My health mindset is what guides me when dealing with challenging issues for myself and my clients. However, the same mindset permeates into other areas of my life too. In this post (and the video below), I share with you the five aspects of this mindset and how it can help you take charge of your health and master it by the end of the year!

Also be sure to grab this free health mastery blueprint that will help you flesh out your own health mindset!

How to Take Charge of Your Health

I do not have perfect health (few people do), but I am healthier than many. What helps me stay well is a constant movement toward health mastery. The health challenges that I’ve overcome are what make me successful as a wellness practitioner too.

The major challenges that stick out as I reflect on them are my healing journeys around Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, emergency Cesarean birth, and my son’s eczema and gut health issue as a baby.

The following are aspects of my health mindset when working toward healing , which is the goal of any health challenge. As I introduce these, I’ll share how I applied them to putting my thyroid disease into remission.

1. Holistic View

In order to heal completely, it’s important to look at your situation with a holistic view. Holistic means that you’re embracing the physical, mental, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects that may be contributing to un-wellness. It also means that you’re looking at the situation from all angles.

I knew that there was much more to my Hashimoto’s diagnosis than what my doctor was telling me. I wanted to know the underlying cause and how my lifestyle might have contributed to the outcome, not just take medication for the rest of my life while my thyroid was quickly destroyed.

Branching out from this narrow Western view is what led me to approach healing from many different angles: whole food organic diet, detoxing, energetic clearing with acupuncture & essential oils, and meditation to manage my stress. Without this broach approach, healing may not have been possible.

2. Natural Approach and Support

I’ve come to realize over time that much of the health issues we deal with in this country are due to us being far removed from nature. We have unnatural sleep/work habits, and unnatural diet of franken-foods, we dope up on medications that are highly purified that the body has a hard time recognizing and processing.

Whenever I’ve taken a natural approach to health, things have fallen in place. I’m not just talking about using natural therapeutics, though they are also key. But even beyond that, I feel like I’ve always been offered the best wisdom from nature and practitioners who are aligned with it.

Of course this is what we learn in Traditional Chinese Medicine, that we’re microcosms of nature. So when I started this thyroid healing journey quickly after I starting TCM school, I was set up with both a natural approach, but also teachers who saw me as a whole person. All aspects of me were embraced as a patient. That, on top of the self love I was already experiencing, was deeply healing.

3. Take Responsibility as You Take Charge of Your Health

I know this is a tough one for people.

When you are unwell, or especially if you’re a parent of an unwell child, it is upsetting to think that something you did or did not do is contributing to the situation. But it is important to take responsibility for where you are now because that means that you also have the power to get yourself out of most health challenges.

When I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, I knew I had been burning the candle at both ends. I was extremely stressed out, my sleep was messed up, I lived on coffee, I was getting lots of sinus infections with rounds of antibiotics, my diet was not the best, and I worked around toxic chemicals in my lab.

There was no way I could just turn a blind eye to this disease and continue living as I had. I took responsibility and changed what I could. Those simple actions, built over time, are what helped me heal.

4. Adjust Expectations and Take Action

Quite often people delay their self healing work because it doesn’t seem like the right time, or they feel they don’t have enough money or resources. Truly, there is no perfect time and if you really want to heal, you shouldn’t delay. Our time here on this planet is uncertain, so everyday is precious! Embrace life and work toward wellness now!

It’s really important that you have realistic expectations. Be open to stalled progress. Be open to pleasant surprises like the perfect blood work I eventually received after years of lifestyle changes. Just keep moving forward.

Trust that your body is constantly working toward balance and want you to survive and works in it’s own timing.

5. Prioritize and Focus on Your Health and Healing

If it’s really important for you to manage your health issue, you will prioritize the work needed to do so. You’ll also

I started working to heal my thyroid immediately. It was so important to me, that I didn’t care how long it would take or if it would even work at all. I just had to do whatever I could, not just for myself, but as a wellness practitioner I wanted to understand this disease for others too.

This drive for health mastery is what has made me stick to a gluten free diet for 6 years, to put filters on our water supply, and to remove our home of toxic products. So prioritizing and focusing on your health also means to remove the things that are distracting you or keeping you from healing completely.

