The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrails but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration — all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup — Ah! but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves…Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither. ~Lo T'ung (a Chinese literary hero)

Hot is my favorite weather, cold least. Still there are sweltering times when nothing comforts like coolness. A splash of water, a glimmering pool, a plunge into ocean waves, a long drink, watermelon… 

Energetics

Ethnobotanist and Herbalist, David Winston…”throughout the great systems of herbal medicine, energetics is universal. Whether talking about Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Unani-tibb, Campo from Japan, or Native American traditions, there is a system of energetics that matches the herb to the person instead of trying to treat a disease…”

I spent four years studying with David Winston; his knowledge of herbal medicine traditions is amazing. He teaches through the system of energetics. He explains that some herbs are cooling, some are warming, some are drying, some are moistening, some are sedating and some are stimulating. Matching the herb to the person, a warm herb to someone who is cold, a moistening herb to someone who complains of dryness, is using energetics. The concept differs from labeling herbs as good for specific conditions, a headache, depression, or menopause for example. Energetics involves sitting with a person, learning about them then applying the properties of a plant, its taste and actions, expressly to help with their individual condition or concern.

Energetics is a way that plants speak: I will heat things up. I will moisten. I have a bitter bite. I will chill things down. In order to get to know a plant better, listen to their energetics, listen to what they are telling you and allow it to help best determine their use.

Cooling Energetics

Ray Bradbury…the best scientist is open to experience and romance – the idea that anything is possible.

Cooling body temperature involves more than just hot and cold, dry and damp matter. Where I live in the Northeastern US, intense humidity compounds the heat of summer days. Moisture and dampness in the air feel stifling; humidity makes it feel hotter than the thermometer reads. In humidity we sweat less. Because the moisture in the air prevents evaporation, the sweat cooling mechanism gets blocked. In contrast, desert climates of western states and places like the Middle East, Turkey, and Southeast Asia contend with dry hot. Traditionally people cooled off drinking hot tea. Hot beverages raise the internal body temperature, which produces sweat. When the sweat evaporates from the skin hot energy is released into the air. Being in dry heat causes sweating, drinking hot tea increases that sweating resulting in a cooling sensation.

Plant constituents and their properties help explain how herbs work. Diaphoretics and aromatic volatile oils induce sweating, the body’s natural way of cooling off. Bitter tasting herbs are cooling in nature and clear heat through elimination of toxins. Many heat-clearing herbs are also antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, reduce fever, protect the liver and heart, as well as lower blood pressure. It is hard to imagine that ancient cultures knew about cooling plant properties, but their practices indicate they did. Energetics seems esoteric but the ability to determine a plant’s chemical constituents helps substantiation of theoretical concepts.

How Heat Affects Us

17th century English poet, Robert Herrick…a spark neglected makes a mighty fire.

Traditional systems of medicine like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) or Ayurveda treat excessive heat accumulation in the body seriously. Heat progression from mild warmth to extreme fire creates internal imbalances and depending on severity can cause injury to body organs and systems. Herbs categorized as energetically heat-clearing are cold, bitter or sweet, and drying, all strong characteristics.

Signs that indicate over hot include intense thirst and desire for cold drinks, mental restlessness and irritability, lethargy, red face, dry stools, scanty dark urine, feeling your pulse pounding, red tongue. Internal heat looks and feels like pain that burns, raised red skin eruptions, burning in the stomach or bitter taste. Heat can be from external sources, like summer heat, but can happen in winter, too. That painful sore throat or fever is heat that would benefit from cooling therapy, such as herbal teas. Heat can also build internally from food we eat, too much alcohol, spicy or greasy foods. Or emotional problems, pent up anger, hot tempers and stress. Irregular work schedules and lack of sleep create an environment of heat. And hormones especially changes at the time of menopause cause heat signs like hot flashes and night sweating. Cooling herbs help the body release heat, either generally or in one particular organ, so the internal heat will not create chaos.

Traditional Cooling Mode

Japanese Scholar and author of The Book of Tea, Okakura Kakuzo…tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage.

Before there was air conditioning, before ceiling fans, before ice machines and refrigeration, nature was cool reliance. People who live in humid and hot regions know intuitively what to do, traditions passed down since ancient times. In China the remedy is Liáng chá, translation “cooling tea” originating from the Southern region of China, a tropical climate, lots of heat and damp humidity. The recipe for Liáng chá is elusive and different secret formulas are difficult to define. In China this beverage out sells soda, by far, so much so that retail Liáng chá houses exist everywhere. Their competitive sales market parallels the Coke/Pepsi wars in the United States. Two rival Liáng chá companies exist, one that makes it in a red can and one in a green box. Not only are they fighting for popularity, they are fighting for use of the name, ingredients, and advertising space. Marketing of Liáng chá in China emphasize health benefits in addition to cooling ability of herbal teas challenging choice over “gassy, artificially sweetened drinks” aka soda. The common main ingredients are mint, chrysanthemum, longan fruit and honeysuckle, all well known for their cooling ability, no tea leaves just herbs, all with traditional uses. The red can is called Wang Lo Kat or Wanglaoji. It is available on Amazon.

The Drinks of Chill

Author, Jane Austen…what dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.

