Natural Home recipes to support wellness

Excerpt from A Place to Call Home feng shui design guidebook 

We can support our general health and wellbeing by swopping out synthetic home cleaning and body care products with some all natural home made alternatives.

Being proactive in this way adding healing ingredients such as pure essential oils to our environment can have a marked impact on reducing chemicals in the air (and on our bodies) while uplifting and balancing our energy in the process.

I have included a variety of recipes for basic home cleaning and body care products in the natural home recipe section of A Place to Call Home.

Two of my favourites are:

Immune supportive and skin kind foaming hand soap and a luxurious relaxing and grounding body scrub which stimulates our “feel good” hormones while treating our skin to a mini spa break!

Foaming Hand soap Recipe:

To a 60ml foaming handsoap dispenser (or ordinary liquid soap dispenser if you dont have a foaming one)

Add 40ml unscented castille soap (available at your local health store)

10 ml pure aloe vera gel (unscented)

Blend these well then add

9 drops Lavender essential oil (lavandula angustifolia) which has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It encourages balance in all of the body systems and calms feelings of anxiety and is also skin healing.

9 drops Geranium essential oil (Pelargoneum x asperum) which is skin healing and has been found to have antibacterial, uplifting and stress releasing properties. It is said to convey a feeling of calm strength and security when feeling stressed or overworked.

6 drops Tea Tree essential oil (Melaleuca alternifolia) whcih is considered to be a powerful airborne antimmicrobial oil and is also immune stimulant while uplifting the spirit and relieving symptoms of fatigue. It is said to promote a positive outlook

If using a larger dispenser you can add some lavender or geranium hydrosol or distilled water to loosen the mixture if you find it too thick. (consistency of castille soaps can vary from brand to brand)

Shake well to blend evenly and enjoy this beautiful healing and relaxing blend as you cleanse your hands throughout the day.

Feel good body scrub

For a wonderful gently exfoliating and moisturising body scrub:

Add 4-6 tablespoons of jojoba oil to a glass bowl (you can substitute good quality coconut oil or any good quality carrier oil you prefer)

mix in 3 drops of organic orange essential oil (citrus sinensis) which is emotionally uplifting and promote a sense of joy, clearing away stagnant energy

2 drops of vetiver essential oil (vetiveria zizanoides) which is deeply calming and grounding and is said to boost our immune system while being skin healing

2 drops pure vanilla extract – vanilla is said to stimulate our “feel good hormones” adding an indulgent sweetness to this blend

Stir evenly into1 cup of brown sugar (sugar is less abrasive than salt for a body scrub). You can add more jojoba oil (or other carrier oil) if you prefer a looser more oily consistency.

Rub approx 2-3 tbs of the mixture, gently over clean unbroken skin and rinse to leave your skin feeling smooth. The combined sweet, rich, woody and earthy scent of this blend is uplifting and indulgent, leaving your skin feeling soft and nourished in the process.

TIP

This is a lovely gentle scrub for tired feet at the end of the day and will gently exfoliate and moisurise the skin in the process.

NB Scent is very personal. Everyone is different, and of course we can be allergic to anything depending on our own immune reactivity and responses.

If you feel any negative reaction to these products or the scent combination, discontinue at once.

MORE RECIPES

For more recipes read my book A Place to Call Home