AnnaPanama

Gratitude. The quality of being thankful, readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. That is how Google defines the word Gratitude (G).
And what does it mean to you to be grateful? Are you grateful person? What are you grateful for? Do you practice G? How often do you do it? How does it make you feel? I really care to know.
To me G is a thankful appreciation of everything I have in life. Today I’d love to share with you another practice, that is being a part of my daily rituals. I am talking about the practice of G. Why did I decide to bring this up? Simply because I find that G is related to our wellbeing as well as emotional and physical health. Everything in our body is related, everything! And I can assure you that practicing G can make an incredible impact on your life. This is an amazing and easy tool that can enhance not only your Inner Beauty but brings more happiness into your life;) And it’s being scientifically proven! So let’s take a look at some benefits of this wellbeing practice:
* Improves health
* Increases mental strength
* Reduces aggression
* Improves self-esteem
* Enhances positive emotions
* Improves relationships
* Releases stress
* Improves immunity (super important now)
* Makes us happier
This is really a great think to do daily. Try to practice it for a week or so and you’ll see how your mood changes and the life if you continue the practice. It is effortless, free and doesn’t take a lot of your time. It can be done in the morning, before starting your day or during the day, when you take a break or before going to bed, at any time! Simply send G for everything that you honor, it can be G for another beautiful day, for your health, for your family, friends, for the food that you have to nurture your body, for the funds that you have to pay your needs, for the fresh air you breath, for the clean water, for trees and birds and all the wildlife.... countless things to be grateful for! For the life experience that is given to you. You can thank someone mentally. You can also keep a gratitude journal, writing down 3 things you are grateful for daily. There is no rules or regulations how to do it. Just do it. ⬇️

The skin.
Finally it’s getting nice and warm out.
My big hope is that soon we will be able to spend more time outside. It is very important for us these days to get some sun exposure, so our bodies can produce Vitamin D, which plays an important role in functional immune system. A deficiency of this Vitamin may compromise immune response and increase the risk of infection or disease. Nevertheless today’s post is not about the importance of Vitamin D and its health benefits. Instead, I’d like to jot down some ways to protect the skin from the UV rays and the damage the sun can cause.
As we all know, skin is the largest organ in our bodies. It acts as a barrier in many ways. Let’s see how we can take good care of our organ of protection, so it can keep taking good care of us.
My mother was always telling me the sun in spring is the most dangerous. And she was right, UV rays are stronger during spring and summer months. Now, that we are finally dropping off our winter’s layers, I am sure, many of us myself included, can’t wait to get some nice bronze tan on our aristocratic seasonal pallor. We just want to be careful and keep in mind how dangerous the sun and its UV rays can be. My point is simply to make it as safe as possible.
Here is how we can do it:
1. Use sunscreen every day even if it’s cloudy, especially if you want to prevent early skin aging and dark spotting (talking about the face)
2. Choose a broad spectrum of sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB radiation (unfortunately most of them only have UVA protection)
3. Pay attention when choosing your sunscreen. A lot of these products are TOXIC. You want to avoid harmful chemicals such as oxybenzone, avobenzone, benzopnenone, cyclopeny, homosalate, formaldehyde, octinoxate, methylisothiazolinone.
4. Limit the amount of time of the sun exposure to avoid sunburn risk (the strongest sun 11-4pm).
5. Lastly, Accessorize your beautiful Self with a hat that shades your head and face 🤠
Remember: Prepare and prevent, don’t repair and repent.
This will be the motto for today.

Be well! Enjoy the sun. And protect the skin You live in.

A manner of living AP
#

May 14th.
Three years ago I received a phone call from my mother. It was Mother’s Day. She had told me that my father passed away. I can’t remember anything but devastation and regret that I felt. Regret, that I can never see him again and tell him how much I loved him, and ask him a million of questions about his life. My parents divorced when I was 4. I rarely saw him although he was always in my mind.
Today I know a part of him lives in me and will always be ❤️
I am very grateful for the life he and my mother gave me. And I am very grateful for the beautiful eyes that I was lucky to inherit from my dad.

Today, I’d like to share something that I have written in the very begging of the COVID-19 lockdown. I’d like to dedicate this to my father Sergey.

***
When the dust settles down,
We will open our windows again.
We’ll unlock all the doors of our homes and such of our hearts...

When the dust settles down,
We’ll all go outside,
We’ll be hugging each other, I hope
We’ll be singing and dancing.
We’ll be loving each other again.

We’ll start valuing more things
Which we’ve ALWAYS had!
Parks with the nature,
Dates and dinners,
Gatherings with friends.

