Do Trees Have Energy? Yes. And You Can Use Their Energy to Uplift You.

Zhan zhuang: the art of standing like a post

Trees provide us with the healing benefits of the negative ions they give off. And equally so, they offer us the energy of Wood, according to traditional Chinese medicine. Trees are relevant for the Spring energetic season because Wood is the element of energetic Spring.

Enjoy the energy of the cypress tree in many of PHYTO5 Wood line products. All 5-element products by PHYTO5 are quantum energetic. This means the products work at not only the level of skin, they also work to balance your vital energy and emotions.

The Wood line, in particular, works to stimulate and balance your unseen vital energy. It potently balances emotions of anger and lack of confidence to kindness and confidence.

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Do trees have energy? Yes. They offer you the energy of Wood which is very vital energy stimulating.

1. Enjoy how the vibratory frequencies of trees positively affect you in a healing sort of way. Feel mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually stimulated by the energy of Wood. Tune in and feel.

2. Discover the trees of Finland's Koli National Park through this short film created by award-winning documentarist Brandy Yanchyk. Hug a Tree to be Happy and feel the energy of Wood.

3. Learn about forest bathing of Japan and many countries. Feel the stimulating energy of Wood through Shinrin-yoku. This term means "taking in the forest atmosphere" or "forest bathing." It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive healthcare and healing in Japanese medicine.

4. Electromagnetic changes in the surface of leaves and roots have been measured by specially designed equipment. This proves the energy of Wood. Discover the singing trees and plants of Damanhur, Colorado.

5. Study how some trees offer the stimulating vital energy of Wood and medicinal healing for many conditions and sicknesses. Both bark and leaves are used for making tinctures, salves and poultices.

6. Develop ‘listening energy’ with trees which some call ‘tree chi gong.’ Trees have energy you can learn and benefit from.

7. Practice zhan zhuang, pictured above, to experience the energy of Wood element. This is the art of standing like a post. Begin this posture until you can feel the chi flowing between your palms. Then with your palms try to feel the energy of Wood flow of the tree. When you feel the current of the tree, stop and tune in to your listening energy. When you feel the tree’s energy of Wood flow, allow your own energy flow to synchronize and connect to the tree’s energy stream. This is tree chi gong practice.

8. Read about the ringing cedars of Russia in the Ringing Cedars series of books by Vladimir Megré. Ringing cedars are more than 500-year old Siberian cedar trees (also called Siberian pine, Pinus sibirica) that over their lifetime accumulate so much energy of Wood they start emitting a vibrating ringing sound. It’s believed these trees or pieces of their wood may produce a beneficial influence on human health and consciousness. Megré asserts through direct personal experience that the energy of wood of the ringing cedars has powerful healing properties and is capable of curing any disease of the flesh.

“Trees do emit a wide range of audible sounds apart from the rustling of their leaves, and you do not have to travel to Siberia or seek out some extraordinary specimens to hear that! Note that the sound Megré describes as ‘ringing’ is actually not a ringing of a bell or your cell phone, but rather a crackling sound similar to that of high-voltage power transmission lines. Such sounds are entirely within the range of trees’ natural capabilities…both the structure of trees (from their DNA to leaves or needles, branches and roots, and to the crown as a whole), and the materials they are composed from (be it sap, resin, wood, or waxy coating of needles) betray natural wave-receptors and energy accumulators.” –Dr. Leonid Sharshkin, Secrets of Cedar Products

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home. Wilderness is a necessity. –John Muir (1838–1914), Scottish-born American naturalist, a pioneer of environmental conservation. Muir was largely responsible for the establishment of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in California (1890).

Do trees have energy? Most definitely, yes.

And they maintain an inner spiritual structure called the djed(1), the tree of knowledge.

It’s this inner tree in all trees that we spiritually share with them when we embrace them.

As Celtic tradition teaches, each tree species embodies its own knowledge. We can tune in to tree wisdom and converse with it. Our tree teachers are available to us all. We only have to sit with a tree and listen.

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(1) djed: from Egyptian mythology, a pillar-like symbol in hieroglyphics representing stability

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Source:

–Hidalgo, Sharlyn. The Healing Power of Trees: Spiritual Journeys through the Celtic Tree Calendar. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2010. Print.

Balance Chakras by Giving Them the Energy They Lack

The seven colors that compose natural light also correspond to the energy of the seven major energetic centers of Ayurvedic medicine, or chakras. You can balance your chakras by giving them the energy they lack. There are a number of ways to balance chakras. PHYTO5 does it by applying certain energetic essential oils or specific colored light to the chakra.

In holistic living, we think of the body as an energetic system:

• Vital energy powers and directs the body.

• Vital energy sources include ancestral energy from our parents and energy transformed in our bodies from the air we breathe and the food we eat.

