In the photo: Grace Rees, our brilliant intern, who writes our third episode of Star Seed's Educate & Regenerate Series.
Hey, I am Grace, and I am super excited to share a special Educate & Regenerate piece around lifestyle and how you can start living a regenerative one today.
During my time with Star Seed, I witnessed how important regeneration is to Emilie & Ed's lives. To understand it better, I decided to dig deeper and see how we can all live regeneratively day-to-day.
A regenerative lifestyle aims to protect the health of the earth and of ourselves, allowing both to flourish and grow. The meaning of a Star Seed in Mayan Astrology, is an intuitive creative force, here to create harmony through beauty and elegance - an act of love. This harmonious relationship between human, planet and the universe has been practised for thousands of years by indigenous peoples. The indigenous roots of regenerative living promoted a reciprocal, balanced and sacred relationship with nature, one that benefited both the communities and local ecosystems. By learning from, and reconnecting with this way of thinking we can lay the foundations for, and start working towards a positive future.
Photographer: ©muslian In the Photo: The Mentawai rainforest people of Siberut Island, west of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Restoring this harmony may seem daunting as it feels we have strayed far from protecting our sacred earth in recent decades. At Star Seed we understand this, and strive to make lifestyle changes as easy as possible. In this article, we have compiled some easy swaps or additions in your daily routine that can help you to start regenerative living. This is just a starting point and hopefully you can enjoy experimenting with our recommendations in the process of finding a routine that works for you!
Photographer: Emilie Jaspers In the Photo: Ed Pycraft forest bathing as a practice of mindfulness.
Practise Mindfulness
It is important to allow our bodies the time and space to heal. When we are stressed and tired, our bodies become tense and fatigued, prioritising other bodily functions over recovery and regeneration. Creating the time and space to rest can be done in many ways, and introducing mindful practices into your life can have an immensely positive impact. This can be as easy as allowing yourself time to pause and breathe throughout the day, controlling your breath and allowing it to regulate your body. Another great way to do this is by reconnecting your body with nature. Taking a walk in nature, or spending time sitting in a garden or park, grounding yourself and enjoying the calming effect of the natural world reduces stress and allows our body to heal. Forest bathing has gained popularity recently, and the practice of slowing down, calming the body, and reconnecting with nature promotes healing. When at rest, our bodies enter the parasympathetic nervous system, regulating the ‘rest and digest’ functions which aid regeneration and restore a state of calmness.
We can also introduce simple mindful practices into our everyday lives which provide the space to recover. Emilie & Ed have recently started ‘miracle mornings,’ a 5 step routine to be more conscious. It starts with 5 mins of each: journalling, yoga, meditation, breath work & reading. Taking time to journal, or read in the morning before rolling over and checking your phone engages creativity and expands the realms of our knowledge, allowing our minds to grow and develop further. Yoga is also a great way to enjoy these benefits through movement, strengthening the relationship between self and body. There are countless reasons to practise yoga, from improving sleep, to reducing stress and improving mood. The greatest thing about it, is that it can be done at home with just a yoga mat, requiring minimal hassle. There are many great, free yoga classes and easy-to-follow sequences on YouTube such as Boho Beautiful Yoga and Sarah Beth Yoga which cater to all levels and offer a really good starting point.
When practising mindfulness and attempting to introduce it into your life, it is crucial to practise forgiveness. Nobody is perfect and sometimes our bodies are too tired, or we have placed too much stress on ourselves to complete a long mindful routine everyday. Forgive yourself and accept that this is a learning process. Allow yourself to grow and understand what works best for you - perhaps walking to work in the morning is more effective than a 20-minute yoga/meditation routine first thing. Everyone is different and your goals and expectations must therefore be catered to you and set by you. You are in charge of this process.
Photographer: Emilie Jaspers - In the Photo: Try Star Seed's 1 Week Mini bundle available in our web shop here.
Be Conscious of What You Put In and On Your Body
Our skin is our biggest organ, and it's porous, absorbing whatever creams or solutions we put on it and on to our body. It is therefore best to not put products on your skin that you wouldn’t put in your mouth, as skincare can have just as great an impact on how our bodies feel. We are proud that our Star Seed products are good for you, both inside and out, and you could even eat them if you fancied, although it's an acquired taste. Our products are not bleached to appear white and ‘pure’, but rather take on the colours of the natural botanicals we use to create them. By limiting skincare products to ones containing 100% natural, wild & organic ingredients, you increase diversity in your skin microbiome, allowing it to heal, as well as supporting the growth of plants and the regeneration of indigenous knowledge about their medicinal uses. All of Star Seed’s products are committed to this cyclical process and work to improve humans and the earth.
Photographer: WIX - In the Photo: A green plant-based diet is one of the best ways to reach happy skin.
Being conscious about the food we consume also helps our bodies, as well as the earth’s creatures. When we eat chickens who have been caged their whole lives and fed food that is not nutritious or within their natural diet, we also consume all of the effects of their processed diet, and the stress hormones (cortisol) resulting from their treatment. By choosing an plant-based diet we allow all life to thrive. Whatever diet you choose to follow, ensuring it is sustainably sourced and organically grown is key to a regenerative lifestyle. Green Salon have compiled a really useful directory of sustainable, organic and regenerative produce to help with this. I really enjoyed their Green Archetype Quiz. I discovered that I was a Green Warrior - 'a natural born leader with a strong sense of right and wrong.' I would love to know yours!
Gardening and foraging are also really beneficial ways to save costs and to deepen your connection with nature. Although this isn’t possible for everyone, growing some vegetables in an allotment, or even a small herb garden on your kitchen window-sill increases your interaction and brings nature into your home. Growing your own produce allows you to know exactly where it comes from and have an active role in regeneration. What we put in our body impacts our mood, our skin, how our body feels, energy levels, discomfort, and so many other things. By being conscious of what we consume, and listening to our body we allow ourselves and our environment to thrive.
It can take anywhere from two weeks to six months to heal your skin barrier and restore your skin microbiome, so have patience and be kind to yourself - change won’t happen overnight. However, introducing some of these simple changes does encourage and aid the healing process, whilst also having numerous other benefits!
Photographer: Phoebe Montague Warr - In the Photo: Medicine Festival 2022.
Expand Your Knowledge
A regenerative lifestyle is founded on the beliefs and practices of indigenous peoples all across the globe, wisdom the Western world rejected and vilified as they colonised native land. However, in recent years there has been a conscious effort to restore and reconnect with indigenous wisdom, as well as other regenerative ways of living. There are so many ways to learn about this today, from Events (Primal Gathering), festivals (Medicine Festival), Education Platforms (Earthed), Social Media accounts (Julius Roberts) to Podcasts (Mushroom Revival Podcast), presenting a rich opportunity to expand your knowledge and understand more about the change you wish to make in the world.
As a starting point, we have listed some of our favourite books that teach us about all things regenerative, covering indigenous beliefs, medicinal uses of plants, and regenerative farming. We have attached the link, but it is also worth seeing if your local bookshop or charity shop has them as this is a great way of reducing carbon emissions from shipping, stopping books from going to waste, and saving money.
Recommended Books:
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree
Robert Wolff, Original Wisdom
Sharon Blackie, If Women Rose Rooted
Sarah Langford, Rooted
Sue Stuart-Smith, The Well Gardened Mind
Mo Wilde, The Wilderness Cure