I hope my health mindset is giving you something to think about if you’re wanting to commit to mastering your health. It has worked for me and my clients time and time again, so I know it can help you too.

If you need more help, get my Health Mastery Blueprint below which has prompts that can help you flesh out what needs to be done to promote self-healing. Please let me know how it works out for you and if there’s anything you’d change. You can share in the comments below.

Well wishes!

If you like this blueprint, then you’ll love my new 6 week course I’m offering: Yoga and Self Healing Practices for Holistic Health. I’ll teach you traditional healing practices that are both practical and deep.

Life is more fun and meaningful when you align your rhythms with nature.  Plus, the seasons can teach you so much about how to approach healthy living!  I’ve gathered some ideas for celebrating the Autumn Equinox that will help you connect to yourself, to your family, and to nature during this very special time time of the year.

What’s So Special About the Autumn Equinox?

The first day of Autumn is more than just a change in weather and pretty seasonal colors. The Autumn Equinox represents the balance of light and dark and a preparation for great change.

We can perceive the dark as being the absence of the sun since we’re continuing to have shorter days and longer nights until Winter. Symbolically, Autumn is a gradual letting go – a movement toward stillness, emptiness, and even death.

This balance of appreciating what you have (light) and letting go of what you no longer need (dark) is modeled for us in nature during this time as well. Deciduous trees undergo huge transformations by shedding their leaves. They trust that this needs to happen in order for renewal and more growth. Animals pare down their activity and focus on storing food and energy. Letting go is necessary and important in order to sustain life.

There can be a sense of loss during this season too, so it’s important for families to spend more time with each other and develop closer, stronger, more loving and supportive bonds.

Here’s some ways to celebrate Autumn by yourself or with your family and friends to honor the change in season.

9 Special Ways to Celebrate The Autumn Equinox

1. Go On A Nature Walk

Let’s start with the easiest way to appreciate nature: just walk among it. There is so much to notice, especially in Fall with the change in colors and falling leaves.

But what else might you notice when you walk? What’s the difference in smell? How are the animals behaving? Talk about this with your family and friends. Or if you’re doing this alone, maybe you can sit down and journal about what you’re noticing.

2. Make An Autumn Wreath

From your nature walk pick up what nature as discarded and add them to a wreath to adorn your home. Acorns, multi-colored leaves, dried berries and corn, grain grasses, vines, and dried end-of-summer flowers, can all be woven or glued onto a circular wreath and hung on your front door.

Each time you enter your home you’ll be reminded of the change we all need to embrace during this time.

3. Celebrate With An Autumn Equinox Feast

You don’t need to wait until Thanksgiving for a special feast! And all of Autumn can be a time for you to express gratitude for what is bountiful in your life.

Make a special meal with seasonal fruits, vegetables, and spices. These may be different than what’s around in November with Thanksgiving. Right now in California we have lots of figs, grapes, corn, and late summer squashes. The different food makes it more unique! You can talk about what Autumn means to you as your family gathers.

You might want to try cooking a dish with acorns which are known to symbolize strength, potential, fertility, and new beginnings. They are also a traditional food in many places in the world, so a good food for you to become reacquainted with!

Acorns can be fermented, ground, and made into a flour to use in many yummy recipes. Here’s an excellent article that will teach you just about everything you need to know about acorns.

Enjoy!

4. Do A Special Yoga And Meditation Practice

I love to do Sun Salutations to honor the Equinoxes and the Solstices alike. Surya Namaskara is traditionally done as a prayer, a prostration to the Sun, so fitting to celebrate the change in season and the meaning behind it.

I used to do 108 Sun Salutations in my younger years since it’s an auspicious number. Now that I’m 47 and a little slower-moving, I realize how ridiculous that is. Intention is most important, not how much you do!

Just do as many Sun Salutations of versions A, B, or C that you feel comfortable with, bringing your intention into each breath and movement.

Or if Sun Salutations are not your thing, you can choose to do this Autumn Yin Yoga practice that targets the Lung and Large intestine meridians that are associated with this season.

You can simply do a Gratitude Meditation instead.

Or, do all three recommendations! That’s what I like to do!

