As the days grow shorter and we begin turning inward, it’s time to tend to the spaces that tend to us.
Everyone’s heard of “Spring Cleaning.” What a lovely little seasonal ritual – throw open the windows and doors, sweep out the dust of the colder months, and make space for a fresh season of energy and extroversion.
Maybe we should do something similar in the Fall. As we’re preparing for the colder months, let’s prepare our nests for all the extra time we’ll be spending indoors over the Fall and Winter. Make them soft, clean, and cozy. When you think about it, why isn’t this even more important than a Spring Cleaning?
As you prepare to draw inward, let your home support you. Make space for quiet, warmth, nourishment, and rest.
In Classical Chinese Medicine, this movement into the colder months reflects the increasing energy of Yin: the inward, receptive, restorative aspect of life. As nature slows down, we are invited to do the same. To conserve our resources. To nourish what is beneath the surface. To give ourselves permission to rest and replenish.
Spring Cleaning, Fall Nesting
This is the perfect moment to think about how to create home environments that actually support the kind of rest and restoration your body needs.
Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about our nutrition, supplements, exercise, and other wellness practices. But we don’t always give the same attention to the physical environment in which we’re trying to heal.
Our homes are so much more than places where we hang our hats and zonk out after a long day. They are important environments in which we sleep, nourish ourselves, tend to our bodies, and restore our energy. They influence us on a daily basis: physically and energetically. They can make our healing more easeful or more challenging.
In fact, my husband Daniel, in his Chinese Medical practice, has been known to make home visits to help clients by cleaning and organizing their kitchens (to support gut health) or to improve their sleeping spaces (to improve rest) using the principles of feng shui. That’s how important our homes are!
This season, let’s turn some of our attention toward creating a home that supports our winter selves.
You don’t need to undertake an ambitious renovation. No expensive shopping spree required. You can make small, intentional choices to support your wellness. Something as simple as reorganizing a kitchen cabinet, arranging a cozy nap area, or investing in one excellent wooden spoon can help you build a supportive winter habitat.
Our guiding question: What small changes would make your home a more supportive environment to live, rest, and heal this winter?
Build a Bedroom for Deep Rest
Sleep is always an important part of self-care but it becomes even more crucial in the winter months. (Check out our recent article on the Grandmother of All Self-Care Practices: Radical Rest.)
So take a look at your bedroom. Is it built for convenience, entertainment, and daily life? Or the experience of deep rest?
Small changes to consider:
- Intensifying darkness with blackout curtains or tape over electronic lights
- Soft, inviting sheets and blankets
- Splashes of colors you love
- Arranging your bed so you genuinely look forward to returning to it at the end of the day
- Finding a better place for your phone than your pillow
- Softer lighting – perhaps less blue light, more candles, or even a red nightlight in the bathroom
Maybe you have some extra-soft and luscious pillows and blankets in other rooms of the house that might serve you better in the bedroom. Oftentimes we don’t need to buy whole new things – rearranging what we already have can make a huge difference.
You might also think beyond nighttime sleep. Do you have a place where you can simply lie down during the day? I LOVE naptime in the winter – it’s one of my favorite things to do! Create a cozy little nook where you can take an afternoon nap on the weekend, read a book, or close your eyes for twenty minutes without feeling as though you should be doing something else. There’s nothing better than giving yourself over to rest when you know you need it. (We can’t say it too much: rest is the Grandmother of all self-care practices!)
Perhaps it’s a cozy couch with a warm blanket. Perhaps it’s a little corner of your home that feels particularly peaceful. Remember: rest doesn’t have to be something you earn after everything else is finished. It is an essential rhythm of life. Give yourself permission to create some space for it now.
Tend to the Kitchen That Nourishes You
Our kitchens are another important place to consider as we prepare for the colder months.
When the weather turns, we’re naturally drawn toward warm, nourishing foods. Soups, broths, slow-cooked meals, and the kinds of dishes that make the house smell wonderful for hours. But how easy is it to actually prepare those things in your current kitchen?
Take a look at your organization. Are the things you use most in easy reach? Is it annoying to grab your favorite herbs, spices, or supplements? Would some quality time with a label maker make all the difference?
Get stocked. Are there some healthy staples you keep wishing you had on hand? Think about preparing food for the week or feeling hungry in the afternoon and get ultra practical and self-loving. Do you have nourishing, healthy snacks and ingredients that feel good to your body in this season?
Consider your allies. Is there one kitchen tool you’ve been drooling over that would genuinely support you? Perhaps it’s an Instant Pot for making nourishing soups and broths. Maybe an air fryer or juicer. Or maybe something very simple, like replacing that battered silicone spatula or indulging in a beautiful ceramic teapot. I’m not talking about impulsively buying gadgets, here! But sometimes one thoughtfully chosen tool can make a foundational difference in how to care for yourself.
The goal isn’t a magazine-perfect kitchen. It’s creating a room that makes nourishing yourself feel easy and enjoyable.
Honor the Spaces Where You Tend to Your Body
Our bathrooms deserve some attention, too. These are the spaces where we wash, bathe, care for our skin, brush our teeth, and tend to the everyday needs of our bodies. They are also places where we can create small rituals of care.
