Lucy Stephens offers her advice for Mother's Day
Treating our mums to something special on Mother's Day is a given, but how to do you top last year's gift and make it something that she'll always rememeber.
Medical herbalist Lucy Stephens of London's Reva Clinic (www.revaclinic.com) suggests some lovely affordable herbal gifts, given individually or together as a herbal hamper.
From bath to bedtime, Lucy has some great suggestions that will help your mum to relaz, pamper herself and improve her general sense of well-being.
Everyone enjoys a relaxing bath and at the end of a long day there is nothing nicer than relaxing in a warm bath to soothe the mind and prepare the body for sleep.
Think about essential oils that could be added to a bath such as lavender, which studies show is effective at promoting sleep or lemonbalm which is an excellent herb for lifting low modd and reducing anxiety as it works on certain chemicals in the brain.
A herbal tea can make a nice change to regular tea and can have health benefits too. Try and find loose leaf chamomile tea which has anti-spasmodic properties so is good for the digestion. If your mum is always on the go, chamomile is also very calming and very effective for anxiety. If you want to take your mum a cuppa in bed in the morning, go for a herbal tea like fresh ginger and lemon or a good quality loose leaf green tea. Both are slightly stimulating so can help get you up and ready for the day. Ginger is also very warming, so is a good herb if a person is prone to poor circulation.
And as we come out of the Winter months and into Spring our face and hands can be dry so if your mum doesn’t often invest in new products for herself, why not get her a lovely herbal moisturiser? Marigold (Calendula officinalis), Rose, or Aloe vera are all good herbs for the skin. Most herbal suppliers will sell herbal creams.
If your mum likes cooking you could buy her a small herb plant to use in the kitchen. Plants such as thyme and mint are very tasty in food, but the leaves can also be made into a tea. Thyme is anti-bacterial so is good for coughs and colds, and it has also been shown to dispel gas in the intestines so it makes an excellent after dinner tea. Fresh mint tea is also good for indigestion.
Rosewater added to a spray bottle is a lovely calming herb that has traditionally been used to lift the spirits. You can buy rosewater sprays already prepared for you and this would be a lovely way to relax and calm the mind after a hectic day.
Find one to best suit her and watch with delight as she opens your gift and actually uses it. No one wants to get one that will be lost in a sea of 'other things'.
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