Herbal Womb Wisdom

How can slowing down to "body time" support your healing process? There is a HUGE difference between the speed of your mind/emotions and your body. The mind moves quickly, and the emotions, while not as fast, are still far faster than the body itself. So... what happens when you slow down to the rhythm of your body, your cycles, your womb, your tissues? THIS is where healing happens.  Wh...

Have you ever wondered if there was a connection between your menstrual cycle, hormones and ADHD or other symptoms? I know personally I've seen a lot more inattentiveness myself during the few days leading up to my bleed. You? But today's guest, Adele Wimsett of Harmonise You, specializes in the link between  ADHD/neurodiversity and hormones, particularly in the perimenopausal years. And...

What comes up when you hear the term "vibrational medicine"? Does it feel appealing or repelling? I know how easy it can be to dismiss more subtle therapies, especially because so many of us are oriented to our tangible, physical senses. But then again, I bet you've experienced energy of place, people or experiences before. The inner knowing, or feeling, that something feels good or...

Navigating our past trauma experiences (and the recurrent stressors in our modern lives) can feel intimidating... especially if we don't have tools or methods to guide us.  Most of us didn't grow up in emotionally mature families with healthy models of what it can look like to complete waves of nervous system arousal and relaxation.  Really, very few of us have that imprinting.  But when...

Springtime is finally here in the northlands and I wanted to offer an episode along the theme of celebrating springtime both in our menstrual cycles and in the wheel of the year. So, today you'll hear first about some keys to encouraging a healthy follicular phase, and how tending this springtime in your menstrual cycle has impact on the whole cycle and even future cycles, too. And then you&a...

Have you ever wondered what the experience of endometriosis like?  Maybe felt curious about whether your own symptoms might actually be something more than common menstrual cramps? While endo is characterized by sometimes debilitating pain -- which is a common reason treatment is sought, the amount of endometriosis tissue present in the body does NOT correspond to the amount of pain felt.  It&apos...

Over the course of the past couple hundred years, we've been progressively losing our intact communities. Instead of extended family and village style lives, most of us in the western industrialized world exist in nuclear family structures.  Some of that independence has been welcome; but there is also a tremendous loss of community care and support.  There is perhaps nowhere this loss is mor...

It's officially springtime in the northern hemisphere, so you may be wondering what you can do to support yourself in this transitional time.  Honestly, were all facing so much collective instability right now, even if you aren't usually one to do a "spring cleanse" you may be feeling a little more interest in finding ways to simplify and release some of the accumulation from t...

If you've experienced pregnancy, you're postpartum.  Yep, even if it was decades ago, and especially if you made it to 28+ weeks when your body started really shifting and changing, your connective tissue relaxed, and your blood volume expanded, and your organs were miraculously displaced to accommodate for a babe! And that has impact, both short and long term.  While our bodies know how...

How can cultivating a relationship with the elements - air, water, fire, earth, ether - help you connect more deeply with your embodied experience? And what are some pathways to support this practice? In today's episode, lead steward of Dancing Freedom and ritualist Phoenix Onesong Marolda shares about her personal path to a more liberated life through connecting with the elements. From her d...

The most common questions I get as an herbalist are "what herb is good for [insert imbalance or condition here]?"   Like, "what's good for reflux", or "what's good for constipation" or "what's good for menstrual cramps?" While absolutely there are herbs that can help symptomatically alleviate challenges, we don't orient enough to supporti...

What if these precarious times are not just destabilizing but instead an opportunity to find your unique gifts and power? I've known today's guest, soul mentor and wisdom teacher Maitreya Wolf, for a long time now... and I've seen her growing through what she speaks to as a 18 year long soul initiation process. A time that has challenged and tried her in ways that have asked for her...

