Personal pampering might be last our list of executive decisions we make every day, but the fact is that the relaxing and healing benefits of soaking in a bathtub are needed today more than ever. This is especially so when the time of year makes demands on us with celebrations and social events. For busy mothers, bath time may be the only time we get to ourselves – that makes the bathroom a most necessary sanctuary of sanity-restoring indulgence.

Creating time and space for this kind of pampering is a way of refuelling our spirit and energizing us to enjoy the family occasions and events that fill our calendar over and above our regular activities.

Time in the tub should not be spent in haste nor left to chance. We must schedule a time and clear the diary. Nothing should interfere with our downtime. But there is more to a worthy personal pampering session in the bath than just running the hot water in.

Let’s look at the essential elements for perfect pampering.

I find that the trick is to engage as many of our senses as possible to enjoy the holistic effects of our bath routine. Let’s set the scene.

Pampering Sensation 1 – Taste

Listed first because we do this before we run the water in the tub. Depending on the time of day we carved out for our bathing session, it’s not a mistake to make a lunchtime habit of sipping some of AE’s detoxing bone broth, during our planned bathing session. It nourishes the whole person, which is the aim of our pampering bath after all. The broths, whether chicken, vegetable or beef, reduces inflammation, cleanses the liver and are full of collagen proteins, amino acids and minerals to work on our insides while we attend to our outsides.

Alternatively, a delicious detox juice can be delivered to our home in time for our escape into bathing heaven. If we’ve been on antibiotics recently or are feeling sluggish, the PurEarth Kefir tonic with probiotic bacteria, vitamins, calcium and magnesium with amino acids and enzymes, can likewise be delivered to our door prior to our plunge. There is also the option of using ginger or lemon essential oils in the doTERRA range, which go perfectly in a cup of hot water.

Pampering Sensation 2 – Sound

This part is totally personal except for one thing. We would not want any cell phone sounds shattering the serenity of the private sanctuary we’ve created for our pamper bathing session. We can arrange a dedicated playlist with the sounds we know will transport us out of our busy lives. Some love the sound of nature – gentle waves, soft birdcalls and others love movie soundtracks, or cool jazz, orchestral or cafe music – the list is endless as long as it sets the right tone for pampering to accomplish its noble purpose.

There is also nothing wrong with the golden sound of silence of we know how to shut down any labyrinthine thinking that has our minds spinning.

Pampering Step 3 – Aroma

For many, this is the best part. Our sense of smell is closely linked to the limbic system, which governs our emotions among other important things. It is our emotions that benefit most from our pampering sessions. Stable emotions lead to stable behaviour and a sense of well-being that expands outward to others. AE recommends the inimitable purity of the doTERRA range of essential oils. The most enthralling choice has to be the Immortelle anti-ageing blend.

Astonishing as that seems, there’s nothing more exquisite than to pop a few drops into the diffuser, which as beauty editor Olivia Falcon, who fully understands the need for pampering, says, “emits a soothing celestial white light and a steady stream of vapour… in a holistic mix of Frankincense, Hawaiian sandalwood lavender, Lavender and Helichrysum flower”. Just reading the words already have an effect, don’t they?  Whatever our choice, filling the bathroom with an essential oil aroma doubles the worth our bath routine.

Pampering Sensation 4 – Sight

Diffused and muted light are essential ingredients for any pampering session and no less so than in the sanctuary of our bathroom.

AE found Colleen Harte’s beauty products to be exceptional and we’ll refer back to her when we talk about her range of body oils and creams. For now, we want to use her range of essential oil candles to create an ethereal ambience. There is something mesmerizing and enchanting about candlelight that soothes and transports us to what we trust will become a weekly ‘happy’ place’ – our bathroom pampering sessions.

Bear in mind that the candles also emit exquisite aroma, so make sure our choices harmonize with the oils we’ll put in our diffuser.

Pampering Step 4 – Touch

Our facial skin deserves ultra care, so we do well to precede our session with a cleanse and tone treatment.

Olivia also raves about the plant-based Arbonne products as well she might as they leave the skin super-soft to the touch. The new improved Brightening RE9 range has a fabulous cleanser and regenerating toner. We could dab the eye cream where it counts most – around the fine lines of our eyes and mouth for that matter. To finish off our facial recipe, we could follow with the Arbonne Intelligence facial oil before we take the final plunge into the warm watery deep.

Arbonne has a sensational sea salt body scrub, which we would apply after initially warming our skin for a while in the bathwater.  A back-scrubbing brush with some sea salt scrub on the bristles effectively gets to the hard to reach places on our back – unless we choose to interrupt our reverie and call for help.

Another incredible product that I love is from LUMITY, who have now come up with an amazingly nourishing face oil and skin cleansing botanical balm. The face oil smells wonderful and provides my skin with wonderful nourishment especially in the cold, wet winter months. The cleansing balm is amazing and is a multi-tasker that removes make-up, deeply cleanses the skin, gently exfoliates and doubles as a luxurious revitalising masque treatment.

Our pampering session will end with us leaving our watery wonderland content and serene.  What could be more affirming than wrapping ourselves in a luxury bath towel and donning a pair of bespoke slippers?

Make Christmases to remember with Michelle’s Inner Circle and her amazing gifts ideas. The bonus of joining  Michelle’s Inner Circle is that it will put you in line for my incredible calendar service. Your planned pampering sessions could be logged in with her, and she will see that our detox fruit juices or bone broth are delivered to our home in time.

For more ideas on creating a magical persona pampering day, please feel free to chat with me.