The Holistic Herbalism Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Herbs A-Z: Rumex & Rosa Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

Snow-delayed by a couple days, here’s our next episode! Today we’re talking about yellow dock and rose.

Yellow dock (Rumex crispus) is also known as curly dock. We also like to work with broadleaf dock (R. obtusifolius) in all the same ways. These herbs can be tinctured or prepared as decoctions. They’re great help for constipation, and if you prepare it right, they can help some chronic diarrhea also. Docks can help skin issues because of the improvements they yield in digestive function and nutrient absorption; they’re classic herbs for working on the gut-skin axis.

Roses (Rosa spp.) of many kinds are excellent for herbal remedies, though we do avoid Valentine’s roses since they’re usually heavily treated. The hips, flowers, leaves, and roots of rose all have medicinal attributes to offer. Are they “just another rose family astringent”, or something more? To us, the answer is simple: just smell it and you’ll know!

Our Integumentary Health course features both yellow dock and rose, along with an array of other herbs who help the skin: burdock and calendula, of course, but also turmeric and echinacea, among others. Whatever the problem is – whether we call it eczema, psoriasis, or just “that troublesome patch of skin”, herbs can help! Topical applications for common herbs play a big role in this work, and we also dig into the effective herbs you can take orally to see results on the skin. Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbalist Is A Verb Mar 05, 2023

Show notes

Is it more accurate to say “I am an herbalist” or “I’m doing herbalism”? To us, if “herbalist” is an identity, a name, a noun – then you’re subject to imposter syndrome. Why? Because you’re treating it as something you can be, once and for all, based on a credential or status. But like all living and growing things, herbalist is a verb.

If “herbalist” is a piece of paper you hang on the wall, or a pile of books you’ve read, it’s easy to feel defensive when you’re challenged. But when “herbalist” is a set of actions you do every day, then the evidence is right there to see. The basis for your claims and beliefs is right there, today and tomorrow.

In herbalism as in few other arts of healing, we have the ability to follow this maxim: don’t suggest something to another person until you do it yourself. Get the direct experience: it’s where integrity lives!

Not sure how to start? Check out our Herbal Study Tips!

If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Rhodiola & Rhus Feb 24, 2023

Show notes

Today we’ve got two astringent herbs to discuss, though their similarities pretty much end with that quality. Rhodiola and staghorn sumac are our topic!

Rhodiola rosea has been commercialized and popularized as an adaptogen and “antidepressant” herb. It’s quite warming, drying, and tonifying – really great if you need to row a viking ship across the North Atlantic… or if your day-to-day work life feels like that kind of marathon. It is an herb of extremes, and it can have adverse effects if you take too much. Working with corrigent herbs, taking breaks, and formulating thoughtfully can make this herb more appropriate for your system.

Staghorn sumac, Rhus typhina = R. hirta, is extremely abundant – some even call it ‘invasive’! Cooling, drying, and quite tonifying (especially the leaves), sumac is a good friend. The berries make a nice sour red drink, and we like to make ‘red tea’ with sumac, hibiscus, rose hip, goji, and sometimes schisandra or elderberry. This is a great antioxidant-rich preparation which tastes great with a little honey; even kids like it! Sumac leaf is astringent enough to resolve diarrhea, serve in wound care, or help shrink swollen varicosities.

Stressed and struggling? Trudging through your days? Check out our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This course is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too!

Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Prunella & Pulmonaria Feb 19, 2023

Show notes

Today’s herbs from our apothecary shelf are self-heal and lungwort!

Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris, is a lovely lymph-moving herb who we often find in woodland trails. You can find it in lots of places – “vulgaris” does mean “common”, after all – but you probably won’t find it very readily in commerce. It’s not the easiest plant to grow for profit, but thankfully it is easy to grow for yourself! And you may well want to: it’s an excellent wound-healer, lymph-mover, inflammation-reducer, and all-around alterative. (Also worth mentioning is the look-similar plant carpet bugle, Ajuga reptans, which has many of the same actions.)

Lungwort, Pulmonaria officinalis, is an herb Katja likes to add to teas for flavor. It’s not a strong flavor, more of a base note to build on. Lungwort’s in the borage family but it does not have the dangerous types of pyrrolizidine alkaloids – that’s a relief! (Some plants in that family can be damaging to the liver, but not lungwort.) This is not only an herb for bringing moisture to the lungs, easing the elimination of mucous and soothing a cough; it’s also a nice mildly moistening herb to include for balancing the energetics of a formula. NB: don’t confuse this lungwort with Lobaria pulmonaria, a lichen which also has some respiratory actions (though of quite a different nature; the lichen is drying).

