March 3, 2023 • 29 mins
When was the last time you took an intentional bath or just gave yourself the extra attention needed toward your self-care?
Creating intentional practices to implement every week really helps us to connect with our bodies in different and holistic ways. Life can be very distracting but you deserve to feel beautiful, so it’s important to make time to honor and nourish your radiant being.
Connect: @DeviBrown
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
From grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl ill to
fathers on dimly lit street commers instructing young soldiers to
always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you will fire,
you will pass through centuries. On the hands of your daughters.
They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the backs of diamond
eyed school children who grew into hymnals recited by amethysts
(00:33):
holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments out of the
windows of restored alchimedo chariots to keep the warmth of
their blood. Be wise, be smart, being black, Opal Brown
courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of jim see
king told, scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife, wife
(00:57):
told her daughter, and daughter told the ant, and the
emphasis told me that you would come to give wisdom.
Thousands They said you would come, Dropping Dropping the Gem. Hi,
Welcome back to another episode of The Dropping Gem's podcast,
Your Soft Place to Land, where we are always investigating ourselves,
(01:20):
investigating the world, and then applying those lessons in real
time so that we can live the lives that feel
really good and really purposeful. I'm Debbie Brown, and this
episode I want to talk all about the healing importance
of beauty and creativity. My mind really got moving this
(01:45):
week as I was thinking about, you know, those feelings,
and I'm going to kind of speak to men and
women on this in a little bit of different ways.
But you know that feeling you get when you finally
get to get rest, like look really good, or for me,
I experienced that sometimes it's like when you get your
(02:07):
eyebrows done or fresh car washed. For some reason, that
just amplifies a little pep in my step. And I
know for some guys that could be like getting your haircut,
getting your lineup, getting that car wash. And I was
thinking how how really simple it is sometimes to give
ourselves that little umph, that little that we might find
(02:33):
ourselves needing, and how important it is to take time
for those little moments for ourselves to really get up,
to feel a little clear, a little more cleaned off,
maybe even a little more beautiful, attractive, manicured, you know,
and really the effect that that has mentally, physically, emotionally,
(02:57):
and spiritually on us. So I want to dive into
that a little bit, but I'm going to start off
by sharing something that happened this week. So this week
I had the chance to go check out the premiere
for Creed three, which is Michael B. Jordan's latest film,
his directorial debut, and also the movie start incredible actors
(03:21):
like Tessa Thompson Jonathan Majors who was absolutely phenomenal, and
I had a chance to do the red carpet for
that premiere. Big shout out to my Chase sat Byre family.
And it was such perfect timing for me because I
had spent a couple of weeks. I'm a mom of
assumed to be five year old boy, I have a business,
(03:44):
a couple businesses. I always traveling for work, and so
I had hit a little bit of a personal slump
with myself, which happens to me sometimes in winter. I'm
very sensitive to the changes of the seasons. And it
was just NonStop raining in La for a couple of weeks.
I had every single day I was wearing, you know,
(04:06):
sweatpants and a baggy shirt and hair in a top
knot like big mom style and my little one. You know,
it's that time of the year where kids are just
getting sick at school left and right, and you know,
so there were just lots of couch cuddles in my
life and lots of tea and lots of watching Disney classics,
(04:29):
and so I started to feel just kind of personally
really stagnant. You know. I felt like I'm in my
sweatpants every day. I'm kind of going back and forth
in this pouring rain, got you know, tyling all in
hand all the things. And it's like those moments, especially
when weeks or months go by and you might be
(04:51):
in a groove like that, it is really kind of
natural to forget yourself in some ways, and to not
really even realize that you forget yourself. You kind of
just acclimate to the flow of your life and before
you know it, you're just like, wait a minute, where
am I? Who am I? So that's kind of how
I was feeling, and it happens. But I was really
(05:14):
craving an opportunity to be in my creativity, craving an
opportunity to kind of come to life. And I got
that when I got to go to check out this wonderful,
really incredible film and do the Red carpet, and so
I had a really fun experience. And I used to
do stuff like this when I worked in entertainment, but
(05:36):
it's been a while and so I had my glam
team come over and I had incredible hair and makeup.
Thank you lay, thank you Shannon, thank you Becca for
the styling. And I had the chance to just be
really done up and be in that beautiful energy with
other amazing women, and we were just flooded and beauty,
(05:58):
getting ready and then being able to hit the red carpet.
And sometimes we need moments like that to just remind
us of ourselves. We need moments like that to really
amplify what is naturally present, you know, to really nourish
some of our our poise, our gifts, our abilities, and
(06:22):
use beauty in doing that. And I was thinking quite
a bit about how it used to feel when I
was a teenager kind of discovering those things for myself.
