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How to relax

16th April 2018 by Vicky Stone Leave a Comment

There are a lot of relaxation techniques out there that we can all learn and practice. However, I have found that many of my clients (and myself) struggle with the way these are presented, and they also have problems motivating themselves to use them. In response to that, I researched the types of relaxation techniques that have the most research support, and I developed a five-step sequence that anyone can do to feel more relaxed in minutes, minus the new-age vibes.

Stress, Emotions, & The Brain
We usually need to relax when we are feeling tense, anxious, or angry. Part of these feelings are due to an activation of something called the sympathetic nervous system, which includes parts of your brain that detect and respond to threats and stress. Without getting too deep into the physiology, when you are tense, anxious, or angry, your sympathetic nervous system is activated, and your heart rate increases, your breathing becomes rapid and shallow, your blood pressure increases, your digestion stops, your muscles tense, your circulation changes, stress hormones(cortisol and adrenaline, among others) are released in your blood stream, and your thoughts speed up and focus on a target (read more about that in Three Frames of Mind(link is external)). When this is happening, our bodies feel unpleasant and we look for ways to feel better.

For almost everyone, after some period of time, our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) kicks in, which brings all of these physiological changes back down to normal. Your heart rate returns to baseline, your blood pressure lowers, digestion starts again, the stress hormones are metabolized, your breathing slows and deepens, and your muscles relax. When this completes, you are back to a pleasant, slower, and more in-control state.

How to Relax
The following relaxation process is all about taking steps to change your physiology when you are tense, anxious, or angry. This is basically done by shifting attention and taking control of breathing as a way to jump-start the parasympathetic nervous system. There is no magic, just basic steps (some that you already do) that should result in you feeling more relaxed, quickly. I encourage you to practice doing the full sequence at least once a day for two weeks during times of lower tension before you start using it in more urgent situations. Additionally, there is no set amount of time that this takes. It could last as little as a minute or two, or go on as long as you like.

The Process
So when you are feeling activated, stop what you are doing, and follow these 5-steps:

1. Orienting: the first step is intentionally orienting yourself to your surroundings. This means visually and mentally recognizing where you are right now and what is around you. If I did this right now, I’d look around the room and recognize that I am in my office, at 4:05 p.m., with the sun shining.

This step may seem silly or obvious, but when we are anxious, tense, or angry, we are almost never paying attention to our immediate surroundings. Instead, we are usually consumed with our thoughts or feelings related to things that are not present where we are. Orienting allows us to start relaxing by recognizing our immediate surroundings, which are hopefully calm, stable, and safe.

2. Grounding: the second step helps shift your attention to how you are connected to your enviroment Since relaxation is a physiological process, it is important to direct your attention to your senses. So for this step, intentionally notice ways you are connected to your surroundings. For me right now, that would mean I intentionally notice my feet on the floor, my back against the chair, and how my sweater feels on my arms.

3. Slowing: this third step will now bring your attention to what is happening inside you, particularly your breathing and heart rate. Although there are a lot of ways we can learn to change the way our body responds in any given moment, the easiest is to control our breathing. There are dozens of breathing techniques, but the one I have found to be the easiest to use is called “4-7-8 Breathing”. It works like this:

Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet on the floor, and close your eyes. Once you are settled and notice your breathing, inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold it for a count of 7, exhale through your mouth for a count of 8, and repeat. The pace doesn’t matter, it should just be something that feels good to you. The key is having the exhale really stretch out much longer than the inhaling. Try and make the exhale smooth and have almost all of the air leave your body. Do it with the counting as long as you need to get the pace down before going to the next step. For me this takes a couple minutes.

While doing this, you should really start to notice some changes in how you are feeling, most obviously a slowing heart rate. That is your parasympathetic nervous system going into action.

An advanced technique would be to try using your diaphragm to control your breathing, so that your stomach is expanding more than your chest. This mirrors the way you breathe when you are in deep sleep. Additionally, if 4-7-8 is not feeling right for you, try starting with 4-4-6.

4 once you have the breathing pace down, keep doing it while you move to this step. The key here is giving yourself positive, reassuring, and calm messages, rather than continuing with the tense, anxious, and angry thoughts. When I do this, I think things like “I can get through this. It will be OK. I can handle whatever happens. I am going to calmly do my best.” Everyone will have a different way of doing this, and some people like to imagine this in the voice of someone they care about, or with the image of that person telling them those things. Keep doing this along with the breathing until you feel sufficiently ready to reconnect with what you were doing.

