Is it not true that for a successful garden to grow, we take time and energy to prepare the soil; then provide care and the appropriate nutrients and treatments for each season to come?
Shouldn’t we also steward the body-temple in this same dedicated and reverent way???
We too are precious plots of seeded earth to tend, from first to last given breath.
Allergies and chronic illness are signs of a body going fallow, sliding into a winter without another spring. Sort of like what industrial chemicals have done to the most fertile soils on earth - now rendered dry useless dust. But as long as there is any life in us at all, WE CAN REGENERATE. All it requires is some faith, awareness, and steady care.
So HOW do we prepare the temple garden of this body for the immanent winter season and the strong winds that blow?
Simple.
START NOW.
Pressure is everywhere. Going as fast as we can, none of us can really keep up though we all try very hard. Our whole being is compressed by the constant pressure, rendered anxious and barely breathing at all.
Winter is a time to turn inward, but how can we do that if we’re always “out there” running around? It’s certainly not what plants and animals naturally do…
”This way! This way!” Nature gently beckons us and points…
Until we strengthen our relaxation response (parasympathetic nervous system), we’ll speed through our lives with tension, struggle, and both feet on the brakes. If we don’t stop, we’ll be perpetually stuck in fight-or-flight, unable to heal.
Mental tension shows up in the body. Tight muscles cut off blood and oxygen to our cells, and wear out our nerves. Locked in states of high arousal (fight-or-flight) and overwhelmed by stress hormones, our minds remain anxious and we find ourselves unable to breathe, stretch, relax, or sleep well.
This leads directly to degeneration and disease.
Breathing helps to reverse the degenerative spiral.
Breathing is an easily accessible first step. We must turn down our fight or flight in order to heal; therefore, we must find times and ways to relearn how to breathe.
Without oxygen exchange, the body-mind goes through stages of panic because the brain knows survival is threatened.
Residual trauma also lives on in a chronically deoxygenated state.
Brain and body tissue atrophy in the absence of breath. Chemical and metabolic toxins lodge in our blood and muscle tissue, feeding inflammation and degenerative processes.
Without fully exhaling, how is the next in-breath possible?
FUN FACT:
*Inhalation stimulates sympathetic nervous system activity - for a quick energy boost. However, when fight or flight overcomes us, long exhalations are a better choice.
*Exhalation activates the parasympathetic nervous system - the relaxation response - for rest, sleep, meditation, and healing. Without long exhalations, sustained fight-or-flight easily becomes anxiety, asthma, degenerative disease, and relentless aches and pains; or else we just get sick and injured a lot. Long exhalations relax muscles, ease fears, calm thoughts, and bring grounding.
In fact, long slow deep breathing practiced very naturally, without all the rules, is hugely beneficial for balanced brain hemispheres and steady brainwaves.
Autonomic Nervous System “downregulation”, or parasympathetic relaxation produces healing brainwaves, lymph and cerebrospinal fluid flows, and tissue regeneration.
Please remember to drink lots of pure water, because every healing practice generates a detoxification effect.
Water is the universal solvent, and the foundational nutrient for our organs and cells.
DAILY SELF-HEALING PRACTICE #1
***Relaxed Breathing, supine or seated with back support
When you finish reading this page, lie down with some nice quiet music (or absolute silence) and cover your eyes. Cover eyes to relax active thinking brain. Practice long exhalations. This signals our brain hormones of relaxation and healing.
**Build up to a good long while, maybe 15-20 minutes daily. Prop your legs with a pillow or bolster if possible - bent legs helps relax the back/spinal nerves. When you are done, roll to your side and gently push up to sit. Don’t sit straight up - we must learn how not to over-activate the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system.
Simple as it sounds, your life, health, and outlook could just self-transform!
Yes, deep breathing every day, in a comfortable, supported position, with long slow exhalations. Will you try it?
Too simple to be “real medicine”?
Well then, TRY THIS: lie on your back with your legs up on a bolster, chair or couch, and consciously relax all your flexor muscles (abdominals, chest, throat and jaw muscles, fronts of arms, backs of legs, bottoms of feet, palms of hands. And psoas).
This keeps busy minds engaged in a supremely productive inner treasure hunt. When our flexor muscles don’t know how to relax, they drive us into flight-or-flight and keep us there. Psoas (pronounced “so-az”) is our strongest core structural muscle; and therefore deeply and intimately linked to our core survival and fight or flight.
Physical, mental, and emotional!
DAILY SELF-HEALING PRACTICE #2
Deep breathing with long exhalations to facilitate psoas release; however the converse is also true: releasing the psoas effectively opens breathing patterns naturally.
It’s all neurological. Neural loops communicating…
So go ahead and lie down as we did in practice #1, and soften your abdominals (all of them) as you breathe. Relax your abs (fortresses and shields) so you can find your psoas hiding underneath. Breathe without tensing your psoas or throat.
Before rolling to your side to sit up, add a whole body stretch, opening up your armpits and groins - this connects you, end to end, and moves stuck energy and toxins through the fascia and out of the body.
DAILY SELF-HEALING PRACTICE #3
Incorporate ADAPTOGENIC HERBS into your life.
*Make moon milk. Modify the recipe to suit. Ayurveda uses cow’s milk for its synergy with herbs and spices - meaning stronger medicine for your nerves.
No problem if you choose a different milk…the plants are in charge, and feel your intention.
Adaptogens deserve their own story, but i’ll keep it short and sweet and leave it up to you to ask for more help. Again, here’s that adaptogen list.
Each of us is unique, and so our plant allies are uniquely our own. No cookie-cutter solutions in Nature - in diversity She blooms!
If you want support, then let’s schedule a consult, make an easy herbal protocol for you, and build your self-care repertoire to meet anything and everything you face. i can supply herb infused healing oils, tinctures, and salves; and sometimes i mix teas, but you can order bulk herbs by the ounce or pound from Mountain Rose Herbs.
So there you go! Build up now, starting today. Turn the sacred soil of your body-vessel in the autumn field; cover it and keep it warm (especially neck, head, ankles, and wrists); and imbibe the evolutionary blessings only Nature bestows. All of life except the human species knows intrinsically how to live, adapt, and evolve - but we can change that, and reclaim our birthright of radiance, resilience, and inner light.
Now is the time…
Thank you for this, and especially for the reminders to breathe deeply. ✨🙏🏾✨