New Mexico Homes Article on Kerstyn!

Sanctuary Provides Natural Facials and Therapeutic Massages to Santa Fe Locals

By Elisha Neubauer

With a focus on organic beauty products, Sanctuary is exactly what its name says it is — a getaway from the modern world.

Sanctuary Santa Fe is exactly what it sounds like — a sanctuary. It’s a warm, inviting space where you can escape from the hustle and bustle of your daily life and find a comforting calm, a place where you can relax and be pampered.

Sanctuary Santa Fe was opened, as owner Kerstyn Porsch likes to say, with a bang. In 1996, Porsch launched a DaySpa in her guesthouse- complete with fireplaces, a hot tub, a swimming pool, and stunning views of the Jemez Mountains. This was only the start and Porsch quickly realized the need for an even better location.

“Now I’ve moved right into the heart of Downtown, next to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum,” states Porsch. “It’s a convenient location for visitors and locals alike, since I have free parking.”

You’ll find your entire trip to the Sanctuary will be a revitalizing and rejuvenating experience. “Our relaxing atmosphere will prepare body and mind for wellness services,” Porsch details. Although the ambiance will set the tone for your encounter, it’s the treatments, obviously, that really take the main stage focus.

According to Porsch, there are several additional benefits to many of their treatments that cover more than just relaxing the day away. She states that a Hot Stone Massage can alleviate muscle tension and misalignments, while the Spa’s excellent facial treatments (which include Microdermabrasion and Radio Frequency) and Ultrasound and Oxygen Facials can help reduce stress throughout the body. Deep hydration, also offered on-site, can nourish your body while state of the art machines regenerate the deeper levels of the skin to increase cell turnover and cell health.

“Recent Trends, publications, and scientific studies indicate organic skincare can benefit the skin much more than products laced with chemicals that the body has to rid itself of,” Porsch informs us. She tells us that larger pores as we get older are currently being linked to drugstore products, as they carry several combinations of chemicals which our body has to then rid itself of, some of which, Porsch states, have been connected to cancer.

“For me, the key to gentle purification and effectiveness of everyday beauty products lies in providing naturally and organically sourced ingredients, many which assist through herbs and minerals in detoxifying the skin and effectively combat aging,” she explains. “There have been ground breaking new formulas that are naturally sourced, almost 100% organic, and prolific in showing good results.”

Porsch knows a thing or two about this kind of thing, as she’s had over 20 years as an esthetician, with another 16 as a licensed massage therapist. She adds, “Consumers are becoming more educated and discerning when it comes to being healthy.”

Thank you for the great article New Mexico Homes!

New Mexico Homes Article on Kerstyn!

Homemade Honey Peel

This is a tried and true home made peel that you can easily apply before taking a long warm bath.

Honey Facial Sanctuary Santa Fe

1 table spoon organic honey (local if available)
1/2 lime – squeeze juice over honey

Stir it all up and apply with a little brush all over your face, neck and decollete. After about 10-15 min. take it off with lukewarm water. Use a mild Toner, like YONKA Pink Toner afterwards and apply a moisture cream. I like to use Dr. Grandel’s organic “Rejuvenation” or Anti-Age  moisturizer. Presto!

This little ritual liberates your skin from dead skin cells, preserving healthy ones, it purifies and fortifies your outer dermis from build-up and pollutants. Plus: instant radiance and more clarity of skin, with smaller pores.

This is an excellent treatment anytime you need a pick-me-up and great in-between your facial appointments.

Thank you Wikipedia for the honey comb image!

Homemade Honey Peel

Massage Benefits Are More Than Skin Deep

Egyptian Eye - Sanctuary Santa Fe, Kerstyn Porsch

What researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found out, after recruited 53 healthy adults and assigned 29 of them to a 45 min. session of deep tissue Swedish massage and the other 24 to a session of light massage.

To their surprise, it was found that a single session of massage caused biological changes:

People who received Deep Tissue/Swedish Massage had significant decreases in levels of the stress hormone Cortisol in blood and saliva samples. They also had increases in the number of lymphocytes, white blood cells that are the immune system’s first line of defense.

Volunteers who had the light massage,  had increases in Oxytocin – the feel-good hormone.  This group also had a bigger decrease than the other group in the adrenal corticotropin hormone, which stimulates the adrenals to release cortisol.
(Study published online in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine).

“The findings are very intriguing and very exciting – and I’m a skeptic.”
Dr. Rapaport, chairman of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedar-Senai, lead author of the study.

Massage Benefits Are More Than Skin Deep
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