Moon Bathing Is The New Sunbathing, According To Kate Hudson

From Delish

When life gets unbearably messy, Kate Hudson throws a party. Not to drown out the chaos with bottomless drinks and the pulsing beats of some club; her idea of a good time involves facing the madness head-on.

"A party doesn't have to be what people think a party is," she told Delish, during a livesigning of her new book, Pretty Fun. "Reflection can be a party."

It may sound counterintuitive, but Hudson's all about turning introspection into a celebration. "I really believe that when you're going through something, you need to really go through it," she explained. "I try to figure it out, I try to understand my feelings, I don't try to do anything to distract myself from them ... because then I'll actually understand it better."

The Almost Famous star has a special kind of get-together just to sift through those emotions, which she calls moon gazing parties. Held during the harvest moon each fall - though really, any full moon could work - the night's devoted to working through problems and letting them go.

The party starts on her lawn, surrounded by a group of friends. "I bring out a bunch of different crystals. You get cozy," she laughed. "You can create your own mantra, talk about what the intention is for the full moon, for that cycle, and you basically, you know, sit around and meditate and take in the moon bath."

Yes, she knows it may sound woo-woo, but hear her out.

"Moon bathing is very feminine. It's as feminine as it gets," she said, adding that it shouldn't deter men from getting in on the action too. "Men benefit greatly from moon energy."

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So what, exactly, is moon bathing? As Hudson writes in Pretty Fun, it's like sunbathing under the glow of the moon, and she enjoys it for the sense of calm and rejuvenation it gives her. The author suggests setting up yoga mats or blankets in a circle, first spending 15 minutes gazing at the moon and describing its significance, then spending 15 minutes moon bathing.

During the moon bathing process, Hudson suggests asking everyone to focus on a question as they meditate, like "What clarity am I seeking from the full moon about challenges that I'm facing?" or "How can I harness the energy of the full moon to help me achieve my goals?"

Everyone's encouraged to share their feelings throughout the party, which closes with a "release ceremony," according to the book, where people write down anything they want to let go of and burn it over a candle or bonfire.

Moon gazing may not be for everyone, but Hudson actually enjoys inviting skeptics to join her.

"I like bringing people who are so not that kind of person, because what ends up happening is you have to commit to it, and people who are kind of not, you know, they commit to it, and they get something out of it," she said.

At the end of the party, Hudson suggests sending guests home with a glass of homemade soma milk - a blend of unsweetened nut milk, honey, vanilla beans, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg - to "send them off to sweet dreams."

"[I find that] when I gather with the people I love the most to be one of the great de-stressors for me," she told Delish. "And the idea of throwing a party, or having a party, or celebrating each other - sometimes, I think we forget that it's an important part of our lives and our wellbeing."

At these parties, she recommends serving two lighter appetizers, two main dishes, and a dessert. None should take more than an hour to make, and she avoids recipes that involve gluten, dairy, meat, and processed sugar to stick with the clearing-out-mind-body-and-soul theme.

"It all starts with you," she said. "You cannot have the relationships you want, or really connect with the people you want, unless you're reflecting on your own self."

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