Day Seven Challenge: Epsom Salt Soak
After a week of focusing on our health, we deserve some pampering. Today we will focus on soaking away stress with an epsom salt bath.
If you don’t have the ability to soak in a tub, you can fill a large container with some warm water to soak your feet. Immersing your whole body is ideal, but if you don’t HAVE a bathtub, or are short on time, this will help you relax just as well.
What are the health benefits of taking an epsom salt bath:
Helps support a more restful sleep
Helps soothe sore muscles
Detoxifying to the body
Epsom salt is rich in magnesium. Magnesium is an important mineral for our body and we need it to function properly. Soaking in an epsom salt bath is a great way for it to be absorbed by the tissues of our body. It’ll leave your skin feeling silky and soft. You’ll also feel very relaxed. It’s a great way to relieve stress and take care of your skin at the same time.
So what kind of epsom salt should you use?
First, I recommend epsom salt that doesn’t contain any fragrance, even the ones pre-scented with essential oils. The reason is most fragrances are synthetic and perfume based. You certainly don’t want to be soaking in chemicals through your open pores. Also, essential oils generally are cut with some sort of synthetic and filler, making the far majority on the market not pure. This is why it’s important to purchase from a company with rigorous standards of purity, like the ones we purchase from doTERRA. doTERRA goes above and beyond industry standards of purity and sets the bar much higher. It’s why you’ll find their essential oils can be used in cooking and baking. The essential oils you see on the back label of an epsom salt bag have unknown purity standards and it’s safe to say they’re probably doing more harm than good. Get the plain epsom salts and add your own pure oils to them. You can play around with blends and choose essential oils to add based on their health benefits as well!
Here is a bath salt recipe to try:
1 cup of epsom salt
1/2 cup of baking soda
5-6 drops of lavender essential oil
Add to a warm bath and soak for 20 minutes or more.
Some of my other favorite bath essential oils and blends are:
Lavender + madagascar vanilla
Lavender + Frankincense
Juniper Berry + cedarwood
Adaptiv or Serenity
I hope you enjoy this challenge today. Taking the time to love yourself more can come with some challenges (especially if you have small children!), but it’s always worth it. Self care isn’t selfish, in fact it’s vital to showing up your best. Motherhood especially is constantly demanding and we need to remember we need the time to recharge, just like you need to charge your phone when the battery is low. You are much more important than a phone. Your family needs you at 100%. Take the time to soak away the stress. Add in the essential oils and just relax.
Remember, it’s for your health.