Today we reach the end of our apothecary shelves! This series started way back with episode 170 on Achillea & Acorus, and today in episode 227 we’ve finally come to Zingiber.Today’s entire episode is all about ginger. (Yes, it deserves its own entire episode. If you don’t already believe it, we will convince you!)We discuss Katja’s evolving preference for fresh vs dried ginger in our tea blends at home, and some of the variations in activity between fresh vs dried ginger. We talk about quick topical applications of this wildly accessible herb, to relieve muscle aches, joint pains, and other musculoskeletal discomforts. Ryn takes time for an ode to candied ginger – yes, it’s sugar, but there are plenty of reasons why it’s excellent to have! You can easily make your own, too.Maybe you could put some chopped candied ginger into some ginger-chamomile cookies, eh?You can even grow your own ginger, if you’re up for it!Finally, we mention some relatives of ginger, members of the Zingiberaceae: turmeric (Curcuma longa), galangal (Alpinia galanga), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta), korarima (Aframomum corrorima), “shampoo ginger lily / bitter ginger” (Zingiber zerumbet). These are all worth experimenting with and comparing to ginger – they have a lot in common, with some individual nuances. Watch out for “wild gingers” of the Asarum genus, though – those have risks of liver toxicity.Ginger’s an herb we love so much, we probably mention it in every course we teach… but especially in the Digestive Health course! Learning to care for digestion is a critical skill for herbalists, and a place herbs can do so much good.Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’ve reached our penultimate Herbs A-Z episode this week, and we’re highlighting ashwagandha & prickly ash – it’s prickly ashwagandha!Withania somnifera, ashwagandha, is an herb Katja takes every single day. Usually, she gets it in the form of “notCoffee”, a formula of various roots and herbs blended to offer sustained energy and endocrine suppport. Ashwagandha is popular as an adaptogen or a “stress herb”, but its real power is in helping entrain healty cycles of activity and rest. Balance is not about stillness, but dynamic equilibrium, and ashwagandha’s one of our favorites to build that capacity.Zanthoxylum americanum, prickly ash, tells you all about its diffusive activity with the message of its tingly taste. This makes it not only an excellent herb for toothache relief, but also a truly fantastic circulatory stimulant. Stagnant blood and lymph are dispersed, and healing can proceed effectively, when we recruit prickly ash for this purpose.These two herbs make recurrent apperances in both our Neurological & Emotional Health course and our Immune Health course. Improving innner communications, establishing consistent cycles, and enhancing fluid movement are just a few of the actions herbs can bring to these critical systems to support their work.Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We have just three episodes remaining in our Herbs A-Z series! Today’s show features mullein and blue vervain.Verbascum thapsus, mullein, deserves its reputation as an effective remedy for dry respiratory conditions. Its leaf is a great ally when your home heating system dries out the air inside, or when your area is hit by wildfire smoke. But mullein leaf isn’t a systemically moistening herb – its effects outside the respiratory system are drying, through better distribution of fluids. Also, mullein root and flower are each different from the leaf – root is even more astringent & tonifying, while the leaf is a more mucilaginous demulcent. Categories like “moistening” and “drying” bear close investigation and nuanced exploration – mullein teaches us this lesson.Verbena hastata, blue vervain, is an excellent nervine when you want to release tension without losing all structure. It helps us to receive & transform, whether that’s food or information or experiences. As one of our bitter nervines – a very important affinity group of medicinal plants – vervain is an excellent companion to motherwort, mugwort, st john’s wort, yarrow, angelica, feverfew, betony, skullcap, and the like. These herbs call forward the strong interconnection of our digestive & nervous systems, and remind us that mental discomforts are as much in need of relief as physical ones. That includes during acute illness, and that’s why vervain always gets included in our homemade Winter Elixir. Try it in yours this year!If you live in the northern hemisphere, cold & flu season is in full swing! And no matter where you live, it’s good to have the knowledge and skills you need to take care of these common problems at home. Herbal Remedies for Cold & Flu teaches you everything you need to know to conquer a cold or fight off the flu. We teach you how to work with herbs that are safe and effective for all aspects of the illness. These strategies can also be very effective when coping with COVID, RSV, and other respiratory infections, too! Our focus is on finding ways to support what your body is already trying to do as it works to restore balance.Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

DECEMBER SALE: 20% off every course & program we offer, all month long! Use code KINDNESS at checkout!As we draw near the end of our tour of the home apothecary herbs, today we come to nettle and bilberry.Urtica dioica, nettle, is an herb who can help with a really vast array of health issues. Sometimes we half-jokingly refer to “nettle deficiency syndrome”: a constellation of imbalances due to poor mineral nutrition, fluid stagnation, systemic inflammation, and associated symptoms. In truth, many green nutritive herbs and food plants help resolve this – but nettle is a particular standout, and is often a great choice for a month or two of work to establish a new baseline. Do compensate for its drying qualities in people of dry constitution, though! This can be done by formulating with marshmallow or other demulcent herbs, or by cooking the nettle into a soup or other food.Vaccinium myrtillus, bilberry – also known as European blueberry, whortleberry, huckleberry, and a variety of other common names – is indeed closely related to blueberry and also cranberry. All these edible berries – and others besides – share a lot of attributes as remedies. Their sour flavor and blue-purple-red colorations indicate capacity to drain excess fluid, protect blood vessels, and improve blood sugar regulation. The leaves of these plants exert these actions, too! So whichever edible berries grow where you live, making them a part of your life as much as you can is a pleasant way to protect yourself.Everything’s on sale in December!All our offerings, are self-paced online video courses. They all come with free twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!Use code KINDNESS at checkout to get 20% off!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

DECEMBER SALE: 20% off every course & program we offer, all month long! Use code KINDNESS at checkout!This week we return to our home herbal apothecary shelves and discuss two medicinal barks: slippery elm and cat’s claw.Ulmus rubra, slippery elm, is an at-risk plant. We don’t work with it frequently, for this reason – other demulcents will usually do the job, just fine. It is a standout mucilaginous plant, though, that’s for sure! It can be difficult to strain cut & sifted herb for tea, in fact, because of the thickness of mucilage creates when infused in water. For this reason it’s often easier to work with it as a powder. Never forget that other elms – especially the abundant / “invasive” species Ulmus pumila, the Siberian elm – can do all the same work as slippery elm!Uncaria tomentosa, cat’s claw, is an herb with a lot of reputations. It’s reputed as an “anti-cancer” herb, as an “immune stimulant”, as an “herb for joint pain”… It’s easy to put herbs into conceptual boxes when we talk about them this way. To break out of those boxes, try two paths. One is a return to fundamentals: here is a cooling, drying, tonifying herb, which acts correctively on hot/damp/lax areas in the body. Another is a dive into research: here’s an herb with extensive research demonstrating its activity on chemical messengers of the immune system involved in the regulation of inflammation. Weaving these threads together is a good way to broaden your application of this plant and evade the trap of selecting herbs “for” diagnoses.Everything’s on sale in December!All our offerings, are self-paced online video courses. They all come with free twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!Use code KINDNESS at checkout to get 20% off!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today our featured herbs are red clover & damiana – two complementary fluid-moving remedies.Red clover (Trifolium pratense) has a reputation as an herb that “cures breast cancer”. That’s not the way we talk or think about it, but it’s worth digging in to why people say that! What underlies the claim is an observable effect: the plant can diminish or reduce swellings (and not only in breast tissue). This is due to its capacity to improve the circulation of lymphatic fluid, and that’s a good thing – helpful for stagnation patterns and for immune efficiency. But it’s still not a “cure”, and it’s important for herbalists to be clear about that difference.Damiana (Turnera diffusa) is more of a blood-moving than lymph-moving herb. It’s one of our favorite dispersive remedies, for increasing blood flow to the periphery and to the skin. Its affinity for the pelvis and it’s capacity to restore or enhance sensitivity in nerve endings contribute to its reputation as an aphrodisiac. It’s not about raging lust – it’s about relaxation, sensation, and communication!Red clover and damiana both make an appearance in our Integumentary Health course, along with an array of other herbs who help the skin. Whatever the problem is – whether we call it eczema, psoriasis, or just “that troublesome patch of skin”, herbs can help! Topical applications for common herbs play a big role in this work, and we also dig into the effective herbs – like these two – which you can take orally to get results on the skin.Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re on the final shelf of our home apothecary, and today we’re talking about thyme & linden!Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is our absolute favorite herb for a steam. Herbal steams are an amazing way to bring the plant’s medicinal actions into the lungs and sinuses – and the ear canal and eyes, too! Thyme’s a great steam herb because it’s so rich in volatile, aromatic chemistry. This also means it’s easy to prepare as a tea, tincture, infused vinegar, infused oil, or salve – it’s a very flexible herb.Ryn’s favorite formula recently has been “Sweet Heat” – a combination of hot aromatic mints (thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, monarda) with sweet demulcents (licorice, fennel, fenugreek, goji berry). Make it strong and drink it hot, and you’ll feel the diaphoretic movement of heat upwards & outwards in your body!Linden (Tilia spp.) is a very friendly demulcent herb. Infusing it in water makes the liquid silkily viscous, but not slimy or snotty. This makes it a good choice for folks with dry constitutions who have a taste/texture aversion to the mucilage of a marshmallow or elm infusion. Linden’s a common street tree in cities, so you might have some growing near you! (If you’re in Boston, check out this Public Street Tree Map and you can identify every tree on your block!)Katja’s excited to share some new information about linden today – it has activity as a quorum sensing inhibitor! That means it can break up a biofilm, which is a collaboration of microbes that resists the attack of your immune system. More and more herbs are being identified as having such activity. Although linden isn’t generally considered a first choice herb for wound care, this kind of info tells us it can indeed be of help in that situation.Whether you’re a brand-new beginner or an herbalist with experience, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs!Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Our herbs for this week are dandelion & cedar! Both are diuretic, but their similarities pretty much end there.We are big fans of gardening your weeds, and we took another opportunity here to advocate for it. It’s easy to do, and you don’t have to stress about upkeep. Plus, you get nutritious or medicinal plants ready to hand! Dandelion is a great one for this, and the leaf makes an excellent base for a Salad of Health (listen in for an example recipe). Whether you grow it or not, it’s easy to find growing wild – but don’t be fooled by any of the many not-a-dandelions out there in the field!The cedar we’re talking about today is “western redcedar” or arborvitae, Thuja plicata. (Other plants called ‘cedar’ include “true cedar” Cedrus species, as well as some species of Juniperus.) Katja has an argument to make that this cedar should be counted as a nervine – but it’s not a sedative one; rather the opposite. We also talk quite a bit about its particular aromatic profile, and how perhaps cedar is to tulsi as pine is to rosemary…You can learn herbalism online – with us!All our offerings are self-paced online video courses which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today we proceed futher along our shelves, looking at the herbs we keep in our home apothecary. In this episode we discuss goldenrod and wood betony.When using the botanical Latin name for goldenrod, we write Solidago spp. – that “spp.” means “species plural”; there are many varieties in the genus. It can hard to tell them apart! Fortunately, your senses can tell you about the particular actions of your particular goldenrod. Is it more bitter? That’ll have more digestive action. Is it more aromatic? That’ll really get you kidneys moving. It’s also worth trying goldenrod leaf-only vs flower-only tea or tincture.Betony, also called wood betony, is Stachys officinalis. It’s related to lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina), but nowhere near as fuzzy, and with smaller, scallop-edged leaves. An herb with a panoply of benefits, in modern people we find its most important attributes are its grounding and centering effects. These can help us oppose the habits of multitasking and dissociation from the body which are so prevalent today. It’s also a very easy herb to grow in a pot on your portch!Mentioned in this episode:episode 077: Urban Wildcrafting Ethics & Guidelinesepisode 195: How To See Stress In Wild Plantsepisode 113: Grow Your Own HerbsTaking a fallow period to focus on the hands-on aspects of herbalism is one of our favorite tips for people who are learning. There are lots of ways to study, and lots of ways to enhance your learning. We’ve collected our best suggestions into a FREE COURSE for you: Herbal Study Tips! This fun course is designed to make all your learning – whether that’s with us, from other teachers, from books, or from the plants themselves – more exciting and effective.Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today we’re continuing our “herbs on our shelf” from A to Z series! This week, our herbs are schisandra and skullcap.Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis) is SOUR. That flavor stands out most strongly when you taste the herb. But it’s also bitter, pungent, acrid, and a little bit sweet – that’s why it’s sometimes called five-flavor berry. Schisandra’s a great herb for modern people, not least because it helps a lot with anger and with sugar. It does have some drug interactions to be aware of, though!Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) is one of the ‘bitter mints’. It’s not powerfully bitter, like motherwort, but more like betony, ground ivy, or self-heal. This group includes mostly relaxants, lymphatics, alteratives, & anti-inflammatories, and skullcap is primarily a relaxant. Its specific affinities are tension in the neck & shoulders, or else tension that’s intermittent. It makes a great base compound with betony and passionflower, whether that’s for a nervine tea blend or a before-bed tincture.Schisandra & skullcap are featured herbs in our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too!Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

20% OFF EVERYTHING for the month of July!Use code ALLTOGETHER at checkout!There’s one reality, that of the human need for fundamentals like nourishing food, restorative sleep, consistent movement, ways to mitigate stress, and community support. Then there’s the other reality: that so much of this is not accessible for so many people in our society.What can we do about it, as herbalists? A lot!We can start by keeping our recommendations as accessible and affordable as possible. We can center our practice on grocery store herbs, abundant weeds, and widely available plants instead of those that are rare or expensive. We can teach people to minimize waste, and get the most goodness out of their herbs. We can keep a mental store of “cheapbest” formulae – things that serve common needs and keep expenses low, but don’t compromise on quality.We can recognize that people don’t only have to budget money, but also time and energy. Especially in the context of chronic illness and fatigue syndromes, being able to work effectively with simple protocols – to hone in on the manageable essentials – is critical to success. And perhaps most importantly, we can improve access to herbalism and cultivate community connections. One individual against the world is in a really tough spot, but a community together is healthier.If this topic is speaking to you today, check out our Herbal Community Care Toolkit. It’s chock full of low-cost, abundantly accessible herbal remedies for addressing common health issues. Students in this program learn our most inexpensive strategies for improving health and well-being. This course is available by donation, but if you can’t afford it, email us and we’ll send you a coupon code so you can get it for free!And, don’t forget! Our semi-annual 20% off sale is running for the whole month of July!Use code ALLTOGETHER at checkout to get 20% off any of our courses or programs!(This code can be used several times, if there’s more than one course you’d like to take.)If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re continuing our “herbs on our shelf” series from A to Z today! This time our herbs are elder and sassafras.The most famous part of elder (Sambucus nigra) is the berry, which is indeed an effective remedy for viral infections including colds, flu, and COVID. It’s a rather safe one, despite occasional herban legends do the contrary. (No, the berries will not kill you with cyanide. No, elderberry does not cause cytokine storms. No, it is not a risk for people with autoimmunity.) But it’s so much more than that! We can break elder berry out of the ‘cold & flu’ box, and appreciate it as an anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular tonic, and traditional alterative. Plus, we can also work with the flowers! They make an excellent relaxant diaphoretic, for releasing both physical and emotional heat.As for sassafras (Sassafras albidum), its root bark is its most famous part, and it’s a key component of ‘root beer’ flavors. We like it that way, with sarsaparilla (whether that’s Smilax, Hemidesmus, or Aralia), ginger, & birch – and why not add some adaptogens too? That’s how you get Rooted & Ready. But wait! Sassafras leaf is also quite nice. It’s one of those interesting herbs which combines demulcent and astringent qualities all in the same herb, like purple loosestrife, and it’s one of Katja’s preferred herbs to correct for too much dryness in a formula.Elder and Sassafras both turn up in our course Elements of Detoxification. This course takes a fresh look at the concepts of “toxicity” and “detoxification”, a holistic perspective that goes beyond “cleanses” and products. Learn a memorable, practical model for understanding how the body’s detox functions work, along with the roles herbs can play in supporting them. And, take a look at some key formulas like Rooted & Ready, that bring together taste, action, and energetics for maximum effect. Check it out!Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

There’s a basic rule when it comes to herbal businesses in the US: “Don’t tell and sell.”Due to rules and regulations set forth by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there are many limits on what one can say about herbal products. You may already know that it is not allowed to make “disease claims” on product packaging or promotional materials, only “structure & function” claims – that’s why a garlic supplement will says it “supports heart health” rather than “lowers cholesterol”. But you may not be aware that this prohibition extends also to any website, social media presence, or other materials you produce – including as a clinical herbalist or a teacher.The long and short of it is, you can’t realistically maintain an herbal products line and a teaching or clinical herbal practice.A lot of herbalists get frustrated with the tell & sell rules, but in reality they’re not as constraining as it seems. They’re part of doing business, and there are actually good reasons things are set up this way. So in this episode, we’ll go through some examples to make this clearer – and find some silver linings along the way!Referenced in this episode:FDA – Small Entity Compliance Guide: Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packaging, Labeling, or Holding Operations for Dietary SupplementsFDA – Warning Letters databaseFTC – Health Products Compliance GuidanceWould you like to know more? We’ve got just the thing! The Herbal Business Program has all the nitty-gritty details about setting up your herbal business – whether that’s products, clinical herbalism, or another variety of herbal pursuit. From GMPs and labeling laws, to marketing, to taxes & insurance, to the technology you’ll need to make it all happen, this course has everything. You can do this! We can help.If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We almost never do interviews, but our friend Anna Rósa is collaborating with The Lotus Flower to empower refugee women in Kurdistan to care for their own health, their families and communities, and to start herbal businesses to support themselves as they rebuild their lives.We are so excited to support her efforts, and we wanted to tell y’all all about it too!You can learn more about the collaboration here:Herbal Sisters Workshops for WomenAnd you can find her fundraiser course here – all proceeds go to support the Herbal Sisters project!The Healing Power of Icelandic HerbsDISCOUNT CODE: Use code commonwealth to get 30% off the price! Valid until June 30th, 2023.If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today’s herbs are sage & rosemary – two herbs whose botanical name Salvia indicates they can keep us “safe, healthy, and secure”, if we go with a literal translation. Sounds pretty good to us! And tastes good, too…Sage, Salvia officinalis, is the subject of a great many old sayings & adages, like “if a man would live for aye [forever], then should he eat sage in Maye” – or, “why should a man die while sage grows in his garden?” (We’d like to point out that sage is good for women and enbies too, just for the record!) Ryn’s personal favorite is this one: “Sage, make green the winter rain / charm the demons from my brain!” As a mental awakener and mind-sharpener, sage is hard to beat. It’s amazing for digestive sluggishness too, especially when that involves difficulty digesting fats. But don’t relegate it to food applications only – sage can be beautiful in formulae for cocktails or mocktails, bitters blends, and nervine elixirs.Rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus, was categorized in its own genus as Rosmarinus officinalis until 2017. Well, we’ve had six years to get used to it, and we’re aaaalmost there – but you should still know both names, because in a lot of good herbal books you’ll only find it under the older name. It’s an excellent cerebral circulatory stimulant, aromatic carminative, and hepatic stimulant herb. Rosemary is an herb for remembrance, also, as Shakespeare’s Ophelia tells us in Hamlet. See how much this herb has in common with sage? They go great together, or with lavender and other aromatic mints. Try them in concert with sweet herbs, too – a “sweet heat” blend of sage, rosemary, monarda, fennel, goji, and a pinch of licorice is one of Ryn’s favorites recently.Sage & rosemary are featured herbs in our Neurological & Emotional Health course. Although often when herbalists refer to “nervine” herbs, they mean relaxants and gentle sedatives, the term can also be applied to stimulants, like these two herbs. They can awaken and enliven nerve activity, and mental activity too.This course is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too!Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In this period of Fallow Month (see previous episode), we're re-airing a couple of our favorite episodes from the archives. This one was originally episode #145, originally aired December 20th 2020.In this episode we explore the skills and disciplines necessary to conduct a successful self-experiment. Self-experimentation in this context might mean making changes to dietary, lifestyle, & movement habits; developing stress management skills; or trying out herbal medicines.First we address why and how self-experimentation can fall into self-justification, and how to avoid this. Then we highlight the skills of perception, reflection, and connection which are the bones of a good n=1 experiment, and share some key methods for developing them. Finally we talk about the practicalities that make this work go more smoothly, and share a few thoughts on how this all applies to clinical practice work as distinct from individual efforts.This is at the root of our work as herbalists, so we hope you’ll listen in!We teach herbalism online! When you sign up for any of our courses – including our FREE Herbal Study Tips course – you get access to twice-a-week live Q&A sessions, integrated discussion threads on every lesson, and a vibrant student community. Our courses are centered on video lessons you can watch at your own pace, and once you’ve bought a course you retain access to it (and any future updates!), forever.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In this period of Fallow Month (see previous episode), we're re-airing a couple of our favorite episodes from the archives. This one was originally episode #120, originally aired April 4th 2020.Previously, we've urged you to look at learning herbalism like learning a language or instrument – something that requires daily practice. This week, we’re sharing some specific practices you can do to build your herbal skills on a daily basis!You can take lessons in herbalism, and study to learn – but the key here is, a little bit each day is better than “a lot” which happens only rarely. Building a habit of reading a few pages of an herb book, watching a half hour video lesson, or listening to an audio lesson on your commute every day will serve you well.Another way is to make space to experience your herbs daily. Drink tea, take tincture, taste them, smell them. Even better, do this while you’re studying to enhance your learning, to root it in your body and give your mind a touchpoint to return to. This strengthens memory!A helpful motto (especially for those who are allergic to regimentation) is “Don’t miss an opportunity.” Whenever something new-to-you comes up, take the chance to come up with an herbal plan of resolution. First, learn all you can about what’s happening. Then, try to identify energetic patterns; that helps you select applicable herbal actions. Then you can come up with a set of herbs to do the job, and finally you can decide how those herbs will go to work – what preparations and formulations will best match the situation. (Then you start that cycle over again, to expand or refine!)It’s all about building habits – whether habits of daily activity, or habits of response to new events. Put those habits into place now, and your confidence and capability will grow every single day.Did we mention that studying individual herbs every day is a great habit to get into? With our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course, you can do just that! Each of the 90 herbs we cover in this course has a video lesson, plant profile document, and a quiz to test your knowledge. It teaches you much more than “just” the individual plants, too – key concepts in herbal energetics, medicine-making, and pathophysiology are woven into every lesson. Check it out, and watch the first video (all about ginger) for free!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In ancient agriculture, the farmers observed the need to let fields rest every year or two, so they could recover their fertility. Letting the fields lie fallow in this way actually yielded more food than trying to force them to grow every year.We can apply this same insight to the learning process. You cannot cram in more information forever, just by gritting your teeth and bearing down. Humans need time to process and integrate what we’ve learned. The best way to enhance that processing & integration is by getting out of your brain and into your body.Take time to practice what you’ve learned, to engage your senses and your hands. Dig, grow, tend; taste, smell, touch; make, try, play; share!Taking a fallow period to focus on the hands-on aspects of herbalism is one of our favorite tips for people who are learning. There are lots of ways to study, and lots of ways to enhance your learning. We’ve collected our best suggestions into a FREE COURSE for you: Herbal Study Tips! This fun course is designed to make all your learning – whether that’s with us, from other teachers, from books, or from the plants themselves – more exciting and effective.Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today we’re discussing the entire genus of Rubus plants! We focus most on blackberry & raspberry, because we know them best, but with 1400+ species found on every continent, there’s certainly a local Rubus to be found wherever you go.Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) & raspberry (R. idaeus) leaf and root are excellent astringents. Not just for the pelvic organs, but also the intestines and urinary system, these herbs tonify tissues and eliminate stagnant fluids. Topically, they’re effective as wound washes, compresses, and pelvic soaks. They’re also nutritive, of course – berries and leaves both – with antioxidants and mineral content for all your systems. And remember: any astringent herb is also an emotional astringent, an herb who can help you “keep it together” … but especially the rose family herbs, like these! If all you’d heard (before today) about raspberry was that it’s “good for pregnancy”, you might want to check out our Reproductive Health course! We discuss the whole range of human reproductive variability and herbal medicines to support all kinds of people. We even bust a few reproductive-health myths and herban legends. (Preview: vitex is not “a miracle herb for all women”!)Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Snow-delayed by a couple days, here’s our next episode! Today we’re talking about yellow dock and rose.Yellow dock (Rumex crispus) is also known as curly dock. We also like to work with broadleaf dock (R. obtusifolius) in all the same ways. These herbs can be tinctured or prepared as decoctions. They’re great help for constipation, and if you prepare it right, they can help some chronic diarrhea also. Docks can help skin issues because of the improvements they yield in digestive function and nutrient absorption; they’re classic herbs for working on the gut-skin axis.Roses (Rosa spp.) of many kinds are excellent for herbal remedies, though we do avoid Valentine’s roses since they’re usually heavily treated. The hips, flowers, leaves, and roots of rose all have medicinal attributes to offer. Are they “just another rose family astringent”, or something more? To us, the answer is simple: just smell it and you’ll know!Our Integumentary Health course features both yellow dock and rose, along with an array of other herbs who help the skin: burdock and calendula, of course, but also turmeric and echinacea, among others. Whatever the problem is – whether we call it eczema, psoriasis, or just “that troublesome patch of skin”, herbs can help! Topical applications for common herbs play a big role in this work, and we also dig into the effective herbs you can take orally to see results on the skin. Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Is it more accurate to say “I am an herbalist” or “I’m doing herbalism”? To us, if “herbalist” is an identity, a name, a noun – then you’re subject to imposter syndrome. Why? Because you’re treating it as something you can be, once and for all, based on a credential or status. But like all living and growing things, herbalist is a verb.If “herbalist” is a piece of paper you hang on the wall, or a pile of books you’ve read, it’s easy to feel defensive when you’re challenged. But when “herbalist” is a set of actions you do every day, then the evidence is right there to see. The basis for your claims and beliefs is right there, today and tomorrow.In herbalism as in few other arts of healing, we have the ability to follow this maxim: don’t suggest something to another person until you do it yourself. Get the direct experience: it’s where integrity lives!Not sure how to start? Check out our Herbal Study Tips!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today we’ve got two astringent herbs to discuss, though their similarities pretty much end with that quality. Rhodiola and staghorn sumac are our topic!Rhodiola rosea has been commercialized and popularized as an adaptogen and “antidepressant” herb. It’s quite warming, drying, and tonifying – really great if you need to row a viking ship across the North Atlantic… or if your day-to-day work life feels like that kind of marathon. It is an herb of extremes, and it can have adverse effects if you take too much. Working with corrigent herbs, taking breaks, and formulating thoughtfully can make this herb more appropriate for your system.Staghorn sumac, Rhus typhina = R. hirta, is extremely abundant – some even call it ‘invasive’! Cooling, drying, and quite tonifying (especially the leaves), sumac is a good friend. The berries make a nice sour red drink, and we like to make ‘red tea’ with sumac, hibiscus, rose hip, goji, and sometimes schisandra or elderberry. This is a great antioxidant-rich preparation which tastes great with a little honey; even kids like it! Sumac leaf is astringent enough to resolve diarrhea, serve in wound care, or help shrink swollen varicosities.Stressed and struggling? Trudging through your days? Check out our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This course is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too!Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today’s herbs from our apothecary shelf are self-heal and lungwort!Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris, is a lovely lymph-moving herb who we often find in woodland trails. You can find it in lots of places – “vulgaris” does mean “common”, after all – but you probably won’t find it very readily in commerce. It’s not the easiest plant to grow for profit, but thankfully it is easy to grow for yourself! And you may well want to: it’s an excellent wound-healer, lymph-mover, inflammation-reducer, and all-around alterative. (Also worth mentioning is the look-similar plant carpet bugle, Ajuga reptans, which has many of the same actions.)Lungwort, Pulmonaria officinalis, is an herb Katja likes to add to teas for flavor. It’s not a strong flavor, more of a base note to build on. Lungwort’s in the borage family but it does not have the dangerous types of pyrrolizidine alkaloids – that’s a relief! (Some plants in that family can be damaging to the liver, but not lungwort.) This is not only an herb for bringing moisture to the lungs, easing the elimination of mucous and soothing a cough; it’s also a nice mildly moistening herb to include for balancing the energetics of a formula. NB: don’t confuse this lungwort with Lobaria pulmonaria, a lichen which also has some respiratory actions (though of quite a different nature; the lichen is drying).Do you find studying herbalism to be overwhelming? Fret not! There are lots of ways to study, and lots of ways to enhance your learning. We’ve collected our favorites into a FREE COURSE for you: Herbal Study Tips! A few of our favorite tips? Learn like a cat (with lots of naps!), write up postcard-sized “scripts” for common explanations, choose an Herb of the Month, and claim teatime as a radical act of self-care and self-instruction. This free course is fun and designed to make all your learning – whether that’s with us, from other teachers, from books, or from the plants themselves – more exciting and effective.Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Relaxants come in many varieties. Today we come to two herbs who relax tension patterns in the body, yet are quite different from one another.Pedicularis densiflora, P. canadensis, and P. groenlandica are just a few of the “louseworts”, also sometimes known as wood betony. We ourselves usually mean Stachys officinalis when we say “betony”, and east of the Rockies that’s usually how it goes. Both betonies release tension, though we think of Stachys as reaching the body via the mind, and Pedicularis as reaching the mind via the body. This is an herb you don’t need to take in high doses to get a good effect; even a touch in smoke is palpable.Solomon’s seal is Polygonatum biflorum or P. multiflorum, and in some contexts the species P. odoratum is similar enough. Just watch out for certain medicinal processing in some traditions, this can change the properties of the herb from its basic set of moistening, relaxant, and cooling. Sol’seal root is a good one to chew, or take in tincture; we do love it in water but reserve that for special occasions.Both of these herbs appear in our Musculoskeletal Health course as well as our Neurological & Emotional Health course. Whether you’re looking to release some physical tension, soften some emotional rigidity, or a bit of both, pedicularis & solomon’s seal can help you let go.Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Our herbs this week are pine and plantain! A mighty tall tree and a humble herb of the packed earth.Pine trees come in many varieties. Around Boston we mainly find white pine (Pinus strobus) and red pine (Pinus resinosa), but many others are similar. Pine can help sustain energy and mood, so we consider it a stimulant – but not like coffee. Pine will help you stand steady, not make you jittery. We like to include a bit of twig along with the needles in our tea, as this gets a bit of resinous material in there as well. As Ryn can (and will, at any opportunity) tell you, pines are lovely to climb – if you can make it to the first branch, that is!Plantain – we’re talking about Plantago species, not the banana thing! – is an herb who loves paths and the people who make them. Whether the introduced and very common Plantago major or P. lanceolata, or the native-to-North-America purple-stemmed P. rugelii, this is a flexible and versatile herb. In this episode we focus on its capacity to help a uniquely modern problem: the impacts on our bodies of pharmaceuticals, especially NSAIDs. At the gut lining and the liver, plantain helps resolve the damage these sometimes-necessary medications can cause. And this from a very safe plant, with no known drug interactions!Our Integumentary Health course features pine and plantain several times, along with an array of other herbs who help the skin: burdock and calendula, of course, but also turmeric and echinacea, among others. Whatever the problem is – whether we call it eczema, psoriasis, or just “that troublesome patch of skin”, herbs can help! Topical applications for common herbs play a big role in this work, and we also dig into the effective herbs you can take orally to see results on the skin. Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

