My dirty secret

I have a dirty little secret. I love cleaning!

I love the feeling of room that has just been cleaned.

It is markedly brighter, lighter, and there seems like there is more space in the room.

My version of Feng Shui.     Remove clutter and the rest will follow.    If I am in a cluttered, unruly room, I get agitated and nervous.  Quite the contrary, when I am in a clean, open space, I feel peaceful and calm. Though some may consider this to be procrastination, if I have a big pressing project, job 1 is to clean the room that I need to work in. If my family is facing challenges, my first instinct is to clean the entire house, and then sit down for a conversation about the challenge, if it is still there. I know that there are some specific rules of Fung Shui that are very strict, and helpful, but I am a shameless cherry picker, so I choose to pay my greatest homage to the clean uncluttered feng shui rule, and most of the time, I am happy leaving it at that.

When it comes to the cleaning products themselves, I take the same approach to them as I do to food and personal care. I use only ingredients which are inherently safe, those substances which have such a long and happy history of human use.  Things like vinegar, castile soap and baking soda that I know that are safe around all of my children, and family.

I cannot tell you how many times I have rewashed a bathtub at a hotel,  rinsing the heck out of it after it was “cleaned” with god knows what.  I am generally more concerned about the cleaner than the original dirt.  And that is for good reason.

In America the labeling laws for cleaning products is even more lax than the labeling laws for personal care! The companies that make products with some of the most toxic chemicals are required to disclose NOTHING!  Really, not one ingredient need be disclosed with specificity. We can thank chemical company lobbyists for that little slice of insanity.

Here’s a list of cleaning substances that I always have around.

• Liquid Castile Soap –  Cuts oil and grime
• Soapnut extract ( – Unreal squeaky cleaner-my fav for floor cleaners and laundry
• Vinegar – lime remover, window glass cleaner extraordinaire, grease cutter.
• Baking soda-eliminate odors, great scrubbing power
• Hydrogen Peroxide -3% solution, antiseptic, stain bleaching, be sure to wear gloves
• Lemon Juice -grease cutting, stain bleaching
• Jojoba Oil – great wood polish
• Essential oils ( my favs for cleaning are Clary Sage, Lavender, Orange, Lemon, Grapefruit, Tea Tree)

Karen’s Spring GREENING Cleaning Recipes:

Heavy Duty Cleaner

For grimy Tiles, Walls and Doors

• One hot bucket of Water
• 2 TBS of dish liquid, castile soap or soapberry extract
• one cup of baking soda
• 20 drops of your favorite essential oil ( I like to use Tea Tree, Lemongrass, Clary Sage)

All Purpose Spray Cleaner

• a good easy to hold and use 32 oz.spray bottle
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
• 3/4 cup hydrogen peroxide 3% solution
• 1 tsp dish soap, or castile or Soapberry extract
• 20 drops Tea Tree Oil ( antiseptic!)
• 20 drops of another EO that you like to smell a lot, Clary Sage, Lavender, Lemongrass, Orange)

Add all of the above ingredients to the bottle, cover and shake, then fill to the top with water.

Primo Window Cleaner

• White distilled vinegar
• Essential oil of choice ( I like Lemongrass, it really cuts through  the vinegar smell)

Air Cleaner

• Open your windows for the warmest part of the day. 

 

It’s Spring!!!  Enjoy your bright fabulous spaces, scrub up with simple substances that bring light, fresh air and health into your space.  Grab your bucket and some rags, recycled from old clothes or towels or what have you, and scrub up !

 

To your Health and your Joyous Vernal Equinox.

Don’t forget to balance an egg on its head!

3 Ways to Help Your Sensitive Skin, Skin Care, Eczema, Remedies

Reblogged from Brooklyn Allergy Mom's Blog:

Fifteen years ago, our lovely child was born. It was a wonderful time in our lives and we were a happy couple who had finally had our little 'peanut' as we nick-named her. At about three months of age, her sensitive skin would mysteriously break open and bleed. Shortly thereafter she was diagnosed with eczema and we embarked on our allergic, atopic, and food allergy journey.