We will honor our freedoms,
Our fathers and mothers,
Our neighbors and teachers.
We will count our blessings,
We’ll enjoy our lives...
But why when the dust settles??

P.S. My massage is not to take things for granted, but to be grateful for everything we already have, and honor those who gifted us with life, love, care, support and wisdom.

With love,

Anna
05.14.2020

Here comes the BEAUTYHACK, that I mentioned in my last post. Continuing the conversation about the oral care - the gates to health and beauty, as it was denominated earlier. This beautyhack is super simple. It needs to be done in the morning on empty stomach.

Let’s jump into benefits of this ritual:
* it Improves dental health
* It whitens teeth
* It is natural, chemical and toxin free
* It kills harmful bacteria in your mouth
* It refreshes breathe
* It moisturizes the gums
* It seems to reduce inflammation
* It takes only 5-10 minutes per day
* It’s very affordable (think about how much your dentist visits cost, and how unpleasant they can be)
* It’s super easy to perform

This practice became an integral part of my morning rituals about 4 years ago. I haven’t had any dental problem since that. However, I do my annual dental checkups just to make sure all is well and my health gates are nice and sound.

What is this magical ritual, you must be pondering now?
It is oil pulling. My favorite oil pulling, which I’ve discovered during my Indian trip, where I’ve been deepening my knowledge in yoga and studying Ayurvedic Medicine (if you are not familiar with Aurveda yet, it is the ancient holistic healing system that is widely used in India, and just now becoming very popular worldwide).

Here are the 5 simple steps how to do it:
1. Take 1 tablespoon of oil in your mouth (coconut, sesame or olive oil. I prefer doing it with coconut)
2. Swish it around in your mouth for 3-5 minutes, being careful not to swallow.
3. Spit the oil into a trash can once you're done.
4. Brush your teeth as you regularly do it.
5. Don’t forget about your tongue. Masses of bacteria collect there. So you want to clean your tongue as well as your beautiful teeth. To do that I use a copper tongue scraper (Copper is naturally anti-microbial and has a long history of regulating fungi, micro-organisms, and other bacteria).

So easy as 1,2,3 - pull, swish and scrap.
I hope you’ll enjoy this beauty hack, if you are not doing this yet.
Please be mindful, it will take some time for you to see some of results such as teeth whitening.
Continues ⬇️

SMILE Is the best makeup any girl can wear (Marilyn Monroe)
And it’s hard to disagree with the legendary beauty Icon. Moreover, I believe, that Smile can also have a therapeutic effect. It has been scientifically proven that the act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits our health and happiness. Dopamine, endorphins and serotonin - these are the neurotransmitters that are responsible for our feel-good state. All three are being released each time when the smile appears on your face. The smile also relaxes the body, it can lower your ❤️ rate and the blood pressure. Being that said, I’d like to add that gums and the mouth are the gates to our health. So it is very important to take good care of our health gates.
In the childhood, we were thought that it’s crucial to brush our teeth twice a day, If we want to have a healthy and beautiful smile. The basic process of this oral hygiene requires a toothbrush and a paste. A just a while ago, many of us started to pay more attention on products that are being used in our daily lives. We are becoming more conscious about the impact that these products have not only on us but on our Planet.
So speaking of oral hygiene, I’d love to share with you some of my thoughts and maybe some beauty hack to follow🤔

First and foremost is the brush. I am sure, everyone has tried cleaning teeth with a finger, although this process a tooth cleaning procedure requires you to have a proper brush. It doesn’t have to be expensive or fancy, because your dentist wants you to change it once in a couple of months. Infinite variety of brushes is available today. Which one to choose?
They all do only one function. Although the material it’s made of can be different.
When I was in Bali, practicing Karma Yoga, helping to clean the beach, I was shocked by the amount of toothbrushes I was seeing every day. Unfortunately plastic brushes are not recycled. Most of them end up in the ocean. Seeing how much plastic trash is dumped in the ocean made me feel really sad. No wonder why marine wildlife is suffering. Since then I’ve switched to bamboo toothbrush. A set of 6 costs about 10-15$. It lasts for a year and it’s BIODEGRADABLE!
Sec⬇

Happy Earth Day my dear Friends! 🌍

This is our Day, my dear human beings. We are the Planet. We are all connected. Let’s celebrate this Day, let’s celebrate our Life. Let’s become actors of the transformation, that is happening now. Let’s be mindful to what we do to our beloved Mother Nature, which is so generous to us. She gives us everything we need for living: food, shelter, air, medicine... Every single thing.
And let’s think for a minute, what do we give her back!?
Let’s be grateful and honor everything our beloved Mother provides us with. Let’s respect our Home. Let’s be gentle and loving to it. As it is your Mother, my Mother - a Mother of everything on Earth.

