Mean Reds & the Seven Chakras – The Rainbow Resolution

Hey! It's Meeee!!

Red is not only the new black economically speaking, but for me, wardrobe-wise too.  The thing is, sliding Back to Black, both on a mental and material – although rarely on a financial – level, seems too easy. And after years suffering from, the emotionally numbing Beige Zombosis I’ve taken to operating on Code Amber.  Anxiety has become my emotional set point  interspersed by not infrequent forays into full blown Mean Reds.  As Holly Golightly said in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

You know those days when you get the mean reds?

 The mean reds. You mean like the blues?

No. The blues are because you’re getting fat, and maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid, and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

I have to say, yes Holly I do! I got Beige because I was too yellow to face my fears.  As a result I’ve been off kilter, out of whack, off key, off colour for as long as I care to remember.  The world looks pretty jaded through this particular looking glass, thus I’m keen to try on some of them fabled rose-tinted spectacles and get me a different perspective on things. So I’ve decided to try balancing my Chakras.

What the bejesus are chakras I hear you cry!  Well, like dwarves they come in sevens – for starters anyhow.  Each represents an energy centre in the body, which receives, transforms and distributes that energy. Sanskrit for ‘wheel’, chakras are believed to rotate in a spiral vibration with graduating degrees of frequency.  They are also identified by certain key characteristics –  notably a clear and vibrant colour.

So this week I’ve been working on the root chakra, or Muladhara. Located at the base of the spine, this is supposed to be our bedrock, energy speaking. Physically Muladhara governs sexuality and sensuality, mentally it governs stability, and spiritually it governs a sense of security.  It is thought to vibrate at the densest frequency and is represented by the colour red. 

To get your root chakra ship-shape you can get physical – getting down and dirty in the garden is good, apparently – get some sleep, or paint the town red … no, not so much going out, as wearing and consuming anything ruddy or rosy. You can even imagine opening the Muladhara to improve the energy flow and visualise it being flooded with a ruby hue.

Always trust your vibes...

Not only have I become a scarlet woman, but I’ve also been making good use of the red iPod Shuffle Mr Glittery got me for Christmas.  He had it engraved with the phrase ‘Always trust your vibes’, which seems kinda ironic, but hey ho, I’m finally doin’ that, I guess.  And I’m not sure if it’s the chakra balancing or what, but I am feeling calmer.  I met a friend for lunch yesterday who noted my red ensemble on arrival and on departure said she reckoned I seemed the happiest she’d seen me in ages.

So something’s working.  Is this prose too purple by the way?

Shape up your chakras:
Chakra Energy – Ancient philosophy, now a hot new trend
Journey Through the Chakras – A guided meditation
Aveda – Balancing body mists

Colour Fix:
Chakra Jewellery – Get your rocks on…
Inner Light Art – Prints to ponder
Serpent Mandalas – Pretty as a picture these are…

Part 2: Svadisthana – The Sacral Chakra

Spring is in the Hair…

Apparently hair is a pretty good indicator of emotional well being – which is probably why mine has been looking a bit Miss Havisham-esque of late! Well that and the fact I just haven’t paid it that much attention. The thing is I dread the hairdresser’s. You never know what you’re gonna get …

Take Edward Scissorhands who loomed up from beneath the swivel chair, peering from behind a curtain of black hair, like the girl from The Ring!  In fact I thought he was a girl until he spoke, at which point a chill ran down my spine… was he a 12 year old boy!? He went about doing the do like he was trimming some topiary. The done do: a damp 80s Jon Bon Jovi. What do I do?  I cough up the cash and run for my life.  I’ve hardly dared step inside a salon since.

 Thus in an effort to breathe some new life into my lacklustre locks I’ve been doing a kinda spring clean – tidying up split ends and cracking eggs on my head…that sort of thing.

Last week I ventured back to the salon for a much needed pick-me-up cut. The Break Up Haircut, often derided in popular culture, is I reckon a much maligned heir to transitional markers or purification rituals observed the world over since ancient times. I mean, there is so much riding on this post-relationship panacea – you are not simply seeking solace in a new you do, but also the TLC provided by the stylist who strokes and cuts your tresses and with them your stresses and emotional ties.

