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Gemini Healthstrology: Wellness Tips for Gemini Season
Ready to revitalize? We’re excited to bring you our monthly “healthstrology” column that focuses on feeling your best during every solar cycle. We’ve tapped our friend Stephanie Gailing, MS—an astrologer and wellness alchemist—to share her wisdom as a guest contributor for Gemini Season. Enjoy and salud!
–T&O
By Stephanie Gailing, MS
Astrologer & Wellness Alchemist
Each year, when the Sun zings through Gemini (May 20–June 20), we experience the ability to tap into the communicative, agile, and youthful qualities this star sign represents. And while this may provide us with more connection to our curiosity, intellectual orientation, and social nature, this time—like all others—may also offer us an array of unique challenges.
Turning to wellness astrology, and keeping in mind the unique strengths and vulnerabilities associated with Gemini, we can find stellar ways to encourage vitality, reduce stress, and fine-tune our overall well-being.
Below you’ll find some self-care strategies to feel your best during Gemini Season.
My curiosity will lead me to the answer
My mind and body are connected
Gemini Stress-Reducing Allies
Light-hearted perspective
In wellness astrology, aspects of our anatomy and physiology correspond with the twelve zodiac signs. Those that are associated with Gemini include the lungs, nervous system, and arms, shoulders, wrists, and fingers.
Inhale and Exhale
With Gemini ruling the lungs, it’s a good time to support the health of our respiratory system. If you have asthma or frequent respiratory colds, try limiting your intake of dairy foods and food additives, as these can exacerbate bronchial symptoms in some people by increasing mucous production. Pay attention to your breathing, making sure it’s deep and rhythmic, since shallow breathing can lead to reduced energy, a foggy mind and a feeling of greater anxiousness. Explore your connection to your breath by doing a breathwork meditative inquiry. In Chinese medicine, the lungs are associated with grief. Working through and releasing repressed grief may be a powerful prescription to help you breath better, both physically and emotionally.
Allay Accidents
With butterfly energy abound, Gemini season may have us laser-focused and multitasking like it’s going out of style. And while performing many activities at once reflects the active and restless energy of the times, it’s not necessarily the best recipe for safety. This is especially true when an activity involves moving objects, such as driving, which should be done as a concentrated activity. No matter how badly you want to call someone or check Facebook—don’t! Even the walking and texting duo can lead to accidents if you failed to notice that ditch in the sidewalk, or car in the intersection. What’s worse is this type of mindless multitasking takes takes us out of the game of being present, and noticing the beauty of the environment that surrounds us. To mitigate the accident-prone nature of this time, practice mindfulness, the art of being present in mind and body.
Eating Guidance
Eat Regularly, with Flexibility
During Gemini season, routines are sometimes hard to follow…the idea of regularly scheduled meals being one of them. Something shiny and new may catch your attention, and the next thing you know is you’ve forgotten to eat lunch—then your blood sugar drops, reminding you that something’s off kilter. Make your meals interesting so that they won’t get relegated to the bottom of your growing to-do list. And if you find yourself not wanting to get pinned down to an exact mealtime, carve out a more flexible 90-minute window in which to enjoy your fare. If the idea of three squares daily doesn’t work for you, consider scheduling in five–to–six mini-meals to keep you nourished throughout your busy day.
Slow Down
Another challenge during this time may be that once we get around to eating, we want to rush through it, so as to get on to what we perceive is a more interesting mentally-stimulating activity—whether that’s a work project, Instagram upload, or chat with friends. Yet, eating too fast yields indigestion and a less-than-optimal absorption of nutrients, which can then leave you depleted in physical and mental energy. Practicing mindful eating can make mealtimes more engaging, having us slow down and be in the present moment of awareness. Enjoy meals composed of a spectrum of different colors, tastes, and textures to inspire the desire to want to leisurely savor every bite.
Oats
Oats are a great way to start the day. Like Gemini, they’re flexible—and can be served hot as oatmeal or cold as muesli. Not only are oats rich in soluble fiber and can lower cholesterol, but their traditional benefits also soothing frayed nerves, something we may need some extra help with during this fluttered season. Plus, eating oats for breakfast may contribute to elevated cognitive performance and sustained energy throughout the day. Opt for rolled oats instead of instant oatmeal; the former take only a few minutes and provide you with a greater richness of nutrients. And if sweet isn’t the way you like to start your day, enjoy oats in a savory way—with some miso, spices, and steamed vegetables.