5. Candle Ceremony

Light a candle in the dark to represent the balance of energy at the Equinox. You can write down all the things you’d like to clear from your life. Tear them up or carefully burn them in the candle. Then you can write down all the things you now want to bring into your life.

6. Have A Harvest Party With Friends

If you have a garden, is there any better way to enjoy your bounty than to share with others? You can get some friends and neighbors together who also have gardens. Each person can bring fruit, vegetables, flowers, grains – whatever they have plenty of. You can trade items and talk about what to do with them in Autumn while enjoying some seasonal teas and treats.

7. Clear and Bless Your Home

Bring balance to your home with an energetic clearing. This can be done many ways, depending on the healing practices you study.

I love to burn a Sage wand and go around to the corner of each room in my house, asking for all negativity to be cleared from our home and our lives.

Then I do the same with Palo Santo which has a more revitalizing energy to it. I go around and ask that we bring in more happiness, health, and prosperity to fill the space.

The same can be done with essential oils, though I do this more regularly and not as a special ritual. This diffuser blend is fabulous at clearing negative energy:

Clear The Space Diffuser Blend

• 2 drops Lemongrass
• 2 drops Clary Sage
• 2 drops Lime

Lemongrass clears stagnant energy and negativity. Clary Sage clears confusion and brings in more clarity and intuitive guidance. Lime cleanses the heart and mind, promoting more gratitude for the gift of life. The combination of these three also smells amazing!

8. Fallen Leaf Ceremony

This is a fun and quick one! If you have enough fallen leaves around your property, rake them all up into a pile. Pick up an armful of leaves and throw them up in the air, mindful of what you’d like to let go of this season to create more harmony in your life.

If you’re doing this in a group, it’s fun for everyone to shout out what their letting go of. Then afterwards you can all talk about what you’re making space for in your life, what you’re now wanting to bring in.

9. Honor A Tree In Your Neighborhood

Spend some time picnicking under a tree’s shade, or hugging a tree, or singing to a tree. You can bury special items like herbs or crystals in the ground near the tree with a blessing.

These suggestions may sound silly to some, but I don’t care. Our disconnection to nature is what’s fueling much of the dissent in our world right now and that needs to change.

One thing we can all agree on is that we have a symbiotic relationship with trees and we need more of them. So you can also use this special time to plant some new ones.

Want To Learn More About Autumn Equinox Celebrations?

You can check out my Pinterest Board here for more ideas and recipes!

Which of these Autumn Equinox Celebration ideas is your favorite? Do you have any other ideas of how you can celebrate Autumn in your home? Let’s hear about them in the comments!

Are you stressed out and want to do something about it that greatly improves you life? If yes, then you’ll want to keep reading because, not all stress relieving methods are the same. Here’s 5 aspects to stress management techniques that I’ll share with you to keep the negative effects of stress at bay.

Everyone experiences stress. Yet since stress is a response to what is happening from someone’s individual perspective, the experience of stress is difference for everyone!

It’s known that as stress accumulates over time, your health can really suffer. So it’s a very good idea to try to relieve it every day. Some ways to relieve it are worlds better than others though, so it’s really important to talk about these five aspects to look for.

Before we get into this list, take a moment to think about or write down your favorite ways to relieve stress. When you’ve had a bad day, what do you do to relieve the stress that results?

After you go through this list, you can decide if your stress relieving method makes the cut or if you think you need to make some adjustments

5 Aspects of the Best Stress Relieving Methods

1. Is It Holistic?

When you’re doing something to relieve stress, does it benefit your physical, mental, and emotional health?

It’s common for people to just prioritize their body, relieving stress that shows up as physical tension. So in the case of a tension headache, they might just take medication to remove the pain, the symptom. But this ignores the fact that there’s likely emotional or mental stress that is manifesting as the physical headache! So to completely let go of stress, the work needs to be on an emotional and mental level too.

Spirituality comes into play as well. When one is not feeling supported in life, like they have no purpose, that is a spiritual issue. So stress might have a root that is even deeper than the heart and mind.

It would be best for you to choose stress relieving activities that are holistic, which means that you give equal attention to body, heart, mind, and spirit.

