The festive season is just around the corner! If you haven’t noticed just yet, we’re excited. Why wouldn’t we be?

Extra leisure time to enjoy in some indulgent food, family and friends and if we can manage to fit it in, some much needed self-care time after an entire year of running around trying to fit in an infinite amount of demands and completing constant and unrelenting demands.

But often the festive season can bring along with them their own unique, trademark issues – extra weight gain after a little too much indulgence, stress from trying to keep everything perfect (even though we all know perfection is overrated!) and making sure everyone gets along after that really important birthday was accidentally forgotten a couple of months ago – ouch!

So, what’s the solution?

We’re glad you asked!

Don’t burnout this year with a little help from Mother Nature

Burnout is a very real problem and just because you’re on holidays, doesn’t mean you can’t be affected by the bug during your supposed off-time.

Christmas and New Year can be stressful, especially when it comes to meeting the demands and conflicting wants and desires of all members in the family, keeping everyone happy can often seem like an unsurmountable task, if not literally impossible!

It’s times like these where it is extra important you take some time out for yourself, and no, taking care of yourself is not selfish.

If you’re still having trouble swallowing this pill, consider this.

Who’s going to take care of everything if you fall sick?

See, prioritising yourself doesn’t seem as frivolous anymore, does it!

Luckily for us, Mother Nature is here to the rescue, and the solution is really quite simple.

All we need to do is harbour the patience to listen to her wisdom.

The answer lies in one word – Massage.

Now before you all roll your eyes in frustrated doubt, give me a minute.

Massage has a multitude of health benefits

Massage is truly a heaven sent gift! I’m sure you’ve never ever heard someone say they felt crap after a massage, right? Unless done completely incorrectly of course.

Besides feeling great, massage also has numerous health benefits to keep you feeling your natural best including improved health, better blood circulation, improved flexibility and mobility, quicker rehabilitation of muscular injuries, reduced stress and much more. Here’s a more detailed list of massage benefits in case you still need more convincing.

Massage is an ancient remedy, so it’s got to be good

Massage has been used by our predecessors for centuries now.

Practiced in countries such as India, China, Greece and Egypt (to name a few) massage was once a necessity instead of the luxury it is in the modern world and was believed to be a pivotal precautionary measure to keeping sickness away. Something we’d all like to avoid this festive season!

Unfortunately though, the concept of massage has slowly been disregarded as a potential healing solution to one that many of us align with extra money to spend. Recently however, considerable evidence suggests massage as a therapeutic solution to many of the common day ailments we face and it feels good too!

Massage doesn’t just make you feel good, it makes you look good too

When you’re good on the inside it shows.

When we feel healthy on the inside, it’s going to show on the outside and boy does massage make you feel good on the inside.

This is just one of the many reasons we’re constantly being barraged with messages of how we need to pay more attention to what we put in our body. For years now, medical research has strongly suggested a significant correlation between stress and ailments such as the cold and flu all the way to more serious life threatening diseases too.

Truthfully, as bizarre as it may sound, stress is just one more thing to stress about. Massage helps to alleviate anxiety which in turn makes us feel and look better.

Mother Nature has gifted all of us with an abundance of natural oils with which to heal ourselves from within, no matter what you may be feeling like on any particular day.

Feeling a little fatigued after that mammoth Christmas lunch you had to cook yourself after the caterer suddenly cancelled at the last minute? Try a head massage with some Brahmi Oil.

Sensing a stress fest when your two sister in laws that can’t stand each other have decided to make an impromptu visit this Boxing Day? Try some Ashwagandha to sooth those knots out from your neck spasms!

Skin wreaking havoc thanks to the extra dry weather you’re experiencing this year? Fret no more, just massage some Himalayan Apricot Oil and watch that disappear pronto!

Basically there’s a natural solution to everything! Seek and ye shall find.

So we hope we’ve given you a glimpse into the wonderful world of natural oils, just one minor aspect of the wonderful world of Nature.

Do you have any other amazing handy natural hints you’d like to share with the community on ways to deal with the festive season this year?