I love feeling the bliss. I’m a hedonist that way. And that’s why up there on my values list is health. Fall can be one of the more challenging time to keep it primed but I want to share with you some of repeated pieces of advice from my friendly neighborhood naturopath, acupuncturist, herbalist and mama intuition to maintain this greatest gift a mama can have; her health.

Drink Lots of Water

I know I could do better in this department. Apparently a person of my weight (125 lbs or so) should be consuming 6 to 7 glasses of water a day but then you have to tack on for coffee consumption. Good news is herbal teas count. I can’t go to bed without my big cup of chamomile tea before bed. And a big pee. To trick myself into drinking this amount, in the morning I fill up a huge 2 liter mason jar and keep it on the kitchen counter. Whenever my eyes fall upon it I try to entice myself to chug back a few chugs and imagine I’m filling my body’s toilet tank for a big flush of toxins to go down the drain.

Lay Off the Coffee

Lord knows I love my morning ritual of latte while doing this work I love before the kids wake up. But being a highly sensitive person, coffee’s not doing me any favor. It’s adorable when my naturopath exasperates that coffee was never meant to be a daily consumption. She says this with so much sadness in her voice. She suggested I mix half of my espresso with a herbal substitute like dandelion and other shrubbery. It’s like a marriage. All about compromise.

Alternate Seeds

Good news! The reason I’ve been slightly insane slightly more than once a month is because my progesterone is low! Apparently what’s good to stabilize wonky hormones is to switch up sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, hemp seeds in accordance with the moon phases to get them back on track. If you’re emotions are stabilized, ease to your body comes more naturally.

Homeopathetics

As mentioned I’m a highly sensitive type. I think that’s why I’ve always felt I’ve responded well to homeopathic remedies as well as the kids. One thing we’ve been doing the last three years has been picking up homeopathic flu kits that’s made available to combat the strain-specific prominent bug that’s predicted to invade. I don’t know how they do that. I don’t like to think about laboratories too much because it reminds me of a scary Spiderman episode I watched when I was little.

Get Loads of Sleep

I love to wake up and smell the coffee/root bright and crazy early so it’s imperative for me to be in bed by 9:30 in order to function and not feel on the verge of getting sick the next day. The trick for us is trying to get the kids consistently in bed nice and early so if I call it an early night I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on too much one on one time with my old man.

Elderberry Tincture

We’re lucky we have loads of elderberry trees on our property but I hear they’re pretty much abundant all over North America. If you spot a tree laden in the pretty purple fruit, and it’s away from too much car exhaust, you should try out this tincture we make each year and I swear it keeps us, for the most part, snotty nose free.

Simply stuff a clean mason jar with berries picked free from their stems and fill the jar with vodka. Seal tight and keep on a sunny windowsill for a month (giving it a gentle shake every few days). Strain the berries and place in a clean glass bottle. I take 1/2 a teaspoon every day in the winter months and the kids take 1/4 of a teaspoon. The vodka helps implement that early bedtime plan (kidding!).

Vitamin C

Like lots of it. Talk to your healthcare practitioner about this one (doses, buffered vs unbuffered) but I swear this is a huge component on how I manage to stay strong like ox all winter long.
And of course there is the practical eat clean, keep sugar intake low, lots of veggies, a variety of protein. And laughter ~ keeping the home energy light in these heavy times helps with sun deprived little psyches here.

And for mama’s sweet psyche?

These years, I like to plan something exciting to look forward to, sans kidlets, in the spring and summer. Just a teaser… I’m pulling together a juicy dream retreat package for mamas worldwide to congregate and bliss out. Imagine yoga, creative play, massage, good feasting, break dance circles (kidding.kinda) and bliss making in all sorts of form.

I remember how much the first yoga retreat I took away from two kids blew my heart wide open, inspired my first ebook and now I feel I want to take it one step further spread the power of such a sacred investment with you. Can’t wait to share more! Be sure to sign up to the newsletter to stay in the loop for this exciting new development!