Must-have Ideas to Nurture Yourself at Home
If you are looking for productive ways to spend your
time while observing stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic, Natural
Awakenings Chicago Magazine has you covered. Curated from our extensive archives, here are
some healthy, earth-friendly activities you can enjoy from the comfort and
safety of your home. And with the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day happening on April 22, now is the perfect time to get started!
Exercise
Click and Sweat: Virtual Workouts Change the Game
Between health and workout apps, online classes and electronic devices calculating distance and monitoring bodily functions, virtual fitness offers many personal exercise experiences. Read More »
Pound-Shedding Workouts: Best Exercises from Yoga to Cardio
The consistent exercise so vital to weight loss becomes easier when we choose a stress-reducing routine, set realistic goals and practice patience. Read More »
Try Some Stretches: Four Ways to Flex Our Muscles
Whether incorporated into a workout routine or done on its own, a regular stretching practice can foster flexibility, balance, range of motion, coordination and improve muscle endurance. Read More »
Meditate
Ways to Calm Your Anxiety with Meditation During the Coronavirus Pandemic
With all the uncertainty we are facing today surrounding COVID-19 causing individuals to develop anxious feelings, now is the perfect time to start a regular mindfulness meditation practice. Read More »
Pause, Reflect, Reset - The Gift of Releasing Fear and Igniting Cognitive Quiet
Quieting the mind overrides fear, and when we release fear, our bodies go back into harmonic resonance. Mindfulness meditation practices are a great tool for quieting the mind. Read More »
Awakening to Spirit: Prayer and Meditation Heal and Free Us
By penetrating to the core of our true identity through spiritual practices, we open the door to vast expanses of peace, healing and joy. Read More »
Mindful Meditation Harnesses the Power of Attention
For thousands of years, Eastern cultures have been living in mindfulness or living in a mindful meditation state. This wisdom is available to everyone to live now in our busy day. Read More »
Five-Minute Meditation
Meditation can be done anywhere and anytime for a mental refocus. All that is needed is our conscious attention and our breath, the two most powerful tools we have and can use anywhere a... Read More »
Start a Garden
Herbs that Beat the Heat: Favorite Varieties that Flourish in Summer
Some of the best plants to keep as summer companions are herbs that enrich life with their flavors, fragrances and beauty. Whether potted or in the garden, these herbs thrive in hot weather. Read More »
Spring Into Vegetable Gardening
Spring is here, and seasoned gardeners know that it is time to get out into the vegetable garden. Growing our own food can be an empowering ... Read More »
Best Spring Garden Seeds to Plant
Knowing how much seed will sow a 10-foot row, the days to maturity and when the harvest can be expected is the type of garden math that tangles up many a grower, but working with quality ... Read More »
Steps for Seed Starting Success
Starting our own plants allows us to control what goes on with them and is a piece of the puzzle in truly knowing where our food comes from. There are therapeutic health benefits in start... Read More »
Indoor Kitchen Gardening: Easy-Grow Microgreens Are Big on Nutrition
Alfalfa, wheat, popcorn, radishes, red cabbage, snow peas and more can be grown in soil in tiny kitchen containers, producing quick harvests of tasty nutrients. Read More »
Summer Eating: The Herbal Connection
Adding raw, organic herbs to summer fare both cools us down and provides us with nutrients that can lower blood pressure and boost energy. Read More »
Gardening for Kids: The Fun of Growing Their Own
How to involve kids in growing their own garden to get them outdoors, foster an appetite for fruits and veggies, teach them planning, and develop their motor, literacy and scientific skills. Read More »
Practice Yoga
Relax and Unwind: Restorative Yoga Poses Foster Healing
If even touching our toes is too much of a stretch, restorative yoga might be a good first move. It uses pillows, blocks and blankets to support the body in deeply healthful asanas. Read More »
Why Our Body Loves Yoga: Gentle Poses Foster Flexibility
You don't have to be super-flexible or practice intense poses to enjoy the many health and wellness benefits of yoga, available to any age group or physical type. Read More »
Attaining The Hole-In-One Asana
Yoga is a discipline with physical and mental benefits that include increased flexibility, energy and vitality; improved muscle strength and tone, respiration and posture; stress reductio... Read More »
