Commonwealth Podcast For Holistic Herbalism

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 re

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 proble

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 a

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 enchan

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 cal

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

Tonight we’re talking about two of our favorite herbs, and two of the tastier herbs in our materia medica.Goji berry, Lycium barbarum / L. chinense, is an excellent post-workout adaptogen. It’s a very good herb to consume as food, whether a simple handful of dried berries, included in a trail mix, cooked into rice, or decocted into dissolution in a broth. It is famous as an herb for building Blood in TCM, and also for supporting blood vessels from the perspective of modern phytochemistry.Chamomile – and we’re talking primarily about “German” chamomile, Matricaria recutita – is quite possibly the herb we mention most often! It’s definitely a favorite, with its light relaxant aromatics and its deep antispasmodic bitters. Chamomile is a panacea of nuances: depending on how you prepare and apply it, it can serve a myriad of different functions.These quick plant profiles were done off-the-cuff & on-the-spot. If you enjoyed them, we have more! Our organized & comprehensive presentation of our herbal allies

This week we highlight lavender & motherwort!Lavandula angustifolia (and many other Lavandula species), a well-known scent to everyone, recognizable and soothing. Lavender relaxes and releases tension. It has a warmth to it, which is more noticeable the more you take or the longer you take it. The flowers are the part that are most popular and available, but we also love to work with lavender leaf! It’s more astringent and less “floral” than the flowers are, and makes a lovely tea.Leonurus cardiaca is a lion-hearted plant with strong protection for its “babies”, the seeds. Motherwort soothes the human heart and releases tension, draining excess heat. It can also relax the pelvic organs, and because of this, help bring on menstrual flow that is restricted by tension. Despite warnings you may see, motherwort is quite safe even for a pregnant human, at the common dose strengths of Western/American herbal practice.Lavender & motherwort both feature prominently in our Neurological & Emotional Health co

We’re back to our apothecary shelf herb profile tour! This week we have a pair of herbs who both support respiratory function. They demonstrate two types of heat: pungency and the hot aromatics.The root of elecampane, Inula helenium, taste in a way we fondly refer to as “peppery mud”. This herb is fantastic for cold, damp lung conditions. When you feel like you’d need a shovel to get all the phlegm out of your lungs, look to elecampane for help. Inula is also an excellent digestive herb, and these effects are most comprehensive when it’s taken as a decoction.The leaves and, especially, the berries of juniper (Juniperus communis) are bright with warm, airy aromatic movement. Simply holding a berry in your mouth and letting its vapors pervade your sinuses & lungs is an old trick from the Nature Cure movment. Today it’s a good habit for when you’re traveling or in a large group of humans! Juniper’s an excellent urinary antiseptic also, and for Katja, it’s a standout emotional support herb.Our Respiratory Hea

We’re almost moved! This week our episode is about the herbs we’ve kept on the shelves so that we have them available every day. These are plants that are helping us get through the physical exertion, dust!, and stress of packing & moving. We talk all about why we love them in this episode, and some formulae for infusions & decoctions we’ve been drinking to keep steady.We also discuss in this episode the possibilities for formulation with the herbs we’ve kept on hand. There are lots of different ways to put them together to address different health issues. These exercises in flexible formulation, and in making do with what you have on hand, are central to our practice of herbalism. Learning herbalism, to us, isn’t about rare or ‘exotic’ plants, expensive remedies, superfoods, and complicated protocols. It’s much more about learning to work with herbs in an agile, responsive way – and about appreciating the breadth of their potential.Here are the herbs we kept on hand:angelicareishiastragaluseleutheroc

Ryn says: We've got another replay for you this week, and it's one of my personal favorites. (It also happens to be from right around the last time we moved!) It's episode 95 from 10/5/2019, and it's an episode we made right after I attended the MovNat Level 3 certification challenge. It was a 4-day course/test/immersion in natural movement. It was quite the challenge! We ran three miles barefoot on complex terrain, we jumped 9' across rocky chasms, we picked each other up and carried each other up the hill & down the trail, we hefted logs and traversed ropes, we held our breath in icy streams... it was great, and it was HARD. :) In this episode, we talk about all the herbs I took to prepare beforehand, and the ones I brought along to help me 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!Oh, one last note: In the episode y