Yoga is an excellent example of a holistic activity that has a potential to relieve stress on every level. Just be careful here, that you’re not making assumptions about a certain class. The depth of your experience is dependent on the teacher, if you’re doing a led-class, but also on your approach.

You may want to check out Yogic Approach to Stress Relief to make sure that you’re making the most of your stress-relieving practice.

2. Are You Checking Out Or Checking In?

Choose an activity where you’re constantly checking in with ourself. 

Watching TV is an activity that many people like to do because they no longer experience the stress of the day while they’re doing it. But this is because they’re completely focused on something else. They are “checked out”. 

The stress will still be there when the show is over though. Nothing has changed or shifted!

It’s best to choose an activity like journaling with which you can check in with yourself and actively process what’s going on.  In fact, just writing down how you feel can shine a light on how stress is showing up in your life and it will be easier to see how you can avoid or release it.  Typically, once our feelings are acknowledged, they shift into something less intense and the physical tension shifts too.

I hope you’ll try it! Here’s more information on how journaling can help you.

3. Does It Support Your Health?

Some people reach for alcohol, drugs, or engage in addictive habits when they’re stressed out. This is a way of checking out and unconsciously disconnecting from the source of stress.

This is important to talk about, especially right now when we’ve had continuous stress from the Coronavirus pandemic for six straight months. Obviously, it’s not the best idea to rely on a stress relieving method that harms your health when done multiple times, every single day.

So sorry moms, I’m not laughing at your memes anymore about how much wine you’re needing to deal with your kids who are learning at home. Yes, believe me, I know it’s stressful. But there are much better ways to handle it that actually improve your health.

You can try this breathing practice, for a relaxing start to your day.

4. Does It Offer Short-term Or Long Term Effects?

Yes, sometimes we need to do something to take the edge off quickly.  But typically these are not the things that will lead to long-lasting effects. 

Engaging in stress management practices like deep breathing, mindfulness, aromatherapy, journaling and yoga can actually develop you to a degree that you can avoid stress or you’re just less affected by possible stressful events.  This cannot be said for quick pampering activities like getting a massage or your nails done.

Believe me, I LOVE to pamper myself.  I am not at all knocking these activities and recommend you keep doing them. But I would be clear that it’s for self-love, not as much for stress relief. The reason I don’t like that association is because, again, stress needs to be managed daily, so the way to relieve it needs to be simple and accessible, daily. It also needs to be something you can do for yourself.  

5. Does It Strengthen Your Connection To Others? 

Whatever you choose to do to manage your stress will be even more impactful if the effects are noticed and felt by other people in your life in a positive way.  It is very clear that when I’m meditating regularly, my home life and my relationships are more harmonious. 

What about meeting with friends – going on hikes, going out to dinner, or meeting for drinks? Those meeting can be extremely positive and supportive!  Or they can be detrimental and useless. It really depends on whether you’re having deep conversations that help you grow or if you’re just drinking wine and complaining about how life sucks! See, it’s what you do with the time that matters.

Conclusion

I hope this information is helpful and that is doesn’t trigger you!  I’m only going to recommend the stress management techniques that work effectively and consistently.

If you want to learn more about self-healing stress relieving practices, join my free 5-day Stress Less Holistic Health Challenge that is beginning on Sept. 28, 2020. 

This challenge will also help you with consistency and accountability if it’s just hard for you to make the time for these stress relieving activities.  We have a Facebook group that you can join, so we all support each other. 

What is your favorite way to relieve stress? Are you still thinking this is the best way to manage it now that you’ve reviewed this list? Please let me know in the comments!

Are you looking for natural, impactful ways to tame stress?  Is it becoming more challenging to manage it since we’ve been bombarded with one event after another this year?  Want to stay ahead of stress and learn how to release it quickly?  (Remember, there’s still U.S. elections to come!)  If so, then you’ll want to join my free 5-day Stress Less Holistic Health Challenge starting September 28!

You see, mini vacations and beauty treatments will only do so much in helping you deal with the challenges of our times. And dropping back several glasses of alcohol, taking drugs that relax you, and loading up on sugar can provide temporary relief, but damage your health in the long term (which creates another huge layer of stress).

The most calm, composed, resilient people right now are those who are fully awake and aware of what’s happening in them and around them. And they manage stress daily by natural means, constantly trying to improve their holistic health.