And voila! Fresh from the salon, with the bounce back in my hair and a renewed spring in my step I went to see a girl about a flat.  With egg on my face. Egg mayonnaise in fact.  Egg mayonnaise and gherkin, to be precise, which had oozed out from the Brick Lane beigel I had stuffed in my bag. Although unfortunate my saving grace – I felt – was my new coiffure:  I could conquer the flat no probs … maybe even the entire estate!

What a great feeling! But how to keep this new do voodoo?  No sooner had I asked than I was given the answer – egg of course! Is this the Law of Attraction in action? I asked myself. 

Turns out there’s more to the phrase ‘good egg’ than meets the eye …ear?Eggs are protein-filled, hair is mainly made of a protein, keratin, which means that eggs make great natural and cheap shampoos and conditioners.  I went for the basic egg yolk, olive oil and warm water combo as recommended on the Beauty Bible website.

The result: pretty good egg-tually. Oh god, no wonder I had egg on my face…

Eggheads:
Informed Women – Haircare from your kitchen cupboard…
Journal of an Italian Girl – The Italian’s know how to use food
The Natural Haircare Blog – Err… natural haircare – may contain egg

Eater Eggs:
The Daily Green– Eggs Rapunzel… sounds like a hairytale…
The Guardian – Break an egg …
Whole Foods – Good eggs are good for you…

Laundry Clouds & Silver Linings

Every pile of laundry has a silver lining. That’s my new saying anyway. This blog began with the premise that my wardrobe may be the external representation of my internal state. Since then the wardrobe situation has metamorphosed from a group of disparate piles into one giant pile of dirty laundry interspersed with some out-of-season attire vacuum-packed into a few suitcases. And yes, my life looks pretty much the same way…

On the other hand despite the disarray I can see that with a lot of TLC and a new wardrobe to put it in, my so-called-life will be in full working order again! 

My glittery-green-eyed guy has gone awol once more. And I can only look in the mirror and say, “I told you so!” Lesson: two wrong-headed people do not make a right relationship.  Maybe it was the enticing aroma of his Body Shop Bilberry Detangler – it does it to me every time! But no more, the Eau d’ Angst his lack of direction and my lack of confidence emitted has left an overpowering odour in the air.

One of the many things I loved about him was how he appreciated my style. This meant a lot to me because, as he said, the way I dress is an expression of my creativity and he always, always made me feel I was perfect the way I wore…

Only for the past few months I’ve been expressing something more akin to Catweazle than creativity, wearing whatever I could cram in my bag. I’ve been thinking about all that Law of Attraction stuff – you know, where you get what you focus on – and I am wondering whether my tramp-like tendencies – my tweed coat has a huge hole in it and my red coat looks as if I’ve had a near miss with the Hooded Claw – have attracted my current rootless, bag lady state.

The thing is I feel pants – I mean in myself, not other people’s… well, it depends.  I still haven’t completed that Be Gorgeous course…I haven’t ‘trusted my vibes’, meditated, Relax [ed] and Attract [ed]… or got my hair cut in over a year… or done any of the things I knew I should to feel better.  And worst of all I have really let myself  down by believing I needed Mr Glittery’s validation.

A breath of fresh laundry...

As I lay awake the other night listening to the World Service, I heard this woman talking about loving yourself. She said people make the mistake of thinking their relationship is a base on which to build their life, when in fact your life should be self-contained contentment and your relationship the cherry on top. So that told me! No cherries till you’ve got your pastry baked or your tart goes all floppy – no-one likes a floppy tart. Or in other words all that glitters and smells like Bilberry Leave-in Detangler is not gold; and behind the smell of air-dried, hand-pressed laundry lies a lot of washing and ironing.

Life Laundry:
Clean up your act with the help of a Life Coach…
Rachel Bamber
Fiona Harrold
Jackee Holder

Eco-Laundry:
Green & clean products straight to your door …
Abel & Cole
Spirit of Nature
Nigel’s Eco Store