5 Calming Plants in your Backyard
I remember as a child, sitting on the hill in year 5, with my 3 friends, in our ‘witches circle’. I can remember we each had a role, earth, air, wind and fire. I can still feel the wind blowing on my skin, the sun shining in our hair and the sounds of the distant play ground games and rustling trees.
Whilst I cant remember what we said, I will never forget how I felt… I felt like a piece of the earth I was sitting on. I felt like the trees that were swaying. I felt like the wind that was dancing around me. I looked at the grass underneath me and heard her whispers. I didnt judge it, it just was. I spoke to the plants around me… and they spoke back… not often with words spoken, but I understood them.
I dont know why but I placed those intuitions and connections in a box as I grew, and stopped speaking to Mother Earth. I had no idea then that I would grow to become a Herbalist and a Naturopath and open the box back up again from a new perspective.
Throughout my own journey as a mother and reconnection to self, I have grown a deeper infatuation with the earth around us. You see, we are not separate to earth, plants, animals. We are born from the same atoms and chemicals, organised in an ever so slightly different way. We are born from the same earth. The same energy. We are not separate to nature. We are nature and she is us.
The more we attune our soul to nature, we more we feel this to be true. The more we observe, with reverence for the beauty around us, the more we will learn about ourselves. When I am lost, I look to the earth around me. I trust in this now and dance her dance. I drink her water, adorn her bounty, wrap myself in her warm sunlit jacket, smell her flowers and drink her in. When I need healing, this is where I spend my time.
5 Calming Plants in your Backyard
Lavender: Lavender is everywhere! A rightly so! She is a powerful hugger. Lavender is anti-anxiety, anti-depressive, calming for a crampy gut and sleepless nights. Use lavender when ever you feel in need of a hug, a shoulder to cry on or a moment of peace in a busy mind.
Eucalyptus: A powerful healer, Eucalyptus is known for its ability to help sinus congestion, healing insect bites and cuts and grazes and open up the airways for deeper breath. Eucalyptus is to me, extremely nostalgic. I feel a sense of calm and ease when I have her burning in the diffuser. By virtue of opening up my airways, I am gifted with a deeper, more restorative breath.
Clover: She helps to overcome poor self esteem and a hurtful body image. She wraps her leaves around your heart and helps you see your beauty that lies within you. That you may have forgotten. It is no mistake that she is everywhere. She is infinite. Make tea from her flowers and drink in your remembrance, a remembering that your beauty comes from your own dance of self expression. Be you, theres no one better.
Geranium: Geranium, heals a broken heart. When your stress and worries are from hurt feelings, grief and heartache, Geranium will give you a moment of reprieve. She reduces anxiety and overwhelm and in a moment of inhalation, you can be transported within her flower.
Rosemary: Rosemary supports circulation and a calming stimulation to a fatigued mind. Use Rosemary when you are mentally exhausted, too exhausted to make the best decisions for yourself and you feel in a rut. Rosemary brings cleansing, healing and clarity to mind, body and spirit.
Ways to Use The Plants
Different plants have different ways they like to be used and honoured. Here are some suggestions but please be mindful, we all have our own sensitivities and allergies so please begin slowly and listen to your body. Seek advise from your qualified health practitioner for further guidance as to whether these medicines are safe for you to use.
Instant support: Crush a flower or leaf in between your hands, cup it over your face and breathe deeply in to your tummy.
Bath Soak: You may like to make a bath soak with any of the above listed plants by combining fresh herbs and some oats in your bath under the warm running water.
Fresh Flower Teas: Use any of the above plants as a fresh tea. Be sure the plants you use are not sprayed with pesticides and that they are forages far away from roads. (Atleast 2 meters) You can also dry out these plants in the sun and drink once dried.
Cooking: Lavender, Geranium, Rosemary and Clover are all edible. Be sure they are from reliable sources and the variety you are cooking is consumable. Use Lavender in desserts, Rosemary in your casseroles and Geranium and Clover in your salads.
Essential Oils: I am obsessed with essential oils! Each morning when I wake, I pick an oil to support how I am feeling that day. Lavender, Rosemary, Geranium and Eucalyptus are beautiful oils to diffuse to instill a sense of calm in your home.
Isnt it amazing that the peace we seek is so close to our home? These plants may help you remember though, that it is always within you.
Be well, Charmaine xxx