The Holistic Herbalism Podcast

Samhain, Halloween, the death of the year – this is a good time to talk about grieving, and about how herbs and grief can go together. It’s a universal human experience, but one we don’t often allow ourselves to experience and explore, because it is painful and difficult. It can often seem like there are only a few ‘approved’ ways to move through a grieving process, but everyone grieves in their o...

This week we listened to a talk by a Buddhist teacher about mantra chanting practices, and one particular facet of their purpose: to be a mental reset or redirection, a way to get a hold of your mind when it’s spun up & agitated. It inspired us to think about herbs as mantras, as mind tools – which herbs are, just as much as they’re physical supports. Herbs can help us introduce new mental pat...

Maintaining a sharp & healthy mind has always been one of the things people ask us about most often. Whether it’s a nagging difficulty recalling words, or a tendency to forget why you walked into a room – or more seriously, a relative showing early signs of dementia – lots of folks are wondering if there are herbs for cognitive decline prevention. And here’s the good news: there are! When we’r...

When thinking about how to start working with herbalism for respiratory ailments, you might get really focused on WHICH ailment it is, and which herbs are “good for” that ailment. As herbalists, though, we don’t work with diagnoses; we work with what we see. So whether it’s a cold, bronchitis, or asthma, we’ll respond to what we see, hear, and feel by choosing herbs to match the current state of t...

Our emotions part of our health just as much as our physical organs & system. When we have difficulties like anxiety and depression, we can draw on practices in holistic herbalism for emotional support. Even when we know what’s causing us to feel stress, often there’s little or nothing we can do about it. When the stressors are systemic or unavoidable given our current circumstances, we can’t...

Digestive issues are extremely common, and are one of the leading causes of missed work and reduced quality of life. The good news is, herbs can help! There’s much relief to be found in the study of herbalism for digestive discomforts. For each individual person, digestive issues can manifest a little differently, even if the causes are the same. Very many folks have indigestion or IBS due to stre...

Everyone gets hurt sometimes. Knowing how to take care of injuries at home is an excellent skill to have. You can prevent a minor injury from becoming something serious with a few simple steps: stop the bleeding, clean & disinfect, then help the healing process. Bringing in herbalism for wound care support is going to be a major boost to this process, making it go faster & more certainly i...

In August we're going to re-air some episodes we think may be helpful given everything going on right now. We'll return to our Accessible Herbalism series at the end of the month! Things are complex, and there are many factors. But guru syndrome is bad for the teacher and for the student, both. And believe it or not, active measures are required if you want to know how to not be a guru....

In August we're going to re-air some episodes we think may be helpful given everything going on right now. We'll return to our Accessible Herbalism series at the end of the month! Katja shares a hard-fought lesson: that health is not equivalent to merit, and that as herbalists it’s important for us to stay away from idea that there is A Right Way and We Know It. Instead our role should b...

In August we're going to re-air some episodes we think may be helpful given everything going on right now. We'll return to our Accessible Herbalism series at the end of the month!  This week we're airing a replay, but it's one you may not have heard yet even if you've followed our podcast from the start. That's because this episode originally aired on the HerbRally po...

In August we're going to re-air some episodes we think may be helpful given everything going on right now. We'll return to our Accessible Herbalism series at the end of the month! This week we're running a replay of episode 014 from February 2018. Adaptogens are marketed as a solution to stress, burnout, hormonal imbalances, and a lot more. They can help a lot! But they’re not alway...

In August we're going to re-air some episodes we think may be helpful given everything going on right now. We'll return to our Accessible Herbalism series at the end of the month! This week we're running a replay of episode 032 from June 2018. Katja this week reflects on a bit of wisdom surrounding downtime, and on the ways in which stress management can sometimes be the most diffic...

We work with herbs for sleep improvement purposes very frequently, because sleep is so critical to good health. During sleep, your body works through a to-do list, including: detoxification, hormone ‘balancing’, wound healing, muscle growth, immune surveillance, fat burning, clearing inflammation, cleaning wastes from the brain, and even mood regulation! Lots of things in the modern world interfer...

