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Healing & Alternative Health
Tame Your Tension
with Herbal Bathing
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by Kami McBride |
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Herbal bathing is a simple practice that has many healing benefits. Steeping your body in a bathtub full of medicinal leaves and flowers is more than pampering; it is preventive medicine that washes away stress and tension. Many herbal constituents can be absorbed through the skin and taking the time out to lie down in the bathtub is healing in itself. Herbal bathing can help to calm the mind, lift the spirits, reduce stress, relax sore muscles, increase circulation, promote mental clarity, and help the body to release toxins.
Bathing is more than getting the dirt off; it is a ritual with water. Bathing often marks the beginning or ending thresholds of the day and we take special baths before dates or exciting occasions. We bathe for spiritual purification and to calm our minds and relax. Our water rituals are enhanced as we bring in the physical and spiritual properties of the herbs. Use rosemary and sage to invigorate your morning wake up bathing ritual, sprinkle chamomile and lemon verbena in your bath water to mark the end of the day. Soak your body in rose petals when you want more love and beauty in your life. Make herbal bath mixtures for each season, reflecting the needs of your body during different times of the year. Turn your bathing area into your healing sanctuary.
I love herbal bathing because it is a powerful therapy that is easily incorporated into our busy lives. Everyone washes with water, so it really is not that much extra effort to throw some herbs into the routine. I bathe in herbs almost daily and feel that my herbal bathing rituals are an extremely important part of my preventive health care plan and my spiritual practice. If you do not have a bathtub, maybe it is time to remodel your house or move!
Herbal baths are a great tool for introducing herbal therapies to children or for getting herbs into people that do not like to drink tea. Not everyone will drink herbal teas, but most everyone would like to take a break in a warm tub full of aromatic flowers. Sometimes bathing in herbs can be more effective than drinking them. This makes sense if you think about how much of a full body experience bathing with herbs can be. You are completely immersed in the herbs, including your hands and feet. You are embraced by the smell of the steaming herbs and inhaling the healing aroma. You are surrounded with bath water colors of gold, purple, and deep blue, and the smell of the herbs linger in the house for hours.
Bathing herbs that have a gently stimulating effect are:
basil, bay leaf, calendula flowers, elder flowers, eucalyptus leaves, pine tree needles, ginger root, lemongrass leaves, mugwort leaves, peppermint leaves, rosemary, sage leaves, thyme leaves, witch hazel bark and yarrow flowers.
Bathing herbs that have a relaxing effect are:
borage flowers, catnip leaves, chamomile leaves and flower, hops flowers, lavender leaves and flower, lemon balm leaves, lemon verbena leaves, motherwort leaves, oatstraw seed pods, passionflower, rose geranium, rose petals, skullcap leaves, St. John’s wort flowers
Mix together a few of the herbs listed. Put one cup of herb mixture in a pot with four quarts of water. Bring water to a boil; turn off the heat and let steep for 1⁄2 hour.
Pour this infusion directly into your bath water. If staining the bathtub is a problem then strain the herbs from the infusion before pouring into the tub.
Another simple way to bathe with herbs is to take one cup of an herb mixture and tie it in a sock or piece of cotton muslin and let the herbs steep directly in the bathtub while contained in the fabric. This method makes much less of a mess but the herbal properties extracted into the tub will not be as strong as with the first method described.
Herbal bathing recipes
Wipe off the Day Bath
Equal parts of lavender, rosemary, and lemon balm
Better than Coffee Bath
Equal parts of ginger, bay, lemongrass, and elder flowers
Clearing Colds Bath
Equal parts of yarrow, elder flowers, peppermint, and mugwort
Relax and Renew Bath
Equal parts of rose petals, lavender, rose geranium, and chamomile
Mental Clarity Bath
Equal parts of rosemary, sage, pine tree needles, and mugwort
Aches and Pains Bath
Equal parts of bay, rosemary, chamomile, St. John’s Wort, skullcap
These recipes are a starting place. There are many other herbs that can be used, some of which can easily be grown in your garden. It won’t be long before herbal baths become one of your most favorite ways of nourishing and caring for yourself.
Happy herbal bathing!
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Kami McBride,
Teacher of Herbal Medicine
& Women's Health
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Kami McBride has taught herbal medicine and women’s health since 1988. She has studied medicinal plants for almost 20 years and has taught Herbology at the University of California School of Nursing and Stanford Hospital. Her popular course, Cultivating the Herbal Medicine Woman Within is an experiential earth awareness and herbal studies program that is taught at her beautiful school and herb gardens in Vacaville, California.
An intuitive and inspiring teacher, Kami has helped thousands of people learn to use healing plants in their daily lives in ways that are healthy, safe and fun. Her extensive knowledge of herbal medicine along with a focus on teaching herbology as a relationship with the Earth and a way of life, help to fulfill her mission of reviving the cultural art of home herbal care.
Kami is an herbal consultant and an expert in the field of holistic health specializing in women’s issues. Her herbal consultations empower women to discover sacredness and pleasure in their healing process. Her educational courses provide a sanctuary for women to transform their relationship with their body and reclaim their heritage as healers and herbalists.
Kami is the author of 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation, available at www.amazon.com.
Visit Kami’s website at:
www.livingawareness.
com
Sign up for her free quarterly herbal e-newsletter.
kami@livingawarness.
com
For Classes, Books & Consultations:
Phone: 707-446-1290
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