Lemonade the American refresher, actually originated in Egypt as a peasant’s wine, lemon juice mixed with dates or honey. An ice-cold drink, whatever it may be, is what we do here in the US. In other hot climates of the world, people go with other options. Icy beverages are hard on the body; they make it work hard and may cause digestion problems. Have you ever felt bloated after a milkshake or other frozen drink? Still hydration is important. Herbal teas work with the body to cool it down. Peppermint, spearmint, sage, all energetically cooling prepared as tea and added to lemonade, smoothies, mixed with seltzer for herbal soda, or coconut milk are options. Below are some other global examples.

India

In Northern provinces, the area where the Taj Mahal resides, Sattu is the cooling summer drink – made with sattu flour, a roasted gram flour, the Western garbanzo bean or chickpea flour, Bob’s Red Mill makes a version. Known for its nutritive benefits, gram flour is gluten free, high in protein, fiber, and minerals. Ayurveda classifies sattu as energetically cooling and cleansing. It is a staple ingredient for many Indian classic foods. Two versions exist, sweet and savory. Gram flour is mixed with water to which lemon juice, crushed mint leaves, black pepper, cumin powder, and salt are added for the savory version. It is served chilled over ice. The sweet sattu is gram flour mixed with milk and jaggary, a rich brown sugar, almost molasses like.

Lassi – also from Northern India, is a blended yogurt drink made with fruit or spices such as cardamom and saffron. Usually the yogurt is a homemade curd, blended with water and sugar and served chilled.

Middle East/Turkey/Southeastern Asia

Hot Tea – yes hot tea, any kind. Counterintuitive perhaps, but hot tea causes sweating under conditions like the hot, dry desert climates of this area of the world ultimately creating a cooling effect.

Sharbat - a sparkling relative of lemonade, with herbal, floral, and fruity varieties. The base is a syrup infused with herbs: rose, willow, mint, basil or fruits like orange, lemon, lime, pomegranate, mango really any would do. Water and ice finish it off.

Latin America

Aqua de Jamaica – flor de Jamaica, otherwise known as hibiscus flowers are well known for their cooling properties. To prepare, combine 1 quart water with an 1/8 inch piece of ginger, finely grated in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and add ½ cup dried hibiscus flowers and ½ cup sugar, cover and steep for 10 minutes, strain, stir in one or two teaspoons of lime juice and serve chilled or over ice.

Horchata (don’t pronounce the “H”) – this blend of rice milk, ground almonds, cinnamon, and sugar has cooling properties of its own, but is often a beverage accompaniment to spicy foods. The highly chili seasoned foods of Latin America serve the same sweating purpose as drinking hot tea. Drinking the cooling milkshake-like horchata cools the palate and balances tastes.

Cooling Foods

• Cucumber
• Watermelon
• Asparagus
• Leafy greens
• Salads
• Tofu
• Rice
• Corn
• Berries
• Mango
• Pineapple

Cooling Herbs

• Wintergreen
• Peppermint
• Spearmint
• Borage
• Hibiscus
• Elderflower
• Sage
• Coriander
• Dill
• Mulberry
• Longan fruit
• Lemon balm
• Lemongrass
• Bacopa
• Shatavari
• Dandelion
• Bitter Melon
• Goldenseal

Warming Spices (that can also cool)

These are warming and sweet not pungent. Pungent herbs would increase heat. Sweet and warm herbs stimulate perspiration for a cooling effect.

• Cardamom
• Fennel
• Saffron
• Cumin

Rising Appalachia an amazing sister duo who often lend their voices to the herb world

Our bodies depend on a delicate balance that can be easily upset. A huge list of peace destroyers are equaled by harmonizing systems that naturally click in to restore it. But still these mechanisms often need help and herbs are helpers. On one level natural elements or energetic qualities can create problems: cold, heat, dampness, and dryness. Focusing on these basic influences form a method for selecting which herb to take and when. Warming herbs for cold, cooling for heat. Drying or astringent herbs act as dampness drainers. Moistening demulcent plants can be the answer for dryness.

More to come...

 

Moistening herbs:

• Fennel
• Flax seed
• Irish moss
• Licorice
• Marshmallow root
• Slippery elm

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself...William Shakespeare

The cleansing subject and our detoxification needs, both hard to ignore in today's chemical-laden, industrialized world.

We live in a toxic world and our bodies know it. Amazing organ systems reside naturally inside us to prevent problems associated with toxin build up. Enzymes in our liver, sweat glands on our skin, elimination systems in our lungs, kidneys, and digestive system all serve as natural detoxifiers. And yet, with the overload of toxin exposure this may not be enough; these systems may need help.

There are many ways of cleansing. Liver cleanses, blood cleanses, whole body cleanses and each carries promises that likely are not permanent; although, in the short term may be true. Cleansing of the mind, the heart, the spirit are all not to be forgotten. There are gentle methods and stronger, there are retreats and just a few days of this drink or that fast. Herbs have a place in the world of cleansing and can touch on all needed areas.