• We are also subjected to the energies of our environment from:

  • heaven (in the sense of cosmic energies) and

  • earth–called telluric energies (from the Latin ‘tellus,’ meaning ‘earth).

Energy is constantly transformed and flowing within each of us, and it also flows in and out of each of us.

Ayurveda also has energy points known as marma points that correlate highly with acupuncture points, and energy channels called nadis.

There are also chakras, or energetic centers. Each chakra receives and sends out energy, creating an energy distribution system not only within the body, but also between the body and our energy field. Each chakra has its own range of energy vibration that corresponds to one of the seven colors of the rainbow. Energy blockages can also occur in chakras.

Chakras are numbered from one to seven, starting at the root chakra and ending at the crown chakra. It is best to simultaneously balance chakras by pair, determined by their symmetrical position relative to the middle or heart (fourth) chakra.

Note that the sum of the paired or complementary chakras is always eight: 7 + 1, 6 + 2, and so on.

To each chakra corresponds certain organs and for some, one or two of the eight hormonal glands. The health of organs and hormonal glands depends on the energetic quality and quantity of the corresponding chakra.

A healthy hormonal system requires a healthy chakra system, thus the importance and practicality of working with light and oils to energize and balance them.

Chakras go deep into the body in a funnel shape and extend outward several inches beyond the skin level into the layers of our energy field—the aura around the body. See illustration, right column.

When our chakric energetic centers are in balance, meaning they are neither transmitting nor receiving too much or too little energy, they are in balance. This energy center balance assists in the creation of good mental, emotional, spiritual and even, physical health because each of these aspects affects all the other ones.

Each individual aura has its own blend of vibrations, energy and color combination, specific not only to each individual but also subject to changes from moment to moment and particularly according to emotions felt.

The closer we live to nature or in harmony with it, our energy fields and centers align to the energies of the earth and we consequently experience more balance and better health. Because of the challenges our current modern world presents to us, we must find ways to ensure our chakric system stays in balance.

The chakras are divine, subtle energy centers from which all experiences in life originate. They have been described as spinning vortices of subtle energy through which the individual receives, transmits, and processes the universal life-force energy… They form a subtle and psychic network of energy through the body, mind, and spirit operate as one holistic system… The sole purpose in gaining awareness of the chakra system is to assist the individual in achieving a state of harmony within her.

–Seidman, Maruti. Balancing the Chakras. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2000. Print.

What Is Bioceutical Skincare?

Cosmetics formulators use terms like cosmeceutical and bioceutical to convey the essence of their skincare products. These descriptive names imply the products offer you a pharmaceutical or life-giving quality. Unfortunately, these are misnomers. They cause you the consumer to automatically assume the products must higher quality and efficacy. This isn’t always the truth.

In fact, the U. S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes only two types of products: Drugs (as in medicine) and cosmetics.

Drugs are either a prescription type (doctor required) or the more benign over-the-counter (OTC) drugs that can be purchased on the retail market.

There are no other FDA product categories (as of this writing), therefore there really is no official “cosmeceutical” category.

Another regulated term is “active ingredient.” It is used quite frequently, particularly by European skincare lines, because those specific words do not have the same definition in Europe as is given by theFDA.

Used by professionals who know when the term is used loosely, there is really no harm even though it is quite improper. In these cases, the words are used to point to the ingredients responsible for the intended action of the product—what gives it its characteristics and uniqueness.

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They could be called functional, key, or defining ingredients, but to use the phrase, “active ingredients,” with anyone who might take it literally is fraudulent. This is because what defines a drug is the very presence of at least one active ingredient which is very specifically defined and regulated by the FDA.

These ingredients are listed as such on any drug container. An absence of FDA approved active ingredients makes the product something other than a drug—and that means a cosmetic product—regardless of the creativity of a copywriter intent on conveying something other than what it is.

Cosmeceuticals and other similarly named products have no “active ingredients” otherwise they would be considered a drug and would be under FDA regulation. 

Some manufacturers claim that the presence of a so called “bio-active” ingredient is the justification for their attempted differentiation. Unfortunately, the term bio-active is also a fabricated one that is not regulated (as of this writing). Ingredients such as minerals, vitamins, and essential oil can be deemed “bio-active.”

Again, all this creates a false image. It tries to convey exclusivity for unregulated products based on the presence of some unregulated ingredient(s). Pure marketing genius!

If you can’t beat them, you might as well join them!

Since there is ample “bio-activity” in PHYTO5 products and because natural high-grade essential oils make them energetic, PHYTO5 now uses the terms “Bioceutical” and “Phyto-Energetic.”

Some manufacturers claim that natural ingredients justify the notion of bioactivity. Some point to the superior bio activity of natural essential oils or algae or natural vitamins.

