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integrativeestheti

The Skincare Benefits of Meditation

A lot of skincare can come off as quite gimmicky – fancy new products and machines that are touted by influencers often elicit skepticism, especially when it comes to seeing long-term results. How can we separate fads from foolproof plans, and what’s the bottom line when it comes to caring for your skin?

Here’s the thing: your body knows what it needs. This is true of diet and nutrition, water intake, exercise, screen time, etc. Although it may seem like your acne-prone or problem skin is off on its own journey, it is really responding to the conditions it is experiencing. Whether your skin is reacting to gut health imbalances, poor diet choices, comedogenic products, or any other irritant, it’s possible for you to address the source of that problem and set your skin on the right path. More often than not, stress plays a central role.

What Does Stress Do To My Skin?

Stress creates an inflammatory response in your skin like any other irritant would. Cortisol, an essential hormone in the human body, raises slightly when we experience stress in order to make us alert and to stop the function of any non-essential tissues/systems in the body if we’re in danger. For many people, cortisol is high in the morning in order to wake us up and get moving, then lowers once the day moves on. For some, however, cortisol stays high due to stress, and the body interprets that as a sign to direct energy to the brain and its survival instead of to other auxiliary systems. Amy Wechsler, a double-board-certified dermatologist and psychiatrist, says, “In modern life, most people experience chronic stress, which means their bodies are constantly being flooded with high levels of cortisol—and it’s horrible for our skin.”

What this leads to is thin skin, more age spots and wrinkles, sensitive, inflamed pores, and more blackheads/breakouts. Because these things are reacting to an excess of cortisol, it’s essential to lower stress and allow your body to move out of fight-or-flight mode.

More and more frequently, we’re seeing the effects of high stress and anxiety on the skin. Stress is a powerful player, capable of shifting your hormones, changing your diet, stopping your exercise, and more – all things that can impact the health of your skin. In order to improve your acne, fine lines, or any other ailment, we recommend that you devote some time to addressing your stress levels – at work, in school, and in your personal life.

One of the most effective ways to do this is meditation. Meditation, practiced in many forms around the world, ancient and modern, can help address and quell your stress, anxiety, and depression, improving your mental health and skin simultaneously. But what is meditation, exactly?

What Is Meditation?

Even if you’ve never tried meditation, you likely have a vague understanding of what it looks like. If you were watching it in a movie, it would look something like this: a person sits cross-legged, eyes closed, hands on their knees, and breathes slowly into a place of peacefulness. The great thing about meditation is that it doesn’t have to look exactly like this to work for you, and the effect is much deeper than just a few minutes of silent repose.

Some people practice Transcendental Meditation, a twice-daily period of 20-minute restful awareness that leads to better brain health and reduced anxiety. Others follow sleep meditations, guided talks from experts designed to improve sleep and help with insomnia. Some meditative practices are even specifically geared towards manifesting healthy skin and supporting the best thoughts that encourage your skin to be clear. There are many different practices – how can you decide what works for you?

How Do I Start Meditating?

The simplest way to decide what style of meditation works for you is to try some out! We recommend giving it a try for a few days or a week (or longer, if you can) to see if you feel an impact on your mental and physical health.

One of the easiest and most convenient ways to meditate, especially if you struggle to keep stray thoughts at bay or to make time for the practice, is to follow a guided meditation. There are many available on sites like YouTube, and even some (like this list from mindful.org) that have written instructions if you’d prefer to practice in silence and guide yourself through the steps. Here’s an example of their 20-minute meditation for exploring the interconnectedness of the body.

“1. Find a comfortable place to sit, lie, or stand. Just be with your body and breathe. I invite you to close your eyes or bring your gaze low until a crease of light shines through.

2. Notice what’s coming up for you, what the body is aware of right now. What are you feeling? Notice how your body is breathing. No judgment, just observation. Check in with the interconnected union we have with the body, from the inside out.

3. Breathe through the nose deeply—to the top of the breath. Release the breath and soften. Expel all the air from your lungs until you reach the bottom of the breath. Feel the body breathing. Remember who you are, what you stand for, and what’s beneath the surface of your being: the interconnected self. Soften and surrender. Surrender to old ideas of you. Breathe. Feel the breath. And remember who you are.

4. As you sit, lie, or stand, remember what’s beneath you: the layers of us. And surrender the body. Breathe. Feel the body supported by what’s beneath it.

5. Feel the breath and become aware of the body. You are not your body, the body is a tool. You are the higher vibration of light and energy. Breathe and honor the tool.

6. Honor the feet that support you. Notice your feet and what’s beneath them. Soften the feet. Breathe. And surrender.

7. Soften the ankles and calves. Feel the vibration from the ground drawing up the legs, and softening the knees and thighs. Feel the breath, remember who you are, and why we’re here together: in solidarity with the body, the mind, and the higher vibrated self.

8. Soften the hips and buttocks. Surrender the body. Allow the body to breathe. Release the belly and notice the lower back and sacrum. Breathe in light and space there.

9 Feel the breath open the mind. Relax the belly, seat, and the gut. Notice the duality of that space in the body. Feel the breath. Soften. Remember who you are and the connection we have with the energetic self. Feel the torso breathing with fullness, as the heart raises with deep love. And surrender.

10. Soften the spine. Release tension in the back. Feel your arms get heavy, as the weight is released from the shoulders. Feel the neck long as the arms draw down.

11. Soften the fingers—representing the details of life. Release the palms of your hands. What do you hold on to? Surrender, soften, breathe. Feel the breath and the body as a tool.

12. Release the wrists and forearms. Soften the elbows, biceps, and triceps. Breathe. Feel lightness in your arms, the tool of your embrace. What do you embrace? Breathe and soften. Surrender the body. Free the mind. You are not your body. The body is a tool. How do you use it?

13. Bring awareness to the throat. Relax the throat and open the throat. Release tension in the jaw and the mouth. How do you use your mouth in language? Soften the mouth. Honor the words that come through with intention and action. Release the face and jaw.

14. Bring awareness to the ears. Pay attention to what you hear and take in. Surrender. Feel the body breathing. Bring awareness to the eyes. Soften the eyelids and the eyebrows. Bring attention to what you see. The mind remembers what you look at. It stores information from the eyes and ears. Do you see? Or do you turn away? Soften and know the heart is listening.

15. Feel the breath and soften the mind, the body. The breath is a tool, to help us soften the body and remember who we are. The breath is a symbol: a symbol of this movement of interconnectedness. Breathing is a privilege. Breathing is the catalyst of the movement within us. Surrender the body. Feel the breath and use your tools to breathe into the higher vibrated self.

16. Feel the body breathing, interconnected, and still. This is a movement. Remember who you are. Remember what’s beneath you and surrender to the higher sense of self. We are energy beings vibrating, together in union, in light, interconnected.

17. Deepen the breath. Inhale through the nose and exhale with a soft sound. Repeat this two more times. Hold the breath. Hold and then release. Remembering what you stand for: the interconnectedness of us.

18. Bring both palms together towards your heart. Inhale in solidarity to the privilege of breathing, because we can breathe. As we exhale, bow the head down and honor those who can’t breathe.”

The beauty of meditation is that clear skin isn’t the goal, but a happy side effect of improved mental and physical health. Give it a try, and see what happens!

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