Time Out

Time Out this February.

Between the valentine cinnamon hearts, gold and red dragons of Chinese New Year and family weekend getaways, there is a little known and seldom celebrated personal getaway to indulge in this winter: Adult Time-Out.

This month, I invite you to discover this simple yet effective healing technique. Save yourself from undue stress, winter blahs and even work burnout.

Take a time out today.

Embrace space, the final frontier. The word ‘final’ may seem so final. You are right. It is. As a healthy, mature adult, you surely recognize that certain times in your life you must take a step back, if you want to keep moving forward. You need a break. Hit pause on life. Embracing this moment of space in time is not about watching back to back episodes of Star Trek. Nor is it about day dreaming of flying through space on the Starship Enterprise, discovering galaxies. Embracing space is the act of embracing emptiness, quietude and solitude in your day. It is you welcoming down time. It is an intentional lack of programming and complete disconnect from the world around you, at least for a short period of time.

take an adult time out blog post on breath work with the healing muse

But what is space?

Madhya is a Sanskrit word that references the pause or the space between something, like the breath. Learn more about Madhya here.

Can you follow your breath to the end? No. There is no end. Yet, at some point, your inhalation stops and exhalation begins. How does that happen? There must be a pause.

But where is the pause?

There must be a proverbial end to the inhalation of breath. The pause, a moment of moving from inhaling to exhaling, is a moment of opportunity. It is where life is limitless. This moment can be a millisecond, several seconds, up to even three minutes in length. Very experienced divers can deep-dive for five minutes (or longer) underwater, before surfacing for their next breath. (explore deep-diving perspectives here) That is a long pause indeed. We don’t have to take is so far! Just a short increase of pausing 10-15 seconds between inhalation and exhalation and repeating this for five minutes will do. Put a timer on and give it a go. That’s about ten breaths total. It’s so simple, anyone can do it.

This space between two actions, such as in-breath and out-breath, is your personal escape.

It is you choosing an opportunity for deep relaxation, solace, healing and direct stress reduction. Embracing a longer pause in any activity or between activities can shift you from serving to thriving. It can promote a sense of well-being and offers you control over your environment – your body. After all, you are in charge of your breath, the errands in your day and the number of activities on your calendar.

Since it may seem daunting to reduce events on your social, work or family calendars this February, start with a short time-out instead.

Your time is YOUR TIME.

Your Adult time out can be as simple as ten minutes in a quiet room, focusing only on the sound of your breath and slowing down your breaths to five breaths per minute. In 2018, a systematic review in the journal of Frontiers of Human Science, was titled: How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life. This review of the included studies on breath work, concluded that voluntarily slowing down the breath “increased comfort, relaxation, pleasantness, vigor and alertness, and reduced symptoms of arousal, anxiety, depression, anger, and confusion.”

In summary, Adult Time-Out is good for you.

Slowing down and allowing more space between your actions directly improves your quality of life. Just taking a handful of deep breaths, in a time-out (yes, you can even sit in the corner if you want to) can reduce your anxiety and help you get through a tough day. If you need more proof, read the latest article in Salk News, November 19, 2024: “Neuroscientists discover how the brain slows anxious breathing”. In between ski trips, Costco shopping hauls and running errands, find yourself a little nook hideaway and indulge in a self-imposed Adult Time-Out. It’s good for you.

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.”

– Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries 1941-1943, 1983

Is your life in the fast lane? related blog-read next

Add your smile to your Inspired Living toolbox:

September 25, 2024September 25, 2024

Letting Go

Letting go…of leaves, hurtful habits, outdated patterns, failed beliefs, old ways of thinking.

Fall lessons.

Season for Change – Leaves are falling. Trees are letting go.

The winds of change are here.
Fall is perhaps my favourite season to enjoy watching change in action: it is so colourful.

Autumn leaves on forested hillsides and in ravines are so pleasing and inviting. Fall hiking on Ontario trails is breathtaking and invigorating. William Cullen Bryant writes:

‘Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile’

(Or does he? When researching this quote, I discovered that it was his brother, John H Bryant, who actually wrote the poem “The Indian Summer” with that line.)