That would make PHYTO5 and a handful of other good skincare lines that have always included such ingredients, pioneers in the field of cosmeceutical and bioceutical skincare without even knowing it.

Get Negative Ions In Your Life and Be Healthier

Anyone can reap the benefits of earth's gift of negative ions. Nature gives you all kinds of organic opportunities to get more negative ions to elevate your health and vitality. This list of benefits will motivate you to get yourself into nature a little more every day.

Negative ions are created in nature as air molecules break apart as a result of the the action of sunlight, radiation, ultraviolet rays, the vital energy of plants and moving air and water.

They’re not harmful to you even in high concentrations.

Negative ions, abundantly found in nature, can positively and remarkably influence well-being. Get enough exposure to negative ions in nature and you may be able to get to sleep more quickly and sleep more soundly. Negative ion exposure helps you relieve your allergies, feel more energetic, concentrate better, perform athletically at higher levels, and feel happier. —from another of PHYTO5’s blogs on positive and negative ions

The healing effects of negative ion therapy were discovered by Alexander Chizhevsky (1897-1964), Russian biophysicist. He founded “heliobiology” (the study of the sun’s effect on biology) and “aero-ionization” (the study of the effect of ionization of air on biological entities) and invented the first negative ion generator.

Negative ionization of the air is now mandatory in many Russian and European hospitals and workplaces. 

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Here are just some of the enormous benefits of negative ion charged environments. Negative ions help to:

1. detoxify impurities from the skin and lymph by deeply penetrating the skin

2. reduce inflammation by defusing excess positive electrons

3. lessen chronic pain

4. increase physical energy

5. speed healing and shorten recovery time

6. support adrenal health

7. strengthen the skeletal system

8. balance the nervous system

9. combat free radicals in bloodstream

10. lower stress hormones resulting in a more calm demeanor and better relaxation

11. normalize biological rhythms such as Circadian

12. regulate blood flow and blood pressure or where necessary, decrease blood pressure; improve the function of the cardiovascular system

13. improve the function of the cilia in your respiratory tract which protect your lungs from irritation and inflammation; this reduces colds, flu, asthma and the symptoms of hay fever

14. relieve headaches and muscle tension

15. lessen menstrual and menopausal symptoms

16. eliminate jet lag

17. provide protection from EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies)

18. clear the air of mold spores, pollen, pet dander, odors, cigarette smoke, bacteria, viruses, dust and other hazardous airborne particles; negative ions achieve this by attaching to the positively charged particles of the pollutants mentioned in large numbers.

19. overcome depression (many view them as a natural anti-depressant)

20. elevate a sense of well-being

21. increase productivity

22. enhance mental clarity by increasing oxygen flow to the brain

23. achieve better rest and sleep

24. stimulate plant growth

“Imagine a simple force of nature that can: Provide you with a feeling of well-being; offer a quick rush of energy; allow you to sleep better; relieve asthma, allergies, and other respiratory disorders; lower blood pressure.

Sounds crazy, but it's true, and it's something that a drug company cannot sell you.

The healing power of negative ions first became known to the public in 1900, when a young engineering genius named Nikola Tesla published an article about the amazing work he had been doing with electricity. Using his new invention, the Tesla Coil, he was able to transmit several hundred thousand volts through the air instead of using wires.

Even more remarkable, he was able to send the current through this own body without harm. In so doing, he noted that his exposure had a beneficial effect on his body. The effect that Tesla reported was the direct result of negative ions.

Now, over a century later, researchers understand the science behind the phenomenon that Tesla experienced.” —Mindell, Earl. The Happiness Effect: The Positive Benefits of Negative Ions. 1st ed. New Hyde Park, New York: Square One, 2015. Print.

The Body's Five Fluids and the Importance of Drainage

One of the important functions of drainage is the natural transport of waste products away from the tissues.

The human body contains five fluids, each associated with one of the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). These are essential to the proper healthy functioning of the body. They are:

1. vital energy (Wood/Spring)

2. red blood (Fire/Summer)

3. lymph (Earth/any of the four 18-day transition periods between the other four seasons)

4. blue blood (Metal/Fall)

5. water (Water/Winter)

Stagnation of any of the fluids causes health issues that reflect on how we look and feel.

If you can stimulate or balance any of the five fluids in a totally non-invasive way, you achieve something enormous. You achieve a truly and purely holistic balancing of not just the fluids but skin.

It’s possible to target any one of the fluids by using specific colors of light by combining PHYTO5’s light machine, the Chromapuncteur, with the Biorhythmic Drainer (drainage machine) and applying them to skin.

It’s simple and easy to connect these two pieces of equipment.

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The mechanical function of the drainage machine (suction/repulsion within the glass cups connected to the pumps) stimulates the fluid movement while the light machine targets the selected fluid.