We're replaying some of our favorite episodes from the back catalog of the Holistic Herbalism Podcast. In this one, originally aired as episode 142 on 11/6/2020, we highlight four of our favorite fungi: shiitake, maitake, reishi, & lion's mane.Essentially all medicinal mushrooms share some features of interest herbalists. Famously, they can modulate immune responses – boosting immune surveillance and efficiency, while reducing excessive inflammatory or autoimmune expressions. Some mushrooms can also have adaptogenic activity, improving our endurance, resilience, and fluidity of response to stressors. And some mushrooms (more than you might expect, actually) can even help regenerate damaged or diseased nerve tissue, and protect the nervous system. Sounds pretty good, right? Listen for the full story.Mentioned in this episode:Herbal Revolution – our friend Kathi Langelier’s new herbal recipe book – you can pre-order your copy today! Also check out all her excellent herbal remedies & delights.R

We realized that the Autumnal equinox is coming up soon: Thursday 9/22 at 9:04 PM, for those of you keeping track! This made us want to re-air episode 155, a discussion of our Equinox Thoughts on Balance & Amphoteric Herbs, originally aired on 3/20/2021.This episode is all about balance. Equinox is the time of year when day & night have equal length. Herbalists use the word "amphoteric" to mean an herb that has a balancing activity, one that is capable of acting in ways that seem opposite, depending on the context in which it’s taken. But to understand how amphoteric herbs could be balancers in this way, first we need to investigate the concept of balance a little bit. What does it mean to find balance, or stay balanced? What does it mean that we’re all seeking balance? How can the experience of building physical balance skills teach us about finding mental & emotional balance? And of course: how can herbs help us find it, and maintain it?We teach herbalism online! When you sign up for a

One of our habits as herbalists and teachers is to avoid the word “use” with reference to plants. We don’t say “I use meadowsweet for headaches” or “I use Japanese knotweed for Lyme disease”. We don’t say “I use chamomile for stomach cramps” or even “I use ginger as a stimulating diaphoretic”. And when students ask “how do you use schisandra berries?”, we stop and have a discussion about the word before we talk about the plant. If you’ve listened to our podcast for a while, you might have noticed this already!Why do we do it? First and foremost, we don’t regard plants as “things”, anymore than we do animals or people. They are living beings and deserve respect. This is not merely a personal matter. The dominant cultural perspective which regards plants as mere resources to be exploited has visible consequences in our world. Ecosystem destruction is the major force threatening wild plant populations, and overharvesting is another top factor. Both are outgrowths of a view of plants as commodities. Changing our

Yellow leaves, undeveloped fruit, long “leggy” stems between the leaf nodes – these are some of the key signs of a plant under stress. But if you’ve never met this species before, you might not know something’s off! Other signs are not so visible, and require you to know the plant stand for a season or a full year before you can see them. The point here is this: both observation and patience are needful to accurately assess the stress load of a plant, stand, or ecosystem.Taking the time to get to know these indicators, and to steward the land you gather from, will make you a better herbalist. Whether you’re a wildcrafter, grower, clinician, product maker, or any other type of herbalist, patient observation and adaptive response are key skills, and they transfer smoothly from one domain to the others.Our Herbal Community Care Toolkit is chock full of low-cost, abundantly accessible herbs for addressing common health issues. Students in this program learn our most effective-yet-inexpensive strategies for improv

