Episode 164: Facial Reflexology & Holistic Skincare with Sonia Vargas
Our skin is the biggest organ in the body, a big indicator of what might be going on internally, and one of the first things people see when they meet us -- so it's important to take care of it.
Today I brought along Sonia Vargas, a licensed aesthetician and skincare healer, who specializes in holistic treatment and practices. Her drive to keep learning and her passion for helping others manifest themselves in her certifications, namely; Sculptural Lifting Technique & Buccal Facial Massage, Vodder Manual Lymphatic Drainage, Connective Tissue Massage, and Reiki.
She believes that skin treatments go beyond the surface and that it’s deeply rooted in the systems of the whole body. She believes that our bodies are capable of healing themselves naturally, leading to improvement in many skin-related conditions.
Episode Highlights:
The difference between Holistic aestheticians and traditional ones
What Reflexology is and what it can do for you
Sonia’s recommended daily skincare regimen
How other body systems can affect our skin
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Connect with Sonia Vargas:
Connect with Sonia Vargas on Instagram
Sonia’s Website
Book an appointment with Sonia at Take Care
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“It’s not just to change the way your skin looks, but it’s a whole mind-body balancing routine. It’s so important to do daily, especially right now because we’re all dealing with so much.””
Read the Transcript...
Naomi Nakamura: Hi there, and welcome back to The Live FAB Life Podcast. I'm your host, Naomi Nakamura, and joining me in this episode is Sonia Vargas.
Sonia is a licensed esthetician specializing in holistic practices. She's certified in sculptural lifting technique, bucco facial massage, and also holds other certifications in photo manual lymphatic drainage, connective tissue massage, and facial reflexologies, which is what we're talking about today.
Sonia believes that working with the body's many systems can help to heal and improve many conditions related to the skin.
She has a calming touch and she loves connecting with each and every client.
Her signature facial utilizes a range of modalities customized for each individual person determined at the beginning of every session. And she offers microcurrent acne treatments, sculptural lifting, vocal TMJ massage, manual lymphatic drainage, and like I said, facial reflexology.
So as you'll hear in the episode, I came to be introduced to Sonia through Take Care in Venice where right now I've had Sadie Adams on the show twice from Take Care and I've talked about the offerings from Take Care that have really helped me in my own personal growth and development.
And so I'm really happy to connect with Sonia. I've attended her online classes on facial reflexology and just find the whole approach fascinating and I really feel like this is where skincare meets spirituality and offers us a whole different perspective in how we can deal with the stress and with mind body connection all through the skin.
So with that, let's get to the show.
Hi, Sonia, welcome to the show.
Sonia Vargas: Hi Naomi. Thanks for having me.
Naomi Nakamura: I'm really excited to have you on. I've taken your classes before and I find the topic really fascinating. Those who have been listening to my show for a long time know that I'm a skincare junkie.
Well, just to set context, I met you through Take Care based in Los Angeles, and I've had Sadie on the show twice, and I talked about how the ground space meditation circle has been such a huge blessing for me during this year of the pandemic.
And it's really had an impact in my own personal development and really the trajectory of where my life is going.
And you are part of the Take Care Collective, and you've been holding some classes on facial reflexology that I've attended, and I find the whole topics so fascinating.
Coming from integrative and holistic health and being a skincare junkie, and I'm absorbing everything. So really happy that you agreed to join me on the show. But for those who don't know you, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you?
Sonia Vargas: Yeah, so I'm a holistic esthetician.
I approach skin a little bit differently, but I've been doing this for a few years and I am with Take Care Collective in Venice. And when I met Sadie just the whole world opened up about the body, and the nervous system, and all of our fluids and how they integrate. Which is a big player in how our skin reacts and looks.
But on a side note, I've taken lots of certification. So I do facial massage, and I do bucco intro oral, which can help with drainage as well and TMJ release, and facial reflexology and manual lymphatic drainage.
So there's a lot going on in my little bag of tricks, but reflexology has been one of the things that has really kind of surprised me at how healing it can be, and how it can really affect your whole body, not just skin, but it can really help to calm your nervous system and it can help to rebalance your organs, because right now we're all under so much stress, and change and that can really come out on our faces as different things.
