’Tis that time of year. You know… When all of your best intentions about not scarfing down mass quantities of holiday delectables go out the door. What to do when you’re at a holiday gathering and your belly is starting to bloat like a hot air balloon, but you forgot to wear stretchy pants? Well, if you planned ahead, you take out your little brown bottle of digestive herbs.
In today’s fast-paced world it is so easy to get distracted by competition, stress, and goals. While mindfulness has been around for ages, it is now the hot trend that helps busy professionals, parents, and students better navigate life by being present and aware of where we are and what we’re doing.
Arthritis can strike at any age—the condition doesn't reserve itself to the elderly. And the pain this condition causes can be considerable. Medications can help alleviate the suffering, but they tend to come with a host of unpleasant side effects, rendering the remedy worse than the cure.
Acupuncture has become a popular holistic treatment to alleviate pain for several conditions, but dry needling isn’t as well known. While both acupuncture and dry needling use small, stainless steel needles to trigger points in the body, dry needling is commonly used as a way to trigger muscles.
It was my 15th trip to the Emergency Room that month. The ER doctor recognized me. He took the usual blood and urine samples as I waited in the room in pain. When he returned he had a packet of papers that he printed out.
“I have a suspicion you have interstitial cystitis,” he said and handed me the stack of papers. “You should see a urologist to get the official diagnosis.”
The deer, in Taoism, is identified as an animal who lives long and has a healthy sexual appetite. There are other animals, such as the crane and the turtle, that are identified in Taoism who live long and healthy lives, but the deer’s strong sexual and reproductive characteristics makes it stand out among the rest. The deer was observed constantly exercising its anus. The exercise was adapted for humans and the deer exercise was invented.
Pedicu-what??? This plant is a bit off the beaten path for many folks. The name “Pedicularis” is from Latin, meaning “lice.” Yum. Commonly known as Lousewort, the plant was thought to cause a lice infestation if ingested. But, not to worry! I’ve been using it for years and so far no lice.
As someone who has been living with chronic pain for years, I’m slowly learning that nature has all the answers. We just need to ask the right questions and be willing to listen—listen to our bodies, to our minds, and to our souls. In our lifetime, we all go through physical and mental pain—not to mention heartache. And nature has everything that we need to heal, ready and waiting.
Soursop is a member of the family Annonaceae or Custard-apple family of the genus Annona L. commonly known as Annona and contains the species Annona muricata L. or soursop. The plant is native to the West Indies and northern regions of South America and can be found today throughout the tropical climates of the world. A Puerto Rican professor renamed the plant guanabana in 1951, adding to its nomenclature.
Fir is one of the quintessential scents of the season, known for its foresty, fresh, and somewhat sweet notes. For those of us who live and hike in the mountains, or for anyone who’s had a Christmas tree, the scent of fir is unmistakable. There are over 50 types of delightfully scented fir in the northern hemisphere, and the leaves, twigs, and cones are all rich in aromatics.