The Holistic Herbalism Podcast

First, here’s the link to the course Katja mentioned: Working Through Grief Use code GRIEF to get 50% off! (It’s not very original, but it works.) This course is full of herbs and holistic strategies to help you navigate grief, as well as a private community where you can talk with people who are going through similar journeys. The course and the community support are yours for life, so you can wo...

Immune boosting herbs are popular, and it’s not hard to see why. Everyone wants to avoid getting sick! It makes intuitive sense to a lot of folks that if you amp up your immunity, you’ll be more resilient in the face of germs – or I guess, more resilient to germs in your face!  But hang on. What does “immune boosting” even mean? Is immunity really a singular ‘thing’ that can be stimulated, like sl...

While our Fallow Month of August has ended, we've got one more replay for you!   (If you don't know or don't remember what a Fallow Month is, listen to the full explanation in episode 212! Or if you'd prefer some reading, check out Katja's piece If You Really Want to Learn Herbalism, Stop Studying. ) This week we're airing a replay of episode 265: Elderberry Syrup Isn...

August is a Fallow Month for us, so we are dialing back on some of our activities while we focus our attention on coursework production, curriculum development, and - most importantly - hands-on herbalism in the field, kitchen, and apothecary. If you don't know or don't remember what a Fallow Month is, listen to the full explanation in episode 212! Or if you'd prefer some reading, c...

August is a Fallow Month for us, so we are dialing back on some of our activities while we focus our attention on coursework production, curriculum development, and - most importantly - hands-on herbalism in the field, kitchen, and apothecary. If you don't know or don't remember what a Fallow Month is, listen to the full explanation in episode 212! Or if you'd prefer some reading, c...

August is a Fallow Month for us, so we are dialing back on some of our activities while we focus our attention on coursework production, curriculum development, and - most importantly - hands-on herbalism in the field, kitchen, and apothecary. If you don't know or don't remember what a Fallow Month is, listen to the full explanation in episode 212! Or if you'd prefer some reading, c...

Hi everyone! August is a Fallow Month for us, and so we are dialing back on some of our activities while we focus our attention on coursework production, curriculum development, and - most importantly - hands-on herbalism in the field, kitchen, and apothecary. If you don't know or don't remember what a Fallow Month is, listen to the full explanation in episode 212 ! Or if you'd pref...

I don’t know about you, but my social media feed is filled with stuff that is supposed to “give me more energy” to get through perimenopause. What does that even mean?  Perimenopause isn’t causing fatigue for no reason. Your body is doing things: some are new, and some are a sort of inverse callback to your teenage years. Yeah, that’s right – menopause is like a second puberty. Fun! This is work....

We like to sign off our show by saying, “Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and drink some tea.” It’s our favorite little motto and it’s a great reminder that herbalism and self-care go right alongside mutual aid! In our episode 283: Vetting Your Herbalism Sources: Red Flags & Green Flags , we talked about how it isn’t actually bucking the system to ignore the FDA and FTC laws a...

Do your friends ask you, “what’s a good herb for…” IBS, or PMS, or fibromyalgia, or whatever is bugging them? If you’ve ever struggled to answer such a request, you’re not alone. It’s not just about the difficulty of the pathology, though – it’s also about the complexity of the person, and the variability between people. Everyone thinks they can ask “what’s a good herb for IBS” and that you should...

Today’s episode is about hibiscus energetics – a quick clarification on plant species & parts, and how herbal energetics & actions may differ among them. The hibiscus you find most often in stores or shops or herbal drinks is Hibiscus sabdariffa, and it’s the specific part of the flower called the calyx. The calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa is distinct from those of other species in the genus....

Herbal confidence takes some work to develop. The whole point of learning herbalism is to help people – but when you’re still a student, that’s a little bit tricky! You don’t always know the answer. It might be something you just didn’t learn about yet. Or maybe you know part of it, but you’re not confident about the whole story. Maybe the question was just really intimidating! So you feel hesitan...

How do you know when you can trust an herbalism teacher, influencer, book, or blog? How can you determine whether a scientific study has relevant information for your practice? Vetting your herbalism sources of information is an essential skill for students and practitioners alike. Today’s episode, we lay out some red flags and green flags for this determination. These are indicators that you shou...

