Top 10 Tips to Ground and Plant Seeds

Let's find our firm footing, to stay rooted and uplifted.

During seasonal transitions and periods during the full moon, the energy around you tends to feel chaotic and abuzz full of movement. Here are some tips to find stillness and a sense of ease amidst all the bustle.

1. Detoxify and nourish the body on the inside out.

Drink LOTS of water - hydrate the body before and after sleep. Get 7-8 hours of deep sleep - this is the prime time for your body to detoxify and repair old cells and tissues, removing tons of toxins to be secreted through sweat, lymph, and excreted waste products.

I'm not a firm believer in any elimination diets or fads/trends, however I will be taking on the Whole30 nutrition plan, as of May 1st for 30 days. That's Whole Foods (nothing processed or refined) for a month! Totally doable as long as you are willing to put in the weekly meal prep hours!

2. Clean, Donate, Purge

Photo courtesy of Best of Home and Garden

Cleaning the physical living space creates a mental clearing to make room for the new. If you can't part with certain items, try donating them to a charitable organization, trading them for something of higher necessity, or try purging duplicates of a particular item by just keeping the best one. Creating naturopathic cleaning agents using essential oils such as lavender, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, lemon, water and a splash of white vinegar can also help in creating a sense of ease in your living and work space.

3. Meditate & Take deep belly breaths

While seated, ground down with both sitting bones, making the feet contact the earth either with the heels or tops of the feet. Imagine your pubic bone rooting down, and two sitting bones creating a pyramidal foundation (three points of contact with the ground) to support you underneath. Stack each vertebra on top of one another. Keep the chest wide, heart soft, throat clear, and reach the crown of the head up to the ceiling, with a gentle tuck of the chin down towards the chest. Keep the arms resting in your lap effortlessly, with the palms facing down on the thighs.

*Option: Place one hand on your chest and the other hand on your lower belly. Breathe deeply into your chest for 5 seconds, hold for 1 second. Without letting out the breath, breathe all the way down into the lower belly for an additional 5 seconds, hold for 1 second. Release the entire breath through a sign of the mouth. Repeat 5-10 times.

4. Exfoliate and Dry-Brush.

Photo courtesy of The Body Shop

By clearing away dead skin cells, and promoting cellular growth and repair, dry-brushing and exfoliation has been a century-long ayurvedic tradition of feeling refreshed, and making way for the physical repair of the new day.

Dry-brushing in circular motions can be done for 10-20 minutes each day first thing in the morning or before entering the shower. It promotes blood and lymph flow as it enhances circulation and helps to boost mood.  

5. Consider Reiki or Restorative classes.

When we are feeling flighty and escaping to the never-ending thoughts in our head, it helps to ground when hands-on touch, especially from another party is apparent and focused on the lower body (feet, calves, knees, thighs, hips). 

Look for a Restorative class that uses tons of props to help you feel supported and comfortable with an instructor or assistant that is aware of your bodily needs and pays attention to any injuries or sensitivities.

Reiki, as a private treatment or in addition to a hands-on adjustment in a class setting can help alleviate stress, promote a sense of peace, and free up any stagnant energy and built up emotional tension.

(I also provide private Reiki treatments - if you are interested or have questions, please feel free to contact me for more details!)

6. Try limiting caffeine and avoiding refined sugar.

Photo courtesy of Kitchen Sanity

Like the Whole30 mealplan suggests, avoid highly caffeinated products (especially coffee and black tea) and opt for oolong tea (see photo) and pu-erh if you're seeking a digestive and detoxifying option. The body already expends a lot of energy to digest food and beverage, especially those that spike our blood glucose. Once recognized in the body, the digestive and endocrine system work on overdrive to make sure the caffeinated products are carefully absorbed in the bloodstream and the rest is sent out as waste.

7. Continuously remind yourself to stay present.

This point may seem like a given, but try and catch yourself the next time you are focused in a business meeting, at a workout, or in the library, trying to settle your mental thoughts on one topic at hand. Maybe it is the quality of your breath, maybe it is the state of calm or anxiety you are in. Whatever you choose to focus on, choose wisely and remind yourself what your intention is for spending time in a particular place for a set amount of hours that day.

8. Squat! with both feet planted on the ground.

This may seem like a strange position at first, but for people on the move and those that sit in office chair all day, any hip-openers and stabilizers with both feet firmly on the ground, help to ground and firm up the foundation that as bipeds, we rely on in order to stand upright, move around and move into other positions, such as sitting and sleeping. Being able to have all the blood and lymph flow smoothly throughout the lower limbs is important to establish that feeling of being grounded.

9. Write down your to-do list thoroughly.

There is something so grounding and committed about writing down your list of priorities and tasks to follow through with at the end of the day, week, month and year! It's great to write down weekly and monthly goals, passion pursuits, but also to minimize the daily task list to something under five per day to stay realistic within your realms of productivity. It is also very important to prioritize how much time you spend on each tasks and the order in which you attend to each task throughout the day to avoid burnout or feelings of overstimulation. 

That being said, being assertiveness in your allotted schedule and being selective to what you say "Yes!" to is incredibly pertinent and crucial to maintain your sense of ease and prouctivity.

Do you have any tried and true grounding rituals and tips?

Please share yours below!

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Top 10 Tips for Self-Care (Pre and Post-Holidays)

The holidays are quickly creeping up, and if you're like most urbanites and fitting in your last minute express shopping this week both online and in stores, you're probably quickly reaching high levels of anxiety and temptation to burn out. 