The ultimate cleaner goal involves altering the body toward better health. Herbs can have a pivotal role, especially two broad herbal classifications. Alteratives are referred to as blood purifiers but they don’t actually do that, they don’t have a direct effect on blood. Instead they assist in the breakdown and elimination of metabolic waste and toxins as well as enhance absorption of nutrients; the ultimate effect is a cleaner system, a purer internal environment. Alteratives overlap with herbs classified as bitter. Many alteratives are bitter and vice versa. Merely the taste of a bitter herb initiates an action. The stimulation of bitter taste receptors ignites a surge of digestive enzymes. This moistens food allowing for better movement through the digestive tract and assists break down of food into substances that facilitate optimal nutrient absorption. Additionally, most bitters simulate the liver and release of bile from the gallbladder vital to fat digestion and stool production.

Generally, the green leaf parts of plants are gentler. They tend to be diuretics, which means they work as cleansers through the kidneys; eliminating or removing waste products in urine rather than allowing them to build up. Roots likely will target the liver and push the body a bit more. The liver is vital to metabolism and detoxification as the place where the junk goes. Material that enters from the environment, whether from food or drugs, passes through the liver where it meets intricate detoxification enzyme systems that change the substances into a form that can be eliminated so as to not litter our bodies with impurities. Waste products accumulate in body fluids such as blood, lymphatic fluid, digestive juices and then meet other cleansing systems in kidneys, large intestine, and skin which then work to get them out of the body. Alterative and bitter herbs can assist this intense work to run more efficiently.

As spring turns to summer, we crave the shedding of extra protection layers, lightening, cleansing. But it’s not just in summer that we benefit from cleansing as exposure to toxins through chemicals in our environment is constant. By maintaining a gentle state of cleanse, our organs and body will function better. Sort of like cleaning your house once a week versus letting it go, waiting for spring cleaning. Just as too much dust is problematic, accumulating impurities in our body’s tissues that act like toxins, will wreak all kinds of havoc. Alterative and bitter herbs offer year round cleaning, like the housekeeper who comes once a week and never lets the dirt pile up. Some herbs are gentle enough to use daily and year round, others should be reserved for more deep spring cleaning and perhaps while working with an herbalist. We may not live in a perfectly clean world and odds are that some type of environmental toxin is present, but the plant kingdom offers us natural tools and the power of choice.

 

Alterative Herbs:

• Dandelion
• Burdock
• Yellow Dock
• Cleavers
• Nettles
• Sassafras
• Sarsparilla
• Mullien
• Chickweed
• Red Clover
• Red Root
• Violet

Bitter Herbs:

• Dandelion
• Yarrow
• Artichoke
• Yellow dock
• Angelica
• Gentian
• Goldenseal
• Boneset
• Orange peel
• Chicory
• Hops

Delicate and beautiful yet potent and restorative, flowers…the soul of a plant. A garden filled with blossoms creates some type of mystical energy that without much attention restores, rectifies, and rebuilds calm. Whether a quick pass by, a deep breath in, a light touch, or a taste, sensing flowers has since ancient times been enticing and curative.

Rachel Carson said, “Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”

It may be a mystery and a bit of a miracle every time a flower blooms, however, my mindfulness of nature’s wonder often regrettably falls short. Scrutiny every single day…winter, spring, summer or fall and observation eventually sparks my curiosity. No matter the weather and even when I dread it, twice daily, I walk similar routes with my dogs. Usually, I don’t take my phone and I watch. Slowly I begin to understand what I rarely paid attention to before, I start to get what learning from nature means. I cower in the cold, wind and rain, but a tree stands strong. The calm champions survive so uncomplaining in all elements. Shrubs become greyish brown twiggy sculptures in the cold days of winter, but then before it's even warm enough for comfort, little green leaf buds begin to push out or sprout up from nowhere. And then the flowers begin to bloom. They're a beautiful display of vibrant colors without even knowing how lovely they are. Shining spontaneously, with no ulterior motive and fading as quickly as they blossom, no attempts at preservation. Beauty isn't important; their purpose: pollination, seed production and dispersal is what matters. A role model on modesty in our culture that emphasizes how we look.

“I must have flowers, always, and always.” — Claude Monet

Whether in their natural state, as essential oils, perfumes, or essences, flowers have always been a celebrity in nature’s performance. The first decorations, accessory, adornments, special occasion motifs, holiday emblems, and calendar symbols were flowers. The royalty of the middle ages became obsessed with flower gardens combining Biblical references, mystical associations and revered beauty.

Perhaps the magic around flowers began with amazement at their blossoming delicacy, fragrance, and color. The flower parts that combine to form the splendor follow the same general order even in their great diversity and variety. On the outside lives a ring of sepals, then a ring of petals. Inside there is a ring of stamen and then one or more pistil in the center. Our eyes have to look super close to decipher each part; often they're so tiny. Sometimes they appear like one flower but inside many small flowers come together to look like one. In herbalism, the botanical construction of flowers is the key for plant identification. Flowers are the guides. It's easier to recognize a plant by its flowers, more than its leaves, bark or the underground roots.

The chemical composition uniquely in flowers is responsible for color, fragrance or texture. Three groups of pigments contribute to the color of flowers. Betalains, carotenoids, and anthocyanins are phytochemicals that from a biochemical perspective also produce effects inside our bodies. We are hearing more and more about the health benefits of phytochemicals. Benefits like anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, and anti-aging properties. Research continues to emerge supporting recommendations to increase fruits and vegetables to get more phytochemicals. What about eating flowers? The complex floral aroma chemistry makes for perfumes and other scented products, but from a medicinal perspective it is mainly volatile oils and organic acids that both internally and externally have purpose. The delicacy of flowers directs them to the more gentle herbal preparations such as infusions, powders or tinctures. Their taste is often strong, opposite the delicate appearance so flowers are also prepared as syrups or wines to mellow and add a beautiful taste to baking.