5. Emerging: the key in this final step is calmly reentering the world. Rather than just stopping this process and jumping back in, focus on going back to what you need to do with the same peace you might have when you wake up from a nice sleep. Just gently getting back into the flow of your day. This should keep your mind and body both staying in a more relaxed and positive state.

Filed Under: Uncategorised

The Smell of the Ocean with our KF candles

5th April 2018 by Vicky Stone Leave a Comment

After returning from the beach and washing all of our towels in hot water (and drying them), they still have that specific smell of the ocean

So does anyone know exactly what isolated fragrance chemical is clinging to the fabric, that still smells like the ocean? It’s not sunscreen or perspiration, but true ocean water after you’ve dried your skin with the towel. I’ve always noticed this, but could never figure it out. Some mineral? Fish or seaweed? Other?

Since ancient times, humans have assigned healing and transformational properties to water. In early Rome, baths were an important part of cultural life, a place where citizens went to find relaxation and to connect with others in a calming setting. In ayurveda, the ancient Indian medicinal wisdom, and traditional Chinese medicine, the water element is crucial to balancing the body and creating physical harmony. Rivers have long been seen as sacred places,

 

and in a number of different spiritual contexts, water has symbolized rebirth, spiritual cleansing and salvation.

Today, we still turn to water for a sense of calm and clarity. We spend our vacations on the beach or at the lake; get exercise and enjoyment from water sports like surfing, scuba diving, sailing, and swimming; refresh ourselves with long showers and soothing baths, and often build our lives and homes around being near the water.

Many of us love to sit near the ocean or a river and gaze out at the water — often, we can sit for long periods simply observing the gentle movements of the water. Why? Though we may not be conscious of it, the water could be inducing a mildly meditative state of calm focus and gentle awareness.

Our affinity for water is even reflected in the near-universal attraction to the color blue. We’re naturally drawn to aquatic hues — the color blue is overwhelming chosen as the favorite color of people around the world, and marketing research has found that people tend to associate it with qualities like calm, openness, depth and wisdom.

Karma Double Breeze
Titanic Heart of the Ocean

The Original Heart of the Ocean Necklace on Display in James Cameron’s office. The Heart of the Ocean (also known as Le Cœur de la Mer) is the name of a fictional blue diamond featured prominently in the 1997 film Titanic. In the story, the diamond was originally owned by Louis XVI and cut into a heart shape after the French Revolution.

This Heart of Ocean Titanic Blue Sapphire Crystal Pendant by KARMA is the perfect gift for the special one in your life.

With an adjustable chain to fit just perfectly for that special occasion that would dawn your incredible beauty.

Ocean Breeze
This fragrance is no more or less than “the breath of the sea”. Simple sun, salt, sand…………lovely. Oceans cover 65% of the earth so the next time your near one…… Take our Ocean Scent with you wherever you, as a small reminder every day how invigorating the ocean can be.

Summer Breeze.
Set the scene for lazy days with friends with our scented candle that transforms your room into sunny days by the sea.

Filed Under: beautiful, Candles, exclusive, luxury, relax, signature, summer

The Influence of Smell on your Enviroment

4th April 2018 by Vicky Stone Leave a Comment

Olfaction, also known as sense of smell, is the most primal and mysterious of our six senses. Throughout human evolution, our sense of smell has been a key to our survival. Humans are capable of distinguishing thousands of unique odors.

Smell is often the first warning of safety or danger, friend or foe. Smells have the power to drive your behavior on an instinctive and subconscious level. Luckily, you can also harness the power of smell and consciously use it to your advantage.

It’s ironic that most people undervalue the power of scent. Fragrances have the ability to evoke both positive and negative psychological states of mind and reactions in milliseconds.

From an evolutionary standpoint, a negative smell, such as a dead animal, can trigger an instantaneous reflex to take flight. A positive smell, such as burning wood or baking cookies, can trigger a sense of security and the urge to tend-and-befriend while you rest-and-digest.

What Smells Trigger a Remembrance of Things Past for You?

In Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust illustrates how smell is linked to early life experiences stored in memory engrams of specific neural networks. Proust vividly describes how forgotten childhood memories are brought back into consciousness with their original intensity when the protagonist in his story dips a madeleine biscuit into a cup of tea.

