In Winter, a new year begins!
At the top of a new year, Winter is the exact opposite of Summer in about as many ways as you could count. This season of cold and wet weather is most characterized by Water.
Once a season arrives, we are caught up in its energy. Seasonal energies are great influencers because they impact our mind-body, our constitutional energy, and our personal perspective – our psyches, our bodies, and our connections to the sacred.
Awaiting our favorite season takes so much patience! Meanwhile, today’s topic explores Winter for its Water element and its influence on our Earth or the material of the body.
This Aromatic Memo for Winter ’24 is my inquiry into the immense topic of Aromatics and Essential Oils for seasonal good health in Winter.
Water and Earth
A kind of dance exists in Asian philosophies with names for seasons, elements, and the impacts of those elements on our bodies and minds. Human bodies and nature’s elements are seen as mirrors of each other. Not only do we see that Water is the Winter element surrounding us. At the same time, the immediate physical companion to Water is Earth. Earth characterizes our physical bodies as the material or stuff we are made of.
Together, water and earth nurture life. Winter is the season for bodily organs and functions to create moisture and fluids. Supported by water, Kapha is the earth-constitutional type responsible for the health of our kidneys, lungs, mucous membranes, and bodily fluids. Kapha also presents the stillness required for restoration of these tissues. It is often said that Kapha season is the season of nurture and restoration.*
Why is any of this important?
I think that it’s a way of viewing matter on this planet that’s not technical, yet very defining. This view of Water and Earth or Winter and Kapha provide an anecdotal means of piecing together the mysteries of physical life. In the viewpoint of Ayurveda, Kapha is the name of a dosha or bodily constitution in Winter season. I’ve found this concept helps me visualize how the season influences us, mind and body.
Spicy, Warm and Dry
Influenced by dampness and colder temperatures, we can now tolerate and enjoy the spicy heat in select seasonings. With Chilies, Cinnamon, Ginger, Cardamom and Cloves, Winter is a festive party of aromatic plants and their tastes.
These tastes bring balance to a heavy and slow season.
Speaking of aromatics, scents that I consciously reach out to now are spicy and warming. For Winter, these properties insure my interior core is warm, and my exterior, skin, eyes, nasal cavities, lips, are protected. I know how to get warming properties from barks, leaves, seeds and roots. I crave these qualities to gain comfort during the season of cold for resting and restoring my body and mind.
Five plants represent the Winter essences. They are Ginger, Cedar, Juniperberry, Thyme, and Geranium. Each one brings specific healing benefits to a specific body-mind connection. A root or rhizome, a wood, a berry, and the essences of two leaves offer strikingly fresh aromas. These essential oils can perfume the essence of body oils and salves to be used daily in Winter.
Print by Katsushika Hokusai from The Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash. See notes below.
Breathe in the Perfection of Winter. Make a blend of the winter-warming scents of Ginger, Cedar, Juniperberry, Thyme, and Geranium. Here’s a recipe for a personal inhaler, a blend of essential oils on a cotton carrier inside a nasal applicator for simple inhalation.
Perfection of Winter
Ingredients:
Essential Oils = e.o.
2 drops Thyme (Thymus vulgaris ct linalool) e.o.
4 drops Himalayan Cedar (Cedrus deodara) e.o.
5 drops Juniperberry (Juniperus communis) e.o.
5 drops Ginger (Zingiber ) e.o.
2 drops Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) e.o.
1 – personal inhaler tube with cotton insert
Tools/Equipment:
1 small bowl
5 droppers for essential oil drops
1 pair clean tweezers
Crafting a Winter Perfection Personal Inhaler
To put together this inhaler blend, place the cotton insert into the bowl. Add and blend essential oils by dropping them over the cotton insert. Using tweezers, push cotton around to absorb any drops of essential oil in the bowl. Open the inhaler tube, pull out the interior tube and keep the cover close by. Again using tweezers, pick up the aromatic cotton insert and place inside the tube. Snap on the cover to lock the insert in place. Your inhaler is now ready!
To use:
Open the inhaler tube and hold it below your nose, actually near your chin and invite the aromas into your senses. Breathe in the scent, which is delightful, but slightly faint. Then bring closer to one nostril and then the other, waving it back and forth. Or sniffing the scent if that’s comfortable. Avoid introducing the tube directly into a nostril, but keep it close to catch the benefits of these refreshing notes. Repeat as liked.
Seek The Warming Energy of Winter Essential Oils
NOTES: This blog post is for information only and is not intended as medical advice of any kind.
Print by Hirosige from the Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash.com: Snow at Akabane Bridge in Shiba (Shiba Akabane no yuki), from the series “Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho)”Date: c. 1843/47 Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Copyright 2024, LotusLadyAromatica