A seaweed and a vine-flower, how are they alike? We started out this episode feeling like these two herbs were completely different from one another. By the time we got to the end, though, we found a unifying quality or two.Dulse, whose Latin name is Palmaria palmata, is our favorite choice for those who are new to seaweeds. It has a mild flavor, isn’t too ‘fishy’ or too ‘slimy’. It may not exactly be “bacon of the sea”, but it sure does add a nice salty & umami flavor to dishes! Dulse is also a great provider of minerals (but not too much iodine, so don’t worry). Its nourishing qualities support us in a very grounded way, at the mineral levels of bone, muscle, and nerve health. In archetypal terms, it is an “earth of water” herb.Passiflora incarnata is the botanical name for passionflower. This is an astonishingly beautiful flower – make a web search to check out some photos, you’ll see what we mean. (Oh, and don’t neglect ‘passionflower UV light’ as a search term: see what it looks like to bees!) It’s an excellent plant to sit with for meditation – and it can help you move into a more meditative state of mind, too. Famously helpful in sleep formulae, passionflower helps rein in the spinning, anxous mind, and brings it inward and downward. If you’re comfortable with elemental language, it might make sense to look at this herb as embodying the “earth of air.”If you’re having trouble sleeping, if anxiety is keeping you up at night, we’ve got a plan for that. Our short course, Holistic Help for Better Sleep, teaches you key strategies for lengthening and deepening your rest each night. You’ll also meet our favorite herbs to help with sleep disturbances and insomnia, and how to choose the right herbs for your own personal sleep needs. What’s more, you receive everything that comes with enrollment in our courses, including: lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today’s herbs are two excellent friends to the human nervous & emotional systems. Tulsi and evening primrose are both nervines, and although they are rather different from one another, they fit together nicely.Tulsi or ‘holy basil’, Ocimum sanctum aka O. tenuiflorum, has featured on our podcast many times previously: as a supportive herb for psychological first aid, sugar cravings, trauma recovery, and cognitive maintenance, among other things! It’s truly a multifaceted herb who can help many of us.Evening primrose, Oenothera biennis, is an herb we find very helpful for ‘frazzled’ anxious feelings, whether those have arisen in response to stressors, in the process of quitting smoking, or simply as an extension of a dry, tense constitution. It’s not so easy to find for sale, but it’s very easy to grow your own!We also have a few comments in this episode about a relative of evening primrose called Circaea lutetiana, the “enchanter’s nightshade”. This plant isn’t actually a nightshade, and its primary enchantments have to do with its leaf shapes and seed dispersal strategies, more than its actions or chemistry. If you want to learn a fun new word today, let us propose “zoochory” as a candidate!Tulsi & evening primrose both make appearances in our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This course is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too! In addition, you receive everything that comes with enrollment in our courses, including: lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Happy new year everyone! May 2023 be an herb-filled year for all of us!Monarda species plants are sometimes known as bee balm, wild bergamot, horsemint, or a variety of other names, but we usually just call them monarda. These lovely mint-family members produce an abundance of hot, “sharp” aromatics which are extraordinarily helpful in infectious respiratory issues. Monarda is fantastic in a steam, but teas and tinctures are also very effective ways to work with this herb. If the intensity is a bit too much, or if you have a dry constitution, try formulating with some demulcents such as fennel, licorice, lungwort, or marshmallow.Catnip is well-known to many, yet underappreciated. Nepeta cataria is not only for felines – although it is indeed quite good for them to have a little catnip, regularly! For humans, catnip is an excellent relaxant. It works this way in the digestion (releasing cramps and upward-rising heat or nausea), in the skin (as a relaxant diaphoretic), and in the emotions (as a soothing and calming remedy). It’s easy to grow your own, and it’s quite safe even for young children or for elders. No matter your level of experience or training, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs! Plus, you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more. Two tuition options are available, including a monthly payment plan.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

20% OFF ALL COURSES & PROGRAMS FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF DECEMBER – USE CODE DECEMBER2022 AT CHECKOUT!Today we’re profiling a few of our favorite “minty” mints! We discuss spearmint, peppermint, & pennyroyal.Spearmint (Mentha spicata) has a light flavor and impression, with moderate menthol content. It’s gotten a lot of attention in herbal circles for potential impacts on elevated androgen levels in certain circumstances, but is this generalizable? We’re not convinced. We see spearmint as a relaxant and soothing herb first and foremost.Peppermint, on the other hand, is quite stimulating! In part this is due to stronger menthol content and concomitant strength as a relaxant. Cerebral circulation benefits from this combination, and peppermint can help brain fog in many cases. It’s important to be clear that products made with peppermint essential oil are not the same as drinking EO in water (which we advise against very adamantly).With pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) it’s even more important to stick to tea rather than the EO. Cases exist of fatalities due to ingesting the EO, in an attempted herbal abortion. This is not going to work, and it is dangerous: don’t do it! But, that doesn’t mean a single cup of pennyroyal tea will cause an abortion, either… As a tea the herb is an effective pelvic circulatory stimulant & relaxant. If peppermint is helpful for brain fog, then pennyroyal is helpful for “uterus fog”!20% OFF ALL COURSES & PROGRAMS FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF DECEMBER – USE CODE DECEMBER2022 AT CHECKOUT!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Tonight we’re talking about two of our favorite herbs, and two of the tastier herbs in our materia medica.Goji berry, Lycium barbarum / L. chinense, is an excellent post-workout adaptogen. It’s a very good herb to consume as food, whether a simple handful of dried berries, included in a trail mix, cooked into rice, or decocted into dissolution in a broth. It is famous as an herb for building Blood in TCM, and also for supporting blood vessels from the perspective of modern phytochemistry.Chamomile – and we’re talking primarily about “German” chamomile, Matricaria recutita – is quite possibly the herb we mention most often! It’s definitely a favorite, with its light relaxant aromatics and its deep antispasmodic bitters. Chamomile is a panacea of nuances: depending on how you prepare and apply it, it can serve a myriad of different functions.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we highlight lavender & motherwort!Lavandula angustifolia (and many other Lavandula species), a well-known scent to everyone, recognizable and soothing. Lavender relaxes and releases tension. It has a warmth to it, which is more noticeable the more you take or the longer you take it. The flowers are the part that are most popular and available, but we also love to work with lavender leaf! It’s more astringent and less “floral” than the flowers are, and makes a lovely tea.Leonurus cardiaca is a lion-hearted plant with strong protection for its “babies”, the seeds. Motherwort soothes the human heart and releases tension, draining excess heat. It can also relax the pelvic organs, and because of this, help bring on menstrual flow that is restricted by tension. Despite warnings you may see, motherwort is quite safe even for a pregnant human, at the common dose strengths of Western/American herbal practice.Lavender & motherwort both feature prominently in our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This course is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too! In addition, you receive everything that comes with enrollment in our courses, including: lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re back to our apothecary shelf herb profile tour! This week we have a pair of herbs who both support respiratory function. They demonstrate two types of heat: pungency and the hot aromatics.The root of elecampane, Inula helenium, taste in a way we fondly refer to as “peppery mud”. This herb is fantastic for cold, damp lung conditions. When you feel like you’d need a shovel to get all the phlegm out of your lungs, look to elecampane for help. Inula is also an excellent digestive herb, and these effects are most comprehensive when it’s taken as a decoction.The leaves and, especially, the berries of juniper (Juniperus communis) are bright with warm, airy aromatic movement. Simply holding a berry in your mouth and letting its vapors pervade your sinuses & lungs is an old trick from the Nature Cure movment. Today it’s a good habit for when you’re traveling or in a large group of humans! Juniper’s an excellent urinary antiseptic also, and for Katja, it’s a standout emotional support herb.Our Respiratory Health course includes more discussion of elecampane & juniper, as well as other key herbs to work with, and methods for targeting herbal remedies to the sinuses & lungs. Asthma, cold/flu/corona, COPD, and other troubles are covered in detail. Plus, you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses. That includes: lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, a buzzing student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re almost moved! This week our episode is about the herbs we’ve kept on the shelves so that we have them available every day. These are plants that are helping us get through the physical exertion, dust!, and stress of packing & moving. We talk all about why we love them in this episode, and some formulae for infusions & decoctions we’ve been drinking to keep steady.We also discuss in this episode the possibilities for formulation with the herbs we’ve kept on hand. There are lots of different ways to put them together to address different health issues. These exercises in flexible formulation, and in making do with what you have on hand, are central to our practice of herbalism. Learning herbalism, to us, isn’t about rare or ‘exotic’ plants, expensive remedies, superfoods, and complicated protocols. It’s much more about learning to work with herbs in an agile, responsive way – and about appreciating the breadth of their potential.Here are the herbs we kept on hand:angelicareishiastragaluseleutherocodonopsiscacao nibsself-heal (Prunella)damianared cloversagemonardarosemarycedartulsichamomilecatnipmarshmallowlungwort (Pulmonaria)mulleingingercalendulacinnamonorange peelhawthorn berryturmericcardamomThe best way to build that flexibility & agility into your own understanding of herbs is to study them in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus, you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more. Two tuition options are available, including a monthly payment plan.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Ryn says: We've got another replay for you this week, and it's one of my personal favorites. (It also happens to be from right around the last time we moved!) It's episode 95 from 10/5/2019, and it's an episode we made right after I attended the MovNat Level 3 certification challenge. It was a 4-day course/test/immersion in natural movement. It was quite the challenge! We ran three miles barefoot on complex terrain, we jumped 9' across rocky chasms, we picked each other up and carried each other up the hill & down the trail, we hefted logs and traversed ropes, we held our breath in icy streams... it was great, and it was HARD. :) In this episode, we talk about all the herbs I took to prepare beforehand, and the ones I brought along to help me get through. If you want to work with herbs for physical challenges in your own life – whether that’s an intense sporting event, or a job or lifestyle that’s physically demanding – these might help you, too!Oh, one last note: In the episode you'll hear me mention a few challenges I didn't master during the event. I had to improve my skills, complete the challenges, video them, and send them in. Well, it took me two years (minus two days) to finish all my challenges, but I did it! I'm really looking forward to offering more hybrid movement x herbalism events in 2023 and beyond. Bringing these areas of holistic health and natural movement together is my happy place, and I want to share that with you. If you're on our mailing list, you'll hear about these events as soon as I've got them planned! (If you're not on our mailing list, just visit commonwealthherbs.com and you can sign up at the bottom of the homepage.)Here are all the herbs & preparations we discussed in the episode:supplements: reishi, ginkgo, chlorophyllteas:EVRY DAY YEAH: jiaogulan, goji, cedar, sage, ginger, licoricedemulcent blend: marshmallow, cinnamon, fennelchewroots: calamus, sol’seal, licoricetinctures:ginger-chamomileblackberry rootwuggy guts: peach leaf, ginger, ground ivySTIMULANT: kola nut, guarana, eleuthero, ginkgo, ginger, prickly ashHerbal Medics echinacea mixHerbal Medics Cold & Flu formula: yarrow, elderflower, boneset, echinacea mix, prickly ashantiseptic spray: propolis, berberine mix (barberry root, Oregon grape root & leaf), yarrow, cedar EO“red salve” (HM sprain & strain): comfrey, juniper, prickly ash, cayenne, black cohosh, lobelia, arnica, meadowsweet, horsetailjoint liniment: (sol’seal, st j, alder, cayenne, lobelia, clove EO)We teach herbalism online! When you sign up for any of our courses – including our FREE Herbal Study Tips course – you get access to twice-a-week live Q&A sessions, integrated discussion threads on every lesson, and a vibrant student community. Our courses are centered on video lessons you can watch at your own pace, and once you’ve bought a course you retain access to it (and any future updates!), forever.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We're replaying some of our favorite episodes from the back catalog of the Holistic Herbalism Podcast. In this one, originally aired as episode 142 on 11/6/2020, we highlight four of our favorite fungi: shiitake, maitake, reishi, & lion's mane.Essentially all medicinal mushrooms share some features of interest herbalists. Famously, they can modulate immune responses – boosting immune surveillance and efficiency, while reducing excessive inflammatory or autoimmune expressions. Some mushrooms can also have adaptogenic activity, improving our endurance, resilience, and fluidity of response to stressors. And some mushrooms (more than you might expect, actually) can even help regenerate damaged or diseased nerve tissue, and protect the nervous system. Sounds pretty good, right? Listen for the full story.Mentioned in this episode:Herbal Revolution – our friend Kathi Langelier’s new herbal recipe book – you can pre-order your copy today! Also check out all her excellent herbal remedies & delights.Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy is an excellent and down-to-earth book on all things fungal.Neuronal Health – Can Culinary and Medicinal Mushrooms Help?, Sabaratnam et al, J Tradit Complement Med. 2013 Jan-Mar; 3(1): 62–68. doi: 10.4103/2225-4110.106549 – This is the review paper showing neuroregenerative activity from lion’s mane, reishi, maitake, and cordyceps, among others.Antitumor Effect of Ganoderma (Lingzhi) Mediated by Immunological Mechanism and Its Clinical Application. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1182:39-77. doi: 10.1007/978-981-32-9421-9_2 – This is the paper Ryn quoted an excerpt from, about the anti-cancer activities of reishi.We teach herbalism online! When you sign up for any of our courses – including our FREE Herbal Study Tips course – you get access to twice-a-week live Q&A sessions, integrated discussion threads on every lesson, and a vibrant student community. Our courses are centered on video lessons you can watch at your own pace, and once you’ve bought a course you retain access to it (and any future updates!), forever.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We realized that the Autumnal equinox is coming up soon: Thursday 9/22 at 9:04 PM, for those of you keeping track! This made us want to re-air episode 155, a discussion of our Equinox Thoughts on Balance & Amphoteric Herbs, originally aired on 3/20/2021.This episode is all about balance. Equinox is the time of year when day & night have equal length. Herbalists use the word "amphoteric" to mean an herb that has a balancing activity, one that is capable of acting in ways that seem opposite, depending on the context in which it’s taken. But to understand how amphoteric herbs could be balancers in this way, first we need to investigate the concept of balance a little bit. What does it mean to find balance, or stay balanced? What does it mean that we’re all seeking balance? How can the experience of building physical balance skills teach us about finding mental & emotional balance? And of course: how can herbs help us find it, and maintain it?We teach herbalism online! When you sign up for any of our courses – including our FREE Herbal Study Tips course – you get access to twice-a-week live Q&A sessions, integrated discussion threads on every lesson, and a vibrant student community. Our courses are centered on video lessons you can watch at your own pace, and once you’ve bought a course you retain access to it (and any future updates!), forever.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

One of our habits as herbalists and teachers is to avoid the word “use” with reference to plants. We don’t say “I use meadowsweet for headaches” or “I use Japanese knotweed for Lyme disease”. We don’t say “I use chamomile for stomach cramps” or even “I use ginger as a stimulating diaphoretic”. And when students ask “how do you use schisandra berries?”, we stop and have a discussion about the word before we talk about the plant. If you’ve listened to our podcast for a while, you might have noticed this already!Why do we do it? First and foremost, we don’t regard plants as “things”, anymore than we do animals or people. They are living beings and deserve respect. This is not merely a personal matter. The dominant cultural perspective which regards plants as mere resources to be exploited has visible consequences in our world. Ecosystem destruction is the major force threatening wild plant populations, and overharvesting is another top factor. Both are outgrowths of a view of plants as commodities. Changing our language is a way to change our perspective.Mentioned in this episode:Introducing the WildCheck Report (April 28, 2022) – Sustainable Herbs Programdirect link to the WildCheck Report (Schindler, C., Heral, E., Drinkwater, E., Timoshyna, A., Muir, G., Walter, S., Leaman, D.J. and Schippmann, U. 2022. Wild check – Assessing risks and opportunities of trade in wild plant ingredients. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9267en)FairWildUnited Plant SaversOur Herbal Community Care Toolkit is chock full of low-cost, abundantly accessible herbs for addressing common health issues. Students in this program learn our most inexpensive strategies for improving health and well-being. This course is available by donation, but if you can’t afford it, email us and we’ll send you a coupon code so you can get it for free!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Yellow leaves, undeveloped fruit, long “leggy” stems between the leaf nodes – these are some of the key signs of a plant under stress. But if you’ve never met this species before, you might not know something’s off! Other signs are not so visible, and require you to know the plant stand for a season or a full year before you can see them. The point here is this: both observation and patience are needful to accurately assess the stress load of a plant, stand, or ecosystem.Taking the time to get to know these indicators, and to steward the land you gather from, will make you a better herbalist. Whether you’re a wildcrafter, grower, clinician, product maker, or any other type of herbalist, patient observation and adaptive response are key skills, and they transfer smoothly from one domain to the others.Our Herbal Community Care Toolkit is chock full of low-cost, abundantly accessible herbs for addressing common health issues. Students in this program learn our most effective-yet-inexpensive strategies for improving health and well-being. This course is available by donation, but if you can’t afford it, email us and we’ll send you a coupon code so you can get it for free!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re back! We had a bit of an interruption in our podcasting schedule, and we’re sorry! We’re moving to our “forever home” very soon, and the podcast took a back burner to online course production work. But we’ve got a plan! This episode and the next two constitute a mini-series on herbalism and climate change. After that, we’ll re-air a few of our favorite episodes from years past. By the time pumpkin spice season hits, we’ll be back again to continue our Herbs A-Z profile series.Today’s topic was spurred by the many reports of drought conditions around the world, as well as a particular article just a few days old which reported on falling yields of some major botanicals. Chamomile, valerian, elderberry, and pine bark harvests have all declined substantially in recent years, and they’re certainly not the only plants affected. Furthermore, the quality of the plant material available is also being impacted, as variations in moisture and heat lead to differences in phytochemical production.Declining harvests also means increasing prices – and not just for consumers at the end of the chain. This puts pressures on farmers and distributors to use less ideal methods, to accept lower-quality material, or plants which were harvested unsustainably. It’s important to be selective and thoughtful about our sources for medicinal plants as these pressures build. As individuals – and more importantly, as communities – we can work to reduce the impacts on plants we love, and we can share what we have with those who need it.Mentioned in this episode:Botanical yields fall as climate change affects harvests, Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients USAHerbalgram’s 2020 US Herbal Supplement Market ReportThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 169: Herbalism & Climate Change: The Plants!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 30: Tulsi & Formulating Absent FriendsWe teach herbalism online! When you sign up for any of our courses – including our FREE Herbal Study Tips course – you get access to twice-a-week live Q&A sessions, integrated discussion threads on every lesson, and a vibrant student community. Our courses are centered on video lessons you can watch at your own pace, and once you’ve bought a course you retain access to it (and any future updates!), forever.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

July sale! Use code TOGETHER2022 at checkout for 20% off any course or program!This week we’re presenting an exercise in practical herbalism.In this instance we’re describing a case of anxious insomnia. We outline the situation, and then you can pause the show and come up with some ideas about how you would help this individual. Then, we share our take – not “the answers”, but some ideas about what we’d want to do, and questions we’d want to ask, to help this person.We include these “Let’s Practice” lessons in all our courses, and they help students put their knowledge into a real-world context.Don’t miss our sale! For the entire month of July, you can use the code TOGETHER2022 to get 20% off any of our online herbalism courses. You can use the code multiple times! It even works on our extended programs, like the Community Herbalist program. You can share it with friends & family!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today we have abandoned the alphabet! Well, not entirely, just for purposes of bringing you a pair of relaxant diaphoretic herbs in this summer heat. These are two plants who are both helpful for releasing inner heat (whether physical or emotional) and allowing cooler heads to prevail.Linden, Tilia spp., is a common city tree where we live. It’s very easy to identify, just look for the real-heart-shaped toothed leaves, plus the yellow-green smooth-edged “extra leaves” or bracts underneath. The flowers are aromatic and very relaxing, and the leaves have mucilage that emerges when the tea cools. This tree offers amazing abundance every year, but holds its own reserve safe within; it can help us do the same.The herb called lemon balm, Melissa off., is likewise a relaxant diaphoretic. It’s also an excellent digestive, similar to catnip in many ways. Both are relaxant to digestive cramping and spasms. Lemon balm calms agitation, and that’s actually one of the ways it helps reduce the severity and duration of herpes outbreaks (in addition to some direct virus-fighting action).If you enjoyed these plant profiles, we have more! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus, you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more. Two tuition options are available, including a monthly payment plan.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today’s featured herbs are excellent in sun tea. Simply spoon them into a jar, pour in water, cover it up, and place it in the sun for several hours. Sun tea makes a light herbal infusion and is best for herbs that can be well extracted in a short hot infusion.The calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa is distinct from those of other species in the genus. It’s fleshy, red, and sour. These characteristics are signals to us. The red means antioxidant/anti-inflammatory and blood-vessel-stabilizing actions; the sour means draining to excess fluid, and cooling to excess heat. The leaf & flower of hibiscus (from various species including the rose of Sharon, H. syriacus and rose mallow, H. rosa-sinensis) can also be taken as an herb. They are moistening in nature, like other members of the mallow family.Solstice is the right time to harvest st john’s wort, Hypericum perforatum. That’s when this herb’s medicinal constituents are at their peak of production. More complex than “an herbal SSRI”, the effects of st john’s wort to help relieve depression are taking place all over the body. It supports nerve function, clears digestive inflammation, improves liver processing, and yes, it does increase serotonin activity – both in the gut-brain and the head-brain. It’s worth a try for depression, but remember that it should not be taken concurrently with pharmaceuticals, especially psychiatric medications.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today our apothecary shelves present us with a pair of adaptogens! As we continue our series looking at the herbs we keep on hand at home, this week we encounter two particularly excellent herbs for stressed-out folks with dry constitutions.Licorice’s botanical Latin name tells us straight out that the herb is sweet: Glycyrrhiza glabra means “smooth sweet root”. This sweetness comes together with the plant’s moistening qualities; it’s one of our sweet demulcents, like fennel. Licorice makes a great topical remedy for dry irritated skin. It has a particular affinity for the adrenal glands & cortisol metabolism, and can often help with chronic fatigue. We prefer to take it in formula rather than on its own, and this is also a good idea for safety considerations. (The herb, if taken alone and in large doses, can raise blood pressure.)Gynostemma pentaphyllum is known also as jiaogulan; it’s one of a number of plants sometimes called “poor man’s ginseng”. It has a number of actions and constituents in common with the ginsengs. In its own right, it’s a great adaptogen for recovery – both physical and emotional – and for climbing out of depleted states. Our preferred source is Majestic Herbs, who source their organic plant material from a project in Thailand working to reduce opium production by helping farmers transition to growing jiaogulan instead.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re back on track! Today we continue our exploration of herbs in our home apothecary, giving you some unscripted thoughts about these herbs we work with very frequently. They’re the plants we want to have with us always, and it’s been fun to see the synchronicities that emerge as we progress in alphabetical-by-Latin order. Today’s plants make an interesting contrast.Filipendula ulmaria, meadowsweet, is cooling/drying/tonifying. Its salicylates & other astringent elements make it excellent as an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial when the tissues are spongy and red. We’ve found it very helpful for dental issues, including the irritations caused by braces. It is excellent for gastrointestinal inflammation also, famously helpful for ulcers & heartburn. It is not, though, “antacid” – as is sometimes claimed!Foeniculum vulgare, fennel, on the other hand, is a warming/moistening/relaxant herb. It’s one of our “sweet demulcents”, like licorice, which can moisten tissues without the “slimy” feel of mucilaginous demulcents such as marshmallow. Fennel is important as a corrigent – which doesn’t only mean “improves flavor”, but implies an ability to balance out formulae. In this case, it’s great for folks who run dry and tense and need that balanced out if they’re going to take herbs like sage or dandelion. Fennel’s also intriguing because, while cholagogue, it’s not bitter.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

All herb schools are different, in their focus and their style. When you’re choosing an online herb school, whether for a short course or a long program, here are some key questions to consider:How can you ask questions to the teachers & admins?Is there a free course you can take first?What’s the teaching method (text, audio, recorded video, live sessions, etc), & does it match your learning style?How are the teachers accessible – what kind of contact do you get with them?Do you get to keep the materials when the course ends?How many ‘hours’ is the course, and how are those hours counted?Is there a student community you can participate in, and how does it work?Will you be “certified” on completion? (Beware: this is a trick question!)How will this fit in to your learning spiral: is this brand new material, or a new view on something you’ve learned before? (Learning herbalism is not a single linear path.)These answers will be different for every school, and there’s no one “right” answer! It all depends on how you prefer to learn and engage with your teachers. Knowing to ask these questions in advance will help you make better-informed comparisons between different offerings, and find the ones that work best for you.As you may know, we teach herbalism online! We hope that if you’re choosing an online herb school, you’ll consider ours. When you sign up for any of our courses – including our FREE Herbal Study Tips and Four Keys to Holistic Herbalism courses – you get access to twice-a-week live Q&A sessions, integrated discussion threads on every lesson, and a vibrant student community. Our courses are centered on video lessons you can watch at your own pace, and once you’ve bought a course you retain access to it (and any future updates!), forever.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Collapse is not a single event that occurs everywhere, once and for all. It occurs in fits and starts, unevenly distributed across communities. When there are floods and fires, when there are supply chain disruptions, when there is war and strife – these are expressions of collapse. Recognizing them is not in any way saying we shouldn’t bother to try and stop them, or reduce their severity! But it is a necessary acknowledgement of reality.Making plans for collapse in all its manifestations is a solid way to mitigate their effects on you and your family or community. It’s also good for your mental & emotional health in the meantime!These plans must include community. No one can go it alone for very long, even in the best of circumstances. When there’s disaster, we need each other even more. Stockpiling supplies is not a long-term solution. Building skills, and developing a community of people who are enthusiastic about learning these skills, is the best way forward. (Check out makerspaces, skillshares, & mutual aid collectives to find like-minded folks.) And that’s where herbalism comes in!Start today: build yourself a list of herbs which grow in your ecosystem and can play important roles in a situation where medical care isn’t available. Getting to know your local antiseptic herbs, nutritives, herbs for emotional support, digestives, and respiratory support herbs is a great foundation to begin with – that’s what we’re focusing on in this episode.We have online video herbalism courses that can help you develop these skills, too!Our Herbal First Aid course teaches you all the fundamentals of working with herbs for acute care. Wounds, burns, sprains, bites & stings, and emotional first aid eeds can all be addressed with herbs!The Emergent Responder program is a complete guide to holistic disaster response & preparedness. Learn how herbal first aid, long-term care strategies, and emergency clinic management unfold in austere environments. Get the skills you need to be confident and ready to care for yourself, your family, and your community – even if help never comes.Our Herbal Community Care Toolkit is chock full of low-cost, abundantly accessible herbs for addressing common health issues. Students in this program learn our most inexpensive strategies for improving health and well-being. This course is available by donation, but if you can’t afford it, email us and we’ll send you a coupon code so you can get it for free!Once enrolled in any of our courses, your access never expires – and you get any updated material we add in the future, free of cost!Other resources we mentioned in this episode:Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, by Bill McKibbenThe Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters, by Juliette KayyemFEMA Training & Education and CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) ProgramIf you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easiSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re continuing on as we highlight the herbs in our home apothecary. Today we reach the end of our first shelf!Erigeron canadensis, E. strigosus, & E. annuus are the species of fleabane we have worked with. We like the Canada fleabane best, but they’re all helpful herbs. All the fleabanes are very easy to grow – put some in your “feral garden” areas! In terms of taste, qualities, and actions, fleabane is very similar to goldenrod and yarrow – warming & drying & tonifying, with aromatic fluid movement, along with diuretic & vulnerary activity.Eupatorium perfoliatum, boneset, has recently been confirmed to contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Fortunately, the ones in boneset are the least dangerous! Also, we only work with boneset for short courses: 2-4 weeks max, then equal or greater time away from the herb. We also only take small doses (e.g. 1/2 dropperful of tincture) for the effects we want. Boneset is an excellent herb for viral infections and post-viral lingering symptoms. We’ve worked with it a lot during COVID and had great feedback on its efficacy from our clients & students.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we’re talking about cardamom & eleuthero!About Elettaria cardamomum, cardamom, we actually do have “one weird trick” for you today! Here it is: get yourself a cardamom-crushing stone. It is so much easier than using a spoon to crush the pods and release the pungent aromatic seeds. Cardamom is great to “ground” a very aromatic formula, and of course it’s also excellent in foods of many kinds.Eleutherococcus senticosus, properly called eleuthero although sometimes referred to as “Siberian ginseng”. It got that name for very capitalist reasons, you know. And indeed it’s possible to use eleuthero in a rather capitalist manner, as a stimulant to improve work output. But we prefer to work with it for marathon-style stressors as a resilience-building herb.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In today’s episode we continue our exploration of the herbs on our home apothecary shelves. This week we made an extra effort to share formulation ideas for these herbs!The hawthorns – Crataegus spp. – are best-known for protecting the heart and vasculature. The quercetin, anthocyanins, and bioflavonoids in the leaf, flower, & berry of this giving tree help modulate inflammation and reduce allergic expressions. Hawthorn berry is flexible enough to prepare in a variety of ways and it formulates well with other herbs. Today we drank a formula with: hawthorn berry, pine needles, mugwort, damiana, juniper berries, and orange peel.Curcuma longa is our good friend turmeric. It’s famous as an anti-inflammatory herb in a general way, but we think of it particularly as a digestive herb. It’s also very good as a topical remedy. You can prepare a “ginger family reunion” blend with Zingiberaceae plants: turmeric, ginger, cardamom, grains of paradise, galangal… Or, if you like the 80s, you can make “Karma Chameleon tea” with red rooibos, gold turmeric, and green rooibos. 😉These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today’s plants are both precious and powerful.Codonopsis pilosula, codonopsis, is deeply restorative. We locate its center of activity in the marrow, where it feeds the production of both white and red blood cells. It is not a stimulant, yet it’s very helpful for those who are feeling fatigue – whether that is a post-viral chronic illness, or simply due to depletion and stress. Codonopsis is excellent in a broth or a long decoction, and you definitely want to cook the same roots more than once (they are expensive). Don’t leave the medicine behind!The exudate from Commiphora myrrha trees, myrrh, has been valued for its medicinal virtues for millennia. Katja’s favorite way to work with it is to take a small lump of resin and hold it in the mouth, to fight infections and heal abscesses. It’s very potent, so it is good to formulate it with other herbs. And of course, it also makes an excellent incense.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week’s herbs are orange peel & cinnamon. Each one has multiple varieties: sweet orange, bitter orange, cassia cinnamon, “true” cinnamon, etc.Citrus x aurantium and C. x sinensis are the bitter and sweet orange, respectively. Not just an excellent flavoring agent (although that counts for a lot!), citrus peel makes a nice gentle digestive bitter and is a classic in cocktail bitter blends. It’s great in mulled cider or wine, but also a nice cooling drink in the summertime. If you’ve only had citrus as juice – or, on the other end of the spectrum, orange oil as a cleaning product – we recommend drying your own organic citrus peels and working with them in tea!Cinnamomum cassia is sometimes just called cassia, or cassia cinnamon. C. verum is the “true” cinnamon, a bit sweeter and less astringent by comparison. Cinnamon is a great relaxant to the viscera and the lungs, one of our favorites in a wintertime blend for spasmodic coughs. It’s got an interesting relationship with water and can act as an astringent or demulcent depending on how you prepare it. Cinnamon is also helpful for improving blood sugar regulation, and achieves this in the best possible way for long-term support.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Happy new year! We’re continuing our Herbs A-Z series in 2022, starting off strong with gotu kola & chicory. These widespread herbs both have long histories & active presents of medicinal application.Centella asiatica, known best as gotu kola, is today mostly thought of as a neuroprotective or even “nootropic” herb. It does indeed protect the nerves and brain, and help with cognitive health. It even has some similarities to ginseng and jiaogulan in terms of stress, immunity, and inflammation modulation. But it’s also a good topical antimicrobial and wound-healer, with some similarities to marshmallow in that regard.Cichorium intybus is chicory – and also radicchio, endive, and frisee! They’re all variants or cultivars of the same plant species. Chicory root is often roasted and taken as a coffee substitute, and that’s perfectly valid. It’s not caffeinated, but it does have the roast-y and bitter flavors of coffee. Plus, it’s got food for your friendly gut flora (as long as you make a water preparation and don’t filter too aggressively).These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we highlight two herbs who are close to our hearts. Heather is a plant we both met together and have come to appreciate each in our own way. Centaury was “Ryn’s first herb” in many ways and made a huge impact on his digestive health when he was originally learning herbalism from Katja. Both are friends we turn to frequently!Calluna vulgaris is heather, a lovely little pink flower from the highlands and moors. Its light, floral aromatic profile is subtle but delightful. It’s an excellent fluid mover, helping disperse stagnations and improve internal flow. Heather supports kidney function and the elimination of wastes, while elevating mood and lightening mental state.Centaurium erythraea is another lovely little pink flower, actually! This one is bitter, with a capital BITTER. But don’t let that scare you off! It’s an incredible ally for those with weak stomachs. Centaury strengthens the stomach and digestion more generally, helping us get all the nutrition our food has to offer.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week’s herbs are fluid-movers, with drying and tonifying effects. They’re both excellent topical remedies which can also be helpful when taken internally. We prefer water or alcohol extracts of them in most cases, but birch makes a decent infused oil and calendula is excellent in oil.Betula spp. are birch trees – all the different kinds are similar. Their bark is famous for its salicylate content – mostly in the form of methylsalyicylate, which gives the bark its ‘wintergreen’ scent and exerts substantial anti-inflammatory effects. Birch and wintergreen are our favorites for topical remedies because they have this active, volatile form of salicylate. Birch is also rich in betulin, a constituent with its own anti-inflammatory actions along with antimicrobial and cancer-fighting actions. (Betulin is also found in chaga, because the fungus absorbs it from the birch trees it grows on.)Calendula officinalis is one of the brightest, sunniest flowers around. Its capacity to move lymphatic fluids is fantastic medicine for fluid bloating in the belly, congested lymph nodes, and to help with “clean-up” work after an illness. It’s a great antifungal herb which does not irritate the underlying tissue. And it’s a hepatoprotective – an herb which protects the liver and helps it function optimally – as well!These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week’s herbs from our apothecary shelf are shatavari and astragalus! These are a couple of slow-acting herbs for long-term work. Their restorative properties take some time for full effect, but they’re worth building the habit. We prefer to prepare both of these as decoctions.Asparagus racemosus, called shatavari, is an Ayurvedic herb with cooling, moistening, and relaxant qualities. It’s an adaptogenic herb which can improve the stress response – especially for people with dry constitutions. Shatavari is famous as an herb for the dry tendencies of aging humans, but it’s really good for anyone prone to dryness, or for whom depletion has led to fatigue.Astragalus membranaceus is a Chinese herb which is mildly warming, moistening, and tonifying. It is an immune restorative herb, most appropriate when recovering from illness. It can also help build up immune reserves when one may go into a place where they’re likely to be exposed to sick people. Astragalus maintains our immune defenses, but it’s not an immune stimulant and it’s not an herb we take when we’re acutely ill.The formula we mentioned drinkin today includes: shatavari, astragalus, cacao nibs, hawthorn berries, ginger, cinnamon, & cardamom.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we have two more herbs from our shelf – rooibos & pleurisy root! We’re working our way along the shelves and giving every plant a bit of attention, to explore the variety of helpful herbs that exist. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, so we’re giving everyone an equal shot.Asclepias tuberosa is known as pleurisy root, and also butterfly weed. It’s best-known as an herb for directing moisture and relaxation to the lungs, which can correct dry and tense conditions there. (“Pleurisy” is a drying-out of the pleura or ‘sac’ that contains the lungs.) But this herb moves water in the body more systemically than just the lungs! It’s helpful for lower-body edema as well.Rooibos, Aspalathus linearis, is a South African herb which has been popularized around the world as an alternative to black or green tea. It’s powerfully antioxidant, and has traditional medicinal applications for digestive tension. Recent science has shown it beneficial for high blood pressure, uncontrolled blood sugar, and even as a chemoprotective agent. All that, and it’s just plain delicious!Mentioned in this episode:Asclepias tuberosa profile at GoBotany.Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 18: Pleurisy in Daughter-CaregiversAspalathus linearis profile at PlantZAfrica.Mahomoodally MF. Traditional medicines in Africa: an appraisal of ten potent african medicinal plants. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:617459. doi: 10.1155/2013/617459. Epub 2013 Dec 3. PMID: 24367388; PMCID: PMC3866779.Joubert E, de Beer D. Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) beyond the farm gate: From herbal tea to potential phytopharmaceutical. South African Journal of Botany. 2011;77(4):869-886. doi: 10.1016/j.sajb.2011.07.004.Cyclopia genistoides (honeybush) profile at PlantZAfrica.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Here we go with some more of the herbs on our apothecary shelves! This week our spotlight is on uva ursi & mugwort.Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, known as bearberry, uva ursi, or kinnikinnick, is a very astringent herb. It can knit wounds together, combat infections, and squeeze stuck fluids out of tissues. When we drink it it has a lot of action on the urinary system – it’s famous for UTI – but it also helps with other stagnation & laxity conditions in the pelvic region.Our final Artemisia species (for now anyway!) is A. vulgaris, mugwort. This herb is fantastic for a host of troubles. Today we focused on “not the dreaming stuff, and not the emmenagogue stuff” because those are covered extensively in most discussions of mugwort. Instead we spent more time discussing this herb as a stimulating relaxant, as a mood lifter, and as an herb that can sharpen the mind and cut through mental fog.Mentioned in this episode:Arctostaphylos uva-ursi profile at GoBotany.Artemisia vulgaris profile at GoBotany.Mugwort for DreamingHerbs and Dreaming courseThese quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re turning our attention to all the herbs we keep on the shelves in our apothecary, two at a time, in this ongoing series. (Check out the podcast stream for previous episodes!) We know that we tend to focus on a small group of favorite herbs, and we’re trying to make sure we don’t neglect helpful plants out of habit.Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, is an herb we work with rarely. Yet it has a very long history as a medicinal plant, and it has a particular notoreity as an ingredient in the alcoholic spirit, absinthe. In fact, wormwood – and its constituent, thujone – are often “blamed” for the purported hallucinogenic effects of absinthe. But is this the whole story? Not quite!Katja leads us on a romp through history, looking at the development of kräuterlikör from folk recipes to commercial liquors. We see how absinthe is one among many such drinks, and wormwood’s place in the formula. We also get some insight from modern science about the actual levels of thujone in these spirits, as well as certain other substances which might better explain their effects. Let’s do some herbal myth-busting!Mentioned in this episode:Artemisia absinthium profile at GoBotany.Absinthism: a fictitious 19th century syndrome with present impactAbsinthe – Die Wiederkehr der Grünen Fee: Geschichten und Legenden eines KultgetränkesARTEMISIA ABSINTHIUM in The Physiomedical Dispensatory, 1869These quick plant profiles done off-the cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

