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I don’t know about you, but the changes from Fall to Winter and Spring to Summer really give my body a beating. Sometimes it’s the weather, sometimes it’s just me ignoring the fact that my body’s “check engine light” has been on for a while because there’s simply so much to be done.

When flares happen (and they will), it’s time to get back to basics.

I hope this flare care toolkit gives you a few gentle reminders and practical ideas to return to when symptoms ramp up.

Back to Basics

When things start to feel “off,” it’s best not to try and overhaul everything.  The goal isn’t to fix it overnight. It’s to steady things enough that your body has space to settle.

Just simplify!

Not as a restriction, but as a way to reduce the load on a system that’s already working overtime.

• Rest first, not last
  If rest only happens after everything is done, it usually doesn’t happen at all. (Struggling with Sleep – read my post here)
• Simplify food choices
  Nothing fancy. Just steady, nourishing meals your body already knows how to handle. (I’ve included some basics below)
• Lower unnecessary stress where possible
  Not everything can be controlled, but some things can be paused or delayed.
• Hydration + minerals
  Easy to overlook, but often one of the first things that makes symptoms feel louder when it’s off.

Get Grounded (Beyond Food)

Not everything supportive comes from the kitchen.

Some of the most helpful things during a flare are simple environmental cues that tell your nervous system it’s safe to downshift.

A few I come back to often:

• time outside, even briefly
• bare feet in the grass or toes in the sand
• quiet, low-stimulation space when possible
• box breathing or humming
• gratitude, Hygge and Ho’oponopono practices
• relaxing Epsom salt baths or try visiting a float tank
• slow walks or just sitting in nature  – have you tried “forest bathing?“
• nature sounds (birds, wind, water – the real thing or indoors on your favorite device)
• restorative yoga or simply putting your legs up the wall
• art therapy, coloring, painting, or simply getting creative

These things don’t necessarily “treat” a flare—but they do help take the edge off the stress load that often comes with it.

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Summer: When Heat Adds Another Layer

Summer deserves its own section because heat can change the game big time!

For many people with autoimmune conditions, warmer weather can show up as:

• increased fatigue
• feeling more dehydrated than expected
• joint stiffness and inflammation
• poorer sleep
• quicker symptom flare-ups

A few simple adjustments can help:

• Hydration becomes non-negotiable
  This might look like coconut water, electrolyte support, or infused water depending on what you tolerate.
• Ginger can be helpful for comfort
  Especially in drinks like ginger lemonade or infused water.
• Pacing matters more than pushing through
  Heat + activity is often more draining than it feels in the moment.

The challenge in summer isn’t to do more—but to protect your baseline so you’re not paying for it later (I know … easier said than done).

Listen to the AIP Summit Podcast: Hot Weather & Autoimmune Disease

If you’d like to explore summer flare care in more depth, this episode of The AIP Summit Podcast covers a variety of strategies for navigating the warmer months.

“Hot weather has varying impacts on individuals with autoimmune diseases. This episode highlights how heat can exacerbate inflammation and affect temperature regulation, leading to increased discomfort for those with conditions like multiple sclerosis, lupus, and inflammatory bowel disease. Hosts Marie-Noelle Marquis and Jaime Hartman discuss strategies to mitigate these effects, such as staying cool, protecting skin from sunburn, and maintaining hydration. They emphasize the importance of stress management and balanced nutrition during summer months. The podcast also covers lifestyle adjustments, including sleep and movement, to accommodate the challenges posed by hot weather.”

Click here to listen or read the transcript.

Additional Flare Care Resources

If you want to dive deeper into the emotional and physical side of flares, these are two helpful reads from Autoimmune Wellness:

• Autoimmune Flare Self-Care
• How to Work Yourself Down When You’ve Worked Yourself Up

Recipe Round-Up: Flare-Friendly Basics

When things feel off, I try to return to simple, nourishing staples.

• Instant Pot Bone Broth
• Healing Green Soup
• Chicken Pot Pie Soup (one of my faves!)
• Ginger Lemonade
• Cherry Ginger Gummies
• Fruit + Ginger Infused Anti-Inflammatory Water

Healing Through Ho’oponopono for Autoimmune Healing: A Gentle Path to Peace and Grace

As we wrap up another year—one that may have held beauty, setbacks, flare-ups, growth, tears, progress, and everything in between—I want to offer you a practice that has brought many people a sense of peace, grounding, and emotional spaciousness: Ho’oponopono for autoimmune healing.

I first heard of this practice many years ago when I started my healing journey and stumbled across a powerful documentary called E-Motion (which has since been updated to E-Motion 2.0), which explores how trapped emotions and stress can affect our health. Insights from healers across Western medicine, quantum physics, kinesiology, biology, and genetics highlighted how addressing emotional patterns can influence physical well-being.

Recently, Ho’oponopono came up in an email, reminding me that I need to give myself more grace. After a busy, stressful year of flares and new diagnoses, it felt like the perfect time to share this practice—especially as we reflect at the close of the year.

Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness that many people today use as a simple, personal mantra for emotional healing. While the traditional form is deeply rooted in Indigenous Hawaiian culture and community-based, the individual practice focuses on inner peace, personal responsibility, and softening the nervous system.

It’s accessible to people of any faith or no faith, and it blends beautifully with the heart of autoimmune healing: slowing down, honoring your body, and meeting yourself with grace instead of pressure.

