The Gurus' Guide to Serenity

by House, Laurel; House, Sharon

• ISBN13: 9780060572389
• ISBN10: 0060572388
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-07
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

Cooking, baths, facials, painting, planting, and deep breathing are often overlooked pursuits, yet they may very well be the saviors of our sanity. In The Gurus' Guide to Serenity, mother-daughter writing team and Hollywood insiders Sharon and Laurel House share the secrets of the world's most exclusive experts, trainers, chefs, spas, and resorts to show you how to de-stress like the stars. This fully illustrated guide will have you reveling in life's little pleasures. Learn about Susan Lucci's perfect bath remedy; Goldie Hawn's favorite way to meditate; Christie Brinkley's gardening tips; and Nicole Richie's love for music and dance. Instead of buying dozens of self-help books and magazines, you can find everything you need to create your own oasis of inner peace (and feel like a celebrity) in this beautiful, comforting book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xix
Savor Your "Me-Time"	p. 1
Beauty and the Bath	p. 5
Blissful Baths: The Powerful Potion of Water	p. 5
Tag Galyean's Perfectly Designed Bath	p. 7
Susan Lucci's "Bring Me Back" Baths	p. 11
Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon's Bathroom Sanctuary	p. 12
Lisa Rinna's Bathtub Built for Four	p. 13
Teatime in the Tub	p. 14
Soothing Foot Soaks	p. 16
Your At-Home Spa	p. 18
Facials, Body Scrubs, and Other Beauty Treatments	p. 18
Glow-Where the "Upper Crust" Go	p. 19
Amber Valletta's Beauty Secrets	p. 27
Arcona Unveils Inner Radiance	p. 28
Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon's Favorite Facial	p. 31
Even Fitness Experts Find Time for Their Faces	p. 32
A Soothing Steam	p. 33
Tracee Ellis Ross's Favorite Beauty Secret	p. 35
Healing Spa Water	p. 36
Susan Lucci's Quenching Healthy Habit	p. 38
Massage ... The Need to Knead	p. 40
Good Ol' Rubdown	p. 41
Lauren Holly's "Me-Time" Luxury	p. 41
Michelle Kluck's Magic Fingers	p. 42
The Healing Foot Rub	p. 45
Stress Reduction Brow Massage	p. 50
Stressful Jaw Breakers	p. 51
Finding Your Bliss Through Yoga	p. 53
Total Fitness for Your Body and Mind at Kundalini Yoga East	p. 55
Kelly Rutherford's Girl Time	p. 58
Alicia Leigh Willis Cleanses and Energizes	p. 59
Power Yoga to Quiet the Mind	p. 60
Mahshid Tarazi's Sumo to Stretching	p. 62
Janet Gunn Rids the Chatter	p. 63
Anna Getty's Yogic Awakening	p. 64
Meditation-Relax and Say "Om"	p. 66
Basic Meditation Techniques	p. 69
Jamie Lee Curtis's Meditation Teacher	p. 73
Catherine Hicks on Rosary Beads and Prayer	p. 76
Amber Valletta's Morning and Night Ritual	p. 76
The Art of Being Still	p. 77
Goldie Hawn's Meditation Atrium	p. 81
Shannon Elizabeth's Grounding Meditation	p. 82
Marla Maples's Kabbalah Meditations	p. 83
Joyful Cooking	p. 86
Dr. James Rouse on Healing Through Food	p. 88