As herbalism is becoming more popular, the sustainability of plants themselves needs to be a primary focus for all of us. But like all issues of environmental sustainability, it’s not just about individual decisions and habits. We must pay special attention to the activities of large corporations, because they can have much larger impacts than single people – for good or for ill.One company working for good in this way is Mountain Rose Herbs. They are one of the biggest herbal suppliers in the United States, so it’s important that they’re taking seriously the impact their business has on plant populations. That commitment leads them to make some business decisions that put plants ahead of profits – just the way it should be!Mentioned in this episode:Mountain Rose HerbsCITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)United Plant SaversHerbalGram’s 2020 Herb Market ReportFoster Farm BotanicalsHolistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 109: Sustainability for HerbalistsIf you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

There are so many medicinal plants! In an effort to pay some more attention to herbs that aren’t quite our favorites, we’re profiling all of the herbs we keep on the shelves in our apothecary. (Check out the podcast stream for previous episodes!)Angelica, Angelica archangelica, is an herb who thrives in extremes. Long days or nights, hot and cold temperatures, wind, rough soil – these conditions make strong angelica. We draw on that strength when we drink decoctions of the roots. When we make infusions of the seeds, they carry a light uplifting scent right into the spirit. Both parts are at least as much nervines & restoratives as they are emmenagogues, so don’t restrict angelica to “an herb for slow periods”!Tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus, is the tastiest little dragon around. It’s less bitter and much more aromatic than wormwood, or even mugwort (two close relatives who we’ll be profiling next week). Tarragon is great in chopped cranberry relish, and it makes a lovely tea for calming anxiety while improving digestive motility.These quick plant profiles done off-the cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Every herbalist has their core favorite herbs. Sometimes we lose sight of the vast array of plants we have to work with. In an effort to not neglect our less-than-favorites, we’re profiling all of the herbs on the shelves in our apothecary. (The herbs go marching two by two, hurrah hurrah!)This week our pair of herbs is two plants who are both very helpful with the regulation of fluids in the body. First up is alder, Alnus incana and other species. Alder is a plant with excellent integrity: it holds itself together in watery areas, and it can help us hold water where we need it – or disperse it from where it’s stuck. Got swollen lymph nodes? Got varicosities & edema? Alder can help.Marshmallow, Althaea officinalis, is our #1 demulcent herb. It’s very helpful whenever dryness is the defining state we’re trying to shift. But marshmallow is also an excellent wound healer, and a surprisingly powerful antimicrobial too! We quite like to work with the leaf, despite that the root is a bit more famous and common as an herbal remedy.Mentioned in this episode:Alnus incana profile at GoBotany, an excellent plant ID site, especially for the New England area.Althaea officinalis at GoBotany.Enjoyed these herb profiles? These were done off-the cuff & on-the-spot, but our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we’re continuing our review of herbs in our current apothecary, from A to Z by their botanical Latin names. We want to give all our herbs an opportunity to get in the spotlight and share their particular talents.Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is neither an anise nor a hyssop! Its flavor and digestion-warming actions may remind you of fennel, or of black licorice candy (which is anise-flavored). Its capacity to relax respiratory tension and quell coughs may remind you of hyssop (without the bitterness). But it is an herb all its own, and one of our favorites for improving the taste of our formulae.Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) is a protective and comforting plant for anyone – not only ladies – who needs to cultivate feelings of safety. On the physical level it has a measured and helpful tonifying effect on the pelvic floor; it also improves fluid circulation in this part of the body. A flexible herb that pairs well with others to adjust its effects in the direction needed.Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 156: Herb of the Month – An Essential Herbalism Learning MethodEnjoyed these herb profiles? These were done off-the cuff & on-the-spot, but our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us out if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Hi everyone! We’re back from a brief hiatus, and kicking off a new series on our podcast feed. We’re going to be profiling every one of the herbs on the shelves in our home apothecary. Why? Because we definitely have our favorites, herbs we work with really frequently – and these also tend to be the herbs we talk about most on the show. So we want to make sure everyone gets a bit of attention!We begin this week with Achillea & Acorus. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an herb with complex energetic qualities, particularly along the warming/cooling axis. It’s what we call a “polycrest” herb, one with impacts on several different body systems and the capacity to help out with a wide variety of health issues.Calamus (Acorus calamus) could perhaps be reductively described as “a digestive herb”, but it’s much more than that. Calamus acts notably on the vagus nerve – and so, on all the many internal organs which are connected to it. It eases transition into the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state, and opens the senses into wide-angle perception.Mentioned in this episode:The 2021 AHG Symposium is coming up soon -October 15th-17th – and tickets are still available! Katja will be presenting on Recovering Health in the Context of Chronic Illness; Ryn is presenting on Oneirogenic Herbs & Dreaming.Herbstalk, Boston’s local herb conference, will this year will be one day only, September 25th. We’re presenting a class on herbal management of chronic pain.Achillea millefolium profile at GoBotany, an excellent plant ID site, especially for the New England area.Acorus calamus profile at GoBotany.M Grieve attributes “sell your coat and buy betony” to “an old Italian proverb”. She also cites a Spanish saying. A number of other places (including Wikipedia) repeat the two in tandem without further citation… which makes us think she popularized, if not originated, these sayings! You’ll sometimes find it attributed to the Romans, too, and in fact we found a couple places claiming it for Wiltshire or Sussex, England. The thing Ryn was thinking of is the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum, 12th-13th century; it doesn’t look like the quote comes from there.Thetis is Achilles’ mother.jim mcdonald’s profile on calamus has an excellent explanation of the asarone hepatotoxicity question, and also good clarifications on the botanical varieties of the plant.Enjoyed these herb profiles? These were done off-the cuff & on-the-spot, but our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies is in the Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. We have detailed profiles of 90 medicinal herbs! Plus you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme musSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Climate change affects everyone, and that includes the plants. Medicinal herbs and food plants growing across the world are changing, moving – and sometimes, struggling or dying – as a result of the changing climate. As herbalists, and as stewards of medicinal plants, we need to recognize these shifts and respond in ways that will help protect & sustain our herbal allies as much as possible.Three steps any herbalist can take in this effort include:Observe & recognize the changes in the local wild plant populations, and stop wild harvesting early when you see signs of stress.Cultivate & steward the plants you depend on, so that you can harvest without impacting the wild populations.Work with the new plants – often designated as “invasive” – who are coming in with the changing climate. Many of these are potent medicinals, and they’re so abundant that it’s safe to harvest them freely without worrying about damaging the population.Changing our habits – of harvesting behavior, and even of perception – is difficult. But it’s incumbent on us as humans to interact with our environments in a responsible way. Every member of an ecosystem plays a role in it, and this is ours!Mentioned in this episode:Episode 77: Urban Wildcrafting Ethics & GuidelinesEpisode 90: 3 Medicinal Invasive PlantsEpisode 109: Sustainability for HerbalistsInvasive Plant Medicine, Tim ScottHerbs discussed include: self-heal, st john’s wort, mugwort, calendula, solomon’s seal, fleabane, evening primrose.If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This is #3 in our series on herbalism & climate change! Fires are most devastating where they occur, but the smoke and particulates they release into the air affects vast areas of space. So it’s good for all of us to be aware of the problem and have practical solutions to protect ourselves.In addition to practical DIY methods for improving air quality in the home, herbs can be very helpful. Some of the herbal actions & specific herbs discussed in this episode include:gentle herbs for steaming – chamomile, lavender, mintdemulcent herbs to protect mucous membranes and maintain hydration – marshmallow, mullein, linden, violet, fennel, licorice, pleurisy root, purslane, okraexpectorants to get mucous out of the lungs – mullein, horehound, hyssop, elecampanerespiratory relaxants for tense lungs & constricted airways – fennel, mullein, lobelianervine herbs to cope with the stress of fires – lobelia, blue vervain, linden, hawthorn, goldenrodadaptogens for long-term stress resilience – codonopsis, jiaogulan, goji, reishiWhether you’re in a fire path or affected by the drifting smoke & particulates already, or worried this is on the horizon, these herbs can help. But they’ll only be helpful if you have them on hand, prepared & ready to go – and know how to work with them! – when you need them. So planning, preparing, and learning ahead of time is critical.Our Emergent Responder program is a complete guide to holistic disaster response & preparedness. Learn how herbal first aid, long-term care strategies, and emergency clinic management unfold in austere environments. Get the skills you need to be confident and ready to care for yourself, your family, and your community – even if help never comes. Once enrolled, your access never expires – and you get any updated material we add in the future, free of cost!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we continue our series on herbalism & climate change. Flooding causes great devastation, and it also brings many risks. Foremost among these are isues of pathogenic load: mold, bacteria, and other pathogens spread through flood waters. Minor wounds can easily get infected, breathing in the spores of mold can make one sick, and it’s difficult to avoid introducing germs to the digestive system in these conditions.Herbs can help. Antimicrobial herbs can be taken to protect against infection or fight off infection in all these areas of the body. Knowing the right method for applying or ingesting your herbs is critical to success here. Sometimes an herbal steam you inhale is much more important than herbs you eat or drink.When it comes to herbs, their antimicrobial abilities are many & varied. Each plant (or group of similar plants) has a different set of chemicals to offer to the effort than all the others. Here are just a few key categories of antimicrobial herbs which may be helpful after a flood:strong aromatics with sharp, hot, and piercing scentsberberine-bearing herbs with their powerful, bitter yellow signature compoundresins from evergreens and other plants, as well as propolis (resin + bee magic)tingly herbs for local immune stimulationskin-dyeing herbs for long-lasting protectionThis variety & the synergy between these different compounds is one of the great strengths of herbalism. Climate change & flooding frequency come together, so this is going to be another part of the “new normal” as the world changes. Plan ahead!Herbs discussed include: garlic, “mighty mints” (thyme, oregano, sage, monarda), “gentler mints” (peppermint, lavender), eucalyptus, aromatic evergreens (pine, spruce, juniper), yerba santa, elecampane, berberines (barberry, oregon grape, algerita, goldenseal), propolis, myrrh, chaparral, purple loosestrife, usnea, echinacea, prickly ash, spilanthes, turmeric, henna, black walnut, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, calendula.Our Emergent Responder program is a complete guide to holistic disaster response & preparedness. Learn how herbal first aid, long-term care strategies, and emergency clinic management unfold in austere environments. Get the skills you need to be confident and ready to care for yourself, your family, and your community – even if help never comes. Once enrolled, your access never expires, and you get any updated material we add in the future free of cost!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This episode begins a series on herbalism & climate change. Heatwaves have struck the US and many places throughout the world, and all signs indicate this is going to be our “new normal”. Climate change affects everyone and requires us to recognize our interdependence. We need to cultivate community care as a social ethic & public good before and until it becomes necessary as a disaster response. Herbalism offers a great deal to us in this regard.Heat is dangerous. Heat with high humidity, even more so. Learning and sharing low-cost, low-energy methods for cooling your house, your body, and your pets is a great way to prepare and to help others near you. But herbs can help in particular ways, too:demulcents to improve hydration (especially with a bit of sweet added: honey, maple syrup, or – yep – even sugar)mineral-rich nutritive herbs for mineral repletion… more than just “electrolytes”, trace minerals toorelaxing & cooling diaphoretics to open the pores and allow release of heatrefrigerants to help cool the body, even if air conditioning isn’t availableAside from nutritive aspects which could be gotten from food, all of these are actions unique to herbalism. Climate change, heatwaves, flooding, fires, changes in the ecosystems we inhabit – everyone can benefit from learning how to prepare & respond to these events.Herbs discussed include: marshmallow, violet, elm, seaweeds, nettle, red clover, tulsi, peppermint, elderflower, linden, catnip, lemon balm, peppermint, skullcap, passionflower, betony, motherwort, blue vervain, lobelia, cucumber, watermelon, sumac, wild cherry, rose, hibiscus, citrus (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, etc).Our Emergent Responder program is a complete guide to holistic disaster response & preparedness. Learn how herbal first aid, long-term care strategies, and emergency clinic management unfold in austere environments. Get the skills you need to be confident and ready to care for yourself, your family, and your community – even if help never comes. Once enrolled, your access never expires, and you get any updated material we add in the future free of cost!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Recently it seems like there’s been a proliferation of hop-flavored beverages on the market. Not just beer, but also sodas, fizzy waters, and other gently bitter elixirs are competing for attention with kombucha and fancy herbal infusions. This seems like a good thing to us – more people getting some bitters in their lives couldn’t hurt! But it also brought to mind this week’s topic: a common warning herbalists make, that there’s potential for cases where hops cause depression, or worsen it.This can absolutely be true in some cases, and we ourselves regularly pass on this caution! But as with most things in herbalism, it’s not so cut-and-dried as it seems at first. In this episode we’ll discuss historical and contemporary info sources on the subject, and try to get a more nuanced perspective. In certain situations, the cold and sedative nature of hops does make it contraindicated for depression. But in others, the term ‘depression’ is used as a catch-all for a variety of mental states, some of which hops can improve.So does hops cause depression? It depends on the context! But a good grounding in herbal energetics helps us see through the superficiality and understand which situations are which.Mentioned in this episode:Herbal Tinctures in Clinical Practice, Michael MooreHops, Henriette KressHumulus lupulus, Marisa MarcianoHops, Richard WhelanHops in A Modern Herbal (1931), Maude GrieveHumulus in The Eclectic Materia Medica (1922), Harvey Wickes FelterHumulus (U.S.P.) – Hops in King’s American Dispensatory (1898), Felter & LloydEffects of a hops (Humulus lupulus L.) dry extract supplement on self-reported depression, anxiety and stress levels in apparently healthy young adults: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover pilot study, Kyrou et al (Hormones 2017, 16(2):171-180)Assessment report on Humulus lupulus L., flos (2014), European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal ProductsThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 101: How Herbs Are Different From DrugsOur Energetics & Holistic Practice course has all the info you need to understand herbal actions, qualities, tissue states, and constitutions. These critical concepts set herbalism apart from other healing modalities and are essential to effective herblism.That course is only a part of our Community Herbalist program. This program prepares you to support your family & community with holistic herbal methods.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Ryn’s got a toothache this week, so this seems like a great time to teach about herbs for toothaches! When your tooth hurts, you want to relieve the pain, and you want to make sure you prevent or manage any infection. Fortunately, herbs are great at both of these jobs!Spilanthes & kava are great for relieving pain. Spilanthes also increases localized immune activity. Berberine-bearing herbs like goldenseal and barberry are fantastic at fighting pathogenic microbes, and kava’s no slouch there either. A rotation of these plants serves well to address both the pain and the possibility of infection.These would all be good friends to have on hand – we like them as tinctures for this job. That way, you’ve got some herbs for toothaches in the home first aid kit, in case one strikes.Herbs discussed include: spilanthes, prickly ash, echinacea, goldthread, goldenseal, barberry, kava, meadowsweet, willow, sage, clove, star anise, myrrh, propolis.Dental health issues like toothache are covered in our Digestive Health course – along with a whole array of other common digestive troubles. Learning to care for digestion is a critical skill for herbalists, and a place herbs can do so much good. Course access never expires, you progress at your own pace, and you get access to our twice-a-week live Q&A sessions, so you can connect with Ryn & Katja directly. Check it out today!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Seaweeds are really talented. Like, really talented! They can help out with such a wide array of problems that you might feel a little skeptical at first. “Come on, how could seaweeds fix everything on that list?? I mean… what do high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and leaky gut syndrome even have in common, anyway?”We understand the skepticism! But the truth is, seaweeds really can help out with a ton of different troubles. How? They’re addressing core deficiencies and needs of the body, that’s how. Complex, sea-balanced mineral nutrition gives your body the opportunity to resolve much more than low calcium levels. Immune-modulating polysaccharides improve not only your defense against pathogens, but also your gut flora microbiome composition, and your levels of systemic inflammation. These core-level supports explain why seaweed can help out with such a wide array of issues.So while it’s not literally true that seaweeds fix everything that might go wrong in a human body, they sure can help with a lot! Listen to our discussion to learn more and get some ideas about how to start incorporating seaweed in your life.Mentioned in this episode:Atlantic Holdfast – our favorite seaweed supplier: better-than-organic quality, great price!Seaweeds are among the 90 herbs we profile in-depth in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It’s the foundation of our herbalist training program and a great way to get started if you’re new to herbalism. Course enrollment includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with Ryn & Katja!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

