Soothing Herbal Eye Compress

A really great evening practice inspired by my new mentor Kami McBride, is an herbal eye compress. It doesn’t take a lot of time. It does add a lot of joy and comfort to the end of warm summer days.

As daily as possible in the afternoon, I do the following to prepare my evening compress. I really hope you will consider following my lead because your body, mind, heart, and spirit will very much love and appreciate your effort, I promise you!

I typically use fresh rosemary, dried chamomile and lavender, and dried rose petals when I have them. I love the bliss of just relaxing with closed eyes, to soft music or even a sound bath audio, with soft lighting and sometimes a candle lit.

Here’s my drill, that I begin several hours in advance:

In a large bowl, I place about

2 Tbs dried lavender

2 Tbs dried chamomile

Fresh rosemary leaves from a small sprig

Pinch of dried rose petals

I bring a pot of about 4 cups water to an almost boil, then pour the hot water over the bowl of herbs, and cover it with a loose-fitting lid.

I let it infuse for several hours. If I forget to do this early on, the minimum time I will rush to infuse it later, is 20-30 minutes.

When I’m ready for my time-out ;), in the living room, I prep pillows for my head on the sofa, dim the lights, and maybe light a candle and turn on some soothing music or a sound bath audio.

I strain the pot of herbs so that the herbal water now transfers to a shallow bowl, where I place a clean washcloth.

I lie down, prep the washcloth to place over my eyes, after I place the dish on my tummy so that I can enjoy a hand soak while I rest. I wring out the washcloth a bit and fold it to place comfortably over my eyes.

I take a deep breath as I lie with my herbal compress and soak my fingers in the liquid. Hand soaks are so nice and really good for us too.

I relax for about 20 minutes, refreshing the washcloth if I’d like. I use this time to imagine beautiful things, like the vision I have for my new life. (With practice, it becomes easier to rest your weary mind of crazy thoughts.)

Your eyes, brain, neck, shoulders all have to do so much all day long, don’t they ?? Consider offering your sweet head this well-deserved rest. Give yourself the gift of just being rather than doing, and allow the herbs to bring calm and peace in only the way that they can.

In Italy we love the expression Dolce Far Niente – the sweetness of doing nothing. May this practice be something like that - for you, for all of us.

Final note ~ Mountain Rose Herbs was my favorite US source for quality herbs. I had also found excellent sellers on Etsy !