Lesson I learned?

go to the source always, to find the truth in life. Coincidentally, Willam Cullen Bryant’s poetry, with themes of nature and changes in life, has been described as a metaphor for truth. I can’t think of a better way to spend a fall day than brewing a hot cup of apple cider, wrapped up in my favourite sweater and reading a few stanzas of poetry about the beauty of nature that surrounds me. Great place to read more of William Cullen Bryant’s poetry is here

Yes, this is the perfect time of year to don your favourite sweater, clean out your closet, embrace the change in weather and adopt a slower pace in your life. Can you do that?

I’ve noticed that at times I struggle with change.

Letting go and ‘turning over a new leaf’ is scary. I watch the change unfold in nature and see how I forget to trust this process. Maybe you are the same. Maybe you have worked really hard at building something or learning a way to live and changing that is just overwhelming.

letting go and walking away can be scary healing muse inspired living life lessons

It is in our nature to hold on to what we have found, created, built and not want to let go.
– Healing Muse

3 main ways in which we hold on:

With our physical hands, we hold on to tangible items we need, want or love such as homes, cars, clothes, food, mementos, gifts, art and everything in between.

We hold on with our minds to beliefs, patterns, habits, rules and past teachings.

And, of course, we all hold on to feelings, experiences, memories in our body, in our heart and mind. All of this holding is natural. It has allowed us to explore new lands, create evolving societies and built communities.

Watch my vlog exercise on 3 steps to intentional change:

So why bother ‘turning over a new leaf’ this season?

Does it help in any way? Yes, it does. Change with the seasons. Connecting with the energy of fall allows you to practice letting go of outdated patterns, discard clothes you don’t need, declutter a home overrun with ‘stuff’ and even release old hurts, anger, sadness, or grief, from your tired heart. When you embrace change with intention, it puts you in the driver’s seat.

willow of change fall colours at old mill and humber river inspired living with the healing muse photography by monika meulman

Welcome something new, such as learning a new language, beginning a new friendship or test a new way of going to work. This builds a stronger body and mind.

Choosing this change

allows you more control
feeling this sense of control has been shown to reduce your stress and anxiety (related to change)
allows you to set the pace
brings you into harmony with life

See this season of change as empowering.

Invite Autumn with all her brilliant colours to remind you what change offers: a multitude of options, new paths, heart-warming experiences, sensory richness and growth. True, letting go of anything can be painful. What we have in our life matters. What changes, like the seasons, is the purpose, the support, the structure and even the meaning of what we have in our life.

Keep Shifting – Letting Go opens you up to growth and expansion

Unlike nature, we forget to keep shifting. We forget the necessity of daily change. We do the same things for days, weeks, maybe even years. Go back to the lessons of nature, at least once a season. Start today. Observe her changes. Watch. Breathe in this change. Taking time to introspect and invite changes into your own life. This practice is helpful, healing, strengthening and invaluable to moving forward.

Healing Muse workshops small groups, corporate, online and community centre seminars available on health, wellness, plants, gardens, mindfulness, breath work, body mind connection

As your feet crunch along the sidewalks littered with fallen leaves, know in your heart that all that matters and all that is important remains with you. Like the trees shedding leaves, you only need to let go of small bits and pieces. The moment you do, new life begins to germinate in your heart, mind and body.

“Growth and comfort do not coexist.” — Ginni Rometty

In case you get cold easily like me and want to heat up already, read my ‘Heat up this winter’ post

February 24, 2024February 24, 2024

Why Meditate

Meditate. Why?

To make room in your mind to create from your heart. When your mind and heart are friends, beautiful events unfold in your life.

“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”
— Eckhart Tolle

Meditate. When?

Anytime you have a spare 5 minutes.

Sit. Walk. Rest. Eat. In meditation.

Meditate. How?

Pick a point of interest. Sunrise. Cactus. Your cat. A tree.

Look at it gently and breathe.

“If you want to understand Zen easily, just be mindless, wherever you are, twenty-four hours a day, until you spontaneously merge with the Way. This is what an ancient worthy called ‘the mind not touching things, the steps not placed anywhere.’ ” (Ying-an)

Through meditation you see how…
your mind is to be taught and instructed 
While your heart is to be opened and shared 
your body is to be moved
and your spirit is to be honoured

Or, count breaths in and out slowly.