“…and in her starry shade of dim and solitary loveliness, I learn’d the language of another world.” — Lord Byron

Maybe flowers are so connected to love and communication because they are the reproductive part of a plant, but are also steeped in ancient mystique, poetry, and mythology. Floriography, the language of flowers, evolved from the French Le Language de Fleurs, the first popular floral dictionary written in 1819. Little is known about the author, Charlotte de Latour, who actually may have been a man writing under a female pseudonym or another woman concealing her identity with a fictitious name. This flower dictionary borrowed from historical and literary references and quickly became a fad in Paris. Queen Victoria of England who reigned from 1837 to 1901 became obsessed with the idea of a message in a flower and commissioned elaborate floral gardens for a constant supply. During the Victorian era flowers took on a significant form of symbolism and meaning. Each flower held its own message, grouped together or held in a certain way. This sounds a lot like texting, a convenient way of saying things that may be too hard to say with our voice. Thinking it out can be more comforting than just speaking off the top of your head. Maybe that is why we love sending messages. In comparison to our texting, in the Victorian era people dressed a certain way or put a scent on a handkerchief to send a message. The language of flowers was used to say what dare not be spoken. Give a flower with the right hand and that means yes, the left means no; offer in the upright position for a positive statement, facing outward for a negative. And each flower had its own specific meaning (see list below). There were as many ways to misinterpret these flower notes as there are autocorrected texts sent with the wrong word. Nevertheless, sending a secret message in a bouquet of flowers seems much more intriguing than typing on a phone.

“Earth laughs in flowers” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

A recent home ecology study conducted at Harvard Medical School confirmed the obvious; when people are around flowers they feel better. The study found that flowers do more than just give happiness. Flowers helped people feel more compassionate to others, experience less anxiety and worry, and boosted energy and enthusiasm for work. Part of the study looked at where best to place flowers and the answer was in common areas where time is spent most. No surprise the kitchen was listed. Another study from Rutger’s University uncovered that receiving flowers immediately helped people feel better. The researchers pointed to the idea that nature can be a powerful stress management aid for today’s society.

In the early 1900’s, Dr. Edward Bach, a British homeopath, developed 38 flower essences. His was a pioneer of the mind affecting body approach delving deep into how people think and feel within themselves, and the idea that as someone feels happier and interested in life, better about their own character, health will follow. He attached positive and negative thoughts to each flower and claimed by taking its essence, the negative will dissipate and positive will take over. Once this occurs, the body will allow itself to heal. Only a drop or two is needed; more is not necessarily better.

A flower essence is a unique herbal preparation endeavoring to extract a flower’s energetic elements, which differs from others that extract a plant’s chemical constituents. The essence is created through immersing flower petals in water, infusing with sunlight, and then preserving with alcohol such as brandy. It is the subtle energy transmitted from the flower that infuses the essence with remedy. It may sound weird and esoteric and maybe it is, but still clinically significant, whether studies confirm it or not. Emotions are believed to be real causes of imbalance in traditional forms of medicine like TCM or Ayurveda. If visualizing or breathing in the scent of a flower can change a mood, then taking it internally surely holds promise.

“since the thing perhaps is to eat flowers and not be to be afraid…” — E.E. Cummings

A flower’s color, fragrance, gracefulness, and textures are the expression of the plant’s soul, which translates to personality. Here are some of the connections I've unraveled in my own life. Calendula with its warmth glowing orange and yellow looks a ray of sunshine, feels like lying in the sun after the winter cold, the soul warming deep inside. Calendula is a healer of wounds, soothing the cuts and scrapes of the skin just as the sun soothes the cuts and scrapes of life. Chamomile with its daisy-like tiny charm, a bulging yellow middle with droopy white petals on a feathery green leafy stem, there's a cheerfulness about it, the scent strong from a little gem communicating a bit of sweetness, calming chamomile. Roses filled with beauty and scent chase away sadness even if just for an instant. The list goes on violets, lilies, daisies, yarrow, lavender: flowers help us get to know a plant better. Flowers are rewards, expressions of affection, thanks or compassion. If they can do all of these things from an external place, they can do the same internally.

Flowers are an uncomplicated method for herbal medicine. Throughout the summer, herbal flowers can be collected and dried to store for using throughout the year. Roses are a perfect place to start because they are easy to find, just make sure they are not sprayed with any type of pesticide. The color, flavor, aroma, and spirit of the dried flowers added to tea blends or infused in milk or sugar or used as potpourri or added to a bath can uplift and feed the soul. In the list of floral herbals below, the common traditional uses relieve tension and emotional turmoil, nourish skin, and ease symptoms of colds. With the combination of emotional impacts, opening passages and spiritual meanings, it makes sense to take flowers into our being in as many ways as possible. With our eyes, noses, fingers, sure, but also with our ability to taste and absorb through digestion, flowers heal.

