I have really been missing my Countertop purge lately. It has become a regular practice in my life, which, when neglected- throws me off my balance. Very much like one’s yoga practice or healthy eating (speaking of healthy eating, I also very much need that to be consistent in life). The thing about regular practice is that they can almost very much become a part of you. I have a quote on my fridge that says

Humans do not have habits, habits have the human. Habit is doing things without conscious thought.

What do you think of that quote? I don’t know how I truly feel about it when I first read it. I almost want to say, “you don’t know me!” However, there was obviously something about it that caught my attention and struck something inside of me- I mean, I put it on my fridge! I have a deck of these quote cards that a friend (Shane Goutsis) gave to me more than a year ago- and I have some of them around the house and on my fridge. I also have a regular practice of spreading them out, picking up the first one that catches my eye or I think of grabbing and having it face up for a month. That is definitely a practice that I don’t think about consciously, I just do it (or, at least I think I do).

You’re probably wondering where baths come into the equation (or blogpost). Great question. I am not a bath person. I never really have been. My memories of baths stem back to several (haha) years ago, when I would take baths as a child, accompanied by the entire fleet of My Little Pony cast and prune-y fingers. You know what I’m talking about right? Splashing around, even though mum has spent countless moments telling you not to- until most of the bath’s water is outside of the bath and you’ve managed to create quiet the wet mess. For a lot of people- a bath is a ritual, a practice. Bathing is a sacred ritual that has been a part of history. The last time I took a bath was while I was attending the Jiivala Holistic Entrepreneurship Program with Sherry Strong. It was week 2 of the program and I was going through a bit of an emotional/spiritual breakdown. After unfolding in front of the class and crying a whole truck load of tears- I was given the homework assignment of going home and drawing myself a bath with lavender and lemon. This may seem like the most amazing homework assignment ever. For me, that was not the case. Side note: if you have never taken a bath with wedges of fresh lemon (organic;)) try it out! The lemon is so soothing for your skin, your body and your mind.

There is something about baths that really don’t sit well with me. I think it could very much be a lack of self-love, to be honest. Bathing is such a loving ritual. You are allowing yourself the space and time to just relax, cleanse & be. This proves to be something that is quite difficult for me. I am most definitely a shower person. In & out. Clean & clean. There’s more to it though, than just being clean. I’ve definitely given lots of excuses for me distaste for baths: soaking in your own dirt, takes too long, soaking in chemicals from the pipes/city water. You name it, I’ve probably used it. However, I cannot deny that there have been times in my life when I am about to get in the shower and all of a sudden, it turns into a bath. & I truly do enjoy it. This actually just happened. I was starting to feel slightly overwhelmed with this blog post to be honest. Sometimes, when you fall out of routine/habit/pattern too long, it becomes a bit of a mission to get back into it. Just like exercise. When you are in the routine of your exercise, getting up at 6am to go for a run or going to yoga for 90 minutes after a full day of work is not that much effort. You have finessed the practice of packing your gear, getting to and from and feeling good about it. The first time though: that’s a different story. It’s getting yourself there, isn’t it? This seems to be the same for most, if not all other practices in life. Starting a new job– at first, it takes some time to get into the routine of waking up at 630-7am, packing breakfast & doing your yoga in the morning. However, with time- this becomes a part of your day and no longer requires “conscious thought”. The habit becomes you. I think this is what that quotation means.

So anyways, I was sitting at my desk- frustrated that the words weren’t flowing. I decided that I would take a shower in hope that either a new topic would come to mind or I would be inspired to jump outta the shower to get back into the writing groove. This didn’t exactly happen. As soon as I got into the shower and felt the drops of water on my skin, I decided that I needed to sit down in the bath and just be showered with the hot drops of water for a few minutes. This actually turned into quite a therapeutic experience for me. After sitting there, in stale thought, for about 5 minutes- I decided that enough was enough and I was going to have a bath. So I did. The result? This blog post:) It all started with the title. That always seems to be the case with me. All of a sudden a title will just burst into my mind, and then I will start to take part in a verbal diarrhea / stream of consciousness session with myself. Until I really start to get carried away, rambling on, and realize that I should be writing it all down. It’s funny how these things happen, isn’t it?

Back to baths, though, I am really intrigued by them. Or more so, I am intrigued by understanding why some people are more attracted to taking baths, than others. What makes one person a shower person and the other, a dedicated bath person. Case in point- my best friend, Paulina, is hands down a bath person. She absolutely loves having a bath, and makes it a part of her weekly routine when she is in the zone. For me, baths have a lot of meaning. She used to run track (she is quite the hot & famous lil’ sprinter in BC and Canada) and in order to allow her body some recovery after such intense training and racing- she would have to take ice baths, religiously. That’s right, ice baths! They are what they sound like. Following these ice baths, she would sometimes take a normal non-ice bath, to relax. So, for her- baths have an emotional significance. Her body attached recovery and self-care with bathing. Makes sense no? I think on the flip side, I spent so many years of my adolescence and young adulthood hating my body and practicing going against self-love and care. So I always found baths a waste of time and was repulsed by them. Sitting in water, staring at my body (which I hated) wasn’t my idea of a good time, and it was most definitely not relaxing.