Who Will Benefit From This Challenge?

This challenge is perfect for you if you want to:

• Relax your body with natural, nourishing self-care practices
• Clear your mind in order to focus on what’s really important
• Open your heart to experience more love, patience, and understanding (with yourself and others!)
• Learn how to take life in stride regardless of what is coming at you (thanks 2020 for the opportunity to practice this 😅)

You can’t control what’s happening around you, but you can control how you respond! I can teach you!

How Does The Free Health Challenge For Stress Work?

The challenge begins on Monday Sept. 28. Each morning (7:00am PDT) of the challenge, I’ll give you a practice that you can work on throughout the day to help you approach it in a more easy-going manner. Then in the evening (7:00pm PDT), I’ll be coming on LIVE in our community Facebook group to do a self-healing practice with you to help you release any stress that may have accumulated throughout the day.

If you’re not on Facebook, that’s fine. I’ll be emailing out these practices too. (The evening one will just be a little delayed since I’ll need to process the video replay to share with you).

I’ll be pulling from my expertise, sharing practices including yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, qigong, acupressure massage, aromatherapy, journaling, and more!

We’ll take some time to compare how your stress level has shifted throughout the week. You’ll then take what worked well for you and integrate it into your daily & weekly routine.

I know you will see a significant change! Your friends and family will probably notice too!

I look forward to working with you!

I know this free health challenge is going to help many people manage their stress and find more joy in their lives! If you have any friends or family members who could use help releasing stress, who are open to natural healing practices and willing to do the work, please share this post with them and encourage them to join!

The world needs this shift in perspective, how we see and manage the challenges before us in a positive way. I’d love for you to join me in modeling what that change looks like!

Back to school time can be both exciting and stressful.  But this year we have the added stress of Coronavirus, the policies around it, and shake ups in learning methods.  These can all challenge the whole family’s physical, mental, and emotional health.  The following natural health tips, including essential oils for back to school, can help you manage just about anything that comes up to help your family survive Fall 2020!

Check out Back to School Essential Oils and Health Tips to learn natural health tips for immune support, essential oils for digestion, how to detox naturally, mood lifting techniques, and how to keep your kids focused. I also share bits about my homeschool approach that may help build your confidence in teaching your kids at home.

Before settling in to watch this, you may want to first download my FREE Stress-Relieving Acupressure Guide for Moms which can be a huge support for you in these times! You’ll learn 6 of my favorite acupressure points to relieve physical tension and help you manage your emotions. As a result of this quick self-care routine, you’ll sleep much deeper which is so important for staying happy and healthy!

A healthy lifestyle comes down to eating right, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, managing stress, reducing your toxic load, being able to stay positive & focused, and tending to your body when it’s ill with natural medicine. Essential oils have a place in all of these lifestyle principles.

Best Essential Oils and Natural Products for Back to School

Many of the protocols I mention in this video class are from the doTERRA collection here. I use them often for my family and recommend them for yours too!

This starter kit features the Kid’s Collection which are seven roller bottle blends that are completely safe, super effective, and easy enough for kids to use themselves.

I’d love to hear about the schooling choices that your family has made this year. Are you trying to adjust your lifestyle to make sure your family stays healthy and happy? Please tell me if any of these essential oils for Back to School help you!

Kids are dealing with so many health issues and pressures these days!  It may be hard for them to name their feelings and this can result in meltdowns or growing emotional problems. Mindfulness meditation is a doorway to these feelings that they can experience in their bodies.  But kids meditation makes the biggest difference if it’s done consistently and modeled by the adults in their lives.

My son and I created this kids meditation not just for children, but for the whole family.  Together, you can train up your mindfulness skills, develop emotional intelligence, promote anger management, and learn to treat each other (and yourselves!) with more kindness.  These mindfulness techniques bring balanced awareness to the body, heart, and mind.  They form a framework that can help your children grow into compassionate beings who approach life with gratitude, hope, and bold enthusiasm!

You can watch the video below, or just read through the instructions and try it on your own.  It would be really helpful for your family to talk afterwards, or to have some time for personal journaling.

If you want even more help dealing with emotional stress, check out this guide which you can incorporate into your mindfulness practice.  Enjoy!