Flowering Herbals
— their language meaning and traditional uses

White Flowers

• Chamomile — initiative and ingenuity, energy
  calming the mind and stomach, soothing for nervousness
• Elder — humility, compassion, kindness 
  congestion in the respiratory tract, colds and flu
• Hawthorn — hope, marriage 
  calming a restless mind, protection of the heart, relief of pain
• Magnolia — love of nature 
  relief of allergies and dryness
• Queen Anne’s Lace — regal, blessing 
  diuretic, infertility
• Yarrow — cure for heartache 
  wound healing and stopping bleeding, sinus congestion

Orange Flowers

• Calendula — disquiet, jealousy, sorrow 
  healing of wounds and inflammation in the stomach
• California poppy — wealth, success, imagination 
  calming, to help sleep
• Milkweed — “let me go” 
  difficulty breathing, cough, headache
• Nasturtium — victory, conquest 
  cleansing wounds, aiding digestion

Pink to Red Flowers

• Bee balm — sympathy
  nervousness, anxiety, cool and clammy skin
• Hibiscus — delicate beauty
  colds, flus, coughs, fevers
• Peony — happy marriage
  headaches, dizziness, and pain
• Red clover — industry
  dryness of eyes and skin, swollen glands
• Rose — desire, love, beauty (different colors have different meanings)
  relief of sadness, grief, and depression

Purple to Blue Flowers

• Chicory — frugality
  indigestion, relief of constipation
• Flax — fate
  constipation
• Lavender — loyalty, undying love 
  elevating mood, calming, relief for bloating, gas, and nausea, cleansing wounds
• Passionflower — faith
  calming the mind, excessive thinking, sleeplessness
• Violet — modesty, virtue, simplicity
  chronic congestion, cough, sore throat

Yellow Flowers

• Chrysanthemum — cheerfulness
  strengthening eyes
• Dandelion — faithfulness, happiness 
  improving digestion
• Evening primrose — inconstancy, fickleness 
  calming irritability, nervousness, headaches, and dizziness
• Honeysuckle — devotion, affection 
  cooling, fever, sore throat, cough
• Linden — marital virtues 
  relief of stress, irritability and anxiety, relief of indigestion
• Mullein — health, good nature 
  sore throat, cough, allergy relief, pain
• St. John’s Wort — anticipation, superstition 
  relief of stress, nervousness, sadness especially when accompanied by indigestion, fear, and in winter
• Sunflower — devotion 
  dry coughs, cold and flus, detoxification

Sopping, with no sign of stopping, either - then a breather. Warm again, storm again, what is the norm, again? It’s fine, it’s not, it’s suddenly hot: Boom, crash, lightening flash... from Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Dampness moves slowly seeping, sopping, chilling or sweating, clouding and blocking energy. Wind and warmth will blow it away and dry it up.

Herbs can help drain dampness, warm and move it away. There are specific categories of herbs, generally acrid or bitter, able to disperse and drain the dampness in the body through drying and opening up routes for release. These herbs, like ginger or cinnamon, are used as part of treatments to relieve the pain of arthritis, sciatica, and muscle spasms or cramps. They can also relieve stiffness in joints and numbness and are warming. Most have anti-inflammatory properties. The blocked movement from accumulation of dampness is stagnation; qi or energy is not flowing well through the body. Aromatic or fragrant categories of herbs help resolve stagnation such as bloating, decreased appetite or nausea. Lavender, orange peel, and cardamom do this. A third type of herb, like sage is more cooling for use in damp heat situations and also works to drain moisture that has accumulated causing swelling and mucus. Lots of herbs grown in China, India, and here in the West fall into one of these categories and can make a difference if used correctly.

Safe herbs to select for herbal teas include:

• Cinnamon
• Turmeric
• Lavender
• Sage
• Cardamom
• Orange peel
• Ginger
• Horsetail
• Juniper berry
• White pine
• Yerba santa

The Trees
poetry by Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Indigestion

 

Never has our digestive system’s ability to function been so messed up. Before refrigeration, foodborne illnesses were intense and dangerous, but now abdominal pain, heartburn, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and nausea seem the norm rather than the result of disease. Infections, still prevalent despite sanitation improvement, coupled with our environment and stressful lifestyles create a digestion nightmare. This trouble is not a dream, though. From food allergies and sensitivities to microbial imbalances to elimination problems like diarrhea and constipation to bloating, gas, and heartburn to difficulty in maintaining a healthy weight to chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes, the list goes on and on. The odds stack up against our ability to healthfully assimilate the foods we eat to the energy we need. Stress, toxins, allergens, nutritional deficiencies negatively pile the scales to the left. Hope lies in the balance on the other side and plants are leading players.

Healing paths look to food as medicine. Science and research support maintaining a healthy microbiome, the newly discovered organ that comprises the millions of bacteria living within us, but we are only just beginning to understand it all. The road is confusing with obstacles, unknowns and misdirection, but the resounding theme to success speaks purity. The chemicals used to farm food and in processed food pose as the villains with the sustainable, organic, non-GMO food movements as heroes. It is all about choice and we have the power to choose healthfully. The green leaves of herbal medicines as part of a whole food, organic, plant-based way of eating appear like superpowers, limited only by their scarcity of use. The challenge lies in finding ways to incorporate herbal greens as many ways as possible into our daily life pushing aside the bad actors.

