Here are some tips to prepare your body for winter to help combat cold dry air (and dry heated air) to and reduce your risk of colds and flu viruses this season in your home.
Many of these recommendations are based on Aromatherapy and Ayurvedic vata balancing for winter information.
For starters, think about the winter air, cold and dry. We need to protect ourselves from that … how? Oils! Oil every orifice you want (and sometimes ones you don’t). Lets start with the more accessible orifices:
For the body:
1. Nose and nasal passages – When breathing heated dry air the nasal passages dry out, the cilia stick to the sides of your nasal passages and many experience nose bleeds in the winter months due to cracking and drying of the nasal tissue. When the cilia are stuck to the sides of your nasal passages they can not do their job —filter the air you breathe. To combat this use sesame oil in your nasal passages.
This is called Nasya – nasya means to place and this instance your placing oil in your nasal passages.
Nasya oil each morning – I make my naysa oil to see, OR you can just plain organic unrefined (NOT toasted) sesame oil in a dropper bottle. Here is my Nasya recipe if you want to make your own:
1 oz. sesame oil
2 drops Eucalyptus radiata
1 drop Sandalwood
1 drop Rose
Ayurveda believes the nose is the direct path to the brain and doorway to consciousness. Oils and herbs that are administered via the nasal passages affect the mind, and can help calm an overactive vata mind.
The essential oil blend I used for my nasya is called Siddha Soma Supreme Super Nasya. Siddha refers to medicine. Its an ancient system the originated in South India that is akin to Ayurveda.
Soma is the nectar of immortality —from some very disputed plants. Many believe it to be melatonin in the body.
Siddha soma supreme = Medicine of Immortality.
Super siddha soma Nasya is balancing for all doshas, its awakening and refreshing quality clears the mind and may help relieve occasional congestion, while the gentle properties of rose and sandalwood support mood and emotions.
- Soothes the nasal passages
- Supports healthy respiration
- Calms the senses
- Supports mental clarity
- Comforts neck tension and stiffness
Start with a few drops in each nostril, if you tolerate you can put up to a 1/4 dropper in each nostril.
- Tilt your head back, drop in about 5 drops and sniff the oil into your nasal passages, with your head still tilted back massage the oil around your eyes where your sinuses are.
You want the oil in contact with your sinuses and nasal passages.
This lubricates the nasal passages and allows the cilia to do their job better; filter the air we breathe!
2. Oil pulling every morning – swish sesame oil in your mouth 10-15 minutes, then spit it out. This is healthy for your teeth and gums year round. You can add a few drops of clove bud essential oil for extra microbial action.
Oil pulling also originated in Ayurveda to reduce bad bacteria in the mouth, reduce plaque and support gum health. It draws out toxins from the teeth and gums and when done regularly the entire body. It is one of the best ways to prevent bad breath as well. It is a major remedy for a lot of ailments in India. They use to prevent oral decay, bleeding gums, bad breath, reduce headaches, support heart health, and preventing asthma. They believe it can also heal cracked lips and strengthen the teeth, gums, and jaw.
Ayurveda traditionally uses sesame oil, some more recently say coconut oil is better due to its anti-bacterial properties. You can use either or a blend of the two. I choose to use sesame oil with a low dilution of clove essential oil in it to help support oral health.
3. Ears … another place to oil …. I do this daily in the winter or when traveling, 1-2 days per week in other seasons.
Use just plain organic extra virgin olive oil, OR you can crush a clove of garlic, place it in a pan with a little EVOO and sauté briefly. Let cool and strain out the garlic. You can use this oil for your ears. The garlic will add extra immune protection for the cold/flu season.
Place a couple drops only in each ear. Then massage the ear as follows:
- Pull one ear up then the other. 10x each
- Pull one ear back then the other. 10x each
- Pull one ear down then the other 10x each
- Pull one ear forward then the other. 10x each
- End with one quick pull in each direction and then massage around the ear. behind the ear, down the sides of the neck just below the ear lobe.
Lubricating the ears helps the ear wax to drain out. You know the old saying “don’t put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear”, well it has some truth. Q-tips can push the wax deeper into the ear canal where it becomes problematic. Oiling your ears is a superior way to keep your ear canal clean.