Meditation Video for Kids and Families

How to Meditate with Your Kids

Take a minute to get a small object that is precious to you. It could be a beautiful rock, crystal, button, or even a small toy.  Don’t worry if you can’t find anything right now, you can just use your hands instead.

You can sit up with your legs crossed or lay down in a comfortable spot on the floor.  Let’s place your special object over your belly button.

Meditation for Kids Instructions

Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.

Feel the precious item on your belly rise and fall as you breathe or feel your belly moving into your hand.

It rises up as you breathe in and it gently falls when you breathe out.

Let your breath be smooth and slow so it feels easy and it feels good.

Mindfulness of the Body

Now we’re going to use your imagination to make your mind more full and aware.

See your precious item shining with a bright white light, like a little star.  If you’re using your hand, imagine that a ball of white light comes out of your hand.  This ball of light sinks down into your belly and shines in every direction.

It goes down into each leg: your right leg, your left leg, and each toe.  It goes up into your chest and head and out through each arm and every finger.

See your whole body shining with this white light from inside, as bright and as powerful as our sun.  Can you feel the power of your body?  Does it feel warm or cool?  Do you feel heavy or do you feel like you’re floating like a balloon?

Mindfulness of Emotions

Keep your body shining bright and now we’re going to place your precious item or your hand on the center of your chest where your heart is.

How are you feeling in your heart right now?  Are you feeling love, happiness, anger, fear, boredom, or excited? 

Whatever you’re feeling is absolutely normal!  We all have these feelings.  But sometimes they can get a little too big.  Sometimes our anger may make us hurt ourselves or others with our words or with our bodies.  Sometimes when we get too excited we may knock things over. 

Let’s shine this bright light on our  feelings right now so you know what you’re feeling and you can control what your body does when you feel this way.  Sometimes when we shine this light on our feelings, they change into something else!

As you take some more deep breaths, maybe your light shines even brighter.

Now we’re going to take off our precious item, put it to the side, and stretch your arms up overhead.  If you’re laying down you can slowly roll over and come back up to sit.

You can keep this light burning bright is side you for as long as you remember to do so, letting it relax you and comfort you from the inside like it’s giving you a big hug and a warm smile.

And take a moment to actually give yourself a big hug.

And if you’re doing this with your family, you can give them a big hug too.

Remember that you can do this mindfulness meditation anytime! I hope it keeps your heart open and loving.

Wednesday June 24 7:00pm Pacific | Zoom Webinar

I’ll be teaching you how easy it can be to incorporate essential oils into your life for natural health and wellness!

What we will cover:
* 3 cool things about essential oils
* 3 simple and easy ways to use oils
* the basics for our top 10 oils that will solve hundreds of daily health needs!

At the end I’ll teach you how you can bring oils into your own homes and even review the business opportunity for those interested in staying on to hear more!

Register for the free webinar here

Want a natural cleaner that is safe and effective? I have a great DIY all purpose cleaner recipe for you that doesn’t use vinegar (which is the most popular natural ingredient, but not appropriate for everyone).

This recipe is so simple to make! You can use it all over your kitchen, bathroom, on your walls, spot cleaning floors, doorknobs, etc. And it’s made with essential oils so that you’re getting the mood-boosting health benefits as you clean your house. That’s a win-win!

I think you’ll find that it’s the perfect substitute for the heavy duty cleaners you might be using in your home right now that may be harming your health more than helping it!

DIY All Purpose Cleaner Spray

Why Use Natural Cleaners?

If you read my last article on Germ Are Good For You, So Stop Over Sanitizing, then you know I’m not a fan of disinfecting your home and body. I do believe we need to live with germs in order to keep our personal microbiome healthy and immune system strong! So when I clean, my focus is just on removing stains, crumbs, handprints, and basically keeping the home tidy.

Now, essential oils do have disinfecting properties, but not to the degree where they’re going to annihilate all the microorganisms in your environment. There is no decline of gut and immune health when you use essential oils. In fact, they are known to enhance cellular health and immunity! There’s also the perk of boosting your mood, which is helpful if you don’t like to clean!