Massages are also recommended as a means to move fluids. Specially trained lymphatic massage therapists can do a very light and extremely slow massage targeting the lymph, however a good manual drainage is difficult to perform as the rhythm of the movement must be painstakingly slow and the pressure extremely light, requiring a sustained focus and significant physical effort by the therapist.

In a drainage treatment using the PHYTO5 Biorhythmic Drainer (drainage machine) you hear the gentle humming of the pump of the drainage machine as you feel the gliding of its glass cups over your face or body. Before starting the machine, the technician has applied vegetal-based oil mixed with an essential oil on the area being treated. The oil facilitates the gliding of the cups on your skin and an airtight contact of cup against skin.

As the pumps alternatively suck in and release the skin layers, the cups are guided by the esthetician or massage therapist following prescribed pathways. The essential oil added to the vegetal oil promotes the movement of fluids below the skin.

Like most people, you will very likely enjoy the subtle aroma of the essential oils before the rhythmic humming of the pumps even starts. The gentle sound will help you relax so much that you might fall asleep during the drainage.

When lights are used, either as part of the drainage, or when applied on acupuncture points or chakras, you will most likely feel nothing more than the sense of relaxation you get from the drainage.

On the other hand, you might be like some people who feel a very subtle sensation from the energy of light. You might even feel the difference when different colors are selected.

When the PHYTO5® Biostimulateur™ is also used during drainage, the vibrating rubber tip of the module is brought over to touch the skin at the acupuncture point or the reflex zone. At that time you feel a gentle vibration whose rhythm changes as it is switched from one frequency to another.

The equipment never produces any pain or unpleasant sensation. There are no invasive frequencies produced and transferred and no electric currents are used on your skin. The machines are fully holistic, energetic, and natural in the work they perform.

Doing a full body manual lymphatic drainage takes well over an hour and a half of hard work. The PHYTO5 Biorhythmic Drainer (drainage machine) is a very practical alternative. The machine is steady, fast, and tireless. It is also less demanding on the therapist, although as effective when using the Biorhythmic Drainer.

The different rhythms of suction of the machine help target the different fluids. An even more advanced and reliable method combines the Biorhythmic Drainer with the PHYTO5 Chromapuncteur (light machine).

Although there are a few contraindications for lymph drainage, it is generally safe to say that most people will benefit from regular drainage, particularly people who fall into the Earth category in traditional Chinese medicine.

A good drainage gives instantly visible results making lymphatic drainage a very worthwhile spa treatment. It can be part of a facial, taking an additional ten minutes, or can be offered as a specific body treatment of under an hour when using the equipment.

Source: Energetic Skincare, Naturally by PHTYO5 President Jon Canas

Drainage of the Five Fluids: What It Is and Why You Should Have Treatments

The human body contains five fluids essential to the proper healthy functioning of the body. According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), they are: vital energy (Wood element), red blood (Fire element), lymph (Earth element), blue blood (Metal element) and water (Water element). 

Stagnation of any of the fluids causes health issues that reflect how we look and feel.

Everything is alive and every part of a living organism vibrates according to its own specific characteristics. Each fluid has its specific range of vibrations as well.

Just as the energy of each of the seven major chakras corresponds to one of the seven colors that constitute natural light, each of the five fluids corresponds to a specific color from the visible spectrum. This is because colors have their specific range of frequencies and those ranges are in vibrational harmony with the frequencies of the fluids.

To be able to stimulate or balance at will any of the five fluids in a totally non-invasive way has enormous potential.

And it is possible to target any one of the fluids by using specific colors of light using PHYTO5’s light machine known as the Chromapuncteur™ combined with the Biorhythmic Drainer (drainage machine). The two pieces of equipment can be simply connected.

The mechanical function of the drainage machine (suction/repulsion within the glass cups connected to the pumps) stimulates the fluid movement while the light machine targets the selected fluid.

The selection of the proper light for a drainage relies on the principle of complementary of colors. For the moment, it is important to note that fluids are matter and that to each color of matter corresponds a specific energy.

The energy of red matter, for example, is green, the complementary color of red. The energy of green matter is the complementary color—red light.

As a result:

• Green light targets the fluid of Fire (red blood)

• Yellow light targets the fluid of Metal (blue blood)

• Red light targets the fluid of Wood (energy)

• Blue light targets the fluid of Earth (lymph)

When it comes to water, the orange color has proven to be the most effective, therefore

• Orange light targets the fluid of Water (water)

An energetic drainage is actually a balancing of the energy that commands the flow of the targeted fluid.

Imagine what can be achieved during an energetic stimulation of water or of blue blood on someone with heavy legs or someone suffering from water retention or poor venous circulation. The result is immediately visible, felt, and sustained.

