The spa at home

The widespread symbol of Asian philosophy is the circle of yin and yang, where one half flows effortlessly into the other in a synergistic and interlocking whole. Pried apart, these halves are like the quotation marks that open and close a statement; together they are the statement itself.

Just like this ancient symbol, every human being is an interlocking whole whereby spiritual, mental and physical energies flow together to create holistic well being. Here in America we are lust getting comfortable with the concept of holistic thinking, but in Asia it has been at the core of health and beauty customs and practice since the beginning of time. In Java, the birthplace of many Asian health and beauty secrets, this mind body connection is crystalized by the ancient expression rupasampat wahya bhintara: "the balance between that which is visible and that which lies within".

Mind-body guru Deepak Chopra puts it another way in his best-selling book 'Quantum Healing'. I le writes: "The mind and the body are like parallel universes. Anything that hap­pens in the mental universe must leave Cracks in the physical one." Indeed, current studies in Western mind-body science Have lave shown that when we are relaxed and happy, the bio­chemical rhythms in our bodies are significantly different from those present when we are angry, tense or sad.

Physically, we glow when we are feeling well. And when we glow we are beautiful .Accord­ing to Dr Martha Tilaar founder and president of one of the Republic of Indonesia's fore­most natural cosmetic companies, all the skin and hair products that help cultivate outer-beauty are balanced by those for inner beauty such as herbal tonics, exercise, whole food, fasting and selfless gestures toward others. Dr Tilaar reminds us: ''This is not religious practice. A sense of gratitude and taking care of others empowers us inside, These actions are part of the beauty ritual." What's more, much Asian ideology says that a desire to be beautiful is valid.

In truth, while rupasampat wahya bhintara may be a foreign phrase, _it is certainly not a foreign concept. We know it by expressions such as "beauty comes from within” ,Too often, though, we're too busy to go beyond the sur­face, so we gel our hair and reach for some lipstick, dusting on a little outer glow as we dash out the door. When we do try for some thing deeper, we rush in late to a yogarobics class, feeling too manic to relax properly.

So, here's the first secret:Take time for yourself. It sounds simple, but it's easier said than done. One way to do it is to indulge in a spa experience: on vacation or at a day spa, and always with a massage in which you entrust yourself to the gentle hands of another; is one option. Another idea is to recreate the spa experience back at home, where you will find ingredients from your garden to your cupboards, your backyard to your bathroom. which will make a sensual, perhaps spiritual, retreat.