Put a timer on to give your mind comfort knowing you will not get ‘stuck’ in meditation or ‘forget to live the rest of your life’ or run late for work.

#thatsit #inspiredliving with the #healingmuse

Need help deciphering your way in life and living mindfully? Book a session

Link to book here

introspective-awaness-and-learning-to-reconnect-with-your-self-learn-here-with-the-healing-muse-contact-us-

Learn Meditation for Practitioners

Online, aromatherapy, self guided course. Contact me for more details here

Excerpt from Course modules:

Learn meditation practices to increase mindfulness, reduce stress, improve life balance,

Utilizing the strength and instant power and connection with essential oil aromatics.
Teach connection between breath, aromatic use, and mindful focus for increasing healing long term effects and provide practitioners with a multidisciplinary tool to teach clients home coping and home healing methods.

Provide guidance and system for introducing meditation practice and aromatic blending into the practitioner’s healing modalities.

February 23, 2024January 27, 2025

Heat up this Winter

This February, let’s turn the heat up, way up.

(written for South Etobicoke News, February 2024 Natural Health and Wellness Column)

Heat up this Winter

The coldest day of the year is usually in February and this year is no exception, according to Farmer’s Almanac. When celebrating Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, Family Day or just good old Groundhog Day (hoping for early spring anyone?), turn up the heat naturally! To cope with this extra long (that’s right Leap Year!) month, take on the February ‘Turn up the Heat’ challenge.

Did you know that February 29th is celebrated as National Time Refund Day? All your Pisces friends finally get an extra day in their birthday sign to celebrate. On the flip side, who can we blame for adding another day to our winter? With winter dragging on, it is all the more reason to learn how to turn up the heat in our body, the way nature intended.

Heat up, how?

How can you increase your internal heat this winter? And, in turn successfully take on the ‘Turn up the Heat’ challenge?

Heat up this Winter hot chilies can do the trick - heat up your body in a tasty way — hot chilies can do the trick – heat up your body in a tasty way!

Heat up this Winter – Way UP

The fastest way to turn up your thermostat is to exercise. But before you groan and dismiss this sage advice, read on. Exercise can be a brisk walk outdoors – yes outdoors. The cold air does the body good. Add on extra steps by skipping the escalator or elevator and do stairs instead. Regular exercise stimulates heat in the body.

You don’t have to become a gym rat.

Just get off the warm, cozy sofa and get all your steps in. Your body generates heat from exercise, any exercise. If you add in some weights, you can increase your metabolism 5 to 15 times your resting metabolic rate. This ‘burn’ continues for several hours in your body, which means you feel warmer overall AND you are also burning more calories. It’s really win-win if you plan on celebrating this month’s festivities with a night out!

Ready to embrace a more radical approach? You could go all in and embrace the coldest month in the coldest way possible: ice baths. Take the polar dip to the next level and dip into a bathtub full of cold water and ice once a week. It may be time for you to join all the Wim Hof lovers out there. Plunging your body into an ice bath or just tolerating a cold shower for 2 minutes activates your brown fat thermostat and turns up the heat. This heat lasts for several hours and help your brown fat respond better and faster. Set the timer and just do it.

Time is on your side. Put the timer on and do it.

Or avoid the agony of freezing baths and…get hotter naturally by creating healthy fat in your body. That’s right I just said make more fat! Choose brown fat. Your body actually contains a very small percentage of brown fat compared to white fat, yet the brown fat (also called brown adipose tissue) is needed to help you stay warm. It is activated in cold temperatures. Studies also suggest that fruits like apples and dried fruits can stimulate the production of brown adipose fat – though the jury is still out on this one. What if…there is another way to reduce white fat and make it more ‘productive’. Read on.

Enhance your thermoregulation in the most enjoyable way: eat your heat. If you have not yet enjoyed Winterlicious, the annual Toronto Festival of Winter Dining is the perfect venue for you. With over 200 restaurants across the GTA offering Prix Fixe (a complete meal at a set price) between January 26 to February 8, there’s no time to lose.

Your Mission is..

