Crystals, gratitute, health and fitness, Jewellery, resolutions, self help, travel, yoga

Magic Malas

How familiar are you with Malas and meaning being them?

Let us take you through a quick Mala journey and my own Mala experience 

I was first introduced to malas in Bali back in 2018 during a Yoga Retreat. I had not been quite familiar with malas prior to that  moment of my life and was instantly kind of fascinated with them. Before I started making my own ones I owned 2 malas: one I would wear during my yoga practice and one I only would wear when I meditate or do some mindfulness practices. 

There are many reasons why someone would buy or make a mala. Itโ€™s a personal thing. Malas can be anything the wearer/owner wants it to be. 

What is Mala? In short it is a string of 108 beads used traditionally for meditation. (Malas can have 27 or 54 beads as well). Thereโ€™s also a Guru Bead in a form of a larger crystal or silver bead which isnโ€™t counted towards the 108 beads in a Mala. The Guru Bead is said to represent your teacher, your intentions and prayers. You can hold on to the Guru Bead to set your Intention before the practice and โ€˜sealโ€™ your breath or meditation practice by holding onto it.

Traditionally itโ€™s called Japa Mala and is used for Japa Meditation – reciting a mantra by going through all 108 beads starting from the one next to the Guru Bead. 

The tassel represents your connection to the high self, the consciousness. They are also great for spraying or adding a bit of essential oils onto to enhance the effects of the practice.

The knots between beads make it easier to go from one bead to another, they also protect beads from rubbing against each other and if your Mala breaks the beads will still be in place secured by the knots. 

In some cases little spacer beads are used instead of the knots. 

Malas are usually made with rudaraksha or crystal beads and can be worn during meditation and yoga practices as well as outside the mat. 

Malas should be cleansed in the same way as crystals and kept away from toilets, sweaty gyms, open dusty spaces and similar. 

You can wear a Mala as a meditation tool, as a necklace or a bracelet.

After reading and researching malas for quite a while I decided to try and make some myself. All my malas are saged/cleansed and made with a certain intention in mind to go with the colours and the stones used for making them.

There is a lot of work and thought being put into creating every single Mala. They are all very special to me and I would like them to go to good homes where they will be looked after with love and respect. 

I believe that if you are ready to invest into one you will know which mala you need as the stones will talk to you or you will already have a visual of what your Mala or Malas should look and feel like.

Every stone has its meaning. All the malas are colour and intention themed. These are bespoke unique creations and all of them are individually made. 

All our malas come with a complimentary 5ml Bottle or 5ml Roller of Essential Oils Blends that go with the intention and the qualities of the beads used in a Mala. 

Every Mala comes in a handmade reusable canvas bag. Malas will be made with/without tassels, but they can be added/removed on request.

If a Mala has Lava beads oils can be used on those beads due to their porous structure. 

All the Guru Beads in our malas are genuine large crystal beads.

Some malas are made with Sterling Silver Guru Beads in various shapes (Lotus, etc). There might be an occasional Mala made with silver plated Guru bead, which will reflect in the price. 

We also make Anklets and Mala Bracelets of various lengths: 27 beads, 54 beads and 108 beads – to be wrapped around the wrist.

Anklets are made with crystal, lava or rudaraksha beads and silver plated spacer beads. They are of adjustable lengths. I love anklets and always struggle to find the ones I like. I’ve owned multiple silver ones and they tend to snap on me. I got a crystal bead one as a Christmas present and loved it. Having had more time over the lockdown than I had had in a few previous years I started making them for myself and, as Lululemon slogan would say, ‘We made too much’. This also goes for Malas. That is in a nutshell the birth story of Malas & Anklets creations.

If any of them snap, or you would incur any other issues with the products, I am happy to fix them free of charge. I do hope this won’t happen, but you can always have my word that you will not be left to deal with any issues on your own.

Please have a look at the current selection of our Malas, oils and anklets here!ย 

If you have any questions please let me know and Iโ€™m looking forward to sharing the magic of malas with you

Natallia

xxxxxxx

 

health and fitness, mobility, Pilates, yoga

๐Ÿ‘ฃย Feet TLC: Earthing, Rolling, Cooling & Massaging๐Ÿ‘ฃย 

I haven’t done a blog post for months, so I thought I would restart my blogging journey with the topic of FEET and giving them some well needed TLC.. I am a ‘feet’ person: I love massaging my feet, painting my nails, walking barefoot, releasing them with therapy balls and rubbing oils into the soles of the feet!

Four areas are going to be covered in this post:

  • Earthing and its benefits
  • Making a cooling Peppermint Spray
  • Giving your feet some TLC with Myofascial Release
  • Applying essential oils to your feet for better sleep and during/before yoga or mindfulness practices

If you feel the post is becoming too long for you – just jump to the section of your interest.

EARTHING 

If you think of the Earth as a giant battery charged with natural, special energy then it makes so much more sense to why walking barefoot and connecting with nature in general is so good for us.