As we learn to do our hair or you know,
figure out different beauty routines or you know, for some
(06:43):
of us, especially if you have curly hair, it's really
like finding your hair recipe, which takes like a decade
of figuring out what products work for you, what styles
work for you. But the creativity that's a part of
that is what really enlivens us. Then I was thinking
back to moments of just being younger and being with
girlfriends and wearing face masks together, you try out that
(07:06):
personal style, you go, you know, swap clothes, trade outfits.
And it felt really nice to sit in the youngness
of some of those memories, and it really got me
thinking about intentionally placing more moments like that in my
(07:26):
life and really connecting with friends to do that. So
we talk a lot on this show about tools, right,
about self care practices, about honoring ourselves and our journey
and what are the things that we can place in
our day. And I think it is really easy, especially
(07:48):
if you find yourself on the healing journey or on
the spiritual journey, to just really spend a lot of
our time focusing on the spiritual aspect of things, and
focusing on the journaling and the meditation and some of
those really powerful tools. But another part that's really beautiful
(08:10):
and expansive, it's finding opportunities to expand on our individual humanity,
you know, bringing some of that devotion and that divinity
down to the actual practices we use to stay fresh
and clean as beans. And so when I talk about
self practices and when I'm out teaching, you know, I
(08:32):
really love leaning into sharing some of my favorite practices
to connect to the body, which can be like doing
dry brushing on your skin, taking those epsom salt bags
baths and you know, don't forget to use the whole
bagsis like taking time to do gasha on your face.
(08:54):
And that's when you use either a tool that's made
of stone or crystal, or even sometimes it's made of
brass or copper or surgical steel, and you do those
techniques on your face or you use them to really
drain your limps and your body, and all of those
(09:18):
techniques really allow us to be with our bodies in
new ways. So I really recommend that if you haven't
expanded in that practice yet, take a second to grab
a pin if you want to kind of drop some
of this down, if you have a journal nearby. But
a great way to start really nourishing your body is
to create a practice where a few days a week
(09:39):
you really set aside a little more time while you're bathing,
if that's possible for you, and set aside a little
more time as you're lotioning or as you're doing some
of that prep and just giving some intention to yourself
and an invitation to feel really beautiful however you look
that day, however, you know you're moving whatever flow you're
(10:02):
in with your body and your beauty, but being intentional
to kind of slow down in that process, to anoint
yourself in different ways. And so one of the ways
that I like to do that is a few times
a week, I will do some of what I just shared,
so that looks like, you know, having an intentional long
salt bath. Now, this isn't necessarily in place of your
(10:24):
shower or another way that you're bathing and cleansing yourself
intending to your hygiene. This is more so for the
spiritual benefits and so and the body benefits. And so
I like to take at minimum three times a week
very intentional salt bath. I usually do this in the
evening because that's when I'm able to grab a little
(10:45):
extra time after my kiddo goes to bed, and so
I'll do warm to hot bath. I'll put in about
two full bags of up some salt. I go really
hard with up some salt and maybe some magnesium flate
that really feels good for my body. And then I'll
say a little prayer over the water, and I'll kind
(11:06):
of set an intention of what I want to release
before I get into the water, and I use that
time to be without a phone, to light some incense,
light a candle, to maybe play some music. As I've
shared on this show many times, Selection Radio and Apple
Music by Joe k is my jam. I've been listening
(11:32):
for a few years. I probably listen to a selection
mix every single day for the last three years or so.
So I'll play that and then I'll get in the
water and I'll use that time to meditate and to
really let my body surrender and release. And when I
get out of the bath and i'll do dry brushing
before I get into the bath, I feel really restored
(11:55):
and replenished. And then I like to take a lot
of slow, intentional time to as I'm applying lotion or oils.
I love to use an iravatic oil for coffa and
also for pita, and I'll use my iravatic oils or
I'll use my really deeply moisturizing lotion, and I'll take
(12:15):
my time as I lotion my body. And that's why
for me, to evening is best for this. But as
I'm lotioning or oiling my body, I'm also taking time
to really investigate any areas that may be holding tension,
in any areas that may be just feeling tighter than normal,
and being able to do that kind of physical body scan.
(12:37):
And we've done a meditation body scan on this show
a few times, which is where you really kind of
get present, get still and track your body and the
feelings inside of it from the top of your crown
all the way to the tips of your toes and
you align that with your chakra system. But then to
also do that physically with your actual hands and your
(12:58):
movements and your ability to kind of find ways to
meet your own needs of whatever requires your attention. I
hold a lot of tension in the tops of my
shoulders and the connection point for my jaw, also in
my forearms, and sometimes in my ankles and my calves,
(13:20):
and so as I have time to kind of slow
down with my intention, I love to really spend time
kind of meeting and massaging and trying out different pressure
in those areas. And so I also love to do
that with my skincare routines. So when it comes to
actually putting on in essence and a serum and a
(13:42):
moisturizer on my face, taking the time to give yourself
a little more intention, to cultivate, to honor, to get
to know your individual radiant, unique beauty, to really take
time spending some slow moments with yourself, either nourishing or
(14:07):
finding and exploring the things that make you feel beautiful
about yourself. Notice your body, Notice your skin, Notice the
areas that sometimes for many different reasons, you may want
to look away from and choose to look Choose to
be with those parts of you. Choose to nourish those
(14:30):
parts of you, touch those parts that you spend time
with those parts of you. Ro So those intentional practices
(14:52):
can also include, you know, having a practice like that
for your hair, depending on what your individual hair story
is and what that journey has been, but you know,
identifying time a couple times a week to massage your scalp.
