Yep, that's right. There are in fact eight different types of rest! Which do you need most right now?

When we think of rest we often only think of being sedentary eg. sitting/laying on the sofa, or passive rest eg. sleeping/taking a nap where the whole body and senses are resting and inactive.

But our body as a whole system is so much more than this. Our 'body' and our well-being are dependant on our Spiritual, Emotional, Physical Active, Physical Passive, Mental, Social, Sensory, and Creative health.

These are seven of the different types of rest, and this is why, even after days of sleeping well, you cans till find yourself as burnt out, depleted, and fatigued as ever!

The change in season will usually also mean a change in pace. As we move from winter to Spring that is a quickening of energy and socialising, as well as a need to reawaken the digestion and systems of the body.

Our digestion and metabolism tend to slow down over winter with the colder weather, and types of foods we tend to eat through winter to sustain our body and stay warm.

However, there are many foods, edible wild plants, and herbal remedies that can be used to easily + gently cleanse your body as well as stimulate and awaken the metabolism, liver, digestion and energy.

Nettle is still one of my favourite (and underrated) wild herbs. Not only is it full of nutrients and essential vitamins and minerals our bodies need to be healthy (in fact, it probably contains more vitamins and minerals than the foods we buy from the supermarket!) but it is also hugely beneficial to the health of our skin and hair too.

Nettle Benefits for Hair

Nettle benefits for hair include promoting hair growth and even treating hair loss.

In fact, nettle is one of the oldest recorded remedies used for treating and preventing hair loss…

There is a lot of talk about ‘stress’ here at Emily + the Plants, and really that’s no surprise seems as one of the highest factors in cfs/me + burnout onset is prolonged and elevated stress.

But what actually is STRESS?

If you don’t understand what stress is, what forms it can come in, and what it’s actually doing to your body internally, then really it’s just some vague term or threat like the boogie monster, right?

What is Stress + Where Does it Come From

First things first, there’s more than one cause of stress that can happen for your body. Just because you don’t necessarily 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 stressed, doesn’t mean you’re not! And stress isn’t always just a mental thing. Stress can show up —⠀

The movement of the seasons is a never-ending cycle. Although in reality there is no place that we can firmly point to as the beginning of the seasonal cycle, spring is often seen as the first season in the sequence. This comes from the fact that earlier calendars began the year in the spring.

Spring is traditionally associated with new beginnings, sowing, childhood, and young things in general. Spring is a time of potential, a time for planning and planting, and a time for making wishes about what you want the future to hold…

As humans we tend to prefer things we can see and understand. Organs, blood etc. So something like your endocrine or glandular system can often fly under the radar when it comes to our health, even though it’s arguably one of the most important aspects of our health. In this post we will look at what the endocrine system is, and why your endocrine system is so important for your health. As well as holistic and herbal ways you can support your endocrine system.

What is the endocrine system?

The endocrine system, in its simplest explanation, is everything involving hormones in your body.

The endocrine or glandular system is made up of all the glands in your body (no surprise), including : the adrenal glands, pituitary gland, thyroid gland, thymus gland, pancreas, and the sex organs (either the testies or ovaries).

Our skin is the biggest organ of our body, vital for our health and wellbeing, and yet often gets neglected or is an afterthought when it comes to skincare + our beauty regime.

Our body uses the skin’s permeability as one of four ways to release + excrete toxins (the others being our breath, urine + stool). Without these channels of eliminating waste, toxins, excess hormones, foreign bodies + germs the body can become overwhelmed, inflamed + out of balance.

OR

Imbalances within our body; such as hormone imbalance, can often show up in our skin condition as the body works to fix the problem or get rid of toxins that are causing imbalance internally.

This can look like acne, breakouts, oily or dry skin, eczema, psoriasis, rashes and irritation…

I’ve learnt a lot in my eight years of transitioning into and living a slower and seasonal lifestyle. But after finishing this year exhausted, depleted and struggling with multiple injuries I have realised two things:

Although I’d been making sure to schedule in regular self care I hadn’t actually given myself any real holiday or time off all year!

The way I was planning and trying to work just wasn’t in alignment with my slower and more intentional way of life.

Although seasonal living doesn’t mean doing less, it does mean slowing down and following natures cues to live + be in a cyclical process that supports wellbeing, as well as many physical and mental health benefits…

But what if there WAS a way to set goals, plan + make my dreams happen in a more intentional and sustainable way?

What if I could prioritise health, wellbeing and happiness AND achieve my goals for the year?

These were the questions I asked myself in December last year.

A Seasonal + Intentional Planning System…

All of us have within us the innate knowledge and ability to make the right choices for the health of our body, mind and spirit.

But often busy modern life interferes. We don’t want to face our true feelings + emotions so we create busy and materialistic ways to numb ourselves.

We have been taught by society/our peers to ignore our needs and emotions.

When we are struggling with big emotions, problems, or things in life aren't going well or really resonating with you as a person, it is often our response to block or numb ourselves to the problem, instead of facing it.

Ironically, it’s times when things are the worst we often neglect self-care practices (if they were even there to start with), when these are the times we need them most!

Humans are creatures of habit.

We like our routines and the predictability of how we do things. even when those things aren't conducive to making us healthy and happy.

It isn’t always easy to see where we are holding ourselves back, or where our daily habits may be letting us down.

So that no matter how hard we try to improve our health or how we feel mentally + emotionally, we can’t quite get there.

The problem is our habits and actions we take aren’t always the right ones. Mindless action is only of benefit to you if that action takes you in the right direction!

Intention is a powerful thing.

When we are present, and do things with intention, make choices with intention we not only take action, but it is action in the direction of where we truly want to go.

Winter can be tough.

