Natural and Sustainable

“Winter Wellness Guide” 6 through 10 of 20

6. Plant A Winter Herb Garden: Try indoor winter gardening with full-spectrum lamps and lightbulbs. Gardening is meditative and connects us to the eart. It can really make a different in our mood, especially at a time when we tend toward psychological hibernation. You can geow your own St. John’s wort, or rosemary for its antioxidants, or sleep-enhancing herbs like valerian and hops. The seeds are widely available, and you can plant them in a box that can be transported outside once spring arrives.

7. Stop Winter Dryness: Vaginal dryness is an issue for menopausal women and can be more of problem during the holidays, when increased alcohol consumption leads to dehydration. Earth’s Botanical Harvest vaginal suppositories, available by prescription, work wonderfully; they contain vitamin E, black cohosh, and wild yam, and are very norishing, safe, and healing to the vaginal tissue. Use them four to five nights a week for two weeks, then every other night for one week, and then two nights a week.

8. Move Your Body: In the winter, when it gets dark out at 4 p.m., it’s harder to motivate yourself to go outside and exercise. Make a pact with a friend that you’ll take a walk every day. A winter walk, even at night, can be rejuvenating and wonderful. Make it your reward to come home to a nice fire. Winter is also the time when many new dance classes start up. Sign up for a tango or a salsa class-or just dance around your house for fun. It’s festive, and it can help lighten your mood and provide a good opportunity for socializing.

9. Fly Healthy: Prevent airborne illnesses when traveling by lubricating the nostriles and the inside of the ear with raw (unsalted) sesame oil. Olive oil is a decent substitute by does not possess the same anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties as sesame. Protecting yourself from food-borne illness is simple: Don’t eat the standard plane fare! Try fasting on hot herbal teas such as chamomile and mint or on hot water with lemon and honey, or call the airline ahead of time to request an East Asian vegetarian meal. The regular vegetarian meal tends to be loaded with poor-quality dairy that can depress the immune system, but the East Asian selection is more likely to be vegan. They can’t really mess that up too much.

10. Relax From Head To toe: The people who get sick in the winter are the ones who are stressed out. To stay healthy, make and effort to activate the relaxation response every single day. Try this exercise:
1. Sit or lie in a comfortable and quiet place with your body fully supported by a chair or the floor. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths, deep inhale, deep exhale.
2. Bring your attention to the top of your head. Focus on your scalp and your forehead, noticing wheather there’s any tension there. Give it permission to just let go.
3. Progressively move your attention down through yor body, from head to toe, assessing each of the muscles alone the way and then mentally releasing any tension you find. Move from your head to your neck, shoulders, upper arms, lower arms, and fingers, your back all the way down your spinal column, around to you belly , your hips, buttocks, thighs, knees, calves, the arches of your feet, and your toes. The idea is to let go of the tension in your mind.
4. Take all the time you need. If there are places that still seem to holding tension after you finish, return there. Give that place permission to let go. Only when you feel completely relaxed should you slowly bring your attention back to the present.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Always wash your clothes on a full load or adjust the water level to accomadate the load size that you are washing. The less water wasted during that time will show up on your water bill later as well as show up in the amount of water wasted over all. Don’t be an addition, be a solution.