Your mission is to turn up your heat by selecting at least 3 restaurants that offer hot, spicy, well seasoned foods! You know, this is a sure fire-way (pun intended) to beat the winter blahs, speed through February and enjoy every moment. For all the foodies out there, you are encouraged to hashtag your favourite Winterlicious meals with #LiciousTO. By the way, February 4th is officially National Homemade soup day. Your bonus health challenge this month is to find a favourite new eatery that serves up the best ‘homemade’ style soup with chilies , cayenne or ginger. Ginger Pho anyone?

Thermogenics anyone?

Spices that heat up your body are called thermogenic. Whether you eat them in a Piquant Pad Thai or enjoy them in a Spicy Matcha Latte, they help your body produce heat through metabolic stimulation. Though there is no magic potion to help you lose weight, increasing thermogenic foods in your diet, combined with regular exercise is the powerhouse combo this February. Hot on the heels of well-intentioned January resolutions, this can be your hottest and healthiest month if you choose wisely. Start with these top heat inducing spices in your every day diet: black pepper, cayenne, ginger, cumin and turmeric.

Need more convincing to spice up your life? Some studies have shown that green tea and spicy chilies (and other foods with capsaicin) may activate thermogenesis or trigger fat oxidation. Oxidation is the browning of white fat. Combine regular exercise with spicy meals and your January resolution to be healthier is guaranteed to be a success.

Turn up the heat and you will have winter beat in no time at all. Let me know how your February ‘Turn up the Heat’ challenge turns out. Email me at monika@healingmuse.com with your experience.

“He who controls the spice controls the universe.” — Frank Herbert

“Black pepper is necessary to absorb the key antioxidants in most spices and foods..” — Steven Gundry

———————

Monika Meulman
Intuitive Living Guide – Online Intuitive Healing Sessions
Living Zen Workshops @healingmuse

store@healingmuse.com

Feeling over heated? Need to cool down? read my Our Iced Tea with Flowers blog next

February 20, 2024February 20, 2024

Intuitive Healing Sessions

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness. – Bertrand Russell

Ready to dive into the divine growth of spring?

What is Intuitive Healing?

A meditation based support session designed to invite Inspired Healing on every level. Together, we welcome intentional living and loving, personal acceptance in love, kindness, compassion, and peace within. I have been practicing and developing my body reading skills for over 25 years. I utilize the energetics and plant medicine of reflexology, aromatherapy, meditative breath, body balance and structure, body language in movement, flow and sound.

We can connect online or in-person (locations vary with my travel itinerary every season)

Book session or inquire here

Fee Schedule for Intuitive Healing Sessions

1 Hour ONLINE Intuitive Healing Session	$150 + HST
1 Hour IN-PERSON Intuitive Healing Session	$250+ HST
6 SERIES – 6X 1 Hour ONLINE Intuitive Healing Sessions * SAVE $105	$795 + HST
6 SERIES – 6X 1 Hour IN-PERSON Intuitive Healing Sessions * SAVE $205	$1295 + HST

In an Intuitive Healing Session:

You are guided to see better with all your senses
Your body, heart and mind learn to speak well together
We go over the language of your body, heart and mind
Every step of your journey is connected for you
A recording of your session is provided for future learning
A series of homework exercises is provided based on our Exploratory Session time together
You receive a 4-6 week homework study plan to keep learning and expanding your heart, body and mind connection.

intuitive healing sessions with the Healing Muse

Intuitive Healing Discoveries Include One or More of the following:

Body Awareness

breath & space, expansion, how breath opens closed spaces
water = movement & flow, how water promotes changes and helps us move through difficulty and promotes growth
pain = talk & speech of our body, it is our native language which allows us to communicate clearly within our body
The Safety – Fat Storage Our body creates fat for so many reasons and is vital to our survival in many ways
body = map of life, 3 dimensions view, assessment of how our experiences work in our 3 dimensional physical space

Heart Awareness

love vs fear = expansion vs contraction, how do we use these, how do we see them, how we ignore them or forget about them
awareness = responsibility, once we know something not acting on it, when action is required creates destructive patterns in our body, in our lives,
intimacy = awareness + action, taking action on knowledge, wisdom and awareness creates a deep connection within us and also a deep connection to our outside world, our bodies, other living beings.
Road blocks = come as screaming pain, numbness, recurring traumas, must follow Maslow’s guide for basic survival, then move upward to higher satisfaction levels of learning
Safety Zones = FAT, fat loss, toxin storage, exposure, surrender, allowing, comfort, the truth in needing.

