BITS ‘N’ PIECES

The beauty rituals of wealthy ancient Egyptians were lengthy and complicated, beginning with long milk baths infused with saffron oil. The lactic acid in milk would have helped exfoliate the skin, while saffron has been used to treat a variety of conditions for thousands of years.

Turkey’s love of purified rose water dates back 2,000 years. Today, the oil can be found in modern incarnations. Packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that moisturise the skin, nature’s most blousy flower is anti-inflammatory, and can be used to calm irritated skin.

Turmeric has been at the core of Ayurvedic practice for more than 4,500 years. In South Asia, brides and grooms apply turmeric to their hands and faces before the wedding, as a symbol of purification and also as a blessing.

Gua sha, a traditional Chinese self-massage technique in which a hand-sized, smooth edged stone – usually made from jade, luminous rose quartz or black obsidian – is used to glide across the face to improve circulation.

For at least 700 years before Spanish colonisers landed in ancient Mesoamerica, temazcals were volcanic sweat lodges in which tired Aztecs bathed, not in water but in steam. Steam can help clear blocked respiratory systems and soothe some other ailments.

The meaning behind the Japanese Zen garden

For most gardeners, stones – along with slugs, blackfly and weeds – are a pest, something to be eradicated. Yet in Japan, some of the most astonishing gardens consist of nothing but rocks and stones. As 19th-Century writer Lafcadio Hearn wrote: “to comprehend the beauty of a Japanese garden, it is necessary to understand the beauty of stones.”

Rock and stones are vital elements in any Japanese garden, and the ultimate expression of the beauty of stones lies in the sekitei, or rock gardens, expanses of raked white gravel, dotted with strategically-placed stones.

The first time you visit a Zen garden, it’s hard to avoid a sense of awe at the mesmerising sight of the immaculately raked gravel – in wavy lines, straight lines or concentric circles – broken only by a handful of rocks, perhaps a shrub or two or a clump of moss, but definitely no flowers.

Another key concept in Zen gardens is the abundance of empty space – pristine and uncluttered – a reflection of how your mind should be when you’re meditating.