Think about the experience of being in your bathroom. Is it organized? Is the lighting harsh, or could you introduce something softer? Are your towels comfortable? Do you have what you need to make your morning and evening routines feel a little more intentional? Even something as simple as adding a warm, low-light lamp or a red-light bulb can change the atmosphere.
Consider your water, too. Do you know what’s coming through your taps and where it’s from? If you’re running a municipal water supply, check out their website for more information on what’s in your water – sometimes you can see quite a bit about additives and contaminants. Depending on your water source, it may be worth exploring water testing, filtration, or a shower filter.
You don’t need to fix all of these things at once. Don’t let this become an overwhelming project. These are simply invitations. Opportunities to become more conscious of the environment in which you care for your body. See if there’s one small thing you can gently adjust.
Our bodies are worthy of reverence. The spaces in which we tend to them can reflect that.
Cleanse Consciously
As we spend more time indoors, it’s worth thinking about the products we use to clean our homes. Many conventional cleaning products contain strong fragrances and ingredients that we’d rather not have lingering in our indoor environment. Fortunately, you don’t need an entire cabinet of specialty products to keep your home fresh. A few simple ingredients can go a long way.
One of my faves: citrus-infused vinegar
Instead of throwing away your lime rinds after cooking, save them! Add the rinds to a container of white vinegar and allow them to infuse for a week or longer. Strain the mixture and transfer it into smaller spray bottles for a simple household cleaner. You can add a few drops of liquid soap or essential oils, if you like.
You can also explore simple ingredients such as baking soda and unscented soap for different household cleaning needs. A little vinegar, a little creativity, and a willingness to work with what you already have can be surprisingly effective.
This is also a great time of year to go beyond surfaces. When was the last time you checked or changed your furnace filter? If you have a reusable filter, does it need cleaning? This can make a big difference in the air you breathe. If you live in a particularly dusty or polluted environment, you might want to consider investing in an air purifier.
Bring Warmth, Beauty, and Light Into Your Home
Winter asks us to spend more time indoors, and that doesn’t mean our homes need to become places of darkness or stagnation. Quite the opposite. This is a beautiful time to bring in warmth, texture, and little touches of beauty.
I love lighting beeswax candles in the morning, particularly during the darker months. A little candlelight, some incense, and a few moments of quiet can completely change the feeling of a room. I often find myself lighting candles near my altars and allowing that softer light to accompany meditation or simply the beginning of a new day.
If open flames aren’t practical or safe in your space, there are lovely alternatives. Battery-operated candles, including some with real wax exteriors and flickering lights, can create a similar atmosphere.
You might also enjoy making a seasonal simmer pot on the stove with citrus, herbs, and warming spices, allowing the fragrance to gently fill your home.
And don’t underestimate the power of fresh flowers. Sometimes I find myself feeling particularly inspired to bring home a bouquet of roses or another flower that catches my attention. I don’t need to wait for someone else to bring them to me. I can choose beauty for myself simply because I am worthy of it. This is part of tending to ourselves, too. Creating an environment that reminds us that our lives, our bodies, and our everyday experiences are worth celebrating.
Honor the Materials That Hold Your Home
In my home in Wyoming, there is a lot of beautiful wood. Wood paneling, trim, and other natural elements that are part of the house itself. One day, I started really looking at it and thinking: This all came from a tree. WOW. That tree gave itself to become part of the environment that shelters me.
I decided to spend some time oiling and tending to the wood. It’s something my mother might have done, given her particular appreciation for beauty (read about my mother and “Beauty as Medicine” here).
How often do we rush through our homes without really seeing them? How often do we neglect the spaces that shelter us while expecting ourselves to show up every day with energy, gratitude, and care? There is something deeply restorative about slowing down enough to tend to what is already here.
Create the Conditions for Your Own Restoration
As we move toward winter, I invite you to think of your home as a little habitat of restoration.
Not a picture-perfect home. And certainly not another standard you have to meet. But a soft nest of rest and nourishment.
Let’s bring a little more beauty, softness, and warmth into our physical spaces this fall and winter. Let’s let our homes nourish us.
What would help you sleep more deeply? What would make preparing food feel less burdensome? Where could you create a little space for quiet? What needs cleaning, organizing, repairing, or simply a little more attention?
In a culture that constantly encourages us to seek the next solution, the next product, the next practitioner, or the next wellness protocol, there is something profoundly empowering about recognizing what we can do for ourselves, with what we already have.
We can make choices about our surroundings. We can learn what our bodies need. We can create routines and spaces that honor those needs. We can stop treating rest as an indulgence and begin building our lives around the understanding that restoration is essential.
This is a kind of sovereignty, too.
In Classical Chinese Medicine, the movement into Yin reminds us that not every season is meant for outward expansion. There are times for gathering, conserving, nourishing, and allowing the deeper work of restoration to happen. Our homes can help us honor that rhythm.
So, as the Beaver New Moon invites us to consider the habitats we build, take a little time to tend to yours. Polish the wood. Clear the kitchen counter. Make the bed inviting. Put the phone away. Light a candle. Buy yourself flowers. Build the structures that will hold you through the winter.
Slowly, gently, let your home become a beautiful refuge and expression of how you care for yourself.
