If you're one of the 99% who doesn't meet the latest trend, you may become frustrated with your body. You may want it to be thinner, or for that matter, more robust. You want it to look younger, or more mature. You may want blonde hair instead of brown. You may want to more plump skin instead of stretched. We live in a world that wants to keep us chasing after something we don't have. Once we get it, another carrot is dangled before us that we're told we must pursue in order to feel fulfilled.

Just look at the series of beauty enhancers and restrictive routines offered to "help" you meet impossible standards. Many women invest thousands of dollars and endless hours chasing after someone else's idea of beauty. Others can't be bothered and end up neglecting their face, skin and hair entirely. The more beauty you manifest, the more confidence, contentment and love you feel. Likewise, the more confidence, contentment and love you feel, the more beauty you will manifest. It's a wonderful spiral to be caught in.

I understand this truth now, but it wasn't always so simple for me to grasp.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's when the hippies were glorifying just "being natural" and not doing anything to make yourself appear more beautiful. In my 20s, 30s and 40s I felt pretty without doing anything. I was a little disdainful of beauty techniques.

It was only when I began to understand the esteemed place that beauty care held in Ayurveda ? the ancient science of well-being from India ? that I began to realize the deeper value of daily practices for my hair, face and skin.

As You Were Born and Grew You Started to Stray From Nature's Plan For you: Unless you live in perfect conditions your body and mind will not manifest exactly how they were intended to at birth. As life is dynamic, they'll remain constantly in sway to help you adjust and survive. Your current state of being is what Ayurveda calls your vrikruti . This includes your current state of beauty.

If you were born with a tendency towards dryness, and you live in a warm, tropical region, you should have little trouble keeping your dry skin in check. Likewise if your have moist skin and you live in a dessert climate. Your vikruti (your current state) and your prakruti (your intended state) differ little.

Here's Where The Trouble Starts: Imbalances in your face, hair and skin (as well as the rest of your body and mind) occur when your Prakruti (ideal state) and Your Vrikruti (current state) vary too much.

If you have a tendency towards dry skin, and you live in the dessert, you'll need to take extra measures to keep from becoming excessively dry and unattractive. Vice versa, if your skin leans towards being overly moist and you live in the tropics.

So no matter how hard you try, if you were born with a certain prakruit, for example predominately kapha, you will never be able to achieve a super-thin look. It's just not going to happen. I'm not saying you need to surrender to being overweight. Not at all. But you have to take more action to control your weight, just like a predominately vata person needs to put forth effort to stop losing too much weight.

That's really what my approach to Ayurvedic beauty is all about... I t's a process of discovering what makes you uniquely beautiful and working to bring that out more fully. It's about falling in love with who you are, and your beauty potentials, instead of straining to achieve someone else's.

2007 ? Copyright Dr.Helen Thomas D.C. B.A. All rights reserved in all countries