It can come out as a rash, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, huskiness, sagginess, hyperpigmentation, and all those things can be addressed through facial reflexology, which is really wild to me.
So yeah, I mean, I trained with a woman named Jackie Van Ruler, she's with the Mind Body Beauty Institute. And she used to be a nurse in the medical field for years. And then she found the whole world of reflexology because she was so sick and burnt out and she really found how it can heal a variety of issues. And I met her and it's kind of changed my whole view on how I approach skin.
Naomi Nakamura: Just to back it up a little bit. What is a holistic esthetician and how is that maybe different from a regular esthetician?
Sonia Vargas: There's a lot of different types of SPS aestheticians. Holistic means that you kind of approach things from...you're going to work with the body, with the fluids.
You're not going to try to harm the skin in any way to create a response through peels. Not that they're bad.
We try and use products that aren't going to hurt your hormones, or your body, or your skin in any type. So we try and do things more on a natural level, which can take a slower pace when coming to see us.
But in the end it can have longer lasting effects and it can really help to heal the skin.
There's other estheticians who do great things like lasers and chemical peels and other types of things that kind of create a wound to create a response in the skin. And I have nothing against those things, but I have found that for some, that can actually cause long lasting damage in the under layers of the skin that can later come up as we age.
And so not everyone can do those things. Some people it can react with melasma, it can trigger melasma, it can trigger hyperpigmentation, it can trigger all types of things.
So, as a holistic esthetician, I try to approach things in a more natural, calming and working with the whole body type of way.
Naomi Nakamura: I was going to say that's definitely been my experience at Take Care. As you know, whenever I go there for a treatment I'm always asked, "What is your intention for today?" And the first time I'd been there, I was asked... I didn't know that takes back that.
And I was like, my intention is to get a big show, but then when you start to realize, "Oh, this is actually a world where you're really more like skincare meet spirituality, and you're treating the body as a whole, not just the face or not just the skin." And I really embraced that.
So when it comes to reflexology, I have always heard of reflexology massages for the feet. Whenever you're at the mall and they have the massage stations. So, how is that different or the same than the face? Does the face have the same, I guess, points as the feet or how does that work?
Sonia Vargas: The face has different points. It comes from a Chinese medicine type of approach, and our whole body has pressure points everywhere and they're all different.
And all different types of reflexology maps that have been created, it's such an old practice. But the facial points are different than the bottom of the feet, but they still address the organs, like the lungs or the bladder, or the kidneys, or our reproductive system. They're just spaced out differently.
For instance, Dien Chan has a whole different map than who I trained with, which is Mind Body Beauty Institute. But at the end of the day, they all achieve the same results.
So, I have found when you're working on the face, it can actually be really, really healing. I don't do reflexology on the feet, but that can also help to heal certain illnesses too. So, there's so many points and there's so much to learn and less amount of information on reflexology for the face and the whole body.
Naomi Nakamura: So when your clients come to you for facial reflexology, what are some of the common or some of the, I guess, problems they're looking to address?
Sonia Vargas: A lot of them just don't feel good. They're stressed out. They're running, they're go, go, go, and then their skin is breaking out. They're starting to get cystic acne, they're getting acne in places on their face that they never experienced acne before.
Now it's a different climate and we're wearing masks. People are coming in because they're getting rashes and redness. So those are some of the things that I encounter and people want to work with me and heal, but once we start getting into it and I start hitting all the points, it gives me a bigger picture as to what could be happening in the body that could be causing the skin rashes and inflammation and the acne and all of that.
But mainly people come in when they feel like their nervous systems are just kind of overloaded and they have some sort of acne happening and they don't know why. And then they reach out.
Naomi Nakamura: So you've been doing some classes on Zoom. It's a really high level introductory classes that I attended.
And I have to tell this story because I find it so interesting. You talked about having different faces and map of different points for the organs, and I'm hugely into gut health because I personally have had so many gut issues over the past several years.
And you pointed out a couple of points on the face for digestion. And after the class was over, I was like, "Oh, look, yeah, I'm going to work on this."
And so I was like watching TV and I had my little pen, and I'm working on these points, and I think I worked on it for an hour maybe.
