Hello again, friends! I hope the holidays were kind to you. I know it’s been several months since we last met… but I assure you, it will be worth the wait!

First of all, I’d like to say a huge THANK YOU for those that participated in Nurture Me November with me! It was so motivating and inspiring to have all of you tweeting and sharing your small self-love rituals with everyone! I think we shall make a more regular habit of this.

BUT that’s not why I’m posting! I’ve got some very exciting news! In addition to a couple of collaborative workshop ideas that I’m working on with a very talented friend and her organization(details coming soon!), I have been a busy bee setting up my VERY OWN new Massage Therapy space!!! Okay okay, it’s not *just* mine, but I couldn’t be happier about sharing this new sacred space with my good friend and colleague, Jade of Djedu Massage. We’ve spent the weekend painting and getting everything ready to start taking clients at the end of this week! Just a few finishing touches left to put in the room!!!

We’re calling the space Bija Bhoga, which is Sanskrit for “the source of sensory enjoyment”. Which is exactly what we’re hoping it will be for our clients. A place where they can come and indulge their senses.

SO

If you’re interested in booking a Massage in the not-so-distant future, our new address is 1700 S 24th, Lincoln, NE. You can call me at 402.613.2428 to book, or send me an email!

I’ll most likely be running a special in March, so stay tuned for that too!

You know, one of my favorite things about taking time out for myself is the way my mind is able to wander. An extremely high percentage of my best ideas come to me while I’m in the shower, or doing henna, or during that trance that I’m in while I bake… Baths and showers are probably one of my favorite daydreaming places, though. Relaxing music… or just silence and the sound of the water, spending time thinking about whatever while I do a bit of pampering (because, let’s face it- every bathing experience is an opportunity for some pampering.) It’s really quite heavenly.

So today, while in the bath with my sore muscle salt soak, I pondered this Nurture-Me-November thing a little more. It’s amazing to me how motivated I’ve been to find little things to tweet about or take a quick photo of. (side note: having a super fancypants smartphone REALLY has done wonders for my motivation as well).  When I decided to make November a month to nurture myself, I didn’t really think about how many other people would get behind the idea. I must say, the feedback so far has been really exciting! I’ve been trying to post to Facebook here and there, but mostly I’ve been using Twitter (#nurturemenov) to share my little moments of self-care.  I’ve been playing with Instagram and having oodles of fun tweeting things like this:

by the way, if you want to follow me on Instagram, search for Knacknack- but I warn you, I post many pictures of food and kittens.

As fun as this has been so far, I’m finding myself hoping that I don’t lose steam. I’m sure I’ll have a busy day here and there this month where I won’t be bombarding the interwebs with whatever silly girly things I may be doing, so I’m trying to come up with a few ways to keep myself motivated…

Getting the feedback for N.M.N. that I’ve received so far has been SO encouraging and SO exciting. I just want to keep hearing about all of the little things that you guys are doing for yourselves too! So I thought to myself: “how can I get people to share/tweet more?”

duy. A giveaway. What else motivates people like free stuff? Not much.

But what to give away??? Well, thanks to the lovely ladies over at Henna Caravan and their awesome Golden Elephant Gift Exchange, I’m going to be putting together a fantastic little box of goodies! I won’t say specifically what’s going to be in it, but it might have something to do with chocolate… and henna… and maybe some other pampering goodies also… So I thought, HEY! I’ll just make two and give the extra one to the winner!!

Awesome, right?! so here are the rules: Read my mini-soapbox-babble about Nurture Me November and learn a bit about why I’m doing this, then tweet your own recipes/ideas/thoughts/feelings/moments (really, this could be just about anything so long as it makes you feel good about yourself) with the tag #nurturemenov, and at the end of November, I’ll draw a winner. Every time you tweet, you get an entry. Did you spend time smelling the roses? Tweet it. Delicious, nutritious dinner? Tweet it. Did you power through your to-do list with time to spare? Tweet it. Like I said, NMN is about building awareness of the things that you already do, not making a bunch of added effort to do new things. The more we share; the more we encourage each other. And the more we encourage each other; the more we encourage ourselves. And the more we’re encouraged; the more likely we are to spend our time doing things that help us cultivate the people that we truly want to be.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve prepared a lovely bedroom to sleep in.