Read more… 609 more words

Thanks for the mention Brooklyn Allergy Mom!

Organic Dry Season Skin Care: Safer yet Softer

Skin needs two very simple things to be happy and healthy.  Hydration and emollients; a.k.a . water and oil, the two central ingredients to every lotion, or cream.  That would seem to make lotion the obvious solution to solve the problem of dehydrated skin.  

Not so fast.  Why then does the EPA suggest that pregnant women refrain from using lotion?    Makes me wonder, if it’s not OK for pregnant women, why is it OK for anyone?

Unfortunately, in today’s petroleum processed world,   modern lotions and creams are filled with all kinds of synthetic chemicals developed by the cosmetics industry to achieve all sorts of special effects, fragrances, stabilizers, absorption enhancers, and preservatives.  Many of these chemicals could pose serious dangers to our long term health.  And these potentially bio-accumulatively toxic potions don’t even work very well!  While they may leave our skin feeling smooth for a spell, eventually, inevitably, the skin is left more dehydrated than it was before the lotion was applied. We’ve all had the experience, applying lotion, and then feeling like we need to apply it  more, and then again.  

What’s that all about?  preservatives

By necessity, all lotions have preservatives, which can be a problem for healthy skin function.     Preservatives are used to prevent the lotion from growing mold and other nasties, however, these broad spectrum anti-microbial substances also kill all sorts of friendly bacteria which live on the surface of  healthy skin.  We’ve all heard about how important probiotics are for our intestinal health.  Likewise, the surface of our skin relies upon a healthy mix of friendly bacteria to perform its most essential barrier function.  When the preservatives commonly used in lotions ( parabens, phenoxyethanol, ethyl, methyl butyl alcohol) are applied to the skin, the essential barrier function of the skin is diminished.

Our skin is the largest organ of our body, responsible for elimination of toxins, protection of our bodies from dangerous pathogens, regulation of body temperature, and retention of hydration.

At Trillium, we make products from fresh emollient organic oils, no preservatives, no nasty chemical ingredients (they’re not allowed in Certified Organic products). Our oil based moisturizers contain no water, thus require no heavy preservation. We use antioxidant single source Spanish Sunflower Tocobiol a rich, safe source of  Vitamin E to maintain  freshness and boost the antioxidant activity of the products.

That brings us back to oil  and water.  Dash the lotion, and treat your skin to the good stuff.  When you hydrate and oleate separately, aside from avoiding all of the toxic chemical preservatives, your skin stays supple for days, rather than moments.  Trillium offers Fresh Organic moisturizer in ten unique and delightful Organic Aromas to suit everyone’s fancy;

• Organic Body Polish to cleanse, moisturize and  smooth rough dry skin;
• Organic Body Oil for a light protective layer to simply seal in the hydration;
• Organic Body Butter for a rich moisturizing layer to soften and soothe extremely dry conditions.

This dry winter season,  ”Hydrate your Skin & Seal it in”, and enjoy enduringly soft, smooth, supple skin.

All my BEST!

Karen Ciesar

 Queen Mother of Trillium Organics

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is not the day I was born, but it is the day that I was reborn into a new life.  Today is the day that my firstborn child changed my life forever.  Nineteen years ago, today, I held her in my arms for the very first time.  There’s nothing on earth like a woman’s first birth experience.   I was lucky enough to be living in a very enlightened community at the time.  I lived in Humboldt County, California, where I was practicing law.  A client of mine lived next door to a midwife, and she made introductions.  I found out a few months into the relationship that I had been introduced to one of the the supreme grand mothers of midwifery in Northern Cal. I attended a fundraiser at the local grange hall where woman after woman related how she owed  everything she knew to these dedicated and wise women.

