6 Gorgeously Green Tips to make your home a sacred space

In a world starting to take strides to improve the environment, we are constantly hearing about the newest trend: “going green.”

As holistic health practitioners and healers, we believe that wherever you are on your wellness journey to creating healthy lifestyle, your home should be the number one place place where you can find refuge and serenity. With a few simple shifts, you’ve got a healing and rejuvenating sanctuary right at your fingertips.

To us, a scared space means clean: clean surroundings, clean sheets, clean clothes, and a clean mind.
A sacred space is free from stress and toxins.

If you think of your pad as just a place to rest your laurels at night, you’re underestimating its healing potential. Treating your home like a Zen spa, beyond a place where you eat and crash after a long day, helps you to combat the stress that makes you prone to low immunity and fatigue.

To help you create a sacred space, we are sharing our at-home rituals to ease nerves, improve nutrition, recharge energy, and rev up brainpower. Because who doesn’t want a spa day in their home, every single day?

Add your favorite fruits and some mint, basil, or cucumber to your water bottle for a cleansing, hydrating treat every day.

1. Sip Spa Water

We are always smitten with the cucumber-lime water in our favorite spa. Filling our glass water bottles creates the feeling of bliss lingering through our bodies all day. Making this refreshing spa water is so easy to do, and adds such a nice touch to your home sanctuary.
Add your favorite fruits and some mint, basil, or cucumber to your water bottle for a cleansing, hydrating treat every day.

2. Carve Out a Holy Space

Create a quiet corner that just whispers comfort and serenity. This is as easy as finding a dimly lit corner in your quietest room and arranging a few pillows there, especially those with cool green and blue hues, which are the most calming.
Place your yoga mat there, along with a meditation pillow or bolster, and perhaps some candles. Keep this sacred space free of all electronics and get into the habit of leaving your cell phone in another room whenever you enter this space.
Create a daily meditation practice for yourself, starting with just 5 minutes a day if you are brand new to the practice.
Having a routine helps to solidify the habit into a ritual. Rituals are habits made holy.

3. Breathe

We work so hard in yoga and meditation to become aware of, and control our breath, but how often do we think about what we’re actually breathing into our bodies?

Breath is so important, it is what brings us life when we are first born, and it’s the driving factor in energizing and calming our body. A study by the University of California-Davis found that, on average, we breathe a little over 10 liters of air per minute, that’s about 14,400 liters a of air going in and out of our bodies every day.
Add in some mild exercise and that number more than triples.
That’s A LOT OF AIR, so it’s important that we breathe in the best quality air!
Keeping your space dust, dander, and chemical free will ensure that you are breathing in clean air to invigorate and replenish you. Scheduling consistent, thorough cleaning and using organic cleaning products will ensure healthy breathing.

Plants take harmful chemicals in and release fresh oxygen! Bringing these greens inside your home zaps high blood pressure, stress-hormone levels, and cleans up indoor air pollution.

4. Be One with Nature

We are psyched that NASA research has shown that living green and introducing flowering plants into your home can remove several toxic chemicals from the air. Through its own natural photosynthetic process, one plant can purify up to 100 square feet of toxins such as formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide.
The plants take these harmful chemicals in and release fresh oxygen!
Bringing these greens inside your home zaps high blood pressure, stress-hormone levels, and cleans up indoor air pollution, stripping common allergens from the air you breathe. Using plants as purifiers is great for reducing our carbon footprint, and they add a beautiful touch to your décor.

We opt for hard-to-kill varieties such as Aloe Vera and Peace Lilies, which are not only excellent air cleaners, but thrive if we forget to water them in between teaching yoga and wellness coaching appointments. According to NASA, the best air purifying plants are Aloe Vera, Bamboo Palm, Chinese Evergreen, English Ivy, Gerbera Daisy, Pot Mum, and Peace Lily. Having green plants in your home also creates the feeling of “living energy” which will uplift you throughout the day.

5. Daily cleaning, it’s a must!

Tidy as you go to prevent messes and buildup of dirty clothes, dust, mail, and personal belongings. Even if you don’t feel it, messes create added stress!
Avoid them by being mindful and take the extra moment to put things away. You’ll thank yourself for taking a few minutes to tidy up now, instead of taking hours later when you’d have a huge mess to tackle.
When you enter your sanctuary, it should feel open, and should invite you to relax and unwind.

When we work from home, we like to burn incense or have a diffuser with essential oils. Sandalwood and lavender help drift the stress away.

6. Invigorate Your Senses

See – Your own photography from travels past brings back memories and comfort. Place framed prints from your favorite trips around your home. We particularly like having them printed in black and white.

Taste – Our favorite spas are always stocked with complimentary fruit. Step it up a notch at your home retreat with plenty of green juices, smoothies and fresh fruits. We love having a colorful array of fruit in a basket on the table to remind us of nature’s beautiful bounty.

Smell – When we work from home, we like to burn incense or have a diffuser with essential oils. Sandalwood and lavender help drift the stress away.

Hear – Playing soft, beautiful music as you work at home, prepare meals, dine, and relax helps to raise the vibration of the body, in turn helping you to feel nurtured, loved, and at peace.

Touch – Outfit your couch and bed with organic cotton or bamboo throws. There is nothing more soothing than laying on the couch wrapped up in the embrace of a comfortable, soft blanket.

We encourage you to incorporate these simple green tips into your home routine to create your own personal sanctuary.
To beautiful spa days, every day,

Sarah Anne + Fern Olivia