Nature, Naturally, Working With You
Health is life, and nature is the ultimate healer. We are creatures living on a planet that works synchronistically with us, yet as a society we have lost touch with much of its beauty and healing potential. Creating space to incorporate nature’s medicine into daily practices is simple, and the rewards are boundless. We could all benefit from more plants and more nature!
1. Eat more plant-based
- Transitioning to plant-based eating is simple: just build your meals around plants! Meet yourself where you’re at. Look at what you already eat, and see where you could introduce more vegetables. Aim for vegetables to make up 70% of your plate.
- Smoothies and powdered greens can be a great, easy place to start.
- Eat vegetables that are fun and satisfying for you!
- Try: substituting grain-based carbs for sweet, starchy roasted squash or yams. Tossing a rainbow of vegetables in the oven with some oil and your favorite seasonings. Blend veggies roasted and raw with broth or coconut cream for soup. Eat them curried, in salads, with dips, on toast… the options are endless; vegetables aren’t boring! The more greens the better.
- We shape time, health, community, rituals, and culture around food; your food should nourish and support you, emotionally, mentally, physical, socially.
2. Introduce an Herbal Routine
- The world of herbal medicine is vast, and exploration incredibly fulfilling. Just like with meals, look at what you currently do, and incorporate herbs into those existing practices.
- Start with one. Is there a long-time herbal ally you never really got to know, but are familiar with? Rosemary, thyme, sage, cinnamon, rose petals… what’s easily available to you? Pick up a new herb each grocery trip. Explore that! All the common culinary favorites are medicinal as well.
- Try substituting, or adding, herbs to your coffee. This is a great herbal product with a coffee-like bitterness, terrific either on its own or mixed with coffee. This is an earthy-sweet, super energizing tincture that tastes and feels fantastic I like adding to my morning hot beverage.
- Do you smoke? Try an herbal smoke instead.
- Tea. Try for a cup a day, and sit with it. Tea is simple, rewarding; warm cups of medicine and meditation. The ones we know already are potent medicines we tend to forget about.
- Herbs are fun! Cook, infuse, drink, dry, grind with salt (rosemary or lavender are lovely for this), and garnish, herbalize drinks with tinctures, take as capsules, and add to skincare via essential oils. Get to know them, however you can, however you like. Plants are our healers, teachers, allies.
“Tea is an act complete in its simplicity.
When I drink tea, there is only me and the tea.
The rest of the world dissolves.
There are no worries about the future.
No dwelling on past mistakes.
Tea is simple: loose-leaf tea, hot pure water, a cup.
I inhale the scent, tiny delicate pieces of the tea floating above the cup.
― Thich Nhat Hanh
3. Grounding
- Grounding, or earthing, is the practice of being in physical contact with earth.
- Why is this helpful? The earth’s surface is covered with negatively charged free electrons, most powerful antioxidants on the planet. Our bodies thrive on frequent contact with these electrons.
- Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are unstable molecules dispatched to kill bad bacteria. While necessary to fight pathogens, excess ROS will ravage the body’s systems in search of free electrons to pair with. This affects mitochondria (the cellular energy supplier), inflammation response, immune system function, cardiovascular health, cortisol levels, and more.
- Connection with the earth’s electromagnetic field stabilizes our electrical environment, balancing and detoxing ROS molecules as needed.
- Reports from grounding studies include improved sleep, and reduced chronic pain, inflammation, and muscle soreness, among others.
- Play outside, more. Stand barefoot, hug a tree, sit on the ground for a picnic, nurture a relationship with nature. You have nothing to lose, and potentially lots to gain/learn!
4. Just Breathe
- Air is one of the elements, part of nature, and so very necessary. How we breathe signals to our body’s systems how to react.
- Deep breathing moves us out of the fight or flight mode and soothes our parasympathetic nervous system. This slows your heart rate, improves circulation, lowers blood pressure, relaxes your muscles to relieve stress and promote calm.
- Improved circulation to the brain enhances mental capacity, energy, and the body’s self-healing immune response.
- Breathwork shifts brainwaves to a more relaxed, open state. Research shows its helpfulness in aiding in depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
- Counting your inhale to 5, holding for 5, exhaling for 5, and holding at the bottom. Try this when you wake up and before you go to sleep. Notice how it shifts your awareness as you enter and exit your day.
This earth is fabulously strange, full of nature, and ours to explore. Play in it, dance through it, smell the flowers, eat the plants. Tune into how you feel, what serves you, and who in this world of plants you vibe with. I would love to help you in your journey towards the best version of yourself, book a courtesy kindness call with me to see how I can help you!
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