“Take a breath, it’ll help!” You’ve heard it before. But what if breathing is difficult or constrained? Breathwork is the answer.Breathing is like any other movement: there are ways to build efficiency and resilience through practice. Simple exercises can get you breathing deeper, and give you a visceral massage or “inside yoga”. And there are herbs for breath work, too! They can remove the obstacles to deep breathing and help to enhance your practice.In this episode we’ll share some simple breathwork practices for you to explore. Then we’ll highlight three favorite herbs we turn to for help enhancing our breathing exercises: lobelia (Lobelia inflata), New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), & elecampane (Inula helenium).Mentioned in this episode:New England aster monograph, jim mcdonaldBreathing Easy Much Faster With New England Aster, Kristine BrownOur Respiratory Health course includes more discussion of the importance of breathing, as well as key herbs to work with and methods for targeting herbal remedies to the sinuses & lungs. Asthma, cold/flu/corona, COPD, and other troubles are covered in detail. Your purchase also gives you access to our twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, so you can connect with Ryn & Katja directly; as well as student communities, discussion threads, printable guides, and plenty more!PS: Make sure to listen to the end of the episode for a discount code worth $50 off any of our courses!!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Whenever we choose herbs for health issues, we work to match the qualities of the herbs to the state of the body. These three plants we work with as herbs for seasonal allergies are each drying in nature. So, if you run dry or have dry symptoms, then make sure to pair them with something moistening like marshmallow or violet. But if you’re on the watery side, these will be a great help!Nettle (Urtica dioica) is a superstar plant with a variety of beneficial effects. Not all of them are available in every format – but the good news for allergy sufferers is, any preparation of nettle will do the trick! Tincture, tea, capsules, powders – any way you get nettle into you will reduce histamine expressions and reduce symptom severity.Eyebright (Euphrasia off.) is another powerful “antihistaminic” herb, and is famously helpful when the eyes are red, itchy, and watery. Tincture’s a great way to work with eyebright, and supplements of this herb are also quite good.Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) is another of our favorite herbs for seasonal allergies, even though it’s not super common in herbal commerce. Ground ivy is an excellent herb when the ears and sinuses are stuck up with fluids. It thins them, drains them, and by doing so relieves pressure and pain. (Did you hear our episode all about ground ivy, not too long ago? Check it out here: Ground Ivy – Sometimes It’s Hard To Hear.)Mentioned in this episode:Statement from Mountain Rose Herbs on re-evaluating supplier relationshipsNettle extract (Urtica dioica) affects key receptors and enzymes associated with allergic rhinitis, Phytother Res. 2009 Jul;23(7):920-6. doi: 10.1002/ptr.2763 – a nice study on some identified molecule/receptor actions of nettle to reduce allergic symptomsOur course on Seasonal & Environmental Allergies goes into much more detail about these three herbs – and a couple dozen others, too! Learn why allergic reactions happen, how your body responds, and the role herbs can play in reducing symptoms. The course includes over 9 hours of videos, plus downloadable audio files so you can listen on the go if you prefer. You’ll also get printable quick guides, a materia medica for allergies, and specific guides on the most effective actions you can take (including low-cost options).This course is only $25, and you also get access to our live Q&A sessions too – connect directly with Ryn & Katja as you learn. Your course access never expires, and whenever we add new material, that’s added to your account automatically at no extra charge!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbal tattoo care starts a while before your appointment. You’ve got to prepare the skin in advance, get hydrated, and ideally do a little work to keep inflammation down in the lead-up time. You want that skin to be in the best possible shape before you get work done. You might even want to get some test spots done, if you have very reactive skin.We don’t actually like to throw a ton of different plants together in our herbal tattoo care preparations. Instead there are just a few excellent, simple preparations we turn to again and again. Rosewater is a beautiful light astringent & refrigerant, toning and cooling the skin. A honey salve or other light, simple salve is protective & soothing. We might try a chamomile compress as well. But we’re not going to come at the tattoo with strong vulnerary herbs or lymph-moving plants, because these might actually interfere with the healing process and the settling-in of the ink. So let’s keep it simple!Mentioned in this episode:Physio-Medical Therapeutics, Materia Medica and Pharmacy, by T. J. Lyle (1897) – search the text for “tattoo” to find the reference to oak galls.Medicine Mama’s Sweet Bee Magic – a honey salve we like for pre- & aftercare.Herbs discussed include: oak, comfrey, rose, chamomile, sage.Many of our listeners would describe themselves as budding herbalists. They already know some herbs, and they’ve been making teas, tinctures, and salves for themselves and their loved ones for a while. Is that you? If you’d like to take the next steps to develop the herbal skills you need to support your community, then our Community Herbalist Program is for you! You’ll expand your knowledge and build your confidence to work with a broad array of topics, including energetics, formulation, basic phytochemistry, and systematic support with holistic herbal practices. Join us in weekly live Q&A sessions, and connect directly with Ryn & Katja. Your courses never expire, and whenever we add new material, that’s added to your account automatically at no extra charge. Get the full details here and keep your herbal education moving forward!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today’s episode is a little different from our usual. We’re sharing a listen-along plant sit meditation! You can take this episode with you to sit outside with a plant, and we’ll guide you through the meditation practice.Plant sit meditations are an excellent way to develop your powers of observation and your awareness skills. Plants have a lot to teach us, and this is one way to learn directly from the plants themselves. When we slow down, take time, and devote our attention to a single plant, we can gain a much deeper appreciation for that plant and its medicines.Many people experience this connection as a communication direct from the plants. Others find it helpful to “get in the plant’s skin” and imagine what it would be like to live as that plant. However you experience it, nature-based meditations like this one are a great way to expand your understanding of an herb and its place in the ecosystem. And you just might gain some insights into your own place in that ecosystem, while you’re at it.Plant sit meditation practices like this one are a great way to get to know an herb in detail. Our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course is another great way! In the course, we profile 90 of our most important medicinal herbs in detail. Your purchase also gives you access to our twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, so you can connect with Ryn & Katja directly; as well as student communities, discussion threads, printable herb profiles, and plenty more!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Have you heard that black cohosh is “for menopause”? Or that red clover is a “natural estrogen replacement”? Or that saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is “for men” or “for BPH”?Herbs are not gendered, and they’re not “for” conditions. They have qualities and actions, and they act in context – the context of each individual body. Herbs act on particular types of tissue, and it turns out that in the reproductive system, the various forms and functions mask a deeper similarity, a more fundamental identity. Saw palmetto doesn’t check your chromosomes or your estrogen/testosterone ratio before it goes to work in your system: it acts on the pelvic floor organs, regardless of their shape.In this episode we deconstruct saw palmetto’s famous ability to help out with BPH, widening our scope to consider other patterns of pelvic stagnation and atrophy this herb can help us correct. We even look outside the reproductive system entirely, noting historical precedent for this herb as a digestive tonic and respiratory expectorant. Historical traditions, contemporary science, and our own direct experiences with the herb all provide helpful points of contact which help us draw a much fuller picture of the herb than “good for BPH”.Saw palmetto is a complex herb, with actions that can seem – at first glance – contradictory. Taking this in-the-round view of the herb helps us see it more clearly and resolve some confusion. This lesson goes beyond this one herb, though – we always need to be aware of our culture’s tendency for reductionism and putting herbs in neat boxes.Mentioned in this episode:Sabal in The History of the Vegetable Drugs of the U.S.P. by John Uri Lloyd (1911)Serenoa – Saw Palmetto in King’s American Dispensatory by Harvey Wickes Felter & John Uri Lloyd (1898)Serenoa in The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics by Harvey Wickes Felter (1922)Serenoa: Eclectic materia medica for Saw Palmetto – this includes text from Willam Bloyer (writing in the Eclectic Medical Journal, 1896), with commentary from Paul Bergner at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism (1997)Saw Palmetto in A Modern Herbal by M. Grieve (1931)Use of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) extract for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Kwon, Y. Food Sci Biotechnol. 2019 Apr 17;28(6):1599-1606. doi: 10.1007/s10068-019-00605-9.Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens) by the Association for the Advancement of Restorative MedicineCompetent Care for Transgender, GenderQueer and non-Binary Folks by Larken Bunce & Vilde Chaya Fenster-EhrlichThe Energetics of Western Herbs by Peter HolmesThe Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. – editors Zoe Gardner, Michael McGuffinAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thanSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), also known as alehoof, creeping charlie, and gill-over-the-ground, is one of our favorite herbs to gather in early spring. We like to prepare a tincture of it in brandy, and we work with it for troubles in the ear-nose-throat. It helps a lot with tinnitus and with difficulty hearing that comes from stagnant fluid in the ears.Here are just a few comments on this ability of ground ivy, over a 300-year span:Botanologia, or The English Herbal, written by William Salmon in 1710, says about ground ivy that “It is bitter, cleansing and opening the Obstructions of the Viscera: put into the Ears, it helps the Noise in them, as also their Ringing and Deafness.”Health from British Wild Herbs, written by Richard Lawrence Hool in 1918, noted that “The expressed juice of Ground Ivy is a specific for deafness.”Writing in 2012, Henriette Kress in her post Herb of the Week: Ground Ivy writes that “It’s one of the few herbs that can touch noise-induced tinnitus. A lot of people read my first book […] grabbed the ground ivy, and could start working again … they’d been on disability for their tinnitus for years. I know because quite a few told me.”But we also observe an effect of ground ivy on ‘hearing’ issues that have more to do with mental & emotional blocks to communication. When we avoid hearing something because it’s painful, because we’re not prepared to accept it, because we’ve built up a habitual reaction to a topic and can no longer hear the nuances… ground ivy can be helpful. We’ve seen this over and over in our clients & students, and it’s a direct extension of the physical work of the herb. All plants are this way! They work on the whole human, not “just” the body or “just” the mind.Herbs discussed in this episdoe include: ground ivy, nettle, garlic mustard, violet, henbit, deadnettle.Ground ivy is one of 90 herbs we profile in-depth in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It’s the foundation of our herbalist training program and a great way to get started if you’re new to herbalism. Course enrollment includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with Ryn & Katja!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herb of the Month is one of our most powerful learning methods for students of herbalism – and honestly, it’s great for experienced practitioners too! It’s deceptively simple: just choose an herb and work with it extensively every day for a month, in as many ways as you can come up with. At the same time, research the herb as far and wide as you can. In this way you can foreground your own direct experience with the plant, while also exploring the variety of possibilities the herb presents to you.Some of our most important herbal allies are developed through an Herb of the Month practice! Very frequently, there are aspects of an herb’s qualities, actions, and nuances that can only be appreciated through visceral exposure. Just reading the words on paper, or hearing them in a recording (or classroom), doesn’t set up the same kind of sense-memory. Herbalism starts, after all, with the plants – not with their names, or lists of their chemicals, or their precise categorization according to an ancient schema. Herbalism began with people, and with plants – and for each one of us, it’s important to go back to that direct contact to make the deepest connections possible.Mentioned in this episode:Our Recommended Resources, with links to many sites for herbal researchA Modern Herbal by M. Grieve, a classic herbal materia medica book from 1931Classic Herbal Texts hosted at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, a variety of texts from the 1800s and early 1900sHerbs discussed include: chamomile, dandelion, burdock, chicory, schisandra, centaury, catnip, tarragon, anise hyssop.Our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course is an exploration of 90 of the safest, most accessible, and most effective herbs we know. Any one of them would make a fantastic Herb of the Month! It’s a great way to learn the key features of important herbs and to see them in their fullness, rather than pigeon-holed into a “what’s that herb good for” category. The course comes with access to our twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, discussion threads in every lesson, and plenty more goodies in our online learning community.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re discussing the notion of amphoteric herbs today, because it’s the Spring equinox and we’re thinking about balance. The term amphoteric is orginally a chemistry term meaning “having characteristics of both an acid and a base”. Herbalists use the word to mean an herb that has a balancing activity, one that is capable of acting in ways that seem opposite, depending on the context in which it’s taken.But to understand how amphoteric herbs could be balancers in this way, first we need to investigate the concept of balance a little bit. What does it mean to find balance, or stay balanced? What does it mean that we’re all seeking balance? How can the experience of building physical balance skills teach us about finding mental & emotional balance? And of course: how can herbs help us find it, and maintain it?Herbs discussed include: tulsi, bladderwrack, nettle, chamomile, solomon’s seal, ashwagandha, licorice, calamus, hawthorn.We’ve been thinking about balance a lot lately – not just because of equinox, but also because we’ve been working on our Musculoskeletal Health course. If pain, tension, or stiffness are inhibiting your balance, herbs can help! This course covers our favorite herbal musculoskeletal remedies and strategies for combining herbalism and movement practices to get results. You also get access to our twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, so you can connect with us (Ryn & Katja) directly!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In this episode we share a simple technique for enhancing herbal salves with tinctures. Lots of herbalists like to put essential oils in their salves, and we’re no exception – but we also want to have other methods for increasing potency. Essential oils can be costly, and they have sustainability issues in a lot of cases.Combining alcohol extracts (herbal tinctures) with oil extracts is a great way to maximize constituent availability in your finished product. We have two methods for you today. One method involves combining pre-made salves & tinctures to bring their powers together. The other method is a two-step extraction process to make sure you get the full range of constituents from a given herb. Both are easy and can be done right at home!You’ll find a mini crockpot super helpful for this work. They’re handy and not too expensive.Herbs discussed include: cayenne, solomon’s seal, kava, st john’s wort.Not feeling confident about your basic herbal salve-making abilities, let alone powered-up salves like these? Our Herbal Medicine-Making course has dozens of methods for you to explore! Learn to make teas, tinctures, poultices, salves, liniments, spice blends, and much more. This self-paced online video course includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can connect with us directly!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We’re lucky that nowadays there are a lot of herb suppliers, so it’s convenient to purchase the majority of your herbs – especially if you live in a place where you don’t really have space to grow a garden. But there’s something really special about working with herbs that you’ve grown yourself. And, some herbs are really quite easy to grow – like calendula. So now that spring is on the way, let’s make a plan to grow your own calendula this year!Calendula is easy to grow from seed, so it’s a great choice for new gardeners. The herb isn’t too picky about growing conditions, though it does want to get a good amount of sunlight every day. A large pot or a bucket of soil on the porch, or a window box, will do just fine for growing calendula.It’s a very productive plant. You can harvest flower heads every day, and every day the plant will make new ones! So even from a small patch, you can gather enough medicine to be useful.Once you’ve grown it, you can make some herbal remedies with calendula. It’s an excellent lymphatic herb, a wound-healer, a liver-protector, and a gentle but powerful antimicrobial (especially good for fungal skin infections). Calendula can help with edema and other stagnation patterns, and it’s a key ingredient in our gut-heal tea.So there you go: plenty of reasons to grow your own calendula this year!Just this week we wrapped up filming for our Integumentary (Skin) Health course – and calendula is a major star herb in this course! We cover acne, eczema, psoriasis, various infections, and lots more. The course is delivered by video in our interactive learning platform, and you get access to weekly Q&A sessions with Ryn & Katja.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thank them for their support!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we’re sharing a formula for an herbal cold sore remedy – a soft salve or balm that can be applied right on the sores. It’s going to serve as a jumping-off point for discussing flexible formulation. That’s the answer to the question “what can I do if I don’t have one – or any! – of the herbs in the formula as written?” If you can answer this question, you’ll be much more adaptable when you run out of herbs or when you’re away from your home apothecary.We start out with the formula we published in our book Herbal Medicine for Beginners, then we break it down from the perspective of herbal actions. After identifying the herbs that contribute vulnerary, antimicrobial, lymphatic, and nervine actions to the remedy, we can come up with substitutions that would fill similar roles.Here’s the formula as we presented it in our book, for comparison:Cold Sore BalmMakes 5 ounces (about a 3-month supply)This gentle salve is very soothing to irritated cold sores, and helps reduce inflammation while making your body’s environment less hospitable to the virus.1 fluid ounce calendula-infused oil1 fluid ounce plantain-infused oil½ fluid ounce self-heal-infused oil½ fluid ounce chamomile-infused oil½ fluid ounce st john’s wort-infused oil½ fluid ounce thyme-infused oil1 ounce beeswax, plus more as needed1. Combine the oils in a pot and warm them over low heat.2. Add the beeswax and stir continuously until it melts. 3. Spoon some of the melted oil & wax into a shotglass and place it in the freezer for a few minutes; it will set to its finished hardness. Take it out and test it with your finger to see if it is the consistency you want.4. Add more wax if you want to harden your salve; add more oil if you want to soften it.5. Pour into a short, wide-mouth jar (or fill lip balm tubes), then cover and allow to cool/set.6. Apply liberally to the affected area, 3 to 5 times daily.Herbs discussed include: calendula, plantain, chamomile, thyme, self-heal, st john’s wort, lemon balm, common bugle, red clover, pine, damiana, violet, goldenrod, oregano, rosemary, lavender.Mentioned in this episode:Herbal Medicine for Beginners – This is our book! We profile 35 medicinal herbs in detail and offer 104 formulae, all of which can be altered and adjusted to meet your needs, as we demonstrate with the example in this episode.The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 30: Tulsi & Formulating Absent FriendsWe hope you find this flexible formulation approach helpful when you’re making your own herbal cold sore remedies! If you’d like to learn more about resolving skin problems, check out our Integumentary (Skin) Health course – it covers acne, eczema, psoriasis, various infections, and lots more. The course is delivered by video in our interactive learning platform, and you get access to weekly Q&A sessions with Ryn & Katja.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.This episode was sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. We thaSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When you go to the store and buy an herbal supplement, what are you getting? It might be a capsule of powdered herb, but this is less and less common nowadays. An herbal supplement is usually some type of extract from the plant – and we herbalists make lots of extracts ourselves, like teas, tinctures, salves, etc. The difference is in the methods and materials used to make the extract, which can be quite enormous.These extracts may also be concentrated in a variety of ways. Again, this is something herbalists can do at home: cooking down a decoction or evaporating some alcohol off of a tincture are both forms of concentration. Many commercial extracts are also standardized to deliver a defined amount of a particular constituent (or group). And on the far end, some herbal supplements are actually isolated constituents, single chemicals which originated in the plant but are now being taken on their own. This is closer to pharmaceutical medicine than herbalism, if you ask us!Each of these types of preparation will give us a different finished product, and for many herbs the differences between preparations are quite vast. You need to know more than “what herb is in that supplement” to know what you’re actually taking! And for clinical herbalists, this nuance is also very important to keep in mind if a client says something like “oh, I’ve tried hawthorn for my blood pressure, it didn’t help…”Bottom line: an herbal supplement is not equivalent to the whole herb, and each of the various types of supplement made from an herb may be very different from one another. We need to train ourselves to treat them as different substances, and assess each for strengths & weaknesses.Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 101: How Herbs Are Different From DrugsHerbs discussed include: cannabis, milk thistle, butterbur, jiaogulan, eleuthero, st john’s wort, kava, ephedra.As you may have noticed, chemistry came up quite a bit in this episode! If that subject makes you a little nervous, don’t worry! Our Basic Phytochemistry course for herbalists is a low-pressure introduction to the practical aspects of plant chemistry, the ones which are most relevant to the practice of herbalism.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The “wellness” space online is saturated with One Weird Tricks and Simple Easy Solutions that promise to make you perfect. Perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect body fat percentage – all this and more for 5 easy payments of $39.99… it’s a trick. Even when it’s sincere, when people really believe they’ve found the one thing that’ll work for everyone, it’s still misleading.None of us are perfect, nor can we be. Recognizing this helps us avoid scams and cults, but also helps us be more compassionate with others and offer more helpful advice. There are many ways to be healthy and many ways to get there. Don’t accept someone else’s standards of health, beauty, or fulfillment – explore, experiment, and develop your own.Does that sound hard, that mental & emotional shift? Don’t worry: it is hard! And that’s ok! It’s hard for everyone. You don’t have to be perfect in your comfort-with-imperfection, either. 🙂As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When you’re dealing with a skin problem, it’s good to come at it from both directions: internal and external. Today we’re focusing on the external remedies, highlighting some of our favorite ways to work with topical herbs for acne.Steam is a great way to deliver aromatic herbal constituents to the whole surface of the face, and as the warmth opens the pores, these can get deeper in to the skin. A simple rosewater toner is great to tighten up the pores afterwards. Clay masks are good on their own, but even better if you mix herbal powders in to contribute anti-inflammatory activity. Echinacea and turmeric aren’t well-known for it, but they’re actually both fantastic herbs for acne – the trick is to apply them topically, not just ingest them.So even if you already take herbs for acne by tea or tincture, or as supplements – and those can help in a lot of cases – don’t neglect the topicals!Herbs discussed include: chamomile, yarrow, thyme, lavender, rose, echinacea, turmeric.Our Integumentary Health course covers acne, naturally, but also a wide range of other skin troubles – whether we call it eczema, psoriasis, or just “that troublesome patch of skin”. Topical applications for common herbs play a big role in this work, and we also dig into the effective herbs you can take orally to see results on the skin. Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with Ryn & Katja.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When you think about where to find excellent herbs, where does your mind go first – the forest? The farmer’s market? Ye Olde Herbe Shoppe, perhaps? Let us make a suggestion: you can find a bunch of great herbs at the supermarket! Grocery store herbs are nothing to sneeze at (but if you can’t stop sneezing, consider a basil steam). You can find herbs in the produce section, the tea aisle, and the spice rack – not just among the supplements.This week alone, we brought home fresh basil leaves for pesto & cranberry relish; fresh ginger root for meals, tea, and poultices; mandarin oranges to collect and dry the peels for tea and bitters blends; blueberries for syrup and hot cereal; and shiitake mushrooms for broth.Keep an eye on the seasonal items and you’ll have different herbs to play with in every season. Knowing your grocery store herbs will serve you well, no matter where you travel or how far away you are from your home apothecary!Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 1: I’ll Have What They’re Having + Apples & Oranges – (discussion of orange peel starts around 20:00)The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 142: 4 Medicinal Mushrooms: Shiitake, Maitake, Reishi, Lion’s ManeHerbal Community Care Toolkit – Chock-full of grocery store herbs & common “weeds”, this course is about making herbalism accessible for everyone.Herbs discussed include: basil, ginger, orange peel, blueberry, shiitake.Not sure what to do with your herbs once you’ve got them home? Our Herbal Medicine-Making course has dozens of methods for you to explore! Learn to make teas, tinctures, poultices, salves, liniments, spice blends, and much more. This self-paced online video course includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can connect with us directly!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

An herbalist’s dog is going to get some herbs in her dinner every now and then. Our dog Elsie sure does! Choosing herbs for dogs doesn’t need to be complicated or difficult, and there are a lot of them that can help a pup feel her best. In this episode we highlight four herbs we give to our own puppa:Seaweeds for nourishment, joint support, and immune resilience-building.Solomon’s seal for protecting joints & connective tissues, and reducing inflammation there.Pumpkin seed was a quick solution to a tapeworm problem Elsie had when we first adopted her.Chamomile is a go-to herb when she’s feeling anxious or unsettled.We also briefly discuss nettle, Japanese knotweed, teasel, and catnip for related intentions.Working with herbs for dogs effectively depends on knowing the herb’s basic qualities, actions, and affinities – these are all very similar whether it’s a human or a canine taking the herb. In our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course, you’ll get the deep-dive info on 90 amazing herbs. Then you’ll be able to work with them confidently and skillfully, for yourself – or for your pets!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It has been a rough few… weeks? Years? Well, a while, anyway! In the last month more than ever, people have been asking us how to get some space, how to find ways to feel grounded, how to find some calm. So we thought, maybe it would be good to share the things that we are doing to get through the days.Being an herbalist doesn’t mean you never get sick, and it doesn’t mean you never have emotional issues either – emotional exhaustion, despair, uncertainty, panic sometimes – all the things we’re all feeling lately. Herbalists catch colds and turn ankles just like anyone else, and the same is true with emotional health troubles. Sure, we have all these herbs and we work with them every da -, but sometimes we also just want to hide under a giant pile of blankets and pretend the world isn’t out there. So if you’ve been feeling that way, you’re not alone.In this episode we offer up some of our favorite comforts and soothing strategies – things we turn to again and again when we need them. Whether it’s herbs to protect the heart and give it a safe space to be tender, embodiment medicine to get out of our heads and into our hearts, or relaxants to let the tension go, we’re sure that some of the things that help us will help you, too! And not “just” herbs, either: as you listen you’ll hear that community and social support are also very important during difficult periods, and we’ve got lots of ideas about how to cultivate those for yourself (even during lockdowns).Mentioned in this episode:Apotheker’s Kitchen – amazing honey-sweetened chocolates, hot cocoa, & marshmallows!Herbs discussed include: catnip, yarrow, calamus, pine, juniper, mugwort, dandelion, kava, tulsi, & “any effing herb” 😜Not sure where to start? We love to organize our thoughts about all things herbal & healthwise into the “four pillars” of good health: food, sleep, movement, and stress management. Our free course, Four Keys to Holistic Herbalism, explains this approach and also shares our best tips for starting your herbal journey. Check it out – for free! – right here:Four Keys to Holistic HerbalismAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In this episode we explore the skills and disciplines necessary to conduct a successful self-experiment. Self-experimentation in this context might mean making changes to dietary, lifestyle, & movement habits; developing stress management skills; or trying out herbal medicines.First we address why and how self-experimentation can fall into self-justification, and how to avoid this. Then we highlight the skills of perception, reflection, and connection which are the bones of a good n=1 experiment, and share some key methods for developing them. Finally we talk about the practicalities that make this work go more smoothly, and share a few thoughts on how this all applies to clinical practice work as distinct from individual efforts.This is at the root of our work as herbalists, so we hope you’ll listen in! Plus, you just might have some intention-setting and some self-experimentation to embark on sometime soon, what with New Year’s resolutions and all. 😉This is our last episode for 2020, so we’ll see you in 2021!If you’re dreaming up new ideas for the new year, why not do so literally? Check out our Herbs and Dreaming mini-course and delve deep into the Sandman’s kingdom. The plants know the way…As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we take another look at COVID-19 and its long-term effects.First, we check in on what have been our top 5 herbal interventions for COVID:Herbal steams – with aromatic herbs, to fight infection and stimulate local immune activity in the respiratory tractGarlic & thyme tea – for a strong immune-stimulating and lung-warming effectElecampane decoction – an ounce or two every hour during acute illness, or when lungs are phlegmyGinger (& chamomile) tea – for anti-inflammatory and circulatory warming actionsMarshmallow root cold infusion – to maintain hydration and healthy mucous production in the respiratory tractThose all still hold up! They continue to be important in acute, recovery, and long-haul cases. We go on to discuss those long recovery periods and lingering symptoms, and describe how we approach them as holistic herbalists.Herbs discussed include: thyme, oregano, monarda, rosemary, sage, lavender, peppermint pine, spruce, garlic, elecampane, ginger, marshmallow, reishi, lobelia, pleurisy root, mullein, codonopsis, nettle, hawthorn.Want to make sure your immune system is in fighting shape in case you get exposed? Looking for ways to rebuild immunity to make sure you’re back to full power? Our Immune Health course has everything you need to understand, protect, and strengthen your immune system. The course features all our best holistic strategies to boost immune responsiveness, and to corral unhelpful inflammation too. This self-paced online video course includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can connect with us directly!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Dreaming matters: it’s a critical part of our identity-building and experience-processing work, and vital to our ability to regulate our emotions. But not all dreams are good. When nightmares happen, especially if they happen chronically, they can make dreaming itself feel unsafe. But never fear: when we need help we can always turn to herbs, and nightmares are no exception.In this episode we present a very personal case study about working with herbs and nightmares to improve one’s relationship with dreaming.This is katja’s story, and it’s a story involving trauma from assault, which led to nightmares for more than a decade. It was exacerbated by an abusive living situation – as Katja puts it, “like microdosing the original traumatic experience”. The work she engaged in, with the help of plants, was about building agency in dreams. This effort paralleled work she did in waking life, building healthier boundaries and developing her own empowerment. These efforts supported each other – each one helped the other proceed.Of course, nightmares and poor sleep are connected – nightmares lead to dread of sleep, poor sleep worsens nightmares. So the approach is to combine herbs for dream work – cultivating feelings of safety, lessening fear of dreaming & dread of sleep – together with a comprehensive sleep protocol, plus herbs that helping her build agency in her waking life.Herbs discussed include: mugwort, motherwort, ghost pipe, yarrow, blue vervain, ginger, chamomile, skullcap, passionflower, linden, hawthorn, tulsi, wood betony, rose, nettle, elecampane, st john’s wort, sage, elderflower, calamus.Interested in deepening your dreaming? Want to explore herbs who can help you dream more vividly, or achieve lucidity in your dreams? Our mini-course on Herbs and Dreaming is for you! Learn key herbs from across the world (and probably in your backyard!) with oneirogenic activity.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Yes, they are herbs too! Medicinal mushrooms are an important part of our herbal practice, but it looks like we haven’t profiled them on the podcast before today – so it’s time to correct that lapse. In this episode we’ll look at some of the key activities of four of our favorite fungi: shiitake (Lentinula edodes), maitake (Grifola frondosa), reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), and lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus).Essentially all medicinal mushrooms share some features of interest to the herbalist. Famously, they can modulate immune responses – boosting immune surveillance and efficiency, while reducing excessive inflammatory or autoimmune expressions. Some mushrooms can also have adaptogenic activity, improving our endurance, resilience, and fluidity of response to stressors. And some mushrooms (more than you might expect, actually) can even help regenerate damaged or diseased nerve tissue, and protect the nervous system. Sounds pretty good, right? Listen in for the full story.Mentioned in this episode:Herbal Revolution – our friend Kathi Langelier’s new herbal recipe book – you can pre-order your copy today! Also check out all her excellent herbal remedies & delights.Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy is an excellent and down-to-earth book on all things fungal.Neuronal Health – Can Culinary and Medicinal Mushrooms Help?, Sabaratnam et al, J Tradit Complement Med. 2013 Jan-Mar; 3(1): 62–68. doi: 10.4103/2225-4110.106549 – This is the review paper showing neuroregenerative activity from lion’s mane, reishi, maitake, and cordyceps, among others.Antitumor Effect of Ganoderma (Lingzhi) Mediated by Immunological Mechanism and Its Clinical Application. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1182:39-77. doi: 10.1007/978-981-32-9421-9_2 – This is the paper Ryn quoted an excerpt from, about the anti-cancer activities of reishi.After learning all these powers our fungal friends are endowed with, it won’t surprise you to learn that these medicinal mushrooms make a key appearance in our Immune Health course. That course is a deep dive into the immune system, and outlines all our best holistic strategies to boost immune responsiveness, and to corral unhelpful inflammation too. This self-paced online video course includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can connect with us directly!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 own way. Learning how to respond, rather than react, to our grief is something we must each navigate.A Halloween that is only about sugar and sweets doesn’t teach us these skills. But the plants are there to remind us: this is a time to die back, to go underground, to process the deep dark parts of ourselves. This is what allows transformation, new growth. When we work with herbs and grief rituals, the focus is on letting go of what’s no longer serving us: allowing death to what has run its course. That includes our own ideas of ourselves which are no longer serving us, too.There are a lot of places where herbs and grief come together. Some herbs help us get into that introspective place, some help us feel protected while we’re there. Some herbs protect the heart, or circulate our inner waters, or open up our lungs – traditionally associated with grief in many cultures. Other herbs help us move through liminal spaces like dreaming, or to access our own inner wisdom from those realms. Whatever kind of support you need, there’s an herb who can help you.Herbs discussed in this episode include: calamus, rose, hawthorn, linden, heather, self-heal, elecampane, lungwort, catnip, chamomile, yarrow, st john’s wort, vervain, goldenrod, jiaogulan, mugwort, bittergrass, bittersweet nightshade, vanilla.This material is part of our Neurological & Emotional Health course! It’s a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues, and it includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too! This self-paced online video course includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can connect with Katja & Ryn directly.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 patterns and change the way we relate to our minds.People have been working with mantra and other meditative practices for a long time. That means people have been seeking ways to calm and direct mental patterns for a long time – it’s not new! If you feel this way sometimes, you can rest assured that it’s not just you; it’s everyone. You might say that it’s a natural consequence of having a brain that can do all the complex & amazing things our brains can do. Sometimes that complex computer gets stuck or spinning, and you need a reboot.That’s where meditation comes in, traditionally – and that’s also where herbs as mantra come in! These plants can slow down the spinning so you can step off the mental merry-go-round. They can release tension that stops you from being able to identify what you need, or express it. They can bring in some sunshine and get your inner waters moving smoothly. Whatever pattern you find yourself falling into in those moments, there are herbs that can help!Herbs discussed in this episode include: hawthorn, linden, sage, mugwort, juniper, cedar, pine, st john’s wort, yarrow, calendula, heather, kava, pedicularis, solomon’s seal, crampbark, orange peel.Our Neurological & Emotional Health course is a user’s guide to your nerves & emotions. We explain how these systems work, what they need to work well, and what gets in the way of their smooth efficient function. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues, and it includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too! This self-paced online video course includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can connect with Katja & Ryn directly.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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’re trying to diminish the risk of dementia, herbs can help in a few different ways. For one, they can improve circulation to the brain, bringing in fresh oxygen and nutrients to keep the nerve cells well-fed. They can also protect those nerves and thus stave off senility, by reducing inflammation and improving nerve communications (both chemical and electrical).But keeping your mind agile and avoiding Alzheimer’s isn’t something you can accomplish just by taking some supplements or drinking some tea – even with the best herbs in the world. You’ve got to feed your brain – get those omega-3s! And perhaps most importantly, you need good restful sleep, and plenty of it. Lack of sleep is probably the single biggest contributor to diminishing mental acuity; good quality sleep is the best guarantee of a healthy brain & mind. Herbs can help here, too – to ease the transition into sleep, to deepen sleep, and even to help you dream.Herbs discussed in this episode include: rosemary, sage, tulsi, ginkgo, gotu kola, & lion’s mane.Our Neurological & Emotional Health course includes more material about preventing cognitive decline, as well as a whole host of herbal and holistic strategies to support healthy nerves, brain, mind, and emotions. This self-paced online video course includes access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can connect with Katja & Ryn directly. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 the body. It’s not difficult once you start working with the plants!Some conditions are dry: think of a racking, rattling cough, or just dry red sinuses. Those need moistening herbs, like the mallows and seaweeds. Some troubles are more wet in nature – like a really phlegmy cough – and they need drying herbs like sumac, thyme, and garlic. Can you see how just looking at “herbs for cough” wouldn’t sort those differences out for us? That’s the key!In this episode we’ll discuss various presentations of respiratory ailments & herbs to address them. We’ll share a couple key formulae (one’s for a tea with garlic in it!) and a brief discussion of breathing exercises, too.Herbs discussed in this episode include: sage, thyme, sumac, goldenrod, oregano, peppermint, pine, cedar, common mallow, marshmallow, hollyhock, lavender, chamomile, mullein, ginger, garlic, onion, cayenne, black pepper, horseradish, lemon, rosemary, seaweeds (e.g. Irish moss), & purple loosestrife.This is part 10 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 simply walk away from them. Instead, we need to find ways to help our bodies and minds cope with the stress and still maintain good function.In this episode we highlight some of our favorite herbs to call on in stressful situations. First we take a look at some specific plants and their own talents, then we consider common contributors to emotional disturbance and the way holistic approaches can resolve them.Herbs discussed in this episode include: chamomile, peppermint, tulsi, green tea, nettle, dandelion, seaweed, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, hibiscus, apple, basil, dandelion, cacao, beet.Other things we mentioned: Natural Calm, Mega-Mag.This is part 9 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 stress on the one hand, and incompatible foods on the other. But regardless of cause, we can work on heartburn, nausea, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and all the other discomforts of digestion with herbalism.Herbs discussed in this episode include: chamomile, plantain, seaweeds, okra, sage, dandelion, ginger, turmeric, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion, cayenne, peppermint, fennel, cumin, calendula, red clover, violet, self-heal, carpet bugle, and coffee.This is part 8 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 in the right direction!We also discuss strategies for coping with chronic wounds. When we work with herbs for wounds that are chronic, such as diabetic ulcers, they can make improvements even where these have been recalcitrant and slow-to-heal. In all cases we’re careful to adjust our herbs based on the state of the wound – particularly wet vs dry wounds – and to choose preparations that make sense for the type of wound we’re working on.Herbs discussed in this episode include: yarrow, cayenne, chamomile, peppermint, spearmint, thyme, oregano, sage, lavender, garlic, onion, cinnamon, clove, black tea, juniper, cedar, pine, calendula, plantain, goldenrod, & seaweeds.This is part 7 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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. Because humans have these tendencies: as students, to seek a guru; as teachers, to seek that status.When the student believes their teacher is a guru, it may be comforting, but it’s also disempowering. It makes the student feel & believe that they have to depend on the teacher. But it’s important for students to make their own experiments, and express their own experiences!When the teacher comes to believe they’re a guru, they start to think everything they’re doing must be right, down to finer and finer detail. But it’s important to question yourself first of all, otherwise you stop learning – and to step back and see the big picture, on the regular.So here are some ways we’ve come up with when working out how to not be a guru in our own work, that we do our best to live up to.As teachers – and as students, because we’re that, too – this is something we think about a lot. We know a lot of teachers and students who feel the same way! We hope that this discussion spurs some spark of recognition, as we’ve been gratefully sparked by plenty of others before.We really appreciate it if you can take the time to subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 be to offer a wide variety of tools to try that can help build greater resilience, and provide guidance on those the client is most interested in. Herbs help out in a variety of ways to compensate for the impacts of a suboptimal situation.Mentioned in this podcast:The Twenty-Four Hour Mind, Rosalind D. Cartwright – An elucidation of the mood-regulating functions of dreaming and the importance of dreams in our emotional lives.Behave, Robert Sapolsky – A cross-discipline deep dive into the current best scientific understanding of the complex web of interactions we call human behavior.Four Keys To Holistic Herbalism – our free mini-course outlining the fundamental determinants of health and the basic philosophy behind our approach to herbalism.We really appreciate it if you can take the time to subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 podcast - it was episode 102 over there, and it aired in December 2018. This one's about a fundamental idea that shapes our practice from top to bottom: that herbs are more effective when paired with holistic lifestyle interventions to accomplish shared health goals.We really appreciate it if you can take the time to subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 always appropriate. Today we discuss a few cases in which adaptogens might not be the best solution for feelings of burnout and exhaustion, and offer some alternative herbs you might consider instead.We really appreciate it if you can take the time to subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 difficult of our fundamental pillars of health, or the one that gets sacrificed first. Ryn shares his love of jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum), a particularly excellent adaptogen for the dry and tense people in your life.Herbs discussed this week include our Wedding Tea blend – wood betony, tulsi, rose, spearmint, & violet – along with jiaogulan, goji, & kelp.We really appreciate it if you can take the time to subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 interfere with sleep, and lots of people have insomnia or sleep disruptions of one kind or another. Since sleep is so important to stay healthy, it’s a big problem when you can’t get enough quality rest. But your body is resilient, and herbs can help!We’re sharing strategies in two categories:What to do when you can’t fall asleep. A few new bedtime habits and some supportive herbs can we make the transition from waking to sleep easier & smoother.What to do when you can’t get more sleep than you’re already getting. This is about finding other ways to support what the body would normally be doing during sleep time. Herbs can help reduce the sleep time to-do list & make the body more efficient at getting through it. They can also help out as we build resilience to stress – including the stress of sleep debt.Herbs discussed include: chamomile, wild lettuce, tulsi, peppermint, cinnamon, nettle, dandelion, hibiscus, green/black tea, cayenne.This is part 6 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