And I messaged you about this because shortly thereafter, I had this rash that came out all over my belly. And I was like, this is very unusual for me. It probably only happened to me once, maybe eight years ago. I was trying to think about what did I eat? What have I done differently? But I'm at home in this pandemic where I'm not really going anywhere or eating anything different.
And I messaged you and I was like, could this be related? And you were like, Oh yeah, probably.
Sonia Vargas: Yeah, definitely. It's you're simulating digestion when you're hitting a point. It's stimulation, you're telling your brain to start processing something within that organ.
So maybe if it was something that you ate a couple of weeks ago, it could have brought it up and out. It could be anything because digestion has to do with so many things.
Our immune system, people who have constant worries and they mess up their whole digestive track, or stomach. There's so many things that go into digestion that you having a rash does not really scare me because it happens.
Naomi Nakamura: It really blew my mind that here I have this seemingly simple facial thing I was doing. And thus it made me realize how deep this whole practice can be and how healing it can be for so many different things.
Sonia Vargas: Right. Yeah. It's not just to change the way your skin looks, but it's a whole mind body balancing routine that is... I feel it's so important to do daily, especially because we're all dealing with so much now.
I mean, I can tell my story really quickly.
Naomi Nakamura: Please do.
Sonia Vargas: So, in the beginning of the pandemic, there was a lot of change for me and my daughter and my hair started to fall out.
And so, I noticed that when I wake up in the morning, my pillow was covered in my hair and not just one or two strands, my hair was falling out. So it was scary. I didn't really know what was going on. And, I had always kind of danced with the fact of wanting to train with Jackie Van Ruler on reflexology. I had just never done it.
And since we all had time, because we were home, I did her online class and I had told her my hair is literally falling out. I used to have thick black hair and now it's so thin and it's sad because I can see my hair thinning.
And she said, that's a kidney imbalance. And I said a kidney imbalance?
Well, I mean, I've always kind of had issues with my bladder and my kidneys, but I didn't think it would be related.
So she told me to work all the kidney points and my bladder points. And I want to say within maybe the week my hair stopped falling out.
I mean it would come out in clumps, even in the shower. And so she told me it's definitely a kidney imbalance and sometimes it can be associated with a lot of fear happening.
And there was definitely a lot of fear happening. So it definitely cured that issue, which was scary for me. And I got my hair back.
Naomi Nakamura: Yeah. That's amazing.
And that's again, another thing you don't think about hair. Right.
Just as a quick side note, so the last time I was at Take Care was last November and I was actually getting my hair done by Mo. And I was telling her and I'm showing her how I have all of these waves in my hair.
Because I'm like, I haven't used a hair dryer or styled my hair since before the pandemic. And I was like, look, I just let my hair air dry, and my hair used to be board straight and now I have all of these natural curls and the underneath is pretty curly.
And I'm like, I don't know what's going on. And she's like, my dear it's hormones. And I'm like, oh well that makes sense.
So when you talk about hair falling off, you're like, your hormone system, your nervous system, everything that's probably totally on high alert and just trying to survive, and so that's how you make these connections.
So can you describe for someone who's never heard of facial reflexology before, if they were to go to see you for treatment, what is the actual experiment like? Because I didn't have any idea beforehand.
Sonia Vargas: So, facial reflexology works with the nervous system through points on your face.
And it allows you to get into a state of parasympathetic mode, which is when you're resting, you're able to relax, you're able to digest, you're able to heal.
So when your body is in that state of deep relaxation, it's able to repair itself. And so a lot of us are not really achieving that, we're in a constant state of go, go, go and stress and that can hurt your body.
So, reflexology it can help to balance your organs. And each of our organs are associated with an emotion. And so those emotions, if they are unchecked over time...
Let's just say there's a lot of frustration, a lot of anger, that can affect your liver. And when a person has a stagnant liver, that can set off hyperpigmentation, melasma and a lot of other things that are connected to that organ, which could be digestion and hormones.
So, reflexology is a very deep practice where you can relax and just heal and repair and it can also help with our mental state.
And when you're calm and you feel balanced, it shows in your skin. Our skin is a huge organ. It's covered with pores and nerves and it's sensitive. And so we're feeling creatures.
