Stocking Up the Natural Medicine Cabinet
Making Herbal Medicine 101 Class, June 30th, '14
Learning natural healing, the time honored methods of supporting the body's innate ability to heal itself, is a sure fire method of invoking true healing in your body.
Think of this: every time you cut yourself the cut heals. That is how your whole body will function, will heal, if you give it what it needs and remove those things that "get in the way" of healing.
Your immune system is your system that works to repair and heal your body. It works synergistically, in symphony, with every system in your body. That is the beauty of the whole: holistic healing.
Healing comes from inside you.
A "healer" is a guide who steers you back to your own path, your space of healing. A healer knows the natural ways to invoke the immune system's ability to repair and heal mind, body, and spirit.
You are your own best healer.
What to do to create health and healing:
- *Remove the lifestyle habits that created the “ill” health symptoms.
- Learn what whole foods are and eat a whole food diet, your cellular health will thank you! If we have not had this whole food conversation…it is time to say, “Hey Paula, what the heck, tell me the cellular health secrets!” Move in the direction of more food from plants, balancing out with a comfortable amount of animal based food to keep your body healthy. Listen to your body's needs, not someone else's food rules.
- Add in herbs and/or other whole food supplements to re-fortify your cellular health, get your nutritional savings account over flowing with life enhancing nutrition!
- Move your body: sedentary living kills, movement heals.
- Fresh air and sunshine…"love" two birds with one action, get outside AND move! (This sounds better than the kill two birds line...)
- Sleep.
- Stress: get rid of it or change your attitude about that which you can’t get rid of. (Might I suggest yoga and meditation?) Which leads me to…
- Healthy attitude toward yourself, all others on this planet and life in general. Practice a kindness attitude towards all, starting with you. Self-care, and its ripple effects for your health and how you perceive and interact with the world, cannot be emphasized enough.
- Ask me for my “lifestyle” suggestions handout. It contains more thoughts on healthy lifestyle choices for you to contemplate and add to your own bag of healthy living and healing tricks!
*Remove the lifestyle habits that created the “ill” health symptoms, some examples:
- Can't sleep? Remove caffeine and stress for starters. This may mean finding new ways of perceiving stress and learning to let go of stress. (see yoga and meditation suggestion above!)
- Breathing problems? Smoker? Quitting is one obvious solution in your healing quest.
- Allergies? 100% whole foods, raw honey from local bees, remove allergens from your life and living space...
- Constipation? Stress clamps down the colon; see can't sleep above. Refined foods clog up the body, your colon... see whole foods above.
- Headaches? Stress, refined foods, sugar, artificial sweeteners, prescription medications, birth control pills, chemical household cleaners, chemical body care products.... all, and many more synthetics, can contribute to your body imbalance that triggers headaches.
Here's a peek inside my herbal healing cabinets: the formulas I have used over the years (and trust) and the dried herbs I keep on hand to make my own healing blends.
The Healing Medicine cabinet in my downstairs bathroom.
Dried herbs and raw, local honey...ready to make tinctures and infusions (medicinal strength teas).
The upstairs bathroom healing cabinet.
Peeking down into my herbal first aid kit.
Teaching the art of using herbs, as part of a whole health lifestyle, is a passion for me!
On Monday, June 30th I taught a fun class at my home: Making Herbal Medicines 101.
Interested in learning, give me a yell! This Fall will be a great time for another Herbal Medicine Class!
Blessings and HUGS, Paula
Interview with Susun Weed, Native American Healer
This is a very exciting interview for me as Susun Weed's book, The Child Bearing Years, was my first book on herbs, purchased in 1993. Susun gave me that nudge I needed to continue my walk (It all started when I was a kid watching my Grandfather stirring his herbal magic) on my holistic healing path!
The live interview happened Tuesday, November 12th @ 9 PM and has been archived at BlogTalk Radio:
The show begins with 90 minutes of Susun doing Q & A on herbs and healing,
the last 30 minutes of the show is our interview time together.
An edited version has been, or will be, published and archived at four different sites:
www.wisewomanmentor.com and on our blog
Medicinal Herbs ARE Food
Dandelion: the flower, leaves, & roots are all used for liver healing nourishment. The part used depends on the season and strength of medicine desired.
Burdock Root: a powerful liver nourishing & healing herb.
"One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedence of chemical therapy over whole food nutrition.
It is substitution of artificial therapy over natural, of poison over food, in which we are feeding people poisons trying to correct the reactions of nutritional starvation." -Dr. Royal Lee
Herbs are Food
Herbs can be used in tea, tinctures, oils, poultices, and some eaten whole as food.
A common message heard from main stream media and western medicine is Do NOT use herbs as they are potentially dangerous.
As an Herbalist, I am here to remind you what we have known as humans interacting with the Nature: Herbs are plants with body cell nourishing capabilities.
When we know, or work with someone who knows, the nourishing and medicinal benefits of herbs we can use them to support our health and healing. Many factors are considered to help guide the decision as to which herb, or combination of herbs, would best support an individual’s health and healing.
Historically, people learned from each other which plants support which body organs and systems. We learned from our elders which plants supported the nourishing and healing of an individual’s needs.
Herbs are a plant: leaf, root, stems, bark, berries, seeds. Herbs are plants, similar to plants we eat as vegetables.
The individual herb has nutritional and healing properties with affinities for certain tissues. Some examples:
Hawthorne berry for the heart
Saw palmetto for the prostate
Red Raspberry leaf for the uterus
Rhubarb root for the colon
Milk thistle for the liver
Nettle as a general nutritive herb
Dandelion and burdock root for liver cleansing
The list of herbs and their benefits is as long as the list of plants we share this Earth with.
The above herbs are a few example of herbs and the tissue / organ they have affinities for healing. Healing happens because the herb adds whole food nutrition to your body cells. Plants we eat as food serve the same physiological process of nourishing our body cells.
Recommendations for working with herbal plants:
Read up on the herb you want to take. Learn about the herb and its healing affinities before you make the decision to take it.
Contact an herbalist for help in choosing the right herb, or blend of herbs, to add to your plan for health and healing. The herb or blend of herbs for one person may not be the best blend for another person with the seemingly same “symptoms presentation.” Healing is not a one size fits all experience.
Eat a whole food diet. Your body cells require whole food nutrition to function properly in each moment, replicate as normal & healthy cells, and keep your being whole for vital longevity.
Herbs are amazing nutrition for the body but they cannot make up for a refined, processed, junk food product diet.
Herbs are whole foods. Use them wisely for whole body healing.
Stinging Nettle, below, are one of my favorite herbs. Nettles are a powerhouse of nutrition and healing energy for the whole body.