Seventy plus percent of the body weight is fluid and the proper flow of fluids is essential to health and beauty. Proper stimulation of fluids in a totally holistic, natural, and non-invasive way provides a quantum jump in maintaining wellness.

This modality can be easily included in face or body treatments while personalized according to the client’s needs. For example, it is possible to calm down an overly reddish face by balancing the superficial red blood circulation on the face. The same equipment, with large cups, can be used to reduce fluid retention in legs.

There are some contraindications to drainage, such as fever, bacterial infections/flu, infected sinuses, active cancer, hemorrhaging, congestive heart failure, kidney failure, tuberculosis, and thrombosis.

There are also other conditions requiring special attention such as pregnancy and heavy menstruation. If in doubt, consult with your doctor. If your body is very toxic, which is very common with people who fall into the Earth category of Traditional Chinese Medicine, we advise performing drainage on the entire body in two (or more) sessions since toxins that are released too quickly over a large surface might induce fatigue and headaches.

It is always imperative to drink plenty of water before and after any body drainage treatment.

The energetic drainage is not painful. In fact, it’s quite pleasant and relaxing and most feel rejuvenated at the end of a drainage treatment.

Source: Energetic Skincare, Naturally by PHYTO5 President Jon Canas

Skin Is Your Third Lung

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) views skin with great reverence. It’s more than a barrier between the inside of the body and the outside environment. Skin is linked to the organ function of Lung—a breathing and eliminating function. Consequently, TCM links Lung to the energy of the Metal element.

But there’s more: Your skin is particularly important because it is a reflexive organ that provides important telltale signs of what is going on within your body. Any recurring skin problem in the same area is an indicator of your health condition. Your skin’s role as a provider of natural early warning signs can help you maintain or achieve an improved state of wellness.

We all know that smoking is very bad for our health, but few realize the particularly dreadful cumulative effect smoking has on skin health and quality. This is because the lungs and skin have a very specific and direct connections and is why Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) refers to the skin as the third lung.

For most people, twenty to thirty minutes of accelerated breathing three times a week is quite sufficient for the health of their skin and body. During these sessions, the breathing should be deep enough to completely empty out the lungs and then fully renew the oxygen content of the lungs. Lack of frequent and deep breathing causes parts of the lungs and a significant portion of the lung alveolus to remain collapsed.

Experts point to the necessity of breathing from the abdomen and not simply from the top of the lungs. This action helps the movement of the diaphragm, the largest muscle in the body that acts as a major pump for the movement of lymph and of water throughout the body.

The lungs (along with skin, kidneys, and colon) are one of four major organs for eliminating bodily waste (gas, fluids and solids). Poor lung energy manifests as disorders of skin and mucous membranes as well as poor venous and lymph circulation. Lungs and the large intestine are responsible for separation, distillation and elimination.

The reflex zone for lungs is found on the face, namely on the cheeks extended from the corner of the mouth, alongside the jawbone to the ear, on both sides.

Lungs are paired with the large intestine in TCM (lungs: yin and large intestine: yang). They belong to Metal element/Fall season. Lungs are where internal energy from nutrients in the blood mixes with external energy of air to provide vital energy.

Skin is called the third lung in TCM because it is the limit between the internal and the external. For this reason, skin is regulated by Metal energy. Breathing (lungs) affects the movement of vital energy through the body.

It is said, “Where chi goes, energy flows.” Body-mind exercises such as yoga demonstrate how intent and breathing can direct energy with its attendant therapeutic benefits.

“As the interface between our inner and outer world, the Lung manages external security. Sometimes referred to as the “third lung,” the skin is the outermost surface of the self, providing an elastic envelope that contains us, shielding against intrusion. The Lung transpires across the dermal layer: through perspiration, plus opening and closing the pores, it constantly adjusts the moisture and temperature of the body. Like a screen of variable porosity, the Lung tightens and thickens the skin to ward off undesirable influences and seal in valuable internal resources, or it loosens and thins the skin to release unwanted internal substances or feelings and permit penetration of desirable influences.”

— Beinfield, Harriet, and Efrem Korngold. Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine. New York: Ballantine, 1992. Print.

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Source:

Canas, Jon. Energetic Skincare, Naturally. Eustis, FL: Phyto Distribution, 2010. Print.

How Reflex Zones Provide Telltale Signs of Our State of Health and Vitality

The Metal element in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) manages the interface between our internal and external energies. The skin is a reflexive organ, in part, composed of a patchwork of reflex zones. Reflex zones in the body point to skin manifestations. They indicate energies in our bodies that are out of balance.

This property stems from the huge energetic network of channels connecting the energy of the organs to the surface of the skin. It means that the skin reflects the internal activity of the body viewed from the outside.

