want to join me on my journey to becoming a Yoga Teacher, come fly with me! Over the next six weeks I will write and share with you some of my experiences on this amazing path that I have found myself on.

A little about my story and how I have come to be here in this moment.

I have always been a very athletic person. I was the girl competing against the boys, the girl that couldn't sit still for long, who had to move and use her body; and moving is what I have always done best. I rode horses as fast as I could, scuffed my knees playing street hockey, bruised my wrists playing volley ball, somersaulted on trampolines in my leotard, ran cross-country wherever my feet could take me, swam (mostly underwater) until I was blue in the face, if i could move I would.

So when I was sixteen I took my first yoga class. My body felt awkward and frustratingly inflexible. My mind wandered, comparing myself to the people around me, my breathing was difficult and why was I sweating when I was practically still most of the time?! However, I walked out of that class feeling something I hadn't felt before. I was familiar with the post-exercise endorphin rush that comfortably ran it's course through my veins but there was something more. There was a deep calmness that held my natural high and cleared my mind as if I had just come to some sort of epiphany. Perhaps I did, perhaps this is why I am here now about to start my Yoga Teacher Training.

Yoga has been my friend, my companion and my solitude. We have travelled to some amazing places across the globe together, practiced all sorts of different styles, and although we haven't always seen eye to eye with one another, like any good friend, you don't always have to see them to know that they are there.

Now here I am, in this moment, the only moment that really counts, excited, driven, liberated, filled with so much gratitude and ready to move.

"Movement feels like flight when wedded to space" - Yoga Sūtra-s of Patañjali

Namaste

Myrthe