Something that I love doing is I have a brass
tool and also a meme comb made of wood that
(15:16):
I like to kind of very slowly scratch my scalp with,
and I veda it's meant to be incredibly stimulating for
your scalp, very nourishing for your hair, for your hair growth,
for your stress, opening up your crown chakra, and it
takes just a couple of minutes, but I'll spend time
(15:37):
really intentionally massaging my scalp a couple times a week,
usually after bedtime from a little one. This is also
for those that have asked on Twitter. I tweeted about
this recently. That's why I gave up TV for over
two years because I needed to reclaim some time to
figure out how to grow these practices to really honor
myself and my journey. And so TV had to go
(16:00):
because binge watching different shows was the time that I
needed for my self care. I needed that two hours
a night I might have watched a show instead of
doing that, I dedicated that to my self care practice.
And so that might be necessary for you finding the
time in some way that feels good. Now. What I
(16:21):
do also want to say about that is a lot
of times we find ourselves numbing a little in the evening.
And this is not a judgment, because whatever makes us
feel as distressed and as ready for bed and rest
as possible is the right choice for you. But I know,
very often because it's the easiest choice and the choice
(16:42):
we're kind of trained to make, we decide that at
the end of the night we'll throw on the TV,
throw on something mindless, just so we can kind of
exist and come down a little bit and regulate. So
when you trade maybe TV or movie watching for that
at night, and you replenish it with something like taking
(17:05):
an app some salt bath or doing an abayana, a
self massage with oil, or nourishing your scalp, spending time
with your hair with your skincare routine, or stretching, the
same effect happens time is a million, So you're regulating
in the same ways that kind of watching television at
(17:26):
the end of the night can feel really comforting and relaxing.
You're getting that same feeling from these practices, and you're
really honoring your body, mind, and soul and bringing them
to life in new ways. And you're cultivating and ability
to meet your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs at a
deeper level. So if you're looking for the time to
(17:47):
have some of the practices that we talk about here,
considering what the consider what the flow of your morning
and your evening looks like, and then see, you know,
what are the things that you're choosing to do with
that time and what need is it meeting for you?
At a fundamental level, like outside of maybe entertainment or laughing,
(18:09):
you know what, on a physical level, on a mental
and an emotional level, what are you noticing within yourself
that whatever that is is doing for you? And then
maybe spend some time and say, you know, is there
another practice that could feel more serving? Is there another
practice that could meet this need and also help me
grow on my spiritual journey or grow my spiritual life.
(18:33):
So those are some of the physical practices that I love,
and I was never you know, it was interesting, I
was never, as a younger person, a really beauty girl,
like I never was really never really had the chance
to get very involved in like makeup or hair stuff
like that as a teenager as a younger person, and
(18:56):
so that's something I began to have a lot of
fun with as an adult, I know where too much makeup.
Typically I love when I get to get dressed up
like hello premiere, But on a day to day basis,
I like a nice little bomb, a little cream. I
like to really spend a lot of time invested in
my skincare, kind of helping my skin come to life
(19:20):
a little bit more naturally. But diving into some of
that meets that need too, because it connects to your creativity.
And I think sometimes as women were either pushed to
focus too much on our beauty that it feels like
overwhelming and it's expensive, or we're told to be more
modest and not be so vain and focus on those things.
(19:42):
But cultivating our beauty is our birthright. It's part of
the experience of being human. Carrying about your hair, your skin,
the way that you feel it is important and it
ignites our creativity in new ways. And the way we
tend to our beauty does not have to be the
way for some of us when we were younger it
(20:03):
looked in you know, seventeen magazine or Ebony magazine. It
doesn't have to look like the way that capitalism and
TV pushes it on us, like buying things or having outfits,
or you know, having this kind of makeup and this
status symbol or having your hair done in this kind
of way. It's more about how do you get to
(20:26):
know your unique beauty. How do you get to know
your beautiful coral pattern or the way that your freckles
come out in the sun, or the way that your
skin changes in the seasons or responds to different motions
and different oils. You know, the beauty of journey, excuse me,
the journey of our beauty and our radiance. And this
(20:49):
is for both men and women, because for any for
any men that are listening, you are beautiful too, and
you have a beauty that really matters. And you know
it doesn't have to just be you a handsome or
you know, you're a child of God as well. And
so there's so much beauty in your skin and in
your body and in your hair that you get that
(21:12):
you deserve to get to know in a really gentle,
expansive way. So however you identify, beauty is a part
of what helps us heal, what helps us grow. So
often when I teach meditation and emotional regulation, it's about
(21:32):
connecting to the beauty of nature. I know many of
us hear that a lot, and we've talked about that
on this show. But the healing power of seeing beautiful
things is scientifically proven, which is why being in nature
to regulate or you know, there have been studies about
people in hospitals and the difference between the recovery of
(21:56):
someone from an illness or surgery. If you're able to
look out of the window in the hospital and see
a tree, or see the sun, or see clouds, or
have a healing garden at the hospital that you're staying at,
versus being in a hospital that's maybe surrounded by a
cityscape that in a room that doesn't have a window,
(22:18):
you heal slower. Your mental health takes quite a toll,
your physical, your emotional, your spiritual health. And so the
same way is that connecting with beauty for our healing
by looking in nature, by seeing things like mountains, waterfalls, skies, animals, sunshine.