“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 – we can slow it down, or overwhelm it with other signals. Second, we need to quell excessive inflammation, because while inflammation is a necessary part of healing, too much or too long and it can slow healing down, or even initiate pain on its own. And last, we’ll need to release tension, since tension too can drive pain or impair recovery.As usual we’ve got strategies that revolve around making healthy changes to food, movement, and sleep habits. Less sugar, more veggies, some walking & stretching, good restorative sleep: these are foundational necessities. Herbs for pain – and seaweeds too! (order seaweed online here) – multiply and deepen the effects of these interventions.Herbs discussed include: chamomile, ginger, kelp & red seaweeds, wild lettuce.This is part 5 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 & calories out! Weight management can be stalled by issues with the thyroid & other hormones, insufficient sleep, and even meal timing.Of course, what’s in the meals matters too! Unforunately, the food that’s most easily available & cheap isn’t what’s healthy. The good news is, it is possible to eat healthy on a budget. Try reading through our tips for finding low-cost high-quality food, for a start.And there are helpful herbs for weight management too. Medicinal plants can help on a hormonal level, reduce sugar cravings and improving the hormonal aspects of blood sugar regulation. Herbs and seaweeds (order seaweed online here) can also provide a ton of nourishment – vitamins, minerals, plant-powered antioxidants, and lots more – in case you didn’t or couldn’t get enough vegetables and nourishing foods.(Our discussion of herbs starts around 41:10 if you’ve got food, sleep, & movement all dialed in and just want to hear about the plants.)Herbs discussed include: cinnamon, tulsi, kelp & red seaweeds, nettle, dandelion, & parsley.This is part 4 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 might already be in your kitchen! You can start today to drain the excess fluid and restore healthy conditions to the body.Along with a bit more movement and some changes to the diet, herbs can help with edema in a variety of ways. Some of them stimulate the kidneys to filter out more fluid from the body. Others give the blood circulation a kick, to disperse pooled fluids. Certain herbs even help to circulate lymph, the “second” circulatory system in the body. And of course, there are topical astringents that can work on the outward expressions of puffiness, restoring healthy skin tone.Herbs discussed include: dandelion, parsley, nettle, calendula, red clover, ginger, garlic, witch hazel, willow, oak, rose.This is part 3 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 difficult. Simple common spices and herbs you may already have in your kitchen can help out a lot! Herbs can improve your blood sugar regulation, and your blood circulation – and herbs can reduce sugar cravings, too! Listen in to learn how to get started today.Herbs discussed include: cinnamon, tulsi, parsley, mulberry, blueberry/bilberry.This is part 2 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 different) movement in your day, and a little more sleep at night, they’ll work even better!Herbs discussed include: chamomile, tulsi, dandelion, parsley, garlic, hibiscus.This is part 1 in our Accessible Herbalism series! We’re sharing strategies for safely improving some of the most common health concerns, especially for marginalized communities. We want to empower people to take action in support of their own health and the health of their neighbors. The safe, accessible tools of holistic herbalism can fill in the gaps left by uneven access and affordability of conventional care. Working with easy-to-find, inexpensive herbs, with low risk of adverse effects and drug interactions, is something anyone can do.We’re building a community health collective organizing tool out of this material as we go through the series. You can learn more about the project and find all the collected resources here:Mutual Aid ResourcesAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 required to care for regular problems – common infections, minor wounds, daily management of prevalent chronic illnesses – that counts for a lot. If we can also grow, share, and work with accessible herbs in every community, that’s mutual aid for real.Herbalism as mutual aid might look like making tea and sharing it with neighbors. It might look like welcoming community members into your garden. It might look like sharing One Cool Herbal Trick that really works! But it’ll always look like a team effort if you look closely, because none of us are in this alone, and that’s the whole point.Mentioned in this episode:CCHH Scholarship InfoCCHH Recommended ResourcesMutual Aid ResourcesAmerican Friends Service Committee – How To Create A Mutual Aid Network, with great linksMutual Aid Disaster ReliefNeighborhood “pods” – Mutual Aid Medford and SomervilleAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 processing and stress reduction, we can work with herbs for pain relief and tension release, we can work with herbs for comfort and self-care, and community care.Take this information, use what helps you, share it with anyone who might need it. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, drink some tea – and keep up the good fight.Mentioned in this episode:Donate to Black Lives MatterCampaign Zero#8cantwaitOutdoor AfroDiversify OutdoorsHerbs discussed include: plantain, nettle, blue vervain, linden, wild lettuce, California poppy, tulsi, eleuthero, rhodiola, st john’s wort, yarrow.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 community.In our society, systemic oppression in the form of racism, sexism, heteronormativity, ableism, and other such forces mean that minorities and oppressed groups are subject to greater health risks than their privileged peers. This remains true even if we compare individuals with similar socioeconomic status, health history, etc. The health impacts of systemic oppression are something that holistic practitioners cannot ignore if they truly want to work to heal “the whole person”.Our work must go beyond the individual, and address injustices at the community and societal levels.A small sample of the research on racial health disparities and the social determinants of health:Uprooting Institutionalized Racism as Public Health Practice, Bassett & Graves. American Journal of Public Health. 2018 April; 108(4): 457–458.Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: evidence and interventions, Bailey et al. The Lancet. 2017; 389(10077): 1453–1463.Vital Signs: Racial Disparities in Age-Specific Mortality Among Blacks or African Americans — United States, 1999–2015, Cunningham et al. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2017 May; 66(17): 444-456.Resources to learn more and get involved:Anti-racism resources for white people, compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker & Alyssa KleinCampaign Zero – Proven policy solutions to end police violence.Prison Policy Initiative – Research & advocacy on mass criminalization & incarceration.Integrative Medicine for the UnderservedToi Scott’s list of POC Healers, herbalists, herb schools, etcNorthstar Health CollectiveMutual Aid Hub – Find mutual aid networks and other community self-support projects near you!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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. It shapes the way we form our questions and the types of answers we look for.In herbalism, though, we are doing something different. Herbs are not drugs, they’re herbs. Herbalists are not doctors, they’re herbalists! Understanding the differences is important because it allows us to better assess when each strategy is most appropriate. Sometimes, you do need a pharmaceutical. Sometimes, a diet change and a daily pot of tea would actually be more effective. Being able to tell the difference is what allows us to integrate holistic and conventional methods successfully.Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 101: How Herbs Are Different From DrugsThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 75: Foundational Health Strategies & Evolution’s Expected InputsThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 100: The Definitive Guide to HerbalismHerbalism and the Law: The Practice of Medicine in MassachusettsAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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, thyme, propolis, pine resin, echinacea, poke root, garlic, cedar/thuja, blue vervain.If you want to learn more about our methods of working with Lyme (and other tick-borne illnesses), check out Katja’s course A Holistic Approach to Lyme Disease. It outlines strategies for all stages of the illness, from prevention through post-Lyme syndrome / chronic Lyme presentations, based on building resilience and adaptability in the body.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 resilience on to us when we work with them. And they’re especially relevant to a mom’s life in the world today, too! Linden can help us release tension in the body and in the mind, and soothe frazzled nerves. Dandelion is irrepressible and sunny, and provides rooted nourishment when you’re feeling trampled. Yarrow is a warrior’s herb, and sometimes moms need to put on their armor and go to battle – whether that’s for the kids, or against them! 😉 And violet helps you soften your heart, remember yourself, and take delight in simple pleasures.Whatever kind of mother you have – or whatever kind of mother you are! – we’re sure that one of these herbs for moms will be a welcome gift and become a lifelong ally.Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 079: Motherwort for Mother’s Day!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 016: Emotional Support for Mothers & TeensOne thing most moms could use help with is getting more sleep! Whether it’s worry keeping you up at night, disruptive midnight waking, or a mismatched circadian rhythm, our newest short course Holistic Help for Better Sleep has solutions for all your sleep troubles. Get some Zs and rest easy!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 pretty boring, right? But everyday stuff should be boring – because it’s for every day. And that foundation of good habits is what everything else depends on.We don’t know exactly what form the next crisis that affects each of us will take. It could be the same old ‘rona, it could be a new pandemic, it could be a natural disaster or something entirely personal. To prepare for the broadest array of possibilities, we need to support the broadest forms of resilience.Herbs discussed include: nettle, calendula, reishi, angelica, elecampane; sage, oregano, thyme, & other aromatics; hibiscus, rosehips, sumac, & other “vitamin red” herbs; orange peel.Trouble sleeping? Anxiety keeping you up at night? We’ve got a plan for that. Our newest short course, Holistic Help for Better Sleep, will teach you key strategies for lengthening and deepening your rest each night. You’ll also meet our favorite herbs to help with sleep disturbances and insomnia, and how to choose the right herbs for your own personal sleep needs.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The pandemic has got all of us in a heightened state of alert. The news changes fast, stories come and go before we can fully process them, and every day there’s another set of statistics that are hard to mentally translate into real human lives. It’s stressful. Even if we’re not actively doomscrolling through Twitter, this background noise of fear and worry is elevated. So, this week, we’re sharing some of our favorite herbs for COVID anxiety – for any kind of anxiety, really, but specifically the ones we ourselves have been relying on lately.Ryn has been making a daily tea for himself with st john’s wort and friends, and has found it helpful in steadying out emotional peaks & valleys. He’s also been making sure to get some preparation of marshmallow in every day, because as a person with a dry constitution, it’s easy for him to get frazzled and frayed when anxiety is elevated. And when things are most acute, he’s turned to kava for a quick and comprehensive relaxant effect, often in the form of a rich hot chocolate blend.Katja finds herself turning to motherwort these days. It’s an herb we often turn to when we need help holding or building up emotional boundaries, and she’s recently found it helpful to put some boundaries around anger. Not to eliminate it – anger is important and can be helpful – but to direct it appropriately. She’s also been working with blue vervain as an anchor point to her daily tea blends, an herb which can help decouple the concepts of self-worth and productivity, and let her set down some mental burdens. And, she’s turned to linden, our favorite ‘hug in a mug’ herb, to help build emotional resilience through compassionate offering. Lessons learned from trees are lasting.If you’re feeling edgy and unsettled lately, try out some of these herbs for COVID anxiety and see if they don’t help you out! And remember, none of this is about suppressing or turning off ‘bad’ emotions, it’s about helping you move through the flow of emotional states more smoothly. Whether its these herbs or your own personal allies, turn to them: the plants will help you.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Last week we urged you to look at learning herbalism like learning a language or instrument – something that requires daily practice. This week, we’re sharing some specific practices you can do to build your herbal skills on a daily basis!You can take lessons in herbalism, and study to learn – but the key here is, a little bit each day is better than “a lot” which happens only rarely. Building a habit of reading a few pages of an herb book, watching a half hour video lesson, or listening to an audio lesson on your commute every day will serve you well.Another way is to make space to experience your herbs daily. Drink tea, take tincture, taste them, smell them. Even better, do this while you’re studying to enhance your learning, to root it in your body and give your mind a touchpoint to return to. This strengthens memory!A helpful motto (especially for those who are allergic to regimentation) is “Don’t miss an opportunity.” Whenever something new-to-you comes up, take the chance to come up with an herbal plan of resolution. First, learn all you can about what’s happening. Then, try to identify energetic patterns; that helps you select applicable herbal actions. Then you can come up with a set of herbs to do the job, and finally you can decide how those herbs will go to work – what preparations and formulations will best match the situation. (Then you start that cycle over again, to expand or refine!)It’s all about building habits – whether habits of daily activity, or habits of response to new events. Put those habits into place now, and your confidence and capability will grow every single day.Did we mention that studying individual herbs every day is a great habit to get into? With our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course, you can do just that! Each of the 90 herbs we cover in this course has a video lesson, plant profile document, and a quiz to test your knowledge. It teaches you much more than “just” the individual plants, too – key concepts in herbal energetics, medicine-making, and pathophysiology are woven into every lesson. Check it out, and watch the first video (all about ginger) for free!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbalism is experiential: you have to DO it to KNOW it.It’s like learning to play a musical instrument – you’re going to sound bad at first! That’s necessary. If you refuse to play anything that isn’t perfect, you’ll never play anything. In herbalism, if you wait until you know everything there is to know, or until you’re 100% sure “it’s going to work”, you’ll be waiting all your life!Learning herbalism is also a process similar to that of language acquisition. No one can absorb all the grammar and tone of a new language without speaking it. As a beginner you’ll stumble over words, conjugate wrongly, and need a lot of slow, patient repetition from native speakers. As a new herbalist, you’ll mix tea blends that don’t taste good, or try to make a tincture that just doesn’t come out strong enough. That’s ok! In fact, it’s necessary for you to make mistakes to learn well.A lot of hesitation and uncertainty is driven by negative self-talk, so identifying and quarantining those thoughts is an important skill to develop, too. And of course, throughout all this experimentation, we need to stay responsible. That means building the majority of your work around safe, gentle herbs – and learning your herbal energetics adds a helpful boost here, too.If you’re looking for experiments to try, why not check out our Herbal Medicine-Making course? It’s full with more than a dozen different methods for going from plant matter to finished remedy. Try a new method today!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It’s not just coronavirus, there’s a lot going on right now! Between the usual circulating strains of flu, some spring colds, and the stirrings of allergy season, plenty of folks are feeling rough. But it’s up to all of us to reduce strain on the medical system right now, so it’s more important than ever that we learn some herbal home nursing basics. These skills can help us to deal with minor issues on our own, so the health care workers can focus where they’re really needed.Staying hydrated is super important, and herbs can help the water to “stick” much better than plain water on its own. Managing fever is another key function that herbs can support – and these don’t need to be “fancy” herbs, either! Garlic, lemon, ginger, and thyme are enough to cover a lot of bases. A dry cough with a hot fever might mean COVID-19, or it might not, but either way, common herbs and kitchen items can help to relieve the symptom and address the root cause of it.The core of herbal home nursing basics is to keep vigilant, or attentive to the needs as they change and evolve over time. That, and some simple, easy-to-forget stuff like changing the sheets! Knowing all about these likely needs ahead of time will enable you to prepare with what YOU have for what YOU need. Nothing better than that!Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 108: Herbs to Supercharge Your Bone BrothFlorence Nightingale, Notes on Nursing & Notes on Hospitals – Two excellent & essential books – and not merely for “historical interest”, either! We think every herbalist should read these.Herbs discussed include: hibiscus, marshmallow (and common mallow and hollyhock), lemon, ginger, elderflower, lemon balm, mint, skullcap, yarrow, pleurisy root, wild cherry, garlic, onion, & thyme.You can learn more about supporting sick people with herbs in our Immune Health course. Get beyond echinacea and learn the full complement of herbal actions and nutritional strategies that can build immune resilience, fend off pathogens, or reign in an overactive system.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Whew! There’s a lot going on right now. Between coronavirus, the election cycle, and the approach of spring, we’ve been extra busy and under more stress than usual. This week we wanted to share with you some of the herbs we’ve been relying on to get through. It’s a bit of a smorgasbord!First up, a friend of ours is undergoing laser eye surgery, and we have some herbs to help make the healing process as quick & comfortable as possible. Supplements, compresses, and gentle healing sprays are all part of the plan.Then, there’s been a death in Ryn’s family – his grandfather passed away. There’s grief, as well as other emotions, to process and work through. There’s also the funeral! With family & friends coming in from across the country and the world, we’re looking at a large gathering – and of course this is during the coronavirus outbreak. So we’re thinking a lot about community immunity, and daily active immune defense measures we can put into place. Herbs are coming in as steams, decoctions, infusions, fire cider, incense, and room spray!As if that weren’t enough, allergy season is starting around here, and we’re looking to get our supportive herbs in as soon as possible. Nettle & eyebright tinctures are extra helpful lately.And finally, we’re taking extra steps to support digestion right now – bitters are front & center.Herbs discussed include (get ready!): bilberry, chamomile, calendula, marshmallow, hawthorn, linden, motherwort, blue vervain, lemon balm, elder, tulsi, thyme (& friends), lavender, garlic, elecampane, ginger, cinnamon, angelica, reishi, mullein, lungwort, boneset, yarrow, tarragon, nettle, goldenrod, eyebright, & calamus.We mentioned several of our courses in this episode:Herbal Remedies for Cold & FluSeasonal & Environmental AllergiesImmune HealthDigestive HealthAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The new pandemic coronavirus, COVID-19, is on everyone’s minds lately. As herbalists, we’ve been asked a lot about our thoughts on working with herbs for coronavirus preparedness, so that’s our topic today!First, we try to understand the virus and some facts about the illness it causes. How does it compare to “normal” flu, to H1N1, to SARS? Estimates and projections are in flux and will continue to evolve, but we share what seems most clear so far about the potential risks & severity of corona.There’s no benefit to be gained from a panic about pandemic. (Remember, the term “pandemic” doesn’t actually say anything about the severity of an illness – only its novelty and rapid spread.) The best way to avoid panic? Be prepared!There’s a lot more than herbs for coronavirus preparedness, though. We discuss why handwashing is so important (and why masks aren’t), and why it’s good to be ready for a period of self-quarantine. To that end, we cover how to stock up with immune-boosting nutrition – more than just calories – while also avoiding things that’ll deplete immunity. And how to “stock up” on intangibles like sleep and community support.And of course, we highlight our favorite herbs to build immunity, mitigate symptoms, and combat the virus at every stage of illness.Mentioned in this episode:Most Essential Prevention Against Coronavirus COVID-19? – an excellent handwashing demonstration with blue ink, so you can really see what parts get missed with normal handwashing movements.Herbs discussed include: thyme, elder, elecampane, angelica, ginger, garlic, pleurisy root, marshmallow, cinnamon, licorice, sage, monarda, pine, peppermint, yarrow, catnip, boneset, codonopsis.As you can see, there are really a lot of immune-supportive herbs that could be relevant in COVID! Our Immune Health course is a great way to learn them in detail and really understand how they work together with your own immune system to combat infections. The course also covers imbalances and dysregulations in immunity – allergies, autoimmunity, immune deficiency, etc – that affect an enormous number of people. Immunity is complex, but really worth understanding!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Join us for a discussion with our friend Rebecca Altman about the importance of self-awareness in the practice of herbalism – but also an exploration of vulnerability and in rebuilding our connection to the natural world.Some of the things we discuss are what it means to take responsibility for our health, how to build trust for experimenting in our lives, and the trouble with living in a society that prioritizes productivity over curiosity and wonder. We also focus on the importance of allowing ourselves to start from scratch and learn slowly, and to cultivate ever-expanding relationships with plants, instead of “knowledge” about them. These are important issues for any herbalist to explore, and especially for those interested in clinical practice.Mentioned in this episode:Wonder Botanica – get on Rebecca’s newsletter today, so you can be notified as soon as enrollment is open for the next round of The Wonder Sessions!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 65: How To Not Be A GuruHerbalism and the Law: The Practice of Medicine in MassachusettsAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we took a trip to New York City, because we were invited to teach a workshop on formulating cocktail bitters for our friends at Kindred, a restaurant in the East Village. Our social media posts about it were popular, with lots of commenters saying that they would love to learn how to make their own bitters. Well, you can!The process of making herbal cocktail bitters isn’t too complicated: make a tincture, decoct the marc, mix the liquids and add a little sweetener. Today we want to get past the basics and talk a little bit about the way we formulate cocktail bitters. In some ways, it’s not too much different from other kinds of herbal formulation (and we have a whole online training course about herbal formulation for those who need it), but there are some special considerations for cocktail bitters.First of all, it ought to taste good! Building your formula around flavors is the standard way bitters blends are invented today, in the hip bars and restaurants that are reinvigorating cocktail culture. But we’re herbalists, and that means we’re also thinking about the medicinal actions of the herbs in our formulas. Our medicines are foodlike, and our foods are medicinal – so when we say “that’s herbalism, too” about our bitter blends, we really mean it!Listen in for some guidelines to follow, and some examples of our own successful (delicious and effective) cocktail bitter formulas.Herbs discussed include: chamomile, blue vervain, wood betony, mugwort, tulsi, gentian, artichoke, centaury, angelica, elecampane, calamus, citrus, ginger, hawthorn, motherwort, anise, cardamom, fennel, pine, & lemon[balm|grass|verbena|thyme].Want all the details on how to make your own cocktail bitters? You’ll find a complete instructional video in our Herbal Medicine-Making course. In this online course there are more than 45 close-up, step-by-step videos showing how to make all the kinds of herbal preparations – plus recipes, printable instruction cards, and more. You can ask us questions on anything you’re wondering about, both in the discussion threads or in our twice-weekly live Q&A web conferences. Progress at your own pace, learn on your own schedule, and get direct access to Katja & Ryn! You’ll be crafting your own signature cocktails (and mocktails!) in no time.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It might seem difficult to grow your own herbs, but like so many things in herbalism, it’s all about being open to experimentation and maintaining good observation. And for the herbalist, there are great reasons to do it! Not only will you be sourcing your herbs as local as it gets, you’ll learn a lot about the plant from tending it, supporting it, and nourishing it as it grows. Then, when you make medicines from it later, it will tend, support, and nourish you in turn – an intimate cycle of life.Growing herbs for yourself can be simple, especially if you start with the “easy mode” herbs and methods. There’s no shame at all in having your garden live in 5-gallon buckets, whether you live in a city apartment and have only a small porch to work with, or because you’re new to some land and not sure how its ecosystem works yet. Prolific, weedy herbs are not only very easy to grow, they’re also some of our best medicine plants – so they’re a great choice for beginners too.In this episode we share some experiences with small-scale herb growing at home. We hope to inspire you to get started this spring. Start simple, start small – but start! When harvest time comes around, you’ll be glad you did. 🌱Herbs discussed include: lemon balm, calendula, evening primrose, mugwort, fleabane, solomon’s seal, sunflower, basil, sage.Once you’ve grown your herbs, you’ll want to make remedies from them! It’s not hard, and it’s very rewarding to produce your own herbal medicines from seed to sip. You can learn everything you need to make over two dozen different types of preparations in our Herbal Medicine-Making course – check it out today!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Pain is complex. Many factors can contribute to pain, or worsen it, including the food we eat, the sleep we do or don’t get, and the stresses we experience in our lives. When pain is chronic, we need to think outside the “painkiller” box and think more broadly. This is also the best method of working with herbs for chronic pain conditions. Herbs with anti-inflammatory effects might achieve this by nourishing, improving digestion or circulation, or supporting specific needs in a particular body. To choose the right one for the person in front of you, you need to know their whole context – more than “where does it hurt?”Moreover, from the perspective of your cells, pain itself is not a single state with a single cause. A sprained wrist may involve tissue swelling, stagnation of fluids, nerve impingement, and of course, inflammation. Awash in this complex context of states, the nerve sends a pain signal to the brain. If all we do is “kill the pain” at the nerve, without correcting any of those other states, the pain will come back as soon as the herb wears off! Instead, we can combine analgesic or anodyne herbs with others that address stagnation, tension, and agitation; addressing both the superficial symptoms and the fundamental causes at once.All that and more, in this episode!Herbs discussed include: cayenne, goldenrod, kava, ginger, chamomile, tulsi, kelp, meadowsweet, willow, alder, birch, wild lettuce, passionflower, Jamaican dogwood, clove, & ghost pipe.As you can see, so much of your success when working with herbs for chronic pain effectively depends on your familiarity with a diverse array of herbs to help you target the specific tissues and states contributing to the pain. So you’ve got to really know your herbs – and our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course can help with that! It includes 89 video plant profiles, along with printable monographs and quizzes to check your learning. Plus, you get access to our twice-weekly live Q&A sessions so you can get direct contact with Ryn & Katja. Dive in and get to know these herbs personally!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

There are a lot of myths about herbal aphrodisiacs – they don’t make you into an irresistible sex monster, let’s get that out of the way right up front! But they do help you release tension that can distract you from your partner or from the present moment. And they do help you feel more comfortable in your own body, so you find & share enjoyment with yourself & others.In this episode we share some of our favorite valentine treats. We’ve got recipes for a lovely damiana-cacao-cayenne infused wine, a rose-chamomile elixir, a raspberry-chocolate cordial, some lovely truffles, and a sun-kissed massage oil. And, just in case Cupid hasn’t visited lately, we have a tea formula for broken & healing hearts. 💔+🌿=💖Herbs discussed include damiana, cacao, cayenne, rose, chamomile, raspberry, vanilla, lemon balm, cardamom, ginger, kava, angelica, evergreens, hawthorn, linden, tulsi, betony, yarrow, & lady’s mantle.Mentioned in this episode:Chocolate Sensual LOVE Elixxxir from Herbal RevolutionThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 035: Cinnamon, Vanilla, & CacaoWondering where can you learn how to work with herbs? In the Herbal Medicine-Making course, of course! There are 47 close-up, step-by-step videos showing how to make all the kinds of herbal preparations – plus recipes, printable instruction cards, and more. You can ask us questions on anything you’re wondering about, both in the discussion threads or in our twice-weekly live Q&A web conferences. You get to learn on your own schedule and have live access to Katja & Ryn! It’s the best of both worlds.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It’s really hard to really take a break these days – with smartphones and connected devices everywhere, the pressure to use our time “productively” is pervasive. But that doesn’t mean humans can actually keep up that pace, and it has all kinds of health effects to try!So this year one thing that we’re doing to stay centered is building a New Moon tradition. The idea came out of the way that we celebrate Solstice: we don’t use any electric lights all day, lighting candles in the evening and leisurely talking, reading, daydreaming, knitting… anything but working. This year we realized, we could do it every New Moon!In this episode we share our reasons for totally unplugging for one day every month, and the plans (and plants!) that help us pull it off. Our hope is to inspire you to see if you can fit something similar into your own life. One day with no media, no electronics, no work, no “real” “productivity” (according to post-industrialized consumer-culture standards, that is).Herbs discussed include chamomile, catnip, betony, damiana, motherwort, & blue vervain.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

There are many facets to sustainability for herbalists to consider, from maintaining your personal energy reserves to establishing sustainable working conditions for the workers who bring herbs to us.  Today we’re focusing on direct sustainability of the plants themselves. How can we make sure that, as interest in herbalism and demand for herbs grows, we’re not exhausting our plants and soil?We start with a cautionary tale from 200 BCE, in which poor soil quality, degrading growing conditions, overharvesting, and “trendiness” all came together to result in the first documented extinction of a medicinal plant. There are lessons to be learned here that apply directly to our world, and to considerations about sustainability for herbalists, today!Have you ever heard the rubric that suggests you “take 1/3 for yourself, leave 1/3 for the animals, and 1/3 for the plants to grow back”? It’s been a mainstay in herbalism schools for several decades. Today we’re recognizing that some harvesting practices and wildcrafting guidelines that have been widely adopted in American herbalism are no longer sufficient. We need to change our habits, as our world is changing.Herbs discussed include “giant fennel”, mugwort, evening primrose, Canadian fleabane, & pine.Mentioned in this episode:Silphium, laserwort, or “giant fennel” – possibly humanity’s first recorded victim of overharvesting, soil degradation, and hype.HerbalGram’s 2018 Herbal Supplement Sales ReportCultural Burning is about more than just hazard reduction, Shaun Hooper – on Aboriginal Australian fire management practices and their relevance to today’s wildfires.Native LandIndigenous environmental activists on Twitter: @indigenous_land, @gindaanis, @dandantransient, @indigenousX, and many others!Medicine for the Resistance – an excellent podcast with Indigenous and Black hosts.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It’s 2020, we don’t need to convince you that bone broth is good for you! But in case you’ve been living under a rock, bone broth is awesome for your digestive health, immune defenses, musculoskeletal resilience, and plenty more besides. So all on its own, it’s great – but you can add herbs to supercharge bone broth into something even better!Our favorite herbs to enhance bone broth come in several key categories: Seaweeds provide mineral nutrition including iodine, along with unique seaweed polysaccharides that build immunity. Mushrooms have similar powers, and are even more famous as immunomodulators to help with everyday health as well as complex immune disorders. Other immune-centered adaptogenic herbs support immunity from the marrow on out. Mildly bitter, prebiotic roots improve digestion, liver action, and gut flora composition. And then there are plenty of “herbs & spices” to try for digestive benefits and for specific medicinal attributes.Learn how to work with all of these and make your homemade broth something truly special!Herbs discussed include dulse, nori, irish moss, kelp, alaria, digitata, bladderwrack, shiitake, maitake, turkey tails, oyster mushroom, lion’s mane, reishi, astragalus, codonopsis, burdock, dandelion, chicory, calamus, angelica, ginger, turmeric, sage, rosemary, thyme, fennel, calendula, goji, & hawthorn.Mentioned in this episode:Bone Broth Demystified, Katja SwiftSeaweed As Food And Medicine, Katja SwiftRed Seaweeds, Ryn MiduraKelp & Brown Seaweeds, Ryn MiduraAtlantic Holdfast Seaweed CompantyThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 086: notCoffee – Katja’s Decaf Herbal Coffee ReplacementAs always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The Whole30 is one of our favorite diet plans – or, as we prefer to call them, food experiments! It’s a great way to reset your eating habits, change your relationship with food and cooking, and discover your own personal food intolerances or sensitivities. As herbalists, we’ve seen it accomplish amazing things for our clients – but we’ve also found ways to make it more enjoyable, efficient, and effective! Nowadays we always recommend herbs for Whole30 enhancement to our clients and students, and work with them ourselves.In our experience, the best herbs for Whole30 success have effects on one of three main areas: cravings, digestion, and nutrition. Herbs like tulsi and schisandra can really curb sugar cravings, or longings for foods that are not Whole30-approved. Plants like calamus and sage can improve your digestive function, which is especially relevant if your Whole30 diet has more fat or protein than your previous habit, as often occurs. Wild greens like dandelions & nettles provide nutrient density, variety, & complexity, while adaptogens and immune modulators such as astragalus or shiitake can improve core functions of immunity and hormonal communication.However you work with herbs for Whole30, your experience will be improved for sure!Herbs discussed include tulsi, schisandra, calamus, fennel, ginger, sage, dandelion, parsley, basil, nettle, astragalus, codonopsis, shiitake / maitake, & seaweeds.Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 76: Herbs to Control Sugar CravingsFire CiderNettle and FriendsThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 81: Friends of Nettle (Herbal Formulas in Pairs)Bone Broth DemystifiedWondering where can you learn how to work with herbs? In the Herbal Medicine-Making course, of course! There are 47 close-up, step-by-step videos showing how to make all the kinds of herbal preparations – plus recipes, printable instruction cards, and more. You can ask us questions on anything you’re wondering about, both in the discussion threads or in our twice-weekly live Q&A web conferences. You get to learn on your own schedule and have live access to Katja & Ryn! It’s the best of both worlds.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

What do you want to bring into the new year with you? Our first piece of advice is to be specific with your intention – envision how this change will happen in your own real day-to-day life, in detail. This helps you make sure it really happens!Intention is key also in transforming our relationship to Stuff. Many people feel like their Stuff owns them instead of the other way around, and being intentional about how and what you consume can go a long way toward changing that. Fostering (or giving the gift of) experiences and skills is one key way to change that dynamic.You need to pick your battles, though! It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the long list of troubles in the world, and to feel like you need to change them all yourself. Selecting one or two things to focus on is more effective, but also feels better inside. Plus, it’s a way you can find or create community, which is so critical to sustaining these things long-term.Finally, we conclude with a discussion of a few herbs which help strengthen resolve.Herbs discussed include: hawthorn, tulsi, goldenrod, jiaogulan, cedar, hemlock, & pine.Mentioned in this episode:Business Mentorship ProgramThe Sustainable Herbs ProjectPlanting In A Post-Wild WorldHow to Pay for Herb School: Herbal Support Boxes!Only 3 more days remain for our End-Of-Year Sale! Don’t miss out – use the code 2019 to get 19% off any of our courses or programs today!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Anxiety is a feeling of exposure, a feeling that one is without protection. The much-maligned ‘safe space’ is in fact a necessity for all humans. (Those who malign it tend to be speaking from a place of unchallenged safety.) But how to create that for yourself, in an environment that feels hostile? Herbs can help, and in more than one way! Working with the principles of holistic herbalism for anxiety involves several interwoven threads.Building healthy boundaries is a way to protect your inner space – both to keep unfriendly things out and to leave room for you to focus on your present moment. Anxiety is fundamentally an expression of tension, so relaxing tension in the muscles and nerves, and in the emotions themselves, is almost always needful. Anxiety both causes and results from elevated stress hormones, and reducing cortisol in particular helps mitigate the physiological effects of stress.Holistic lifestyle changes are the core of the work, and herbs help us enact these intentions. The synergy between them is what we mean when we talk about employing holistic herbalism for anxiety. Listen in for lots of ideas as to how they can fit into your life!Herbs discussed include: motherwort, yarrow, lion’s mane, chamomile, linden, skullcap, passionflower, betony, calamus, kava, tulsi, ashwagandha, turmeric, cinnamon, & st john’s wort.Mentioned in this episode:A Midwife’s Tale, Laurel Thatcher UlrichKatja’s Favorite Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free SubstitutesGut-Heal TeaOur End-Of-Year Sale is going strong! Don’t miss out – use the code 2019 to get 19% off any of our courses or programs today!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The hawthorns (Crataegus spp.) are some of our most generous and protective herbs. Hathorn offers abundant berries, rich with heart-supporting medicine – but its thorns mean you can’t just come and take everything in one swipe. Hawthorn demands a careful and respectful approach, and it can bring all these qualities to our physical bodies and – our emotional ones, too!An ally for everything from high blood pressure, to water retention, to grief and loss, to that not-quite-at-home feeling we sometimes get when family relations are difficult; hawthorn is there for you. Especially at this time of year, when hearts are both agitated and a little more exposed, it’s a particularly important plant to know and to work with.Herbs discussed include: hawthorn, linden, cacao, cayenne, ginger, goji, rose, hibiscus, goldenrod, jiaogulan, heather, vanilla, tulsi, dandelion, damiana, chamomile, catnip, motherwort.Mentioned in this episode:The Once and Future World, J.B. MacKinnonOur End-Of-Year Sale is in effect! Don’t miss out – use the code 2019 to get 19% off any of our courses or programs today!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It’s easy to get caught up in your to-do list and everything you “have to” do.Sometimes, it’s ok to not.This week we’re modeling that behavior, with a micro-cast just to prove we mean it!We’ll be back next week with an episode about hawthorn and getting through difficult times. Until then, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, drink some tea, and remember – sometimes, you don’t have to.❤️❤️❤️If you’re local to Boston, we’ll be at Herbstalk’s Wintergreen Market tomorrow, November 30th, from 11:00 – 5:00… find us and say hi!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

