Welcome to a new month! February 1st marked Imbolc, the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox; the days are getting a little longer and in my neck of the woods, we are experiencing a temporary thaw. We are halfway there everyone! In my personal history, this is also the time that I tend to catch some bug that is floating around the community. The cold, wet, and damp season is a perfect breeding ground for viruses to travel and linger as we begin to peek our heads out of our hibernation holes. Although we may be chomping at the bit to embrace spring energy by ditching dry January, accepting more social invitations, and loosening the reigns on our routines around health, our bodies plead otherwise. I’m not saying you need to totally hunker down - in fact, my social calendar for the month is starting to look much more active - but I am saying that we need to keep a mindful attitude about continuing to care for ourselves to support our immune system. Think of it as one last ‘push’ to keep a slower pace until spring.
Our immune system is our body's natural defence system, it interacts with our internal environment, protects us from our external environment, and provides the inherent knowledge to sense the difference between friend and faux: bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, and other pathogens it recognizes as foreign and different from the body’s normal healthy cells. Its job is essentially to recognize self from non-self - spiritual much?! Immunity is optimal when we supply the body with necessary nutrients, take time to rest and recreate, and try to avoid immune system stressors and suppressors that weaken our natural and vital energy circulation which include:
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