(22:40):
We can connect to a deep healing like that by
finding and seeing and cultivating and tending to and spending
time with the beauty that uniquely resides inside each of
us and spending a little time creatively looking to bring
it to light. So when I had a chance earlier
(23:04):
this week to go to the through the Creed three
premiere and be on the red carpet and kind of
connect to beauty in a new way for me at
this stage in my life as a mother of an
almost five year old that it's really just focused on
work and motherhood, it reminded me of a piece of
me that I needed to reconnect to. It lit a
(23:26):
little bit of a creative fire under me to give
myself a little more pep in the step which nourished
my mental health, which nourished my emotional and spiritual health.
So I want you to consider finding a way to
do that for yourself. This week, we have two episodes
left in this season of Dropping Jim's podcast, and in
(23:48):
about two weeks, I have a big, big, big, big
big announcement about this podcast that I cannot wait to
share with you. So that's come up, and also before
we before we part ways, I also want to share
that if you get a chance. It's not an advertisement,
but I loved it. Check out Create three. It was
(24:13):
really amazing. It's a boxing film, so there is some violence,
so jess a little bit of a trigger warning there.
I did have to kind of look down a few
times because, based on my personal journey, taking in physical
violence like that can be challenging for me. So I
looked I looked away a few times. But the story
(24:35):
of Create three was amazing and it was so deep
and I just really I really connect with and think
that Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors are two of
our greatest actors and they're going to go down as
that as their careers continue to expand, and you know,
(24:58):
they're really interesting roles they take on continue to expand.
But I was really in awe of both of those
men and the mastery that they have for their craft,
the mastery that they have for bringing these stories and
these really intense and interesting characters to life. I don't
(25:18):
want to give a way too much about the story,
but the story itself, the plot itself of the movie
was very deep, and if you've been listening to this show,
I really think when you see it, you'll connect to
it in such a deep way. There were a lot
of themes present that we talk about on this show
(25:38):
as it relates to mental health, forgiveness, emotional resilience, responsibility.
So yeah, it was deep. I think you will love it.
Everyone was phenomenal and just really huge. Shout out to
Michael B. Jordan as a director, because I thought the
way that he saw this film and the way that
(26:02):
he told this story and guided his actors and acted himself,
it was just like wow, mind blowing, incredible, very inspiring creatively.
So if you get a chance to check out Creed three,
do it, do it. Do it. Shout out to the
stunningly gorgeous Tessa Thompson. Her voice is amazing, by the way.
(26:22):
I just loved seeing her in this film, and yeah,
it was amazing. So check it out. I know you will.
And today, the soul work for this episode of the
show is connected to tending to your inner light and
(26:44):
tending to your radiance, your radiance, your beauty, your nourishment,
really looking to enliven your physical body and your beauty.
So the soul work for today is what are some
ways that you can do that? And I want you
(27:04):
to really think about it. It could be as simple
as saying, you know, I'm gonna put a little more
effort into myself today. And for you, that may look
like you want to get dressed in a different way,
or you want to show up at work in a
different way, or you know, maybe do it up a
little bit more. And or it could be saying I'm
(27:25):
really gonna intentionally massage my face tonight in the mirror
when I put on moisturizer before bed, and look myself
in my eyes and tell myself I'm beautiful. Whatever that
looks like for you, I want your soul work to
be finding a new practice that really celebrates, supports, and
(27:49):
tends to your radiance. How and when do you feel
most beautiful, most yourself, most physically confident? And I want
you to really think about that and write down a
few ways that you can support, that you can grow,
(28:12):
that you can stretch that send picks too. If you
happen to be out in the world having a great
day like that and you post it on the gram
tag us, I would love to connect with you and
see and celebrate. Okay, until next week, Thank you for listening,
and I'm astay. Hey find me on social Let's connect
(28:36):
at Debbie Brown. That's Twitter and Instagram, or go to
my website Debbie Brown dot com. And if you're listening
to the show on Apple Podcasts, please please please don't
forget to rate, review, and subscribe and send this episode
to a friend. Dropping Jams is the production of iHeartRadio
(28:57):
and The Black Effect Network. It's produced by Jack Please
and me Debbie Brown. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
From grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl ill to
fathers on dimly lit street commers instructing young soldiers to
always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you will fire,
you will pass through centuries. On the hands of your daughters.