We’re back! We had a bit of an interruption in our podcasting schedule, and we’re sorry! We’re moving to our “forever home” very soon, and the podcast took a back burner to online course production work. But we’ve got a plan! This episode and the next two constitute a mini-series on herbalism and climate change. After that, we’ll re-air a few of our favorite episodes from years past. By the time pumpkin spice season hits, we’ll be back again to continue our Herbs A-Z profile series.Today’s topic was spurred by the many reports of drought conditions around the world, as well as a particular article just a few days old which reported on falling yields of some major botanicals. Chamomile, valerian, elderberry, and pine bark harvests have all declined substantially in recent years, and they’re certainly not the only plants affected. Furthermore, the quality of the plant material available is also being impacted, as variations in moisture and heat lead to differences in phytochemical production.Declining harvests

July sale! Use code TOGETHER2022 at checkout for 20% off any course or program!This week we’re presenting an exercise in practical herbalism.In this instance we’re describing a case of anxious insomnia. We outline the situation, and then you can pause the show and come up with some ideas about how you would help this individual. Then, we share our take – not “the answers”, but some ideas about what we’d want to do, and questions we’d want to ask, to help this person.We include these “Let’s Practice” lessons in all our courses, and they help students put their knowledge into a real-world context.Don’t miss our sale! For the entire month of July, you can use the code TOGETHER2022 to get 20% off any of our online herbalism courses. You can use the code multiple times! It even works on our extended programs, like the Community Herbalist program. You can share it with friends & family!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This h

Today we have abandoned the alphabet! Well, not entirely, just for purposes of bringing you a pair of relaxant diaphoretic herbs in this summer heat. These are two plants who are both helpful for releasing inner heat (whether physical or emotional) and allowing cooler heads to prevail.Linden, Tilia spp., is a common city tree where we live. It’s very easy to identify, just look for the real-heart-shaped toothed leaves, plus the yellow-green smooth-edged “extra leaves” or bracts underneath. The flowers are aromatic and very relaxing, and the leaves have mucilage that emerges when the tea cools. This tree offers amazing abundance every year, but holds its own reserve safe within; it can help us do the same.The herb called lemon balm, Melissa off., is likewise a relaxant diaphoretic. It’s also an excellent digestive, similar to catnip in many ways. Both are relaxant to digestive cramping and spasms. Lemon balm calms agitation, and that’s actually one of the ways it helps reduce the severity and duration of herpe

Today’s featured herbs are excellent in sun tea. Simply spoon them into a jar, pour in water, cover it up, and place it in the sun for several hours. Sun tea makes a light herbal infusion and is best for herbs that can be well extracted in a short hot infusion.The calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa is distinct from those of other species in the genus. It’s fleshy, red, and sour. These characteristics are signals to us. The red means antioxidant/anti-inflammatory and blood-vessel-stabilizing actions; the sour means draining to excess fluid, and cooling to excess heat. The leaf & flower of hibiscus (from various species including the rose of Sharon, H. syriacus and rose mallow, H. rosa-sinensis) can also be taken as an herb. They are moistening in nature, like other members of the mallow family.Solstice is the right time to harvest st john’s wort, Hypericum perforatum. That’s when this herb’s medicinal constituents are at their peak of production. More complex than “an herbal SSRI”, the effects of st john’s wort

Today our apothecary shelves present us with a pair of adaptogens! As we continue our series looking at the herbs we keep on hand at home, this week we encounter two particularly excellent herbs for stressed-out folks with dry constitutions.Licorice’s botanical Latin name tells us straight out that the herb is sweet: Glycyrrhiza glabra means “smooth sweet root”. This sweetness comes together with the plant’s moistening qualities; it’s one of our sweet demulcents, like fennel. Licorice makes a great topical remedy for dry irritated skin. It has a particular affinity for the adrenal glands & cortisol metabolism, and can often help with chronic fatigue. We prefer to take it in formula rather than on its own, and this is also a good idea for safety considerations. (The herb, if taken alone and in large doses, can raise blood pressure.)Gynostemma pentaphyllum is known also as jiaogulan; it’s one of a number of plants sometimes called “poor man’s ginseng”. It has a number of actions and constituents in common w