10 Señora Life Habits That Accidentally Made You a Wellness Guru
You didn’t set out to be a wellness guru. You weren’t following some influencer’s 10-step morning routine or timing your lemon water with the lunar cycle. But you can’t help it if you’re just doing what you saw your mom and your tías and your abuela do. And yet… somewhere between boiling tecito and taking a quick afternoon cat nap, you ended up embodying everything the wellness world is now scrambling to rediscover – or thinks it’s “discovered” (lol).
Here are 10 señora life habits that made you a walking, breathing wellness trend, without even trying.
1. Tecitos for your tummy, your nerves, your everything
Before the word “adaptogen” entered the chat, there was manzanilla, hierba buena, ruda. You don’t just drink tea, you are literally brewiing wisdom. You are practicing ancestral herbalism without knowing it. And somehow, it works because you feel a lot calmer these days with tea instead of reaching for that vinito.
2. Sunlight and plants before screens
Experts like Andrew Huberman say that you need to get light first thing in the morning, as a circadian rhythm hack. But your grandmothers were out there first thing in the morning before it was cool. You call it watering your garden. First thing in the morning, you step outside, breathe deep, and feel the sun on your face. Who knew the research was saying it was making your day better?
3. Growing what you eat
A few chiles, tomatoes, and hierbas in the backyard? You literally started a regenerative food system in your kitchen window or your garden beds out back. Now it’s “cool” to grow your veggies, but that’s been done since the beginning of time.
4. Ayuno: accidental intermittent fasting
Sometimes your abuela didn’t eat until after her chores were done. Not because it was trendy, but because sometimes she didn’t like to work at the rancho chores on a full stomach – or maybe she was doing a religious practice. Now intermittent fasting is on everybody’s lips.
5. Cooking from scratch, every day
No meal kits and no restaurants every day (who could afford that growing up??). Just food passed down in memory and bought at the grocery store and made at home. The average US resident eats out five times a week. You didn’t grow up with that luxury, and it shows in your gut health.
6. Siesta culture, but make it aesthetic
Wellness influencers now schedule their “nervous system resets.” (huh?) Señoras know that that 20 minutes under a blanket could save your whole day. Rest is resistance… and you mastered it before it was aesthetic.
7. Bistec y huevo — a protein queen
Turns out, that big breakfast of huevos rancheros wasn’t just delicious. It was high-protein, iron-rich fuel. Somehow, your plate always has what the nutritionists are now recommending.
8. Beans, daily
Plant-based? Anti-inflammatory? Gut-friendly? All of the above. Beans are the unsung superfood — and they were on your plate long before all of these YouTube experts caught on.
9. Sopa de verduras, not juice cleanses
The other day I saw a farmer’s market stand that was selling green soups made entirely from veggies as a detox. Your family’s sopa de verdura did more for your digestion than any “detox” ever could. It’s warm, grounding, and full of fiber — un milagro in a pot.
10. Cold water face dunks
Podasters may have their ice baths, but your bisabuela was plunging her face into cold water to wake up, de-puff, and move through the day every day. No $5,000 tub required.
You literally aren’t trying to optimize anything, you are just living your life, guided by the principles of the women before you. Turns out these tips weren’t wise, simple and practical – they were decades ahead of their time.