Dairy Free Milk Alternatives
Asthma and other complaints of the Gemini-ruled respiratory system are often linked to dairy allergies. If breathing easier is one of your current health goals, see whether dairy is a trigger for you by doing an Elimination Diet. Dairy-free milk alternatives are more popular than ever, with scores of them lining the grocery shelves. While soy milk once held sway as the sole member of the dairy-free milk pantheon, there’s now a cornucopia of others—such as milk made from almond, hazelnut, cashew, hemp, oats, coconut, and more—from which to choose. It’s even easier to get dairy-free milk at coffee bars these days, with many now offering more than just soy milk as a choice. Or try this simple cashew cream recipe if you like a thicker consistency for your java.
White Chestnut
The data-driven energy of Gemini season has us collecting facts and figures. And with the intellectual orientation of this time, our minds may be spinning with thoughts, circulating for analysis and reflection, inspiring what appears to be a perpetual mental merry-go-round. If you need help calming the mind-chatter and curtailing the reins of looping thoughts, try White Chestnut flower essence. It’s great for both daytime mental flurry, as well as the pre-sleep mind circles that could keep you up at night.
Cerato
It’s a communicative time, one when we’re chatting it up and seeking insights from other people—lots of other people. And while this fact-finding can be informative, if we rely on the advice of others too frequently, it can muffle our ability to connect to our inner voice. And with that, indecision and confusion may prevail, as could making choices that are imbued with the tapestry of other’s opinion and don’t represent our true needs. When you need to boost the volume on your inner knowingness and the trust to rely upon it, consider Cerato flower essence.
Manicure
With Gemini ruling the hands, it’s a good time to take care of them, as they are responsible for many of the activities tied to this season: writing, collecting information, meeting and greeting people. Plus, you may notice the way you gesticulate becomes amplified. So, put your best hand forward by treating yourself to a manicure. This doesn’t need to be time consuming or expensive as many salons offer express manicures. Treat yourself to a few additional minutes of massage if that’s an option. This will help relax your muscles improve your circulation, since the hands hold so much tension and yet, don’t often get the TLC they deserve.
Chair Massage
Being pulled in many directions with more limited time to spend on any given thing doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy the relaxation that massage can yield. And if you don’t have time for a full-on session, look for places that offer chair massages. These mini-sessions—usually 15 minutes or so—offer a time-efficient path to relaxation. During this session, you rest fully clothed in a padded chair while the practitioner kneads through the kinks and stress residing in your back and Gemini-ruled shoulders and arms. Look for chair massages in malls as well as airports—a quickie wellness treat for whenever you’re on the go.
Journaling
Got a lot of thoughts, ideas, and creative inspiration streaming through your mind? If so, grab a journal and document them. Whether you write in prose form, jot down phrases or key words, express yourself in poetry, or draw. Getting the words and images out of your head and onto a page—or computer screen— can be a centering exercise during Gemini season. If you want to feel more inspired journaling, consider purchasing or making a new one. If you’re looking for a new exercise that can help hone the undercurrents of your thoughts, try non-dominant handwriting.
Games and Puzzles
This may sound paradoxical but things that enliven our minds may also relax them during Gemini season. So if you’re looking for a way to unwind, invite some friends over for game night. Whether you play Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Cards Against Humanity, or any of your other favorite board or card game, your social gatherings with be buzzing with activity. And for those times you want to find your center within and be alone, try a crossword or Sudoku puzzle or play a game of solitaire for a more meditative experience.
Disclaimer: This information should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health condition or disease and is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or healthcare provider.
As an astrologer and wellness consultant, Stephanie Gailing weaves together stellar insights, flower essence therapy, dreamwork, and compassion-based coaching. Author of Planetary Apothecary: An Astrological Approach to Health and Wellness and Stellar Kids, Stephanie counsels clients, teaches workshops, writes about holistic well-being, and crafts custom-designed flower essence elixirs. Based in Seattle, she frequently travels to New York City, and works with clients all over the world. Find out more about Stephanie’s wellness astrology consultations here.
Dream Life: 40 Days of Astro-Dreamwork Alchemy
If you want to forge a deeper connection to the wisdom of your dreams, discover how to work with dreams in an astrological context, and learn strategies to enrich your sleep and sanctify your sleep space, check out the Dream Life, an upcoming 40-day intensive Stephanie is co-leading with astrologer and Jungian analyst Sherene Vismaya.
Mars Retrograde Readings with Flower Essence Elixirs
This spring, Stephanie will be offering mini astrology readings and flower essence elixirs that can help you navigate the opportunities and challenges of the Mars Retrograde period that lasts from April 17 until June 29. Find more information here.
Image by nyc art scene via Tumblr
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