The Stress-Reducing Tonic You'll Want To Make Right Now

Times are tense right now and there's a lot of us out there dealing with feelings of frustration, anger, fear, helplessness, and despair. It's hard not to get sucked up or overwhelmed by these emotions, but I'm learning one of the best ways to deal with them is channeling them into taking positive, meaningful action to move forward and create a better world.

Along with taking action I think it's important to find ways to lift each other and ourselves up on a daily basis. Now more than ever we need to take care of ourselves and spread as much love as possible in this world. We need to practice gratitude and cultivate joy daily in our lives, which rubs off on others and inspires them to do the same.

Sometimes this starts with the simplest of things, like calling a friend to tell them how much you appreciate them, taking a walk outside (without your phone) and totally unplugging, or making a meal for someone you care about.

In this case, it's creating a healing and stress-reducing tonic in order to calm and relax your mind and body. So you can spend less time dealing with stress and anxiety, and regain the energy and mental clarity you need to take positive action and create meaningful change for your family, your community, and your country.

My go-to morning ritual to get me into a calm and focused state includes meditation (I use the Headspace app) and whipping up this stress-reducing lavender latte. Not only is it abundant in numerous powerful ingredients that taste delicious, but it actually psychologically and physiologically drastically reduces the effects of stress.

True story: Lavender helps the brain to halt production of the chemicals that cause negative or stressed emotions, helping you restore a sense of calm, while the adaptogenic mushroom reishi has a normalizing effect on the body. This means if the immune system is depressed, adaptogens enhance the immune response. If the immune system is overactive, for instance with inflammation, adaptogens help re-regulate the immune response, decreasing overactivity, thus majorly restoring balance in your bod.

Besides relieving stress and boosting the immune system, reishi specifically helps to protect the liver, improve circulation, and protect against radiation, free radicals, and other environmental stressors.

Serves 2 to 4