Ayurvedic Makeover

One fine morning I had a quick chat with one of my yoga students before the class started. She was telling me about her favorite TV show on the personality makeover which consisted of new and more attractive hair, makeups and attires. She mentioned how popular the show was. I remembered that ten years ago, back in the days I still owned and watched TV the makeover shows or segments were also a big hit. Consistently, there seems to be a big demand for positive and sometime miraculous changes in our outward appearances. This contributes greatly to the growth of the fashion and makeup industries as well as plastic surgeries.

The makeover is based on the idea that when we look good we feel good. Ayurveda teaches the opposite, when we feel good we look good. Consider how many women complain of feeling fat and ugly during PMS although, their outward appearance stays exactly the same. Having watched virtually none of these stimulating TV shows for a decade I casted the subject aside and went on with my yoga sequences. I did not think much about the conversation afterward despite my student's encouraging me to pick up a makeover gig on the side. I told her I used to work as a fashion designer a dozen years ago. My interest in fashion and beauty waned over the years. I retired from the career after realizing how irrelevant it was to my happiness. But is it?

The other day I read an article written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner. He wrote "People tend to look like the things they love--which is why so many people end up looking like their dogs!" I have also heard and even notice myself that couples, husbands and wives end up looking like each other. Desmond Tutu further suggested that we can also look like God if we love God and strive to be like God. It seems a hefty aspiration but indeed you are not just what you eat but what you take in physically, mentally and emotionally.

Ayurveda and yoga provide abundant makeover tools to bring your life back into balance and beauty. The makeover is sustainable and long lasting. You do not have to wait for a fairy godmother or a TV personality to show up. Chances are you will never get one. In fact, you will build your own magic muscles and radically shift your life for the better physically, mentally and emotionally. Ugly and volatile emotions that turn you into a temporary or long term witch such as anger, fear, greed, jealousy and even boredom eventually subside. Replacing those emotions are steady and beautiful emotions like calmness, compassion, courage and enthusiasm. These emotions bring out the divine within you as these are angelic attributes. You will begin to look like an angel yourself. People will want to flutter about you and stay away from other grumpy folks.

It seems a common sense, is it not? But why is it so difficult for mankind to find peace within and shine forth the inner beauty? We would certainly save a lot of material and monetary resources, not to mention a longer and healthier life. Below are some simple yet challenging steps you can take to give yourself an Ayurvedic makeover and get the most out of yourself. They are based on the Ayurvedic principle of treatment. Like qualities increase the likes and opposites reduce them.

1. Watch less TV shows to reduce the influence of how you should look and feel if you want to increase your inner wisdom and the depth of life experiences. It helps to write down what your favorite shows are. They tell a lot about what you are planting deep in life. If your favorite shows are crime and thriller, most likely you are experiencing a lot of fear, worry and anxiety. You may want to consider watching something a little more uplifting if you can't yet give it all up. Those so called reality shows are highly dramatized and often traumatized to your nervous system. Give them up and focus on your reality.

2. Stop reading fashion magazines if you want to get in touch with your own creativity and find a sense of well being. It has been a dozen of years since I subscribed and read fashion magazines on a regular basis. Once in a very long time I would pick up a fashion magazine and never fail to find that the contents are still exactly the same. They are filled with unhappy looking and very thin models wearing impractical clothes. If you want to be happy, healthy and original, wear weather appropriate and clean clothing without referring to the mass fashion scene. Choose clothes that fit you comfortably. Wear pleasant colors and stay away from bright, neon, dark or dirty colors. Angelic colors are lighter in shades. Choose more natural materials and stay under your budget. There is nothing more unfashionable and emotionally draining than debts!

3. Stop using unnecessary skincare, perfumes, hair products and makeups if you want the world to accept who you are. You first have to accept all of you including your body, hair and skin colors. Are you exercising wisdom and creative expression or are you exercising self rejection? Respect your divine self by taking care of your body with appropriate intake through the five senses. Eat well, exercise and surround yourself with natural and nourishing sound, sight, smell and touch. Do not abuse or traumatize your body through chemical products or surgical alteration. Use only natural products that do not harm your body or the atmosphere.

4. Stop holding grudges against your friends, siblings and more importantly your parents and ancestors if you want to express your authentic self, build relationships and find true happiness. Whatever you are holding on to you are under its power and spell. If you are holding on to hatred and anger against your love ones you have no chance of creating loving relationships, partnership and family. The sooner you cleanse yourself off from ugly emotions the sooner you create your attractive self and promote the life you desire. Start mending your relationships by acknowledging and accepting shortcomings and challenges that you and others have to face. Create ancestral rituals through praying and offering. You will soon find yourself at ease among friends and strangers alike.

Whatever you spend the most time thinking about and acting upon create your personal look and outlook. I hope your makeup and makeover support you toward your highest potential.