Love Your Weeds
The health benefits of pulling weeds
Don’t you love your weeds? After all weeds can be colorful, fragrant, medicinal, a great ground cover, provide pollination for our life giving bees, and … they are everywhere … all the time. Weeds are relentless. And they love our Okanagan soil and climate – I’m sure we have some of the strongest most resilient weeds around. Hmmmmm, I think they have been given to us for a reason. As I learn to love my weeds, I realize the incredible opportunity they give us for a healthy lifestyle.
When we practice healthy weed control (not using poisonous sprays), that means we have pulled our favorite used tattered clothing out to wear, put on a hat from one of my favorite pubs thru my travels or from when I was 21, some old runners that I just can’t part with (and sometimes barefeet so I can let the earth balance my bodybrain), some gloves and a low stool and knee pads. The simple process of pulling that outfit together and wearing it is therapeutic.
Benefits: simply being outside in fresh air and natural sunlight is healthy
– being closer to trees will help the air be cleaner as you breath chemicals released by forests (Forest Bathing – it’s a thing!) that activate happy hormones, increase immune function, decrease inflammation, assist cellular repair, amongst many other things
– increase of Vit D production and assimilation: 30min sun exposure on our skin gives us 50, 000 IU of vit D that builds healthy bones, increases serotonin (a happy hormone relaxing), healthy immune function
– moderate amounts of sun exposure (20min/day before 10am and after 2pm) helps heal skin irritations ie./psoriasis
Earthing: standing barefoot on a naturally occurring surface (soil, sand, grass)
Try taking your shoes/socks off and feel the earth beneath your feet. There is a beneficial relationship between our bodies and the electrons of the earth. Scientific studies are showing that earthing changes the electrical activity in the brain, moderates heart rate variability, improves glucose regulation, increases immune function.
www.mindbodygreen.com “The Surprising Health Benefits of Going Barefoot”
Good Bacteria
Putting your hands in the dirt and getting dirt under your fingernails exposes us to good bacteria for our internal flora. Good bacteria in the body/gut helps us to absorb nutrients into our blood and assist proper function of all of our body systems.
Healthy brain – meditation
There is not a lot of brain power required for pulling weeds. As a result, the brain is allowed to be quiet and reflective as the body receives all the benefits from being outside in the dirt and the yard gets cleaned up. When the brain is quiet, the internal dialogue of planning, decision making, judging, story telling stops and the quiet whispers of the heart can be heard. The heart is our ultimate teacher, full of love, grace, encouragement, creativity, peace and energy.
Hopefully this information will help you love your weeds as you get outside and get pulling.
Lori Rockl, Life Coach