They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the backs of diamond
eyed school children who grew into hymnals recited by amethysts
(00:33):
holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments out of the
windows of restored alchimedo chariots to keep the warmth of
their blood. Be wise, be smart, being black, Opal Brown
courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of jim see
king told, scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife, wife
(00:57):
told her daughter, and daughter told the ant, and the
emphasis told me that you would come to give wisdom.
Thousands They said you would come, Dropping Dropping the Gem. Hi,
Welcome back to another episode of The Dropping Gem's podcast,
Your Soft Place to Land, where we are always investigating ourselves,
(01:20):
investigating the world, and then applying those lessons in real
time so that we can live the lives that feel
really good and really purposeful. I'm Debbie Brown, and this
episode I want to talk all about the healing importance
of beauty and creativity. My mind really got moving this
(01:45):
week as I was thinking about, you know, those feelings,
and I'm going to kind of speak to men and
women on this in a little bit of different ways.
But you know that feeling you get when you finally
get to get rest, like look really good, or for me,
I experienced that sometimes it's like when you get your
(02:07):
eyebrows done or fresh car washed. For some reason, that
just amplifies a little pep in my step. And I
know for some guys that could be like getting your haircut,
getting your lineup, getting that car wash. And I was
thinking how how really simple it is sometimes to give
ourselves that little umph, that little that we might find
(02:33):
ourselves needing, and how important it is to take time
for those little moments for ourselves to really get up,
to feel a little clear, a little more cleaned off,
maybe even a little more beautiful, attractive, manicured, you know,
and really the effect that that has mentally, physically, emotionally,
(02:57):
and spiritually on us. So I want to dive into
that a little bit, but I'm going to start off
by sharing something that happened this week. So this week
I had the chance to go check out the premiere
for Creed three, which is Michael B. Jordan's latest film,
his directorial debut, and also the movie start incredible actors
(03:21):
like Tessa Thompson Jonathan Majors who was absolutely phenomenal, and
I had a chance to do the red carpet for
that premiere. Big shout out to my Chase sat Byre family.
And it was such perfect timing for me because I
had spent a couple of weeks. I'm a mom of
assumed to be five year old boy, I have a business,
(03:44):
a couple businesses. I always traveling for work, and so
I had hit a little bit of a personal slump
with myself, which happens to me sometimes in winter. I'm
very sensitive to the changes of the seasons. And it
was just NonStop raining in La for a couple of weeks.
I had every single day I was wearing, you know,
(04:06):
sweatpants and a baggy shirt and hair in a top
knot like big mom style and my little one. You know,
it's that time of the year where kids are just
getting sick at school left and right, and you know,
so there were just lots of couch cuddles in my
life and lots of tea and lots of watching Disney classics,
(04:29):
and so I started to feel just kind of personally
really stagnant. You know. I felt like I'm in my
sweatpants every day. I'm kind of going back and forth
in this pouring rain, got you know, tyling all in
hand all the things. And it's like those moments, especially
when weeks or months go by and you might be
(04:51):
in a groove like that, it is really kind of
natural to forget yourself in some ways, and to not
really even realize that you forget yourself. You kind of
just acclimate to the flow of your life and before
you know it, you're just like, wait a minute, where
am I? Who am I? So that's kind of how
I was feeling, and it happens. But I was really
(05:14):
craving an opportunity to be in my creativity, craving an
opportunity to kind of come to life. And I got
that when I got to go to check out this wonderful,
really incredible film and do the Red carpet, and so
I had a really fun experience. And I used to
do stuff like this when I worked in entertainment, but
(05:36):
it's been a while and so I had my glam
team come over and I had incredible hair and makeup.
Thank you lay, thank you Shannon, thank you Becca for
the styling. And I had the chance to just be
really done up and be in that beautiful energy with
other amazing women, and we were just flooded and beauty,
(05:58):
getting ready and then being able to hit the red carpet.
And sometimes we need moments like that to just remind
us of ourselves. We need moments like that to really
amplify what is naturally present, you know, to really nourish
some of our our poise, our gifts, our abilities, and
(06:22):
use beauty in doing that. And I was thinking quite
a bit about how it used to feel when I
was a teenager kind of discovering those things for myself.
As we learn to do our hair or you know,
figure out different beauty routines or you know, for some
(06:43):
of us, especially if you have curly hair, it's really
like finding your hair recipe, which takes like a decade
of figuring out what products work for you, what styles
work for you. But the creativity that's a part of
that is what really enlivens us. Then I was thinking
back to moments of just being younger and being with
girlfriends and wearing face masks together, you try out that
(07:06):
personal style, you go, you know, swap clothes, trade outfits.