Adaptive Yoga is a Tool For Building Resilience
The examined health benefits of yoga are vast, from stress reduction and reduced fatigue to improved posture, balance, strength and joint health. Read More »
The Power of Yoga: Tapping Into the Life Force
The many health benefits of practicing yoga, including protecting against loss of mobility, cardiovascular disease and depression, lowering elevated blood pressure and much more. Read More »
3 Easy Steps to Living a High-Energy Day
When we’re in a positive high-energy state, we often feel like we can do anything, but many of us struggle to accomplish our daily goals because we lack the strength to get them done. Read More »
Mindful Minutes for Little Ones: Yoga Helps Kids Focus and Relax
Children's developing bodies and minds respond to yoga on a deep level, both on and off the mat. Here is how kids can get started practicing yoga to reap the many health benefits. Read More »
Catch Up on Sleep
Chasing ZZZZZs: How to Put Insomnia to Rest
Natural, holistic approaches such as acupuncture, massage, diet, exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and CBD can help to foster quality sleep without undesirable side effects. Read More »
Exercise To Sleep By: Quell Insomnia and Nighttime Anxiety
By doing the right kind of exercise at the right time of day, we can sleep soundly all night long. Read More »
Eat Right to Sleep Well: 10 Foods Help Us Relax and Rest
Rather than popping a pill, eating certain foods can kick-start hormones that help us get a long, deep night’s sleep. Read More »
Three Ways Busy Moms Can Thrive
Life is constantly dishing up curveballs. Motherhood adds more, like mysterious rashes and toddler meltdowns in the middle of a crowded grocery store on a Saturday. Read More »
This is When the Body Rejuvenates
Our bodies can only digest a day of work, food, emotions, physical and mental demands when we sleep perfectly well. It is estimated that sleep-related problems affect 50 to 70 million Ame... Read More »
Trade Counting Sheep for Counting Breaths to Fall Asleep
Worldwide studies suggest that up to 50 percent of the world’s population suffers from a form of insomnia, while lost productivity related to insomnia costs to the U.S. economy are $63 bi... Read More »
Tidy Up the House and Reduce Clutter
Spring Decluttering: Many Benefits of Reorganizing
Getting rid of the old can by done step by step, opening up space not only in our closets but in our psyches. Read More »
A Home That Heals: Creating a Nurturing Space
Stay-at-home orders allow for the opportunity to transform your residence into a sanctuary of peace. Here are ways to reduce clutter and enhance flow to make your house feel like a sacred... Read More »
Marie Kondo on the Joy of Tidying Up: Simplicity Invites Happiness into Our Lives
By turning a conventional to-do on its head, Marie Kondo has taught millions worldwide how to gain joy by permanently de-cluttering their homes. Read More »
Feng Shui Practices for Spring
"No matter how long winter is, spring is sure to follow.” This is one of my favorite proverbs that reflects the energy of the return of spring, and a time to create a new cycle in life. Read More »
Create Art
Green Arts: Tips for Finding Safe Eco-Supplies
With a little research, we can make beautiful art and crafts using non-toxic supplies from planet-friendly sources. Read More »
Color Me Calm: Grownups De-Stress with Adult Coloring Books
We don’t have to be kids to once again take up coloring pages of inviting graphics that induce calm, improve fine motor skills and enhance our creativity. Read More »
Picture Your Future: Creating a Vision Board Makes Dreams Real
Putting together a collage that graphically illustrates your deepest hopes and desires propels a new future. Read More »
Cook Healthy Meals
Meatless Makeover: A Plant-Based Spin on Classic Dishes
How to turn classic meat recipes into healthy, plant-based versions without losing any taste or texture including vegan popcorn chicken, walnut tacos and mushroom, sage and onion Wellington. Read More »
Zenful Eating: Mindful Meals in Quiet Gratitude
How to cook more mindfully, enjoy meals more fully and eat in better balance, plus healthy recipes for Buddha Bowls and Hearty Moroccan Soup. Read More »
Recipes A Heart Will Love: Tasty Ways to Boost Heart Health
Low-fat, plant-based recipes make for a heart-healthy meal so delicious that non-vegetarians won’t even miss the meat. Read More »
Eating Healthy Without Digestive Discomfort
Summer is the time of year when more of us experience seasonal allergies, and what we choose to eat can have a direct effect on how our bodies respond to environmental allergens. Read More »
Healthy Eating: Start Young and Make It Fun!
