The Fountain of Youth just might be found in body brushing!

At least when comes to the skin! I can't say enough about body brushing! I call it exercise for the skin! It started when I Youtubed Yoga Face exercises and I found Kitty. She's been bodybrushing for 25 years and her body skin looks younger than a 20 year old.

Then I found another woman in her 50's that didn't hardly have a line on her face, and I ordered her face brush. Some sites say not to brush your face, but your face is skin, too, right. So I tried it.

Now I cannot understand why Kitty doesn't brush her face.

I've been brushing my face for three weeks. I got my body brush out of storage and I've been body brushing for ten days. I'm astounded and mad at myself for not keeping it up years ago.

I've bought the Japanese plant brush from Bed Bath and Beyond, my other ones are Yerba Prima. Never use synthetic, it will scratch your skin, and never brush wet skin.

Read about the benefits online. I'd swear even my veins are improved. Go counter clockwise on stomach area. Brush up towards heart. Down neck towards heart, down arms towards heart, and in circular motions as much as possible.

My skin had started sagging and drooping everywhere and was feeling spongy and thin. Now, it feels firm and looks as good as late twenties! I kid you not! Even the cellulite is much improved all ready. But I'm faithfully brushing twice a day. And I'm doing yoga face and Charlie James. Plus I'm drinking green veg and fruit smoothies!:)

Watch for picture updates! I wish I would have taken a video so you would know these haven't been through a photo shop or brushed up with Gimp. But as you can see, I'm not selling you anything. I just hope you try it for you.

If you do, come back and leave us feedback, so that we can all know how it's working for you:)

2nd Check In

I'm still working on intensity, and I'm still working on getting past 10 minutes, but I'm still at it!

I am drinking the Master Cleanse, but I've decided to place myself in a pre-cleansing phase. A prep. I've read that full cleansing should be done in the spring, perhaps the summer or fall, but not at all in the winter. So I'm taking it easy, eating 80-90% clean and drinking some Master Cleanse each morning, and Braggs Vinegar drink around 1 pm. But for the record, I doubt I'd ever do this more than three days at a time. There are a lot of warnings out there about restricting calories for 10 days. The full drink is supposed to be 1200 calories, but I feel that eating clean would be much better for you. Please research it first before doing the full Master Cleanse, and always check with your doctor first.

I want to talk about body brushing.

I have known about body brushing for several years. I even bought a new one several months ago. And I am quite frustrated with myself for not keeping it up. But a couple of weeks ago I bought a facebrush and began yoga face. Within days, I was so impressed, I got my body brush back out--let me tell you--wow!


It was the yoga face that got me following Kiki in the first place. My family is very prone to droopy neck skin and a sluggish lymph system, making for a puffy look. I've been doing her yoga face for two weeks now and whooooo hooooo. I'm not just stuck with watching my neck slide off its foundation. She doesn't do body brushing on her face, but I do. I'm placing another video of a woman who does. She's in her 50's and her skin looks like the skin of a twenty year old. Kiki's skin looks like that too. I'm not sure why she doesn't brush her face. She's been body brushing for over 25 years.

I feel that brushing exercises the skin. I've read that it's wonderful for invalids for that very reason.

Follow Kiki on her body brushing--oh and I'm adding these to my exercise routines:) Check it out--you'll see why:)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Magickal Graphics This year I am thankful for my soft place to land, even though he had absolutely no reason to do so, and even though his fears would make it difficult, it is a roof over my head, and for that I am truly thankful. I am thankful for my family for putting up with me this year. It was the most difficult year of my life, and that is saying alot. I've lived through things I shouldn't have survived.

I'm thankful to my children. I know I've worried you. I'm especially thankful to my youngest son for not letting the fact that I pretty much went off the deep end this year, scare him into avoiding me. It only takes a little bit of crazy to scare the hell out of people. And you're pretty fearless and stayed right by my side. You would always try to be there, even when I was at my worse and I'm sure you would have liked to be just about anywhere else. And to my my oldest son, you are always so very kind to me. And my daughter, you were willing to do a very difficult thing for me. And to my middle son, I will always love you, and I do not blame you for how angry you are with me right now. Everyone of us has a right to how we feel. I will not try to censor or control yours. I love you all. I know you have not understood some of my choices. Sometimes I don't understand them either. But I always feel our Great Mother watching over us. And I always come out stronger.

I'm thankful for all my angels and guides for brining me through my dark night of my soul. I see the light of day, now, and I'm thankful I've survived. I'm thankful to myself for having the strength to reach for life, even when all I wanted to do was quit and cease to exist. I'm thankful for the wisdom to know I would be glad I made it through, even when I was screaming in my car so no one else would know. I'm especially thankful for my friends for reaching out when I most needed it and trying to help me through. I will never forget it.

