Self Help Anxiety Tip #2: Add this Natural Baking Ingredient to Your Bath

Everyone knows lavender can help us relax in the bath, but here are two lesser known remedies that are good for natural anxiety relief too, and the great news is that they are easy to get in any grocery store. They are ginger and baking soda.

How to use Ginger & Baking Soda for an Anxiety Slaying bath:

Run a warm bath and sprinkle one third of a cup of ground ginger and one third cup of baking soda under the hot running water. Mix things up and then settle back and soak.

[Please note that hot ginger baths are not recommended during pregnancy.]

Ginger - the Great Medicine

Ginger (zingiber officinale) is widely respected as a food medicine because of it's broad range of uses.  Ayurveda (India's Ancient Medical Science) values ginger so highly that it is referred to as maha-aushadi which means great medicine.

Popular for treating nausea and vomiting, colds and chest congestion, ginger is also used to treat diarrhoea, rheumatism and even cholera.

While many countries outside India have listed ginger in their medical drug index for the above ailments, there is one area that India uses ginger for that has passed many other countries by  - and that is the treatment of nervous disorders.

Being warm and pungent in nature, ginger is the natural balancing opposite of the dry and cold humour vata, which is often at the root of anxious feelings. Using ginger in a warm bath enhances it's benefits further and can also help relieve the random aches and pains that are often associated with anxiety.

If you are able to do this at the end of your day it will help you sink into a peaceful sleep. For added benefit you could try a simple oil massage with warm sesame (plain, not toasted) or almond oil.

Photo byAmy McTigue