A Relaxing Wintertime Routine With Traditional Chinese Wisdom

Did you know that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recommends changing your habits and routines depending on the season? From the food you eat to the activities you do, in Traditional Chinese Medicine principles, we adapt our routines and rituals based on the seasons to nurture our bodies and minds based on our environments. This makes it especially important to take extra care of your overall health during the wintertime, where the weather can adversely impact the body and the skin. During this time, colds, flu, aches, pains and dry skin are at its peak. Doing self care rituals, such as acupressure, a skincare routine and mediation, can help balance, renew and restore your energy and body back to its restored, well-rounded state.  Here are some ways you can incorporate TCM into a relaxing weekend routine! 9:00 AM - Wake up to start your day. Waking up at an hour that isn’t too early or too late in the wintertime is a way to keep the body warm. It also results in an early opportunity to be productive and recharge from the day prior. 9:30 AM - Begin morning skincare routine. The skin is extra delicate in the wintertime because of things like wind, rain and the cold. These not only affect the skin’s permeability (ability to absorb products), but can also damage the skin barrier. The usage of skincare products that harness the power of TCM herbs can help rebuild your skin’s moisture, as well as strengthen the skin barrier for ample protection.  Some products that we recommend for A.M. use are our Plant Root Remedy Balancing Facial Oil, Gua Sha Facial Lifting Tool, and De-Puffing Facial Roller. Combining these three powerful products together can support skin barrier repair, boost circulation and promote lymphatic drainage (your body’s way of releasing toxins!). 10:00 AM Sip a cup of warm herbal tea to start your day, and maybe enjoy a treat on the side.  Listen to your body’s needs. We personally love the TCM recipes from TCM chef Zoey Gong, especially her goji berry granola, for a tasty early day snack. Our Brightening Berry Vitamin C Facial Oil also harnesses the power of goji berry for brighter, firmer skin. This is another great product to use in the morning, followed by your favorite sunscreen!  11:00 AM - Do your morning stretches or practice meditation. Ensuring that your body is constantly moving is extremely important in TCM—even if it is at a low intensity. Doing low impact activities like stretching can alleviate all of the stress that throws your immune system off, and prevents it from being at its best.  12:30 PM - Second meal of the day.  Fuel your body with warm foods that are easier to digest. This includes warm soups and broths. Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine principles, it is recommended to avoid cold foods like salads during the winter.  1:30 PM - Take a stroll around your neighborhood or local park.  Connecting yourself with nature is one key aspect of TCM. Since most people reduce their outdoor activities in the wintertime, it is important to keep your body active to maintain its energy and warmth.  5:00 PM - Journal and/or read.  Take some time to gather your thoughts and journal, or read a book to replenish the mind with new knowledge and ideas.  6:00 PM Dinner time! Continue to nurture your body with warm foods. Consistency is key for a routine based around TCM. 8:00 PM Begin nighttime routine. Your evening skincare routine is the perfect opportunity to de-stress and prep the skin for renewal. Before gua sha and facial massage, use skincare products like Calming Herbal Repair Facial Massage Balm to accelerate cellular repair and healing. This balm to oil serum concentrate contains potent botanicals and Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs that heal the skin and lock in moisture and keep skin dewy throughout the night.  We also suggest practicing traditional treatment methods outside of gua sha, such as acupressure. With the help of our Acupressure Gua Sha Spoon, acupressure can be great for melting tension and draining puffiness in the face.  9:00 PM - Unwind for the evening.  Going to bed early is one of the easiest ways to nurture the Yin, which according to TCM requires more care in the wintertime. Slow down, rest, and take care of yourself!