Researchers call this “Proustian memory effect.” Childhood memories linked to scent stay with people throughout life. Recently, Rachel Herz of Brown University, and Haruko Sugiyama and colleagues at the Kao Corporation in Japan conducted a study to identify how the scent of a product evokes personal emotional memories and influences the appeal of a product to potential consumers.

Recall the smells of your childhood. Don’t the smells of Silly Putty and Play-Doh bring back huge waves of memory? I surround myself with scents that evoke positive psychology and ideal athletic mindset. I have a cardboard box containing all of these smells which are like time capsules. I usually encode a scent for a few the months leading up to a big race, visualizing the event day in and day out. I bring these scents with me to help create a sense of familiarity and safety. I recommend that you pay attention to how smell is integrated into your athletic process and how olfaction affects your mindset and mood. Make positive associations, even to bad smells like the locker room.

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Conclusion: You Can Use the Power of Olfaction to Create Mindset and Behavior

Recognizing the power of specific smells in your day-to-day life gives you the ability to use fragrance as a tool to create a psychological state of mind on demand.  Also, the memories attached to an aroma can help you relive the positive associations linked with the people and places of your past.

 

Filed Under: beautiful, Candles, cushion covers, exclusive, luxury, relax, Uncategorised

Vanilla Bean – Candle – What a smell!

3rd April 2018 by Vicky Stone Leave a Comment

Buy our Vanilla Bean Luxury Candle

Fill your favorite relaxing space with mouth-wateringly lovely scent, with this hand-poured soya wax candle from www.kfcandles.co.uk It blends an extract of velvety, voluptuous vanilla bean with the mellow tones of creamy butterscotch, to create an opulently indulgent and sensuous fragrance with which to perfectly suffuse your home.

Always thought plain ol’ vanilla was a bit of a bore? Think again! This candle is as cool as ice, ice, baby. While many vanilla beans are destined to be turned into dessert, only the best are recruited to provide the meanest vanilla fragrance around. This candle’s sweet, rich aroma is made up of vanilla beans and has a unique smell – if you love vanilla you will love this!

vanila-bean-candle

 

Filed Under: beautiful, Candles, cushion covers, exclusive, grapefruit, luxury, relax, signature Tagged With: aromatherapy, calming, candles, essential oils, paraffin candles, relax, sleep, soy candles

Why does Lavender help you relax? – KF Candles

3rd April 2018 by Vicky Stone Leave a Comment

Lavender is known as a calming and relaxing herb and has frequently been used for insomnia, anxiety, depression, and natural stress relief. One recent study discovered that the scent of lavender increases the time you spend in deep (slow wave) sleep, though the effects were stronger for women than for men.

Aromatherapy Candes!

“Lavender has an outstanding balancing and healing effect on the nervous system. Considering that so many illnesses are stress related, Lavender holds a special place in both preventative health care and Lavenderin the treatment of tension-related illnesses. It offers a soothing and antispasmodic effect that can assist tight muscles, digestive problems, spasmodic coughs, menstrual cramps, insomnia, and tension headaches. Great for restless leg syndrome.

Lavender’s anti-inflammatory, skin-healing properties will help heal burns, bug bites, wounds, bee stings, rashes, acne, and skin irritations or infections. Use a few drops of Lavender in any blend for reducing emotional tension, unwinding physical pain, and for any sudden skin problems.”

Lavender not only smells good, but it can also help you look and feel great! This fragrant herb has been used to treat skin lesions, calm anxiety and support your immune system.

Lavender is as old as humankind. Traced back 2,500 years, this beautifully-scented herb has been used in the following ways: perfume, disinfectant, deodorant, aphrodisiac and insect repellant.

Did you know lavender was also used in ancient times to tame lions and tigers? Perhaps ancient peoples intuitively knew what researchers are finding out about lavender…it calms anxiety and provides natural stress relief. And that’s not all — lavender has a long list of medicinal properties, making it a natural health superstar.

These days, lavender is enjoying renewed popularity as an alternative to conventional drug treatments.

deodorant, aphrodisiac and insect repellant.

Did you know lavender was also used in ancient times to tame lions and tigers? Perhaps ancient peoples intuitively knew what researchers are finding out about lavender…it calms anxiety and provides natural stress relief. And that’s not all — lavender has a long list of medicinal properties, making it a natural health superstar.