Mind Awareness

Balance = work & play, mind, body & spirit, external vs internal worlds
Moving Forward = building passion, building desire, creating goals, practicing discipline, establishing new patterns & habits, compassion growth to self
101 ways to practice self-care, body reading, life balance tips. ex. red lights pauses, long lines, sitting & waiting, wrong orders
Changes – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, how to deal with them
Rest vs Action – when to act & give, when to rest & receive
Resistance vs Flow – when to work with pressure, when to step aside
Creating your Vision, and multi-level goals
Full Circle – back to your breath, everyday being

Intuitive Healing Sessions Teach You to:

– Check in

– Listen daily

– Allow healing (rest)

– Welcome growth (rest)

– Invite power (pressure)

– Test your limits (resistance)

January 6, 2024January 6, 2024

Take a Leap of Faith

taking time to see the next steps ahead looks like this, taking a leap of faith

Your New Year Resolution: TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH

A leap of faith is the best New Year resolution for you.
This year honour yourself with a resolution that is sensible, ambitious and achievable.

Taking a leap of faith requires no actual time or money. It is literally a resolution of belief in something: FAITH. It is elemental in pursuing excellence, success or goals on any level.

Take a Leap of Faith and Step into 2024 with a New Resolution to thrive

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.
– Rabindranath Tagore

What is a leap of faith if not a beginning into the unknown.

As January unfolds so does a brand new year. We learn to celebrate the last day of each year since ‘we made it through’, some of us with flying colours (What does that even mean? The idiom comes from nautical terminology and refers to times when ships would return home to safety with their flags flying in the wind). By that token, January 1st presents us the great uncharted territory of this new year. Undeniably, we all set sail on the seas of a new year together.

Time is the great equalizer. None of us can set sail on a new day before anyone else.

Want a New Year Resolution that really makes sense? (but does not lean on facts) : Take a leap of faith. I’ll tell you why. Hundreds of programs teach you how to improve your life and this month they are marketing to you, with glitz, glamour, discounts, value ads and all kinds of promises.

“Come get this, buy this, enjoy this, get better with this”.

And on and on it goes. Then, how do you choose which program, latest diet or nutritional supplement will help you get healthy or sleep better?
What podcast teaches you the fastest, where do you need to focus your energy?

taking a leap of faith means following what's in your heart

pausing to breathe in life on top of Bear Wallow Mountain.
Toulie and The Healing Muse, lead by example.

Who knows the way?

you must allow time for the view to clear
you must make space for new paths on your life journey
you must invite the way to come to you

When our New Year resolution revolves around a healthy new habit, most of us fail. We fail to follow through on new actions, well because they are new. Often, we fail to reach our goal. Let’s be honest, that’s not a good way to start this year.

Faith is here to save the day (err, year).

When we have faith, we choose to believe we can do something. Action is the key to success. With faith, we also have the strength to believe we can be someone different today than we were yesterday. That is a crucial step in achieving our goal, any goal. In a 2009 JSTOR journal article on Faith and Goodness (by J.E.R. Staddon, Duke University) “Science…cannot tell us what to value[JS & MH may not agree], just how to get it”. In other words, our faith and belief system dictates what we value and the facts around us, the programs, the workshops, the myriad of ‘get better’ options just show us how.

If you don’t believe you can do it…’just do it’ doesn’t usually work.

Without faith in your life, you may feel lost at sea when help isn’t close at hand. To step confidently into this new year, practice faith daily.

How to practice building your faith?

Follow these three steps, action steps.

Clearly write out your belief. ‘I believe I can walk more than 10000 steps a day. I have faith in me’
Set aside 2x a day, everyday when you sit and remind yourself of your faith. Draw on your belief in spiritual origins, your religion, your culture or nature. This is usually in the form of a journal, prayer and/or meditation.
Allow your connection to your spiritual community, religious group or tribe to support you daily, weekly, monthly in meetings and events. Growing your community grows your faith.

taking time to journal your thoughts and vision for 2024, new year resolutions supports your faith, your belief and supports you

taking time to sit with your steps and journalling is worth a thousand and one words.