And so, essentially reflexology helps to balance every aspect of your being. Organs and feelings, emotions and it can help to just get you in that state where you're able to kind of feel better and feel more clear. That's basically what it is.
And when someone comes to see me, I do a facial where it's a facial reflexology. I don't do any extractions because I don't want to get them out of that deep, relaxed state.
So I cleanse you, I do a lot of facial massage, get all your fluids moving, I do some lymphatic drainage just to get everything flowing.
And then towards the end, I work on your entire face with the reflex pen and I hit all the zones.
So I hit the lung zone, the kidneys, the nervous system, the muscles, the skeletal system, everything. Teeth, hair, everything's included.
And so people usually drift away and they fall asleep and that's really what I want them to do. And when they wake up, some people can get a little bit dizzy because it does move energy down as well. But that's all part of it.
But I did it to an old coworker of mine yesterday who has terrible TMJ and she has very, very high anxiety and she fell asleep and was so relaxed and messaged me that she has never felt this relaxed and this good in a really long time.
And it helped everything to just release, in terms of tension and fluid. And it's like a whole reset for your nervous system. And that's essentially what it is.
Me getting you relaxed, balancing your skin, healing your skin. And that's pretty much the facial. And I don't do anything to take you out of that. Any pain involved in terms of using a needle to extract you or doing something that would pinch or hurt, I don't do any of that because I really want to get you into that state of healing.
Naomi Nakamura: I don't think any of those practices are done by anyone at Take Care, right? It's all very natural.
Sonia Vargas: It's all very natural. We do some light microneedling which can actually help your skin if it's done correctly. And which Tess does it correctly.
We don't do anything invasive. We don't do anything that cause harm and deep downtime. Because that's not really what we believe in. But micro needling can help. It can help with scarring if it's done in minimal downtime.
Naomi Nakamura: So you talked about using the pen. Can you explain that? I have my pen. And so you've taught me how to use it, but for those who are like, what is this pen she's talking about? What is it?
Sonia Vargas: So it's a stainless steel reflex pen. It has some weight to it. And it's the tool that we use to access the points on our face [crosstalk 00:19:08] so it has very specific points and it has a little rounded point at the edge with the ball that really helps to focus on a certain place.
And so, when you start with reflexology, I always start at the top of the face in your hairline, and then I work my way down. And the top of the hairline gives me an indication what state the body is in.
So let's just say your spine, your hips, your neck, your shoulders, the whole structure of the body. I start with those points that are at the top of the hairline. And so a lot of the times when I feel hopping, but what I do is I'm massaging your face in small little circles and I move either to the left or to the right.
And I'm trying to feel for stagnation. And stagnation comes in the form of a stickiness in the skin. It can come up as like a lumpy, bumpy, gravelly feeling area.
Naomi Nakamura: That's totally me in that area.
Sonia Vargas: Or it can actually pop, the fascia can start popping because it's tight.
So for instance, I have some deep furrows right here and that's an indication of a shoulder, a tight shoulder, which I work looking down every single day.
So, it kind of paints a picture for me what's happening in your body.
So, I keep massaging back and forth and I slowly kind of move down the face.
And one thing about the forehead is actually all the organs. So, you have different points on different sides. Like for instance, you have your liver, your gallbladder, your stomach, your spleen, your heart, your diaphragm, your lungs, your large intestine.
I mean, I could go on and on, all your organs. But one thing is that all the organs are placed on the forehead. So everything that's on the cheeks and the chin is literally flipped on the forehead.
So, even if someone doesn't have time to sit there and kind of massage their entire face with the tool, they can just work their forehead and it will balance the entire body.
So basically, I'm moving around the space, I work the bridge of the nose, the sides of the nose, because your sinuses are there and I work the masseter muscle, which is your chewing muscle on the side of your jaw which can help release TMJ.
So, it's basically me just kind of going through each zone. And then at the end of each session, I finish with circles around the ears, because the ears are actually related to our kidneys and our nervous system.
And so even if you don't have time to do anything, you could just grab the pen and just literally just circle your ears. And that's going to just put you into deep relaxation and it's going to reset your whole nervous system.
So yeah, it's basically me working on your entire face, doing little massages and people can do it to themselves. And that's what I encourage them to do.