And it felt really nice to sit in the youngness
of some of those memories, and it really got me
thinking about intentionally placing more moments like that in my
(07:26):
life and really connecting with friends to do that. So
we talk a lot on this show about tools, right,
about self care practices, about honoring ourselves and our journey
and what are the things that we can place in
our day. And I think it is really easy, especially
(07:48):
if you find yourself on the healing journey or on
the spiritual journey, to just really spend a lot of
our time focusing on the spiritual aspect of things, and
focusing on the journaling and the meditation and some of
those really powerful tools. But another part that's really beautiful
(08:10):
and expansive, it's finding opportunities to expand on our individual humanity,
you know, bringing some of that devotion and that divinity
down to the actual practices we use to stay fresh
and clean as beans. And so when I talk about
self practices and when I'm out teaching, you know, I
(08:32):
really love leaning into sharing some of my favorite practices
to connect to the body, which can be like doing
dry brushing on your skin, taking those epsom salt bags
baths and you know, don't forget to use the whole
bagsis like taking time to do gasha on your face.
(08:54):
And that's when you use either a tool that's made
of stone or crystal, or even sometimes it's made of
brass or copper or surgical steel, and you do those
techniques on your face or you use them to really
drain your limps and your body, and all of those
(09:18):
techniques really allow us to be with our bodies in
new ways. So I really recommend that if you haven't
expanded in that practice yet, take a second to grab
a pin if you want to kind of drop some
of this down, if you have a journal nearby. But
a great way to start really nourishing your body is
to create a practice where a few days a week
(09:39):
you really set aside a little more time while you're bathing,
if that's possible for you, and set aside a little
more time as you're lotioning or as you're doing some
of that prep and just giving some intention to yourself
and an invitation to feel really beautiful however you look
that day, however, you know you're moving whatever flow you're
(10:02):
in with your body and your beauty, but being intentional
to kind of slow down in that process, to anoint
yourself in different ways. And so one of the ways
that I like to do that is a few times
a week, I will do some of what I just shared,
so that looks like, you know, having an intentional long
salt bath. Now, this isn't necessarily in place of your
(10:24):
shower or another way that you're bathing and cleansing yourself
intending to your hygiene. This is more so for the
spiritual benefits and so and the body benefits. And so
I like to take at minimum three times a week
very intentional salt bath. I usually do this in the
evening because that's when I'm able to grab a little
(10:45):
extra time after my kiddo goes to bed, and so
I'll do warm to hot bath. I'll put in about
two full bags of up some salt. I go really
hard with up some salt and maybe some magnesium flate
that really feels good for my body. And then I'll
say a little prayer over the water, and I'll kind
(11:06):
of set an intention of what I want to release
before I get into the water, and I use that
time to be without a phone, to light some incense,
light a candle, to maybe play some music. As I've
shared on this show many times, Selection Radio and Apple
Music by Joe k is my jam. I've been listening
(11:32):
for a few years. I probably listen to a selection
mix every single day for the last three years or so.
So I'll play that and then I'll get in the
water and I'll use that time to meditate and to
really let my body surrender and release. And when I
get out of the bath and i'll do dry brushing
before I get into the bath, I feel really restored
(11:55):
and replenished. And then I like to take a lot
of slow, intentional time to as I'm applying lotion or oils.
I love to use an iravatic oil for coffa and
also for pita, and I'll use my iravatic oils or
I'll use my really deeply moisturizing lotion, and I'll take
(12:15):
my time as I lotion my body. And that's why
for me, to evening is best for this. But as
I'm lotioning or oiling my body, I'm also taking time
to really investigate any areas that may be holding tension,
in any areas that may be just feeling tighter than normal,
and being able to do that kind of physical body scan.
(12:37):
And we've done a meditation body scan on this show
a few times, which is where you really kind of
get present, get still and track your body and the
feelings inside of it from the top of your crown
all the way to the tips of your toes and
you align that with your chakra system. But then to
also do that physically with your actual hands and your
(12:58):
movements and your ability to kind of find ways to
meet your own needs of whatever requires your attention. I
hold a lot of tension in the tops of my
shoulders and the connection point for my jaw, also in
my forearms, and sometimes in my ankles and my calves,
(13:20):
and so as I have time to kind of slow
down with my intention, I love to really spend time
kind of meeting and massaging and trying out different pressure
in those areas. And so I also love to do
that with my skincare routines. So when it comes to
actually putting on in essence and a serum and a
(13:42):
moisturizer on my face, taking the time to give yourself
a little more intention, to cultivate, to honor, to get
to know your individual radiant, unique beauty, to really take
time spending some slow moments with yourself, either nourishing or
(14:07):
finding and exploring the things that make you feel beautiful
about yourself. Notice your body, Notice your skin, Notice the
areas that sometimes for many different reasons, you may want
to look away from and choose to look Choose to
be with those parts of you. Choose to nourish those
(14:30):
parts of you, touch those parts that you spend time
with those parts of you. Ro So those intentional practices
(14:52):
can also include, you know, having a practice like that
for your hair, depending on what your individual hair story
is and what that journey has been, but you know,
identifying time a couple times a week to massage your scalp.
