It’s not just about the ingredients, but also the intent. Besides reading the back labels for active ingredients, customers are checking if the products are cruelty-free. There is emphasis on sourcing nature-derived ingredients that have been harvested using fair trade practices. Within the green beauty segment, there appears to be an emerging soul-soothing subcategory that believes in merging pure, natural ingredients with good vibrations to re-align your body’s frequency.
Incorporating Vibrations
Ila, a go-to organic luxury skincare range has many Hollywood A-listers (Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss and Natalie Portman to name a few) as die-hard patrons. What’s the reason for its unprecedented fan following? That it is made using minimal processing and is hand-blended in the idyllic British countryside? Or is it because that sublime Indian ragas are played while the staff is hand-blending the organic raw materials into skincare formulations? When I met founder Denise Leicester a few years ago in Mumbai, she confessed her love for India’s wellness heritage. She plays soothing Indian classical music in her Cotswolds unit to infuse the products with good-vibrations.
Closer home, in Raipur, Shubhika Jain who runs Ras Luxury Oils, ensures that Buddhist chants and Sanskrit mantras are continuously playing in all the spaces where the products are manufactured or stored to increase their healing frequencies. Almost artisanal in nature, the products are not just hand-crafted but blended in copper vessels and glass beakers by the co-founders themselves – Shubhika and her mother Sangeeta Jain. “I believe beauty is skin-deep. I also believe that everything around us is energy, our skincare included. How a product comes together is as important as the raw materials. Despite a sizeable team, my mother and I have not delegated the part of blending formulations to anyone,” reveals Jain. Every time they step into the unit to blend the oils, the mother-daughter duo cleanse their energy fields by meditating and salt water baths.
Shankara, a luxury Ayurveda brand, was conceptualized by combining Ayurvedic wisdom from the East with scientific and modern processes of the West to introduce sustainable skin care products. “The brand offers natural, result-oriented skincare products that are rich in actives and herbs and infused with pure essential oils to promote wellness and healing,” states Astha Katpitia, Head, Shankara India. What’s interesting is how the products once manufactured are stored in units in midst of high-frequency chanting. It might sound far-fetched, but, there is a deep connection of healing sounds and their power to impact our mind. That’s why every good spa has a selection of soulful melodies to calm the minds of the guests while the therapists work on the bodies. While we cannot listen to the music as we apply these products, apparently we can imbibe the vibrations embedded. These green skincare beauties with a wellness edge work to make you feel good in your own skin. And feeling good makes you look good as well.
How it works
Let’s turn to Crystal healer and life coach, Bindu Maira for some answers. “The basic principle of sound healing is that everything in this universe is in a state of vibration. Everything is energy. One aspect of energy is sound, and the other is light/colour. Humans are also beings of energy, and it is this energy flow that determines the quality of our lives. By working with the vibrations of sound we can restore balance through emitting the correct frequencies into the body. In my retreats, people have reported the physical sensation of vibrations washing through them, a sense of calm in the mind and opening in the heart,” explains Maira. That’s why we are encouraged to think positive and use affirmations in our daily lives, as words are also sounds and they have the power to shift our energy circles. Isn’t that the basis of prayers across all religions? Keeping that in mind, Kolkata-based Jhelum Biswas Bose (founder of niche beauty brand, Jhelum Loves) infuses her blends with crystals and borrows heavily from the tenets of aromatherapy. She says, “I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. This mystic law which is the basis of Nicheren Buddhism aims to connect the practitioner and his surroundings to the rhythm of nature and raise their energetic frequencies.”
Scientific Backing
One of the most groundbreaking research on the power of sound was conducted by Doctor Masaru Emoto, the author of the bestselling book Messages from Water. In his experiments, Dr. Emoto analyzed the formation of differently shaped crystals in water as it was exposed to different sounds in different forms. Part of his research included verbal affirmations, thoughts, music, and even prayers. He then analyzed the water under a microscope and took before and after pictures to document the change. It was found that beautiful crystal shapes were formed when water was exposed to positive affirmations and classical compositions. He also experimented with people saying unpleasant phrases using a harsh tone and realized malformed crystals were formed in the water samples. Dr. Emoto’s conclusion that any sound is vibration, and vibrations such as music and other positive sounds including the human voice can be a form of healing energy, finds support in various alternate healing methodologies. His research also showed that thoughts emit vibrations at frequencies and that they too have the power to heal.
The movement of energy that aligns the body, mind and the soul is the premise wellness therapies, and it’s definitely heartening to see the work that goes behind the scenes in many green niche brands. As the Western world accepts Eastern wellness traditions steeped Ayurvedic and Buddhist rituals, rooted around vibration, we can sit back and enjoy the beauty shelves buzzing, quite literally.
The article was first published in Hair magazine.