4. Abhyanga (body oil massage) – once per day after bath or shower perform a full body massage doing long strokes toward your heart on the long bones and circular motions around you joints and organs. The best oils for this are
- sesame oil – best for winter as it is warming
- castor oil
A very nice moisturizing carrier oil blend for winter night times is sesame oil and castor oil blended half and half.
- most any carrier oil (except for coconut -coconut oil is cooling best for summer) will work.
You can optionally add a citrus essential oil, this is a nice time to use citrus oils since we have to use them more cautiously in the summer. Citruses are very good for your lymphatic tissue which needs a boost in the winter. My favorite combination with sesame oil is sweet orange. Adding a few drops of ginger can be helpful too in the winter.
Vata types tend to have dry skin, keep your skin from drying out! After you shower — do not dry off — massage organic sesame oil with your essential oils into your skin from your face down to your feet. If you feel the need you can wash it off, however I leave it soak into my skin since I have dry skin.
The self care act of massaging the skin is very good for us, in Ayurveda they use the word “sneha” to mean lubricant. Sneha translates to “affection” — massaging oils into your skin is a form of self love. It is known as abhyanga in Ayurveda, it is good for the lymphatic system helping our body move toxins out while transporting fats and other nutrients to our tissues.
Massaging oils onto your skin calms your nervous system, the skin has over 20 million sensory neurons. Massaging your skin releases oxytocin in to our blood stream, this is the LOVE hormone responsible for bonding, loving, caring, and sharing attitudes improving our behaviors and moods.
After bathing or showering I do not towel dry. This leaves the skin drier. Instead I massage my home made body oils or butters into my skin sealing the water in. Lotions which have a water content hold water above the skin which attracts water from the skin to it. Here we are sealing in the water by occluding the evaporation or pulling of it outward with oils and butters. Instead the water will be drawn inward by the water our cells.
Keeping the epidermal layer of the skin protected and moisturized is what prevents aging from the deeper layers of the skin. Aging starts in the dermis and are a result of nutritional, environmental, and cosmetic issues. Oxidative stress is what promotes aging of the skin.
Keep warm and hydrated on the inside and outside:
Warming teas: turmeric, ginger, black pepper, clove, cinnamon, cardamom (cardamom can be warming or cooling) –
Ginger Teas
Ginger and Rose tea
Rose balances our emotions, opens the heart, and lifts our spirits. It adds a cooling sweet flavor to the heat of ginger. For a single cup of tea:
1/2” ginger root, sliced
1 dried rose bud
Pour boiling water over and steep, covered 5-10 minutes or until drinkable temperature.
Calming and Balancing Digestive Tea
Cumin, coriander and fennel (aka CCF tea) is a common tea in Ayurveda. It is used to improve digestion without overheating the body. I add ginger and cardamom to the popular CCF tea for the winter months. Ginger will add some warmth, along with a detoxification component while cardamom helps to balance vata in colon, the seat of vata which can easily get out of balance in the winter months. Cardamom assists in the downward flow of energy in the digestive tract.
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp fennel
1” ginger sliced or diced
1/2 tsp cardamom.
Easy instructions: Put all herbs in a tea pot and pour boiling water over. Let steep covered at least 5 minutes.
More powerful brew: Boil all herbs for 10-15 minutes in 2 cups water. Let cool to drinking temperature, relax and sip.
Ginger Chai + Tea
I add turmeric and star anise seed pods to the traditional chai spices. Turmeric brings in a myriad of benefits —specifically added for its anti-inflammatory kick, it soothes and nourishes cold and achy joints. Turmeric also supports digestion.
1/2” or more Ginger rhizome, sliced
1/4” Turmeric rhizome, sliced or 1/8 tsp powder
5-8 black peppercorns
Sprinkle of cardamom seeds
1 Cinnamon Stick (sweet cinnamon recommended)
1-2 Clove buds
1-2 Star Anise pods
Slice whole turmeric and ginger rhizomes, and place in a small pot. Add the remaining herbs. Fill the pot with water, boil for about 10 minutes, turn off heat then cover and steep for 5 – 10 minutes.
Make each morning and sip throughout day.
Sip warm water throughout the day. Cold water puts out your digestive fire (agni). Try to get used to drinking room temperature water year round and on cold windy days warm water. Adding a squeeze of lemon may make your warm water more appealing.
