Relaxation is a vital part of my healthy  and active lifestyle. So many people underestimate the importance of mindful stress relieving rituals, because they view it more as a luxury and there’s only so much time in the day. Luckily I don’t need to compromise too much, because my relaxation routine is just as short and effective as my workouts. If you can do this twice or three times a week you’ll feel amazing.

Drink Herbal Home Made Tea

Maker yourself a special, stress relieving home made tea. Chamomile and ginger blend is a natural source of calm and relaxation. I suggest whole dried chamomile flowers over processed chamomile leaves in sachets. You can buy the dried flowers at farmers markets, specialty tea shops, or even well stocked grocery stores.  I use 3-4 whole dried chamomile flowers and a 1 and 1/2 inch fresh, and peeled ginger root cut into 1/4 inch disks, per 4 cups of boiling hot water. Let the tea sit for about 5 minutes until the water becomes infused with the blend of soothing and spicy flavors.

Take a Detox Bath

While you’re waiting for your tea, you can start preparing your detox bath with epsom salt. My favorite kind is pharmaceutical grade lavender scented epsom salt. I add 1 cup of salt into my bath for deep relaxation. The health benefits of epsom salts have been known for hundreds of years, and include relaxing the nervous system, relieve inflammation, ease pain, curing skin problems, and drawing toxins from your body. Epsom salts are the perfect treatment for your sore muscles, which may occur here and there if you’re active or if you’re following my workout schedule. The benefits of epsom salts are not only skin deephowever. Epsom salt is absorbed through the skin and replenishes the amount of magnesium in the body, you may have lost during stress periods that drained your body of important minerals. Magnesium is known to create a feeling of calm by helping to produce serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical that enhances the sense of deep relaxation. I’ve noticed that following this ritual at least 3 times a week has been helping me to feel better and gain more energy for my training, which makes sense because the magnesium content in epsom salts encourage the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which increases energy and stamina. You can also make your own detox beauty scrub out of the epsom salt, as it has an amazing healing and soothing effect on your skin and complexion.

Nourish Your Mind

Sometimes I just like to light up some candles, dim the light and enjoy my bath quietly or with an ambient music playing softly in the background and focus on my dreams and everything that I’m grateful for. Keeping a positive look on life and good attitude has helped so many times through tough situations, that it’s something I try to work on consistently. It’s not always easy and it requires some mental training, but it is just as worth the effort as it is to exercise your body. If my thoughts start to spin and it’s hard for me to focus on the positive, I pick up an interesting book to give my mind a break.  Reading is a great way to nourish your mind and exercise your imagination and creativity. Sometimes I get lost in an interesting story and after 15 minutes I can’t even remember what I was stressing about.