This is a huge topic. In the journey to reclaiming control over healthy digestion, turning over a new leaf in spring takes on literal meaning. As the leaves begin to bud outside, two important plant leaf benefits start us on a trail guided by our senses.

With sight, we witness chlorophyll in every green leaf. Plants require it for survival. Chlorophyll provides building blocks for strengthening blood, immunity, hormonal balance, and bones. As an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, chlorophyll supports maintenance of healthy tissues and body functions. Most profoundly, chlorophyll acts to aid detoxification by binding toxic compounds during digestion. As environmental and lifestyle toxins make their way through our bodies, we rely most on the detoxification processes in our liver for conversion to non-damaging compounds that can be eliminated safely. This detoxification pathway works overtime with chlorophyll supporting its function. Specifically, chlorophyll’s antioxidant power terminates reactions that damage our cells. It binds to carcinogenic compounds preventing them from attaching to and altering our healthy structural and functional cells. As such, chlorophyll has been shown to decrease risk of liver, skin, esophageal and stomach cancers.

Understanding how chlorophyll works in plants makes for easier appreciation for its use to humans. Again we measure a plant’s chlorophyll intensity with our eyes in degrees of greenness. Its electric company role absorbs the sun’s light energy then converts it to a form used in photosynthesis to nourish the plant. Chlorophyll stored in plant leaves becomes available as a nutrient rich, antioxidant, immune building food every time we consume them.

With taste, we experience leaf bitter, a flavor that often yields a negative reaction. Of course, taste preferences are individual. For me, even though bitter on the tongue may cause an initial shutter, once inside it feels good. Merely the taste of a bitter herb initiates digestive action. When bitter taste receptors are stimulated they ignite a surge of digestive enzymes. They transform digestion by increasing enzymatic secretions, whether saliva, stomach juices, or pancreatic enzymes. All of this moistens food allowing for better movement through the digestive tract, breaking it down into substances that facilitate optimal nutrient absorption. Additionally, most bitters simulate the liver and release of bile from the gallbladder vital to fat digestion and stool production. Apart from the ability to stimulate digestive processes, bitters are also known for their affect on appetite and control of sweet cravings.

With bitters, more is not always better. A bite of a green leaf or a drop or two of a bitters formula tincture is all that is needed to help constipation, gas, slow digestion, abdominal cramping, and stimulation of appetite. John Scudder, an early 20th century Eclectic Physician said it best…it is not possible to point out any better evidence of the need for bitter tonics than impaired appetite, digestion, and nutrition.

With each leaf rustling in wind, our ears can hear the calling to eat more greens for their powerful nutritional impact. Plant greens support digestion in this way as well, providing those nutrients that are often deficient, yet vital to chemical digestive processes. Vitamins A, C, E and K, minerals such as magnesium, iron, potassium, calcium, and antioxidants like essential fatty acids and beta-carotene are abundant in greens. While March is not yet an outside green month, thoughts turn to fresh fruits, vegetables and farmer’s markets for the internal fresh start and renewal that comes with the signs of spring.

Nutrient-Rich Herbal Leaves

• Alfalfa
• Basil
• Burdock
• Carrot leaves
• Chickweed
• Cilantro
• Cleavers
• Dandelion
• Horsetail
• Kelp
• Lamb’s quarter
• Marshmallow
• Mullein
• Nettles
• Oat straw
• Parsley
• Plantain
• Raspberry leaf
• Shepard’s purse
• Watercress
• Yellow dock

Health depends on being in harmony with our souls…Dr. Edward Bach 1932

In this stress and toxin dense world, where taking medication for anxiety and depression is considered normal, life lends not easily to emotional care of the heart. Complicated circumstances, overwhelming choice, troubling world events, daily tensions, and lack of adequate sleep all lead to a setup that stifles the heart from expressing its predestined joy. We need allies to command a chance, not only as noble people surrounding us, but also by looking to the incredible kingdom of plants.

Small messages decode big to the heart. Mayan people in Mexico do not greet each other with “How are you?” Their words “K’uxa-elan?” translate to how is your heart today. The responses: my heart is peaceful, my heart is bruised, my heart is perfumed, etc. And at parting, the reply: “Let your heart be well today.” Another salutation example from Muslim cultures “Kayf haal-ik? How is your heart doing in this moment, with this breath? Such gracious human connecting interactions feel more real than rote how are you-ok interchanges. Language like this that promotes attention to feeling by asking and wishing well for the heart must contribute to wellbeing.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine Five Element theory, emotions link to organs of the body, affecting their function. Joy is the emotion of the heart, if the heart is harmonized and healthy it will feel joy more readily. There has to be balance. Too much joy or lack of it will manifest as physical, emotional, and spiritual problems. All too often the equilibrium tips to the melancholy side. Sadness and I are intimately acquainted. I do not consider it a friend. My closest confidantes constantly push pharmaceuticals to which I adamantly refuse. They interpret this as resistance to help myself, but this is not the case. I am convinced of a better way.

While I have mastered neither, I believe there are two keys for unlocking our own personal happy heart.