When you suffer from long term or ongoing illness winter can feel extra hard on your mind and body. Aches and pains become more pronounced, the cold can be an extra layer of exhaustion, and the lack of daylight has a tendency to affect our mood and immunity…

It’s so important at any time of year to have a routine that helps you not only feel and stay healthy, but also gets you excited to start the day & means that you approach every day with the best mindset, energy, and intention possible.

That doesn’t have to be the same routine all year round though. Your routine should shift and change to naturally align with the changing seasons and the changes these being about in your body, health, and wellbeing needs.

Did you know there are different kinds of rest?!

Yep, that's right. There are in fact eight different types of rest! Which do you need most right now?

When we think of rest we often only think of being sedentary eg. sitting/laying on the sofa, or passive rest eg. sleeping/taking a nap where the whole body and senses are resting and inactive.

But our body as a whole system is so much more than this. Our 'body' and our well-being are dependent on these eight forms of rest to ensure our sustainable health + wellbeing.

Winter solstice falls on the 21 December each year. It is the day with the shortest hours of daylight (in the Northern Hemisphere), and the longest amount of darkness.

In the Pagan Wheel of the Year this is the celebration of Yule. A time of reflection, birthing new beginnings, and celebrating the return of the light. Winter Solstice is a time of hope.

Although winter can be a hard time of year, Winter solstice is a beautiful celebration offering hope for the coming spring and the return of the light.

In this post I will share some of my favourite nature filled and slow, seasonal ways to celebrate this winter solstice.

There are many elements contributing to a woman's monthly cycle and bleed that can make it uncomfortable. Most of these are caused by an imbalance of hormones. Treating period pain can be approached in a few different ways — dealing with the immediate discomfort from both an internal and external approach, AND dealing with the underlying root causes and imbalance.

Natural remedies for period pain

There are a number of supplements you can take, as well as massage techniques you can use with essential oils and in your baths that relieve period pain.

Cramps and painful periods, known medically as Dysmenorrhea, plague many women. Sometimes so severely that it can disrupt even the simplest of day-to-day tasks. Treating symptoms naturally and gently using the natural remedies for period pain here, is better for you and your body than using chemicals and over the counter pain killers.

Menstrual cramps should be treated like any other muscle cramps. Your aim is to relax the muscles as much and as quickly as possible…

Sometimes hormones are the underlying root cause of our ongoing health problems and we don’t even realise it.

Because hormones work with and affect every system of our body, and work in such delicate balance they can negatively impact so many aspects of your health, life + wellbeing…

Welcome to part two of this hormone series, covering the general aspects of your moon cycle + using herbal medicine as a natural cure to treat all your hormone imbalance as a whole to improve problem symptoms.

Stress. One of the topic areas I talk about most here on the blog. Why? Because it is not only one of the top root causes of health problems, but can also negatively impact so many areas of our health and wellbeing. One of which is a females hormones and menstrual cycle.

A females menstruation lasts around 28 days, and the rise and fall of a dozen or more different hormones throughout that 28 days is what triggers and controls things like the release of an egg, the build up and break down of the uterus lining, and how long her monthly bleed lasts for, amongst a host of other big and minute changes. As well as her fertility and ability to get pregnant.

How Does Stress Affect Your Hormones

Hormones are essentially chemicals that move around your body telling your cells and organs what they need to do.

Rosehips are abundant at this time of year, their ruby red skins a welcome burst of red brightness as we head into autumn.

Once we’ve had the first frost they are perfect for picking. The birds and wild animals like eating these sweet berries too, so don't forget to be mindful of leaving plenty for them too...

Rosehips are full of vitamin C as well as bioflavonoids, vitamin E, and a few other compounds that are good for you. The rosehip benefits are many and varied.

Healing Rosehip Benefits

The contents of rosehips mean they have a lot of healing properties for you any your body, especially during the autumn and winters seasons.

For more on Autumn health + wellbeing read my last blog post.

As with everything in nature Mother Nature is very clever, and everything has its season for a reason. The things that grow naturally in each season of the year contain all of the vitamins and essential nutrients your body needs at that time to be health and strong! Including rosehips.

In any belief, way of thinking or living there are pillars; key areas that need to be addressed and considered. These pillars are the basis or foundation of a system or way of being that provides values to uphold. A solid foundation you can build upon. The foundation that supports you + lifts you up so you are able to focus on other goals and activities.

You could call these pillars your habits + rituals. The things you do and repeat on a regular basis… because what you repeat you become.

If you focus on poor habits and self care you get poor health + wellbeing where you struggle to maintain momentum and/or happiness.

In contrast when you focus on healthy habits + self care (in all the pillars), choices that you know improve your health + wellbeing, you thrive.

Stress has become one of the top causes of health problems and one of the most common things we have all dealt with at some point in our lives.

This modern world of ours has pushed to the sidelines a lot of the things that help humans to stay healthy + happy, and so now our minds, body’s + wellbeing are starting to suffer. Cases of burnout, depression and anxiety becoming more common than ever before.

Chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic fatigue in general are predominantly nervous system related illnesses. This means that anything which aggravates your nervous system and increases inflammation, makes your health worse!

One of the worst causes of inflammation in the body is stress.

I’ve written a lot about stress recently not just because it’s a huge cause of cfs/me + burnout. But also because it’s one of THE biggest causes of illness and health struggles in our modern world. Previous posts including:

The different types of stress

6 Steps to reduce and manage stress

What happens to your body when you’re stressed

Stress is NOT meant to be a long term situation, and adrenaline and cortisol are dangerous hormones to have in your system for an elevated stretch of time.

The good news is there are plenty of ways to help reduce the effects of stress and support the body as it deals with the effects of stress.

As well as lots of holistic ways to support the body nature has also provided us with beautiful plants that work to support your body as it deals with stress, AND heal the negative effects of stress.