Sooo those of you that know me know how geeky I am about being girly, playing dress-up, and finding manymanymany ways of indulging myself in something splendid. I could rant for hours on the magical confidence-boosting abilities of red lipstick, or how important it is to keep your chocolate library stocked. Well I’m coming off of a very hectic and stressful few months, and while things may not slow down too much, I am planning on taking more time out to take care of myself. November 1st seemed like a good, solid starting time, no? So here we are. My first ever “Nurture-Me-November” 

What this means is that all month long I’m making an extra effort to do simple little things that nurture a part of myself that I want to thrive. Whether its my motherly side, my spiritual self, or my inner crafting genius; I’m going to be taking time and making notes to build my awareness and encourage making a habit out of a few of these little “extras”.
For example:
I’m going to try to make it to one yoga class every week this month. I’m also going to re-acquaint myself with my diet and look into ways of boosting metabolism and breaking my plateau. I’m going to do a little something extra with my appearance every day (earrings, lipstick, curly hair, favorite shoes, etc.). I’m going to keep myself freshly henna’d. More bubble baths. More singing out loud. More crafting. You catch my drift.

I’m going to do these things, and perhaps more importantly, I’m going to take a moment to reflect on them as I’m doing them. Why am I doing it? What part of myself am I satisfying by doing it?

One of the other good habits I’m trying to build on is blogging/tweeting/facebooking/etc more. So I’ll be sharing my thoughts and reflections via Facebook and twitter! Like Hannaya Healing on Facebook, follow @hannayahealing (#nurturemenov) on twitter, and check the blog for updates.

Join me and share the little ways that you’re nurturing yourself all month long! What better way to cultivate self appreciation and gratitude during a season of thanks?

It’s been too long since my last blog and I am really trying not to beat myself up about it! Really, it’s silly that it’s taken me so long since I’ve got SO much in the works right now to write about! So rather than waiting for any of these things to get a blog post of their own (which is what I had been kindof doing), let’s just have a few quick updates, shall we? Yes, lets. ^.^

When last we met, I had expressed curiosity about the Soapnut Hair treatment. Since then, my supplies from Henna Sooq arrived, which happened to include said soapnuts! I followed their directions for the 100g package and got about a half gallon of the liquid.  I then pranced merrily to the food processor to whip up some lovely foam! After that, it was off to the shower where with this foam- and only this foam- I’d make my hair so silky and shiny I couldn’t believe it!

After doing a bit more research, I learned that you can use the liquid only as a shampoo, and you can use the nuts themselves for a variety of different things. Check out this link! Neat!

Of course, the soapnut treatment was also a cleansing prep before my next henna/indigo hair dye application. I used the same ratio of indigo to henna, but added some amla powder this time for cooler tones, shine, and curl. I’ll post photos soon before it changes too much, but it came out nearly black! I’m sure it will lighten as I wash it, but so far I absolutely love it!

The above photos were from a henna party that I did last week for a friend. It was oodles of fun and I didn’t even get to henna everybody there! I can’t wait for my next one.

I also can’t wait for this Saturday! I’ll be hosting a Henna Workshop at 9 Muses Studio from 1-3! I’ve never hosted a workshop before, and I don’t know that I’ll be the most scholarly instructor since I’m still learning so much about henna and the arts and culture that surrounds it, but I figure this will be a great way to jump in and share what I *do* know with people! Very exciting.

Currently I’m working on a handout and some other materials for the class. I plan on touching on some of henna’s history as well as come of the meaning in symbols from various cultures. Honestly, narrowing down the subject matter for the class is going to be tricky for me. As I’ve been gathering my sources and compiling all of this wonderful info, I just keep finding more and more fascinating info. Somehow I always seem to fall in love with such expansive topics with so many different facets!

