Vogue Magazine calls Candice Forness “the Ayurvedic Facialist With a Massage Technique So Good, You May Cry”. They continue “You come out looking fresher and feeling like you’ve had a full-body detox, even though she only works on your face and neck,”. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of being on Candice’s table and can fully endorse that Candice’s technique is like no other. Candice is trained in the Ayurvedic facelift massage and has a strong understanding of Ayurvedic skincare and aromatherapeutic botanicals - which gives her unparalleled insight into the world of Ayurvedic beauty.
UMA Podcast S + Candice Forness June 2020 FINAL.mp3
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:00:39] Hi! I am Shrankhla Holecek, the Founder & CEO of UMA, an Ayurvedic beauty and wellness collection. This is the UMA Ayurveda podcast. Each week I’ll be having a conversation with someone I greatly admire on the topics of Ayurveda, holistic healing, spiritual well-being and alternative health. By sharing this wisdom, I hope to share a personal truth and revelation with you. That, as ancient as they are, Ayurveda and other healing modalities are as modern and relevant today, as ever.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:01:31] Vogue Magazine calls Candice Forness “the Ayurvedic Facialist With a Massage Technique So Good, You May Cry”. They continue “You come out looking fresher and feeling like you’ve had a full-body detox, even though she only works on your face and neck,”. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of being on Candice’s table and can fully endorse that Candice’s technique is like no other. Candice is trained in the Ayurvedic facelift massage and has a strong understanding of Ayurvedic skincare and aromatherapeutic botanicals - which gives her unparalleled insight into the world of Ayurvedic beauty.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:01:31] It's so great chatting with you, Crazy circumstances, nothing. I know it's been a while.
Candice Forness: [00:01:40] It has. It's so nice to talk to you. Thank you. Thank you for calling me in. And what a pleasure.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:01:46] The pleasure is all ours. our work together, as well as having had the great privilege of being a client of yours and having experienced the incredible Ayurvedic face massage that give. It is truly very, very meaningful for me to be sharing all your wisdom, your insight, and your great powers with your hands, with our audience. I like asking everyone with this question, Candice, because it means different things to different people. But what does your Ayurveda mean for you and what has it done for you?
Candice Forness: [00:02:32] That is such a good question. For me, it means a holistic approach. And I think that being able to factor in a lot of different aspects makes it easier for us to come up with a plan or an idea or a solution. It's a multi-dimensional way of thinking for a multifaceted life.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:03:02] And especially coming from you, that makes so much sense because in your work, you focus on skincare and aesthetics, but through such a vibrant and different lens, one that integrates energy, Marma Point Stimulation and so many ancillary ways of healing the skin as well as a mind and body. Before we go into the details of that, and I'm dying to, tell me a bit more about your beauty and skincare philosophy.
Candice Forness: [00:03:34] Honestly,..it's very simple and it is to polish it up and love it. It really is just to highlight your favorite features. Bring up the level of quality of years of your skin and your body, and then honestly, just to love yourself. Completely fine. Yeah. Confidence is one of the most beautiful aspects of human.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:04:04] Couldn't agree more. Oh, Candice, that is powerful. Yet something that we wrangle with every day and sometimes still have difficulty accepting, giving the great degree of schooling that you have had in traditional as well as Ayurvedic skincare. What was sort of the turning point that you started to realize that a holistic approach to skincare and beauty is what is needed?
Candice Forness: [00:04:38] My goodness. It was essentially taught to me by my clients..which is a huge learning base for me are my clients being a makeup artist on set with people who are professionally beautiful. They, of course, come gorgeous. Then it's by genetics and by simply asking them about their allergies and..their preferences.
Candice Forness: [00:05:05] I created a level of care..that made them feel better taken care of. So they were more beautiful. And so I realized that it was really a multi-dimensional job, it wasn't just about painting a beautiful face, even more beautiful, you know.
Candice Forness: [00:05:23] What are they allergic to? What do they prefer? And then gorgeous skincare. And once you've prepped that canvas and by cameras, I mean that human being,..they're able to do their job with so much more pleasure and then everyone wins, right?