These days, lavender is enjoying renewed popularity as an alternative to conventional drug treatments.

LAVENDER AND RELAXATION

Lavender is known as a calming and relaxing herb and has frequently been used for insomnia, anxiety, depression, and natural stress relief.

One recent study discovered that the scent of lavender increases the time you spend in deep (slow wave) sleep, though the effects were stronger for women than for men. 1 Other findings suggest that lavender reduces the severity of depression when taken concurrently with an antidepressant.2

While lavender aromatherapy can help with your sleep and mood, it also has a wide range of health benefits.

LAVENDER HAS BEEN USED FOR:

  • Pain relief
  • Headaches and migraines
  • Muscle aches and sprains
  • Menstrual cramps
  • Allergies
  • Asthma
  • Relaxation
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Inducing sleep
  • Digestive distress, gas and colic
  • Inflammation
  • Burns
  • Insect bites
  • Chicken Pox
  • Acne treatment
  • Dermatitis
  • Insect repellant
  • Dry skin
  • Muscle relaxant

SOURCES OF LAVENDER

Lavender grows naturally in dry, sunny, rocky areas and is native to the Mediterranean. France is the world leader in lavender trade, but it can be grown anywhere if you select the right variety and provide ideal growing conditions.

Commercially, lavender is already in many personal care products, although most of the time, it is in trace amounts and combined with chemicals that are not ideal for your skin or your health. If you want to experiment with the many uses of lavender, it is available fresh, dried and powdered, and as an essential oil.

Essential oils are concentrated extracts from the plant, making them 70 times more potent than the plant itself!

luxury candles in a bannerhttps://www.kfcandles.co.uk

Filed Under: beautiful, Candles, exclusive, grapefruit, luxury, relax, signature, summer Tagged With: aromatherapy, calming, essential oils, relax, sleep

All you need to know about candles!

2nd April 2018 by Vicky Stone Leave a Comment

 ​ 
All You Need To Know About Candle Wax

How much do you know about candles?

Come on board as we take you through the various kinds of candle wax.

The first kind of candle wax is made from animal fats (history of the candle). Although they were a natural wax, this kind of candle burned badly and had this malodorous stench that came with it. But over time, other types of candle wax that are clean, sweet-smelling and long-lasting have been discovered naturally. Some of them are:

Palm Wax

Palm wax, although very difficult to make is the longest burning kind of natural candle wax. For this reason, it is usually costly. The palm wax burns perfectly with no smoke. When molded with a cotton wick, the palm wax leaves no soot while it burns. This makes palm wax one of the best waxes for making candles.

Beeswax

The beeswax is another long lasting, clean burning wax which does not drip while it burns. The beeswax is used in making luxurious scents they give off the sweet smell of honey while they burn. The honey scent doesn’t overshadow any other additional scent; beeswax candles do not need additional fragrances.

Bayberry

Just like the beeswax, bayberry waxes are very expensive. They are best used for tapers and tarts as they do not burn well as large diameter Candles original bayberry wax has a clear olive or dark olive appearances. You may find some with the white “bloom” on the outside. Bayberry wax is usually made with other waxes like the beeswax to remove that brittleness that comes with pure bayberry.  The bayberry does not mix well with additional fragrances as it gives off that new-mown hay.

Paraffin oil

Paraffin oil is one of the oldest human-made types of candle wax. The oil is usually not expensive as it can be manufactured locally. Paraffin oil is made to fit the various features of the desired candles like more extended burn time hardness, luster, and clarity.

However, just very few candles are made from pure paraffin because they do not last long and perform well under warm weather.

Pure paraffin candles are good for warming items like tart warmers and disposable tealights.

To increase the strength of paraffin candles, increase their burn time and even help them stay strong under the warm weather, an addictive called vybar is added.

You should also know that paraffin is an allergen; this means that some persons might be allergic to paraffin. This is why mineral oil based candles are better than paraffin candles.

With the wealth of information above, you can now tell the differences in the various kinds of candles. This will help you make the right choice when next you shop for candles.

Natural wax candles are very expensive but are healthier and luxurious when compared to the traditional paraffin oil. However, the conventional paraffin candles are favorite among candle buyers due to its fact that it is a cheaper and readily available option for home décor and fragrance.

Filed Under: beautiful, Candles, exclusive, grapefruit, luxury, signature, steel, summer, trimmer Tagged With: candles, paraffin candles, soy candles

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