Dr. James's List of Stress-Management Foods	p. 89
An Afternoon at a Farmers' Market	p. 92
Conscious Cooking with Cary Neff	p. 98
Catherine Hicks on Cooking	p. 112
Akasha's Fabulous Fare	p. 116
Anna Getty's Food Gatherings	p. 117
Chef Elisa Gross's Nurture Through Nourishment	p. 119
Marla Maples-One Less Stressed Actress	p. 120
Jenna von Oy's Comforting Cooking	p. 121
Tracee Ellis Ross Is "Queen of the Salad"	p. 125
Liquid Yoga	p. 126
You've Gotta Have Art	p. 129
Ed and Linda Buttwinick's Safe Haven Art Studio	p. 130
Jane Seymour's Stress-Releasing Refuge	p. 131
Art on the Go	p. 131
Lauren Holly's Artistic Addiction	p. 133
Jenna von Oy's Room Devoted to Crafts	p. 134
Nicole Richie's Artistic Antics	p. 135
Asha Blake's Artist Break from Journalism	p. 136
Janet Gunn's Homemade Jewels	p. 139
Grown-up Art Parties	p. 141
Nurturing Nature	p. 145
Christie Brinkley's Spirit Replenished	p. 146
Amber Valletta's Weekend Weeding	p. 147
Art Luna's Garden Salon	p. 148
Katherine Whiteside, the "Garden Goddess"	p. 150
Joie Cosentino's Healing Gardens	p. 152
Mark Giebel's Garden	p. 153
A Sanctuary Garden	p. 156
Knit One, Purl Too	p. 158
Edith Eig Arouses Impassioned Knitting	p. 158
Justine Bateman Designs	p. 159
Knitting as Therapy	p. 160
Vanna White Finds Time to Crochet Behind the Wheel	p. 166
Liza Huber's Needlepoint Passion	p. 168
Sacred Spaces and Feng Shui	p. 169
Gurmukh's Special Space	p. 170
Kelly Rutherford's Quiet Space	p. 173
Tracee Ellis Ross's Happy Place	p. 173
Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon's Warm Haven	p. 174
Alter Your Energy with Feng Shui	p. 175
Katherine Anne Lewis's Everyday Feng Shui	p. 178
Shannon Elizabeth's Feng Shui House	p. 184
Work Out Your Body, Work Out Your Mind	p. 188
Dance Your Stress Away	p. 189
Melissa Rivers Relaxes with Her Baby	p. 191
Carnie Wilson and Cardio Barre	p. 191
Cardio Kitchen	p. 193
Kathy Kaehler's Celebrity Circuit Walk	p. 195
Alfre Woodard's Fitness Walk	p. 198
Alicia Leigh Willis Punches Out Her Frustrations	p. 200
Gunnar Peterson's Life-Altering Exercise	p. 200
Amber Valleta's Tension Tamer	p. 203
Mari Winsor's Pilates	p. 204
Susan Lucci's At-Home Exercise Routine	p. 205
Holistic Fitness	p. 206
"Spice Girl" Mel C Finds Her Identity Through Fitness	p. 209
Little Luxuries	p. 211
Hair Conditioner	p. 212
Amber Valletta's Personal Pleasures	p. 213
Kelly Rutherford Unboggles Her Mind	p. 214
Melissa Rivers Carves Out "Me-Time"	p. 214
Tracee Ellis Ross Flips	p. 215
Lauren Holly Breathes	p. 215
Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon Spritzes	p. 216
Susan Lucci Likes Warm Lemon Water	p. 216
Liza Huber's Mindless Moments	p. 217
Motivation Mantras	p. 218
Setting an Intention	p. 219
Self-Monitoring	p. 220
With a Little Help from a Friend	p. 223
A Gift of Motivation	p. 225
Inner Inspiration	p. 225
The Gift of Giving	p. 226
A Family Affair	p. 226
To Your Health	p. 229
About the Authors	p. 231
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