Something that I love doing is I have a brass
tool and also a meme comb made of wood that
(15:16):
I like to kind of very slowly scratch my scalp with,
and I veda it's meant to be incredibly stimulating for
your scalp, very nourishing for your hair, for your hair growth,
for your stress, opening up your crown chakra, and it
takes just a couple of minutes, but I'll spend time
(15:37):
really intentionally massaging my scalp a couple times a week,
usually after bedtime from a little one. This is also
for those that have asked on Twitter. I tweeted about
this recently. That's why I gave up TV for over
two years because I needed to reclaim some time to
figure out how to grow these practices to really honor
myself and my journey. And so TV had to go
(16:00):
because binge watching different shows was the time that I
needed for my self care. I needed that two hours
a night I might have watched a show instead of
doing that, I dedicated that to my self care practice.
And so that might be necessary for you finding the
time in some way that feels good. Now. What I
(16:21):
do also want to say about that is a lot
of times we find ourselves numbing a little in the evening.
And this is not a judgment, because whatever makes us
feel as distressed and as ready for bed and rest
as possible is the right choice for you. But I know,
very often because it's the easiest choice and the choice
(16:42):
we're kind of trained to make, we decide that at
the end of the night we'll throw on the TV,
throw on something mindless, just so we can kind of
exist and come down a little bit and regulate. So
when you trade maybe TV or movie watching for that
at night, and you replenish it with something like taking
(17:05):
an app some salt bath or doing an abayana, a
self massage with oil, or nourishing your scalp, spending time
with your hair with your skincare routine, or stretching, the
same effect happens time is a million, So you're regulating
in the same ways that kind of watching television at
(17:26):
the end of the night can feel really comforting and relaxing.
You're getting that same feeling from these practices, and you're
really honoring your body, mind, and soul and bringing them
to life in new ways. And you're cultivating and ability
to meet your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs at a
deeper level. So if you're looking for the time to
(17:47):
have some of the practices that we talk about here,
considering what the consider what the flow of your morning
and your evening looks like, and then see, you know,
what are the things that you're choosing to do with
that time and what need is it meeting for you?
At a fundamental level, like outside of maybe entertainment or laughing,
(18:09):
you know what, on a physical level, on a mental
and an emotional level, what are you noticing within yourself
that whatever that is is doing for you? And then
maybe spend some time and say, you know, is there
another practice that could feel more serving? Is there another
practice that could meet this need and also help me
grow on my spiritual journey or grow my spiritual life.
(18:33):
So those are some of the physical practices that I love,
and I was never you know, it was interesting, I
was never, as a younger person, a really beauty girl,
like I never was really never really had the chance
to get very involved in like makeup or hair stuff
like that as a teenager as a younger person, and
(18:56):
so that's something I began to have a lot of
fun with as an adult, I know where too much makeup.
Typically I love when I get to get dressed up
like hello premiere, But on a day to day basis,
I like a nice little bomb, a little cream. I
like to really spend a lot of time invested in
my skincare, kind of helping my skin come to life
(19:20):
a little bit more naturally. But diving into some of
that meets that need too, because it connects to your creativity.
And I think sometimes as women were either pushed to
focus too much on our beauty that it feels like
overwhelming and it's expensive, or we're told to be more
modest and not be so vain and focus on those things.
(19:42):
But cultivating our beauty is our birthright. It's part of
the experience of being human. Carrying about your hair, your skin,
the way that you feel it is important and it
ignites our creativity in new ways. And the way we
tend to our beauty does not have to be the
way for some of us when we were younger it
(20:03):
looked in you know, seventeen magazine or Ebony magazine. It
doesn't have to look like the way that capitalism and
TV pushes it on us, like buying things or having outfits,
or you know, having this kind of makeup and this
status symbol or having your hair done in this kind
of way. It's more about how do you get to
(20:26):
know your unique beauty. How do you get to know
your beautiful coral pattern or the way that your freckles
come out in the sun, or the way that your
skin changes in the seasons or responds to different motions
and different oils. You know, the beauty of journey, excuse me,
the journey of our beauty and our radiance. And this
(20:49):
is for both men and women, because for any for
any men that are listening, you are beautiful too, and
you have a beauty that really matters. And you know
it doesn't have to just be you a handsome or
you know, you're a child of God as well. And
so there's so much beauty in your skin and in
your body and in your hair that you get that
(21:12):
you deserve to get to know in a really gentle,
expansive way. So however you identify, beauty is a part
of what helps us heal, what helps us grow. So
often when I teach meditation and emotional regulation, it's about
(21:32):
connecting to the beauty of nature. I know many of
us hear that a lot, and we've talked about that
on this show. But the healing power of seeing beautiful
things is scientifically proven, which is why being in nature
to regulate or you know, there have been studies about
people in hospitals and the difference between the recovery of
(21:56):
someone from an illness or surgery. If you're able to
look out of the window in the hospital and see
a tree, or see the sun, or see clouds, or
have a healing garden at the hospital that you're staying at,
versus being in a hospital that's maybe surrounded by a
cityscape that in a room that doesn't have a window,
(22:18):
you heal slower. Your mental health takes quite a toll,
your physical, your emotional, your spiritual health. And so the
same way is that connecting with beauty for our healing
by looking in nature, by seeing things like mountains, waterfalls, skies, animals, sunshine.