Can mold impact your health? And if so, what does that look like in your body and mind? Does it exacerbate symptoms of other conditions like autoimmunity? What about hormonal imbalances? The reality is that most of us are exposed to mold regularly in our lives, but some people can end up with truly debilitating symptoms while others have none at all. What is that about?  In today's episode, n...

We all go through periods of upheaval in our lives at some point, often individually or on a smaller community level.  Right now, many of us are feeling the immensity of upheaval on a collective level.  Even if you're feeling some ground, there's a real uncertainty about what happens next.  When we're faced with this combination of both acute and chronic stress, it can take a toll o...

Fascia connects every structure in our bodies. While commonly just thought of as a layer of connective tissue, fascia has a sentience unto itself. It's more than just collagen, elastin and the gel-like ground substance it's made of... it holds memory too (whether physical, emotional, or otherwise). Today's guest, nutritionist-herbalist-author Lisa Masé has been diving deeply into wo...

What do you think of when you hear the term "leaky gut"?  It's such a common reference, and often people even have a sense that it may be at the root of their digestive challenges (or at least a part of them).  But how many of us actually know what it means - and how impactful it is on our whole health (including hormonal health!), not just gastrointestinal issues? In this week&apos...

Midwinter can feel like such a draggy time characterized by cold days, lots of time inside, and often low mood and lack of inspiration - especially for people of the earth who love being outside with the plants!  What are some ways you can bring the herbs into your winter routine?  What if it can be simple? In this episode, I share how to incorporate herbs into teas, broths and tinctures -- both f...

TW: addiction, sexual trauma, pelvic pain I've been reading Gabor Maté recently, and learning about the undeniable link between trauma and addiction, and feeling just how much that plays out in our world.  According to today's guest - yoga therapist Rosemary Holbrook - addiction is often more of a symptom of past trauma.  Her story of how she went from addiction (and sexual trauma which...

Most of us move through life on auto-pilot, which makes so much sense. The pace of everything is fast and requires so much of our attention. It's easy to end up stressed, frazzled, burnt out and feel like our cups are only half full - especially when we're mothers or parents, caregivers in any capacity, healing arts practitioners, teachers or facilitators, or just living meaningful lives...

In this generative dark wombspace of the year, you might be starting to dream into some of the herbs you'd like to grow (or harvest) in your garden this year. So while these three are not necessarily "wintertime" herbs, there are actually plenty of reasons to incorporate them into your wintertime herbal formulas... and they are each potent allies for hormonal health throughout the l...

Our wombspaces are SO MUCH MORE than our menstrual cycles. They are locations of profound power, pleasure, wisdom and great teachings.  In this week's medley episode, I bring together three episodes that illustrate some of the depth and breadth of the palace of the pelvis. First, I offer an invitation to consider your wombspace as not just a physical location in your body, but a place of sacr...

Ahh, solstice has passed and winter has officially arrived - into the landscape and into our bodies. While this holiday time can feel like a lovely time to connect with family and community, it can also be a time of a lot of conflicting emotions. But when we tune into the energy of this season, the impending wintertime, the wombspace of the year, it's actually so much more about quiet, reflec...

How often do we hear the term “integrative medicine” and what people are really practicing is symptom suppression medicine with more natural, herbal or supplement methods? I think it’s very hard to break away from that “treat the symptom” approach when you’ve been indoctrinated into it, and when so many patients are familiar with it. But occasionally I’ll have a client who says they want to get to...

From pleasure to tissue healing to nurturing presence to tending generational trauma, so many of us have no idea what's possible in the palace of our pelvis.  One thing that is especially wild to me is that we often believe what we see in the media is reality.  As if all of us can just immediately feel lubricated and aroused and we can just have overwhelming orgasms in a five minute quickie. ...

It's pretty astounding how many different perspectives there are on natural contraception.  Everything from, "that doesn't work" to "that's dangerous" to "it's the best thing on the planet" and on and on, really. Because I'm currently *launching* the Natural Contraception- The Herbal Way program, I thought I'd come on here and share some...