I was slowly and lovingly introduced to a world that a girl from suburban Chicago had never dreamed still existed.  A world of plant divas in magical herb gardens full of wonder, healing and joy.  A world in which wise women passed the knowledge of healing, manifesting, and prospering  onto their daughters. A world in which women took full responsibility for their health, their prosperity and of course, their birthing.  

That night was clear, a rarity in Northern California, the sky was full of bright stars and a deliciously warm, and surprisingly strong wind shook the house all night.  The doors blew open, and the dogs kept running outside to howl at the sky.  

My daughter was born underwater, in a room filled with calla lilies, lit only be beeswax candles, surrounded by my three midwives, one for the mama, one for the baby, and one to hand them whatever they required.  My mother, sister, partner, and our closest friends were there as well ( to support dad). 

Sounds really lovely, IF you forget what was actually happening. Labor.  Real, unfettered, labor.  Hilariously, I sat right down, within hours of giving birth, with my darling little daughter in my lap and I made a video,   I made this video for my self, my future self.  I said to my future self, through tears ” DO NOT EVER DO THIS AGAIN!”  That was much too painful to repeat! I know you are going to forget how bad that was, but I am here to remind you.  DON”T!!!  I was so serious with myself.

Luckily, I lost that video.

So, today, Nineteen years, and two more homebirths behind me, I played in the pool with my three gorgeous children all day today.   My mothering utterly defines me as a person. It has changed me completely. I changed my career, I changed my mind about just about everything I thought I knew.  Being present and supportive for these three brilliant souls changes (and challenges) me daily.

I recently watched this outstanding video made by my friends at Healthy Child Healthy World, whether or not you have given birth yet, this video is life changing.

Thanks for reading!!

Karen

Monsanto’s latest Sneaky Strategy

OK fine, The campaign of lies won in a narrow margin in California’s Prop 37, but now Monsanto is going for the jugular in a new and outrageous way!  Below is a reprint of the newsletter I just got from my friends and yours at the Organic Consumers Association, and incredibly important watchdog for food freedom.

In the last moments of the congressional session, while Americans are busy with the Holidays, they are launching a sneaky power grab of Epic Proportions!!!!

Read it and TAKE ACTION!!

Congress Is Back. And So Is Monsanto’s Sneak Attack.

TAKE ACTION!
With the elections over, Congress has returned for a lame duck session to clear its plate of post-Thanksgiving legislative leftovers. Not surprisingly, Monsanto is back, too, pushing a rider to the FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations Bill that if passed, would grant the biotech engineering giant immunity from Federal law.
The so-called “Monsanto Rider” would require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for planting or cultivating a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed.
Why does Monsanto want to cut off our access to the courts? Because the courts have ruled that farmers have a right to grow non-GMO crops and consumers have a right to eat non-GMO food. Judges recognize that GMO contamination takes away those rights. So Monsanto is trying to bypass the courts.
Right now, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are drafting an omnibus appropriations bill behind closed doors, in the hope of passing it before January. The public won’t know what’s in the bill until it’s ready for a vote. And when the bill does hit the floor, amendments won’t be allowed.
Power-hungry Monsanto is counting on a sleepy public, distracted by the holidays, to let them slip this latest outrageous power grab through Congress.
Don’t let them do it! Contact your member of Congress and urge them to stop Monsanto’s rider.
TAKE ACTION!
Learn more

Boycott

Punish the ‘Natural’ and Organic Traitor Brands: Download Your Boycott Guide

The parent companies of some of our favorite organic and natural brands contributed nearly half of the $46 million spent on the deceitful advertising that sunk Prop 37, the California Right to Know GMO labeling initiative. How do we prevent Pepsi, Kellogg’s and other multinational Junk Food Kings from pouring money into anti-GMO campaigns in Washington, Vermont, and other states?
Millions of consumers need to send these Traitor Brands a clear message: If they continue to side with Monsanto and the rest of the chemical companies, instead of with the consumers who have made them wildly profitable, we won’t buy their organic brands.