With this recipe you only need 4 things:

• 16-oz bottle (glass is nice but not totally necessary for this purpose)
• 12 fl. oz. distilled or filtered water
• 20 drops of therapeutic-grade essential oils
• 4 T Castile soap

Natural Cleaning Without Vinegar

The reason that we’re not using vinegar for this recipe is that, while it is a great natural cleaner, it will corrode stone, granite, and marble surfaces. I have granite both my kitchen and bathroom!  So it’s not the best choice for my family.

The Castile soap and essential oils are quite enough to clean your space without worrying about damaging your counters or your health!

Print

5 from 1 vote

Natural All Purpose Cleaner

Add to your green cleaning hacks with this natural homemade all purpose cleaner. Cleaning with essential oils is so easy and better for your body (and the environment) than harsh disinfectants. This recipe uses Castile soap instead of vinegar which protects your counters too!

Yield: 16 fl. oz.

Author: Brandy Falcon

Materials

• 16 Oz. Spray Bottle glass is best
• 4 T Castile Soap
• 20 drops Essential Oils doTERRA CPTG suggestions: Citrus Bliss, On Guard, Lemongrass, Peppermint, Tea Tree, and all Citrus…
• 12 Oz. Distilled or Filtered Water

Instructions

• Add Castile soap and essential oils to spray bottle. Top off with water, leaving space for the trigger top. Shake to mix.
• Simply spray on the surface and wipe down with a clean rag. That's it!

Video

Notes

Remember to shake the bottle before each use to make sure the essential oils remain dispersed.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  If so, please tell me about it in the comments below.

If you want more info on essential oils, consider joining my Facebook Essential Oil Lifestyle group. On there, I have many other green cleaning recipes, educational posts on how to use essential oils, information on how doTERRA is unique, and how I can help you get started using them in your home.  

Monday June 15 5:00pm pacific | Zoom Webinar

In this webinar, you’ll learn how essential oils and other natural products can support the health of women through all stages of life.

You’ll learn:

• The dangers of standard hormone therapy
• How chemicals in your home and beauty products can interfere with your hormones
• My 5 best suggestions for supporting Women’s Health
• Specific essential oil and supplement protocols for all stages of womanhood

I’ll also be sharing with you my favorite customized natural health toolkit that can support your holistic health at home.

Be sure to tune in live for some fun raffle prizes too!

Register for the free webinar here

Do germs terrify you? Do you try to sterilize your home and body to prevent infections from viruses, bacteria, and fungi? What you may not realize is that our immune health depends on microbes and that your cleaning routine may actually be harming your health and contributing to chronic disease for the entire community. Germs are good for you!  

As, I’m writing this, we’re in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic so what I’m saying may seem strange.  Even with this crisis, I believe (and many scientists concur) that killing everything in the environment that has the potential to harm us through our sanitizing regimens, and sterilizing our bodies with pharmaceuticals, is not a good idea!

Unfortunately this is the message many of us hear from the medical community, from politicians, and commercials for popular cleaning products. We’ve been led to believe that if we can’t control nature, we’re at it’s mercy, and there’s nothing else we can do about it.

I’m hoping you’ll hear me out! I believe our health problems are much, much bigger than Covid-19. Our aim of sterility and fear of infectious disease is contributing to these other problems – especially with our children. 

With this information, it’s my wish you’ll become less fearful of the beautiful microbial world. You’ll see that it’s necessary for us to interact with in order for our immune systems to function well. Here’s 4 reasons why you should stop obsessively disinfecting today.

Why We Need to Stop Sanitizing Everything

1) Over 97% of Microbes Are Benign or Beneficial

Our microbiome, the population of beneficial bacteria in our gut and on our skin, are needed to protect against possible pathogens.  We can think of them as generals of the immune system to direct it’s weapons against invaders. 

Our bodies are inoculated with these microbes as we exit the birth canal. This is one of the many reasons we need promote natural birth when possible. It’s why we shouldn’t bathe our babies so much. If we promote extended breastfeeding, babies and toddlers will continue to populate their guts with beneficial bacteria in mother’s milk.  These practices give children a head start with good health and wellness.