Naomi Nakamura: Someone might be listening to this and they're like, well, I don't know if I have a kidney problem. I don't have liver problem, but if you have sleep problem, this right here is helping you, not just to address your nervous system, but also just again, get you into that parasympathetic state of just...
First of all there's time for yourself, and then you're actually physically hopping, supporting your body.
So when you talk about people doing this daily, what do you recommend for a daily practice?
Sonia Vargas: I recommend if it's someone that really wants to start getting into it, which makes me so excited because they're going to really see the results, I want them to work their entire face.
And I want them to start with their hairline and I want them to work their entire forehead. Just every single area of your face I want you to just get in there and start massaging in circles and there's no wrong way to do it.
And you could go any direction you want. I just try and get them to start doing the practice because it can be life-changing really, if that makes sense.
Naomi Nakamura: I kind of wanted to do experiment. So I got my Human Design coaching certification. I'm like, I have a [crosstalk 00:23:20] I have the three of my line and we're all about trial and error.
So, I really beg you to try something for 30 days and see what happens, and I'm like, I might try doing this every day for 30 days and see what happens.
Sonia Vargas: Well, that's the thing. Jackie, my mentor, she challenged people who wanted to try it to do it for 30 days. You're going to do this practice every day without fail for 30 days.
And she had us take a picture in the beginning of our practice and then at the end of the practice of 30 days, and it literally changed people's faces. It's so powerful.
I have some pictures on my Instagram profile, if anybody wants to check it out. It's under @sonia.skinworship, but there's a picture of me on there during my training in Utah with her, and we took a picture every day.
It involves other things like connective tissue massage and lymph drainage. But the first day of reflexology literally changed all of our faces. I didn't even know that my right side of my face was a little bit higher than my left side.
The corner of my mouth on the right was up higher than the one on my left. And she told me that's a nervous system issue and it could lead to something down the road. And so, I had no idea that that could be going on inside of me.
And when she worked on me, it literally straightened out my mouth, and it lowered my cheek and my jaw. And I had some asymmetry happening in my face and I didn't realize it until I actually stopped to look at myself. So, it's really powerful.
And there was a classmate of mine that had a lot of structural issues. She had had a lot of injuries in her life because she was into rock climbing and running and jogging. So she was very, very active and something had happened with her spine where her head was not completely straight, it tilted to the left.
And so her chin tilted to the left. And so we looked at the pictures before and after, and it literally straightened up her spine and it corrected her neck posture, which was wild. It was just a day of reflexology. And we were all just kind of blown away because it kind of healed things that were traumatic for us that we didn't even realize were happening in there.
We just kind of went on with our lives, thinking, Oh, well, this is just how I look. But it's all related to your nervous system, and it's all related to stress and the past traumatic events for some of us that could be held in our bodies for our entire lives, and we don't even realize these things.
So that's the power in reflexology and that's the beauty of the practice. And that's what I really want people to understand is if you take time for yourself, you care for yourself, you set out the time.
Because we all have time to make a practice if we really want to. And if you do it for 30 days, you'll see a drastic change in the face because it holds stress and emotion and it holds onto it until you let it go.
Naomi Nakamura: I love that because one, these are subtle changes and these are really simple things you can do about it.
But also a lot of people when they hear about skincare, or beauty, or facials, they really take this like, there's so much vanity there, but it's really beyond that. It goes much deeper.
And it's really about what's going on inside of your body, both body, mind, and spirit. And that's why I really love the approach that all of you at Take Care take.
I had something I was going to ask you, and I just lost my train of thought. You have inspired me.
I'm seriously going to give it a try and try it for 30 days. And I will take a before picture so we can see if there's any change after.
Sonia Vargas: Take a before picture and you want to work every thing. You want to work your entire face.
And even when you're working, your masseter, which is your jaw muscle, you can even kind of work a little bit lower onto your neck. But you can massage every single point.
A couple of things I want to let listeners know is that you just don't want to stimulate a point more than 20 seconds. You don't want to sit there and kind of... [crosstalk 00:27:45] It can make you have a reaction. It can make you have the opposite effect. So, that's one thing.
