5 Reasons to Seek Herbal Healing

Why herbs? Why is using plant medicines of value? If current medical technology and innovation can cure it, then what is the point? Here are a few reasons to seek herbal healing:

1) We are nature. Despite the paradigm of our current modern culture, we are in fact part of the fabric of the natural world. The richness of our blood, the air that fills our lungs, the particles of our bone marrow. All of these are gifts from the earth and when we pass we give them back to the earth. By seeking healing from the natural world we are acknowledging and honoring this connection. The plants are here as our allies and healers. So many of the weeds we tread on everyday are in fact powerful healing plants. We just need to learn how to incorporate these things back into our life. Dandelion is not just for tying into children's necklaces, but is a plant meant to continue with us through our lives to ensure our health and vitality, as are so many plants.

2) Prevention of disease. We have a health care system that operates in response to medical crisis or acute medical conditions that have built up over time. Allopathic medicine responds to health issues that have become painful, difficult, inconvenient, and burdensome. It is helpful to have this level medicine there, however wouldn't it seem advantageous to respond to slight health imbalances before they build into larger problems. Herbal medicine can address those acute, painful, built up health problems but it can also address daily health maintenance and prevention. Herbs can help release gallstones but also can nurture a healthier digestive system to prevent such a problem. Herbs also nourish better overall health and vitality. Drinking herbal teas or taking in herbs in other forms creates a feeling of nourishment, health, and sense of being alive. Drinking an herbal tea, such as nettles, everyday will make you feel vibrant and full or health! What a wonderful and truly sustaining gift!

3) Healing without negative side effects. Some people simply dislike medication. Others have had bad experiences with the side-effects of medications. One of my teachers always says “there are no side-effects of medications, there are only effects. Some of the effects you want and some you don't want.” Some feel if there is an herbal alternative to a medication (which there almost always is) then why not seek that rather than take a pill. Medications can be hard of the body to process and detox. Antibiotics are very rough on the digestive system. There are so many wonderful herbal treatments that are antibacterial, antiviral, and healing to the issues we seek medications for. Why not use something that is only healing to the body and has no negative side-effects.

4) Medicine with spirit. Herbs provide medicine not only for the body, but also for the spirit. We are creatures that need balancing and sustenance not only on the physical level, but on the spiritual and emotional levels as well. Each plant, like all life, has a particular energy and spirit which is unique unto itself. When you drink an herbal tea, take drops of a tincture, or take an herbal capsule you are taking in the physical and energetic properties of that plant. While taking bitter herbs for digestion, you also might find you are calmer and less edgy. While taking herbs for asthma you might find you become less sad about an emotional upset. Herbs work subtly on several levels of the body, interacting with the energetics of our organs, as well as our emotional and spiritual lives.

5) Love yourself. No matter how we seek to incorporate herbal healing into our lives it is a rewarding and health sustaining step. Most importantly it is a joyful step. Stepping into your healthy and balanced body in a way that is connected to the earth and the fullness of your existence is truly a loving and joyful process. Begin today.

Namaste.

Herbalist at Your Service!

The main focus of my business is doing one on one consultations with clients, however there are many other ways to utilize a local herbalist such as myself!

Here are a few examples of ailments or issues that I can easily whip up a tincture, tea, oil, or salve.

PMS/Cramp Reliever

Wound Healer

Natural Gas-X (we all need it sometimes)

Anxiety Ease

Stress Buster

Muscle Ache Relief

Headache Relief

Upset Tummy Soother

Sleep Time

Arthritis/Achy Joints Relief

Injury Healer

Cold and Flu Fixer

Allergy Relief

Skin Irritation Ease

Weight Loss

Etc! Etc!

I also make personalized Flower Essences. If you feel the need for a more spiritual/emotional healing presence in your life, than having a customized flower essence formula is just the thing. If you haven't worked with Flower Essences, they operate on a more energetic level. They are created by taking the energetic footprint of a flower and capturing that healing essence. Flower Essences are wonderful for healing anxiety, depression, upset, anger, and other emotional or spiritual troubles.

Just email me or call me for whatever you might need! I can also mail remedies to you or you can pick them up here in Portland, Maine.

Mystery or Chemistry?: The Craft of Herbalism and the Role of the Herbalist

A number of people have asked me what exactly is herbalism? What does it mean to be an herbalist? If you say something about herbal tea, most people think of chamomile (and rightfully so, chamomile is a wonderful herb!) and maybe think of the Celestial Seasonings shelf in the grocery store. Luckily for all of us, there is so much more to herbalism!

In the most basic sense, herbalism is about the connection of humans to plants. In one sense it

is utilizing the chemical and physical properties of plants to remedy and support the health of humans. There are herbs that can help nearly any condition or disease. There are herbs for gallstones, sinus infection, viral illness, panic attacks, seasonal depression, painful menstruation, diarrhea, seasonal allergies, bruises, high blood pressure, AIDs, cancer, stroke, etc, etc, etc! There are billions of plants that offer healing to us in a very physical and palpable way. They do so in a way that is natural and do not burden the liver or have side effects the way so many medications do. There are a few herbs that it is very good to exercise caution with, but most herbs are perfectly safe.

Plants offer something else to us beyond their physical properties. For whatever magical reason yarrow seems to offer help to the person that has some sort of bleeding or circulatory imbalance, but it also offers aid to those that seem to be bleeding or wounded spiritually. Mugwort not only helps bring on and balance menstruation, but also brings on dreams and a somewhat mystical state. Elder stimulates circulation and fights viruses, while also bringing healing to those who seem spiritually empty inside or unfulfilled. Agrimony is helpful for a large array of digestive imbalances, but is also helpful for the person who smiles through their emotional pain. Reishi mushroom not only boosters the immune system and nourishes the adrenals, but also nourishes the heart/mind connection. Many of the bitters such as gentian, dandelion, and burdock not only aid digestive imbalances but also put one in touch with their gut instincts. These are only a small sampling. Every medicinal herb offers something beyond the physical side to healing. There is a non-physical aspect to plant healing that can be difficult to name or describe. For me, it is a spiritual experience that leaves me deeply grateful to the earth and the plants she has given us for our healing paths.

The fact that plants provide so much to one's healing path also means that there are specific herbs for each specific person. This is where it is so handy to have an herbalist! For one, it is

helpful to have someone with knowledge of the hundreds of medicinal herbs available to us. However, there is so much more than considering medicinal action that happens in true healing. As an herbalist when I sit with someone I am thinking about herbal actions, the energetics and disposition of the person, how the ailment of the client is connected to other organ systems or factors, the complete bodily and non-bodily journey of the person sitting with me, their psychological and spiritual health and how that is mirrored in their body. I use my knowledge, but I also open my intuition and heart. For me being an herbalist is part spiritual practice.

I spend a lot of time gathering herbs, researching medicinal actions of herbs, learning about the systems of the body, and crafting tinctures and other herbal products. But, I also spend a lot of time building a relationship with plants in a spiritual way. I honor and thank the earth through ceremony and ritual and in return the earth seems to just keep giving. I aim to be the conduit between the plants and the person who is seeking to be healed. It is simply a matter of listening to which herbs speak to the needs of a particular person and being able to relay that message. Sure, it's a little whacky and “woo woo,” but so are many of the things in life that are worthwhile and meaningful.

So, I struggle to answer questions about what herbalism is or what does it mean to be an herbalist. I can feel my two feet straddling two very different worlds. On the one hand there is the very practical and physical side of herbalism. A summary of chemical constituents and plant actions. But then there is the other more mysterious side. The story of the particular powers of a plant for which there is no obvious explanation. The empirical and the magical inhabiting one space.