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:05:41] Indeed. Indeed.
Candice Forness: [00:05:43] Oh, yeah.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:05:44] Have you been practicing these techniques or this holistic way of caring for skin?
Candice Forness: [00:05:55] In life, I think that it was ingrained in me young. My mom is a nurse and..she's also a healer. I'm a fourth-generation healer. So..it's all inter interwoven. Right. Like, how did you see? What did you eat? Are you thirsty? Are you tired? Are you hungry and
Candice Forness: [00:06:20] Coming from a professional dance background, you have to take care of the vehicle, right? Like, your body is the medium of that particular art. And so that knowledge spread. And to art school,..you have to prep the cameras before you paint on it.
Candice Forness: [00:06:35] And that knowledge transferred into painting the human canvas. So it's ..been an evolution that just became more and more evident that it..was really important.Really important.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:06:50] That's fierce.
Candice Forness: [00:06:50] But thank you.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:06:53] Along this journey. What have been your most surprising discoveries and experiences?
Candice Forness: [00:07:02] I think the dramatic change in my clients that's been the most so surprising, asking them questions and letting them and holding space for them to come to the answers. Right. Just allowing them to have space and time to kill themselves. It's like a more proactive form of therapy. You know, you ask simple questions and it's always the same simple questions. And those simple questions can rabbit hole into deeper things. And sometimes people just need to hear themselves, say it out loud, and then they come up with the answer. So that's been the most dramatic changes, is really just watching my clients evolve. It's also really rewarding.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:07:57] I can imagine this sounds like skincare and therapy in one.
Candice Forness: [00:08:02] Well, it is, you know, our face is a first impression. We're facing reality. We're facing ourselves. We're facing time or face timing each other. And so it's you know, it's and we're judged by it. And it's. It's very important in this day and age to a lot of people. So to be able to hold space for that and to promote an inner radiance I think is exquisite.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:08:35] So sort of switching into the details of this approach. And I know this first, and I feel very fortunate to have this first hand from you, but what would you say for some of the listeners? Are the key benefits or key differences between the traditional approach and your approach of taking care of yourself through a facial?
Candice Forness: [00:09:05] Ok, so the key differences between a regular facial and the space that massage is, is that the space massage is essentially the cheek meat of the facial. It's the most glorious part. It's only the massage. It's only the sculpting. And lymphatic drainage. So..it's only the relaxation portion. And luckily, that portion increases oxygen. It releases dopamine and serotonin increases the immune system. So all of this is beneficial on an..energetic level, an emotional level, physical level, but also a biological level. There's no extraction. There's no pain. It's incredibly gentle. So..it's simpler and it's easier for the body to assimilate. So it really does. It's it's healthy.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:10:03] How is it that the face feels so lifted, so well rested after just a one-hour treatment with you, I remember taking pictures with you and seeing that dramatic change in my skin in almost the firmness and the collagen and levels. What is it within your technique and within facial massage as a whole that is helping the body do that?
Candice Forness: [00:10:34] I think one of the most dramatic difference is that it starts with the Marma Points Stimulation, which introduces fresh oxygen straight into the brain. It's like a gorgeous inversion in yoga and. It's we as organisms release 70 percent of our toxins through our exhale. So we can introduce fresh oxygen into the system. And the client. Exhales Gorgeous exhale, 70 percent of the waste is gone. And just just just reference. Six percent of our waste is urine and 70 percent of our waste is the exhale. And that's in the first few minutes of the face massages that gorgeous oxygenated rush. It's like a beautiful inversion in yoga. So the treatment starts with a huge detox, huge detox, and that's just on a biological level. And then after that, 70 percent water and not full phase can be manipulated. But honestly, it's that huge release and the beginning of of of stale air. It's huge detox.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:11:45] I understand that you also sometimes use Shirodhara in your sessions. I'm sure our listeners would love to hear more about the technique and what makes it so impactful.
