Commonwealth Podcast For Holistic Herbalism

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 subscrib

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 h

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 Respo

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 he

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

"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 org

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 plan

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.He

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 emph

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, bur

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 alw

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, u

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 sup

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, codonop

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

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 conven

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 reas

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 movemen

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! Whe

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