Last Friday I was feeling very low energy, quite tired and deflated. I took my dog out for a walk and felt the urge to take my shoes off and to walk barefoot. It might sound a bit woowoo, but after about 20 minutes of barefoot walking I felt so much better. I am ashamed to admit that I haven’t done a lot of barefoot walking recently, and I used to do it almost daily. Here’s hoping that’s the start to a new barefoot me!

There are numerous benefits to barefoot walking including (but not limited to):

  • Better Sleep
  • Grounding
  • Help with jet lag (on a separate note Iโ€™d rather have 3 days of jet lag these days only to be able to travel again!); 
  • Lowers inflammation 
  • Calms the mind 
  • Reduces Stress
  • Improves Circulation 

I donโ€™t like socks, narrow shoes and shoes in general. Flip flops, barefoot shoes and canvas slip on shoes is my go to footwear. Squeezing your feet into tiny narrow (heels as well!) shoes daily is like wearing a tight mini dress the whole day. 

Barefoot shoes are still shoes, so they wonโ€™t offer the same benefits as barefoot walking, but since we are on the topic of Feet TLC today, they will help you to keep your feet happy and stress free. 

When was the last time you walked barefoot? Time to take those shoes off and feel the grass underneath your feet!

PEPPERMINT SPRAY

Fresh peppermint twig and oil on wooden background

With the weather getting warmer, not just our body, but our feet need more TLC!

๐™ฟ๐šŽ๐š™๐š™๐šŽ๐š›๐š–๐š’๐š—๐š ๐™ด๐šœ๐šœ๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐š’๐šŠ๐š• ๐™พ๐š’๐š• isnโ€™t just a great energising oil, but also a great cooling one. The spray can also be used to spray the rest of your body when it gets a bit hot out there, but your feet will definitely appreciate this a lot!

You need a Spray Bottle, Peppermint Essential Oil, Witch Hazel and Distilled Water.

Add a few drops of oil into a spray bottle, add a little bit of Witch Hazel and top it up with distilled water. 

Your feet will thank you for this! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

 

MYOFASCIAL RELEASE: BALLS FOR THE SOLES

Hereโ€™s a short video on Myofascial Release for your feet with just a few tips on releasing your feet

All you need is a ball and 5-10 minutes of your time

Our feet are often underlooked and under appreciated. We rely on the health of our feet for our daily routines and activities. It is nice to dedicate a few minutes there and then to reward them with a few minutes of lovely release!

Show your feet some love and care today!

Now that we have covered Earthing, Myofascial Release and a Peppermint Spray to cool down your feet, hereโ€™s some more information on using Essential Oils for your feet.

Essential Oils can be rubbed into your feet before ๐˜ ๐˜–๐˜Ž๐˜ˆ/๐˜”๐˜๐˜•๐˜‹๐˜๐˜œ๐˜“๐˜•๐˜Œ๐˜š๐˜š Practice or before going to bed to promote better ๐˜š๐˜“๐˜Œ๐˜Œ๐˜—

  • ๐’ดโ„ดโ„Š๐’ถ/โ„ณ๐’พ๐“ƒ๐’น๐’ป๐“Š๐“๐“ƒโ„ฏ๐“ˆ๐“ˆ. Rub Oils into your ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต at the very start of the session (diluted). Our feet have larger pores so oils will be absorbed into the system a bit faster. If are a someone who loves working with feet – it also offers a lovely massage to awaken your feet. Loads of acupuncture points there as well! Word of caution: if your mat is prone to stains please use a blanket or a towel to rest your feet on for this ritual.

The blends you will use will depend on what your goal is. If you are not sure which oils to use, hereโ€™s a few suggestions: Lavender, Sandalwood, Roman Camomile and Bergamot are great oils to use for both Yoga Practice and ๐’ฎ๐“โ„ฏโ„ฏ๐“…. 

If you have a selection of oils, adding some earthy, grounding oils to the above mentioned ones, such as Frankincense, Cedar, Vetiver, Buddha Wood for example will help in promoting relaxation, as well as adding grounding and calm effects

  • I use Go Within (patchouly, frankincense, lavender, cedarwood) or Deep Calm (vetiver, mandarin, roman camomile, lavender) blends for yoga practice. I also particularly like Womenโ€™s Energy blend – a combination of clary sage, lavender and rose geranium is my absolute favourite!
  • Deep Sleep (cedarwood, lavender, bergamot) or Deep Calm blend as well as Thieves Oil are great for rubbing into your feet before going to bed.
  • In addition to rubbing the oils into your feet, Essential Oils can also be applied onto the wrist points, used as a mist spray or in a diffuser. 

Have a look at the current selection of Essentially You blends (Deep Calm is not there, but if you would like to order it please message me. If you would like to order a cooling spray – send me a quick message)

Hope this helps and wishing you a happy feet day and .. night! 

Natallia