I love you all so much. I'm thankful to my fans. Manyof my friends and family helped to save my life. But writing saved my sanity. I threw myself into my writing and my blogs. It took up all my time and provided a chance to heal. It also gave me a place to express myself in creative and healing ways. Her Broken Wings Could Fly is allowings me to do so with a out censor. Thank you for putting up with me when I hit a wall and didn't update my blogs:) You all are the greatest.

 Most of all I'm thankful for the divine--How could anyone ever question all the help we truly get. It is the reason we make it through. It's in the soft petal of a flower, the sun's rays upon the damp earth, the ocean's waves upon the sandy beach, and the crest of the mountain top. We are loved. May we always have some place inside that knows it, even when we're in our darkest hour. And so I say I'm grateful mother. I am your daughter, and I am grateful mother. And I love you so.

Raw Food Coach and Master Cleanse

Looking for a way to eat better, but you can't figure out what to eat if you go raw? Follow the Raw Food Coach, Karen Knowler, on Youtube. She teaches some great recipes and takes the guess work out of what to do. I'm also working towards following the Master Cleanse on Youtube. I've been drinking the Master Cleanse, but I have not gone completely on it so I'm not using the complete maple syrup yet. You will take in 1200 calories when you follow it. The pure grade B maple syrup does not raise your sugar level, from what I'm reading, the way that sugar and honey do, so you can cleanse for up to 40 days. I've been following a woman who started out with a 10 day cleanse and ended up doing the complete 40. She looked fantastic when she finished. Her skin was glowing, and you could actually see the energy shift over the updates she gave. I'm making sure I won't get sick by preparing for it. I sip on the lemon/maple syrup drink over the course of the day. I eat very little if at all, and I eat a steamed rice mix in the evening. When I'm done with the Master Cleanse, I'm considering going completely raw foods only.

I would not cut anything out of the Master Cleanse if you do it. All the things that are listed are there for a reason. I didn't need to do the full salt bath cleansing for 5 days since I've been eating so clean that when I took the first salt bath cleanse, nothing at all happened.

But the salt bath cleanse is there to keep the toxins from making you sick when they cut loose from your body, and the cayenne is there to cleanse your blood. I love the cayenne, so I'm able to tolerate quite a bit of it. I am using a 1/4 teaspoon and working up to a 1/2 teaspoon.

I would like to point out to make sure you check with your doctor before approaching the cleanse, especially if you take medicines, since cleansing has been known to cleanse your meds quickly out of your body too.

Following BodyRock.tv

I'm staying on task:) I use the chairs and a broom stick to do my reverse pushups, the way Charlie James used to before she got her stand. I'm working on making some bigger sand balls and sand bags. I love working out to Charlie James. You see quick results:)

My goal is to join her group:)

Getting in shape with Charlie James!

It took me awhile, especially with some of the bad things that happened to me after this post. But I'm on target and I've been doing my routines at least a few times a week. I made two balls with sand. One is 15 lbs and one is 20 lbs. I've made her sandbag. And I use an interval timer online. Look for the link on the side of this blog. Follow me as I Shape Me Sexy!!:) I'll have some pictures up soon:)

First Week of Routines

I have worked up 100 reps a day for my first intense week. I do 10X10 of intense exercises, choosing from the many things Charlie James does in her routines. Next week I'll go to 150 or 200 reps, depending on how easy or difficult I find the end of this week:)

I am also keeping up on my indoor bike, trying to increase the minutes--though they're extremely low right now. My bike is new, but cheap, and the resistance is pretty significant, though I'm sure I will be glad for that in the long run. I put my ab arm hanging bands in the car to stop at the kids jungle gym at least 4 tmes this week.

I also wrote down check boxes for each set of ten exercises and for each glass of water for the week. I put a snack, breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. I have to work on actually eating something for breakfast. I'm a grazer. But I put check boxes for these as well. I plan to hit at least 95% of all boxes.

Lastly, I'm trying to keep my calories below 1600. I have very small bones but heavy, dense muscles, so I've always weighed more than I looked, even when people called me willowy. I, however, weigh around 160, though I wear a 9-10. But this weight is harder on my body. I don't feel good, though I feel better than I did 2 weeks ago when I first bought the bike. My goal weight is 145. Then I will reevaluate.

Taking back my life--taking back me.

I have let myself fall down the hole for so long, I don't know which way is up. My body has gone soft. I have grown angry. So recently I bought an indoor bike and a set of kettle bells put out by Julian. The past two weeks I have begun riding my bike and sweating out my anger with kettle bell workouts. I am following some of the exercises I've seen on Youtube by Sexybeast, Charlie James, and KissmeAaron. I also bought a set of hanging arm supports I attach to the kids jungle gym at the apartment complex where I am currently living. I stop by there and do some ab routines. I entend to get back where I can roll my knees clear up past my ears again. I'll report my progress, and evevtually some pictures, back here each weekend:)

Anyone want to join me. Creat a blog and we'll link our blogs together. Perhaps we can inspire others to take back their lives as well:)