Candice Forness: [00:11:57] Oh, my goodness. It is one of the most divine techniques I have ever learned. It recap the beginning sequence of it recalibrates the nervous system through the spinal cord. And this is a technique I learned also an energy class solid by grounding the client through the speech, which is huge. And then a 20 minute Neo gland drip and I can customize it with the hydrosol, a tea or an oil. And it's 20 minutes of a very soft drip on the Neo gland, which is at gland located in between the hemispheres of the brain. And it drips slowly down into the air. And the practitioner stays with the client, so they're never alone and it is the softest, most gentle feeling practices that I've that I encountered. It's..so beautiful to perform.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:12:58] Oh, gosh. I can imagine millions wanting to do this right now. And if some of us wanted to come over and experience this Candice, what's the best way of reaching you for booking a facial or a Shirodhara face massage with you?
Candice Forness: [00:13:19] Directly, All of the services are listed on my Web site. Candace Forness dot com. I can be emailed. I can be called and we can set up appointments. No, it's in New York and I'm available for travel.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:13:35] That sounds amazing. What adults love to do is share some at home facial tips with our listeners. What are some of your favorite things that people can do at home?
Candice Forness: [00:13:48] Being on set, I realized I. I'm a makeup artist and a men's groomer. I'm a holistic and beauty and wellness specialist. I have a variety of modalities. And one of the most mainstream is I'm a makeup artist and men's groomer. And the male models, sometimes they come with scrubs and sometimes they have to shave. Well, depends on what the client wants. And watching them shave because I give them the option of shaving them or them shaving. And they exercise their face. They make..faces while they shave. And..I realized after all these years, oh, my goodness. It's essentially face yoga and a little five-minute face yoga everyday is why a man's jawline is so much more time than a woman's, right. And makes sense.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:14:34] So my sense.
Candice Forness: [00:14:35] Right. It took seriously 20 years of being on set, watching male models shave. And I'm like, oh, wait. It's those weird faces you're making. So. And it's just they shaved so quickly. It's a little bit every day. So little tiny bit of a ritual, whether it's a bit of a massaged. To move everything around, which is just stretch your face out a little bit every day, can make a huge difference. Huge difference.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:15:05] I'm a huge believer in that. And thank you for calling that out. It's such an interesting insight that you offered, but it works. And the proof is in the pudding. So.
Candice Forness: [00:15:17] Absolutely.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:15:20] Do you use facial tools during your service?
Candice Forness: [00:15:24] The only tools I use during my service are my hands. What I've learned is that the hands are human tuning forks and I am able to feel and connect so deeply with my clients through my hands that it is the simplest and most organic tool for my self. I love the Guasha Stones and I love the rollers. I think they're really firm. They're really effective. And to implement stone. I love the rose quartz is really gorgeous. A beauty ritual I think is so important and selfcare is so important, especially in times where we don't have a lot of solids, like we don't really know what's happening in the world right now. We don't we don't really have a lot of answers. We don't know what the future is going to hold, but we do know that we love our Rose quarts Guasha and that we'll feel better afterwards. So let's do a little things that we can do once again everyday to promote.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:16:26] Candace, I was wondering if you might be able to offer any insight on how to select the best tools from within all the guashas and all the roller's that one has at their disposal. Do you believe one is better than the others, or do you feel like they were a little bit all the same?
Candice Forness: [00:16:51] I feel like you just want to make sure that it's authentic. You just want to make sure that the stones are actually stones, whether it's jade or whether it's sodalite or whether it's rose quartz. You just want to make sure that their actual stones, because plastic is a manmade, manmade substance and it breaks. No,..it's plastic. So you're gonna want to make sure that it's real. Other than that, I think it's whatever, whatever speaks to whatever calls to guashas can also be done with metals. So there's different materials that you can use. Just make sure that it's real.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:17:29] And would you say it's fairly easy for most to tell the difference between what might be real? I like to think that I can quickly distinguish between plastic and stone. But you might have seen some clever renditions of plastic. So any guidance their price and weight. And I would always read the reviews. There's usually a ton of reviews, reputable, reputable lines. And also if it's extremely cheap, it's going to be extremely cheap. So and also look at the weight. Like, if you look at a ling roller, check the weight and you can use that as a guide.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:18:14] And speaking of knowledge and resources, what are some of the things that you have found helpful in your journey?