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Meet TCM Chef and Nutritionist: Zoey Gong

We are so excited to finally launch Brightening Berry Vitamin C Facial Oil, and celebrate the powerful ingredient inside: the goji berry. This small yet mighty fruit has been used for its healing properties and sweet taste in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Chinese cuisine. As a way to commemorate Brightening Berry, we spoke with TCM chef and nutritionist Zoey Gong (@zoeyxinyigong) about the benefits of the goji berry and its role in TCM. Zoey owns a company called FiveSeasonsTCM that shares education content, provides high quality products and helps amplify the voices of the Asian community. Through this mission, Zoey hopes to encourage more people to include TCM in their daily lives.  Read our interview with Zoey below.  ML: How did you become a TCM chef? Z: I've been a TCM chef for a couple years now, but I didn't start my career as a TCM chef. I was born and raised in Shanghai, China and I came to the US when I was 16. After just a couple months of eating the foods here, I got very ill. That's when I really paid attention to changing the way I ate and it helped me tremendously. And because of that, I decided to pursue nutrition as my first career. I was in hospitals, in community centers and worked as a clinical nutritionist. And on the side, I was also a chef cooking very western kinds of healthy foods. But after a couple years of doing that, I realized there was something missing. I wanted to offer something more holistic, something that is closer to nature. That’s when I decided to look back to my culture and my roots, and discovered TCM and medicinal cuisine. It has been so inspiring for me and my clients and guests to see the magic of eating for yourself with the season and with this traditional wisdom. ML: The goji berry is a key ingredient in our newest launch, Brightening Berry. What are the benefits of this fruit for skin and nutritional health, and does TCM play a role? Z: Goji berry is probably one of the most important and famous herbs in traditional Chinese medicine. It is widely used in both medicinal cuisine as well as in herbal decoctions. This amazing berry has a neutral temperature and neutral energy. Personally, I love goji berry. I have a brand called FiveSeasonsTCM and we source organically grown goji berry from Central Ningxia, the best land in China to grow goji berry. It's such a versatile berry. You can use it in soups, in tea, smoothies, in granola and so many ways. It is really amazing to brighten our eyes, to help with liver function, treat dizziness, fatigue and some chronic lung issues. I'm very excited to see it being used as skincare. From a biomedical nutrition standpoint, goji berry contains a lot of antioxidants, vitamin A and vitamin C. These amazing compounds can help our skin to look younger and smoother. ML: What do you think of the new Brightening Berry Vitamin C Oil? Z: The Brightening Berry Vitamin C Oil is so nourishing for the skin. I actually love to put it on my hands because my hand is always under either heat or water all day long. It's really important for me to take care of my hands.ML: How do you incorporate TCM in your work? Z: I think most of you probably have heard of acupuncture, Gua Sha and Chinese massage. These are all different branches under a big umbrella called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). And what I do is another branch under TCM, and it is called food therapy but you can understand it as TCM nutrition. I use around 111 different kinds of herbs, and combine them with fresh produce. Discover our newest launch, Brightening Berry Vitamin C Oil, here.  Credits: Images courtesy of Zoey Gong (@zoeyxinyigong).

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How to Incorporate Traditional Chinese Medicine Into Your Skincare Routine With Mount Lai

Interested in incorporating the wisdom of Traditional Chinese rituals into your beauty routine for youthful, radiant skin? To learn how to incorporate centuries-old beauty tools, and healing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) botanicals like goji berry in your skincare, this guide is for you. When do you use your jade roller or gua sha tool in your routine? Where do you fit Calming Herbal Repair in your daily ritual compared to Plant Root Remedy? We’ll walk you through the order of a comprehensive skincare routine based around TCM. Before we get started, it’s important to note that there’s no need to follow every step in this routine! Do what works for you.  Step One: Cleanse The Skin Begin your routine with cleansed skin. For the nighttime, we recommend double-cleansing your skin to ensure that make-up, sunscreen, dirt and excess oil is fully removed.  Step Two: Toner Toning the skin helps make sure every last bit of dirt and excess oil are removed while still providing hydration and gentle exfoliation. Step Three: Essence Essences help the rest of your skincare products penetrate deeper into your skin and work more effectively. Use our Tremella Tonic Activating Essence Mist to supercharge your routine with plumping and hydrating TCM superfoods, hyaluronic acid and fermented black tea. Step Four: Serum As with many serums, the purpose of Calming Herbal Repair Serum Concentrate Balm is that it is the potent and powerful workhorse of the skincare routine, helping to maximize and deliver results. Calming Herbal Repair also helps prep your skin to ensure that the facial tools glide instead of pulling on the skin. It enhances the glide of your facial tools for fluid movements while nourishing your skin with nutrient-rich plant oils, butters and herbs. Step Five: Gua Sha Facial Lifting Tool Built to have a firming, lifting effect on the skin, our Gua Sha Facial Lifting Tool helps relieve facial and jaw tension and promotes lymphatic drainage. This tool is available in four stone variations (Jade, Rose Quartz, Amethyst, Black Obsidian) as well as Stainless Steel. To promote lymphatic drainage on the scalp, use our Jade Massaging Gua Sha Comb.  Step Six: Acupressure Gua Sha Spoon The Acupressure Gua Sha Spoon is a specialized gua sha tool with many benefits. Through targeting acupressure points with precision and accuracy with its rounded point, the Acupressure Gua Sha Spoon encourages the gentle release of facial and jaw tension. Its rounded spoon side offers a more contoured massage and different facial massage feel than the classic heart shaped gua sha tool, to deeply sculpt and define facial features. Step Seven: Tension Melting Massager  A reviving beauty roller that deeply kneads the skin and muscles, all while defining the facial features. Use our Tension Melting Massager on the face, neck and body to get the most of your facial massage. We especially love this easy to use tool to relieve TMJ pain. Step Eight: Jade Textured Massaging Roller The Jade Textured Roller is designed to energize + massage the face and bring the glow back to the skin. It transforms skin from dull to glowing while still being natural, non-invasive and gentle enough that it works even for those with sensitive skin. Step Nine: De-Puffing Facial Roller The De-Puffing Facial Roller brings the skin back to harmony with its de-puffing and soothing properties. For on-the-go facial massage, our Mini De-Puffing Facial Roller is the perfect travel companion.  Step Ten: Eye Cream Use your ring finger to gently apply eye cream to the eye area. The eye area also needs to be prepped for facial massage, especially because it is the most delicate part of the skin. (e.g. wrinkles, dark circles, etc.) Step Eleven: De-Puffing Eye Massage Tool Inspired by Chinese acupressure points and designed specifically to treat the delicate skin around the eyes, the De-Puffing Eye Massage Tool helps reduce puffiness, awaken the eye area and aid in the absorption of eye cream into the skin. Step Twelve: Eye Mask Our Eye Mask provides all the benefits of a facial, all in the comfort of your own home. A luxurious treat for the eye area, perfect for soothing and de-puffing.  Step Thirteen: Moisturizer Keep the skin refreshed, moisturized and renewed by using a moisturizer. Moisturizing supports your oil glands, and keeps your skin barrier healthy.  Step Fourteen: Facial Oil As a final step, seal it all in with a nourishing and balancing facial oil. Choose Plant Root Remedy Balancing Facial Oil to support and protect the skin barrier, or Brightening Berry Vitamin C Oil to even skin tone and firm the skin.  We love to incorporate both of these facial oils into our skincare routine by using Plant Root Remedy for evening use, and Brightening Berry for the morning following with an SPF to provide the skin extra protection.  Note: Facial tools can also be used as the last step of your routine after applying a facial oil. As long as the skin is prepped with skincare, you can use your facial tools at any step of your routine. Always personalize and cater your routine to your skin’s needs!  There is no right or wrong way to organize your routine, so feel free to switch up the order based on your own personal preferences. If you have more time, incorporate more steps. If you are short on time, choose which steps make the most impact on you. We believe that skincare is self care, so simply carving out time to care for your skin is a gift to yourself. Our goal is to provide you with every day rituals that act as a breath of calmness in your busy life. Shop the Mount Lai Collection

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