At hOM(e) Fire Therapy

Plenty of our winter rituals connect us with fire as our bodies seek to find balance between extremes. Hot drinks (cocoa, mulled wine), fireplaces, and festive lights, just to name a few. Fire doesn’t have to be a winter-only therapy; it’s something that can heal year-round.

If you’re feeling groggy, low-energy, and unmotivated, we have a few fire therapies to rev you up.

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Spicy food is my favorite way of getting more fire into my life. It’s popular worldwide, not just in the cold climates. Whether you’re dousing on the tabasco, Cholula, Sriracha, or sprinkling on the hot peppers fresh or dried, you don’t have to go very far to find a compatriot who also likes breathing fire after their first bite. While there can be some not-so-nice digestive things that happen when you eat too much, hot food is generally great for moving everything along the system by lowering your stomach’s pH. When you eat hot-spicy food, your stomach lining produces more acid than normal, helping you to digest faster and also kill bad bacteria. You’re actually burning it out.

Just the act of making a fire can stimulate our sense of inner heat. In summer, we’re lighting up outdoor grills or campfire to flame broil our food, giving it those distinct burn lines that shout - “I may be burnt, but it’s just some extra carbon, baby!” Don’t forget the s’mores, too. In winter, we favor sweeter foods cooking over our wood fires: hot cocoa, pudding, and mulled wine.

Smelling “burning” can be a lovely treat for your sniffer, as long as it’s something fragrant. Burning incense, scented candles (watch out for paraffin), cooking curries or hot pots, and even a good old wood fire stir my sense of warmth.

Being visual-based creatures in this day and age, the most memorable connections you have to fire will be things you see. Have you ever seen a recording of burning logs in a fireplace on someone’s TV and felt warm? Or watched fireworks burst in the air with wonder? The sun and stars are the biggest fires we know about. The heat of the sun during the day warms sun-bathers, cold-blooded creatures, and plants alike, sustaining life-supporting chemical and enzyme reactions. The light of the fiery stars at night has guided sailors, wanderers, and artists to lands old and new for thousands of years.

Other than walking on hot coals, what are your favorite ways to get more fire in your life, dear reader? Comment and let us know.

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Written by Corey Loftus 
Founder / Visionary : constantly quotable

Corey is a voiceover artist, yogi and father to a fur-child named Eddy. 
He'll work for almond butter. 
corey [at] iamhom [dot] com

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