Monday, July 21, 2008

Rice + herbs = ???


I spoke previously about rice pillows. In case you missed it, a rice pillow (or flax seed, or cherry pits) is used for pain. For muscle pain, you heat the pillow in the microwave. A standard 3 minute heating will keep the pillow warm for at least an hour. For nerve pain, the pillow goes into the freezer for 2-3 hours, then will stay cool for at least an hour. Besides pain, you can use the pillows cold to cool you down in hot weather. Used warm, they are helpful to heat up hands and feet where they are cold due to circulation issues.

But rice pillows often have herbs added. Different herbs assist with different things in different ways. Some herbs are used just for their scent - referred to as aromatherapy. Other herbs it's both the scent and what happens when taken internally, via teas or pills, or on the skin, as a salve or tincture. While rice pillows obviously are for external use only, when the herbs are headed, some of it is absorbed by the skin.

Here's a few of the herbs I commonly use in rice pillows, and why I use them.

Lavender - aromatherapy; relaxing
Citrus blend - aromatherapy; relaxing, refreshing
Chamomile - relaxing scent, calms muscles
Mint - refreshing scent, sooths sore muscles (mint blends are often used in sport balms)
Milk thistle - green scent, calms muscles, assists in milk production in nursing mothers

(For our current selection of rice pillows, come see our shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5874665&section_id=5480491)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i love rice pillows, i just sold my ouchie the owl rice pillow!