Most people have heard of reflexology but they think it is limited to the bottom of the feet or to the hands. Few know that the entire skin surface has a reflective quality.

That is why proper skin evaluation can provide precious telltale signs. Most often, when something goes wrong inside the body, the skin lets us know in a visible way before it becomes a serious health condition.

It is only when we ignore the warning signs that the condition might evolve to a more critical stage. PHYTO5 trained technicians have learned how to read the face since so much is happening there.

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All five organic energies are reflected on the face. Hormonal energy is also reflected on the face. The face is a mirror of our internal activity.

The organ system reflected on each area of the face is identified by the color of the corresponding element (see illustration above).

Wood Reflex Zones:

• Liver: in between the eyebrows

• Gallbladder: temple areas

Fire Reflex Zones:

• Heart: upper lip and tip of nose and around nostrils

• Small Intestine: forehead

Earth Reflex Zones:

• Spleen: bridge of nose and sides above the nostrils

• Stomach: extension of the spleen area over the cheekbones, on both sides. Also the frontal part of the neck, below the jaw and between the large intestine areas

Metal Reflex Zones:

• Lungs: cheeks extended from the coner of the mouth, alongside the jawbone to the ear, on both sides

• Large intestine: extension of lung area down the side of the neck, on both sides

Water Reflex Zones:

• Kidney: lower part of the circle around the eyes

• Bladder: upper part of the circle around the eyes, as well as hair line, above the forehead

Hormonal Reflex Zones:

• Chin area, from below the lower lip, the width of the mouth, down to the jawbone.

Reiki is similar to acupressure. It is specifically concerned with moving energy through the body in order to balance it. Reiki is thought to affect the energy field and the endocrine system. Thus, healing occurs in the body as a whole, and is not specific to a particular disease. Followers of reiki believe that because our skin comes into direct contact with the world, it is a symbol for making contact with others, as well as drawing boundaries between ourselves and others. Reiki therapy is aimed at helping those with skin problems to break through the boundaries they have made between themselves and the world, as symbolized by rashes from within or injuries from outside the boundaries of their skin. 

—Jacknin, Jeanette. Smart Medicine for Your Skin: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Conventional and Alternative Therapies to Heal Common Skin Problems. New York: Avery, 2001. Print.

How to Tell if You Have Over-Processed Skin and How to Resolve It

A relatively new skin condition has evolved. Many doctors call it “over-processed” skin. As the name implies, over-processed skin an excess of invasive treatments causes over-processed skin. Here the skin is so abused it eventually loses its natural properties—from appearance to its capacity to heal.

Over-processed skin:

• looks like paper and is void of vital energy;

• displays an uneven color or a great deal of redness;

• is flaky even after exfoliation;

• may exhibit a shine though it is actually dehydrated and taut;

• causes wrinkles and lines prematurely especially around the eyes and upper cheeks.

Too many chemical peels, excessive dermabrasion and maybe even excessive or unsuccessful surgery have affected the skin to the extent that the natural vital flow of energy is blocked. It creates two negative conditions:

• the stripping of trace minerals essential to natural osmosis within the skin layers

• proper fluid movement.

As blood, lymph and water no longer flow properly, the skin is lacking nutrients. Oxygenation does not reach all the layers of the skin. Elimination of toxins is affected. In short, the skin has lost its capacity to hydrate and to heal from within. More procedures only aggravate the condition and skin products no longer produce their former effects.

Our experience is that the condition of over-processed skin is best met with:

✔︎PHYTO5 Metal element energetic line; this line focuses on mineralizing and promoting oxygenation.

✔︎The Metal element PHYTO5 facial, recommended in a series of treatments.

✔︎Oligo 5 by PHYTO5; a mineral spray and essential add-on to be used morning and evening as well as a few times during the day.

✔︎A recommended series of energetic drainages to stimulate and balance all five fluids (lymph, red blood, blue blood, water and energy).

✔︎Balancing Five Clay Mask facial by PHYTO5

✔︎Ageless LaCure by PHYTO5 Face Kit cure

The very existence of this condition is a sad but very good demonstration of what happens when the skin is not respected for the organ it is, and when it is treated as if it were a mere piece of cloth.

Holistically minded estheticians are alert to these risks and educate their customers that more invasive treatments are not better.

Prevention and Restoration of Over-Processed Skin

Let’s remember that major skin conditions do not erupt overnight unless they are related to food intolerance, chemical poisoning, or infection. Undesirable esthetic manifestations evolve progressively.

To pay attention to, and to know how to read the signs your skin is giving you is up to you and your PHYTO5 professional.

Most skin conditions, including over-processed skin, can be remedied favorably when they are addressed at their early stage. Of course, the knowledgeable esthetician knows how to recognize the root cause of esthetic manifestations and how to select the appropriate energetic tools to use.