Ginger — Especially good in the Winter
Ginger is highly anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and a boost to your immune system. Some of its components such as gingerenone A help your body get rid of old senescent cells thereby improving quality of life and health —quality aging. Senescent cells are aging cells that no longer perform their duties well, and begin causing oxidative stress that can damage neighboring cells. Ginger helps with apoptosis or cellular death of these cells. Another component in ginger gingerol 6 also assists with apoptoses and anti-proliferation of damaged cells that lead to cancer. It has some research behind it preventing skin lesions.
Ginger is warming, good for digestive issues and has a strong grounding quality while also being energizing —it’s motivating. When you don’t feel like getting off the couch or out from under the covers, a nice warm cup of ginger tea may be just what you need.
The plant’s genus name, Zingiber, is derived from the Greek word zingiveris. It is believed that this word originated from the Sanskrit word srngavera, which means “shaped like the antlers of a deer.”
Ginger and Digestion
In the winter our digestion varies greatly; some days it is strong and you can eat heavier foods, other days it is weak and you feel cold and sluggish. Ginger can help to balance your digestion in the winter. Add it to your foods and relax with one of the ginger tea recipes above. Bonus: if you have a cold or virus ginger’s warming qualities will help relieve nasal congestion and overall help you feel better due to its strong anti-inflammatory effects.
I also like to use ginger essential oil and make a belly rub oil with it to help warm me up when I’m cold –or to support digestion. I like to use my 3rd chakra essential oil blend for this, I call it “Digest and Glow”.
3rd Chakra digestive synergy — Digest and Glow
47 drops ginger
40 drops lemon
17 drops clove bud
Combine these in a 5mL bottle with a reducer cap. For a 5% dilution add 30 drops of Digest and Glow synergy to 1 oz sesame oil or other carrier such as jojoba.
This blend is available for purchase here, scroll down to 3rd chakra info.
To use add 30 drops to a carrier oil such as sesame or jojoba (this is a 5% dilution —so it’s a stronger dilution for short term use): Massage it around your abdomen in the order of digestion* waking up this powerful energy center of our body.
*The direction of digestion is clockwise on the abdomen, up the right side, across the top and down the left side of your abdomen. Spend a little more time massaging the “corners” of your colon just under the lower ribs, this is where matter tends to get sluggish.
This winter whenever you feel cold and sluggish, smell your ginger or ginger synergy –or relax with a cup of warm ginger tea and envision this:
Manipura – Our solar plexus chakra, the chakra of our personal power. Mani means jewel, pura means city or place, so it means the place of our jewel.
Place your attention in your solar plexus just above the navel, see a fire burning bright and strong. This is our center of personal power, the magnetic core of our personality and ego. As you focus on that area see your light radiating from your core throughout your entire body, feeling it shine out your eyes. Slowly inhale and exhale feeling your breath stoke the flames of your inner fire
The 3rd chakra is the chakra of fire and assimilation. The solar plexus is connected to our digestive fire and helps us to physically digest food, psychologically digest emotions and experiences, and metaphysically digest prana/energy and the air we breathe. Our breath also needs to be “digested” into the cells. Ginger can assist with this.
The element of the third chakra is fire and it is associated with the sun. Fire represents transformations. What do you want to transform in your life?
We don’t just digest food through our manipura fire, we also need to digest emotions and experiences. When we can not digest a particularly challenging emotion we store it in our tissues, where according to the work of Candace Pert it literally blocks the flow of information in our body and can lead to painful areas. Stuck neuropeptides can be released through deep breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, and cuddling 🙂 Also we can use aromatics to assist us in digesting and assimilating our hard to digest experiences.
Warming digestive herbs and aromatics help to give us power in our digestion to assimilate our foods and experiences. I chose ginger as the main component of my blend, and a clove as supportive. Clove is has a strong phenylpropanoid component, which has the benzene ring similar to phenols –it is warming, but not as aggravating to the skin. I added in lemon to help it absorb into the tissues. Lemon reminds me of the sun and makes me want to shine like the sun.
