A Beautiful Space for You
For those of you who are new to The Embodied Way…Welcome! I send this newsletter out once per month, usually mid-month. You are always welcome to unsubscribe, which you can do at the bottom of this newsletter. My intention is to provide more value to you, when it comes to your life and your skin without being an annoying nuisance in your inbox! Thank you for being a client and for spreading the word about The Embodied Way:)
This month, I am sharing with you a bit of the origin story of The Embodied Way. It continues to evolve, and I am designing the next stages right now, as I clean out my mom's house. I know the process is healing for me, and with that I have more energy to explore my next steps.
Speaking of the house clean out...I think I am about halfway through the job. This week we are having a big yard sale. Fun and daunting! My beautiful daughter is going to help, and together with my brothers we will put on a fabulous event on a fine, fall day.
Beautiful leaves, beautiful sky, and fresh air...what could be better? May your September be a lovely one.
Notes from Glenda
I started my first esthetics business (The Beauty Room) in 2008, when I was fresh out of esthetics school. In my business plan then I wrote: As a wellness centre of the community, it is our mission to have all clients, from far and near, bind their outer beauty and inner strength. We seek to provide the most professional and satisfying health and esthetic services in the Cowichan Valley.
From the beginning, I committed to a high level of attention to detail and service. I believe that delivering an esthetics service is much more than a simply offering a facial or a pedicure.
I kept that mission and commitment before me for the entire twelve years I ran that business. It reminded me to appreciate and serve my clients to the highest level, even when I was tired. That business saw me through so much and my clients took care of me as much as I took care of them. Through my business I built community and lasting friendships.
Fast forward to 2026. A new community, a new name for my business with a slightly different focus, but at the heart of it is the same mission. For this business, there is also a vision added to the mission: To be a leading centre of personal transformation and to inspire and uplift humanity.
I seek to deliver beauty treatments that mean something and that leave you knowing, loving and caring for yourself at a new level. This is so you have the capacity and confidence to engage in life the way you want to.
Thanks to training as a coach, I have even better skills for helping my clients connect to their inner strength and wisdom. Sometimes, all it takes is presence, a witness for your story, and one simple question about your life, what you love, what your intention is for your time here, or the colour you might enjoy on your nails to create transformation.
Thank you for the privilege and honour of being your esthetician and embodiment coach and for the stories and wisdom you offer me too.
Noticings
The extra time spent with you at the beginning of a service is time to understand your goals or intentions for our time together. It’s part of an opening ritual, of allowing purpose and presence to be a part of the experience.
Many times the answers you give me are similar to others:
- To give myself space to relax
- To allow myself to not try so hard to make everything just right
- To look after myself without guilt
I remind you to breathe in the intention, let the bed, the service, and me support you, and to be in the here and now.
Sometimes I ask clients to notice the sensations that they experience, or to tell me about their favourite book, colour, part of the Comox Valley, or how they met their partner.
Sometimes, what is needed most is silence, a blanket, and a few hot stones on care-worn feet.
All of these explorations are designed to help you connect with pleasure and goodness, and for you to ask for what you need. It is what is resourcing.
Then at the end, allowing time to orient back to the room and notice how you are feeling, turning the attention to savouring the time you just had.
One client noted that she didn’t twitch so much. I noticed that she didn’t have the same tension in her body that she normally holds. There was a letting go and release, which is peace in action.
Some ask directly for music that they love or for it to be at a certain volume. This is beautiful, it means you are co-designing what you need and want, and then are asking for it.
Some of you rebook right away, because you want to care for yourself with intention at regular intervals. This is validating and grounding for you.
And, some of you visit at times you want to mark with an extra special moment in your life. This is a ritual marker that helps you savour moments in time.
Here are a few affirmations to leave you with this month…
Yes, you are worth the time. You can receive care too. You have done enough.
The Giving Corner
Comox Valley Transition Society
There is not a woman alive who doesn’t know someone or who has been in an abusive relationship at some point in their life. It’s not easy to overcome the challenges that these relationships create and extra support and care is needed.
That is why, this month, I am donating to the Comox Valley Transition Society and I invite you to support them too. A special thanks to all the women out there who help other women.
Quotes
I'm working on my life story. I'm not decided if it's going to be a musical or a movie with music in it. Dolly Parton
Every social justice movement that I know of has come out of people sitting in small groups, telling their life stories, and discovering that other people have shared similar experiences. Gloria Steinem
Thank you to both these women for contributing so meaningfully to women's empowerment and may they both RIP.
Endnotes
October is Client Appreciation Month! It’s almost my 3rd anniversary in my current location and I want to celebrate! Refer a friend and you will both receive a complimentary add on service of a value of up to $25. This could mean a complimentary brow wax, brow tint, lash tint, add on eye treatment (to a facial), upper lip wax, hand and arm massage, nail shape and cuticle oil treatment with take home nail file, or scalp massage with organic hair oil nourishing treatment.
Start calling your friends! Or even better, buy your friend, colleague or special person a gift certificate for any value over $50 and I will add on another $25.00 to their gift certificate at no added cost to you! Plus, you get the complimentary service…a $50 value added no matter how you slice it.
Book soon, spaces in October are filling up (many with me painting my mom’s new home!).
I hope to see you soon, and in the meantime... I challenge you to find something or someone to make you laugh and cry all at the same time!
Glenda
