herbal healing

Ah, winter—the season of retreating indoors, finding every way to keep warm, and snuggling up with your favorite book or Netflix show for a slow descent into hibernation, solitude, and a fair amount of seasonal down time.

While the frigid cold winter weather outside can affect your energy levels and leave you with the sluggish winter blues, there are seasonal winter herbs that can also lift you out of your winter funk to revitalize your well-being and mood with some natural herbal supplements.

Botanicals have a lot to offer when it comes to keeping our nervous systems healthy and helping with nerve-related issues.  Here are four of my most used allies!

When I first started studying botanical medicine, I was at work and got a call from my then-boyfriend asking which plant in the yard was yarrow.  He had cut his hand and wanted to do some first aid to stop the bleeding and prevent infection. This wasn’t the first time.  Having a garden of first aid plants really comes in handy.  Beyond adding beauty to your surroundings, you have at hand easy and effective remedies for everything from cuts and abrasions to insect bites, burns and digestive distress.  H

Mallows are great plant allies for our health. You may be familiar with marshmallow root, but did you know that the flowers and leaves are also good medicine?  And that other mallows are equally useful?   These include Hollyhock (Alcea rosea), that beautiful and easy-to-grow ornamental plant; Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea species), a denizen of more desert-type areas; and Wild or Common Mallow (Malva neglecta & M.

Ringworm, a fungal infection, is being passed around in the jiu jitsu class I do. Though my first response is “eeeeeew,” the fact is that spread of skin infections is not so unusual in a full contact sport. Fungal infections on the skin and under the nails can be really annoying: Ringworm, athlete’s foot, jock itch, and such.

Before harvesting or using punarnava, please make sure to carefully read the disclaimers below.

Punarnava, the Sanskrit word for the medicinal plant commonly known in English as spreading hogweed, literally translated means “renewer” or “rejuvenator.” Punar- means “again,” and -nava translates to “new.” Punarnava is steadily gaining attention in the expansive world of natural health medicine as a powerful medicinal herb with a wonderful laundry list of health-promoting benefits supporting longevity and youthfulness.

Sleep pillows are a sweet way to help when a restless mind or body, recurrent anxiety dreams, or even outright nightmares are keeping you awake. The use of sleep pillows is not new.  “Dilly pillows” stuffed with dill, lavender, and other relaxing aromatic herbs were traditionally used to help babies relax and fall asleep. Sleep pillows also make great gifts, something to keep in mind as the holidays approach.

It’s that time of year. The children in my jiu jitsu class have been showing up with runny noses for the past week or so.  They range from ages 4 to 6, and it’s common for their fingers to be in said runny noses.  As careful as I am, this is a full contact sport and the day after class, my throat often starts to itch, a little cough starts, or I get the chills (or all of the above).

A loss of appetite can really get you down in more ways than one! When you don’t eat you lose vitamins and minerals. The herbs I’m going to cover in this article are great for stimulating the appetite, as well as stimulating digestion.

Recently, a client was hauling it very quickly down a hill on his road bicycle and took a trip over the handlebars.  Unfortunately, spandex doesn’t do much to protect the skin and he wound up with some pretty nasty road rashes, something most cyclists are familiar with (or may be at some point if not yet).