Signs you are out of balance in the winter:
If your vata dosha gets out of balance, it becomes more important to focus on winter foods that balance vata. Signs your vata dosha is out of balance include:
- Trouble sleeping
- Unable to focus — windy brain I like to call it, others call it air headedness.
- Forgetfulness
- Too much in your thinking head and thoughts —overactive mind.
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Cold hands and feet — poor circulation
- Excessive Worry and/or fear
- Poor digestion — constipation is a classic vata symptom, or alternating between constipation and diarrhea is a sign your digestive system is running both hot and cold.
- Dry hair, dry skin
If you feel you have disrupted your vata balance then it is more important to adjust your food to the best foods for winter. Before we go into that, here are some quick ways to balance your vata:
- Make some comforting soups or stews.
- Root vegetables are heavier and warming, especially in the winter months. Roasted root vegetables are a nice way to pacify your stomach.
- Add warming herbs like ginger, curry blends and quality salt to your foods.
- Salt and pepper both aid in digestions, and pepper helps your body absorb nutrients, if you enjoy them add them to your foods.
- Make a warming digestive essential oil blend (such as the 3rd chakra blend) diluted in carrier oil and rub it around your abdomen.
- Prior to eating thinly slice some ginger and sprinkle it with lemon and/or salt. Chew on the slices before you eat.
- Warm lemon water with a sprinkle of salt and pepper works great as a pre-digestive aid. This is what I do many times when I have to eat out, I’ll order a pot of warm water and some lemon, then I’ll sprinkle a little salt and pepper in the water and add a squeeze of lemon. It’s actually quite good, and soothes a sore throat as well.
- Just like our mouth gets dry when we are worried or fearful, so does our stomach lining. Electrolyte rich vegetables like seaweed, celery, and cabbage help to keep the lining of the stomach well hydrated so it can protect itself better. About 15-20 minutes before each meal hydrate your stomach with a 4-8 ounces of water, preferably warm, this will improve digestion.
- Take a bath. Make it even more therapeutic by adding Epsom salts and a half ounce of carrier oil with 5 drops total of black pepper and/or ginger essential oil which are warming and calming. You can also optionally add up to a 1/2 cup baking soda. This makes your water feel silky smooth.
Winter balancing foods
Eat for the season: — This hyper links to more fall/winter info and the best foods for vata season —the fall and winter.
In the winter eat more warming, heavier foods, more proteins and fats. Soups are excellent this time of year, squashes like butternut, acorn and many others, sweet potatoes, and root vegetables.
Bananas and citrus are warming and a the perfect winter fruits. Apples are good for the winter months too as they store well, however after halloween you should bake your apples. From the beginning of the apple harvest up to halloween eat one or two raw fresh apples each day to help clear out your system for the winter. After halloween better to bake your apples, here is a quick, easy, and delicious single serve apple crisp recipe.
Balancing vata with food – Seek whole foods that taste sweet, sour, and salty. Each season there are three tastes that balance our tissues with the seasons. In the fall and winter they are sweet, sour, and salty. Why these tastes? In each case, nature is providing something the body needs to pacify the change of season.
- We’ve all seen how rock salt melts the ice? Salt heats up the body, so in the winter we increase our intake of salt and salty foods. Because it heats the body, salt acts as a carrier to bring minerals and nutrients deep into the body’s tissues.
- Most spices work well in the winter as they too have a heating quality that combats the cold.
- Sweet healthy foods such as yams and sweet potatoes open up our cells and nourish the tissues, which helps to counteract the dryness and lightness in winter. Avoid sugary sweets as they will un-balance your blood sugar leading to an imbalance in vata dosha. Naturally sweet foods tend to calm and pacify the body, especially when the winter winds rattle your bones. A good option for winter is pumpkin pie — but with less sugar. I make mini pumpkin pies in custard cups with no crust, I use coconut milk for the milk as its sweeter and allows me to cut the sugar in half –which I use coconut sugar instead of cane sugar because coconut sugar does not spike blood sugar as much as cane sugar. Here is my recipe. These are great for breakfast with some pecans or even for a light supper.
- Foods that are sour in taste tend to heat the body and stimulate digestion (ever wonder why you get the pickle with your sandwich?). In the East people traditionally eat pickled ginger and lemon prior to a meal to stimulate digestive fire. Sour foods such as oranges and grapefruits also contain plenty of water to counter winter’s dryness—and this is when citrus is in season — luscious citrus fruits just when we need them most.
