Anti-aging skin: How mindful meditation and breathwork can help
Breathe in the benefits of meditation - oxygen therapy for glowing skin
Text: Sam Y
Transformation and mindful meditation coach Dani Van de Velde is glowing, and this is no exaggeration. She seems to radiate life, a stark contrast to my constantly anxious and dull self. As we settle down to speak, I ruminate on the big question that I have yet to ask her –– can mindful meditation and breathwork actually anti-age skin? Honestly, I feel like I already have the answer.
If you’re a newbie to the art of meditation (like myself), you’re likely wondering what is this famed contemplative practice all about. For Dani, it’s all about cultivating present awareness, which enables you to respond to the world around you with choice rather than as a result of a stress-induced response. “It’s about drawing your dissipated mind into present awareness. We’ve all got a negative bias with our thinking, so we’re either circling back through the past or projecting unpleasant thoughts into the future. Meditation enables you to live mindfully; to respond, rather than react,” she explains.
But what does this have to do with skin? Interestingly, everything! Our bodies actually respond to thoughts. Think about the sour taste of a lemon, and you may unknowingly scrunch your cheeks up even if you haven’t actually eaten one. “By not being present, we’re creating stress responses in our body that can have massive effect on your physiology. Being in a prolonged state of stress vastly affects the parasympathetic arm of your nervous system which governs the cyclical functions in your body,” says Dani.
This means your sleep and digestive cycles are thrown off balance, which in turn damages your skin. When these body functions become deregulated, we get worn down. As a result of this, we end up eating what we want instead of what our body needs, we feel low in mood and too tired to exercise.
“Our hydration levels also become affected,” adds Dani. “When we're stressed, we don’t pick up the early subtle cues from our body that we need to drink. When we finally do, we don't go for water, but rather tea, a soda or something that'll boost our energy.”
When you practice breathwork, you’re also encouraging your body to take in more oxygen which does wonders for your skin. In fact, many beauty spas now offer oxygen therapy to improve wound healing and increase blood circulation. “When you come into present awareness, your breathing naturally goes deeper and you end up taking more nourishing diaphragmatic breaths that oxygenate your system and detoxify it,” says Dani.
And lastly, aside from nourishing and healing your body and skin from the inside out, a large part of mindful meditation helps you to refocus on the more positive aspects of life. The good vibrations you emit when you’re in a healthy state of mind vastly affect how people see you and draw them closer to you like an invisible magnetic field. As Roald Dahl himself put it: “You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
To reap the mental and physical aspects of breathwork and the benefits of mindful meditation, you can just start out by spending ten minutes of your day, at the same time and the same place, noticing your breathing –– put a hand on your chest, and a hand on your belly and use that time to focus and learn how to breathe properly. Joining one of Dani's amazing guided meditation sessions are the best place to start if you need guidance.
“It’s very much like cultivating a new habit. Do a little bit every day, and within 21 days, you will have cut a new neural pathway that supports the practice of meditation,” she reveals.
Twenty-one days for glowing skin that looks look twenty-one (ish) again? We’re in!