These recipes are suitable for children of all ages, and are sure to satisfy even the youngest skeptic! Read More »
Step Outside to Your Yard
The Garden Cure: Natural Sanctuaries Heal Body and Spirit
Winding nature paths, fragrant lavender fields, heirloom-tea tasting… a world of sensory delights awaits us in America’s parks and farms. Read More »
Green Therapy: Ecopsychology and the Nature Cure
Ecotherapy, green therapy or nature-based therapy, all branches of ecopsychology, is helping to connect people with nature as a means of healing physical and mental health. Read More »
Forest Bathing: Mother Nature’s Rx for Body and Mind
What was once called ‘walking in the woods’ has a new moniker – forest bathing – as well as new research showing its unique abilities to boost our health and mood. Read More »
Clean Up!
Sustainable Scrubbing: Tips for Toxin-Free House Cleaning
Safe and effective non-toxic, green cleaning solutions using natural ingredients that are good for our health and the planet. Read More »
Think Outside the House: Expanding Spring Cleaning
Before summer heat sets in, here are ways to expand spring green cleaning to the exterior of the house, yard and car. Read More »
Listen to Music
Healing Harmonies: Music As Medicine
Music not only raises our spirits, it also reduces pain, lowers inflammation, dials down anxiety, bolsters immunity, and boosts creativity, the latest studies show. Read More »
Music as Medicine: Music Soothes, Energizes and Heals Us
Whether it involves strumming a guitar, humming, or listening to a favorite tune, music has potent healing abilities for what ails us, from depression to addiction to pain. Read More »
Meditative Melodies: How Sound Deepens Meditation
Combining music with our meditation practice can lift our spirit and enhance healing. Read More »
Just Breathe
Inhaling the Joy of Life: Conscious Breathwork
Mindfully guiding our breath back to its original rhythm helps lower stress and improve vagal tone, easing such conditions as depression, insomnia and pain syndromes. Read More »
Do Nothing
Make Time for Downtime: Chilling Out Revives Body and Soul
In this stressful era, deliberately taking time off from work, email, texting and other demands is critical to our basic well-being. Read More »
Jenny Odell on the Importance of Doing Nothing
Visual artist and writer Jenny Odell on her new book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, and why we must rebel against the seductive pull of 24/7 availability. Read More »
Doing Nothing: Why Timeouts Matter
It’s hard to take timeouts to do nothing. Yet, when we pump the brakes, we discover fresh productivity, creativity and contentment. Here are tips to reclaim the art of be-ing over do-ing. Read More »
Just for Kids
Nurturing Creative Kids: Hobbies Engage and Grow Healthy Kids
Unplugging with creative and fun activities fosters skills that can last a lifetime. Here are ways children can express themselves through arts, crafts, hobbies and more. Read More »
Books that Kids Will Love: Advice for Parents from Award-Winners
Books with strong stories and inspiring characters can entice children away from e-devices, broaden their horizons and encourage their dreams. Read More »
The Pure Joy of Play: Why Kids Need Unstructured Fun
Numerous studies show that giving kids open time for “free play” is so important that pediatricians are writing prescriptions for it. Here are ways to encourage more playtime in kids' lives. Read More »
Please note that because these articles were pulled from our archives, this content was originally produced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the majority of this material is still practical and relevant, if there is any reference to information that does not coincide with stay-at-home orders, social distancing or any other protocols surrounding the coronavirus, please disregard those sections at this time.