In comparison to baths- showers also have their place, in the holistic world. Have you ever heard of Contrast Hydrotherapy? This is a practice that a lot of holistic healers swear by. I have to say, it definitely is one of those practices that is not as widespread as it should be (very much like dry-brushing). Dr. Jason Marr– who teaches at Institute of Holistic Nutrition and is also a Naturopathic Doctor at Chopra Yoga center, downtown Vancouver– is a huge advocate for Contrast Hydrotherapy. So much, in fact, that I can’t say the phrase without hearing him in my head. Quite frankly, if this guy supports this practice- it is guaranteed to have some merit! Seriously though, this stuff works. So what is it? The idea behind this practice is to expose your body to contrasting temperatures to increase the movement of lymph (the lymphatic system), thus increasing your bodys’ ability to detoxify. The technique? It’s simple: at the end of your shower, spend a few minutes under hot and cold temperatures, alternating between the two. The difficult part? At first, standing under the hot and really cold water is quite painful, especially if you are showering in the morning, in the winter! The good news? If you do this enough- a) your body will get used to regulating itself with extreme temperatures b) your body’s ability to detoxify will increase c) you will increase your immune system and d) you will be super clean;) Click here to check out Dr. Jason Marr’s hand-out on Contrast Hydrotherapy. Also, if you are at all thinking about visiting a naturopath (N.D) for any reason- he is your guy! & he offers a Free Meet & Greet, upon which time you can decide whether or not his services are the right fit for you. Pretty fabulous!

I’d really be interested to find out what everyone prefers: Shower or Bath? & why? What draws you towards this practice? If you don’t like baths, why not? Vice versa! Amuse me, please!

Another practice that I really cannot do without now a days is cooking. Being in the kitchen. Creating delicious, nutritious recipes. There is something so calming and therapeutic about this practice for me. Most especially when it is in the evening after a long day, accompanied by a beautiful glass of organic red wine (preferably a full-bodied one);) This month, however, most of my cooking has been done at the wee hours of the morning when most of the city is still comfortably nestled in their california king beds (or just their regular beds- haha). Why have I been waking up at the crack of dawn to cook? I have started my business!!!! 

For those of you who haven’t been following me on Instagram or Facebook, or I haven’t been speaking to on a regular basis– through a sequence of events I have progressively come to find something that I love to do, that makes me happy & helps others at the same time! Through different experiences I am starting to create, manifest and refine my life and what it is that I am going to spend my time doing. As a part of being a holistic professional- I am focusing on ways to incorporate myself (my whole self) into my life and what I do. If I were to brain-storm my strengths and interests they would be as follows: food, health, nutrition, cooking, organizing, writing, listening, communication, empathy, sensitivity, leadership, dialogue, planning, motivating, expression, responsibility, driven, a “do-er”, & reliable (My StrengthsFinder 2.0 5 Strengths are: 1. Achiever 2. Empathy 3. Context 4. Responsibility 5. Individualization– I highly recommend you getting a copy of StrengthsFinder 2.0 and taking the test online to find out what your strengths are!!!) So what do these all translate into in terms of a career or job? I’m still working on it- it’ll be a work in progress for a lifetime probably. That being said, it is most definitely evolving!

At the moment- I am working on building my website and my service packages for the following service: Holistic Nutritional Counselling & Personal Meal Delivery & Catering. That is my service in a nutshell. So what does that all mean? I am taking on clients who are either interested in eating healthy, delicious, nutritious food but don’t have the time or practical skills/equipment to do it on their own. I will give them a menu and package based on how many meals they want delivered per week. The other part of this service is for clients who are in need of a full countertop-revamp. That is, they are in need of some nutritional intervention. I will take them on as a client where I do a full consultation/counselling package with them and build a meal plan according to that. They can then choose whether they want these meals prepared and delivered to them or I can come into their kitchen, show them how it’s done so that they can be equipped with the skills and knowledge to do it on their own! That’s me and my services, for now, as I said- in a nutshell.

In the future? I am looking to build a Cooking Class in the near future (depending on what the demand is like for Cooking at Chloe’s Countertop). I am still very much in love with writing and look to continue doing writing contracts with different businesses interested in health, wellness, psychology, nutrition and holistic living. With this, I would like to continue writing Restaurant Reviews of places around the city that I love and want to share with the rest of the world.

If you have any interest in any of my current and/or upcoming services, or you know someone that does/will– please don’t hesitate to email me at: info@chloescountertop.com

Also, this email is there for you if you have any questions regarding what I do, my life, nutrition, holistic living and anything else that is sparked by reading what I have to say at Chloe’s Countertop!