Prevention & Treatment for Cold & Flu Season

Cold and flu season is nearly upon us. Here are some natural remedies, thoughts and common-sense tips for how to stay healthy.

This is by no means an exhaustive list – just I am putting forth a few ideas as well as some resources and websites. Please do share your views & experiences.

1. Practice good hygiene: This is a fundamental way to stay healthy in any season, but especially so in flu season when others are sneezing frequently. Be sure to always wash your hands before eating as well as when out in public.

2. Listen to yourself: This is an important skill which always seems to need honing. The mind and body constantly give us signals and messages but in our fast-paced lifestyle we do not always listen. Take a moment to key into how you are feeling. When rest is calling, try and give your body some downtime, or an extra hour or two of sleep.

3. Drink plenty of warm fluids: Lemon water, herbal teas and more. At the herbal seminar, Sharon shared with us a number of great herbs to use in your tea combinations: sage, thyme, oregano, violet, willow among others.

4. Namaskar or Handshake? We live in a handshake society, but that seems to be slowly changing, primarily due to issues of hygiene. When we have a cold, it is probably best not to shake hands – and a good alternative is to simply do namaskar mudra (palms together at the heart). Any maybe this is something to practice during the entire cold-flu season.

5. Ayurvedic treatment for cold and flu prevention. Here is a helpful list from the good folks at Kripalu.

6. The Wai Lana newsletter also shares some good healthy tips in the yoga tradition for cold and flu prevention.

7. Yoga Journal shares a list of yoga poses that help relieve symptoms when under the weather.

8. Here are more sites that feature herbal remedies: (1) Organic Nutrition (2) Wild Roots for cold and flu symptoms.

9. So tell us what works well for you…