Autumn is one of my very favorite times of year. I
so love the yellows and oranges and reds and browns... "and greens",
adds my little 3-year-old nephew. Every time I mention the
Autumn colors one after another, Arne adds, "and
greens". Green is his favorite color and it can't
be left out by any means. I guess after a very green season
of Summer, I am noticing all the other colors much more
cheerfully. Though, Arne is right, there still is more green
than any other color, especially on the island of Saaremaa that is full
of needle-sharp-thorned evergreen junipers.
In spite of the colorful parade of golden Autumn leaves, I was truly
inspired by the sea and the sky and the merging of the
two. There is something so calming in the sea.
Maybe looking at the vast, infinite sky perfectly merging into endless
water provides the reassurance that all is well indeed and it is time
to leave the everyday issues behind and just allow oneself to be swept
into this extraordinary beauty. I love Autumn!
Though, with each Autumn comes also the season of colds and
flues. It seems like we attract them like sweet-smelling
flowers attract bees. We even say, I believe I am catching a
cold! What an expression, when one starts to think about
it! Why would anyone want to catch a cold. Don't
catch it this year! Catch something more lovely and healthy,
instead.
I believe we actually expect to be sick at some point during an
Autumn. I mean everyone else gets sick, so, we guess we
should get sick too. But we don't have to.
Though, the truth is that our bodies are the weakest and most prone to
catching something unpleasant during equinoxes, the times when Summer
turns to Autumn, Autumn turns to Winter and so on. About a
week before an equinox we should start paying extra attention to
strengthening our immune systems. For 2 weeks we should
provide extra tender loving care to our bodies and we would be much
less likely to catch a cold or any other fashionable bug that everybody
around us might be catching.
Such "special attention" 2 week periods would be somewhere between the
15th and 28th of September, 15th and 28th of December, 15th and 28th of
March and 15th and 28th of June. For those 2 weeks we do well
to have some extra garlic or grapefruit-seed extract or
ginseng or some other powerful natural remedy at hand.
Although I knew about equinoxes and the effect they have on a human
body, I ignored it this time. I had 10 family/friends'
birthdays coming up within one week period, the last week of September,
which meant that all my attention was on birthday cards and gifts,
rather than on my health. I must admit that although I wasn't
expecting it, I did catch a cold myself. If you are in the
same boat with me, I'd love to share some good old natural remedies
with you that would kill any cold.
I so agree with Jethro Kloss about turning to natural remedies to heal
a cold, rather than going with the modern and quick way of gulping down
some quick fix remedy from a drugstore that might cause very serious
health problems later on. I healed my cold the good
old-fashioned way, with hot foot baths. I love what Jethro
Kloss says in his book, Back to Eden:
"The wonderful results that can be obtained from water treatments that
are properly given, especially when they are combined with the other
true remedies for man's ills - exercise, proper diet, pure air,
sunlight, rest, and trust in divine power - cannot be obtained by any
other method. Hydrotherapy rarely causes bad side effects or
debilitating complications, as many drugs do. Water
treatments do, however, take a longer time to produce results, but when
the body reacts, it does so in a much more natural way."
It took me about 5 nights of foot baths to feel completely
rejuvenated. We shouldn't forget about those good old
childhood-time remedies, exchanging them with fast-acting, synthetic
ones. So, if you do not remember from your childhood how to
fix a hot foot bath, here is what you will need:
1-1,5 liters of just boiled water
some warm water to start with
"Vietnamese" balm or any other balm, combination of essential oils
(like tea tree, eucalyptus, myrrh)
a few pairs of warm socks
a basin
Start the foot bath with just warm water, adding hot water to
it. While you pour hot water into the basin, lift your feet
up, so you won't burn them. Little by little allow your feet
to get used to warmer water by sliding them in and holding in the water
for a few seconds, then lifting them up for a bit of cool.
When you can hold your feet firm in the water, add some more hot
water. Repeat the procedure until you have used all of the
hot water. Dry your feet and rub the healing balm under
them. Also rub the balm in-between the toes. If you
have a runny nose or sinus infection, rub the balm into the inner part
of your both big toes. Quickly put on a few pairs of warm
socks in order to keep your feet warm for as long as possible.
This remedy is great for colds and sore throat.
Herbs to heal the cold:
Herbs, when paired with nightly foot bath (for about 5 days), do help
to heal a cold and sore throat quite promptly. Though, do
allow your body to heal for some days instead of expecting it to be in
peak condition the very next day. Many synthetic medicines
are designed to receive such fast results, but they do have side
effects. So, if you want good health, do choose a natural way.
To chase away a cold, Dr. Jethro Kloss suggests we stack our medicine
cabinets with some of the following herbs: bayberry bark with yarrow,
catnip, sage, peppermint, wood betony, angelica, blue violet, butternut
bark, ginseng, lungwort, nettle, white pine, pleurisy root, prickly
ash, rosemary, saffron, summer savory, sweet balm, tansy, valerian,
vervain, water pepper, wood sage, yarrow, bloodroot, elder, ginger,
gentian, golden seal, hyssop, penny royal, sarsaparilla, saw palmetto
berries, spikenard, wild cherry, horehound.
Killing fever with Vodka Socks:
Never heard of it before? This is another one of our good old
childhood remedies! To kill the fever with vodka socks, You
will need:
a pair of thin cotton socks
a pair of warm socks
2/3rds of water
1/3rd of vodka
hot herbal tea
Mix water and vodka in a bowl. Wet the thin socks in
vodka-water and squeeze so they won't be too wet. Put the
socks on and cover with warm socks. Have a hot cup of herbal
tea and a warm bed ready. Drink the tea and get under the
blanket. Sweat the fever from your system. It works!
Fast-acting natural antibiotics for viruses and colds:
My personal favorites to strengthen the immune system or get rid of a
cold are garlic and honey. Read more about garlic.
Grapefruit seed extract is a powerful and fast-acting natural remedy
for viruses and colds. It is a natural antibiotic and we do
wisely to keep some of it ready in a cabinet for an emergency
use. 5-15 drops of it could be used daily for a period as an
immune boosting supplement. Read more about Grapefruit seed
extract.
I hope you found something useful from those so simple natural
remedies. You are welcome to subscribe to my twice monthly
Health First newsletter by sending me an email.
About the Author - Eve Juurik
Eve believes in promoting Body-Mind-Spirit Health, Fitness and Beauty
in an Organic Way