You’ve likely heard the four phrases often associated with the practice:

I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

Simple words—yet powerful when said with intention.

What Is Ho’oponopono?

Ho’oponopono is rooted in traditional Hawaiian wisdom, centered on restoring balance and harmony through forgiveness and reconciliation.
The name itself means “to make right.” Ho’oponopono can also be understood as “making things thoroughly right” or “restoring balance completely,” reflecting the practice’s focus on harmony and reconciliation.

In its traditional form, it was a guided process within families or communities to restore harmony, address grievances, and repair relationships.

The way it’s often practiced individually today is much simpler: repeating the four phrases while focusing on emotional responsibility, gratitude, and self-compassion.

How Ho’oponopono May Relate to Autoimmune Healing

This practice is not a cure for autoimmune disease, nor a replacement for conventional medical treatment. But as a mind–body support tool, it can complement the larger healing picture in meaningful ways.

Here’s why it’s relevant:

Stress Reduction
Autoimmune conditions are closely linked with chronic stress, and calming the nervous system is a critical part of symptom management. Ho’oponopono can create a grounding moment to pause, regulate, and interrupt stress-driven patterns. Some practitioners and clinicians note that consistent mind–body practices like this one may help reduce overall stress load.

Complementary Support
Ho’oponopono fits within the category of mind–body approaches. It focuses on emotional and mental healing, which can be used alongside conventional interventions such as medication, physical therapy, dietary changes, and lifestyle adjustments.

Managing Symptoms
There is preliminary evidence that practices inspired by Ho’oponopono may improve quality of life for people experiencing chronic pain.
For example, one study found that incorporating a Ho’oponopono-based meditation into therapeutic education helped reduce pain and improve sleep quality in people with chronic low back pain. While this study focused on back pain, not autoimmune disease, it suggests potential benefits for stress-related symptoms, pain perception, and overall well-being.

For those of us living with autoimmune conditions, these gentle nervous-system shifts matter.

While the research is preliminary, many in the autoimmune community find that simply taking moments to pause, breathe, and reconnect with their bodies can create profound emotional relief.

Why People with Autoimmune Conditions Connect With Ho’oponopono

Autoimmune healing asks us to live in the in-between:

• holding onto hope while managing symptoms
• supporting our bodies while grieving limitations
• staying consistent without becoming perfectionistic
• finding calm when life feels loud

It’s easy to slip into self-criticism:
“Why can’t I just push through?”
“My body is failing me.”
“I should be stronger than this.”

But none of this is your fault.
Your body isn’t the enemy—it’s trying to protect you.

Ho’oponopono invites you into a different relationship with yourself—one built on softness, compassion, and patience, rather than waging war with your body or criticizing yourself for what you can’t control.

What It Looks Like in Real Life

I recently read an account from someone living with chronic pain—an experience that will feel familiar to so many people navigating autoimmune disease.

They shared how they spent years fighting their body: forcing movement, pushing through flare-ups, avoiding mirrors, and feeling betrayed by pain that wouldn’t resolve. Their inner dialogue had become tense, harsh, and exhausted.

During a bodywork session, the practitioner quietly offered the Ho’oponopono phrases. The person could say the first three, but “I love you” caught in their throat—because they didn’t feel it.

But something softened.

The next day, they tried again—this time during gentle movement. Same routine. Same symptoms. Same tightness.

But with different words.

“Thank you, body, for getting me this far.”
“I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you.”
“Please forgive me.”
“I love you.”

The movements didn’t change—but the relationship did. For the first time in years, they weren’t fighting their body; they were listening, and relief followed naturally. That shift opened the door to steadier progress—because healing isn’t forced; it’s built through relationship.

How to Try It: A Simple, Gentle Approach

This practice doesn’t require structure or ritual.  You don’t need a quiet room, incense, or a long block of time. Just a moment.

• Pause when you feel overwhelmed, flared, frustrated, or tense.
• Breathe slowly. Nothing to fix—just presence.
• Repeat the four phrases, silently or aloud.
• Let the words meet you where you are, without expectation.

Say the phrases gently for a moment or two, whatever feels comfortable—there’s no expectation, no pushing, no finish line. Instead of trying to feel better instantly or avoiding feelings, this practice is about meeting yourself with honesty, gentleness, and compassion.

Try repeating the phrases once today, right now—even for a few breaths—and notice how it feels to meet yourself with kindness.

I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

You don’t have to do it perfectly. Even a single breath, a single repetition, is enough to invite a little more kindness into your day.

As We Move Into a New Year…

Think of Ho’oponopono as a soft doorway between the year closing and the one ahead.

A chance to:

• release the pressure you’ve carried
• appreciate the resilience you’ve shown
• forgive yourself for the hard days
• honor how far you’ve come
• create space for the year you want to build

Autoimmune healing is lifelong—but so is your capacity for grace, self-kindness, and renewal.

So as we move into a new chapter, ask yourself:

What would happen if I stopped fighting my body and started thanking it instead?

If you take nothing else from this practice, let it be this:

You don’t heal through force.
You heal through relationship.

A relationship with your body.
Your nervous system.
Your emotions.
Your boundaries.
Your pace.

And above all—a relationship built on compassion.

Here’s to closing the year at peace with your body—and stepping into the next one with grace, patience, and self-kindness.