“Pain is a signal to change your behavior.” This motto comes from our friend the herbalist Tammi Sweet, and perfectly sums up the holistic approach to working with herbs for pain. Something’s gotta change! In this episode we’re particularly focusing on recurring & chronic pain, but these strategies help acute pain as well. What we want to do is threefold. First, let’s change the pain signal –...

The holistic approach to herbalism for weight management doesn’t start with a search for “fat-burning herbs”. Instead, we focus on building health first & foremost. As we build good health, losing weight becomes easier and more permanent. In this episode we’ll explain why it’s hard to lose weight – there’s an evolutionary, physiological basis for it. It’s not just about calories in & calor...

Edema is stuck fluid: stagnant blood and lymph that isn’t flowing the way it should be. Puffy ankles and swollen fingers are just two ways this might show up for someone. It’s not just cosmetic – stagnations like this impair wound healing and healthy cellular function, and can put strain on the heart and kidneys. Fortunately, there are many common and inexpensive herbs for edema, and some of them...

Diabetes is very common and can lead to a number of serious health issues. Holistic methods can improve diabetes by correcting what’s wrong at the source: too much sugar in the blood. These methods will include making changes to the diet – reducing sugar and refined carbs, getting more vegetables – as well as building more movement into your day. Working with herbs for diabetes doesn’t have to be...

High blood pressure and high cholesterol are two very common cardiovascular issues that you can safely improve with herbs. You can reduce your risk and improve your resilience with inexpensive medicinal plants and foods. These safe, abundant herbs can help release stress-induced tension, reduce fluid retention, and protect against the inner damage that drives cholesterol up. With a little more (or...

What do we want to build in place of the unjust systems we are living in? Everyone plays a role in deciding. Let’s do it consciously. The role of herbalists and of herbalism in mutual aid is to share knowledge, skills, and materials – and there are lots of ways to do it. Community care systems have lots of moving parts, lots of places you can contribute. If we can all learn the basic skills requir...

America is blanketed in righteous protests against police brutality and impunity. This is necessary. In the course of this work many people are being traumatized, whether through direct violence or by observing violence inflicted on their friends, comrades, and communities. Herbs can’t solve systemic racism, but they can support recovery and build resistance. We can work with herbs for trauma proc...

Our model of the primary determinants of health is the Four Pillars: food, sleep, stress, and movement. These things are in our individual control – or at least, that’s how we think of them and talk about them, most of the time. But the truth is, there’s a fifth pillar, and it can directly impact how an individual person eats, sleeps, and moves, as well as what stressors they are subject to. It’s...

The pharmaceutical model is the dominant paradigm for medicine in our culture. For those of us who grew up in this culture, it shapes our expectations of what medicine is and how medicine works. Everyone is susceptible to this, including herbalists and students of herbalism. Even if, in the front of our minds, we recognize the limits of a drug-oriented approach, it lurks in the mental undergrowth....

Finding a tick embedded in your skin is distressing, even without the spectre of Lyme disease and other tick-borne pathogens. But if you find one after your next hike in the woods, don’t panic! A simple herbal tick bite protocol like the one we outline in this episode can put your mind at ease and give your body the best fighting chance. Herbs discussed include: cat’s claw, astragalus , oregano, t...

Happy mother’s day, 2020! The truth is, any herb could be an herb for moms, because not all moms are alike, in their needs or their preferences. These four, though – linden , dandelion , yarrow , and violet – are really worth knowing and sharing with the mothers in your life. These plants are abundant, so you know you’re being sustainable and responsible. They’re resilient, and can pass that resil...

The battle’s done, and we kind-of won… Well, actually, the battle’s not entirely done either. But things are certainly shifting into a different mode. So, here are our top five everyday things you can do to stay healthy as this pandemic shifts into a new phase. Eat good food. Get more sleep. Move your body. Get herbs into your everyday life. Do an herbal steam occasionally (or frequently). Sounds...