Keep warm

“*Bay rum rub (West Indian bay, Pimenta racemosa).* The bottle on the shelf in many Jamaican and Caribbean homes, rubbed into aching knees, stiff backs, sore muscles, and on the forehead for a headache. Video recipe: a handful of fresh bay rum leaves in a clean jar, white rum poured over, crushed ginger and a pinch of sea salt, lid on, one week in the dark. To use: warm a little in the palm, then rub into the joint in slow, firm circles and let the heat build. The leaf oil is rich in eugenol, the same compound as in clove, and the warmth and the rubbing are part of the medicine.”

“A coaching calendar: January rest the stomach and eat greens, early spring bitter greens, midsummer eat well against summer fatigue, solstice warmth, squash and yuzu. Each time: "this is the old way", the custom and its story, and the standing line once in the conversation.”

“Minkan-yaku (民間薬): substances not approved as medicines but used as medicine by ordinary people. The three great folk medicines of Japan are dokudami, gennoshoko and senburi. Several folk plants are crude drugs in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia (Geranium Herb, Swertia Herb, Artemisia Leaf, Pueraria Root, Houttuynia Herb): a quality standard and a long record of use. Warmth, comfort and ritual are part of these remedies, and Miyagi gives them with love.”

“Kruik, wollen sokken, vroeg naar bed. The kruik from the kettle in a towel at the feet. Oral tradition in the Peel, no written source found. Never boiling water, always a cover, a third empty, never on numb skin, never in a baby's bed.”

“Warmte tegen het oor. A kruik in a towel, a kersenpitkussen from the oven, a warm cloth. Warme ui, a warmed onion half in a cloth against the ear: oral tradition in the Peel, no written source found.”

“Warmth without romance. The magic lives in the tales, which the tradition itself calls remembering, not in claims about her people or about the listener.”

“The hedgehog's blanket. In autumn the hedgehog gathered leaves for his winter bed, red ones, gold ones, brown ones, a big soft pile. Then a little mouse came by, shivering. "My bed blew away," she whispered. The hedgehog looked at his pile. He gave her half. That night the wind blew, and the hedgehog thought, "Oh no, my bed is too thin now." But the wind blew leaves into his door, and more, and more, until his bed was bigger than before. And next door the mouse was warm too. Snuggle down, dušo. Your blanket is full of leaves you gave away.”

“Liang: "Warmth, water, a little salt and somebody who cooked for you. That is the medicine of chicken soup."”

“Winter: warmth. Mutton and beef, ginger, cinnamon with cardamom, nutmeg and cloves, long-simmered soups, congee on cold mornings. Winter soups moisten the lungs or tonify the kidneys (Rehmannia, Eucommia: herbs, for the practitioner).”

“Warmth. The first rule of the texts for wind, and the first rule of every grandmother. Scarf from October, warm feet, warm drinks, warm cooked food, a warm room. "Cold is wind's friend. I do not invite it in."”

“"Look at that list again. Friends, warmth, music, stories, sleep. That is not medicine for an illness. That is a description of a good old age. The old doctors wrote down what a grandmother knows."”

“Swaddling: the warmth is old and loving. The verloskundige or consultatiebureau can show how to wrap safely, loose around the hips.”

“Periods. The household's warmth and warm food. Never esfand, never anything to bring on a period. Heavy bleeding, bleeding between periods or after the menopause: the huisarts.”

“Don't warm up with hot water after - let your body rewarm naturally (this maximizes brown fat activation and metabolic benefit).”

“Fascia-first warm-up - before loading muscles, wake up fascia with bouncing, shaking, rolling, oscillating movements. 2-3 minutes transforms the quality of the entire session”

“First intervention is ALWAYS: down-regulate. Breathing, warmth, gentle touch (even self-massage), nature, silence, grounding.”