Naomi Nakamura: Quickly. So if you do it every day, it's not like you have to spend this entire amounts of times dedicated. If you're spending less than 20 seconds on a point you can cover the whole face pretty quickly.
Sonia Vargas: Yeah. And then, you feel an area that feels tight or lumpy or a little bit bumpy, or it's popping, you definitely want to stay in that zone and you want to work out that stagnation. So that's something to think about.
Be careful with the eyes because our eyes are very sensitive.
And if you're pregnant, you can also do it, but you want to avoid the entire top lip when you're having a baby, because it's actually called the ejector point. It's not going to eject anything, but we just try and say avoid the top lip during pregnancy.
And then also someone that has high blood pressure, or someone who tends to get very hot very quickly, there is a point on the right side of our face, which is in line with the middle of our pupil.
So if you go all the way up toward your hairline, that's a kidney point. And so it's called the origin of fire. And that's something that... If you're someone that has high blood pressure or tends to get hot quickly, you just don't want to stimulate that very long.
Naomi Nakamura: I'm thinking of my own family because definitely I have people in my family with high blood pressure and we get heated very easily. So we also don't talk [crosstalk 00:29:17]
But also hearing that, I was going to ask you, what does that mean? Well, when you talk about kidneys, we also have a history of kidney problems in our family too. So that's really something for me.
Sonia Vargas: Well, I feel like kidney issues and blood pressure issues I think are different. I have read, and I have studied that blood pressure has to do with your muscles being very tight and tense, and there's not proper blood flow through your veins.
But this thing was the kidney, kidneys have to do a lot with emotion, maybe feeling stuck, a little bit of fear.
Because my father who has high blood pressure and also gets hot really easy, I can't stimulate his kidney points either. So there might be a correlation there, but I'm not really sure why it tends to make you hot or heated. It's just the point that's called origin of fire. And you just want to be careful with those issues.
I mean, I've had people that come and see me that have high blood pressure and who tend to get very, very hot, very easily. But, I simulate the point very quickly and I've never had an issue. I think the issue is when you sit there and you're really just kind of going to town and it stimulates and it makes you hot and it could raise your blood pressure.
Naomi Nakamura: But that makes us think about how everything's connected. And it really makes us look at the body as a whole system and not these individual pieces.
Sonia Vargas: Yeah. I mean, everything's connected and our nervous system is so...
Even our lymphatic system is not even studied that much. And there's so much that goes into our lymphatic that has to do with our whole body and our skin and our nervous system is so important.
And, I feel it's constantly being stimulated now by everything all the time. And so I feel we're all on high alert and I think that reflexology is more important now than ever.
So, I want to get it out there and I want to get people and empower them to kind of take control of their health because there's so many things you can do with this pen that can actually help minimize disease in the organs and the skin and the mind. It's so many things.
Naomi Nakamura: It's entirely that ability to do something about it within yourself.
Sonia Vargas: Right. I'm just going to share something about me again. I'm 42 and I am trying to kind of steer away from doing certain injections and there's nothing wrong with them. I think people should do what makes them happy, but I'm trying to kind of go the more natural route.
And I had a stressful couple of weeks and I wasn't doing my reflexology, I wasn't doing my lymphatic drainage, and I just noticed that my skin looks so sallow and I was starting to get these gels on my jaw, and my forehead wrinkles were very, very deep.
And I thought, you know what? I'm just going to stop and I'm going to reset and I'm going to do my routine, and I'm just going to take a moment.
And it literally brightened my face. It got rid of the fluid that was sitting in my jawline, it relaxed all the muscles in my forehead, and I just felt lighter and I felt happier and more balanced.
I want to empower people to just take their happiness and their health into their hands. Little practices daily can make a huge impact and a huge change over time.
Naomi Nakamura: Exactly. So on that note, how can people connect with you.
Sonia Vargas: So they can connect with me if they're on Instagram, I'm at @sonia.skinworship and that's s-o-n-i-a, or they can go to takecarebody.com, which is where I am at with the Collective with Sadie and Tess Adams.
I'm in Venice, the majority of my time, and I really love it. Their space is beautiful, energetic.
Naomi Nakamura: You work and you are relaxed.
