Aromatherapy | These plants that wish us well

The cold, the early arrival of night and viruses are all excuses to slow down and take care of yourself. Aromatherapy accompanies us in this new cadence with its beneficial swirls and cozy treatments.

Focus on being

Last spring, Selv Rituel attracted the public’s attention with a well-being campaign in which the brand’s president, Sarah Laroche, displayed her “100% confident” body, round and naked, with her bulges proudly included, on large-format posters: an uninhibited look on oneself, the fruit of the reflection of a former fashion stylist who chose to pamper her body and celebrate it, rather than forcing it to fit into a mold “chosen by whom and why?” », she then suggested in an interview with The Press.

Selv Ritual maintains its mission of self-benevolence with Baths, a first work which immerses us (literally) in its cozy universe with a suggestion of rituals for bathing, showering and the body. Sarah Laroche presents 80 treatment recipes to concoct yourself to pamper yourself from head to toe. She adds her thoughts and suggestions for music, drinks and readings suited to the moment, take it or leave it.

Very nicely illustrated, the universe is inspiring and makes you want to abandon yourself to these sweet rituals. In this nesting time, the invitation is welcome. The recipes are simple to make and the ingredients, for the most part, easy to find in pharmacies, in natural product stores or online, on the Selv Rituel website.

Baths – Time for yourself, one ritual at a time

Sarah Laroche

Les Éditions de l’Homme

225 pages

Autumn comfort

What to do with those mashed pumpkins once Halloween is over? Latte baths with fall spices!

Ingredients

• 1/2 can (398 ml size) or 200 ml pumpkin puree
• 5 ml (1 tsp) powdered ginger
• 5 ml (1 tsp) powdered nutmeg
• 5ml (1 vs. tsp) cardamom powder
• 1 liter (4 cups) of plant-based milk (suggestion: almond)
• 3 or 4 cinnamon sticks
• 4 star anise
• 30 ml (2 tbsp.) baking soda
• 4 or 5 mini pumpkins (in season)
• 5 or 6 orange flowers (suggestion: lily, gerbera, orange rose, bignone, nasturtium)

Preparation

1. In a blender, combine the pumpkin puree and powdered spices. To book.
2. In a saucepan, heat the vegetable milk over medium heat. When it starts to smoke, add the pumpkin spice puree. Mix with a whisk or hand mixer until a smooth texture is obtained. Continue to heat without boiling.
3. Fill the bath with water.
4. Add, in order, the warm milk mixture, cinnamon sticks, star anise, baking soda and mini pumpkins.
5. Remove the petals from each flower and place them in the bath.

full immersion

Read : Small stormsby Valérie Chevalier

Watch: You have a message (vf of You’ve Got Mail), by Nora Ephron

Listen: Feist’s discography

Drink: a latte with autumn spices

Local species

Aside from balsam fir and black spruce, few of our resources are known and used in aromatherapy, observes Stéphanie Plamondon, who is remedying the situation with a first reference work on aromatic plants and essential oils from Quebec, Noble essences.

Specializing in medical anthropology and ethnobotany, the author is also the head of the natural products company Noblessence and the school of scientific aromatherapy, which she founded. It is with rigor that she approaches this exhaustive guide which has the relevance of making us see our fields and forests as a universe of possibilities.

With its vast natural territory, Quebec is a fertile land for the development of medicinal and aromatic plants, she argues. Noble essences testifies to this. The book focuses on elements of history, etymology and traditional herbalism and accompanies us, with supporting photos and illustrations, in the identification of these aromatic plants in nature.

Twenty local essential oils are presented, as are around fifty recipes for preparing them into body, therapeutic or household products. Initiates will be interested in the scientific elements, however popularized, and in the therapeutic or cosmetic properties of these plants. Newbies will find concoctions that are easier to make – from massage oil to bath teas, beard oil and cleansing pastes.

The therapeutic properties sought in the world’s essential oils are mostly found in local aromatic plants. We will also focus on the table of equivalences which allows products from elsewhere to be replaced by those from here: an ecological choice which also makes it possible to reduce commercial pressure on certain aromatic plants around the world, underlines the author of this complete aromatherapy guide, Quebec version.

Noble essences – Guide to aromatic plants and essential oils of Quebec

Stéphanie Plamondon

Quebec America

290 pages

Gardening soap with conifers

An invigorating and antiseptic body soap, which can be concocted in two steps, three movements.

Quantity: 100g

Shelf life: 1 year, at room temperature

Ingredients

• 100 g of neutral liquid Castile soap

Essential oils

• 6 drops of common spruce essential oil
• 6 drops of white pine essential oil
• 6 drops of jack pine essential oil
• 6 drops of red pine essential oil
• 6 drops of balsam fir essential oil

Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl until combined. Pour into a bottle. Use to wash hands, body and hair. Safe product for use in a lake.