Since joining Earth To You, Ezgi has made one thing absolutely clear about how we support those of you living with skin conditions: we are not here to promise instant healing or “overnight miracles” nor to offer advice that conflicts with guidance from a doctor or dermatologist.
We are here to offer another perspective: an approach to natural beauty that breathes beyond billboards, algorithms and targeted advertising.
Sure, we have our own thoughts about steroid creams, makeup and synthetic cosmetics. But this isn’t about telling anyone to ignore medical advice or abandon a treatment that already helps them. It is about becoming more informed, discovering what genuinely works for your skin and questioning anything repeatedly sold to us as a categorical cure for confidence.
Having access to a range of credible advice is always the best place to begin. While it might not always be wise to go through life with ‘one foot in and one foot out’, different approaches can sometimes be used alongside one another, with any prescribed treatment changed or discontinued only in consultation with the appropriate healthcare professional. I say ‘sometimes’ but we’ve even just spoken with someone who was covered head-to-toe in eczema but rejected all steroid creams and other treatments like light therapy, and since seeking our help has already begun feeling better.
All that said, why is the “natural approach” so often the last team mate picked in the metaphorical gym class? Why must the majority of us reach the point of desperation before we consider complementary remedies? Why are even some doctors so dismissive?
Natural ingredients may lack the glossy, commercialised muscle of high-street products, but never let a scrawny-looking leaf fool you - nature packs a punch!
Too often, it is only when we feel we have reached the end of the line that we begin questioning everything we have been taught. We finally turn towards the treatments once dismissed as “hippy-dippy”: holistic practices, complementary therapies and even hypnosis. But why are these possibilities so rarely part of the conversation from the beginning?
Perhaps we just need to all start our days small, with a quick dip of the toe into what we might typically see as different or alternative. An entry point to a healing journey that takes mere minutes, not hours of deliberation or endless prescriptions.
Heart-centred breathing (using a Quick Coherence Technique created by the HeartMath Institute) indirectly supports skin health by reducing perceived stress and helping the nervous and hormonal systems return towards homeostasis. Persistent psychological stress disturbs your body’s immune regulation, increases skin inflammation and, in some people, promotes excess oil production. It also impairs the skin’s barrier function and slows its recovery through changes in cortisol levels.
When you take a moment to relax, focus your attention on the heart and breathe intentionally, your heart rhythm becomes more coherent. This calmer physiological state influences communication between the heart and brain, helping the body move away from a prolonged stress response (which we also refer to as “survival mode”) and towards a more present, healing journey.
I was completely new to any sort of meditative practice when I started Earth To You. I’m yet to begin levitating (but hey, watch this space. Soon I might be so high I can literally throw your orders across the country like some sort of cloud-hopping, year-round Santa) but like an added layer of skin, I now feel dressed in a certain reassurance: the knowledge that I can tap into a calmer, safer state whenever I feel the need.
It might not appear on a dermatologist’s prescription pad or come with the promise of overnight transformation but neither is it trying to replace any of those things. Heart-centred breathing is simply another tool to keep within reach. One that asks us to pause, listen to our bodies and recognise the connection between stress and our skin. Because supporting skin health does not have to mean choosing between medical guidance and a more natural approach. Sometimes, the most informed path leaves room for both to breathe.
If you’d like to know more about this breathing technique we do as a team every morning, visit our new COHERENCE page.
With love and gratitude,
Barnaby