Today we’re sharing some thoughts about uncertainty versus imposter syndrome, and learning herbalism. Recently, we did a 20 Questions video for the folks at HerbRally – it ran nearly four hours long!  Two of the questions we were asked wove a theme together, and we wanted to share them here. The first question was “how do you deal with uncertainty as an herbalist?” The person asking this may have...

Accessibility in herbalism is not something extra or something nice-if-possible, it’s a critical part of our work. The prices of the remedies we recommend can sometimes be a determining factor in whether our clients take them, or take them long enough to get results. In many cases we can identify less expensive herbs, or formulae of herbs, which can do the job of more costly ones. In order to make...

When we’re choosing herbs to help someone, knowing their medical diagnosis isn’t enough: we don’t choose herbs for a diagnosis. As herbalists, we actually need more information! A medical diagnosis is a specialized vocabulary which creates a shorthand so that people who already know what it means, how it happens, and how to fix it, can speak more efficiently about (whatever it is). It’s not an obj...

Plant ID apps are helpful (when they’re accurate), but there is one drawback – they make it harder to learn plant ID for yourself. But there are ways to combat that so that you get good at plant ID – without having to memorize a ton of stuff. It’s summer! Now is the time to be out there practicing with your plants. Yes, there are lots of apps that will try to identify plants for you, but this is a...

Life is pretty overwhelming right now, and it’s affecting the way our brains function. When we can’t focus or can’t remember things, we typically blame it on things like perimenopause or ADHD – but the literal firehose of data that comes at us every day is an even bigger cause: it’s a LOT for our brains to process! Tulsi can help! Truly one of the most versatile and multifaceted herbs on the plane...

We’ve come to the end of the “mainstream” top-40 best-selling herbs list ! Dandelion, rhubarb, and ginseng take the last three spots. Dandelion is an herbal workhorse. It’s inexpensive because it’s ubiquitous, and its resilience is legendary – dandelion coming up through the concrete is one of the herbalist’s favorite symbols of resistance and the power of nature. Much more than a simple “detox” h...

At number 35, 36, and 37 on the list of top-selling herbal supplements we find bacopa, senna, and rhodiola. Bacopa is also known as brahmi, and this name is just as often given to gotu kola (Centella asiatica) as well. This is because both are known by that name in Ayurvedic herbalism, where they originate. Both are able to improve mental clarity and cognitive function, and have the same type of e...

Back to it! Today’s best-seller herbal supplements are CBD, fennel, and oats. To the extent there’s overlap between these, it’s some capacity to touch on the nervous system – or at least, in the case of fennel, digestive symptoms which can be due to stress and anxiety. CBD is a widely-known, and yet poorly-understood, substance. It is not identical to a full-spectrum cannabis extract, neither in t...

Have you ever wished you had thorns? Have you ever felt like you needed to protect your heart, your space, your peace of mind, or your time from a world that asks too much of you – or takes without asking? You’re not alone. This is what thorn medicine can bring you. Thorns aren’t weapons, they’re defenses. They don’t seek an animal or human out with the intent to cause harm, they hold space and de...

What are the best herbs for happiness? How can herbs make you happy? What does “happiness” even mean? These questions are important to consider before we dive right in, searching for “herbs for happiness.” When we say it, we’re thinking: what are the things preventing you from being calm & steady? It’s not so much about finding the herb to “make” you happy, as it is finding the herbs that alte...

The best-seller herbal supplements we’re covering today are yohimbe & horny goat weed. They placed #30 and 31 on the list we’re using for this sequence of episodes. These two are marketed & sought-after as “male aphrodisiacs”, “testosterone boosters”, and even “herbal Viagra”.  While it’s true that each can “help” with some forms and manifestations of erectile dysfunction, in the short ter...

When people start learning herbalism, it’s not unusual for them to begin to feel like there’s a lot “wrong” with their bodies. Some of this comes from a new recognition that symptoms they’ve been tolerating are actually a sign of something deeper, or indicate a need for change. Since it’s the new year, we’re thinking about this feeling of a need for “a whole new body” – what it means, and how to a...