All of us contend with trying not to succumb to seasonal colds and flus this time of year. Sometimes we are more successful at that than others! So I’ve developed some very useful, simple, and effective recipes and practices that you can call on to help deliver support for your efforts. I’ve put them together in my Winter Wellness Survival Kit, which can be viewed here, on my new YouTube channel:
The components of the kit can be preventative, strengthening your immune system and helping you to shore up your defenses in advance, they can be comforting and soothing when you have succumbed and are in the throes of illness, or they can be restorative to help you get back on your feet in the best possible way.
The idea is that they are so simple and the ingredients are so common, that you can begin today to work with them and develop them as part of your holistic lifestyle repertoire.
All of the techniques I talk about in this video series are holistic in their approach toward wellness, which means they involve all aspects of a person’s being: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. They must all be addressed and worked with and supported for real and lasting health and wellbeing.
What this means on a fundamental level is that they are geared toward using seasonal plants for the most effective results. Phytotherapy is the term referring to the medicinal use of plants or plant extracts. This can show up in what you put on your plate when you eat things specific for their healing properties, it can be what you take medicinally as herbal medicine, or it can be what you use topically on your body in any kind of salve, balm, beauty, bath or skin treatment.
The idea is that all plants have seasonal life cycles and to harvest and use them when they are at their peak means you’ll get the full advantage of what they have to offer. In Winter, people who work closely with plant healing – nutritionists, aromatherapists, herbalists – tend to use roots, citrus, and evergreens. Roots take in their nutrients from the soil, which is very saturated with minerals, they anchor the plant into the earth, and as such provide a very sturdy, grounding energy for us when we consume them. Citrus – orbs of sunshine and happiness in the darkest time of year are also abundant sources of Vitamin C and anti-oxidants, known warriors in the battle to help the body fight off infections. Evergreens – just that. Tall, stalwart, enduring. The oldest trees on the earth are evergreens – pines, cedars, cypresses. In the cold of winter they are real survivors, providing strength, warmth, and stamina with their bracing aromas.
The components of the Winter Wellness Survival Kit are:
· Winter Greens Detox Smoothie for creating a stronger, higher functioning immune system
· Germ Blaster Tea flushes out invaders, elevates internal body temperature
· Grapefruit Sugar Exfoliating Body Scrub soothes and restores dry winter skin to velvety softness
· Evergreens Aromatherapy Blend acts as a seasonal anti-depressant, as well as decongestant
· Thymus Healing Ritual supports immune, circulation and respiration systems, opens heart chakra
In this season, we can use the confines of the cold weather to understand on a deeper level the meaning of hibernation – going within toward stillness, quiet, waiting. There is peacefulness and power in this state of being. It allows us the time to reconnect to the richness of our interior lives, to come to a different sort of relationship with ourselves. This, to me, is one of the better gifts of the this time of year.
Let me know what you think of my videos, as always, comments on any of my content here is most welcome.
Be well!
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