As a brand new student of herbalism, you might think there are a lot of herbs to learn. As an experienced herbalist with decades of practice under your belt, you’ll DEFINITELY KNOW there are A LOT OF HERBS to learn!! That’s one of the things we like best about herbalism – there’s always more to explore, a whole world full of plant potential. Having a strategy for how to learn a new herb is helpful at every stage of your herbal journey.We advise a multi-directional approach to this. Rather than looking for “the best” book, website, or teacher, we urge all our students to seek out multiple sources of information about every plant they study. That doesn’t just mean multiple books, it means multiple forms of knowledge, too. Direct experience with an herb – taking it daily and consistently, in lots of different forms – is just as valuable as reading a shelf of books. When you do both, you’re in a much stronger place!Resources we mentioned in this episode:Henriette’s Herbal Homepage – One of the oldest & best herbalism websites on the internet.Practical Herbs & Practical Herbs 2 – Henriette’s books.A Modern Herbal by Maud Grieve – The lightly abridged free online version of this classic herbal. (Get print versions here & here.)The Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine by Andrew Chevallier – A friendly beginner’s herbal with lots of pictures and lots of plants succinctly indexed.The Energetics of Western Herbs, vol 1 and vol 2 by Peter Holmes – Monographs with herbs sorted according to TCM energetics, but understandable to anyone with a background in energetics and the basic qualities of hot/cold, moist/dry, tense/lax.herb email discussion list, maintained by Henriette and low-traffic but often good quality discussions.American Herbalist Guild Student Group, another email discussion list worth joining.If you’re looking to expand and deepen your knowledge of herbs, our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course is for you!It includes 89 video plant profiles, along with printable monographs and quizzes to check your learning.Dive in and get to know these herbs personally!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it moreSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs differ from pharmaceuticals in important ways. Understanding how they’re different helps us make better choices about what to take, and how to take it, to get the effect we’re looking for. It also helps us avoid common misunderstandings about herbs and herbalism – like thinking that the effect of an herb can be reduced down to the action of its “active ingredient”. And, knowing how herbs are different from drugs lets us set expectations clearly, and recognize that not all preparations of an herb are equivalent.No one would say that aspirin is “synthetic willow”, but people often talk about willow as “natural aspirin”. In our cultural context we have some understanding of aspirin as a painkiller and fever-reducer. Because willow can relieve pain and reduce fever, and because some of its constituents are similar to aspirin, you can see why it’s common to talk about them as if they were nearly equivalent. But this is misleading, because the herb is actually very different from the drug – it doesn’t have the same side effects or safety profile, and there are certain actions each one has that the other lacks. So taking willow and expecting aspirin-like effects is going to set you up for disappointment.In this episode we explore three specific ways herbs are different from drugs:Their makeup: drugs seek specific uniformity, herbs express synergystic complexity.Their targets: drugs act on molecular receptors, herbs act on tissues, systems, and patterns.What determines your response to the substance. For drugs, this may include dose and form, along with your digestive and hepatic function and your genetics; for herbs, it starts with the live plant and its environment, on through harvesting & handling, processing & preparation, formulation, dose, and your own personal constitution and current state.Along the way, we’ll show how the systemic approach and paradigm of herbalism differs from that of the pharmaceutical model of medicine. And we’ll explain how simple principles of holistic herbalism protect us from mistaking herbs for drugs, and give us a solid place to stand when learning new information about plants & health.If the elements of phytochemistry in this episode caught your attention, you might be interested in our Basic Phytochemistry course! It’s not scary or overcomplicated – we worked hard to keep this material clear, accesible, and relevant to real-world herbalism. Check it out and see for yourself!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were one book you could read, one teacher you could study with, one website you could scroll through – that would tell you everything you need to know about herbalism? Sometimes it seems like there ought to be a definitive guide to herbalism – and for our 100th episode, we’d love to give it to you!But the thing is, there isn’t one.There’s only the hard way.But don’t let that discourage you! The “hard way” turns out to be the nuanced way, the complex way, the adaptable way – it turns out to be the only way, because shortcuts don’t work. Lifehacks don’t hack it. One-size-fits-all prescriptions and panacea formulae don’t actually fit everyone or solve everything. Herbalism has to be flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of people in different bodies, situations, times, and places.Herbalism has changed and evolved a lot just in the time we’ve been practicing, and it will continue to change for as long as humans and plants come together. So even though there’s no definitive guide to herbalism, there are ways to orient yourself and organize your training that can make you a more adaptable and agile herbalist. We’ve built our practice and our curriculum with a focus on these, and in this episode we’re sharing the big-picture view of what we’ve learned along the way.Has it really been 100 episodes? Wow! Thanks so much to our supporters for keeping us going and enabling us to put this out there in the world. You’re also making it possible for us to do our free clinics and community outreach projects. If you’d like to become a supporter, you can! We’ll even share you a special supporters-only video each week. Lately we’ve been making a series of videos about herbs you can harvest fresh all winter long. Get access to the whole archive and all the new ones by becoming a supporter today!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Our ideas about health are often context-dependent, and clinging too tightly to rules about what is “good” and “bad” can really get us into trouble when context changes. It can also get in the way of communicating and sharing knowledge with people who live in contexts that are different from our own.Like many herbalists, we teach and practice the avoidance of sugar in most situations. Most… but not all! Recently we posted a video about how to make an elderberry syrup with sugar, and got a lot of negative feedback. “You should only ever use raw local honey!” was a common refrain in these comments. But sometimes, there are good reasons to make your syrup with sugar – it does result in a non-alcoholic, shelf-stable product, and that could be necessary for some people. And in the end, an elderberry sugar syrup is better than no elderberry syrup at all!Similarly, there are sometimes reasons to make your liniment with rubbing alcohol, or to work with herbs in ways that are unusual or uncommon. Oftentimes, these are in fact uncommon or unusual only in a given cultural or historical context. Getting too hung up on the “perfect” method can blind us to “good” methods that someone else teaches.Purity tests help no one, and actively discourage collaboration and collective evolution. So listen in as we push on some dogmas… including some that we ourselves have espoused in the past! We’re not perfect either, but we do try to be good. 🙂Mentioned in this episode:Effects of honey and sugar dressings on wound healing. Mphande et al. J Wound Care. 2007 Jul;16(7):317-9.The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 088: Sweet Herbs & Their MedicinesMountain Medicine: The Herbal Remedies of Tommie Bass, Darryl PattonThe Art of Nothing (video series), Tom Elpel* EMERGENT RESPONDER SALE *In this episode we talked a lot about post-disaster situations. These have always been with us, but climate change is bringing them with new ferocity and to new places. California’s fire season is well underway – does it ever stop anymore? – and the Kincade and Getty fires are still uncontained.As long as they are, we’re offering a sale on our Emergent Responder program. It’s a deep dive into post-disaster and austere herbalism, first aid & long-term care, and emergency clinic management. This program is situated at the intersection of personal preparedness and community disaster response. It gives you the skills and confidence to function calmly and efficiently in an ongoing or post-disaster scenario, providing effective support for your loved ones and community – no matter what the situation is.There just aren’t enough first responders to help us all, but if you get prepared, YOU can be a community responder. You can be the confident force that organizes your community and makes the difference between chaos and calm. Whether it’s a wildfire, flooding, hurricanes, tornados, whatever – being prepared means you don’t have to be afraid.Use the coupon code kincade at checkout to get 50% off the program price until those fires are contained – they’re both at about 60% right now, so you still have a few days to get in on it.TL;DR?Emergent Responder50% off!code: kincadeSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Yes, there are herbs for joint pain, and they really work! But when we’re working with this problem, we like to pile on – lots of herbs (in lots of ways), plus some changes to the diet, plus gentle movement, plus better sleep & stres management. This is what holistic herbalism looks like: combining strategies for maximum effect.For joint pain, herbs can help very directly. Decoctions and liniments help us work from the inside out and the outside in – and they work best when you do both. At the same time, you can eliminate pro-inflammatory foods and emphasize anti-inflammatory ones. You can move in ways that build your range of pain-free motion without directly aggravating the sore spots. And you can sleep more and stress less, which may not sound like they’re directly related to joint issues – but they really are.Whether it’s from a sports mishap, a repetitive stress injury, Lyme disease*, rheumatoid arthritis, or some other source, these strategies & herbs for joint pain have brought enormous relief to our students and clients – and us, too! – through many years of practice. Listen in and learn how!Herbs discussed include solomon’s seal, st john’s wort, alder, cayenne, lobelia, goldenrod, kava, skullcap, birch, willow, meadowsweet, self-heal, licorice, kelp, turmeric, cat’s claw, & chamomile.Mentioned in this episode:The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 010: Simple Herbal Self-care Tips & Joint Support DecoctionRyn’s Go-To Joint LinimentOur book, Herbal Medicine for Beginners* That’s right, joint pain associated with Lyme responds really well to these methods! But if you have Lyme or know someone who does, you know there can be a lot more to it than achy knees and headaches. Our course A Holistic Approach To Lyme Disease lays out our complete plan for building a personalized holistic herbalism protocol for your specific symptoms. It’s comprised of video lessons you can watch at your own pace, and you can ask questions & get feedback from us right inside the course platform. Check it out and start taking control of Lyme today!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Everyone gets stressed out sometimes. So if you’re among “everyone”, you might like this herbal stress remedy formula! It’s one of our favorites and we turn to it again and again.Like all our formulas, this one can be customized to meet your own needs & personal taste. In this episode we describe what each herb is doing to contribute to the overall impact of the blend, so that you can choose the herbs that are most relevant to your own situation. Whether stress shows up for you as agitation, fear, or feeling stuck; whether it comes with headaches, digestive upsets, or a short temper . . . these herbs can help everything be fine again.Herbs discussed include betony, tulsi, linden, rose, elder, st john’s wort, goldenrod, sage, chamomile, catnip, hawthorn, skullcap, lavender, vervain, & boneset.Intrigued by our discussion of elderflower as an emotional support herb in this episode? Then you should check out our mini-course all about Elderberries & Elderflowers! In it we teach you everything we know about this supremely talented herb. Learn how to work with elderberry to fight the flu, and elderflower to fight the blues. Everything from wild plant identification to step-by-step recipe videos & printables – all for only $10!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Change is hard. It’s hard for everyone, not just you! Acknowledging this is important, whether you’re trying to make a change in your own life or guide others through that process. Since making change is at the heart of holistic herbalism, finding ways to make it easier is critical to success.Sometimes, the best catalyst for change is … change! A small healthy change in habits can give you a new perspective on a big thorny problem, and it can also make a big shift easier to approach. If you shop in a different store, you might find it easier to break out of your autopilot and make more intentional purchases. If you take a short walk, you’re more likely to take a longer one – and more likely to smell the roses, or climb the trees! If the end goal seems distant, take a small step in that direction and see if it doesn’t look that much closer. And of course, herbs can help with this!Herbs discussed include hawthorn, linden, tulsi, schisandra, elderflower, lobelia, motherwort, elecampane.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.If you live in the northern hemisphere, cold & flu season is here! And no matter where you live, it’s good to have the knowledge and skills you need to take care of these common problems at home. Herbal Remedies for Cold & Flu teaches you everything you need to know to conquer a cold or fight off the flu. We teach you how to work with herbs that are safe and effective for all aspects of the illness. Our focus is on finding ways to support what your body is already trying to do as it works to restore balance. Winter is coming, so get ready now!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Earlier this month, Ryn attended a Level 3 certification event for MovNat – a 4-day course/test/immersion in natural movement. It was quite the challenge! On this week’s episode, we talk about all the herbs he took to prepare beforehand and the ones he brought along to help him get through. If you want to work with herbs for physical challenges in your own life – whether that’s an intense sporting event, or a job or lifestyle that’s physically demanding – these might help you, too!Mentioned in this episode:Pumpkin Playtime: An Outdoor Adventure – coming up on October 19 & 20! Join us for a weekend of forest movement skills: learn to move quietly, quickly, and confidently over uneven terrain while you protect your precious pumpkin. Your weekend includes paleo meals, comfy camping, and of course, herbal medicine too!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast Episode 44: Empty Nests & Challenges – In the second half of this episode, Ryn reflected on the MovNat Immersion he attended in 2018, and shared some lessons he [re]learned there about challenge, adaptability, and seeing the complex context.Our Go-To Joint Liniment – it’s a lifesaver!And here are all the herbs & preparations we discussed:supplements: reishi, ginkgo, chlorophyllteas:EVRY DAY YEAH: jiaogulan, goji, cedar, sage, ginger, licoricedemulcent blend: marshmallow, cinnamon, fennelchewroots: calamus, sol’seal, licoricetinctures:ginger-chamomileblackberry rootwuggy guts: peach leaf, ginger, ground ivySTIMULANT: kola nut, guarana, eleuthero, ginkgo, ginger, prickly ashHerbal Medics echinacea mixHerbal Medics Cold & Flu formula: yarrow, elderflower, boneset, echinacea mix, prickly ashantiseptic spray: propolis, berberine mix (barberry root, Oregon grape root & leaf), yarrow, cedar EO“red salve” (HM sprain & strain): comfrey, juniper, prickly ash, cayenne, black cohosh, lobelia, arnica, meadowsweet, horsetailjoint liniment: (sol’seal, st j, alder, cayenne, lobelia, clove EO)As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Have you seen our newest online course offering? If you want to learn more about how to manage cold & flu with herbs and holistic strategies, this is for you! Herbal Remedies for Cold & Flu teaches you everything you need to know to conquer a cold or fight off the flu. We teach you how to work with herbs that are safe and effective for all aspects of the illness. Throughout, the focus is on finding ways to support what your body is already trying to do as it works to restore balance. Winter is coming, so get ready now!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Good health takes effort. It doesn’t just happen, and our cultural norms definitely don’t make it easy. You have to plan for it! But it can feel difficult to do all that planning on your own, and you know what they say about the best-laid plans… What’s needed here is a culture of support for self-care and good health habits. If you don’t have that in place already, don’t worry! You can create one, for yourself and for those close to you. This episode is all about how.First by changing the mindset we bring to self-care & community-care, and then by turning that positive mindset to the four fundamental pillars of good health, we can make this attainable for anyone. Accountability and camaraderie go a long way toward dispelling feelings of deprivation! If you’re trying to create a culture of support in your own home or family, these tips will help you.Mentioned in this episode:4 Keys To Holistic Herbalism, our FREE mini-course about the fundamental philosophy and practice of holistic herbalism.Emergent Responder, for if you want to REALLY be prepard for whatever comes your way! This two-part program is a complete guide to preparing for and responding to disasters and emergencies.As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The itchy, inflamed, sensitive presentation of a fungal skin infection is something no one wants. These kinds of infections can be difficult to resolve whether you’re trying with herbs or with pharmaceutical agents, but don’t give up! With a few pointers and a solid plan, you can be successful working with herbs for athlete’s foot. The difference between success and failure often comes down to how you prepare and apply the herbs – that’s what this episode will teach you.Our favorite antifungal herbs are actually some of the most common – plants like garlic, oregano, turmeric, and willow. With common household items like salt and vinegar, they can be made into very potent herbal remedies to combat athlete’s foot. We like to come at the problem from a few angles at once, working with soaks, sprays, and salves to keep the fungi on their toes – and get them off of yours!(By the way, these remedies are also helpful if you’re dealing with thrush, ringworm, or related issues. We offer some tips for applying these herbs for athlete’s foot to other fungal skin infections like these, too.)Herbs discussed include: garlic, oregano / thyme / monarda, uva ursi, pau d’arco, black walnut, plantain, calendula, turmeric, henna, seaweeds, marshmallow, propolis, usnea, loosestrife, willow, barberry, oregon grape root, tea tree, rosemary, thuja, cinnamon, & chaparral.~Have you seen our newest online course offering? If you want to learn more about how to manage cold & flu with herbs and holistic strategies, this is for you! Herbal Remedies for Cold & Flu teaches you everything you need to know to conquer a cold or fight off the flu. We teach you how to work with herbs that are safe and effective for all aspects of the illness. Throughout, the focus is on finding ways to support what your body is already trying to do as it works to restore balance. Winter is coming, so get ready now!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This winter elixir is our #1 cold & flu remedy! We make a big batch every year around this time, when most of the plants that go into it are fresh and ready to harvest. They need about a month to extract fully into the elixir, so we can’t wait until we’re already sick to start putting our elixir together. Preparing it now means it’s ready for us when the first respiratory infection of the season strikes. Holistic herbalism means thinking ahead sometimes!Our herbal elixir is designed to be general-purpose, to cover all the most important bases. When you have a cold or the flu, you don’t only need to “kill” the virus. You also need to keep your inner waters flowing, help fevers be effective & efficient, maintain mucous membrane function, and provide your immune system with the support it needs to function optimally. From the marrow on outward, our winter elixir is a full-spectrum solution to respiratory infections.PS: If you don’t have all the ingredients we discussed in this episode, work with what you’ve got! Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. 🙂 And remember that you can work with what the landscape gives you in your own bioregion – wherever you are, there are herbs that can do these jobs.Herbs discussed include: loosestrife, elderberry, ground ivy, mullein, boneset, sumac, goldenrod, st john’s wort, japanese knotweed, catnip, & blue vervain.If you want to learn more about how to manage cold & flu with herbs and holistic strategies, our newest online course is for you! Herbal Remedies for Cold & Flu teaches you everything you need to know to conquer a cold or fight off the flu. We teach you how to work with herbs that are safe and effective for all aspects of the illness. Throughout, the focus is on finding ways to support what your body is already trying to do as it works to restore balance. Winter is coming, so get ready now!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

"Creating this community garden, and teaching families in your area how to grow food and look out for each other – that is abolition. We’re humanizing people again, and working for community health and ecological health, and all of those things are completely opposite to what the prison-industrial complex is trying to do. So in that way, herbalism is abolition."Today we’re honored & excited to share with you our interview with Nicole Rose of Solidarity Apothecary in the UK! Nicole is an herbalist who is working tirelessly to bring herbal medicine to incarcerated individuals, those who have been released from prison, and the families and communities who have been impacted by the state violence and the prison-industrial complex. She recently completed her new book The Prisoner’s Herbal, which Katja helped edit and which we’re going to help distribute in the US.We talked about how Nicole’s personal experience of finding support from wild plants during her own incarceration shaped her work as an organizer and as an herbalist, the sad state of healthcare and nutrition in prisons, why herbalists should care about what happens to prisoners, what prison abolition really means and how we can move as a society in that direction, and how we can all support and care for incarcerated people in ways large and small.To get your own copy of The Prisoner’s Herbal and support the work Nicole is doing, visit:Solidarity ApothecaryAlso mentioned in this episode:IWOC – Incarcerated Workers Organizing CommitteeBlack Permaculture NetworkSolitary GardensIf you’d like to help us keep our incarcerated students initiative moving forward, while also supporting out podcast, free clinics, scholarships, and other projects – and get some goodies for your generosity – we’d very much appreciate it! To start supporting us today, all you need do is click this link to support us at $5/month, or this one to support us at $10/month. At either level you’ll get immediate access to our weekly supporters video series. These exclusive videos come out every week and are only for our supporters!As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Where does loosestrife belong? Is barberry a badberry? And what’s with all the knotweed everywhere?! Most folks will tell you it’s simple: “These are invasive plants. They’re bullies, who take over an area and crowd out “native” plants! They need to be pulled out, root and branch! No use for ’em – not a good seed in the lot!” … Whew. If that were true, there’d be no such thing as medicinal invasive plants – but we’re here to tell you, there is such a thing. Many such, actually!In this episode we’ll tell you all about three of our favorite “invasive” herbs in our part of the world: purple loosestrife, Japanese knotweed, and barberry (European and Japanese varieties). We’ll explore each one’s medicinal virtues and specific talents, drawing insights from historical & traditional practice, phytochemistry, and our own experiences working with these plants to solve problems and improve health.In the process, we’ll work to challenge some of the underlying assumptions in the standard narrative about invasive plants. Too often, this concept is predicated on unexamined biased assumptions about what it means to be “native” and what it means to be otherwise. The truth is, plants aren’t native to geography, they’re native to ecology. As the environment changes, the places plants live must change too. Thinking differently about invasives can help us better understand and relate to our changing world.Herbs discussed include purple loosestrife, Japanese knotweed, barberry, & autumn olive.Also mentioned in this episode:Where Do Camels Belong?, Ken ThompsonHow Wolves Change Rivers1491, Charles MannInvasive Plant Medicine, Tim ScottIf you’re a regular listener, by now you’ve heard us talk about our podcast supporters – and maybe you’re wondering how to become one, yourself! Well, let me make it easy for you – all you need to do is click this link to support us at $5/month, or this one to support us at $10/month. At either level you’ll get immediate access to our weekly supporters video series. These exclusive videos come out every week and are only for our supporters. So if you’d like to help us keep our podcast, free clinics, scholarships, and other projects going strong – and get some goodies for your generosity – we’d very much appreciate it!As always, please subscribe & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Your skin is your largest organ, and it’s your presentation to the world – so it’s important to take care of it! It’s not just vanity. For most purposes, a simple daily routine will do the job. In this episode Katja shares her own personal daily routine, and then we discuss how to work with herbs for healthy skin care in a variety of situations. Simple kitchen ingredients and inexpensive herbs are the focus, as always!The best herbs for healthy skin are the ones that match your own constitution and your current state, so we offer insights into how you can choose the right herbs for your skin type. We’ve got tips for working with herbs to reduce acne, and herbal strategies for resolving eczema. And because we always keep things holistic, we share considerations around movement, stress, food, & sleep and how they can affect the skin. Lots of factors affect skin health, which is a good thing – it means you have lots of options for how to get started! Listen in to hear the choices and make your first steps.Herbs discussed include yarrow, chamomile, thyme & oregano & monarda, rose, witch hazel, licorice, turmeric, marshmallow, linden, & the seaweeds.Our We’re All In This Together sale end on July 31st – there are only a few days left! Don’t miss out – use the code TOGETHER to get 15% off any of our courses or programs today!As always, please subscribe & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we’re talking about something a bit different for us. If you’re a regular listener, you know we’re very interested in science and in the historical & traditional ways of working with plants. But there’s a side of plant medicine we don’t talk about too often, and that’s the spiritual & ritual side. The truth is, we do actually think a lot about these elements when we work with herbs! But perhaps not in the way you might expect… and that’s where herbal awareness rituals come in.What we like best is to present a method for working with or taking the herbs in a manner that has ritualistic aspects. By stepping aside from the hustle & bustle of life, taking a moment to engage all your senses and all your attention & intention with the remedy, you enhance its effects manyfold. It is truly astounding how much this kind of practice enhances the work of the plants.An herbal awareness ritual can be presented to the client, or person asking for help, in a variety of ways. Some of these will emphasize the “rational” aspects of ritual, drawing insights from the science of the placebo effect and deep psychology; others will emphasize the “magical” aspects, connecting to spiritual and religious traditions or experiences. Being fluent in all these languages is very helpful for an herbalist. We consider it an important clinical skill to be able to find ways to present a ritual practice to someone in the way they can accept.All this & more in this episode!Well, we’re halfway through July, so that means our We’re All In This Together sale is half over! Don’t miss out – use the code together to get 15% off any of our courses or programs today!As always, please subscribe & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Coffee is surely America’s favorite herb. So many people rely on it as part of their morning ritual, and it’s easy to see why! The aroma, the flavor, the stimulation – there’s a lot to like. But what if caffeine gives you the jitters, or rumbly guts? You can go with simple decaf, but even better is an herbal coffee replacement – and Katja’s got a recipe we think you’ll love.This “notCoffee” blend incorporates adaptogenic herbs along with plants that support circulation & fluid movement, digestion, and other critical processes for good health. It can give a boost to your energy levels, but not at the expense of your nutrient stores, and not in the “credit card” way that strong caffeinated drinks can do.notCoffee is a flexible, customizable formula strategy you can alter to your own needs and tastes. We like it way better than the store-bought herbal coffee replacements. Learn all about it in this episode!Herbs discussed include: angelica, ashwagandha, reishi, codonopsis, spikenard, rhodiola, dandelion, burdock, calamus, elecampane, pleurisy root, solomon’s seal, astragalus, maitake, and of course, coffee!We’re All In This Together sale! Use the code together to get 15% off any of our courses or programs! This offer is good for the month of July 2019, so don’t delay – get your herb on today!As always, please subscribe & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The lymphatic system is criminally underestimated! It’s intimately tied to the function of your circulatory system, your digestive function, your immune responsiveness – pretty much everything. Conventional medicine doesn’t have much to offer in the way of pharmaceuticals to alter lymphatic activity, but fortunately there are a number of excellent lymphatic herbs that can do the trick.In this episode we’ll lay out some of the many reasons why lymph is so important, how to support lymph circulation & combat lymphatic stagnation. We highlight seven of our favorite lymphatic herbs and give you the rundown on their specific talents regarding lymph movement and disorders of the lymphatic system.Herbs discussed include: calendula, self-heal, ground ivy, red clover, violet, chickweed, cleavers.We’re All In This Together Sale! Listen to the end for a discount code that will get you 15% off any of our courses or programs! This offer is good for the month of July 2019, so don’t delay – get your herb on today!As always, please subscribe & review our podcast so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

An herbal smoking blend may not sound like your cup of tea – and it isn’t! – but it’s still an effective method of working with medicinal plants. When smoked, herbs have rapid effects on the lungs and the central nervous system, including antimicrobial, astringent, relaxant, and nervine or anxiety-reducing activities. This traditional practice is still relevant today.But of course, some people need help to quit smoking, not reasons to start! And herbs can help here as well, by reducing cravings and addressing the original reasons one started smoking in the first place. They can also help one cut down on smoking tobacco or cannabis by enhancing the desirable effects of those plants and reducing their undesirable ones.In this episode we’ll talk about all these aspects of smoking, share some of our favorite plants to include in herbal smoking mixtures, and guide you through some practical considerations when trying this on your own.Herbs discussed include: mullein, lobelia, skullcap, evening primrose, vanilla, uva ursi, tobacco, cannabis, pedicularis, catnip, damiana, tulsi, mugwort, bittergrass.Mentioned in this episode:Medicinal smoke reduces airborne bacteria. Nautiyal, Chandra Shekhar, Puneet Singh Chauhan, and Yeshwant Laxman Nene; Journal of Ethnopharmacology 114, no. 3 (December 3, 2007): 446–51.The effect of chewing gum flavor on the negative affect associated with tobacco abstinence among dependent cigarette smokers. Cohen LM, Collins FL Jr, Vanderveen JW, Weaver CC; Addict Behav. 2010 Nov;35(11):955-60.Puff Herbal Smokes – Boutique herbal smokes, pre-formulated for you by a trained herbalist. (Coming soon!)Howie Brounstein’s ebook, Herbal Smoking Mixtures – a classic guide to working with herbs as smoke. A must-read if you’re interested in this topic.If you’re a regular listener, by now you’ve heard us talk about our podcast supporters – and maybe you’re wondering how to become one, yourself! Well, let me make it easy for you – all you need to do is click this link to support us at $5/month, or this one to support us at $10/month. At either level you’ll get immediate access to our weekly supporters video series. These exclusive videos come out every week and are only for our supporters. So if you’d like to help us keep our podcast, free clinics, scholarships, and other projects going strong – and get some goodies for your generosity – we’d very much appreciate it!As always, please subscribe & review our podcast so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