Sonia Vargas: You just kind of feel the love and the calmness and it's... People can book with me there, they can go on takecarebody.com and read about the collective, and read about me and all the other women that are there and they can book and they can even reach out via Instagram and DME and ask for a consultation.
I'm always willing to talk on the phone at no charge about what's going on, and how I can help you.
Sadie also does micro current, which is also very, very healing. And if you've experienced the micro current I like to kind of pair the micro current with the reflexology and it's just so healing for the body.
So if you want to book, I would definitely recommend coming in and experience their micro current machine. It's one of the best I've ever used.
Naomi Nakamura: I'll put all of the things in the show notes, and people can order a pen through the website as well, right?
Sonia Vargas: People can order a pen. So you can go on our online store on takecarebody.com, and we have the reflexology pen for $59.
And it's so easy to clean. You can just run it under water or put a little bit of alcohol on the tip. It comes with a little yellow mesh that you can store it in.
And we also sell Gua Sha tools, which are also really great for helping to keep the face refreshed and healthy.
And so, we offer so many things there. We have a craniosacral therapist, we have a Reiki practitioner, we have nutritionists, Rebecca, a holistic nutritionist who helps people with meal plans and we have sound baths.
And of course, Sadie is amazing. She does all types of embodiment meditation. That's life-changing. [inaudible 00:35:07] I love the embodiment meditation with Sadie. It just puts you back into your body and gets you out of your mind.
Naomi Nakamura: I was thinking about it. She started bringing the meditation circle online a year ago and we all went into lockdown and I feel I've only missed a handful of times over the past year.
And I worked with her a lot one-on-one last summer, but I feel like now months later, it's all starting to gel for me now if that makes sense. It's taken a while, I've been taking it in, and I've been processing it all this time and now I feel like this is what she meant.
Sonia Vargas: Oh my gosh, exactly. I mean, I think a lot of the times we don't really realize how much we're living in our heads.
And some of the thoughts that we create are just thoughts that never really happen. And so when you sit with Sadie and you do a meditation with her, it just kind of takes you out of that whole living in your mind.
Naomi Nakamura: [crosstalk 00:36:08] about not just life, but about how you're reacting and how you're existing in life.
Sonia Vargas: Right. And just how you kind of process information. And I really love being in that collective because it's so much more than just skin care.
Naomi Nakamura: I was going to say it all starts with skin care, but it's so much more.
Sonia Vargas: Yeah, it's so much more. And everyone there is lovely. Tess is lovely, her energy is amazing, everyone's so warm and welcoming and nurturing.
You come in, it's like a little safe Haven where you can just take an hour and a half to just reset, and people love it and they love coming back. And just the whole experience when you're in Venice.
Naomi Nakamura: I mean, I go down South just to...
Sonia Vargas: It's worth it. It's worth it. Yeah.
Naomi Nakamura: Thank you so much for joining us and for sharing your wisdom with us.
Sonia Vargas: Thank you.
Naomi Nakamura: I can't wait to attend your next class.
Sonia Vargas: We took a moment to pause and kind of just reboot, but I'm going to be doing a class in a few weeks and I usually post it on Instagram, is usually where I post it.
But just check our events on mindbody.com and usually Sadie's events and my events will be there for education.
And we're going to be expanding. We're going to try and come up with more classes and start bringing in some new practitioners. So yeah, we have some things in stores, so we're kind of super excited.
Naomi Nakamura: I'm so excited. Thank you again so much for joining me.
Sonia Vargas: Thank you.
Naomi Nakamura is a Functional Wellness & Human Design Coach. She helps women who struggle with stress, fatigue, and burnout find freedom and empowerment by optimizing their health, finding balance, and upgrading their energy so they can live life on their own terms.
Combining her diverse professional background, and her unique approach integrates Functional Nutrition and Human Design she guides clients on a highly individualized journey of self-discovery, observation, and integration by removing physical, mental, and emotional confusion and overwhelm, simply taking them back to the very basics of health through their Human Design.
She believes that when our bodies function optimally, our personalities and souls can shine through everything that we think and do with empowering clarity and ease.
Naomi resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and can often be found exploring the area with her puppy girl, Coco Pop!
Connect with Naomi on: Instagram
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