Do you find studying herbalism to be overwhelming? Fret not! There are lots of ways to study, and lots of ways to enhance your learning. We’ve collected our favorites into a FREE COURSE for you: Herbal Study Tips! A few of our favorite tips? Learn like a cat (with lots of naps!), write up postcard-sized “scripts” for common explanations, choose an Herb of the Month, and claim teatime as a radical act of self-care and self-instruction. This free course is fun and designed to make all your learning – whether that’s with us, from other teachers, from books, or from the plants themselves – more exciting and effective.

If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Pedicularis & Polygonatum Feb 06, 2023

Show notes

Relaxants come in many varieties. Today we come to two herbs who relax tension patterns in the body, yet are quite different from one another.

Pedicularis densiflora, P. canadensis, and P. groenlandica are just a few of the “louseworts”, also sometimes known as wood betony. We ourselves usually mean Stachys officinalis when we say “betony”, and east of the Rockies that’s usually how it goes. Both betonies release tension, though we think of Stachys as reaching the body via the mind, and Pedicularis as reaching the mind via the body. This is an herb you don’t need to take in high doses to get a good effect; even a touch in smoke is palpable.

Solomon’s seal is Polygonatum biflorum or P. multiflorum, and in some contexts the species P. odoratum is similar enough. Just watch out for certain medicinal processing in some traditions, this can change the properties of the herb from its basic set of moistening, relaxant, and cooling. Sol’seal root is a good one to chew, or take in tincture; we do love it in water but reserve that for special occasions.

Both of these herbs appear in our Musculoskeletal Health course as well as our Neurological & Emotional Health course. Whether you’re looking to release some physical tension, soften some emotional rigidity, or a bit of both, pedicularis & solomon’s seal can help you let go.

If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Pinus & Plantago Jan 28, 2023

Show notes

Our herbs this week are pine and plantain! A mighty tall tree and a humble herb of the packed earth.

Pine trees come in many varieties. Around Boston we mainly find white pine (Pinus strobus) and red pine (Pinus resinosa), but many others are similar. Pine can help sustain energy and mood, so we consider it a stimulant – but not like coffee. Pine will help you stand steady, not make you jittery. We like to include a bit of twig along with the needles in our tea, as this gets a bit of resinous material in there as well. As Ryn can (and will, at any opportunity) tell you, pines are lovely to climb – if you can make it to the first branch, that is!

Plantain – we’re talking about Plantago species, not the banana thing! – is an herb who loves paths and the people who make them. Whether the introduced and very common Plantago major or P. lanceolata, or the native-to-North-America purple-stemmed P. rugelii, this is a flexible and versatile herb. In this episode we focus on its capacity to help a uniquely modern problem: the impacts on our bodies of pharmaceuticals, especially NSAIDs. At the gut lining and the liver, plantain helps resolve the damage these sometimes-necessary medications can cause. And this from a very safe plant, with no known drug interactions!

Our Integumentary Health course features pine and plantain several times, along with an array of other herbs who help the skin: burdock and calendula, of course, but also turmeric and echinacea, among others. Whatever the problem is – whether we call it eczema, psoriasis, or just “that troublesome patch of skin”, herbs can help! Topical applications for common herbs play a big role in this work, and we also dig into the effective herbs you can take orally to see results on the skin. Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Palmaria & Passiflora Jan 21, 2023

Show notes

A seaweed and a vine-flower, how are they alike? We started out this episode feeling like these two herbs were completely different from one another. By the time we got to the end, though, we found a unifying quality or two.

Dulse, whose Latin name is Palmaria palmata, is our favorite choice for those who are new to seaweeds. It has a mild flavor, isn’t too ‘fishy’ or too ‘slimy’. It may not exactly be “bacon of the sea”, but it sure does add a nice salty & umami flavor to dishes! Dulse is also a great provider of minerals (but not too much iodine, so don’t worry). Its nourishing qualities support us in a very grounded way, at the mineral levels of bone, muscle, and nerve health. In archetypal terms, it is an “earth of water” herb.

Passiflora incarnata is the botanical name for passionflower. This is an astonishingly beautiful flower – make a web search to check out some photos, you’ll see what we mean. (Oh, and don’t neglect ‘passionflower UV light’ as a search term: see what it looks like to bees!) It’s an excellent plant to sit with for meditation – and it can help you move into a more meditative state of mind, too. Famously helpful in sleep formulae, passionflower helps rein in the spinning, anxous mind, and brings it inward and downward. If you’re comfortable with elemental language, it might make sense to look at this herb as embodying the “earth of air.”