Candice Forness: [00:18:26] I think we exploration. Is the exploration the inspiration of my clients..it's been.One of the resources I find most useful, expansive thinking, you know, we hold space for people..and everyone's different and every situation is different. So I really love the idea of thinking outside of the box, like, oh, or I should Google that. I don't even know what that is. And then that rabbit holds you into..a whole different way of thinking, which is really great. So I think remaining open and continuing to learn and continue to be curious is a gorgeous resource.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:19:09] And I think that is a profoundly helpful because everyone takes a different path and I think there is no one right path. So speaking from your truth and your experience is vital to everyone listening because every journey is so sacred and so important that your journey might appeal to a third of the population. Another third might be academics who like twenty-five books to learn things.
Candice Forness: [00:19:44] Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And it all works. And that's the.. great thing about holistic living, is you create the ratio that's right. For you. And it can be different for you every day. And it can be different for other people. And then it's all on.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:20:05] And speaking of finding yourself up. Were there any myths or things that you discarded about holistic skincare or holistic beauty that were just not for you?
Candice Forness: [00:20:23] I don't know that I discarded any of them. I think that there's, there's value. I just don't always apply them to myself. I am aging a lot more naturally than most people are comfortable because I'm so grateful to be a grown woman. And I'm not afraid to let that show. So I'm a lot more relaxed about aging and about, you know, lines. And, guasha and a silver hair. I'm embracing all that because I'm like I said, it's an honor and a privilege to grow older as a woman, as a female. So I'm embracing it. And plus, it's exciting to see how I'm going to evolve. So that's the only thing..I don't really get crazy about aging.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:21:14] I do really like that perspective. And I was wondering about how do you balance taking care of yourself in such a whole fashion while also juggling demands of a job, the environment, the stressors that cripple us all to some extent. What are some of the practical ways that you take care of yourself? Despite the madness?
Candice Forness: [00:21:49] I would have to say. It is honestly unapologetic self-care. It is whatever you need for yourself and that day within, of course, reason. And doing that for yourself, saying no when you need to say yes, when you need to sleep early when you need to, drink more water. It's, it's important to be authentic. In your own reality I feel like...
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:22:24] Did that come naturally to you or was that process of evolution?
Candice Forness: [00:22:30] I think it comes naturally. I mean,..I'm a low maintenance beauty professional in, in a high fashion world and I. It's been accepted and celebrated because we love variety. Right. So I think that it's there's room for everyone and there's room for all different capital deals because they're inspirational and they show you what you want or maybe what you don't want..and..we love. We love variety. I think.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:23:06] And that's what creates balance in the world and balance is at the very core of Ayurveda.
Candice Forness: [00:23:12] So absolutely, absolutely. It's the homeostasis of existence. Right balance.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:23:20] It certainly is, and it's a beautiful, eloquent pause to the things that we were just discussing. Candice, I so appreciate your spending the time and sharing your great wisdom with us, to end on anything that I might have missed or a piece of skincare, beauty, selfcare advice that you might have for our audiences that we haven't already covered.
Candice Forness: [00:23:48] Thank you for having me. I would have to. I would really have to encourage self-care care beauty rituals, and that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Whether it's taking a really long baths with all of the things you feel like you need, whether it's making sure that you are hydrated enough, whether it's eating food with a lot of vital life force. Right now, I really want people to indulge in selfcared beauty rituals. I think we owe it to ourselves. And we really owe it to each other to roll up out of this reality with our needs cared for.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:24:38] A great call to action. If I heard one, I am so looking forward for all of this to be behind us. And for me to be coming back to New York and spending some quality time on your on your table. But.
Candice Forness: [00:24:55] I would love that I'm going to spoil you, lady.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:25:00] As you would do your clients. I know from everyone at the edge of spending time with you. But until then, my friend. Please take care of yourself. And I'm sure we'll be talking soon.
Candice Forness: [00:25:16] Thanks. You too. Thank you so much for having me. I will see you soon.
Shrankhla Holecek: [00:25:44] Thank you so much for listening. If you like more information on our guest and the additional references during our conversation, Please visit us at UMAOils.com.