The Gurus' Guide to Serenity
A Me-Time Menu of Celebrity Stress Reducers

Chapter One

Savor Your "Me-Time"

We are living in a time of fast-paced overachieving. Rushing through our days forces us to rush through our lives, and all too frequently we miss the most important, yet simplest details that make us truly happy. Baths, spa treatments, massage, yoga, meditation, cooking, art projects, gardening, knitting, sacred spaces, stretching, relaxing, and breathing deeply are often completely overlooked and undervalued.

We have been raised with the mantra that we can have and accomplish anything and everything, if we work hard enough. This concept, though common today, may still be a bit foreign to our mothers or grandmothers, many of who were raised to raise and born to breed. They were praised for their Bundt cakes, perfect children, and sparkling floors. They were ladies who lunched and kept themselves well groomed. They adored their husbands and cherished their children. In fact, they very well may have doted on their kids a little too much, maybe even to the point of imposing, because as the 1960s progressed, many young, blossoming women set themselves "free."

Being a housewife was suddenly "out," and free loving was "in." But when the realization took over that the hallucinogenic heydays were coming to an end, many women traded their tie-dyed shirts for suits. They quickly dismissed the role of the 1950s housewife and explored every crevice of political and economic freedoms that had for so long been denied to them. The feminist movement was birthed, and soon these women, briefcases in hand, invaded the predominantly male working world. For many, housekeepers were hired to facilitate the abandoned role of the mother, creating a new variable in the family unit -- the nonkindred caretaker.

Women today want to have it all. We, the "do everything" women of the twenty-first century, want to raise our own children while continuing to make a substantial financial contribution to the family, pleasing our spouses, maintaining friendships, and simultaneously being happy ourselves. Impossible? Maybe. But we certainly persist. For most of us, this equation of life can be a little daunting, with the ultimate result being an overextended, overwhelmed, ostensibly flaky woman. We end up spending so much time trying to do and be everything that we forget to be ourselves. We overlook the most important, though seemingly insignificant details, like nurturing our spirit and our soul. So where does this leave us? In a constant state of crisis.

Midlife crisis is no longer solely a term used to describe men in their fifties who suddenly realize that everything they have accomplished has not produced the happiness and fulfillment they had expected. Unfortunately, "do-everything" women are also experiencing midlife crises. Instead of running off and buying expensive cars, getting tattoos, or leaving their spouses for their secretaries, women are feeling emptiness and a longing for times past. Having spent a lifetime nurturing our children and pleasing our bosses, employees, and co-workers, we are in dire need of nurturing and bettering ourselves. Giving ourselves permission to take a "time-out" is an issue for many of us who have always catered to the needs of others. In our moment of crisis, we are realizing that we have spent our lives living to work and not enough time working to live.

But it is not just those of us in our fifties who are in a crisis situation. New terms have been created to describe the confusion, depression, and instability of children who have been caught in the crossfire. Those girls, turned women, are our friends, daughters, or maybe ourselves. We have graduated from college with the mantra ingrained in our heads that we can be anything and do everything. And many of us are shocked by the reality of life. We have new fears and doubts about relationships as our parents or friends' parents get divorced, a harsh reason that our own "happily ever after" often fails along the way. Some young women expect to find successful careers that pay enough money to purchase a house and a car immediately. We are all too often way too keen to be all grown up, which manifests in jump-started marriages that quickly crumble, careers that prove unsatisfying, and a sense of self that seems to be diminishing. We have fallen into the "quarter-life crisis."

While self-help books are fine, at the age of fifty or even twenty-five, we are tired of being preached to and promised to be "saved." We need more than to hear that stress is bad and finding time for ourselves is good. We need, instead, real-life tips, advice, and suggestions on what we ourselves can do and how we can do it to achieve a stressless, or at least less stressed life.

Celebrities are often the barometers for what is "hot." And though their lives are filled with glitz and glamour, even celebrities need a break, a moment's rest that is purely for themselves. It is personal time minus the Hollywood boyfriend, the manager, the agent, the makeup artist, the paparazzi, and even the fans. Celebrities work so hard to maintain their perfectly sculpted outward appearance, but sometimes, like us, they need a little inner nourishment as well. From yoga to knitting and the dependable bubble bath, celebrities somehow find ways to work alone time into their jam-packed schedules. Although some celebrities are able to conjure up calm on their own, most need a little guidance from their "gurus." From personal trainers to aestheticians, yoga experts to aromatherapists and herbalists, these purveyors of serenity offer celebrities spiritual and emotional health and well-being while helping them develop the creative outlets that nurture the soul ...

The Gurus' Guide to Serenity
A Me-Time Menu of Celebrity Stress Reducers. Copyright © by Laurel House. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from The Gurus' Guide to Serenity: A Me-Time Menu of Celebrity Stress Reducers by Laurel House, Sharon House
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.