If you’re an herbalist and you marry an herbalist, well, you’re going to need some special wedding herbs! We sure did. We loved the idea (and the herbs themselves) so much, we got them tattooed on us right after our honeymoon!Not all herbalism is about what you drink & “take”! In this episode we’re sharing our most personal experiences and feelings with these herbs which we carry with us everywhere, inked into our arms. Our wedding herbs help us stay balanced, focused, grounded, resilient, flexible… and so much more.We also have some quick tips for herbal tattoo care!Herbs discussed include: tulsi, sage, betony, yarrow, elder, pine, bladderwrack, & marshmallow.If you’re a regular listener, by now you’ve heard us talk about our podcast supporters – and maybe you’re wondering how to become one, yourself! Well, let me make it easy for you – all you need to do is click this link to support us at $5/month, or this one to support us at $10/month. At either level you’ll get immediate access to our weekly supporters video series. These exclusive videos come out every week and are only for our supporters. So if you’d like to help us keep our podcast, free clinics, scholarships, and other projects going strong – and get some goodies for your generosity – we’d very much appreciate it! 🌻As always, please subscribe & review our podcast so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Cancer is not as rare as we once thought. Recent research has discovered that even healthy cells can contain potentially cancerous mutations, and that this is a normal occurrence in healthy individuals. As holistic herbalists, this conclusion doesn’t actually surprise us much! We’ve long taught that precancerous changes in cells are a normal part of life and that the body has mechanisms to cope with them. When those break down or are overwhelmed, that’s where cancer can come in. And that’s why common herbs and cancer aren’t strange bedfellows after all, too!Working with cancer doesn’t have to mean finding the “strongest”, most exotic herbs or medicinal preparations. Sometimes it means calling on the fundamental nutritive, circulating, and supportive functions of our “everyday” plants. In this podcast, we’ll explain why this is the case, and share a few examples of some underappreciated herbs to consider when cancer’s a part of the story.Herbs discussed include parsley, rosemary, eleuthero, astragalus, codonopsis, nettle, ashwagandha, & elecampane.If you’re a regular listener, by now you’ve heard us talk about our podcast supporters – and maybe you’re wondering how to become one, yourself! Well, let me make it easy for you – all you need to do is click this link to support us at $5/month, or this one to support us at $10/month. At either level you’ll get immediate access to our weekly supporters video series. These exclusive videos come out every week and are only for our supporters. So if you’d like to help us keep our podcast, free clinics, scholarships, and other projects going strong – and get some goodies for your generosity – we’d very much appreciate it! 🌻As always, please subscribe & review our podcast so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Boston’s homegrown local herb conference, Herbstalk, is next weekend, and the plant of the year is stinging nettle! In honor of this, we wanted to make an episode focusing on this keystone plant. In this episode we share some of our favorite ways to make simple nettle herbal formulas, starting by pairing it with a single other herb to make a tasty tea.Nettle has a number of important medicinal effects. It’s a nutritive, a diuretic, an anti-inflammatory, and so much more. Pairing it with other herbs is a way to emphasize specific aspects of its medicine. For instance, nettle and rosehips are each nourishing herbs, and when taken together they cover more bases than either one could do alone. This is one of the basic goals of herbal formulation: to selectively enhance a particular facet of the herbs’ activity.Other times, the goal in herbal formulation is a matter of counterbalance. Nettle is a very drying herb, and for some constitutions it’s not a good match. But what if you still want its nutritive and kidney-supportive benefits? Well, pair it with linden or cinnamon! This kind of formulation intent is also very common, and again, it’s best to start with a simple pair to experience and understand this strategy.Herbs discussed include nettle, tulsi, ginger, linden, rosehips, cinnamon, & calendula.Want to learn more?If this episode makes you want to learn even more about the wonders of nettle, you’re in luck – we’ve put together a mini-course All About Nettles! This course includes more than an hour of video content about how to work with Nettles, three different ways to make nourishing infusions of Nettles, and a close-up video herb walk that shows you each phase of Nettle’s growth so that you can identify it in the wild. There are printable quick guides, recipes, reference articles, and audio files so you can listen & learn on the go! This mini-course is only $10, so get it now to get yourself in the spirit and ready for Herbstalk 2019!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When we talk about “heroic” medical interventions, we mean the high-potency, high-risk (and potentially high-reward) tools that define conventional medicine. Pharmaceuticals, surgeries, cutting-edge experimental procedures – that kind of thing. While these treatments tend to get all the credit, they depend for a large part of their success on unglamorous, workaday support. A well-nourished person is more likely to survive and respond well to intense treatment. So is one who is well-slept and has the support of a caring community. A recent experience with an end-of-life client case brought this home for us.Skillful care can be the difference between a successful experimental treatment case and one that goes poorly. Herbalism is like this! When we work with clients undergoing palliative care or those in hospice, our intention with herbs is not to “cure”. Instead, it’s to help become more resilient, build endurance, and enable the body to cope with the stress of the illness itself and the harsh treatments conventional medicine offers. This complementary approach brings the best of both worlds.Sometimes, heroic medical interventions really are necessary. If so, it doesn’t mean herbs are out of the question! Listen to this episode for our thoughts on how and why to include holistic herbalism even in serious cases.Herbs discussed: chamomile, ginger, seaweeds, nettles, wild lettuce, ashwagandha, codonopsis, violet, chickweed, tulsi, rose, vanilla, & betony.Mentioned in this podcast:Emergent Responder – Katja’s deep dive into post-disaster and austere herbalism, first aid & long-term care, and emergency clinic management.How To Choose The Right Herbs for SleepThree Sleep Strategies especially for when it’s the going to bed part that’s giving you trouble. Top 7 Herbs for Nutritionists & Dietitians – this episode highlights our favorite nutritive & digestive herbs. These can help in palliative care situations too!Anti-Inflammatory Herbs Beyond Turmeric – many herbs have anti-inflammatory effects, and these are valuable in almost all cases of chronic illness. Expand your horizons in this episode!If you’re a regular listener, by now you’ve heard us talk about our podcast supporters – and maybe you’re wondering how to become one, yourself! Well, let me make it easy for you – all you need to do is click this link to support us at $5/month, or this one to support us at $10/month. At either level you’ll get immediate access to our weekly supporters video series. These exclusive videos comeSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Mother’s day can mean different things for different people, but whatever your situation is, Motherwort can be a supportive friend. Physiologically its effects are to soothe and relax the heart and arteries, but this crosses over into mental and emotional effects too. Those are what we find most interesting in connection between the herb and its namesake.Motherwort helps you establish and defend your boundaries and needs, gently but firmly. That’s important for a mother, because so often those boundaries get loosened or blurred between mother and child. Boundaries also change as kids grow, and sometimes the readjustment is difficult. Motherwort can help there, too! (If that’s feeling relevant to you, you may also be interested in our previous episode about Emotional Support for Mothers & Teens.)This lion-hearted little herb also helps you become “bomb-proof” – able to put up a strong front when you may in fact be feeling a bit shaky inside, so that your kids (or other people who depend on you) can be reassured. In that way it’s helpful for anyone who does support or caretaking work, or upon whom others rely. It’s a great ally!The audio in this podcast about Motherwort comes from our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course, which is part of the Family Herbalist program. The first step in becoming an herbalist is learning the herbs themselves, and how to make all the kinds of herbal medicines, so that you can take care of yourself and your family, and that’s just what this program provides. You’ll learn about 89+ herbs in their depth & complexity, plus more than two dozen methods of making your own herbal remedies. You’ll be ready to take care of everyone in your family!And, just to be clear: you don’t have to be a mom, or even to have a biological family, to take the Family Herbalist program. Your “family” is not only made of blood relations, but also of heart bonds, so whether you’re looking to take care of your actual relatives or the family of your heart, you’re welcome in this program!Learn more here: Family HerbalistSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When it comes to chemical-free cleaning, there’s a lot of good stuff out there – but it can get pricey. And there’s a lot of “greenwashed” stuff, too – products that look “natural”, but really aren’t. But the good news is, you can make your own herbal spring cleaning products, and they’re not only effective, they’re inexpensive!In our home, we don’t use any chemical cleaners. Most of our needs are met with water, vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils. This is one place we really do work with EOs regularly! They’re quite potent – they’ve even been shown to inhibit MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant microbes. So, they’re definitely good enough for wiping down the countertops and sinks. In this episode we share with you all the herb-powered cleaners we make for ourselves and use in our own home. You can do it too!Natural cleaners require a little more elbow grease, but we don’t think that’s all bad. After all, chores count as movement! In the effort to break ourselves out of the “exercise is the only movement that counts for health” paradigm, an important step is recognizing the things we do that inherently require movement. That, and the ways in which our culture has chosen “convenience” at all costs – including costs to our health. Reframing your house-cleaning as movement or exercise is a great way to help yourself feel better about it. And of course, good old elbow grease is still the cheapest, most effective cleaner we know.~~~We have a new mini-course, all about stinging nettles, available now! We produced this in honor of the upcoming Herbstalk event – it’s Boston’s home-grown herbal conference, and the Plant of the Year for 2019 is nettles. For only $10, you get a full rundown of nettles’ amazing medicinal powers, along with a virtual herb walk so you can positively identify it anytime in the growing season, along with some quick-guides, recipes for tasty nettle foods, and more! Check it out here: All About Nettles!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It’s springtime! The plants are popping up everywhere in their colorful displays. This time of year, we always start to get more questions about wildcrafting and foraging, so we wanted to share some thoughts on the subject in this episode. Living in a city can make gathering your own plants seem more difficult, and there are indeed some special considerations to make if you’re going to harvest wild plants in a city environment. But more important than specific plant knowledge are the urban wildcrafting ethics you bring to the task – and these almost all apply no matter where you live.We break down city foraging guidelines into three key areas: (1) know the plant, (2) know the land, and (3) know the community. With these principles in mind, you can apply them to whatever specific environment you’re working in.It’s important for all of us, as herbalists, to be aware of our impact on the plant world. After all, if we don’t sustain and regenerate our plant populations, we’ll be out of herbs & out of luck! Whether our environnment is rural or urban, wildcrafting ethics help us stay present and attentive to what the plants and the earth need.Mentioned in this podcast:Wildcrafting for Beginners, Howie BrounsteinInvasive Plant Medicine, Timothy Lee ScottWhere Do Camels Belong?, Ken ThompsonSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Is Easter really the best time to give up sugar? Well, given that there’s always another holiday around the corner, there’s never really an objectively better or worse time to try it. So why not try it now? You don’t have to do it alone – herbs can help! In this episode we’ll talk about some of our favorite herbs to control sugar cravings and help you change your relationship to sweet treats.We always combine our herbalism with rational lifestyle interventions, so we’ll also discuss holistic strategies to cope with an oversized sweet tooth. Establishing a “sugar budget”, identifying your favorite low-sugar treats, keeping dessert close to mealtime, and finding ways to treat yourself that don’t involve food are all key here. Beneath that, there’s also value in recognizing what a sugar craving really is: a communication from the body, letting you know about an unmet need. This helps stave off guilt and shame!Mentioned in this podcast:How To Minimize Hyperglycemic Toxicity – this post discusses the ways in which a complex meal mitigates the glycemic impact of a carby/sugary food.The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 23: Schisandra & Peppermint – in which Katja embarked upon her 100-day schisandra experiment.Nettle & Friends – our classic formula. For sugar control, add in tulsi, cinnamon, or even schisandra!Everything Will Be Fine – an example of a nervine blend to help cope with the difficult emotions that often drive us to seek sugar.Herbs discussed include: cinnamon, schisandra, tulsi, nettle, ashwagandha, licorice, calamus.If you’d like to learn more about sugar, its effect on the body, more herbs for sugar cravings, and (almost) everything else about food and your health, check out our Fundamentals of Holistic Nutrition course! In it, we teach you the foundational principles of nutrition which apply to any diet type, while identifying particular diet adjustments that can help with common troubles. We also look at herbs as nutritive in their own right – as providers of mineral, vitamin, and phytonutrient compounds that can bolster a diet that’s otherwise lacking. Learn more and get started right here: Fundamentals of Holistic NutritionSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Everyone is different, and healthcare should be individualized for each person – especially when it comes to herbalism! But, on the other hand, people are also quite alike in many ways, and it turns out that there is in fact a general approach to building health. That’s what this episode is about: foundational health strategies you can turn to in any situation.Conventional medicine hinges upon a diagnosis. Without knowing precisely what’s wrong, you can’t proceed with a pharmaceutical solution. Herbalism is different, and especially holistic herbalism. As herbalists, we can absolutely help with specific complaints and health issues – matching the right herb to the right person at the right time. But we also can help even when “nothing’s wrong”! We can look at a situation and say: hey, your digestive system (or cardiovascular system, etc, or even the body in general) just isn’t really functioning well right now. Let’s think about a total overhaul. How can we rebuild this system so that it works well and stays healthy?A good place to start is with what we might call the “expected inputs” a human body would naturally encounter in the course of human evolution. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors had a lot in common, even when they lived in very different environments from each other. They had to move to get their food, they slept when it was dark, and they had a very different relationship to stress than we do today. Working to align our habits and exposures to more closely resemble theirs (without falling into the trap of “paleo re-enactment”), we can provide the body what it is programmed by evolution to expect. This leads naturally to better health.Interested in this framework for herbalism & holistic health? We elaborate on these ideas and look at them from a different angle in a FREE mini-course you can jump into right now! Check it out here: Four Keys to Holistic HerbalismSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When choosing herbs for a health issue, herbalists like us use a system of organization called energetics. In this week’s podcast, we have an excerpt from our Energetics & Holistic Practice course about a key component of herbal energetics: tissue states. This term refers to the quality and activity present in a given organ or tissue of the body, and is based on three pairs of opposites: hot & cold, damp & dry, tense & lax.When we have an injury or dysfunction somewhere in the body, herbalists ask: How much heat (or metabolic activity) is present in the area? How much moisture is flowing through (or stuck within) the tissue? How tight or loose is the organ, or muscle? These fundamental qualities are what help us match herbs to health problems more precisely – hot states call for cooling herbs, tense states need relaxing herbs, and so on. Learning to identify these states, and learning which herbs counterbalance which states, is an important part of your herbal education.In these excerpts, we discuss each of the six primary tissue states, teaching you how to recognize them and how to understand what those observations mean. We also talk about the way these states can change from one into another, because in real life they’re moving targets – they change and shift as time passes. Knowing a bit about how one state is most likely to evolve into another makes you even better able to help with the right remedy at the right time.If you’d like to get deeper into herbal energetics – going into details like individual constitutional types and herbal actions – then you should consider the complete course: Energetics & Holistic PracticeSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Psoriasis is a chronic, autoimmune inflammatory skin problem. Problems like this are complex, because they don’t hinge on a single genetic anomaly or chemical imbalance in the body. This makes them difficult for conventional medicine to solve, but holistic healing methods are exactly what’s needed here! We can work through multiple interventions, including diet changes and herbs for psoriasis, to reduce inflammation and restore healthy skin.In this podcast we talk first about major contributing factors to psoriasis (and inflammatory skin conditions like it, such as eczema). Then we discuss some simple supplements, diet additions, and eliminations that can make a big difference in your overall inflammatory burden. Reducing this means your skin doesn’t get so irritated! Finally we talk about herbs you can work with, topically on the skin as well as internally, to reduce inflammation, move lymph, and relieve the itching too.Herbs discussed include kelp & other seaweeds, licorice, violet, & chickweed, along with brief mentions of cleavers, red clover, calendula, and self-heal.If you’d like to learn how to work with herbs to take care of yourself & your family, try out our Herbal Medicine for Beginners course! It’s a quick, inexpensive way to meet 35 of the most important medicinal herbs. We share all our favorite ways to work with them, so you’ll be preparing your own home remedies in no time. Our zero-risk return policy means you can try it out with no pressure, and if you decide it’s not for you, we’ll give you a refund. Easy!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This is one of our favorite herbal formulas for endurance situations, whether that’s physical, mental, emotional, or all three. These herbs help build up your resilience, in part by improving your ability to clear the system of wastes and irritants. (Call it “detox”, the body’s daily action to process and eliminate such things.) Herbs can help that action in lots of ways, and an alterative herbal formula like Rooted & Ready will do just that. Oh, and did we mention it tastes like root beer?But the key to this formula is the combination of alteratives with adaptogens. Adaptogens make us better able to adapt to stress of all kinds, so they don’t cause us so much trouble. And believe it, stress causes real, physical health troubles! Because adaptogens support this function, and because stress is so pervasive and destructive, these herbs can be helpful for a surprising range of imbalances. When their influence is in the system, returning to baseline balance is a smoother transition. You don’t waste resources needlessly, and as a result you feel calmer and more focused.This formula serves to stimulate the liver & kidneys (key organs of elimination), improves endocrine function and coordination in response to stressors, and stimulates the circulation of heat and blood to the periphery of the body. It’s fit for decoction, tincture, elixir, and perhaps a few other creative home remedy methods. It’s a good spring tonic and a solid ally when there’s work to be done. (Listen to the pod for proportions and preparation notes, including constitutional adjustments!)Herbs discussed include: sarsaparilla, sassafras, ashwagandha, eleuthero, rhodiola, ginger, licorice, birch, alder, wintergreen, kava, calamus.Rooted & Ready is one of a whole slew of formulas Ryn deconstructs in the last part of his course, Elements of Detoxification. This course takes a fresh look at the concepts of “toxicity” and “detoxification”, a holistic perspective that goes beyond “cleanses” and products. Learn a memorable, practical model for understanding how the body’s detox functions work, along with the roles herbs can play in supporting them. And, take a look at some key formulas like Rooted & Ready, that bring together taste, action, and energetics for maximum effect. Check it out!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It’s just about time for seasonal allergy … um, season … to begin here in Boston! Sniffy noses and red eyes are peeking around every corner. So let’s talk about some of our favorite herbs for seasonal allergies, and see if we can get you more comfortable outside.We lead with a brief discussion of the allergic response and a holistic view on the process. We teach you about the useful metaphor of the Stressor Bucket, and how this guides our herb & holistic lifestyle choices to dial back hayfever and other pollen-based allergic reactions. As it turns out, it’s about more than just the daily pollen count!Then we get right into the herbs! We highlight plants & home remedies to reduce overall inflammation, stabilize mast cells, support the kidneys, move the lymph, astringe the mucous membranes, and decongest the sinuses.So if thy nose runneth over, listen in and meet some herbal allies who can help you keep contained!Herbs mentioned include nettle, goldenrod, red clover, eyebright, yerba santa, marshmallow, horseradish, & chamomile.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This is what we say at the beginning of every episode:We are not doctors. We are herbalists and holistic health educators. The ideas discussed in this podcast do not constitute medical advice.No state or federal authority licenses herbalists in the US; these discussions are for educational purposes only. Everyone’s body is different, so the things we’re talking about may or may not apply directly to you – but they will give you some information to think about and research further.We wish to remind you that good health is your own personal responsibility: the final decision in considering any course of therapy – whether discussed on the internet or prescribed by your physician – is always yours.Each of the many issues raised in this statement is very important to us, including but not limited to: the legal definition of the practice of medicine, scope of practice for holistic health professionals, individual biological and situational variation, rights as necessarily intercausal with responsiblities, and others. In today’s podcast, we’re going to break it down and explain exactly why we repeat this so frequently, and why we feel it matters so much. We hope you’ll listen in!Mentioned in this podcast:On the Merits of Plain Speech, Katja’s article on intentional language choices as a health professionalHerbalism And The Law: The Practice of Medicine in Massachusetts, Ryn’s article on legal issues relevant to clinical herbalismThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 065: How To Not Be A Guru, for related thoughts on humility and transparencySupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Just going to the internet and searching for “herbs for sleep” isn’t very effective – how do you know the right one for you? First, you need to suss out why you can’t sleep – not all insomnia is created equal! In this podcast, we break sleep problems down into a few basic categories and teach you the best herbs to choose for each one.We discuss both herbs to take during the day, as well as for bedtime itself. We also provide specific instructions for taking bedtime herbs to make them the most effective they can be. So whether you’re struck with anxious rumination as you lay in bed, or unable to sleep because of pain and tension in the body, or if your circadian rhythm has drifted away from the sun’s path – or some mix of all three! – this podcast is for you.Herbs discussed include: chamomile, betony, blue vervain, passionflower, skullcap, wild lettuce, California poppy, kava, ginger, crampbark, milk thistle, st john’s wort.Mentioned in this podcast:Herbs for Birthworkers – a great course for pregnant moms & those who work with them!Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our book!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 042: Sleep – Of Cravings, Comedians, & CaffeineThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 017: Three Sleep Strategies + What I Should Have DoneSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but it’s stressful to be a teen! Sometimes, that stress shows up as heartburn. As herbalists, we can help out! Here’s a discussion of some of our favorite herbs for stress-induced heartburn in teens. Some are for directly addressing the burning pain and discomfort; others are for reducing the stress itself, because it really does trigger the reflux events. Changing your relationship to stressors makes a big difference, and herbs can help you do that. All this is part of a holistic framework including simple changes to diet, sleep habits, and alignment / movement patterns – that makes the herbs much more effective! (But don’t worry, our number one remedy will work even if you can’t convince your teen to do the whole protocol.)Mentioned in this podcast:Mega-Mag, our favorite magnesium supplementConcentrace,a multimineral supplement from the same producerDaylio, a mood/health-tracking app we’ve been playing with latelyClue, a menstrual cycle tracker appHerbs discussed include marshmallow, tulsi, betony, goldenrod, linden, hawthorn, and peppermint.How many of those herbs are you familiar with? Well, almost every one has a detailed profile in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. Get to know the herbs on their own terms, as complex and unique as they are: what their qualities and actions are, how to make them into effective remedies, everything you need to know to work with them safely and effectively. This course has 89 herbs so far, and when you buy it, you get lifetime access. When we add more herbal content in the future, it’s automatically added to your course, forever. You can try it out for 14 days, with our zero-risk return policy!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Yes, it's true: even herbalists get the flu. Two in one house sometimes, even! Each of us gets it a little bit differently, as our constitutions are balanced differently. But at least we can take care of each other. Listen in and learn all our tricks for getting through Actual Flu with a little more ease and comfort, the surprising role of marshmallow, and why a bath might be the most important thing you do all week!Herbs discussed include ginger, calendula, self-heal, heather, elderberry, purple loosestrife, goldenrod, sumac, ground ivy, mullein, catnip, nettle, blue vervain, thyme, garlic, elecampane, angelica, osha, codonopsis, pleurisy root, marshmallow, Irish moss, monarda, tulsi, rose, & orange.How many of those herbs are you familiar with? Well, almost every one has a detailed profile in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. Get to know the herbs on their own terms, as complex and unique as they are: what their qualities and actions are, how to make them into effective remedies, everything you need to know to work with them safely and effectively. This course has 89 herbs so far, and when you buy it, you get lifetime access. When we add more herbal content in the future, it's automatically added to your course, forever. You can try it out for 14 days, with our zero-risk return policy! Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It may not have occurred to you that “psychological first aid” is even a thing, let alone that there might be herbs for psychological first aid! But let us assure you, it is very real and very important, and herbs can play a leading role.When working as a street medic or first responder, you’ll soon find that at least as many of the issues people need help with are mental/emotional as are physical. Bleeding wounds & broken bones get all the attention, but panic attacks, trauma-triggers, and uprushing grief, fear, or anger all require attention too. Herbs can help!In this podcast, Katja shares her favorite herbs for psychological first aid, along with some helpful strategies for framing traumatic situations and helping people define and direct their own stories about the experience. Listen in and learn a few allies who might help you – or help you help others – when some psych first aid is needed!The Emergent Responder Program is a deep dive into these concepts at the intersection of personal preparedness and community disaster response. It gives you the skills and confidence to function calmly and efficiently in an ongoing or post-disaster scenario, providing effective support for your loved ones and community – no matter what the situation is. And just like all of our programs, you get our 14-day, no-questions-asked, zero-risk return policy! So, what are you waiting for? Get started today!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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. Because humans have these tendencies: as students, to seek a guru; as teachers, to seek that status.When the student believes their teacher is a guru, it may be comforting, but it’s also disempowering. It makes the student feel & believe that they have to depend on the teacher. But it’s important for students to make their own experiments, and express their own experiences!When the teacher comes to believe they’re a guru, they start to think everything they’re doing must be right, down to finer and finer detail. But it’s important to question yourself first of all, otherwise you stop learning – and to step back and see the big picture, on the regular.So here are some ways we’ve come up with when working out how to not be a guru in our own work, that we do our best to live up to.As teachers – and as students, because we’re that, too – this is something we think about a lot. We know a lot of teachers and students who feel the same way! We hope that this discussion spurs some spark of recognition, as we’ve been gratefully sparked by plenty of others before.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

There are so many fantastic herbs for first aid purposes, it’s hard to name them all! But if we focus our thoughts specifically on a post-disaster situation, this helps us narrow it down. Even better, think about the most likely emergency situations that might arise where you live, and you can keep your kit nice and targeted, your go-bag fully stocked. In this episode, Katja & Ryn share their must-have herbs for first aid both in the context of self-care and personal preparedness, but also in that of a large-scale emergency.Prepping isn’t just for preppers! Getting familiar with first aid herbs and how to prepare them effectively, bundle them neatly, and work with them quickly under pressure is a skill that could save lives. Start planning today!Our listener question this week: Are there any guidelines for knowing when an herb might have a drug interaction? (Listen in for the answer!)Herbs discussed include pine, blackberry, yellow dock, goldenseal, Oregon grape, barberry, goldthread, rose, witch hazel, calendula, ginger, chamomile, betony, skullcap, passionflower.Mentioned in this podcast:First Aid Kits For Everyone! – including our “tiny carry”, every day carry, & street kit breakdowns.Pine Resin Salve – video with step-by-step instructions.Go-To Joint LinimentThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 036: First Aid for Burns & SprainsThe Emergent Responder Program is a deep dive into these concepts at the intersection of personal preparedness and community disaster response. It gives you the skills and confidence to function calmly and efficiently in an ongoing or post-disaster scenario, providing effective support for your loved ones and community – no matter what the situation is. And just like all of our programs, you get our 14-day, no-questions-asked, zero-risk return policy! So, what are you waiting for? Get started today!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

If you’re a practitioner of food-as-medicine and are interested in integrating herbs into your work – or just a health-seeker wondering if herbs can support dietary interventions – this is the episode for you! We present what we think are the seven best herbs for dietitians and nutritionists to learn about and to integrate into their practice.These are plants that either provide direct nutrient content themselves, improve the ability to digest and absorb nutrients from the food you eat, or help shift mental and emotional patterns of relationship to food – each is equally important when it comes to improving one’s diet!Our listener question this week: Why would you advise against working with meadowsweet for the pain of stomach cramps – isn’t it a “painkilling herb”? (Listen in for the answer!)Herbs discussed include meadowsweet, tulsi, schisandra, chamomile, Irish moss, shiitake & maitake, nettle, rose, & calamus.Mentioned in this podcast:Gut-Heal TeaOrganic India Tulsi TeaThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 23: Schisandra & PeppermintUrban Moonshine Calm Tummy Digestive Bitters – with chamomile & gingerThe Metabolic Plant Feedback Hypothesis, Jurg GertschChlorophyll and Chlorophyllin, Linus Pauling InstituteNettle & Friends – our other most important formula!Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our book!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 30: Tulsi & Formulating Absent Friends~Herbalism 101: Learn Your Herbs & Make Your Medicines – if you’re not sure where to start in learning herbalism, look no further! Get familiar with more than 85 herbs and learn how to make them into simple – but powerful – home remedies. Start today and take advantage of our 14-day, no-questions-asked, zero-risk return policy!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Hoo-ga? Hue-guh? However you pronounce it, hygge is big right now! And it makes sense: this time of year, we could all use a bit more comfort, coziness, and cuddly contentment as we contemplate the context of our current collective consciousness! . . . Or, uh, just have a nice way to find some warmth in the wintertime. But, how to make your hygge herbal? Listen & learn!Herbs discussed include solomon’s seal, ginger, meadowsweet, self-heal, licorice, kelp, chamomile, elderflower, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom; and our wedding tea: tulsi, betony, rose, violet, & spearmint.Mentioned in this podcast:12 Minute Yoga In Bed to Unwind – need some gentle movement? Start here!Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our book!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 59: SolsticeSouthern Folk Medicine, by Phyllis LightPhytochemistry and Pharmacy for Practitioners of Botanical Medicine, by Eric YarnellBehave: The Biology Of Humans At Our Best And Worst, by Robert SapolskyOther Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, by Peter Godfrey-SmithThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 48: Pumpkin Spice~Herbalism 101: Learn Your Herbs & Make Your Medicines – if you’re not sure where to start in learning herbalism, look no further! Get familiar with more than 85 herbs and learn how to make them into simple – but powerful – home remedies. Start today and take advantage of our 14-day, no-questions-asked, zero-risk return policy!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week Ryn & Katja share some thoughts on how to address chronic headaches – not just “getting rid of it” in the acute moment, but reducing the frequency & severity of your headaches across the board. This will require some changes to your habits around food, sleep, movement, and stress – but herbs are there to help you every step of the way. Listen in to learn more!Our weekly listener question this time is about blood-thinning herbs: how much is too much?Herbs discussed include willow, meadowsweet, Jamaican dogwood, feverfew, ginger, chamomile, wild lettuce, ashwagandha, ground ivy, ghost pipe, betony, black cohosh, calamus, linden.Mentioned in this podcast:Whole30Gut-Heal TeaGaia’s SleepThru4 Keys to Holistic Herbalism~Looking to learn herbalism in the new year? Herbalism 101 is our beginners’ program in practical herbalism: detailed profiles of 87+ medicinal plants, along with up-close instructions for making your own herbal remedies. Try it for 14 days with our zero-risk return policy! Learn your herbs & make your medicines with this in-depth set of herb profiles & medicine-making instructions.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

New Year’s Eve is right around the corner, and we, like many folks, are ready with our list of resolutions. Let’s all make them more about self-care and becoming who we want to be in the world, and less about guilt & shame! In this podcast we’ll give you some tips how to do that, along with our own holistic & herbal resolutions for 2019. There are plenty of ways for herbs to help you stick to your resolutions – listen in to learn how!Our weekly listener question this time is about what to do when herbs are out-of-stock & how to go about making elegant substitutions.Herbs discussed include violet, betony, kava, pedicularis, green tea, calamus, pine, elecampane, sage, tulsi, goldenrod, ginseng.Mentioned in this podcast:Stephany Hoffelt, “How I Make Tinctures” – great post with some thoughts on different methods. Find the Excel sheet and PDF downloads at the end, great details there!AromaCulture – an aromatherapy & herbalism magazine. We were on Episode 22 of their podcast back in May, about our book!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 30: Tulsi & Formulating Absent Friends#bloominginboston – Ryn made a ton of posts with this tag in 2017 and plans to bring it back in 2019, along with some friends – #treesofboston & #weedsofboston. Follow @commonwealthherbs on Instagram so you don’t miss it!~Looking to learn herbalism in the new year? Herbalism 101 is our beginners’ program in practical herbalism: detailed profiles of 87+ medicinal plants, along with up-close instructions for making your own herbal remedies. Try it for 14 days with our zero-risk return policy! Learn your herbs & make your medicines with this in-depth set of herb profiles & medicine-making instructions.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Solstice is the quiet time, a moment of pause between the dying of the old and the rebirth of the new year. This week we share some meditations, stories, and traditions that shape the way we think about this time of year and its effects on our habits & our health. Listen in with a mug of your favorite sunny tea, and some nice warm blankets!PLUS: Listen in to get a coupon code for 25% off ANY of our online courses, good until MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!~Herbalism 101 is our entry-level program in practical herbalism: detailed profiles of 87+ medicinal plants, along with up-close instructions for making your own herbal remedies. Try it for 14 days with our zero-risk return policy! Learn your herbs & make your medicines with this in-depth set of herb profiles & medicine-making instructions.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Holiday foods are delightful & delicious, but what if you’re allergic to some of the ingredients? Never fear! In this episode we’ll share some of our best tips & tricks for when gluten, dairy, or other allergens are a no-no. Whether making a simple substitution, or trying out something entirely new, we’ve got you covered. We even have some strategies for if you accidentally get exposed – or even if it was accidentally-on-purpose!PLUS: Listen in to get a coupon code for 25% off ANY of our online courses, good from now until December 21st!Herbs discussed include calamus, ginger, chamomile, yellow dock, & blackberry.Mentioned in this podcast:Our Recipes – Here you’ll find Katja’s taste-tested recipes for everything from ginger-chamomile cookies to paleo pumpkin muffins to herb-powered cranberry sauce (it's in the Hawthorn post).Gut-Heal TeaEnzymedica Digest Spectrum – These are the enzyme capsules Ryn has found helpful when indulging in his allergens (just every once in a while).What To Do When You’ve Been Glutened~Herbalism 101 is our entry-level program in practical herbalism: detailed profiles of 87+ medicinal plants, along with up-close instructions for making your own herbal remedies. Try it for 14 days with our zero-risk return policy! Learn your herbs & make your medicines with this in-depth set of herb profiles & medicine-making instructions.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Handmade herbal remedies and self-care items are a great solution to the conundrum of gift-giving. In this episode we’ll share three DIY herbal gift ideas that you can make at home and share with all your loved ones: herb-infused wines, coffee-pecan cocktail bitters, and an evergreen-scented sugar scrub. The gift of herbs shows you care – give something unique this year!PLUS: Listen in to get a coupon code for 25% off ANY of our online courses, good from now until December 21stHerbs discussed include cacao, cayenne, ginger, cinnamon, angelica, calamus, hawthorn berries, goji berries, rose hips, hibiscus, elderberry, lemon balm, coffee, pecan, wild cherry, orange, black pepper, maple, pine, spruce, & fir. (Whew!)Mentioned in this podcast:Herbal Medicine-Making – Our video course teaches you to make more than two dozen types of herbal remedies.~Herbalism 101 is our entry-level program in practical herbalism: detailed profiles of 87+ medicinal plants, along with up-close instructions for making your own herbal remedies. Try it for 14 days with our zero-risk return policy! Learn your herbs & make your medicines with this in-depth set of herb profiles & medicine-making instructions.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we continue our exploration of herbal holiday traditions with a quick chat about some of the ways herbs turn up in holiday foods. Whether it’s a nice herbed roast, a ginger-enhanced cranberry sauce, or a paleo mulling-spice cookie (yep, we’ve got a recipe for those!), herbs add more than flavor to your season – as if that weren’t enough!PLUS: Listen in to get a coupon code for 25% off ANY of our online courses, good from now until December 21st!Herbs discussed include sage, pine, juniper, mint, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, orange peel, allspice, nutmeg, clove, & anise.Mentioned in this podcast:This post about hawthorn includes Katja’s cranberry sauce recipe. It’s super simple!These Ginger Chamomile Cookies can be modified to be Mulling Spice cookies with a simple substitution for a mulling spice blend in place of the ginger & chamomile powders. Try it!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 24 – Taco Seasoning HerbsThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 35 – Cinnamon, Vanilla, & CacaoThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 48 – Pumpkin Spice: That’s Herbalism Too!~Herbalism 101 is our entry-level program in practical herbalism: $450 gets you 58 hours of direct video instruction – that’s just $7.75 per hour! Pay all at once or in installments – and don’t worry: your access never expires. Still not sure? Try it for 14 days with our zero-risk return policy. Learn your herbs & make your medicines with this in-depth set of herb profiles & medicine-making instructions.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Today we’re kicking off a series of podcasts on herbs and the holidays! We begin with emotional support, because no matter how you feel about the holidays, those feelings are probably pretty big. In this episode we take an energetics-based approach to sorting out emotional categories and matching supportive herbs to them. Whether you’d like to be more grounded, centered, resolved, or emotionally flexible, herbs can help you get there!Herbs discussed include lady’s mantle, yarrow, marshmallow, violet, lemon balm, elderflower, cardamom, vanilla, motherwort, hawthorn, linden.Mentioned in this podcast:Check out our YouTube Herbs for Holidays series from 2017 – wow, we’ve learned a lot about video production since then! We’ll be adding a lot more video content to YouTube soon – subscribe to our channel now so you don’t miss it!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 2 – Avoiding Adaptogen Debt & EmotionalymphaticsThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 14 – Alternatives to Adaptogens for BurnoutThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 16 – Emotional Support for Mothers & TeensThe Holistic Herbalism Podcast, episode 39 – Herbs for Introverts & Extraverts~Herbalism 101 is our entry-level program in practical herbalism: $450 gets you 58 hours of direct video instruction – that’s just $7.75 per hour! Pay all at once or in installments – and don’t worry: your access never expires. Still not sure? Try it for 14 days with our zero-risk return policy. Learn your herbs & make your medicines with this in-depth set of herb profiles & medicine-making instructions.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Every time we talk about cold & flu herbs, we seem to start out with elderberry syrup and a good old thyme steam. Well, this time we’re going to talk about something different! Here are a few good friends to have on hand as we move into cold & flu season.Herbs discussed include white pine, sage, ground ivy, boneset, elecampane, ginger, catnip–elderflower–chamomile, and lemon!Mentioned in this podcast:Herbstalk’s Wintergreen Market – Saturday November 24th at the Armory in Somerville. We’ll be there! Ryn’s doing a demo on electuaries (pastes made with honey + herbal powders) at 2:00pm, and we’ll have a small table with our Herbal Oracle Cards and our book, Herbal Medicine for Beginners for sale!~If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way – like with our Herbalism 101 program! It’s a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week our episode is an interview with Shari & Russ Apotheker of Apotheker’s Kitchen, makers of fine honey-sweetened confections and longtime friends of ours. We visited them at their homestead in Way Up There, VT, to chat about their work and how it’s changed over the years. Along the way we talked about a lot of issues close to the herbal world as well as that of artisanal chocolatier-ing: ethical ingredient sourcing, navigating certifications, prioritizing pollinator protection, and life as intentionally-small, purposefully-scaled-down small businessowners. Give it a listen!Herbs discussed include cacao, cashew, & vanilla.Mentioned in this podcast:Apothekers Kitchen – go here to order directly from Shari & Russ!Apothekers Kitchen on InstagramHerbstalk’s Wintergreen Market – Saturday November 24th at the Armory in Somerville. The Apothekers will be there with their chocolates, marshmallows, & other confections. We’ll be there too – Ryn’s doing a demo on electuaries at 2:00pm, and we’ll have a small table with our Herbal Oracle Cards and our book, Herbal Medicine for Beginners for sale!~If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way – like with our Herbalism 101 program! It’s a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This is our one-year anniversary episode! This week we cover a lot of ground. Katja talks about ways adding a little inconvenience to your home environment helps encourage you to move more. She also talks about how she came around to appreciating rhodiola as an herb on our honeymoon to Iceland, and offers some non-caffeine-containing stimulant herbs for midwives (and anyone who may have long nights ahead). Then, Ryn shares some of his discoveries on looking for exceptions to the herbalist’s adage that “nothing in the mint family is poisonous”.Herbs discussed include rhodiola, angelica, eleuthero, tulsi, betony, calamus, yarrow, ground ivy, & pennyroyal.Mentioned in this podcast:Roseroot – Herb of the North, Anna Rósa8 Poisonous Plant Families, Marc WilliamsBotany In A Day & Shanleya’s Quest, Tom ElpelToxic Plants of North America, Second Edition, Burrows & Tyrl~If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way – like with our Herbalism 101 program! It’s a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Every year, our Advanced Studies Program ends with a weekend-long exam. There’s a written portion with short answers, essays, and case analysis, and an in-person oral & practical exam as well. This week, we wanted to share with you some of our favorite questions from the exam, mainly to focus on the reasonswe ask these questions in this way and how they help us change our ingrained patterns of thinking. We’re also sharing some particularly great answers from this year’s group!~If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way – like with our Herbalism 101 program! It’s a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we’re out in Coal River Valley, West Virginia, helping out at a free herbal clinic for folks in this area who’ve been affected by mountaintop removal mining. We interviewed three members of the local Herbal Medics team – Maureen, Hannah, and Lauren share their connections to the area, connecting with locals (and reconnecting them to their traditions) through plant medicine, and their experiences in the free clincs we’ve been running here together for the past three years.We also have new intro music, provided by our dear friend (and Herbal Medics WV team member), Jen-Osha!Herbs discussed include calendula, plantain, wild lettuce, & cayenne; plus formulas including joint liniment and sprain & strain salve.Mentioned in this podcast:West Virginia Herbal MedicsRAMPS CampaignJudy Bonds & Coal River Mountain WatchKeepers of the MountainsAppalachian Peace Paws Rescue – Morgantown, WVStudy finds taking the stairs, raking leaves may have same health benefits as a trip to the gym (EurekAlert)~If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way – like with our Herbalism 101 program! It’s a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we do a lightning round of “minigraphs” on some of our favorite herbs. We started by taking a look at what we’ve got on our herb shelf (okay . . . *shelves*) in the kitchen right now, and selecting a few semi-randomly until our 45 minute timer went off.We covered reishi, catnip, mugwort, heather, st john’s wort, and za’atar (which is a spice blend, but totally still counts – right?). So give it a listen and meet some of our best friends!Mentioned in this podcast:Our Wedding Tattoo Herbs – including elder, betony, tulsi, bladderwrack (seaweed), pine, yarrow, sage, and marshmallow.Quintessential Arts – purveyor of fantastic plant ally jewelryBehave, by Robert Sapolsky – Katja’s current book / research fascinationCanaan Palestine – our favorite source for za’atar (when we’re not mixing our own)And here’s everything else in the way of loose dry herbs on our shelf right now:ashwagandhaangelicaelecampanetulsigingerlindenchamomilecalamusorange peelplantainschizandramatehawthornmotherwortself-healuva ursibetonyjiaogulangoldenrodcedarcalendulaground ivythyme & monardaastragalus… plus, cooking spices – most importantly: cumin, garlic, caraway, berbere, cayenne, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, fresh-ground black pepper, vanilla, and fresh basilWe’ll talk about them in a future podcast, so make sure to subscribe!~If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way – like with our Herbalism 101 program! It’s a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