Need a helping hand with your leap of faith – Connect with me for in an online Life Guidance session

Note that faith AND action are needed to pursue a target or a goal.

Set your resolution to be: I believe in faith religiously. FAITH and RELIGIOUSLY I pair together to get your attention. Faith is not religion and religion is not faith. They complement each other. To adopt an action religiously means ‘in a regular manner’, choosing this new habit regularly, regardless of feeling, inspiration or motivation. We choose it because we believe we must. That is the fundamental pillar of any goal oriented program.

Whether we have Faith in a particular religion or in nature, or even in science does not matter. What matters is that we cultivate Faith. Just like cultivating compassion helps it grow, nourishing and choosing our faith regularly strengthens it.

With faith in our hearts, or by our side (wherever we choose to keep it) we can excel. Faith is the compass direction for our next step. Before you take on yet another New Year Resolution, I ask you: what do you believe? Do you believe in yourself? How will you define your faith today?

In that answer you will find your ideal first step toward your goal. Cultivate faith today and every day this month and you can guarantee yourself a successful beginning in the year 2024.

Faith is building on what you know is here so you can reach what you know is there. – Cullen Hightower

faith image source: uua.org/re/tapestry/children/windows/session3

___________________________________

Monthly natural health and wellness column written for South Etobicoke News.
Would you like a natural health focus in your next newsletter, workshop or marketing news? Email me for collaborations, projects, articles.

November 14, 2023November 14, 2023

Learning Awareness

Learning awareness is not all that natural, but it is learned. We tend to move toward automation and reducing awareness over time. Learning awareness is a practice that we cultivate. A practiced awareness is a skill we use in every aspect of our life. No breath is ever wasted – it brings life. Likewise, no moment dedicated to increasing awareness is every wasted – it brings richness to our life.

Where does learning awareness begin? here (read instructions below)

It begins at the beginning. To get there:
Simplify simplify simplify
clarify clarify clarify

How does one start practicing awareness?

Simplify simplify simplify
clarify clarify clarify

and focus

zen mind is not empty, it is simply free flowing and allows us to be aware of the thoughts passing through like cars on a highway. Learning awareness allows this to be

zen mind is not empty, 
it is simply free flowing 
it allows us to be aware of the thoughts passing through like cars on a highway. 
Learning awareness allows this to be

– The Healing Muse

What is awareness?

the state or condition of being aware; having knowledge; consciousness
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/awareness

Where does awareness begin?

Our heart is the driving force of who we are. But our mind governs what we choose day to day.
Let us begin at the beginning. We begin by looking into our mind. How?
We look within and take a moment to pause and look around.
Simple, profound, doable. All that is needed is: time

Begin at the beginning.

I ask you to step as far back to the beginning as you possibly can, from a simple daily chore.
Look at something like washing a simple dish or folding your favourite sweater or brushing your hair. Choose one as a starting point for practising the simplest, most familiar and natural behaviour pattern within you. Do it. Slower. Again with more attention. Attention is the gateway to awareness. Practicing and learning awareness begins like this.

Do it daily.

Need a helping hand?

No matter what path you are on in life, at times you need a helping hand.
You benefit from opening to a new way.
You thrive by allowing a shift in perspective.
It is possible to excel with additional insight.
Choose to live inspired with an introspective moment.
——-
Let’s do it together.
Learn awareness, listening and growth with me, your life guide, an intuitive healer.
Simply here to provide insight into your version of Inspired Living.

—— want to know more?
Contact me for a 15 minute insightful conversation.

Or join us for our monthly Inspired Living Chat – the last Wednesday of every month. Learn more here
#letsbegin #starthere
#Inspiredliving #inspiredhealing #healingmuse #thehealingmuse

September 2, 2023September 2, 2023

Iced Tea with Flowers

perfect iced tea starts here with garden flowers

blue cornflower in our blue crane iced tea makes you a culinary summer bbq wizard add fresh flowers as the stir stick

Our Iced Tea with Flowers

is the perfect recipe for Sangria Sunshine and delight in a glass! You must try this Iced Tea with a Twist, created by The Healing Muse

Send us a photo of your favourite iced tea with flowers and iced tea ice cubes, when you try this how to guide.

iced tea with flowers ice cubes with geranium rose petals and pansies frozen for the perfect iced tea

We’ve added fuschias, daisies, begonias, geranium, lavender, rosehip flower & white purple clematis to ours.