Why not just boycott the parent company brands? Those of us who support organics rarely buy products like Diet Pepsi or Kellogg’s Genetically-Modified-Sugar-Coated Frosted Flakes. The only way to pressure Big Food is to boycott the brands we actually buy. Brands like Kashi, Naked Juice, Horizon, Silk, Honest Tea and yes, even Ben & Jerry’s.
Let’s be clear. These Big Food companies are gobbling up organic brands to make money and to greenwash the fact that industrial agriculture, factory farms, and their so-called “conventional” brands are undermining public health and destroying the environment and climate stability. They recognize the huge profit potential in the fast-growing organic and natural markets. They want our business. If we stop buying their organic and so-called “natural” brands, they know there’s a good chance we’ll find alternative brands. We might never look back.
America’s Traitor Brands can redeem themselves. All they have to do is publicly – and financially – support the consumer’s right to know about GMOs, beginning with I-522 Label It WA, a Washington State labeling initiative planned for November 2013. And while they’re at it, they should tell their parent companies to stop opposing our right to know.
Download your wallet-sized boycott guide
Download a poster-sized boycott guide
Join the nearly 15,000 people who have already signed the boycott pledge
Learn more about the boycott
To order printed copies of the boycott guide or poster call 218-226-4164 or email campaigns@organicconsumers.org

Your Intuition Physician

 

Meet Laura, a friend of mine who shares something really special with me and I would venture to guess with many of you, the

“Spiritual Awakening of Motherhood”.  

 I started my professional life as an attorney, and when my daughter, Zephyr was born her bright light changed my life completely, I became obsessed with Organics and biodynamics,  I began my search for and  collection of folk remedies, essentially began my lifelong quest to apply pre petroleum era wisdom to modern life.     I moved to the country, and focused on connection parenting, and authentic life.   Laura had a similar awakening when her daughter Ciara was born.  Her story follows. . .

Laura Koniver, MDI’m known as the Intuition Physician. I love what I do. I offer on-line health e-courses, private consultation, and live events that merge medical knowledge with heart centered intuition.But how did I make the transition from traditional medical doctor to an intuitive physician?

It was a long road, one I’m still traveling.   Here’s how it all started:

I grew up in a very loving and wonderful family, who I am so thankful for. I had a wonderful childhood filled with lots of laughter, games and travel. Everyone in my family is super smart and super goal oriented. Very governed by the thinking and analytical mind, there was always lots and lots of doing… lots of education, lots of competition, lots of goal oriented direction to achieve a certain grade, earn a certain allowance.

This was great for the traditional path I was on, because going to college and then medical school was very natural to me and I accepted this very conventional world… while always inwardly striving to figure out what was the deeper point of it all.

I had artistic talents that I secretly loved to spend my spare time on (my favorite coloring book as a child was a black and white anatomy book that I filled in page by page with glorious color!) but I never gave art much weight in my life because it was not a strictly goal-oriented activity.  To my family, art was humored or tolerated but not considered a “real” career, and so I treated it as such too.

Buckling down to my “real” career I went through medical school (where I met and married my husband) and finished my training and began my life as a physician.

Then, everything changed.  I had my daughter Clara and it completely rocked my world.

Becoming a mother was the most intense thing I have ever done.  It completely dissolved my notions of what I should be doing and the career I had worked so hard to achieve and opened me up.

It completely took me out of the equation.  It no longer mattered what degree I had earned and what I was thinking and if I was clever.  It only mattered that I hold a space for this precious amazing soul of my daughter.  All I had to do was hold her and breathe and I felt complete.

It was a spiritual awakening.

All of a sudden it hit me… who the heck cares about what is “real” or “not real” or “goal oriented” or not?  Who is to judge what is worthwhile for someone to be doing in any given moment of time?  Why would memorizing anatomy be more important then painting, for example?