(22:40):
We can connect to a deep healing like that by
finding and seeing and cultivating and tending to and spending
time with the beauty that uniquely resides inside each of
us and spending a little time creatively looking to bring
it to light. So when I had a chance earlier
(23:04):
this week to go to the through the Creed three
premiere and be on the red carpet and kind of
connect to beauty in a new way for me at
this stage in my life as a mother of an
almost five year old that it's really just focused on
work and motherhood, it reminded me of a piece of
me that I needed to reconnect to. It lit a
(23:26):
little bit of a creative fire under me to give
myself a little more pep in the step which nourished
my mental health, which nourished my emotional and spiritual health.
So I want you to consider finding a way to
do that for yourself. This week, we have two episodes
left in this season of Dropping Jim's podcast, and in
(23:48):
about two weeks, I have a big, big, big, big
big announcement about this podcast that I cannot wait to
share with you. So that's come up, and also before
we before we part ways, I also want to share
that if you get a chance. It's not an advertisement,
but I loved it. Check out Create three. It was
(24:13):
really amazing. It's a boxing film, so there is some violence,
so jess a little bit of a trigger warning there.
I did have to kind of look down a few
times because, based on my personal journey, taking in physical
violence like that can be challenging for me. So I
looked I looked away a few times. But the story
(24:35):
of Create three was amazing and it was so deep
and I just really I really connect with and think
that Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors are two of
our greatest actors and they're going to go down as
that as their careers continue to expand, and you know,
(24:58):
they're really interesting roles they take on continue to expand.
But I was really in awe of both of those
men and the mastery that they have for their craft,
the mastery that they have for bringing these stories and
these really intense and interesting characters to life. I don't
(25:18):
want to give a way too much about the story,
but the story itself, the plot itself of the movie
was very deep, and if you've been listening to this show,
I really think when you see it, you'll connect to
it in such a deep way. There were a lot
of themes present that we talk about on this show
(25:38):
as it relates to mental health, forgiveness, emotional resilience, responsibility.
So yeah, it was deep. I think you will love it.
Everyone was phenomenal and just really huge. Shout out to
Michael B. Jordan as a director, because I thought the
way that he saw this film and the way that
(26:02):
he told this story and guided his actors and acted himself,
it was just like wow, mind blowing, incredible, very inspiring creatively.
So if you get a chance to check out Creed three,
do it, do it. Do it. Shout out to the
stunningly gorgeous Tessa Thompson. Her voice is amazing, by the way.
(26:22):
I just loved seeing her in this film, and yeah,
it was amazing. So check it out. I know you will.
And today, the soul work for this episode of the
show is connected to tending to your inner light and
(26:44):
tending to your radiance, your radiance, your beauty, your nourishment,
really looking to enliven your physical body and your beauty.
So the soul work for today is what are some
ways that you can do that? And I want you
(27:04):
to really think about it. It could be as simple
as saying, you know, I'm gonna put a little more
effort into myself today. And for you, that may look
like you want to get dressed in a different way,
or you want to show up at work in a
different way, or you know, maybe do it up a
little bit more. And or it could be saying I'm
(27:25):
really gonna intentionally massage my face tonight in the mirror
when I put on moisturizer before bed, and look myself
in my eyes and tell myself I'm beautiful. Whatever that
looks like for you, I want your soul work to
be finding a new practice that really celebrates, supports, and
(27:49):
tends to your radiance. How and when do you feel
most beautiful, most yourself, most physically confident? And I want
you to really think about that and write down a
few ways that you can support, that you can grow,
(28:12):
that you can stretch that send picks too. If you
happen to be out in the world having a great
day like that and you post it on the gram
tag us, I would love to connect with you and
see and celebrate. Okay, until next week, Thank you for listening,
and I'm astay. Hey find me on social Let's connect
(28:36):
at Debbie Brown. That's Twitter and Instagram, or go to
my website Debbie Brown dot com. And if you're listening
to the show on Apple Podcasts, please please please don't
forget to rate, review, and subscribe and send this episode
to a friend. Dropping Jams is the production of iHeartRadio
(28:57):
and The Black Effect Network. It's produced by Jack Please
and me Debbie Brown. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Host
Devi Brown
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