ICED TEA WITH FLOWERS RECIPE

CHOOSE YOUR FAVOURITE TEA/TISANE/HERB
BREW ACCORDING TO TEMPERATURE AND TIME (SEE QUICK REFERENCE AT THE BOTTOM OF OUR BLOG POST)
STRAIN (IF USING FRESH OR DRIED LOOSE PLANT MATERIAL)
COOL IN THE FRIDGE
COLLECT YOUR FAVOURITE EDIBLE FLOWERS (SEE MORE HOW-TO BELOW)
POUR SOME OF YOUR BREWED TEA INTO ICE CUBE TRAY
ADD IN A FEW SELECT FLOWERS INTO THE ICE CUBE TRAY
FREEZE
ADD YOUR GORGEOUS, COLOURFUL ICED TEA ICE CUBES TO YOUR TEAS
GARNISH WITH AN EDIBLE FLOWER STALK, CINNAMON, HONEY STICK OR SUGARED SPOON

Pro tip for the Perfect Edible flowers:

Edible flowers must be organic (grow your own! or share with your neighbhours)

Always avoid flowers from locations with herbicides, pesticides, sprays, nurseries, hybrid show flowers,

Growing your own edible flowers from seed – connect with seed libraries, like Toronto West: LEGS (Lakeshore Environmental Gardening Society online seed library, to get safe seeds)

Pro tip for iced tea cubes with flowers:

You can also add mint, basil, rosemary, or any of your favourite garden herbs!

As the ice thaws, it will slowly change the flavour profile of your drink, making every sip fun and exciting!

Did you know:
If you’re using your herbal ice cubes for fresh iced tea or sangria, add tea to your ice cube tray for less dilution once melted.

herbal tea iced tea ice cubes with flowers how to step use ice tray with your favourite flower and brewed tea

herbal tea iced tea ice cubes with flowers step:
use ice tray with your favourite flower & brewed tea

steep the perfect cup of iced tea with our iced tea ice cubes recipe this summer — Steep the perfect cup of iced tea with our iced tea ice cubes recipe this summer!

Iced Tea with Flowers – try these

A list of our favourite edible wild flowers is:

Calendula & Echinacea

Day Lily & Wild Roses

Chamomile & Mint

Iced Tea Sangria: Iced Tea Ice Cubes are the Secret!

We profile the rich, golden hues of Blue Crane Tea, from Misty Mountain Tea Company. It is perfect for herbal blending with Blue Cornflower for that herb rich flavour in your next Exotic Sangria!

Pro tip:
Use the Atlantis Tea (with butterfly blue flowers) for an ethereal ‘‘Ice Blue’ Tea and Iced Cubes!

(side note: current Blue Cornflower teas on Misty Mountain website can be found here)

#herbalicecubes #edibleplants #edibleflowers #freshicedtea #diycocktails #diykitchen #gardentokitchen #healingmuse #apothecary #healingmuseapothecary #aromatherapy #besthealinggiftstore #besthealinggifshop #icedtea #freshmadeicedtea #herbalicedtea #flowericecubes #herbalicecubes #fancyicecubes #edibleflowers #icedteasangria #sangriarecipe #thebesticedtea #thebestsangria #summertimefavourites #apothecaryrecipe #apothecaryfun

Check out our Instagram recipes and posts here
(originally we posted this on Instagram – July 21, 2020)

Did you know – Tea Facts

all tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant
2 main varietals are available (C. sinensis var. sinensis and C. sinensis var. assamica)
temperature makes a difference in the flavour of the tea
some teas are best made fromwholeleaves/materials
some teas (many herbals and barks) are best made from crushed leaves/plant materials
in Asia, ‘black tea’ is usually referred to as Red Tea
drinking tea in a clear glass is preferred, when you wish to see the quality of the tea leaves by the colour it is

How to Brew the perfect cup of tea, tisane, infusion?

tea steeping tip water temperature for the perfect cup of tea
(photo: www.pinterest.ca/pin/152770612334239696/)

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