What could possibly matter more or be a better use of our precious time on earth then connecting with what makes you happy?  With what makes you feel alive?  With what brings you joy?

This was never more clear to me then as a mother, looking down at my children, and finally finding my heartsong. 

I wanted NOTHING on the earth more then for my child to just be HAPPY.

It was painful and intense and overwhelming and beautiful, all at the same time.  I no longer cared about my goals and career and all I cared about was standing in awe of my child.

I stopped working and exclusively devoted myself to mothering.  During this time I also had my son Miles.  I loved this babyhood time so much, but eventually I started wondering what, if anything, I was going to do with my medical career.

I lightly stepped back into seeing patients… my husband in the meantime had opened up his private medical practice, and we had always had a goal of working together.   So at the beginning he would see patients all day, and then a few times a week he would come home after a full day and take over with the kids and I would run to the office and see more patients.

It was awful.  I literally could not stand going in and seeing patients in the old medical model way.

Taking a medical history and doing a physical exam and seeing a patient as a number or a statistic or a symptom or a prescription just horrified me.  Here I was used to dealing all day and night with these lovely, amazing, glowing souls that were my children… and then going in to see a patient as a 2-dimensional problem to solve. 

It sickened me on a deep level, to finally realize that each and every person on earth is as precious and valuable and eternal as my very own children, but then to just treat them medically on the surface.

The problem is, medical school doesn’t teach you how to do anything other then take a medical history, evaluate a health problem, and treat it.  It doesn’t tell you how to connect to a patient on an intuitive and meaningful soul-level… which is essential in the healing process.

I had to find this intuitive approach towards healthcare on my own, and it took me quite a few years to find my way.

Seeing my children as the magical, amazing, eternal souls… then going in and ignoring the soul of my patient… just clinically touching and examining a person and viewing them as a puzzle to solve… it felt wrong to me.

I began to feel that I didn’t fit into medicine any more.

What I decided to do was just have fun with it.

I did the fun medical stuff that made me happy.  Things like medical grade facial peels, skin cancer screenings, female health exams and medical counseling sessions.

Doing the fun medical stuff was so much more enjoyable, because while the patient was laying on my table for an hour getting a chemical peel, I would be learning what I was never taught in medical school, and that is how to relate to a patient as a whole human being.

I learned how to go beyond small talk… how to reach the inner treasure of a patient. 

How to find out what their health struggles were, how they felt about them, and what their deepest health desires were.

Not just their disease but how this illness has impacted their life and what they hoped would heal.

They would spend the entire hour pouring out their heart and their lives to me, and I found meaning in what I was doing again.

In the meantime, at home I began to homeschool our children (who were now school aged) and I also started to sell art in an on-line shop.

Finally, something that I had deligated as superfluous in my life was given time to flourish because I finally realized… it made me happy.  And that is reason enough.  Matter of fact, that is all the reason there is in the world to do anything!

Now that my thinking was changing so was how I wanted to spend my time. 

I stopped judging what was important or worthwhile or goal oriented and I started reaching for what felt right intuitively.  With patients in the office, with my lovely family at home, and in my free time with a paint brush in my hand.

I had never gone to art school or had any formal training, and for this I became very thankful.  As I didn’t really know *what* to do, I could do anything!  Nothing was off-limits in art!  Nothing was wrong!  Everything was right.  It’s true for my art and it’s true for yours.  You can’t get it wrong and you can’t mess it up.

I began feeling like my paintings were calling to me… and that what I painted had the ability to heal people just as much as a diagnosis or a prescription I could write them. 

I started painting souls… I started painting the interaction between what we can see in this tangible world with the energy around us in the spiritual world.  I started painting things like the earth, covered with happy soul energy watching over us.  That painting is called All Is Well and is now my top selling print.

I found that there was room for both sides of me… the analytical mind and the intuitive one.

