9 Fall Wellness Rituals To Help You Feel Cozy As Heck

These 9 fall wellness rituals will bring balance to your being.

fall-wellness-rituals

As September 22nd rolls around I always feel  a newfound crispness in the air and then I promptly proceed to crave caramel apples, pumpkin patches, haunted houses and everything else that comes with fall. As I start to crave my festive routines of this season, my own wellness rituals start to evolve and shift as well. 

My obsession with fall stems from the feeling of coziness, warmth, looking inward and creating balance as we descend into human form of hibernation (AKA Chicago winters). These fall wellness rituals will inspire you to up the ante of slowing down, settling in, and creating warmth within our many habits. 

Fall Wellness Rituals

fall-wellness-rituals

Increase hot yoga classes: I was turned on to yoga a year or two ago, and after experiencing hot yoga and Vinyasa, I became a devout yogi. I can’t say enough how yoga has helped me physically and mentally (I’ll most likely create another article on the topic). My favorite form of yoga though is hands down hot yoga. I know it’s not for everyone, but if you can work your way up to this type of yoga practice, I think it is extremely beneficial.

I increase my weekly hot yoga classes to 3 times a week minimum as a fall wellness ritual and especially in the winter. It helps me purge toxins in the form of sweating, it helps my skin breathe and release buildup, and the warmth that you experience during winter months just helps you loosen up and really maintain healthy movement and flexibility. 

Transitioning to Warmer foods: This seems obvious, but I start to become a soup freak once autumn arrives. I’m pretty much a soup fan all year round, but this is the time of year when it starts to get crazy (in a good way of course). So now is the time to start nourishing yourself with warmer foods! 

I like to follow many Ayurvedic practices and modalities in my ritual, and according to Ayurveda, fall is the season of the Vata dosha. Vata qualities are nourishing, heavy, warm, moistening, and grounding. Foods that are light and cold (AKA your summer smoothie and juices), can aggravate the Vata dosha in you. If you want to follow the guidelines of Ayurveda nutrition in the fall, you would include these foods:

  • Warm and easily digestible foods: Soups, stews, quinoa dishes and warm root vegetable dishes. 
  • Healthy fats: In Ayurveda, Ghee butter is a dietary staple. If you want to stick to a plant-based focused lifestyle, you would incorporate olive oil, coconut oil, and nuts / seeds. 
  • Warm nourishing beverages: Like warm teas, spiced ciders and nut milk elixers. Sipping on room temperature water or warm water throughout the day will also help stimulate digestion. 
  • Broths: Sipping on broths throughout the day will also give your body vital nutrients during the fall and winter months. I like making warm vegetable broth, but you can also opt for chicken or bone broth if you don’t follow any particular dietary lifestyle. 

Focusing on fall spices: This is where I get really excited about cooking in the fall. Here are the spices I love to add to my routine:

  • Cinnamon & Nutmeg: I add cinnamon and nutmeg to all my nut milks and dessert recipes.
  • Ginger: Whenever my stomach is uneasy, I take a ginger tincture. I also incorporate ginger into my daily juice and waters. 
  • Cardamom: I like to incorporate cardamon into warm stews and even my broths!

Including more serums and oils into beauty routines:

This is another popular Ayurvedic practice that I absolutely love love lovee to do as a fall wellness ritual! So every day I moisturize and stimulate my lymphatic system using sesame oil. I apply body oil after a shower, and then before bed. I love doing this as a bedtime ritual to ground and calm my nervous system. It’s also extremely nourishing and it absorbs into my skin almost immediately since it can be so dry here in Chicago. 

Jogging / Hiking around fall foliage:

This one should be obvious. The more time I can spend outdoors in nature when the leaves are turning, the better. I am utterly in love with the smell of fall (the air just seems to be cleaner). The beautiful colors of the trees provides my senses with a familiar warmth and it always takes me back to when I was a kid playing in the piles of leaves my ma would rake up. I make it a goal to be outside in nature at least once a day. It will help you reset your mind if you are feeling “cluttered” and can help bring more peace to your mental well being. 

Daily meditation / mindfulness with fall scents (to justify my pumpkin spice candle obsession):

Meditating once a day is a beautiful thing to do to help you stay present and release any mental stress you may experience throughout the day. I like meditating as I’m jogging or walking in nature (since sometimes sitting in silence can be uncomfortable if you are used to being on the go). If you are a meditation newbie, here is what I recommend:

Next time you come home from work, light up one of your favorite fall scented candles, turn on your favorite music, and practice some light stretching. As you’re stretching, try to simply focus on your breathing or the words/sounds of the music. If you can let your mind “wander” for at least 10 minutes, it could help you transition from work mode to family mode. It’s also a great way to savor the scent of pumpkin spice candles! 

Incorporate more immunity boosting herbs into your day: Echinicea etc.

Now is the time to support and stimulate your immune system. With transitioning seasons comes germs that pop up in almost any public area you go to. Here are some herbs that I love to take to support my immunity:

  • Echinacea: I take echinicea if I feel like I am already coming down with something. I wrote about echinacea in this article if you want to learn more about it. 
  • Garlic: Believe it or not, garlic has great antiviral properties that help fight off infections. I love adding garlic to all my recipes, just make sure you aren’t eating it on a hot date. 
  • Oil of Oregano: I also take oil of oregano tinctures if I feel like I’m in a situation that is especially germy (aka in airports or other mass public areas). Oregano oil has two powerful compounds that have antibacterial and antifungal properties. 

Related: Fall Herbal Remedies For All-Over Wellness

Create a sanctuary for sleep: 

As the days get shorter, the need for more rest and sleep increases.  Now is the time to de-clutter, organize, and turn your bedroom into a sleeping sanctuary. Tap into your senses by using calming colors in your room, neutral shades and lavendars / blue hues are naturally calming. I also open the windows every day to let fresh air circulate and then I burn vanilla incense to provide a grounding aromatherapy experience. Oh and again pumpkin spice candles can also give you the feeling of coziness and comfort too. Here are some other essentials I like to keep in my bedroom to make sure I feel completely comfy and cozy:

  • Cozy slippers
  • Soft cotton PJs
  • A big, fluffy throw to burrito yourself in
  • Lots of small plants or at least one plant to bring fresh oxygen to the room

Stimulate lymphatic system:

As mentioned above, I like to use oils as I perform lymphatic drainage massage on myself (I try to do this daily). Your lymphatic system is a primary source to keep your immune system healthy. So it’s important that you keep your lymph system healthy! If your lymphatic system becomes stagnant, then it could result in puffiness (and no one wants to be puffy). Here is a lymphatic massage drainage tutorial that you can see for yourself! 

So the main theme of this season is to look inward, relax and rest, rejuvenate, ground yourself, and nourish with warmth. What are some of your favorite fall wellness rituals? Share with us in the comments and let’s inspire each other. 

Photo sources: Pexels

 

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