Sharing an article out of the Summer / Fall 2011 issue of The Bubble, for those who may not have seen it there. Meet Narayan, whose beauty practice is earthy sophistication. Article by Nancy Gross
Narayan, of Narayan Sacred Healing Beauty, used to be the most desired manicurist of the A-list stars in Los Angeles. Yet she frequently noticed a glaring lack of luster in that most glamorous world, where image is paramount. This caused her to muse about what is foundational where beauty is concerned.
With a mind for unwavering inquiry and trial and error, she experimented in order to move herself through a shift that she has mastered and refined. She now powerfully shares her process, Faceology, and her line of skin treatments and beauty blends with others. She is bridging the gap between healing and beauty, and redefining what beauty is and where it comes from. “All women want their beauty to shine,” she said, “but we have neglected to ignite the light of beauty within.” Narayan added, “My personal process was that of being on a path of wellness. Through that I started to feel good, and I started to feel good about who I am.” Inshort, she relates, “I take care of myself, therefore I look good. Taking care of body and soul leads to beauty.”
And in much the way that a traditional facialist would not polish the skin without first cleansing, coaxing and digging out stubborn blackheads and that would undermine the surface result, Narayan focuses deeply into one’s personality as she performs her Faceology beauty treatments. I will go so far as to call them Faceology miracles. She learned by working on herself that a big part of what brings about the complexion and expression seen on the face are energies that are held in the tissues of the body as a result of self-esteem and interpersonal empowerment issues. She works with these energies, tapping them with expert hands (and a small stone) to bring them out of hiding, you might say, and she works on the skin surface simultaneously; her own earthy glow testifies to what she can do.
One of her clients, Tony, who came with his wife from Arkansas to experience Faceology, said when he returned home, his friends were astounded. “They all think I had a facelift because I went to California!”
“I do have a big mission. I feel like my mission is to redefine what beauty is. I also want to turn this into jobs for women, sort of a holistic Mary Kay. I moved to Ojai because I like the town for me personally, but I also thought this would be a good location to start the headquarters where people can come and learn Faceology and Reflexology and then become a distributor of the beauty blends.”
She creates her beauty blends using Mother Nature’s plants, herbs, salts, minerals, clays and oils. She infuses them with mantras and even the packaging speaks to what is at the heart of beauty. As I scoop some heady and uplifting clove, lavender and sweet orange scented clay from my jar of Crystal Clarity Scrubbing mask, I am to chant, “I am bountiful, blissful and beautiful” while gently scrubbing my face, neck and décolletage.
Narayan’s treatments captured the attention of Joel Stein who wrote about Narayan and Faceology for TIME when she was practicing at the Amrit Davaa Wellness Center at Golden Bridge Yoga in Hollywood.That was where, in 2007, she first developed Faceology.
Narayan’s path of wellness education took her through to certification in Kundalini Yoga and Meditation, Reiki and Toltec / Shamanistic Healing. She is an Akadua Master. She became fascinated with Reflexology. Reflexology is a zone therapy which recognizes places on the hands, feet and ears as corresponding to the functional areas of the body as a whole. This led her to study the work of Dien Cham.
“This Vietnamese man mapped the face with 503 pressure points and he mapped how the organs lay on the face, as well as the skeletal system, the muscle system and the chakra system. I really use how the chakras lay on the face. It is just the energy that works for me and the language I speak. It is interesting: the way the organs lay and the chakras lay, it all starts to line up.”
Narayan has also studied with Drumalo, a spiritual teacher and author of The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life who lives in Sedona, AZ. She learned compassion and trauma release from him, which helps create the caring climate for healing with Faceology. “When people release trauma stored in the body,” Narayan explained, “they are given the strength to live in the Heart. Where the heart goes, beauty follows.”
Visit narayanbeauty.com
