Multipurpose Calendula Elixir

I love a good morning routine to set myself up for a fantastic day. This Multipurpose Calendula Elixir is a new addition to my morning wake-up festivities and I can’t believe how great I feel. I’ve made this as easy as possible, so there is no hesitation to repeat these steps every day, for a few days in a row, a couple of times a week, or once a month. Generally, whenever a little extra boost is needed.

Calendula Benefits

• Calendula for the Skin: Calendula is becoming increasingly well known for its excellent healing potential and healthy skin promoting benefits. In general, it has many first aid and cosmetic uses. It is safe for use even on babies, children, people with chronic conditions, the elderly, and pets.
• Using Calendula to Heal from the Inside Out: It has many healthful internal uses also. This multipurpose calendula elixir is meant for internal use. Interestingly, the recipe could be switched up slightly for use on hair or skin, but today, let’s use calendula to heal from the inside out.
• The Many Ways to Ingest Calendula’s Incredible Antioxidants: Using calendula to make drinks, teas, tonics, or in this case, elixirs is a way to unleash the incredible antioxidants available in fresh or dried calendula flowers. These antioxidants have been found to involve cancer-fighting compounds and promote the reduction of oxidative stress on human cells.
• Antifungal and Antimicrobial Calendula: Internal issues such as candida can also be combated with the use of calendula due to its antifungal and antimicrobial properties. In a test-tube trial, calendula flower oil showed effectiveness against 23 strains of candida yeast.
• Calendula’s Anti-inflammatory Powers: Inflammation is an immune system response that can be identified with pain and swelling and is often present during chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, heart and lung issues, muscle and joint pain, and some forms of cancer. Certain compounds found in calendula flowers and their extracts have shown anti-inflammatory effects along with potent cytotoxic effects against certain kinds of cancer cells.

How Do I Get Myself Some Calendula, You Ask?

Calendula is a lovely annual flower that can self-seed areas of a garden for years of enjoyment. Commonly known as pot marigold, they make lovely ornamental flowers and are wonderful companions in the vegetable and herb gardens.

They are easy to grow, and seeds are available through many seed suppliers and plants will soon be on the shelves at the nursery, if they aren’t there already. They grow well in containers also if you don’t have a place to garden.

For medicinal uses, find plants or seeds with Calendula officinalis in their name.

Commercially, calendula is sold as dried flowers or in extract or infused oil form. I recently purchased dried flowers because I like the versatility to make my own extracts and infusions.

Making Multipurpose Calendula Elixir – A Morning Ritual

This little morning cocktail has become a ritual in the morning. It started long ago with the idea that it is wonderfully healthy for the mind and body to hydrate with pure clean water soon after waking. This evolved into hydrating with warm water because of information that the body absorbs warm water more easily. Next, the addition of organic lemon juice to support healthy liver, kidneys, and digestion among other great benefits. This naturally progressed into adding Apple Cider Vinegar to support optimum blood sugar levels. Okay, the truth is all these things benefit healthy, glowing skin, shiny hair, and weight loss, but the other benefits are great too!

So, as with all things, the next step in the progression is including beautifying, I mean, healthful herbs to enhance this amazing morning beverage even more. Calendula, of course, is on top of the list.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon dried organic calendula petals
• 1 tablespoon organic lemon juice. (I used pre-bottled lemon juice because keeping fresh organic lemons on hand and waking up to chop them up was just not going to happen for me)
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV). Most healthful in organic, unfiltered form.
• 1 to 2 cups high-quality water heated to not quite simmering, so about 140° F (60° C).

Preparation

Step 1 – Gather the Ingredients

Step 2 – Take about a tablespoon of dried calendula flowers and put them in a glass.

Step 3 – Add the lemon juice and ACV. Give it a stir and let it sit for a few minutes while the water heats up or while you do one or two of the thousand other morning tasks.

Step 4 – Add the warm water, inhale the floral scent. Stir and let steep for 10 to 15 minutes.

Step 5 – Strain the petals, giving them a little squeeze to push out any extra goodness.

Step 6 – Pour into your favorite morning glass and enjoy.

Dosage

If this is new to you, do a few mornings with just clean freshwater, then a couple more with the lemon, then a few with the ACV. Just to create a baseline, so you know what is working for you and what isn’t. We are all different.

This drink can be taken daily. It is cleansing, detoxifying, and relaxing. Try it out on a quiet day where you can observe the effects.

Also, any way you choose to do this, it is cleansing. I would highly recommend if you have a big meeting, a long car ride, essentially any potential for getting stuck away from the facilities, do this an hour or two before that situation. It just helps things move along nicely if you know what I mean, and it is best to be prepared. This is true with or without the calendula.

Warnings

Calendula is considered safe for external and internal use.

Do a skin test, putting a tiny bit of calendula on a small part of your skin, if you are prone to allergies, to make sure there are no sensitivities.

Avoid if pregnant or trying to become pregnant as calendula has been reputed to promote menstruation.

Calendula is a powerful herb and may interfere with some medications including blood pressure medicines and sedatives. Always consult your healthcare professionals when starting new herbal remedies.

This morning ritual using Multipurpose Calendula Elixir to increase the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antimicrobial constituents in the diet helps set me up for feeling fabulous all day. I do feel that including calendula does help me feel more balanced. My joints and muscles feel great too. I hope you find this recipe helpful to create wonderful ways to include more healing calendula in your life.

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