I use a spice blend for each of the 3 seasons in Ayurveda (fall and winter is combined into one season in Ayurveda). My favorite herbal blend to cook with for the winter is a vata churna (churna is a mix of spices) I get from my ayurvedic dr. It is a blend of cumin, ginger, fenugreek, turmeric, and asafetida (which has a slight oniony flavor) powders.
Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup https://www.befitbodymind.org/learn-thrive/sweet-potato-ginger-soup/
Roasted root vegetables: https://www.befitbodymind.org/learn-thrive/roasted-root-vegetables/
Mashed root vegetables with horseradish: https://www.befitbodymind.org/learn-thrive/mashed-root-vegetables-with-horseradish/
Mentally
Think winter winds blowing around cold dry air, sometimes we feel this in our head and thoughts. A short meditation time to relax your mind can be helpful.
Daily meditation/breathing to stay grounded.
The link above includes the Loving Kindness mediation, this is an easy very beneficial short meditation you can do anytime anywhere but especially useful during stressful times in your life.
Other grounding tips:
Set up a morning routine, a weekly practice routine, or any other routine you feel would be good for your life. Put a little more effort into following your routine. It is helpful to write it down or mark it on your calendar to give you reminders and make it easier to establish. Vata types especially need routine —and all of us in the winter months.
One of the ways I keep myself grounded is to make sure my home is organized, comfortable, clean, and free of clutter. Take a day out of each week just to stay home puttering around your house feeling warm and grounded. Cluttered space = cluttered mind and will aggravate the vata windy mind.
For me another grounding technique is to dig in the dirt, so planting bulbs for next spring and cleaning out your gardens and closing them up for the winter are other ways to ground yourself. Any wintertime day that allows you some garden time is a blessing! Get out and putter around your yard and gardens too!
And be outside when you can, bundle up and go for a walk weather permitting. Don’t let winter keep you inside, the more connected to nature we are the healthier we are. We need to connect with each season of the year. You will also train your body to tolerate temperature fluctuations better if you go outside in every season.
Winter Immunity tips:
Keep your indoor air humidified if you can, humidity traps airborne contagions and pulls them down. Dry air is more conducive to germs spreading.
Gargle with warm salt water after you get home from being out and about. This can help to reduce any pathogens you may have been exposed to.
When you are out and about, chew on a clove. It is powerful anti-everything bacterial/viral/microbial.
Essential oils and Contagion
Airborne:
Essential oils are very effective at killing airborne pathogens! You just need to diffuse them — and at higher concentrations in the diffuser for the winter months. Here are some of the most effective oils for killing pathogenic bacteria — Think spice oils!
Diffuse any of these or a combination:
- eucalyptus
- tea tree
- an immunity blend
- citrus oils
- rosemary
- clove
- One of my favorite diffuser blends is Tulsi, Lavender, and Lime
Put in about 15-20 drops per diffuser bowl filled for an ultrasonic diffuser. Especially when you have visitors or anyone is sick.
Surfaces:
Essential oils are also very effective at killing contagious bacteria on surfaces, light switches, electronics, etc. This is very good at preventing illness!
Make an Oregano disinfectant spray and spray around on surfaces, switches, door knobs, etc. to kill viruses. Especially if someone sick has visited.
Once the contagion gets into your bloodstream it gets a little more challenging there is still a chance that essential oils could kill pathogenic bacteria in your bloodstream — if you are wearing or smelling essential oils — the molecules are so small they can fit through your pores and get into your bloodstream, so there is a hope! Once the contagion gets into a cell you have to ride it out. Use herbs and oils to shorten and sweeten it.
Bloodstream
Make a roll-on bottle or dropper bottle of sesame (or jojoba) oil with an immunity blend. A 50/50 blend of essential oils and carrier in a roller bottle. I am also happy to make one of my anti-viral immunity blends for you. Contact Bobbi if interested.
Apply to wrists before you leave the house.
Here are links to other blogs where I go into a lot more detail about ways to support your immunity:
Inflammation and your Immune System ~ The good, the bad, and the ugly
May you be well this season, and filled with Loving Kindness 🙂