Ok, listen, I have been sunbathing for years. I have also been to the dermatologist for years. In the 1990s, a dodgy dermatologist did a terrible job removing a mole. A dear friend was concerned and asked about it recently. Gosh, that scare happened about 30 years ago when the doctor sliced it off imperfectly — and did not use enough local anesthesia!
Yikes!
This was last summer and I felt beautiful then, but I am practicing so much yoga now, it has really transformed my body’s appearance.
Within the scope of sunbathing, I can attest to about every possible scenario. Getting a deep deliciously beautiful tan in 80’s was to my liking. As a girl growing up in the south at that time, tan lines were social credit that you could be lazy during the summer. Probably not the best past time, I know. I had some confidence issues, but did love inhaling books while I sunbathed. There was some good in it.
Beyond this, I later discovered in my mid-twenties that this activity would haunt me as it did from that bad mole removal job the local HMO did for me. I’ll never forget the sting of the healing of the aforementioned mole removal. Or the fear I held in my chest as I waited to learn what the results of another mole removal that was tested for caner cells. Both were benign, thankfully.
Before 2006, I had two more removed. This was common in that era. Now, dermatologists have a better way of recognizing which ones should be biopsied. I am so grateful, as removing a mole not only slightly torturous and does leave a scar. However, it is also a bit frightening to wait and learn if you may have cancerous cells that need attention.
Ch-ch-ch-changes.
Now, I take great care in keeping my skin covered. I do slightly lean into a gentle tan that my body evolves into with sun exposure with my Cherokee genese. Beyond, this, though, I look like a fair skinned Scots-Irish American. I need to refrain from extensive sunbathing. This refrain has consumed a greater part of my life, since I was 23.
It was 1993 when I moved to the Bay Area and took on an urban lifestyle. Most people don’t have time to enjoy a tan. Most people are busy working or doing activities outside of work to go and recreate in the sun. It is an occasional thing, still.. because of my fair skin, I took to one-piece suits when I turned 30 years.
This was a time when I decided I had grown up and the fun would just have to change.
I am a petite one with lots of muscles. It has only been since teaching yoga multiple times weekly that I feel comfortable wearing a bikini! 👙
Fast forward to now. I have gone on a couple of weekend trips with sweet friends. I decided to show off my 54 year old body. This body does and teaches yoga to many. I recently bought a bikini and wonder why I hung up the two piece bathing suit so long ago! I think the reality is that in my 30s, I was partying. Overindulging and moving into a state of being a chef, traveling, and having an erratic life. My body just wasn’t in the best shape.
While the collagen was aplenty then, I wasn’t working out properly. I did yoga back then about twice a week. Now, I practice daily and teach it to others. I think about yoga. I breath asanas and mediation most of the day, thinking about a place where I can stretch and ignite my lymphatic system. This, so I can be a better yoga teacher. So I can impart on anyone who sees me that I am a yoga teacher.
Within the ethos of yoga, we find a practice known as svādyāya, स्वाध्याय. This is the action of self-reflection, and introspection. This is a pleasure to teach to others, as it has done a great deal for my mindset. I find that when I am ready to lash out at others’ behaviors, I must engage in svādyāya to check in with myself. Am I doing what I can do to honor the other person and forgive?
While taking care to not go down a rabbit hole of self-blame, I do believe this gentle pause can benefit many in their relationships. We can always take time to pause and reflect deeply to bring awareness to our own person. This can inform how we are behaving in any situation. It is such a pause that overtime, you will find after practicing this that you have grown immensely.
Within the framework of this practice, you begin to ignite your intuitive awareness about yourself, as with some personal practice that evolves overtime, you most likely will begin to dive deeper and then begin a co-creation with your intuition to evolve your relationships in a way that you can begin svādyāya during the time you are with others. You begin interacting with your intuition and your connections not only go deeper with others. Within this practice, you can also can move faster, within the synergy of your self-study… especially, if the other person engages in self-study. This can be a magnificent and deliciously satisfying kind of relationship, be it friendship, spiritual, or romantic in nature.
It can be such that you begin a new journey to explore yourself within a topic like past behaviors, such as mine around my younger Angela who enjoyed tanning, as was the times of the 1980s. Thankfully, I did have the where-with-all to expand my horizons and try something new. I now see, at 54, that this personal lifestyle shift has saved my skin tremendously in preserving my natural glow with good nourishment, habits, and natural skin care!
On skincare.
I have an amazing skin care line that I love which has helped me to attend to minimizing the melasmas that remind me of my former tanning activity. If you want in on these beauty secrets, I would recommend explore the links below to either book a 1:1 consultation with me to learn a few anti-inflammatory face yoga poses, or some Ayurveda lifestyle tips to get you settled into an anti-inflammatory life that can be beneficial for sun damage. There are many things to explore at the link in my bio and I can’t wait to share more about this with you! If you’d like to explore my skincare choices, please click THIS LINK. Oliveda skin care, nourishment, and makeup has transformed my appearance and I love the efficacy of the olive tree use for the products to empower our skin with the magnificent hydroxytyrosol, and naturally occruring ingredient, alongside the magnificient antioxident ingredients in the emulsion of olive tree parts like olive leaves and virgin oil combined with the hydroxytyrosol. You need to know more about this.
Be well as the warm fall days call to a close in a week or so! It’s going to be hot around here, in the Bay Area!
Angela Rosoff is an Ayurveda Digestive Health Coach, Face Yoga expert, and yoga teacher. She loves helping people beautify from the inside out and expand their horizons with coaching in multi-dynamic ways. Explore her offerings HERE.
