Special Himalyan Beauty Secrets

Yes, I did get up for the 5 A.M. meditation, in case you were wondering, and afterwards hiked to the garden. To prove the latter, I’ve got a bulb of Salvador’s extra spicy clear-your-sinus-and-high-five-your-brain garlic in my fanny pack.

Tonight the renowned musician, Ragani, will lead kirtan after dinner. Kirtan, if you’re not familiar with the term, is a very lively call-and response sing-along of Eastern spiritual music, kind of a Sanskrit hootenanny. Ragani, whose picture is above, has also been teaching yoga here all week, and telling colorful stories of her many years spent in the company of Swami Rama of the Himalayas (Swami Veda’s own teacher). But, in addition to her many talents, one of the things many of the guests here find interesting about Ragani is her beauty, or to be more specific what everyone calls her “inner glow.”

“What’s her beauty secret?” everyone wants to know. Swami Veda would tell you that it’s attributable to her meditation skills. It’s not some cliché reference to “inner peace” he’s referring to. It is a series of practical matters. For one thing, when you relax your forehead, you don’t get wrinkles and you’ll never need Botox. For another, when you slow your breath, you maintain your youth. No kidding: The other day Swami Veda gave us a breath-counting exercise. When we were done he asked how many breaths we’d taken. I had taken 15; he had taken one. Yup, one. According to yogic philosophy, the length of your life is determined not by your years but by how many breaths you take, The slower the breath, the longer the life. So much for resveratol, human growth hormone and the rest of the so-called anti-aging miracle cures coming down the pike. I’m going to keep relaxing my forehead and slowing my breath. I’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll end up glowing like Ragani.

RANCH FUN FACT OF THE DAY: What’s the smallest bedroom on the grounds? Check out the museum behind the man lounge. Walk through the tiny house where Deborah and Edmund Szekely ived from 1940-50. Now go out the back and check out the guest room…teeny teeny tiny.