My Happy Happenings » Relaxation

A Spa Day

sheelbeel — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:15:23 +0000

For my 21st birthday my mother was kind enough to give me a gift certificate to the spa. Now, over a year later I finally took advantage of it to have a much needed trip to the spa. I got an extremely relaxing facial today and it was an absolute treat. Normally I’m too frugal to pamper myself with a massage or mani/pedi but I think that needs to change. I’m starting to think that a little personal spoiling once a month can do wonders for the spirit. Though I certainly can’t afford to make it a weekly occurrence – I think we all work hard and deserve to treat ourselves to something nice every once in a while. I’d love to hear your thoughts on other ways to relax – do you have any great pampering methods? Cheers to relaxation!

Bath Bombs

sheelbeel — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 22:50:17 +0000

I’ve already praised the wonder of the bubble bath – but I would now like to add another one of my favorite things…bath bombs! They are fun, smell great and make your relaxing bath that much more special. A great place to find them is the store Lush. The people that work there are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. They are eager to offer you samples and help you find exactly what you’re looking for. They can be a little on the expensive side so I can’t say I would use them at every bath time but when you really need a pick me up – a bath bomb is definitely in order. Relax and enjoy!

Doing yoga in a new place

sheelbeel — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:59:54 +0000

I definitely believe in the benefits of yoga – the lessons it provides on the value of breathing, stretching and strength are wonderful. But sometimes when I’m 45 minutes into an hour and a half long class I can’t help but stare at the clock and pray it will be over soon. Which lets face it, is the opposite of what you want to feel in a yoga class.
Then when I was away recently and didn’t have access to a gym I decided to do my own personally devised series of yoga moves outside by the water and it was without doubt the most beneficial yoga experience I have had. I was able to gear the whole routine to what I was feeling, target the muscles that needed it and go at it for exactly as long as I wanted to. And doing it in a new place meant there were so many new sights and sounds washing over me.
If you already have experience with yoga I strongly recommend finding a new spot (a park, your back yard, or anywhere else you think might be fun) and go do your own thing. You don’t even have to go with any set time or set moves in mind – just go and listen to your body. If you are new to yoga either take a quick drop in class to get acquainted or even just look up some moves on the Internet and give them a whirl.
It took me a while to get into yoga because sometimes you can get a teacher that isn’t very good and then you feel like you’ve wasted and hour. But if you stick with it long enough you can find the poses you really connect with and create your own routine you can do anywhere! And when there’s no timeline or rules it really gets to be all about you – and that’s relaxing!

Jumping into a fresh lake

sheelbeel — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:54:06 +0000

There’s nothing quite like jumping into a fresh lake on a hot summer day. It’s refreshing, relaxing and soothing all at the same time. You can’t help but feel like a kid again. Even if you live in the city I strongly recommend finding your way to a nearby lake. Sometimes the easiest way to do this is just to google a map of your home address and then slowly zoom out until you find a body of water nearby. Then see if that particular lake has a public beach available. Often there will be one just a half hour drive out of the city. Make a day of it with your friends and family. Take a picnic, bring some outdoor games and get ready to splash around in the lake – there’s nothing better!

The Bubble Bath

sheelbeel — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:56:46 +0000

I have recently rediscovered the wonder of baths. Up until about a week ago I associated baths with my mother’s childhood chant: “Time for a bath and then it’s bedtime.” I’d have to march upstairs, sit in 3 inches of lukewarm water for 10 minutes and then get carted off to bed (and bed always seemed like the worst punishment in the world as a child). In later years I merely associated the bathing and showering processes with being cold – because in Canada chances are the air in your house is freezing so even if you were warm while you were getting clean, you are more than likely going to freeze as soon as you get out. So me and the bathtub have not got along on all fronts.

But recently a coworker told me how much she enjoys having a nice bubble bath at night. And that got me thinking. Because even though I hated baths as a kid, on the rare occasions that my mom had some bubbles on hand, the experience did feel a little special. So that night I went to Shoppers, got a massive bottle of generic foaming bath gel and decided to try it out. I lit a few candles, got some bubbles going and settled in with a new book. I have to tell you – it was the greatest thing I’ve done for myself in months. Any stresses I had just seemed to melt away. And after a half hour I was so warm and relaxed that I was actually ready to get out. There was no frantic rush to get dried off and out of the cold air because I was so hot that it actually felt nice to get out. And putting on my pyjamas and crawling into bed was just the cherry on top.

Over the years I have collected so many bath products as gifts but I haven’t used any of them because I didn’t think I was a bath person. Essential oils, bubble bath, bath salts, candles, bath bombs – they’ve all just been sitting under my sink for years. Well boy am I going to make use of them now!

Before this point my “me time” always involved watching TV or surfing the internet – but neither of those left me feeling relaxed. They just made me feel like I had wasted a large chunk of time and fried my brain. But with a bath you really feel like you’ve done something good for yourself – and you deserve it! So please, do something just for you and have a nice, relaxing bubble bath!