SO. Those of you that know me are aware that I’m a tad “self-indulgent” (in the best possible way, of course ^.~). I totally love finding new ways to pamper myself.  The more simple, luxurious ways to make yourself feel nurtured, pampered, and gorgeous, the better- right? Right. After all, taking some time to really pay attention to making yourself feel lovely is REALLY important- but that’s a rant for another day. ^.^

Lately I’ve been curious about ways to really indulge my hair. A while ago I started using henna and indigo to color my hair. While I am quite happy with the results so far, I’m still craving some kind of deep cleanse/condition ritual that will help my hair feel silky, or help with volume and curl, etc. Since I’ve started using henna on my hair, it’s gone from dry to greasy and oily, back to dry….. I think it’s started to level out (I also think I need to try a new shampoo). I also feel like I’m shedding quite a bit of it since, but that may also just be that it’s darker, and getting longer, too.

So here I am, considering a little pampering hair ritual and I thought I would just ask you guys! What do you do to condition/pamper your hair? Oils? Masks? Home-made conditioner? Mayo? What?  Also: Has anyone out there ever used Soapnuts? I’m thinking about trying them out before I dye my hair next (which should be soon). Here’s a video from HennaSooq (who just redid their website, btw. I haven’t gotten to spend much time there yet- but I totally love it so far!) Let me know what you think!

This evening I needed to mix up some fresh paste for a few future appointments. Lately I’ve been trying to mix smaller batches at a time. So far, I enjoy doing this more than mixing a larger batch and freezing it. I don’t know that the quality of the paste is much different either way, but I do enjoy the experience of mixing henna so having to do it more often is definitely a good thing.

While I was mixing and measuring this evening, I was really thinking about the experience I was having. One of my favorite parts of Loretta Roome’s Mehndi is where she talks about mixing paste. She talks about the hands that harvested, dried, ground, and sifted the henna leaves; and about the thousands of years of tradition and culture that used this very same powder for so many rich celebrations and rituals. Women in so many different cultures and time periods have used henna as a form of self expression, adornment, and even meditation. I’ll have to post a few really great quotes later, but Roome suggests that every step of the henna and mehndi process is an opportunity for meditation. A chance for the hannaya to honor, participate, and share something bigger than herself and the paste she paints with.

I was in massage school when I read that for the first time and it really amazed me at how similar this idea was to setting a healing, nurturing tone/energy/intention for a massage treatment. Since I made this connection, I’ve tried to create a little ritual every time I mix my paste. I put on some music and use my “henna” spoon and while I’m measuring and mixing until my arm hurts, I think about the people I might get to decorate, and the way I hope their henna will make them feel. I think about different designs that I want to do and which elements to incorporate into them.

By the time I have a silky smooth henna paste, it becomes very apparent to me that henna is truly, truly therapeutic. Whether its the soothing effects of the lavender essential oils, the deep earthy green color of the paste, the music, thoughts about tradition and history, meditation, prayer, or simply daydreaming- I feel content and happy with the experience I’ve had, and I’m excited and inspired for the experiences that I’ve yet to have with my fresh new paste.

You know, I’m not quite sure where this henna thing is going to take me. But I must say, if I had a choice, I’d love to grow my henna business doing private appointments for people. I had a lovely client this morning who came over to get some work done on her hands for a yoga workshop that she’s going to be teaching and it’s just so nice to sit with people and spend a bit of time with them. I love talking to them about henna, and hearing about their lives and why they’re interested in it. My favorite part, though, is helping someone leave feeling even more beautiful than when they came in. Having people really love their art is satisfying for me on a deep emotional and even spiritual level. I just love it.

I also love my new henna paste. Yesterday my shipment of the 2011 summer crop of Jamila powder came in from Henna Sooq. I mixed some up right away so that i could use it this morning. NO CLOGS! I always forget how smooth and easy good paste just flows. It might as well just do everything itself! I can’t wait to see how dark these stains get… and of course, fresh henna just smells SOOOO good.

Here are a few of photos from my past couple of private appointments.

One of the foot designs that I did for my first private client at Yoga Body & Balance. I’m hoping she’s a return customer. She’s oodles of fun to work on. I can’t wait to do some henna for her with my new Jamila paste. The paste used here was what I got at the local Arabic grocery, which clogged *constantly*. But the color looked lovely, so it wasn’t a total bust.

Both feet! We were going for symmetry… not too bad!

One of the hand pieces that I did yesterday morning. Again, such a lovely lady to work with! And I couldn’t have been happier about the way my paste turned out. Such great detail! yay!

And a peacock on the other hand! Love it Love it!