I began to blog about this… at first I blogged mostly about my creating art and the meaning behind my artwork, but I soon started throwing in health ideas into the mix.

I started a little series called Thoughts on Health.  In Thoughts On Health, I would write about an organ system or a disease and what I felt that it energetically represented… why a person would be expressing this particular disease and the message that disease was conveying.   So for example, I would take an illustration from my old anatomy book —LITERALLY rip it out of the book, and start painting the energy around it.

I took a heart out of the book and painted the movement of energy through the heart and how the heart represents our flexibility and strength, and why current treatments that prevent heart attack work because they aim at restoring fluidity to the blood and blood vessels… that kind of thing.  I profiled brain, and joints, and the immune system, and so forth.  They are still on my blog and I add new Thoughts on Health on Mondays.

You can find my blog here.

To my surprise, people began to write to me personally asking for advice on particular health issues.

When I would read these emails, I noticed that I would get a gut *knowing*… a color associated with each person.  I figured this is because I’m an artist and I love color.  But as I began to really focus on this I started dropping down into my heart space and listening for a deeper meaning.

And what I found is that I got a very sure *knowing* about what it represented.
I started screwing up my courage and just point-blank telling the people who were emailing me exactly what was coming through for me… what physical symptoms I was feeling and what information I was getting about their health condition.

Over and over again, people were telling me I was right on target.

I began to figure out that I was using my intuition to sense the deeper meaning behind health issues.  Not just what the issues were but the reason behind the issue, the energetic imbalance and the energy work that was needed to resolve an issue.  Now I can’t ever imagine how I practiced medicine *without* intuition.  It is my pleasure and my honor and my duty as a healer to look at health problems from a deeper level then just an analytical mindframe. 

It is so important to use a heart open approach and allow intuitive information to help fill in the picture.   Running a health problem through both the lens of modern medicine and the lens of intuition reveals a bigger picture that you can’t see any other way.

Now I offer on-line medical intuition counseling to patients all over the world, and I really deeply love what I do.

I have been interviewed by healthcare reporters, magazines, news programs and websites including FoxNews, First for Women, MaryJanes Farm and many more… I write a regular health column in a national magazine and am a featured expert protagonist in the upcoming health motion picture The Grounded.

I also enjoy running on-line health courses so that I can help and heal more patients then I can possibly see one-on-one.   I have a general health course, a skin care course, a detox course, a female empowerment course and a parenting course that helps incorporate intuition and health into all of your relationships.

I love helping others access intuitive information because intuition can provide information that is simply NOT ACCESSIBLE to the rational mind… it’s not linear, it’s not something you can puzzle through, it’s not a feeling, it’s not an emotion… it is information from a higher power.

 

If you are ready to understand what is going on more fully than you ever have before, I’m here.  

Intuitive information combined with medical knowledge is more powerful than either standing alone.

I believe in developing a deeper relationship with my patients…to see them as not only as a body but as a heart and soul too.  Let me help you find the relief of seeing the depth and meaning of your health journey from both angles… medically and intuitively.

Together we can:

• take the anxiety and stress out of health challenges

• increase your energy level as you open to well-being

• help you feeling better and breathe new life into chronic health issues

• turn your health obstacles into tools for greater healing

• find your unique health strengths and use them to heal faster

• heal the dynamic that created the illness, not just treat the resulting symptoms

From hundreds of healing articles posted weekly on my website, to instantly downloadable eBooks that give you immediate access to the questions I am asked most, to private one-on-one consultations and programs, we can get you moving in a positive health direction.

So… am I an artist? Am I a physician? Am I a mother? Am I a soul?  Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes.

And I am happy blurring the lines between all four each day. 

xoxo, Laura

Laura blogs today on Winter Skin, and extols the virtues of Trillium Organics. . .

Support the immune response, say “I love you!”

Here we go again! The kids are back in school, and the first sniffles and coughs are spreading around the family.  Here in the midwest, the cold starts with a fever and then hangs on with a deep cough that lasts and lasts.

