Scrubbing and Stripping and Peeling - Oh My!

There's something I've noticed about a lot of modern "beauty routines" out there...

An awful lot of them seem to be rooted in a kind of subtle aggression toward ourselves—scrubbing, stripping, peeling, freezing, burning, injecting. Procedures and products that essentially say, "Your natural state is SOOO not good enough. Let's scrape it off and start over!"

And I get it. I mean, what midlife woman hasn't felt that way from time to time?

But what if true beauty emerges from a much kinder, gentler place? What if it comes from honoring and nurturing ourselves rather than "correcting" ourselves?

This shift in approach has been huge in my own life, and my shift toward natural beauty practices like face yoga is just one part of a larger philosophy of gentle, respectful self-care.

Today, I wanted to share a few of my favorite simple practices that complement face yoga beautifully and reflect this gentler approach to beauty and aging.

Here are some gentle self-care rituals that have made a world of difference for me:

🍃 Morning facial massage with oil - After your regular morning cleanse or mask (your skin purges overnight, so a gentle cleanse or mask should be one of the first things you do), try massaging a few drops of jojoba, castor or rosehip oil into your skin using gentle upward strokes. If you practice face yoga, this is a perfect time to work in a short, face-lifting practice. But even just touching your face with loving kindness, using upward strokes, can wake up circulation, help reduce puffiness, and start your day with a moment of connection to yourself.

🍃 Midday tension check-ins - Set a quiet alarm on your phone for midday. When it goes off, take 30 seconds to scan your face for tension. Are you clenching your jaw? Furrowing your brow? Raising your shoulders? Imagine breathing into those spots of tension as you consciously release. Simply noticing and gently releasing tension patterns can prevent them from becoming permanently etched into your skin.

🍃 Warm washcloth relaxation - In the evening, soak a clean washcloth in comfortably warm water, wring it out, and place it over your face for 1-2 minutes while taking deep breaths. I like to add a couple of drops of an essential oil like lavender. This simple ritual helps to loosen makeup and the day's impurities before cleansing, while also creating a moment of pure relaxation.

🍃 The gratitude gaze - Once a week (or more often if you're up for it), look in the mirror and find five things you appreciate about your face. Maybe it's the way your eyes crinkle when you smile, or how expressively your eyebrows move when you're excited. (If you're a face yogi, think about what you know of the different muscles and their interactions) This practice counteracts our conditioned tendency to look for "flaws" and retrains our eyes to see beauty.

🍃 Nature connection - Spending even 10 minutes outside each day—feeling the sun, wind, or rain on your skin—reconnects you with the natural cycles of life. For me, it's ​a daily mindful walk.​ This connection helps put our beauty obsessions in perspective and reminds us that, like everything in nature, our changing appearance is part of a larger, beautiful pattern.

What all these practices share is a fundamental respect for your body and its wisdom. They work with your natural processes rather than fighting against them. They honor the journey your face has been on rather than trying to erase it.

And perhaps most importantly, they shift your relationship with your reflection from one of criticism to one of appreciation and care.

These rituals don't require expensive products or complicated routines.

They don't create waste or deplete your bank account.

They simply invite you to be present with yourself in a loving way.

In our fast-paced, product-obsessed culture, this gentle approach to beauty might seem radical. But I've found it to be infinitely more effective—and a whole lot more enjoyable—than the aggressive "anti-aging" approaches I used to pursue.