Mindful Beauty has been resonating among consumers and major cosmetic brands for some time now, but in the midst of a global pandemic, it is more important than ever for me to explain what it is.
Mindful Beauty blends the idea of how Mindfulness can be an ally of your beauty, both exterior and interior. It is mainly based on disconnecting from your mental rumination and reconnecting with the world around you and who you really are. It teaches you to live in the present, even when the present shows you something that you don’t want to see or feel, that you don’t want to live. It puts the power of now within your reach by paying attention to this instant. Every moment. Every letter I write is present and in milliseconds it is past. It’s about understanding that life only happens now.
In the now there is only the texture of this keyboard, the force with which I press each key, the sound of the sea I hear while I telework, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and the light breeze coming through the window. The breeze brushing my hair now…now…now…now. As I write, nothing should distract me, but the latest news about contagions comes to mind. The mind is capricious like that, it’s not that it works badly… it’s like that.
Invade your mind with crazy ideas, memories, fantasies, worries, fears…
Few know something that Mindful Beauty is very clear about: Your mind is not you. Therefore, what your mind thinks of your beauty is not real. In reality, nothing you think about anything is real, but an interpretation based on experiences, in short: it is past.
AWAKENING TO MINDFUL BEAUTY: DISCOVERING MENTAL GARBAGE
Have you ever stopped to observe your thoughts? I’m not going to lie to you, listening to your thoughts can be hard at first, because you’ll hear all kinds of mental garbage.
That’s why I propose you an easy initiation challenge: Stand in front of the mirror and listen a little bit to what goes through your mind…
I don’t want to spoil what I call “The Awakening” but what will happen is that you will look at your whole body in broad strokes and just notice what you don’t like about your body, to which of course you will devote 90% of your thoughts. Do you think they will be kind thoughts?
The mind generates about 60,000 thoughts a day, 95% of which are repetitions and 80% are negative. Do the math on how much mental garbage you generate and worse, repeat to yourself daily like a Buddhist mantra.
Pay some attention during the day to your mind: What is your mental mantra? Start to know what is keeping you from the now. Of reality. To be yourself, just as you are.
Check from today what your thoughts are and act in a very simple, but not easy way: Observe. Don’t resist thinking. Trying not to think about something is impossible. We were sold in the 1990s that you could make your mind go blank, but the mind doesn’t work like that.
Mindfulness proposes just the opposite: Observe your thoughts, understand them and let them go, don’t get caught up in thinking about them and focus again on your breathing. Realize that it exists, stop looking at it like a leaf blown by the wind and stay present in whatever you are doing. If the mind distracts you, focus on the breath, it is always there to anchor you in the now. Feel the air flow in and out naturally.
DON’T JUST FOCUS ON MEDITATING, LIVE IN THE NOW ON A DAILY BASIS.
Something that many people do not know is that practicing Mindfulness is not so much meditation as an informal daily practice. That means using all your senses in everything you do. Try it when you go to the shower: listen to the sound of the water, feel it as it runs through your body, take the Sesshin Triple Action Mousse (for example…) and feel how you squeeze it until it comes out on your hand, feel it warm and soft on your cheeks… and smell it as if you were smelling it for the first time. If you suddenly find yourself thinking about the meeting you will have later, realize it and re-infuse yourself with the scent of Jeju Island Flower and breathe. Don’t blame yourself and refocus. Be kind to yourself.
That is the vision of Mindful Beauty: Beginner’s Mind to rediscover your senses and love yourself as you are now. Smell as if you never had a sense of smell, laugh and feel the muscles you are using. How dry does your skin feel? What is the texture of my moisturizer when I apply it? Does it melt fast on my skin? My skin is hydrated and nourished. Observe without making judgments…
Now take a look at the packaging: touch the case: isn’t it soft (it’s called soft touch), the wood of the biodegradable cap: what country does it come from?
Mindful Beauty means creating real sensations, eliminating automatisms that do not let you enjoy the now, the present, in short… your life and yourself.
SHINES INSIDE AND OUT
With just 15 minutes of Mindful Beauty a day, you can reverse your biological age by 7 years. Need more data to convince you? Well, there you go: it calms the mind and therefore reduces stress. It acts on DNA and delays aging, improves the assimilation of nutrients from the products you apply to your skin and those you eat. In short, it makes you more beautiful on the outside and, in addition, you feel more beautiful and joyful on the inside. We all know that the best beauty trick for radiant skin is to be happy.
MARINA AGUDO
PHARMACY GRADUATE, EXPERT IN COSMETICS AND MINDFULNESS MBSR
