HAPPY SPRING!

Historically, spring was the time that welcomed opening up the home and cleaning all the dingy corners and washing down walls and windows to make things feel fresh again after having the house closed in and warm from the dark winter months. Today, we get that naturally inkling to clean, clean, clean our homes and naturally, our bodies as well!  There are many ways of natural spring cleansing, including using local and organic plant food medicine(vegetables and herbs), see below!

Keep your body in shape! Get a nice long walk in everyday or some other form of exercise! Exercise promotes a healthy lymphatic system, which promotes a health immune system.

Get plenty of sleep! When our bodies get the deeper stages of sleep, serotonin levels are at their lowest, meaning our bodies are under no stress so the focus can be on healing.

Dry brush your skin before showering. Skin is the largest organ in our body and can hold onto toxins, especially environmental exposure. Be careful if you have sensitive skin; maybe limit this idea to once a week or less. The hard bristly brush can cause irritation to your skin.

Eat lots of healthy plant food medicine! Use fresh organic local produce and locally harvested herbs!

Make cleansing juices, using carrots, beets, a little celery, parsley and any other yummy veggies that sound good! These are filled with bioflavanoids, phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals that our bodies need while also cleansing your body. This allows you to get the nutrients without the fiber and other food debris, so your digestive system can take a short rest.

Make yourself some cleansing vegetable broths or puree your cleansing veggie soups. These, like fresh juices, will be gentle on your digestive system while allowing those nutrients to cleanse your system.  Use roots of dandelion, burdock, and nettle greens, carrots, beets, celery, onions, garlic, ginger and anything else you fancy, in your nourishing soups and broths during this time of year!

Here are a few noteworthy cleansing, nourishing herbs that can be used in foods, juices, herbal teas and tincture form:

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica): If you’re brave enough and use gloves, pick the young shoots and lightly steam them in your food for cleansing, or substitute them for spinach. Infuse nettle in tea, or take it as a tincture. Nettle is highly nutritious (Vitamins A and C, potassium, magnesium, iron, iodine, silicon, and calcium), and is a natural cleanser, anti-histamine(good prevention for allergies) and antioxidant.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale): Cut dandelion greens and add them to your salads, eat the flowers and dig up the roots, make a strong herbal tea or tincture them. Dandelion cleanses the liver, gallbladder, kidneys, promotes production and excretion of bile and stimulates digestion. What an awesome plant! Dandelion in combination with Burdock, Whispers of Nature ‘Internal Toner’, is an excellent cleansing and toning combo.

Burdock (Arctium lappa) is valuable for purifying the blood and has many minerals, especially iron, and is useful for many skin disorders, promotes kidney function, digestion, and elimination of harmful substances. Its diaphoretic property helps further removal of wastes through the sweat glands.   If you grow this in your garden, dig the root and be prepared to sweat as you dig this out – it can take awhile!

Abundant plant food medicine also available in spring are arugula, kale, and chickweed. Add these to your salad greens, along with dandelion greens. When wild harvesting, please ensure that you’re identifying the plants you’re seeking 100%.

If you decide to do your spring cleansing with herbal tinctures, choose Whispers of Nature tinctures for cleansing and for extra allergy season support: Internal Toner(dandelion and burdock), Yellow Dock(Rumex crispis), Milk thistle(Silybum marianum), Eyebright(Euphrasia officinale), Sinus & Allergy Relief, Anti-Parasitic, and Super Antioxidant.

Another good option is to make an appointment for a spring cleansing neurological integration system (NIS) treatment. This work recognizes areas in the body that are not completely communicating and can give you an electrical(nervous system) cleanse, opening up the nervous system circuitry between your brain and body.

Take good care of yourself! You are the only person who can really do this! Be well and Happy Spring!