Benign conditions left untreated can become chronic over time. This increases the difficulty of resolving them by natural solutions. Often, adjustments to lifestyle must parallel a well-conceived treatment series and home product selection.

Balanced skin is a blessing to be preserved. It can be maintained with good lifestyle habits and personalized skincare regimentation.

The PHYTO5 Balancing Five Clay Mask facial is a treatment protocol well adapted to balanced skin. Alternatively, we highly recommend the treatment of the energetic season, supported by seasonal home-use products.

An occasional Ageless LaCure by PHYTO5 Face Kit cure is a good three week balancing home treatment and is particularly adapted to maturing skin.

Preventive and restorative skincare represents an investment on your part. In view of the high cost and high risk of invasive facial techniques that lead to damaged, over-processed skin, one ounce of holistic PHYTO5 prevention is worth a pound of invasive treatment!

“Irritant reactions are characterized by red, flaking, and uncomfortable skin. The skin often stings after almost any product is applied. This is caused by irritants easily penetrating the damaged barrier function and stimulating nerve endings that cause the feeling of stinging and burning. The redness is caused by the immune response. Estheticians often refer to this as overprocessed skin.”—Lees, Mark. Skin Care: Beyond the Basics. Albany, NY: Milady, 2001. Print.

“Overprocessed skin can lead to premature aging, overly sensitive skin, and rosacea.”—Douglas, Kym, and Cindy Pearlman. The Black Book of Hollywood Beauty Secrets. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

All About FOOD for the Energetic Earth Season

The fifth or transition season between seasons according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In TCM, we call it the Earth element season. It runs until August 6 when energetic Fall begins.

In Chinese medicine, our bodies are microcosmic mirrors of the world. They are hemselves small worlds containing all the energies and elements of the Earth. Our bodies are fully connected to our environment whether we live as if we realize this or not.

Our organ systems, our emotional beings, our energies, even our personalities will reflect the color, the energetic characteristics, the flavors, the sounds, the tastes, the direction and the striving for certain perfections of the season.

Because we’re so intrinsically connected to our environmental world, our bodies must change as our environment changes.

When we move into the Earth transition season of late Summer (according to TCM), the 18-day bridge period between energetic Summer and Fall, our diets should change.

We should adjust our way of eating in a way that builds and tones the body. Mild tasting simple foods are best. As we get ready to move into energetic Fall, we need more fat and proteins than with our previous Summer diet.

We might start craving more sweets at this time. Be sure to choose smart sugars like those below as much as you can.

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Here are some of the best naturally sweet foods to eat during energetic Earth season:

• millet

• rice

• corn

• amaranth

• carrots

• parsnips

• sprouts

• potatoes

• sweet potatoes

• lettuce

• apples

• cabbage

• peas

• cucumber

• dates

• figs

• grapes

• olives

• peaches

• pears

• squash

• tomatoes

• apricots

• cantaloupe

• kidney beans

• string beans

• walnuts

“The Earth Element has a strong influence over the fifteen days surrounding each of the two equinoxes and two solstices (7-1/2 days before and after). These are neutral buffers between the seasons, which change at the equinoxes and solstices. These interchange periods represent pivotal pauses in the light patterns we experience from the sun, the center of our solar system… To attune with the seasons, choose some foods for each meal that harmonizing and represent the center–mildly sweet foods, yellow or golden foods, round foods, and/or foods known to harmonize the center… – Healing with Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California, 1993.

Season your food minimally with onion, leek, ginger, cinnamon, and fennel. It is now time to begin purifying and cleansing after a season of summer fun and indulging.

Now that we know what to eat, it is also important to acknowledge how we eat them. With stomach and spleen being the organs of the system, we want to assist them to function most easily by practicing more deliberate eating, chewing and digesting. Eat more slowly and with consciousness. Pay attention to portion sizes also.

Take a short rest after eating and follow it with some sort of movement. A simple short walk will assist digestion.

Late Summer is associated with community and mealtime. Share meals with friends in the open air, if possible, and take a walk en masse.

Our digestion represents and is located in the core center of our bodies. When the stomach and spleen organs are balanced and healthy we obviously will be full of vitality and energy. As a result, we will be more productive in our work and able to fulfill our responsibilities.

If our digestion is out of balance with the Earth season, we will experience fatigue, lethargy, lack of motivation and stuck behavior that prevents us from being truly creative.

Poor digestion and imbalance with Earth will show up as nausea, abdominal bloating, loose stools, loss of appetite.