It's not just for lattes anymore: the ubiquitous pumpkin spice blend is in fact an herbal formula! The standard pumpkin [pie] spice mix is cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, nutmeg. From an herbalists point of view, this is a mix of aromatic, pungent, carminative spices, very antioxidant-rich, and most of which are also antimicrobial. In this podcast we'll break it down and give you the details on each individual herb, as well as the formula as a whole. Spice it up!Mentioned in this podcast:Pumpkin spice as an aphrodisiac, study in the American Academy of Neurology and Orthopaedic SurgeonsCinnamon for blood sugar management, studyKatja's recipe for paleo pumpkin spice muffins!This episode originally aired on the HerbRally Podcast - they have tons of great content over there, check it out!~If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round!Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Ryn leads off this week with a variety of herbs to try reducing the ringing in the ears called tinnitus. Herbs to drain stuck fluids, quell nervous irritation, and increase cerebral circulation can all help out with this distracting problem. Katja has some great ideas for you headache sufferers out there - starting with some practical considerations about food and water, sleep, and stress - and then moving on to some herbs you can match to your particular triggers and symptoms. Mentioned in this podcast: The Whole30 ProgramConcenTrace from Trace Mineral Research - a liquid multimineral & trace element supplementIf you'd like to help out and transcribe a portion of our video program for our incarcerated student, contact us! Ditto if you'd like to sponsor a book donation!Herbs discussed include: ground ivy, goldenseal, black cohosh, feverfew, skullcap, passionflower, ginkgo, marshmallow, linden, lemon balm, willow, meadowsweet, wood betony, ginger, chamomile, calamus, peppermint. ~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Caregiving is exhausting, thankless, necessary work, and becoming increasingly more common. In the first half of this episode, Katja shares some insights into the difficulties facing those who are caring for elders, and herbal allies who can help them as they help others.  In the second half, Ryn shares what he found after investigating everything to do with botulism: where it comes from, how to prevent it, and how [un]common it really is. The short version is: if you follow good medicine-making practices, you really don't have to worry about it! But listen in, get all the details, and you'll rest easy. Mentioned in this podcast: If you'd like to help out and transcribe a portion of our video program for our incarcerated student, contact us! Ditto if you'd like to sponsor a book donation!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast, Episode 18: Pleurisy in Daughter-CaregiversCCHH on Instagram, to make sure you catch the card deck giveaway next week!Quintessential Arts - Hilary made Katja's necklace pictured above - hawthorn and motherwort.Herbs discussed include: pleurisy root / butterfly weed, elecampane, thyme, cinnamon, ashwagandha, tulsi, lion's mane, garlic. ~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we bring you a podcast we originally aired on the HerbRally podcast as its inaugural episode, last July, all about the model we use for running free clinics - both in our own space here in Boston, as well as out in communities in need. We wanted to share it in case you missed it, and also because we're preparing for another trip to work in a free clinic in West Virginia mountaintop-removal coal mining country, which also uses this model and has been very successful in bringing herbs to some people who really need the help. Wherever you are, this format can help you bring a free herbal clinic to your community! Mentioned in this podcast:Herbal MedicsMountain SOL / Aurora LightsCoal River Mountain WatchHerbalism and the Law: The Practice of Medicine in Massachusetts~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

If back-to-school means the nest is empty, you may want some herbal support! Katja shares her favorite allies for this difficult transition. Ryn reflects on a forest movement immersion event he experienced recently, and shares some lessons he [re]learned there about challenge, adaptability, and seeing the complex context. Herbs discussed include hawthorn, motherwort, sage, linden, catnip, chamomile, & goldenrod. Mentioned in this podcast:HerbRally - Lots of great material here. Check out our guest podcast on How To Not Be A Guru!~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week, Ryn leads off with some thoughts on salad: why it's often boring and nutritionally deficient, and how to boost it up with some wild greens, herbal pesto, spice blends, and feral berries - and how to get these from the grocery store when it's not spring or summer. Katja goes over some herbs that can help with the stress, fears, and excitement swirling around this transitional season - for both kids and parents - along with strengthening strategies to improve immune resilience so the classroom germs don't get you. Herbs discussed include violet, dandelion, garlic mustard, lamb's quarters, plantain, linden, nettle, mulberry, blueberry, barberry, basil, sage, parsley, dill, cilantro, radicchio, arugula (hey, salad diversity is what it's all about!); plus hawthorn, chamomile, tulsi, rose hips, elderberry. Mentioned in this podcast:Herbstalk's Harvest Festival - THIS SATURDAY, September 1st, from 11:00am to 4:00pm, in Jamaica Plain. Katja's class on Back-to-School Herbs is at 1:00pm, but the whole day will be full of fantastic classes, herb walks, and vendors. So if you're in the Boston area, check it out!~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In this episode both Ryn & Katja have things to share related to sleep. Katja leads off with a listener question about alcohol cravings at bedtime, then discusses some of her own strategies for coping with restless thoughts that interfere with rest. Ryn lays out the effects of caffeine in the body to help you understand how it can in fact interfere with sleep, even many hours after consumption. Herbs discussed include tulsi, ginger & chamomile, coffee, & tea. Mentioned in this podcast:Tammi Sweet's Anatomy & Physiology CourseThe Irish History PodcastPaul Bergner's article on coffee: A New Look At An Old DevilWikipedia's History of Coffee - here you can see the 1652 advert for the first coffee shop in London.~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week, a case of histiocytoma on a dog's paw leads Katja to talk about wound care for animal companions. What to do when a furry friend has a wound? Help it out with herbs! It's not as hard as you might be thinking. Ryn received a helpful email this week that made him want to dig deeper into essential oil safety, and will lead to some revisions of his liniment and muscle rub recipes. Special thanks this week to Jennifer Lombard of Earth and Aether Aromatherapy for the heads-up, and for being so generous with her time and resources. Thank you! Herbs discussed include chamomile, calendula, plantain, witch hazel, rose, catnip, cinnamon, wintergreen, clove, and ginger. ~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

The world's on fire, no one wants to admit they're occasionally catastrophic, and sometimes all you want to eat is ice cream. In this episode we'll talk about herbs to support respiratory health in times of dryness and smoke inhalation. We've also got a dramatic* reading of Katja's favorite blog post ever, You're A Trainwreck. We'll wrap it up with a listener question about cold digestive systems in hot weather. * Not in a bad way. Herbs discussed include tulsi, calamus, mullein, linden, marshmallow, hibiscus. Mentioned in this podcast:You're A Trainwreck.~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Introverts & extraverts, as patterns of personality, each have their strengths and weaknesses. In this episode we'll discuss herbal allies to accommodate common discomforts experienced by those who identify with one or another pole of this spectrum. Introversion & extraversion don't need to be "fixed", but their extremes can be balanced and their weak points strengthened through the work of herbal medicines. Listen & learn how! Herbs discussed include cayenne, tulsi, mate, yarrow, motherwort, rose, sycamore, calamus, kava, green tea, betony, pedicularis, jiaogulan, schisandra, nori, ginger-chamomile, hawthorn, and linden. (Yeah, it was kind of a lot this week.) Mentioned in this podcast:When Things Fall Apart is Katja's favorite book by Pema Chodron.~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

A listener asked us what would be our five favorite tinctures to have on hand, so this week we're each going to share with you a list of herbs we just can't live without! We talk a bit about each one's virtues and the way we ourselves work with these herbs. Katja's list: ghost pipe, tulsi, calamus, ginger-chamomile, lobelia. Ryn's list: solomon's seal, catnip, yarrow-sage, kava, cayenne. Mentioned in this podcast:The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter WohllebenHerbal Medicine for Beginners - our book, which teaches you how to work with 35 multi-purpose herbs. It's perfect for people who are just starting to build their apothecaries, or for more advanced students who'd like to see how you might solve a wide array of problems with a small set of herbs.Katja's ginger-chamomile cookies~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja's daughter Amber is off to camp this week, so she shares with you the list of things they packed into Amber's herbal first aid kit. If you have kids headed off to camp - or are going to one yourself - you'll want to listen in! Ryn muses on the capacity for receiving information from some parts of the body that don't make the Top Five Sensory Organs list (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands), but which are very perceptive indeed . . . if they're thoughtfully trained. He even has some homework for you to develop these skills! Mentioned in this podcast (or at least, relevant to its content):Feet: The Sixth Sense, Katy BowmanIt Starts With Feet (podcast with transcript), Katy Bowman8 Natural Movements for Better Balance, Erwan LeCorreThe Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature, Stephen BuhnerThe HeartMath InstituteCritical Intuition, Paul Bergner~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we share some practical first aid herbalism for burns and sprains. Whether you're hiking far out in the woods or simply have an accident at home, these tips will help you take care of yourself effectively & naturally with herbs. A few resources for you:Dressing A Burn - this is the video about burn care Katja mentioned!Go-To Joint Liniment - this is Ryn's trusty recipe for everyday use.~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Use the code resilience between now and July 14th to get $50 off! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja & Ryn discuss how these "exotic spices" came to be ubiquitous among Americans, and how we can learn from the history of plant trade, cultivation - including some bitter history and present affairs of colonization and slavery. We try to recognize and explore the chain of relationships between the farmers and ourselves, and give thanks and respect to the hands that touch these precious herbs. A few resources on ethical cacao:Ethical Consumer's shopping guide - goes over a lot of the major issues and third-party certifications (e.g. Fair Trade, Equal Exchange, UTZ, Rainforest Alliance, etc.Slave Free Chocolate13 Fair Trade Chocolate Companies For Your Conscious Cravings~ If you like our podcast, you might like learning from us in a more intentional way - like with our Herbalism 101 program! It's a great way to start incorporating herbs into your daily life, to keep you and your loved ones healthy and resilient all year round! Use the code resilience between now and July 14th to get $50 off! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Ryn leads off this week with a discussion of herbal affinities - the ways in which herbs may be centered in their effects on a particular organ or type of tissue in the body - and how these can help you make good herbal choices or make more effective formulas. Katja shares some thoughts about how to cope with the political crisis machine by finding ways to enter into service for the good of others - it turns out, it helps you too! If you find it difficult to get there, don't worry: she also shares a few herbal friends who help us soften into a place of receptivity and compassion. Herbs discussed this week include hawthorn, marshmallow, goldenseal, crampbark, and motherwort. ~ Our book Herbal Medicine for Beginners is available now on Amazon! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week Katja had a bit of back pain, and has some thoughts to share with you about how this can happen an what to do about it. From mindset management to gentle movements for the release of tension and improving alignment, of course with the support of herbs, here are a few quick tips to get you bending and flexing again. Ryn shares a couple ideas for herbal liquid extracts to combine with sparkling water in a bit of delightful herbal indulgence - that's herbalism too! Herbs discussed this week include kava, lobelia, chamomile, sage & mint, elderflower, and nori & other seaweeds. (Seaweeds were our #herboftheweek on social media this week and last - follow us on social media or check out our blog for more!) ~ Our book Herbal Medicine for Beginners is available now on Amazon! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja this week reflects on a bit of wisdom surrounding downtime, and on the ways in which stress management can sometimes be the most difficult of our fundamental pillars of health, or the one that gets sacrificed first. Ryn shares his love of jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum), a particularly excellent adaptogen for the dry and tense people in your life. Herbs discussed this week include our Wedding Tea blend - wood betony, tulsi, rose, spearmint, & violet - along with jiaogulan, goji, & kelp (which is our current #herboftheweek on Instagram & Facebook!). ~ Our book Herbal Medicine for Beginners is available now on Amazon! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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 be to offer a wide variety of tools to try that can help build greater resilience, and provide guidance on those the client is most interested in. Herbs help out in a variety of ways to compensate for the impacts of a suboptimal situation. Mentioned in this podcast:The Twenty-Four Hour Mind, Rosalind D. Cartwright - An elucidation of the mood-regulating functions of dreaming and the importance of dreams in our emotional lives.Behave, Robert Sapolsky - A cross-discipline deep dive into the current best scientific understanding of the complex web of interactions we call human behavior.Four Keys To Holistic Herbalism - our free mini-course outlining the fundamental determinants of health and the basic philosophy behind our approach to herbalism.~ Our book Herbal Medicine for Beginners is available now on Amazon! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Since it's Herbstalk's 2018 Herb of the Year, Katja wants to finally give Tulsi its due with a quick monograph for you today! As promised last time, Ryn shares an exercise in herbal formulation: attempting to re-create the actions and qualities of an herb you don't have, by mixing together several other herbs. We each sketch out a couple of formulae to be "chamomile" and "tulsi". Herbs discussed include tulsi, chamomile, jiaogulan, tarragon, & dandelion. Mentioned in this podcast:Herbstalk - coming up tomorrow, Saturday June 2nd & Sunday 3rd! ~ Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available now on Amazon! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

After seeing Rising Appalachia the other night, Katja wanted to sing! She sang so much she gave herself a sore throat. So today she'll tell you all about her favorite herbs for soothing sore throats! Ryn breaks down a couple of "classic cancer cure-all" formulae you may have heard of: Hoxsey and Essiac. He talks you through a way to deconstruct these, so you don't let an old formula be a black box or a magic potion - instead, break it down and analyze it! This helps you find a middle way between the "skeptics" who call everything herbal "quackery" and the uncritical superficiality of internet memes. Herbs discussed include calamus, marshmallow, linden, & cinnamon. Mentioned in this podcast: Rising Appalachia - music to heal your heart!Herbstalk - coming up June 2nd & 3rd! Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available now on Amazon! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja shares her thoughts on herbal supports for those who are coping with eating disorders. Herbs can help reduce anxiety, center us in the body, stimulate appetite, and make it easier to manage cravings. Ryn gives you some guidelines for building a warming, relaxing herbal muscle rub. This will help speed recovery after an intense workout and reduce discomfort from delayed-onset muscle soreness. (Here's the basic ingredients list: 2 oz ginger-infused oil, 2 oz goldenrod-infused oil, 2 oz ginger tincture, 2 oz meadowsweet tincture, 80 drops each peppermint & cinnamon essential oil.) Herbs discussed include ashwagandha, calamus, betony, catnip, chamomile, pothos, ginger, goldenrod, meadowsweet, cinnamon, peppermint. Mentioned in this podcast: Nettle & Friends Don't forget!  Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available now on Amazon! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Ryn describes a method you can use to expand your understanding of energetics by comparing ailment profiles and the herbs recommended for them in our book. If you love lists, this is for you! Katja shares her best strategies for getting through a day when you wake up feeling zonked - from uncoffee to yerba mate formulation to settling-in at bedtime. Herbs discussed include betony, catnip, chamomile, linden, yerba mate, tulsi, ashwagandha, & rosemary. Mentioned in this podcast: Katja's very own Herbal Oracle Cards are a great way to start and end your day with inspiration and contemplation. Don't forget!  Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon! - Ships May 15th! Our theme music is "Wings" by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week Katja has some thoughts about the number of syllables in neuraminidase and what it means to be a woman in science. Ryn tries to keep it simple with a basic protocol for heartburn. Mentioned in this podcast: Behave, Robert SapolskyStudent-faculty research suggests Oreos can be compared to drugs of abuse in lab rats, Connecticut CollegeWhat Happens to Your Body If You Drink a Coke Right Now?, Wade MeredithHerbs discussed include marshmallow, meadowsweet, calendula, plantain, licorice, & calamus.   Don't forget! Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon! - Ships May 15th! Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Turmeric is a great herb and an effective anti-inflammatory, but it's not the be-all end-all it's sometimes made out to be, usually by folks who want to sell it to you! This week Katja shares some other anti-inflammatory herbs you may not have considered. Meanwhile, Ryn's been thinking about dreaming - or dreaming about thinking? - with the help of mugwort, a city-dwelling weedy friend who is very talented when it comes to deepening the dream experience. Mentioned in this podcast: If I Read One More Post About Turmeric Being Anti-inflammatory, My Head Will Explode!, Tammi SweetMugwort for Dreaming, Ryn MiduraThe Twenty-Four Hour Mind, Rosalind D. CartwrightHerbstalk - Boston's homegrown herbal conference, June 2nd & 3rd!Herbs discussed include turmeric, ginger, rosemary, ginkgo, peppermint, tulsi, ashwagandha, rose hips, hibiscus, elder, calendula, self-heal, red clover, and mugwort.   Don't forget! Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week Katja talks about the herbs that defined taco seasoning in her Texas upbringing, and their qualities when as medicinal herbs. Along the way, she takes a moment to appreciate the life of World War I herbalist and author, Maud Grieve. Ryn goes over an important lesson in phytochemistry - that no one compound accounts for all the observed effect of an herb - considering this today as it applies to specific qualities: so demulcency & astringency aren't reducible to mucilaginicity & tannicity. Herbs discussed include fennel, cumin, coriander / cilantro, cayenne, onion & garlic, marshmallow, cinnamon, & hibiscus. Don't forget! Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon! Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

No, that's not an herbal tea pairing suggestion! This week, Katja sets off on a 100-day experiment with schisandra berries, and Ryn discusses the nuances of peppermint's energetics - is it warming or cooling? Listen in and find out what we think! Don't forget!  Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week Ryn walks you through a short movement sequence he finds helpful when his low back gets tense, and Katja shares (most of) a recipe for a tincture blend that also helps tense muscles - the rest is to be found in our book! Find the video of the kneebend sequence here! And while you're at it, feel free to follow us on Instagram. ;) Herbs discussed include ashwagandha, solomon's seal, ginger, and mullein. Don't forget! Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon! Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week Katja shares some allies who've helped out with the (several!) kinds of pain which accompany her braces - gentle vulnerary astringents for the cuts in the mouth, anodynes for the bone pain, and a special guest to help drain fluids from the sinus. Ryn talks about one way we try to understand herbal constituents, the chemicals which contribute to an herb's medicinal effects - by trying to learn how they work in the plants who produce them. Herbs discussed include meadowsweet, goldenrod, self-heal, calendula, plantain, chamomile, kava, & ground ivy. Don't forget! Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon! Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja's daughter Amber is about to turn 15 years old, so this week Katja reflects on her birth experience and offers up some herbs to help mamas in the last stages of pregnancy, and Ryn shares one of his favorite Mama-support formulas. Herbs discussed include lobelia, ginger, betony, ghost pipe, chamomile, kava, & vanilla. Mentioned this week: Herbal Medicine for Beginners, our first book, is available for pre-order now on Amazon!Lavandoula - herbalist & full-spectrum doula Emma O'Brien is a graduate & friend of ours. If you need a doula in the Boston area, contact her!Kings Road Apothecary - maker of the lovely kava & vanilla massage oil, among other wonders.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We say it every week: we are not doctors, you are responsible for your own good health. This week, we wanted to expand on that a bit more, explain the philosophy behind it, and the reasons we think it’s so important to our practice as herbalists. We discuss the differences between conventional and traditional systems of medicine, and look into the legal issues surrounding “the practice of medicine”. This is also an issue of empowerment: the flip side of a responsibility is a right, and it’s your right to make informed decisions about your own health. We believe it’s the herbalist’s job to help you claim that power!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week, in honor of International Women's Day, Katja shares some of her thoughts and experiences with adult daughters who became caregivers for their elderly parents. There's a particular pattern of compromised lung health she's seen emerge in these women, which has been tightly tied to the complex stresses and emotional challenges of the role. Fortunately, she's found an herbal ally - pleurisy root, Asclepias tuberosa - who's been especially helpful to them - and may help you or someone you love, as well! Mentioned in this podcast: Health Care? Daughters Know All About It, Roni Caryn Rabin (NYT, May 2017) - "As Washington debates the relative merits of health care legislation, many families have already come up with what is arguably the most reliable form of care in America: It's called daughter care.Dementia Care, Women's Health, and Gender Equity, Bott et al (JAMA Neurology, July 2017) - "The best long-term care insurance in our country is a conscientious daughter."The Crisis Facing America's Working Daughters, Liz O'Donnell (The Atlantic, February 2016)Daughterhood - An excellent resource for women who are managing care for their parents.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week, Ryn shares some strategies he turns to when (as frequently happens) he recognizes that he needs to sleep, but can't quite convince himself to go to bed. Katja relates what happened earlier this week, when polyurethane fumes from a home improvement project in our apartment building gave her a massive headache and made it hard to sleep - both what she actually did to cope in the moment, as well as what, in hindsight, would have been more effective. Herbs discussed include mugwort, wild lettuce, hops, ginger, chamomile, linden, mullein, marshmallow, st john's wort, and milk thistle.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week, Katja discusses several herbs to help support mothers and teens who are coping with the difficulties of the adolescent years - especially in the face of the stressors unique to today's world. Herbs discussed include motherwort, rose, hawthorn, yarrow, tulsi, milk thistle, and st john's wort. Mentioned in this podcast: Herbs for Psychological First Aid - Katja's free video class on working with herbs for acute mental and emotional difficulties.March For Our Lives - On March 24th, 2018, in DC and throughout the country, kids and families will take to the streets to demand real change to end gun violence and prevent mass shootings. Sign up for more info or to find a local event!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week, Katja describes a way of working with herbs to reduce the harm done when lifestyle factors like diet, sleep, and movement are less-than-ideal. (Because really, how often is everything in your life perfectly "right"?) Ryn identifies a mental blind spot in the course of "discovering" that aswhagandha is in fact native or naturalized in large parts of Africa and has a long history of use there. (Did you, too, think of it only as an Indian/Ayurvedic herb?) Mentioned in this podcast: Ashwagandha monograph from the Plant Resources of Tropical Africa projectAshwagandha monograph from the PlantZAfrica project at the South African National Biodiversity Institutethis Global Mapper from Discover Life can display worldwide plant distribution maps!Krystal Thompson's ashwagandha monograph at HerbRallyProduction dynamics of Withaferin A in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal complex., Kaul et al (Nat Prod Res. 2009;23(14):1304-11. doi: 10.1080/14786410802547440.) - one investigation into the differences in chemotypes within the Withania somnifera species.African and Vedic ecotype ashwagandha seeds from Strictly MedicinalsSupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Adaptogens are marketed as a solution to stress, burnout, hormonal imbalances, and a lot more. They can help a lot! But they’re not always appropriate. Today we discuss a few cases in which adaptogens might not be the best solution for feelings of burnout and exhaustion, and offer some alternative herbs you might consider instead.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We moved! We made it with just a few bumps & bruises and some sore muscles. That was no accident - we thought ahead and stayed mindful with some mental, physical, and herbal supports to make our moving week as smooth as possible. Mentioned this week: Kings Road Apothecary - maker of the lovely kava & vanilla massage oil, among other wonders.Atlantic Holdfast - highest-quality seaweed straight from the pristine waters of northern Maine.Instinctive sleeping and resting postures: an anthropological and zoological approach to treatment of low back and joint pain, Michael Tetley (BMJ) - this is the article Ryn mentioned; also check out this podcast from Katy Bowman for more on sleep and alignment.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week we’re sharing a class Katja delivered recently about basic applications of herbal remedies to improve digestion and relive digestive discomforts. Enjoy! We’ll be off next week as we are moving from one apartment to another. We’ll return the following Friday, don’t worry!Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This weekend we kick off the year for our Advanced Studies Program, so we invited our students to participate in the podcast. Somehow, without any prior coordination, everyone seemed to have linden on the mind! Listen in and hear a few different formulas and perspectives on this helpful friend.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja shares three simple ideas for integrating some herbal self-care into your life, especially during the work day, which have helped us a lot during the writing of our forthcoming book. Ryn's taking a MovNat certification course this weekend, so he offers a formula for supporting joint health.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

As 2017 draws to a close, we look back over our year and some of the herbs who helped us get through it.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja draws parallels between the Hanukkah story of unexpected abundance, and the gift of goldenrod for helping us persevere through adversity and exhaustion. Ryn shares this year’s solstice elixir formula and the medicine of captured moments.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Ryn talks about the yaupon holly, a caffeine-bearing plant of North America, as well as a few ideas that apply to caffeine herbs in general. Katja is happy to be reading The Wee Free Men again, and tries to come up with a boring formula for everyone, but it turns out to be awesome.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This week, Ryn notices he’s been getting stuck in the same sitting positions too frequently while working on the manuscript, and talks about different ways to avoid getting sedentary at home or in the office. Katja shares her enthusiasm and recipes for working with cranberry, one of our local “superfoods”.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In this episode, Ryn tells you about the herbal strategies he's been using to cope with a respiratory infection for the last few days. Katja shares some thoughts spurred on by the creation of her Herbal Oracle and Study Cards, about the parallels we find between physiological and psychological effects of herbal remedies. (Katja wanted to call this episode "No Goldenseal Was Harmed In The Making Of This Podcast + Things You Can't See With A Microscope", but that was too long.)Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We love books! In this podcast we discuss a few of our absolute favorite herbal books for everyone from beginners to experienced practitioners. Here are the books we mentioned: Practical Herbs & Practical Herbs 2, Henriette Kress - you can also pre-order her Practical Herb Cards!The Herbal Medic, Sam CoffmanIcelandic Herbs, Anna Rósa RobertsdottirWild Urban Plants of the Northeast, Peter del TrediciInvasive Plant Medicine, Timothy Lee ScottEncyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, Andrew ChevallierBody Into Balance, Maria Noel GrovesThe Wild Medicine Solution, Guido MaséHerbal Constituents, Lisa GanoraBotany In A Day & Shanleya's Quest, Tom ElpelRadical Mycology, Peter McCoySupport the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja stands up to proclaim the strength and potency of the “pretty little flowers” chamomile and self-heal, and reminds us that gentle doesn’t mean weak. Ryn muses on the many applications for herbs that have little or nothing to do with “treating” a “condition”, and some of the ways this ties in to our evolutionary history of exposure to lots of plants in lots of ways.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In our second episode, Katja gives you her take on adaptogens and their propensity for overuse, outlining her preferred way to work with this category of herbs and offering a favorite recipe: notCoffee! Ryn works through some thoughts on the resonance between the physiological activities of herbs and their impacts on mental and emotional patterns, highlighting the category of lymphatic herbs, in whom these points of contact can be seen and felt quite readily.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Welcome to the inaugural edition of our podcast! In this episode, Katja talks about her new strategy for herbal self-care: taking home a bit of each tea or tincture blend she mixes up for a client (within reason, of course). She describes a current favorite, a formula for building mental & emotional flexibility while lifting the spirits. Ryn discusses some experiences which reminded him once again that sensory engagement is indispensable when working with herbs, and how it can help to iron out the subtle differences between very similar plants.Support the showYou can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!