Let’s talk about your menopausal journey, the power of herbal self-care and how you can engage a simple home herbal technique that can help you feel more connected with your body during menopause.
“So let me ask you, how do you listen to your body?”
One thing that I’ve learned about menopause in the past 25 years of helping women to use natural home remedies to support their menstrual and menopausal wellness is that menopause is part of a continuum. It’s not an isolated incident to be managed or just dealt with. The womb cycles are a continuum of experience.
Fist menstruation, the menstrual years, peri-menopause, and menopause, all of it………. it’s all related. And you know what? The earlier on that you get herbal self-care routines in place, the better off you are. The thing is, your herbal self-care rituals can help you the whole way through!
So wherever you are in this magical continuum of your womb cycles, it’s a good time to get going with this easy to use herbal self-care tool I’m going to share.
Menopause! There is a reason we call it: The Change.
It’s not just your hormones! Your brain, nervous system, skin…….. Your whole being changes! During firs menstruation, you are wired up one way and during menopause you go through another rewiring and transformation.
And the thing is, every woman is different. We all do a different menopausal dance.
This is your body, this is your dance. This is your unique transformational process.
And what I really know about menopause is that with all its’ beautiful, unpredictable changes, is that it’s a time to listen to our body. One of the best medicines of menopause is listening to our body.
How do we do that? How do we stop taking care of everyone and everything and just be with our body listening to its wisdom?
So let me ask you, how do you listen to your body?
What routine or ritual do you have in place to put the brakes on the ‘to- do’ list? What’s your to-do list like right now? (I know I’ve got an endless to-do list).
When I was growing up there was not a single lesson where I was given the message that it might be a good idea to listen to my body. I was actually raised with a symptom suppression mindset and if the body was talking too loudly, you give it a pill to be quiet.
Learning to listen to my body is something I have had to practice and learn and practice some more. It didn’t come easy to me. My mom taught me to take care of everyone else first.
Lucky I started studying herbal medicine in my early 20’s. There are so many awesome self-care tools that I just fell in love with and have watched my students have so much success with over the years.
I want to share with you my all-time favorite “Listen to Your Body Self-Care Medicine”.
Herbal Baths. Yep! Herbal baths, trust me on this one!
Baths can be great in general, but when you add the healing power of herbs to your bath tub, well, let’s just say that washing up takes on a whole new meaning!
My herbal bath rituals are literally the place where I come back to my senses and come home to myself.
The aroma, the color, the texture, the layers of scent…… your mind just has to stop!
So my big herbal self-care tip today is: Turn your tub into your sanctuary and your personal sacred space.
Herbal bathing rituals are a wonderful grounding routine to help you to stop, go inside and listen. Listening to our body as we navigate this amazing journey is some of the best medicine for menopause.
But the herbs give us much more.
For instance there are herbs that you can put into your bath that are cooling like Sage.
Salvia officinalis or garden sage, is a cooling herb. You can put sage into your bath and it has a cooling out effect. Try it!
Another great cooling bathing herb is elder flowers. We hear a lot about elderberry syrup for colds, but the same plant gives us amazing healing flowers, that have a cooling and clearing effect. So give elder flowers a try in your herbal baths.
My other favorite cooling and calming herbal bath is rose petal baths.
Now we’re talking, right! Just own it, give yourself permission to take rose petal baths and often!
Make sure your roses are organic and you can use any color of rose. They are cooling and calming to the nervous system. I love rose petal baths. They are relaxing, cooling and restorative to the nervous system. The other benefit of rose petals is that they are restorative for the skin. Rose petals are anti- inflammatory and help to heal any scrapes scratches or red spots on your skin.
There are many herbs that can support your menopausal herbal bathing, but rose petal baths are so healing! Taking a rose petal bath can just bring you back to your senses, to you and this unique, amazing journey that you are on.
So how about a rose petal bath as your menopause medicine weekly self-care ritual?
Watch as your herbal baths work their magic on not just your menopausal experience, but your life.
Enjoy your herbal self-care, love your body and listen to your body.
Make a date with your bath tub and enjoy this journey called menopause.
One way to take an herbal bath is to just scatter loose herbs into the tub, I love doing that, but it can be a big clean up…..Herbal bathing is easy when you make your own bath tea bags; here is how you do it!
How to Make Bath Tea Bags
Using bath tea bags is the easiest and most convenient way to get healing herbs into your bath tub. Bath tea bags are made with dried herbs. I have a large jar full of them in the bathroom cupboard. Grabbing a bath bag is part of setting up for bath time at our house. My family members get out their towel, pajamas and a bath tea bag before settling into their healing routine of the evening bath. Bath tea bags are easy to create and make great gifts.
- Make your own bath tea bag by putting four tablespoons of dried rose petals into a sock, old piece of T-shirt fabric, cotton muslin tea bag or just about any kind of tightly woven cloth. Use string or a rubber band and tie the cloth shut to make a sachet/pouch/bath bag with the herbs in the cloth. You can purchase cotton pouches to make bath tea bags with here: http://www.pouchdepotinc.com/
- Secure the fabric or pouch tightly so the rose petals don’t spill out
- Hook or loosely tie the little pouch of herbs under the tub spout so the water will pour through your home made bath tea bag as your bath fills up
- Once your bath is drawn just let the pouch/sachet of herbs float in the tub. Squeeze the bath bag several times while you are in the bath. Breathe in the scent and watch the water change color!
- Remove the Bath Tea Bag when you are finished with your bath
- Herbal bath tea bags can be used a few within about three days. If the wet pouch sits around longer than that it gets moldy. We use the same pouch for three days in a row then remove the rose petals. Put the rose petals in the compost.
- Rinse the herbs out of the pouch. Wash and dry the material that you used to make the bath tea bag and re-use it