If you’re having trouble sleeping, if anxiety is keeping you up at night, we’ve got a plan for that. Our short course, Holistic Help for Better Sleep, teaches you key strategies for lengthening and deepening your rest each night. You’ll also meet our favorite herbs to help with sleep disturbances and insomnia, and how to choose the right herbs for your own personal sleep needs. What’s more, you receive everything that comes with enrollment in our courses, including: lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Ocimum & Oenothera Jan 14, 2023

Show notes

Today’s herbs are two excellent friends to the human nervous & emotional systems. Tulsi and evening primrose are both nervines, and although they are rather different from one another, they fit together nicely.

Tulsi or ‘holy basil’, Ocimum sanctum aka O. tenuiflorum, has featured on our podcast many times previously: as a supportive herb for psychological first aid, sugar cravings, trauma recovery, and cognitive maintenance, among other things! It’s truly a multifaceted herb who can help many of us.

Evening primrose, Oenothera biennis, is an herb we find very helpful for ‘frazzled’ anxious feelings, whether those have arisen in response to stressors, in the process of quitting smoking, or simply as an extension of a dry, tense constitution. It’s not so easy to find for sale, but it’s very easy to grow your own!

We also have a few comments in this episode about a relative of evening primrose called Circaea lutetiana, the “enchanter’s nightshade”. This plant isn’t actually a nightshade, and its primary enchantments have to do with its leaf shapes and seed dispersal strategies, more than its actions or chemistry. If you want to learn a fun new word today, let us propose “zoochory” as a candidate!

Tulsi & evening primrose both make appearances in our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This course is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too! In addition, you receive everything that comes with enrollment in our courses, including: lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Monarda & Nepeta Jan 06, 2023

Show notes

Happy new year everyone! May 2023 be an herb-filled year for all of us!

Monarda species plants are sometimes known as bee balm, wild bergamot, horsemint, or a variety of other names, but we usually just call them monarda. These lovely mint-family members produce an abundance of hot, “sharp” aromatics which are extraordinarily helpful in infectious respiratory issues. Monarda is fantastic in a steam, but teas and tinctures are also very effective ways to work with this herb. If the intensity is a bit too much, or if you have a dry constitution, try formulating with some demulcents such as fennel, licorice, lungwort, or marshmallow.

Catnip is well-known to many, yet underappreciated. Nepeta cataria is not only for felines – although it is indeed quite good for them to have a little catnip, regularly! For humans, catnip is an excellent relaxant. It works this way in the digestion (releasing cramps and upward-rising heat or nausea), in the skin (as a relaxant diaphoretic), and in the emotions (as a soothing and calming remedy). It’s easy to grow your own, and it’s quite safe even for young children or for elders.

No matter your level of experience or training, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs! Plus, you get everything that comes with enrollment in our courses: twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, discussion threads integrated in each lesson, guides & quizzes, and more. Two tuition options are available, including a monthly payment plan.

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Herbs A-Z: Mentha, Mentha, Mentha! Dec 11, 2022

Show notes

20% OFF ALL COURSES & PROGRAMS FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF DECEMBER – USE CODE DECEMBER2022 AT CHECKOUT!

Today we’re profiling a few of our favorite “minty” mints! We discuss spearmint, peppermint, & pennyroyal.

Spearmint (Mentha spicata) has a light flavor and impression, with moderate menthol content. It’s gotten a lot of attention in herbal circles for potential impacts on elevated androgen levels in certain circumstances, but is this generalizable? We’re not convinced. We see spearmint as a relaxant and soothing herb first and foremost.

Peppermint, on the other hand, is quite stimulating! In part this is due to stronger menthol content and concomitant strength as a relaxant. Cerebral circulation benefits from this combination, and peppermint can help brain fog in many cases. It’s important to be clear that products made with peppermint essential oil are not the same as drinking EO in water (which we advise against very adamantly).

With pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) it’s even more important to stick to tea rather than the EO. Cases exist of fatalities due to ingesting the EO, in an attempted herbal abortion. This is not going to work, and it is dangerous: don’t do it! But, that doesn’t mean a single cup of pennyroyal tea will cause an abortion, either… As a tea the herb is an effective pelvic circulatory stimulant & relaxant. If peppermint is helpful for brain fog, then pennyroyal is helpful for “uterus fog”!

20% OFF ALL COURSES & PROGRAMS FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF DECEMBER – USE CODE DECEMBER2022 AT CHECKOUT!

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Holistic Herbalism Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected