Diamonds may indeed be a girl’s best friend, but to enhance your feminine power, look to pink tourmaline, or when in need of focus, befriend onyx.
Gemstones are more than beautiful baubles that embellish an outfit, dangle from your neck or adorne your ears. The practice of gemstone therapy is rooted in Ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old Indian system of holistic and medicinal healing and health. Similar to Vedic astrology and color therapy, specific stones are prescribed to rebalance the body. Though Americans have yet to fully integrate gemstone therapy into our healthcare system, gemstone treatments are more recognized overseas, and they are even covered by the British National Health Insurance.
Gemstone therapy is part of a bigger healing picture and encompassed under the energy medicine umbrella. Fundamentally, the human being is a form of energy, as are gemstones. In fact, all matter is the physical form of energy. Gemstones are formed in the earth from high concentrations of energy, an energy that is embraced by the technology community and utilized today to smoothly run televisions, quartz clocks, watches, cordless phones, computers, and even laser medicine, which depends on rubies or sapphires to beam the laser and precisely transmit information. Have you ever looked at the innards of a watch only to find an array of gemstones seamlessly running the system? When one considers how the ability of crystals and gemstones to conduct and transmit energy is so common in the techno world, it is surprising that it has taken us so long to grasp the concept and translate it into healing the body, but finally we are.
The human body is comprised of over 80 percent water and an array of minerals, much of which creates a crystalline constitution similar to gems. However, it takes a gem thousands of years to form its firm and stable environment, and humans remain a new and malleable combination of atoms. And, like gemstones, humans emit energetic vibrations. When placed against the skin, a gemstone’s stable vibration can have a profound effect on a human’s unstable vibration, thereby altering our energies.
According to Ada Gonzalez, a naturopathic physician who has a private practice at The Golden Heart Center for Wellness in Portland, Oregon, “Being elements of nature, it makes sense that there is an interaction between gemstones and humans. Gems are crystalline and crystalline structures transfer energy in a very precise way. All gems can have an effect on our physical, emotional, and spiritual states, but, because each gem has a particular structure and vibration, they differ on how they affect us. When you change your vibration, you can change the way you are experiencing life and what is being attracted to you. You are creating an optimal blueprint of yourself.”
Humans are sustained by energy. Unfortunately, the energy that bounces around in our bodies is unstable. Gemstones are made up of steady energy that, when transferred into our inconsistent energy fields, transmit pure, constant, and unwavering vibrations that help to tame our erratic energy and reset our systems, reminding our cells what proper balance and good vibes feel like.
If you are in need of a boost of energy, place quartz along your chakras. To ease the mind, opt for aquamarine. Rubies are thought to improve mental concentration. Amethyst is said to tame emotions. And, surprise, the most powerful gem for overall physical, mental, and spiritual revitalization is, yes, your best friend the diamond. But, Gonzalez warns that, “Just like any medicine, gemstone therapy can do both harm and good. Diamonds are really strong and not for the beginner. Only a trained medical practitioner should heal the body with diamonds.”
So what does any of this have to do with spas? Both day spas and resort spas are now enhancing treatments like hot-stone massage, chakra balancing, lymphatic drainage, wraps, and facials, with the healing power of gemstones in the creation of unique mind/body therapies. Precious and semi-precious stones are being ground up into muds and soaked in oils and placed directly on the skin in order to transfer the therapeutic energy of the gem to the client.
Sharon Dewey-Fields, owner of Kalona Salon & Spa in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, found that adding gemstone therapies to her treatment menu was a natural choice because she was raised to believe in the healing powers of energy work. “My mother is a healing touch practitioner, and I became very interested in the different modalities that offer healing therapy by using life force to dissolve energy blockages and restore balance. Gemstones embody the life force of the planet. They bring light into areas of darkness within our being, dissolving blockages, allowing light of the life force to flow freely.”
Kelli Ziegler, spa director at Camelback Inn in Arizona, uses cool aquamarine to enhance the Signature Massage Treatment to balance the hot native basalt stones. “We use the aquamarine stones because they hold the cold well. The coolness reduces edema in the face and increases circulation, which gives the skin a more youthful appearance.” She also incorporates gemstones into chakra healing treatments. “We chose stones that commonly are associated with the chakra’s in the body citrine for the 2nd and 3rd chakra, rose quartz for the 4th chakra, lapis for the 5th chakra, and amethyst for the 6th chakra when placed on the body, the shape, color, and composition of each stone creates a resonance that encourages healing.”
It’s time to take control of your emotional and physical health, calm frenetic energy, and find a little bit of balance. Why not turn to what naturally attracts us on a visual and energetic level and find healing through gemstones.
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