I just have to share this with everyone!

I got the nicest email today that I just had to share here, with Alison’s permission of course. It made me feel so good about Inspire and our entire staff’s true commitment and desire to giving VIP service to all who come through our door.I just wanted to let you know how much I love your spa. It has such a relaxed and carefree atmosphere and the prices and specials are really great! I had a girls’ night before the holidays with two of my best friends. We got two facials and one got a massage with Lara. The therapists made each of our experiences individual to our own needs and gave us tips for continued care of our bodies. We loved it so much that we already booked our next girls’ night and can’t wait to get back in the loving care of your therapists. Thank you for opening a great spa.

 

Alison Williams
UNCG student

The whole staff at Inspire does everything they can to ensure that everyone has this kind of experience when they come in. Please feel free to contact me with your own comments and testimonials or any suggestions about how we can make Inspire the best it can be.  Thanks!

Felicia
Felicia@InspireSkinAndBody.com

What Is Your Perspective?

At Inspire, we have some inspirational card decks that we sell as well keep in our waiting area for people to read. One of my absolute favorites is a deck called Attitude is Everything. I really like the quotes on the cards and appreciate the beautiful scenery that serves as a backdrop to the printed words. Together they make a great reminder of what is important in life.

In that same spirit is a blog entry I just ran across entitled It’s All  A Matter of Perspective. My good friend, Jordan Bressler (and our manager Jennifer’s husband), who owns Leapfrog Marketing here in Greensboro, shared a recent entry with me and others on Facebook. The post is essentially about what is important in life and appreciating all you have as well as recognizing that others are going through ups and downs of their own. I know that I need a reminder of that from time to time – and every time I get one I feel immediately grateful for all of my many blessings, including all the blessings that have come from Inspire and my other businesses past and present.

In the roller coaster ride of small business and just life right now, it can be easy to forget all the little things that people in our lives do to make each day a little brighter. So I want to thank all of you that are a part of Inspire and my life, for all the ways you have supported and touched my life and business(es) in the past and continue to do so. My entire staff and I really appreciate it!

Please feel free to let us know how we can be of service and help to you in the spa and otherwise.  You can email me directly at Felicia@InspireSkinAndBody.com or call the spa at 336.275.3275.

Felicia

Stress Relief Though Yoga

As part of my quest to be my best this year, I have been returning to some of my favorite stress busters, yoga. Although I am not one to make it to a regular class, I’ve been doing a little yoga each day to relax and stretch my muscles and get in better shape.

The style of yoga I prefer is usually referred to as restorative yoga, which uses gentle poses to let the body rest and rejuvenate. Besides feeling great, it also helps to lower the heart rate and blood pressure. The pose pictured to the right is actually one of my favorites, although I don’t use anything under my back like what is shown. I find that it helps my back to “realign” itself while letting the fluid and blood from my legs find its way back to my torso and heart.  For some other ideas on yoga poses that can help decrease your stress, click here for a great online feature by Ladies Home Journal.

Yoga is just one part of my ever growing wellness and fitness regimen but one that I look forward to every day. It helps me to calm and center myself and to make a few minutes of time for just pure relaxation and quiet.  I think it is a great addition to any exercise program as well as a good supplement to massage therapy or other “hands-on” stress management. All the same, it is important for you to check with your doctor about beginning yoga or any other exercise program if you have not been actively involved in an exercise or fitness program.

Eating Your Way to Healthy Skin

I am turning 40 this year. And one of my biggest birthday “resolutions” made back on December 2nd (my actual birthday) was to be in the best shape ever on the big day. So I am doing tons of research on how I can take better care of myself – how I can add more veggies and fruits to my diet, how I can reduce my own fine lines and wrinkles – as well as adding in a much bigger dose of exercise and willpower:-)

What I am finding is that there is a lot you can do to improve your diet that will actually help your skin. Eating tomatoes for example provides a healthy does of anti-oxidants from the inside which is good for your skin and body. Bell peppers contain a lot of good things including folic acid which helps your body to produce new, healthy cells everywhere. Click here to read about some other pro-skin foods and a few yummy recipes to boot!

Facial Fitness – Looking Your Best Naturally

In the Bellanina Facelift Massage, an esthetician or massage therapist does facial massage to help improve the muscle tone. But what can you do at home to improve your skin with facial massage or exercises? In just a couple of weeks, we will be unveiling a new treatment and product at Inspire for at home use that can make a huge difference in those fun things called fine lines and wrinkles. But no matter what machine, product or service you use at home or in the spa, regular self-care is the key. That is why I wanted to go ahead and share some ideas on facial exercises and fitness to help get you started.

As your eyes are the window to your emotions, spirit and personality, they are a good place to start. Click here to check out a couple of eye exercises I found on www.ShapeYourFace.com. I also found a few free exercises at www.CarolynsFacialFitness.com. The one I have already tried is the Neck Firming Exercise. I have been a long-time believer that a lot of the cause of drooping chins/necks (the waggle as they called it on Ally McBeal back in the 90’s) is from tight connective tissue in the neck. This exercise definitely stretches that tissue or fascia while toning the muscles in the front of the neck.

Just like exercising your body, your face won’t be in shape with just one session or treatment of any type. Be consistent in what you do and you will see results!

Spa at Home – More Beauty in Your Kitchen

I just ran across this great article on various foods you can use for skin and hair care at home. Many of these same foods are the basis for the beauty products available at Inspire and other salons. As I’ve been finding these various recipes, I’ve been trying them at home which has actually been kind of fun. It’s sort of like being back in elementary school, making mud pies or other totally inedible concoctions from berries and seeds I found outside. I get to be creative – just like I do in cooking – and then test out my concoctions like I did with my amateur chemistry set in the third grade.

In all the fun I am having I do have to say there is one caveat…some of these at home treatments are really messy! Take the body scrub I made the other day out of used coffee grounds. I am not a big fan of coffee smell alone so I added some powdered ginger and allspice to it. Once I had that mixed up I added some grape-seed oil to part of the batch (and I admit it – hair conditioner – to the other.) If I do it again I will add them to my shower gel instead.

Anyway, the oil mix was oily – go figure – and potentially a little dangerous in the shower. The other worked out a bit better in my opinion. But they were both really messy! Obviously the grounds released a dark, oh I don’t know, coffee colored tinge onto my skin which I wasn’t crazy about. And when it was time to rinse of the coffee scrub, it was really tough to get it all off AND out of the shower.

I am not sure how crazy my husband would be if I used that scrub all the time. But I will say, my skin felt great, and I am considering taking the next step and doing an at home coffee-ground body wrap on myself to combat that ever present c-e-l-l-u-l-i-t-e. Click here to watch a quick video about using coffee grounds as a hand or foot scrub. I tried this too and really like being able to do it over the kitchen sink and disposal.