More Than a Dozen Ways to Start Living a More Peaceful Gentle Life Right Now

In the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions, ahimsa is the principle of nonviolence and compassion toward all living things; it is considered one of five great virtues of man; its origin is from the Sanskrit language: from a ‘non-, without’ + hiṃsā ‘violence’

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi promoted Ahimsa in his life and in his life's service. He applied Ahimsa to all arenas of life. He said, "Ahimsa is in Hinduism, it is in Christianity as well as in Islam... Nonviolence is common to all religions, but it has found the highest expression and application in Hinduism (I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism)."

Ahimsa tends to include the following loving lifestyle practices and leads to an overall more peaceful life:

1. Practicing vegetarianism and even greater, veganism in both food and clothing choices

2. Refraining from hunting and fishing whether to kill or to wound and release

3. Eliminating the caging of animals and visiting animals in zoos (animal sanctuaries for the wounded would not apply here)

4. Treating pets with love and respect, and creating structure within ourselves and for our pets so we may engender their obedience

5. Refusing to patronize companies that practice cruelty toward animals

6. Taking in abandoned pets in shelters; consider adopting an aging pet who is more likely to be passed by.

7. Taking loving care of our own bodies with high frequency exercise such as yoga, martial arts, distance meditative walking; see our blog post of June 10, 2016 for one such simple exercise.

8. Espousing moderation in what we take into our bodies such as quantities of food, alcohol, sugar, fats, drugs, tobacco

9. Meditating daily for at least a short period of time being sure to include some form of prayer before or after

10. Creating a home environment of peace and order that will support nonviolent tendencies within us

11. Gently rejecting negative and destructive self-talk realizing this is the ego talking and not us and that exactly the opposite is true about ourselves; this is practicing non-violent thinking.

12. Enriching our attitudes towards life by reading uplifting, inspiring books; see list below

13. Slowing down if we tend to rush through life; getting present to life

14. Recycling all that we don't use including clothing, furniture, tools; recycling food scraps

15. Buying organic and vegan

16. Walking or riding a bicycle whenever possible

17. Cutting way back on our consumption of paper, plastic and synthetic products

18. Becoming more acutely aware of our individual carbon footprint overall and how to reduce it

Some Titles to Read for a More Peaceful Loving Life:

• The Official Ahimsa Dog Training Manual: A Practical, Force-Free Guide to Problem Solving and Manners by Grisha Stewart

• Living Ahimsa Diet: Nourishing Love & Life by Maya Tiwari

• Gandhi: An Autobiography - The Story of My Experiments With Truth by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Mahadev H. Desai

• Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words by Peace Pilgrim

• The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Compassion by the Dalai Lama

• Personality Development by Swami Vivekananda

All PHYTO5 Swiss-made skincare products are crafted in the spirit of Ahimsa. Animals are not tested and the highest good of the planet is at the core of all our manufacturing practices.

6 Important Foods to Keep You Cool as a Cucumber This Summer

The heart and small intestine are partners in the human physiology according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Heat disperses and eliminates itself from the body through increased urination. This is why you want to stay hydrated and cool with these six foods. They'll help you keep heart in balance during the lazy hazy days of Summer.

Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural beauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique beauty tips and offers.

6 Cooling Foods for Summer Heat (No spicy-greasy here!)

1. Coconut milk; slightly sweet and a relatively neutral food. Buy the better brands in the health food stores. You can make your own in a high speed blender by blending some young Thai coconut meat with pure water. It is very nourishing to the spleen, stomach and kidneys, generating fluid and relieving thirst.

2. Mung beans; they're great sprouted. Learn to sprout them. They only take a couple days or else find them in the produce aisle in the grocery store. Mung beans are sweet and cooling and they nourish both heart and stomach. They're rich in protein, iron and fiber and they help lower blood fat and strengthen arteries. They help clear toxic heat and promote urination.

3. Cucumber, of course! This fruit is sweet and cold, and very nourishing to the stomach and small intestine. It helps relieve thirst, promote urination and clear toxins.

4. Eggplant; it grows in abundance in the summer–you just have to learn how to prepare it to make it taste great. Eggplant is relatively sweet and cooling, and renews the spleen, nourishes the liver and keeps the stomach regulated. It helps reduce swelling and promotes urination.

5. Watermelon, absolutely! Sweet and cold, watermelon is great for the heart, bladder and stomach. Believe it or not, it helps eliminate restlessness. It's thirst relieving and promotes urination.

6. Bitters*;  so good for you, they're actually important to eat every day. See list below for veg examples of bitters. And hey! have some Jägermeister, but not too much! It's a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices at a strength of 35% alcohol by volume. Bitters such as Jägermeister are used as a medicinal substance to promote digestion.

*amaranth, arugula, beet greens, broccoli raab, chard, chicory, cress, collard greens, curly endive, dandelion greens, kale, endive, escarole, frisée, mizuna, mustard greens, nettles, puntarelle, radicchio, rapini, rocket, spinach, turnip greens, watercress

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