Usually I’m a fan of the Jamila henna powder that I get from Henna Caravan. After reading Mehndi by Loretta Roome, I took Loretta’s suggestion and bought some paste at the Indian grocery store. It sat in my freezer a while before I got the chance to mix it up, but I was finally able to give it a test run. Check it out!

I’ve been trying to get better about mixing smaller batches of henna more often so that I can make sure that the paste is fresh as possible. So I mixed up half of the box (50g) following the recipe suggested by Henna Sooq.

I mixed up the paste on Monday night and was finally able to use it last night. I’m going to need to add more lemon juice to the paste before I make another cone. I’m also going to try running it through a stocking to break up clumps. I got all the way through a design on my foot with fairly good, smooth lines. The piece on my hand, however, is quite a bit bolder than I had wanted it to be since the cone kept clogging up on me.

Here’s a snapshot of the doodle I did on my hand after I scraped the paste off this morning.

Its been about 7 hours since I took the above picture and the paste has already darkened to a good orange-brown color (pardon the lighting).

Hopefully I will get to play around some more in the next couple of days. I’ll keep you posted!

So those of you that have known me for any extended length of time have probably known me with several colors of hair, including pink, purple, blue, several shades of red, and my favorite, teal. I haven’t dyed my hair in quite some time. Mostly, this was because I have been making an effort to stop using chemicals on myself, and i wanted to see what my natural color was like. I’d also resisted using henna on my hair because I don’t really want to be a redhead. What I DID want was the conditioning benefits that several of my friends are enjoying from using henna on their hair.

So after a *teensy* bit of research and a fair amount of pondering, I decided I would do the Henna + Indigo recommendation from Henna Caravan. I followed the directions to mix my paste for a dark brown color. Sadly, I didn’t get to take good “after” pictures the first time around but I was able to grab a couple of before and after shots from this application. My hair was only a bit lighter the first time around, so you can try to imagine the difference… similar result, just less drastic the second time around.

Again, pardon the quality of the pictures, they were snapped with my phone in my dining room

The paste weighed a TON and I slept with it on overnight. You can see in the before pictures that my hair was a bit greasy looking. I’d been noticing it was much oilier than usual the past couple of weeks. I just switched my shampoo/conditioner, so that could be a factor, but I’m not sure why it’s happening. Hopefully in the next several months, I’ll learn a thing or two about taking good care of my hair. The henna/indigo seems to have stopped the oil problem for now.

Here are the shots from yesterday, the day that the paste was removed:

I think its a bit redder this time. I didn’t have as much indigo to use as I did the first time. Overall, though, I really like it. Its really soft and very shiny. My favorite part- not greasy anymore. I <3 henna.

So here we are. First blog entry. I always think that the *first* of something should set the tone for what’s to follow. So I’ve been pondering EXACTLY what to say for a few weeks now… I wouldn’t call it procrastinating… but I do think it’s been long enough.

The truth is, I keep trying to come up with some sort of explanation that I simply don’t have. This blog is to be the sharing place for my findings on one of my favorite art forms: Mehndi. It is also true that I don’t know NEARLY as much as I’d like to about this incredibly extensive topic. It would make sense, then, that I have no simple explanation about the 5 W’s of henna. I’m afraid all I have for you at the moment is a beginning.

I’ve been drawing on myself, my clothes, my math homework and countless other things since I can remember. My history of really getting into drawing on myself goes back to middle school. I didn’t start playing with henna until a few years ago, though. About a year after I started bellydancing (a subject sure to resurface later). One thing lead to another and before I knew it I was going from doodling on myself, to a few friends, to people at festivals for extra cash.

The more I did it, the more I loved it, and I think my favorite, and perhaps the most profound thing about doing henna for someone is the experience that can be had. I’ve had several people tell me how relaxed and pampered they felt after getting henna done. This sparked something in me, but I didn’t quite know how to explain it. At least, not until I went to massage school. A few months into my studies I had this epiphany. I wanted to combine elements of different Mehndi traditions with the papering, personal, and even healing aspects of massage therapy. But I really wanted to know my stuff in both areas- which will surely be a lifelong learning experience.

So here we are.  The beginning of a journey about a gorgeous tradition spanning many cultures and many centuries.