The big problem with persistent viral lung congestion is the potential for a secondary bacterial infection.  Here in the Ciesar household, we are into the third week of managing this pesky virus(s?) as it passes from the preschool set to the middle school gang to on to the college dorm. 

The goal for each is the same  keep them comfortable, well rested, and reduce and remove the mucous as much as possible.  How to achieve those goals are as unique as the kids themselves. Since my crew is so age diverse I thought a short description of tips and trick might be helpful for you.

The tools I use

• “Smart medicine for a healthier child” by Janet Zand is absolutely my home health bible,has been for years.
• Netti Pot I like the pot made by Baraka for the older kids, The nasopure squeezy bottle is awesome for the babies,their little individually wrapped salt packets are awesome, something about their saline blend works better than any I have ever tried before.
• OGbaby Breathe Free Tea Tree Aromarub and OGbaby Breathe Free Tea Tree Gentle Soap. While the aromatherapy is gentle enough for Baby Sam, it is effective enough for everyone.
• Wellness Blend (capsules for the olders, Glycerin based tincture for Baby Sam)
• Our big bathtub and plenty of hot water.
• EmergenC packets
• my magic bullet smoothie blender

We begin and end every day with tooth brushing, salt water gargle and a nasal rinse with the neti pot to remove excess mucous from the sinuses, this prevents the post nasal drip lung congestion.  The olders, use the neti pot, the baby gets the nasopure squirt rinse.  It has almost become as normal as tooth brushing.  We do this to prevent colds as much as to reduce them should they arrive. Although all of the kids initially grumble about teeth brushing and using the neti pot, eventually they will ask for it, because it really does feel better to be clean and fresh.

• Wellness capsules, a multi vitamin, and a Emergen C packet
• a “SuperMom” green smoothie that contains Organic bananas, blueberries strawberries.  When bananas begin to brown, don’t throw them away!  peel, chunk and freeze them for smoothies, also we gather and freeze fresh berries all summer so our smoothies are a fun way to revisit summer memories.  To give the smoothie real power, add a little fresh greens ( kale, spinach etc.or when fresh greens are not available, powdered Kelp or Sprirulina. The liquid should be healthy too.  we use unsweetened  Coconut milk. never dairy.  If they want it sweeter, Agave Nectar or Local honey does the trick, weight conscious teenager sweetens hers with xylitol.

Every night, a long hot bath, in OGbaby gentle soap breathe deeply, until you emerge and rinse with the neti pot, apply OGbaby Aromarub to the Chest, back and the soles of the feet, wrap up in cotton pajamas and sock, and tuck into bed for a long night’s sleep.  The hot water and essential oils loosen congestion, the neti pot removes as much as you can, and the tea tree oils purify and inhibit bacterial proliferation.

Note on fevers:  I believe in supporting a fever  unless it gets dangerously high, (for that info,  see Zand’s book) I would never disable it with any kind of fever reducer! 

All in all, it is a wonderful loving way to support your kids immune responses and resilience through the cold and flu season.  This regimen also helps to increase the comfort and reduce the duration of any viral infections that get through.  These are all loving, caring, rituals that my kids have grown to love themselves.  Kids want to know that thier mamas are willing to go the extra mile to keep them warm, safe secure and healthy.  All of these actions show them daily how much I care. They have an olfactory imprint of the Breathe Free Tea Tree scent that is the smell of Mama’s love.  (Just like we are transported by the Vapo-rub our own mama’s used before the dangers of petrochemicals and synthetic fragrance chemicals were known)

If you enjoy these tips and trick that I’ve learned over my 18 years of natural mothering, please subscribe to our newsletter to hear more organic parenting ideas, hear about Discounts and promotions on Trillium Organics Products.

Right  now, every Trillium Organics order will get a free bottle of Breathe Free Tea Tree Soap! and ALL Breathe Free Tea Tree Products are 20% off!