Here is your Self-Care Prescription

that won't cost you too many pretty dimes, so you can go on maintaining your budget into the New Year.

1. Invest in a Journal

And, of course, use it too. Everything from jotting down ideas, to-do lists, brainstorming, or simply ranting out the daily schpeel, make it a regular practice each morning or evening, anywhere from 5-15 minutes.

We love Leuchtturm1970's 10-year anniversary hardcover editions in gold, silver, and bronze that come with page numbers and a table of contents.

Want to get really organized? Try Toronto's Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change or Vancouver's Focus Journal by L'Atelier with their refined and minimalist aesthetic.  

2. Invest in some relaxing bath products

Even if you're not necessarily a "bathtub person," finding ingredients with high quality exfoliants, scrubs, and essential oils can leave you feeling detoxified and well-rested each evening before sleep. 
- French pink clay: huge exfoliant, draws out oil, blackheads, dirt, and impurities - doesn't dry out the sky and does not leave the skin feeling harsh/dry
- Epsom Salts: 
- lavender, geranium, chamomile and rosemary and very gentle and relaxing scents

We love

• Pink Clay Body Scrub from Sunday's Company
• Detox Bath Salts in Eucalyptus & Mint from Bridlewood Soaps
• Lavender Sugar Scrub from Leaves of Trees

3. Find a detoxifying and cleansing tea/tonic

Look for ingredients such as peppermint, turmeric, rosehips, chamomile - or simply go to a bulk food mart, find these ingredients yourself and boil down with hot water, yourself. Make a large batch in a pot and carry cups with you in a heated thermos to always have some on the go! Stay hydrated this busy season ahead.

4. Go for a sensory-deprivation float

The art of doing nothing. Absolutely disconnect for 1-2 hours as you are immersed on water in your own tank in complete silence and darkness. No phone, no electricity, no technology, no stimulants, no clothing => no anxieties, amiright? The simple disconnection from life's many distractions may cause initial concern, but the easing in process proves to be all the more crucial to enhancing the overall heightened experience of one attaining a more blissful state.

Never experienced a float? Don't ruin your experience with the expectation that you will be floating on cloud nine. The water is warmed to your basal body temperature so you will feel neither too hot nor cold, and there are over 5000 lbs. of epsom salts to make sure you stay afloat.

5. Make a one-pot meal (i.e. soup, stew, curry)

Invest in a slow-cooker or a lobster pot where you can boil cups of water or stock to make the most delicious meals to heat up on the go. 

Soup Girl has some amazing jars of pre-assembled soup ingredients filled with organic and vegan goods such as lentils, split peas, brown rice, and spices. One jar yields up to ten servings of soup! That's more than enough to have for a week and then some to freeze.

Also, check out these online soup recipes including anti-inflammatory and superfood ingredients at Joyous Health and vegan options at Oh She Glows. 

6. Learn a new trade on your own

Having to prepare and clean-up after parties can certainly pose as a nightmare but by booking a class/workshop and learning a new craft, simply paying for a ticket and dropping
in is all you have to be worried about. 

With so many cool artisanal workshops to choose from in the city

• The Workroom: try a class or a new project using the communal surgers, sewing machines, tapestries, and more.
• The Shop: take a class in ceramics, woodworking, script-writing, and more at this multidisciplinary space.
• MakeLab: learn 3D printing or laser cutting with one of the experts on-hand.
• PaintLounge: grab a canvas, an easel, paint, and caffeinated beverage to start your painted masterpiece.
• Le Dolci: take a workshop in macaron making, cake decorating, or piping eclairs. 
• The Depanneur: drop in for weekly dinners, attend a cooking workshop, or host a supper club specializing in different culinary cuisines.

7. Try Accupuncture

There are a few PWYC holistic health centres in the city that are based on a sliding scale, making self-care simply accessible to people of all income levels and walks of life. 
Accupuncture can help with a variety of issues, from insomnia, stress, muscle tension, poor posture, digestion, aiding in helping organ vitality and stimulating blood flow.

Different issues are addressed with each 45 minute to 75 minute session by targetting different accupressure points along all sides of the body, left, right, front, and back.

We love ToCA and Six Degrees Health that both operate on a sliding scale basis.

8. Clean, clean, clean

Cleaning the physical space may seem like a daunting task, however, we go through consuming gifts, to wrapping, to packaging, to new and old seasonal apparel, etc. etc. that we don't anticipate how much more of the excesses we accumulate.

Physically looking at all the additional crap we don't need leaves us feeling flustered, anxious, frustrated and disorganized.

Look to optimize what you can depart with and trade it on Bunz, Let Go, and donate, donate, donate.

9. Use the Infrared Sauna

A great low-intensity alternative to a great sweat that will cost you under $25 at most fitness and yoga studios. Infrared technology allows the ions to distribute evenly across your body and warms you from the inner core, out. A 20 minute session possesses the equivalent benefits of low-moderate cardiovascular exercise and promotes blood flow, detoxification well after being in the sauna.

10. Create better sleeping habits; make your bed a haven

Virtuously the best tip saved for last - invest in better sleep! A great mattress and pillow suited to your sleeping type. 

Be able to create smarter habits before going to bed, turning off your phone, removing work-related items away from the bedside table, creating a meditation corner, creating an ultimate sanctuary to disconnect and unwind. (see Shawn Stevenson's Sleep Smarter)

Do you have any tried and true self-care rituals and tips?

Please share yours below!