A beautiful summer gratitude ritual is running a Garden Bath. I have talked about garden baths before in some of rituals and rhythms episodes because it is such a simple but divine thing.
With summer being a time when many herbs are at their best and the garden is full of edible flowers and fragrant herbs, weaving some time into your day for a garden bath is a true delight! What I like to do is to go into the garden and harvest a big bunch of fresh herbs such as lemon balm, mint, calendula, rose petals and so on. Only harvest edible and medicinal plants and avoid any toxic ones. This practice of mindfully gathering herbs is relaxing in its own right, but to make it even better I then use this bunch of herbs in my bath.
Simply run a hot bath although you could do this with a cold bath or with a shower too. And attach the bundle of herbs under the tap-let the water run through the herbs and infuse into the bath. Enjoy sinking into the fragrant bath and soak up the abundance of the summer! If you don’t have access to a garden, you could purchase fresh herbs from a farmers market instead. If you enjoyed this ritual I would also encourage you to harvest some more of these herbs and dry them to enjoy in future baths over the colder seasons or to blend into an uplifting herbal tea that you can drink in the depths of winter to remind you of brighter days.
Image by Kim Lightbody from my book The Garden Apothecary published by Hardie Grant. Click here to get your copy.