“Depression is now linked to inflammation which relates back to gut bacteria…Dr. David Perlmutter, author Brainmaker

During the past five years, new research has exploded facilitating deeper understanding of the brain’s relationship to digestion. The gut microbiome, now considered its own body organ, comprises a complex ecosystem of intestinal bacteria that in addition to aiding digestion and supporting immunity, profoundly impacts the nervous system and emotions. This occurs through the gut-brain axis and the enteric nervous system. Several antidepressant medications target increases in serotonin levels. Serotonin being the hormone that promotes feeling of calm, balance, and happiness. Research is showing that most serotonin is actually produced in our digestive systems and then transported to the brain through the enteric nervous system and the vagus nerve, which connects the two. When antidepressant medications do not work, digestive problems may be the reason. Additionally studies are showing that diet changes can make more impact in depression than medications. It is a huge topic, one not to be ignored. Digestive complaints whether constipation, loose bowel movement, heartburn, bloating, gas, or food sensitivity that occur with emotional concerns suggest some association. This is far from an easy fix; you almost have to be a detective to come up with solutions. But there are ways. Nature, plants and herbs, act as an alliance both as food and medicine. Much promise exists here for healing the hearts afflictions. Focusing on soothing digestion affords a two for one consequence.

When you do not know the nature of a malady, leave it to nature; do not strive to hasten matters. For either nature will bring about the cure or it will itself reveal clearly what the malady really is….Avicenna

Another study area focuses on a basic principle, the benefits of interacting with nature. Our industrial and technology driven way of life cannot suppress the urge for green world connection ecologically, medicinally, emotionally. The resurfacing interest in the ancient art of herbalism is part of this movement. Herbalism’s energetic side speaks to a plant’s spirit. While plants impart their wisdom in many ways, the flower may be our best window inside. Symbolic flower-heart connections obviously exist in the ways flowers are used as signs of love, sympathy, and ceremony. In the early 1900’s Dr. Edward Bach, an immunologist and founder of Bach Flower Essence Remedies, took this giant steps further by developing a system to harness a flower’s ability to transform negative thoughts and feelings. He believed that drops of a flower’s essence could be preserved in water and then taken internally to restore emotional and spiritual balance. Flower essences heal the heart at a spiritual level that is hard to explain. For those who feel wounded and broken they brighten and open and allow in light. Flowers touch the senses with their beauty, colors, fragrance, and gentleness; even add sounds of spring birds and butterflies. Each flower holds a unique ability to touch an emotional ailment of the heart. A flower essence captures these energetics and insight. Their reach is subtle yet powerful, gentle and comforting, therapy for the heart that can be transformative.

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience…Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Plants cannot make sadness and heartbreak disappear, but perhaps they become a bit more endurable with the use of herbs.

Herbs can:

Open the heart and lift the spirit – rose petals
Strengthen and provide resilience from heart break – hawthorn
Soothe, relieve, and comfort
Calm emotional upset
Help to overcome grief
Promote restful sleep for restoration
Settle the mind and a raising heart
Offer respite from chaos
Elevate mood
Quiet hormonal surges
Dissipate doom, black cloudy feelings, hopelessness
Improve digestion and support the enteric nervous system
Nourish and nurture

Herbs for Nourishing the Heart’s Spirit

• Black Cohosh
• Chamomile
• Damiana
• Eleuthero
• Hawthorn
• Holy Basil
• Kava
• Lavender
• Lemon balm
• Linden flower
• Mimosa
• Motherwort
• Oats
• Passionflower
• Rose
• Rosemary
• St. John’s Wort
• Valerian

George R.R. Martin…summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.

In the park where I walk my dogs there once lived an over-sized, thick juniper tree that for some reason the city took out. When first I noticed, my disbelief turned to sadness thinking how many times I had thanked this evergreen for its shelter and perhaps I did not thank it enough. I live on an island where the wind blows cold and intense from November to May. That juniper blocked the icy gusts so I could stand near and feel warmer even on the most frigid days. This, just one example of the botanical relief gained for the winter season I dislike. Externally and internally, plants work in wondrous ways to create warm energy within like the comfort of a sleepy dog curled up at your side and a mug of steamy chai in your hands.

Herbs can dispel cold and drive away chilling influences in the body. The cold effect reaches deep into sensitive places like digestion, muscles and joints, immunity, and circulation. Botanical remedies take notice. Warming herbs may be analgesic, positively affect blood flow and heart function, stimulate digestive and absorptive processes and increase peristalsis. They nourish, speed up metabolism and protect from illness with the capability to support and restore balance.

All systems of botanical medicine from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to Ayurveda to Western herbalism recognize plant energetics as either warming or cooling and utilize this significant characteristic as a fundamental practice principle. The guiding premise highlights the warming herb’s ability to dilate blood vessels. Freer flow of blood results carrying vitality to all body organs and tissues. Ayurveda dubs warmth the fire of life

Nature has no mercy. Nature says, “I am going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that’s tough. I am going to snow anyway.”….Maya Angelou

Obviously, in winter the need for extra warming accelerates. Despite different tolerances, if exposed long enough, anyone gets chilled. The freeze may lodge in the body and stick around long after exposure. But cold may also result from internal causes such as insufficient activity, inadequate nutrition, or a deeper weak constitution. Constricting cold slows body functions, like digestion or blood flow. For TCM practitioners, cold is a pathogen, an agent that causes illness or disease. In fact, injury by cold possesses such a critical role that a whole philosophy, textbook and practice evolved purely based on frosty invasions. This method of practice dating from the Han Dynasty called Shang Han Lun outlines six stages of cold conditions with specific ways of treating each. As a person passes through the stages, illness becomes more severe and difficult to treat. It is highly complex but the bottom line is pathogenic cold can create serious problems and is a signal that vitality suffers.