But that’s still not enough! We need these beneficial microorganisms throughout our lifetime through exposure in our soil, from pets and farm animals, in fermented foods that we should all be eating, and from human interaction. Hugging, kissing, and shaking hands are all necessary for our physical and emotional health!

2) Lack of Microbial Exposure Can Cause Chronic Disease

This Hygiene Hypothesis says that conditions like allergies, asthma, autoimmune disorders, and obesity are caused by lack of exposure to microbes. 

An interesting 2016 study looked at children in two traditional Christian farming groups: the Amish and the Hutterites. The Amish practice traditional farming, using hand-held tools. Hutterites, on the other hand, use modern farm equipment and have less interaction with the soil.

Researchers found that far less Amish children had asthma compared to the Hutterites. After testing their blood, they also discovered that the Amish kids had significantly more white blood cells. We know that white blood cells are necessary for fighting infections. One could guess this was because of their direct exposure to microbes, which boosted their immune system.

We have a major issue with chronic disease in this country, and it’s growing at an alarming rate with children. Many people with chronic disease have poor gut health and it directly affects immune system function.

3) Bleach & Other Disinfectants Can Damage Your Body and Increase Infections

When we use harsh cleaning chemicals indoors, they are killing ALL microorganisms – the possible pathogens as well as the beneficial ones. These products also strip our skin and gut of it’s protective microbiome. Remember that when gut health is diminished, so is our immunity, and we’re more prone to infections.

A 2015 study in the Occupational & Environmental Medicine journal looked at the effects of bleach use in the homes of more than 9,000 kids ages 6 to 12 in Spain, the Netherlands and Finland. In homes where bleach was used, there was a much greater incidence of the flu, tonsillitis, sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia.

In addition to killing our beneficial microbiome, we also know that many cleaning products contain chemicals that are known or suspected carcinogens, endocrine disruptors (meaning they affect hormone balance and regulation), and increase the risk of chronic respiratory disease. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), 53% of cleaning products harm the lungs and “about 22% contain chemicals reported to cause asthma to develop in otherwise healthy individuals”.

4) Sanitizing Our Bodies and Environment is Pressuring Microbes to Mutate

Anti-microbial soaps, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and ALL pharmaceutical drugs that are meant to protect us from and treat infections actually threaten the existence of microbes. 

The problem: Microbes want to live as passionately as we do! And nature is smart. Remember these words from Jeff Goldblum’s character Ian Malcom in Jurassic park?

via GIFER

Microbes will evolve and mutate in order to live. We are pressuring them to change in order to infect us better! This is a response to our interaction with them.

Antibiotics and antibacterial products are not fooling them at all. Chemicals like triclosan are so purified that it’s easy for the microbes to recognize and form resistance against them which creates superbugs that cannot be managed with standard antibiotics.

Triclosan typically ends up in nose secretions of people who use triclosan-containing products.  Methicillan Resistant Staphlococcus Aureus (MRSA) then binds to collagen and keratin proteins there since tricolosan poses zero threat to them. This creates harmful infections that don’t respond to standard medicines.

Although it was banned from handsoaps by the FDA, triclosan is still present in popular toothpastes, dish soaps, personal care products and other items on your store shelves to this day.

How Do You Stay Healthy During An Outbreak?

Let’s get back to the elephant in the room, that we’re dealing with a global pandemic. What do I hope you’ll glean from this information that will help you and your family stay healthy & well?

I’m hoping this information relaxes you to the point where you can focus on what truly matters right now. Instead of killing everything in the environment and hiding from each other, we should instead focus on wellness. How do you do that during a pandemic?

1. Hand washing – gentle soap and water will remove potential pathogens from your hands without depleting the microbiome on your skin or in your gut. 
2. Building your immunity – you can read more on how to do this in How to Boost Immunity Naturally with 5 Key Tips.

If you were to let go of your sanitizing efforts and instead focus on boosting your health, then you’ll continue to live your life with greater confidence, trusting your body and nature. 

We also want to think about future consequences of our actions right now. 

If we keep obsessively cleaning our environment and sanitizing our bodies, then we will no doubt see a greater increase of infections in the future. This will not be due to a lack of social distancing with fellow humans, but because pathogens are getting stronger and smarter, and we are becoming more weak.

I hope you found this information interesting. If so, please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!