Today, I would like to share with you another simple and natural remedy, that helps me to boost the immunity and stay healthy.

Holistic beauty hack:

EXCEPTIONARY BERRY

Elderberry is absolutely magical berry that is:
* High in vitamin C
* High in dietary fiber
* A good source of phenolic acids (antioxidants)
* A good source of flavonols
* Rich in anthocyanins

Elderberry has been a folk remedy for centuries. It is used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, to improve vision, to boost the immune system, to improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsillitis.

So here is the simple and low cost recipe of the elderberry tincture that I’ve learned from my dear friend, amazing human being and incredible herbalist

Fill 3/4 of the jar with dry elderberries, add alcohol (80 proof) to the top of the jar. Close it with the lid and leave it for 4 weeks to infuse. Keep it in the dark and dry place, and shake it up every day for a minute or so. After 4 weeks, simply strain the the liquid and squeeze the rest of the tincture from the berries, add honey and put it in the jar with a dropper.
Voila, your super delicious immune booster is ready for use. One dropper daily is the dose for the immune support. If you are not feeling well, then it can be increased up to 4 droppers per day.

Be well!! Feel good! Stay healthy!! Stress less!! Love more! Respect the Nature and radiate your inner Beauty!!

With love and gratitude,

Anna❤ @ New York, New York

Happy Easter my dear Orthodox Friends!!! 🐰🧺💃🏻🍷🥚

Today is the very special day for me, I am celebrating the Easter, also called Pascha. Notwithstanding that I am not very religious, for me this day is the festival of light and Russian traditions, that is accompanied with family and friends gatherings and delicious food.

For the first time in my life I kept 40 day long Lent, that has ended last night. I have to say, that the first week was hard. My old habits of eating and drinking everything I used or wanted to, were trying to take over... Nevertheless, I was able to find the willpower to keep going. As a result, I think, this was an amazing experience for my self discipline, which definitely requires some work 🙈 I feel great physically and mentally, and I got some good energy boost ⚡️✨

So for me, today is well deserved and highly appreciated Holiday.
My plan is simple. I am going to dress up and honor the traditions of the Mother Russia.

Be bright! Be kind and loving to everything that has life. Be happy! Stay healthy and radiate your inner beauty!

With love and gratitude,

Panama ❤️

@ Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Morning Rituals.
Self care is an important aspect of our life, especially now. The time is given to us and let’s use it wisely! The precious time, that was in deficiency for so many of us. Now we have this great opportunity for self reflection, for learning something new and taking a good care of ourselves.
I find it very important to have a nice morning routine, that makes you feel amazing and energizes for a day.
You just have to find yours.
Today, I’d like to share one of my rituals.

: ICE QUEEN 👸🏻🧊 🌼🥀🌿💦

Benefits of this Ritual:

• it improves blood circulation
• it tones and refreshes the skin
• it shrinks pores
•it soothes and calms the skin
•it makes the skin to glow
• it removes the puffiness
• it helps to reduce the dark under eyes circles
• It is SUPER easy to perform
• It takes ONLY a couple of minutes
• It is great for ALL skin types
• it costs almost NOTHING

Your skin will LOVE it!

So, here comes the ritual.
Every morning I rub my face and neck with a peace of ice until it’s melted. I use some nice and calming herbs to make my ice cubes: such as chamomile, rose petals, calendula, lavender, green tea and etc.
I let the herbs to infuse in hot water for about 10-15 minutes, after I strain it and fill the ice form with the liquid. I send it to the freezer and keep it there.
Voilà!

With love from herbalist/makeup artist 👩🏻‍🎨

P.S.
Please share what are your morning rituals? How do you start your day?

@ New York, New York

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.
-Marilyn Monroe

Loving yourself is the greatest revolution.

Model: Ashley vacuumingquinoa
Style and makeup by me 🧑🏻‍🎨

“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” May all women shine the divine inner beauty and the wisdom. May we all live in peace and harmony, radiating love and compassion every moment of our precious lives, as we do make this World a better place. May we all be happy, be safe and be loved 🙏🏼 💗🌱🌷
Happy International Women’s Day!





Spring Campaign for
Photography by .gos
Model
N**e Makeup by me

Let it go, let it go, let it go 👋🏻
#2019
Time to say good bye to this year. It’s been so wonderful!!! It thought me so many wonderful things about life and about myself. I am grateful for everything this year had filled my life with. With deep love and gratitude I am ready to enter #2020
May we all live in and and shine our ❤️