Walt Whitman…give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full dazzling.

More energy equals warmer body. The intricate process of thermogenesis converts the energy we make into internal heat thus regulating body temperature.
Plants contain chemicals and make energy just like humans. For example capsaicin, an active chemical ingredient in chili pepper, has the ability to stimulate cells to turn energy into heat, a drop or two of cayenne tincture will do. Volatile oils and other active constituents in ginger and cinnamon also have the ability to create heat by speeding up metabolism and increasing circulation.

Every plant has a characteristic designation warm, cold, or neutral. Sometimes this is obvious as in warming ginger or cooling mint. Taste gives a clue with pungent, sweet, and sour herbs generally warming; bitter, salty, and astringent herbs cooling. When using herbs for medicine the temperate importance takes center stage as a means of individualizing the best herb for each person. An herb that is too cold given to someone suffering from cold can damage further and vise versa with warm. Think how comforting a hot cup of tea can be after shoveling snow for an hour versus a tall glass of iced water. The opposite of course is the case after a summer day on the beach. All traditional herbal medicine systems incorporate herbal energetics as a vital method for matching appropriate herbs to people and not to conditions. The best herbal formulations yield thermodynamic balance. For example, bitter herbs help digestion, but are generally cooling with the exception of angelica, which is warming and if added to a bitters formula will prevent damage from too much cooling. Still for someone who suffers from extreme cold sensitivity, this bitter formula may not be right and instead a predominantly warming ginger and angelica formula with a drop or two of a cooling bitter may be best.

Charles Dickens…winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer when they complained about the heat.

Herbal medicines that treat cold disorders encompass both cold that attacks from the exterior and cold that is deep rooted internally, translation acute versus chronic condition. Warming herbs that dilate and open blood vessels stimulate circulation. The warming effect takes place as blood flows more freely to hands, feet and places that feel coldest. If blood is circulating in a strong way through the body, we create more internal energy and stay warmer. Herbs for warmth can be added to food, taken as tinctures and teas, used as liniment and oil rubs, or as vinegars and even capsules.

The warming blend possibilities for teas are limited only by preference. Ginger, garlic, and cayenne added to soups or stews represent food as medicine. My favorite warming herbal remedy is cocoa. Perhaps because of the memory of childhood snowmen, sledding and becoming icy cold by choice, warming up with hot chocolate feels monumentally comforting. Theobroma cacao, the chocolate tree, may not seem botanical but cacao is in fact a warming bitter herb. Add cinnamon, cardamom, a pinch of cayenne and a dash of vanilla and voila, the most delicious warming beverage appears. I first came to realize cocoa as an herbal beverage while reading the fascinating teachings of Jim McDonald, an incredibly masterful herbalist. Here is a link to his recipe for cocoa. While you are there, explore the rest of his information packed website, but caution, you may get lost for hours as I do every time I visit.

Cold hands, warm heart

Kindness and compassion, there is always a need for more. Behavior studies show that warmth triggers associations of comfort and safety making us more likely to think of others rather than ourselves. Humans and animals are drawn to warmth which generally feels better than cold. Sun, hugs, cozy blankets, fireplaces, what makes you feel warm and why not add warming herbs to the list?

Warming herbs

• Angelica
• Bayberry
• Black Pepper
• Cardamom
• Cayenne Pepper
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Cocoa
• Cumin
• Evodia
• Fennel seed
• Galanga
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Horse chestnut
• Horseradish
• Juniper berry
• Mustard seed
• Paprika
• Prickly ash
• Rosemary
• Sassafras
• Star anise
• Turmeric

The root of all health is in the brain. The trunk of it is in emotion. The branches and leaves are the body. The flower of health blooms when all parts work together. ~Kurdish Saying

Stress, anxiety and emotional turmoil behave counterintuitively to joyous holiday wishes. The unsettled heart creeps into December activities, sometimes in a sizeable manner, contaminating like metal adulteration of a pure plant extract. Physical, mental, or emotional strain becomes a problem when demands exceed resources; when this becomes overwhelming. The antidote rests in the coping. Calming herbs sit like pretty bows on gifts contributing a special touch to balancing remedies.

An exceptional herbalist named 7song generously offers his botanical perspective. In one social media post, he posed that while seeming contradictory, relaxing herbs ease tiredness. The ability of botanicals to settle the body from a rapid-fire state encourages rejuvenation. I think this applies to holiday season stress, wherever it may be coming or how manifesting. 7Song also points out that the experience of smelling, holding, and drinking warm herbal tea can alone be good medicine. So uncomplicated a remedy even in the midst of long to-do lists when other balancers like mediation, yoga or massage fit not in the plan.

Every day has potential to be overly stressful, but pressures or aggravations in December concentrate in holiday ways. Extra family responsibilities, time consuming decorating and preparations, gift buying even if time and finances do not support it, social pressures, or perhaps the opposite aloneness when everyone else seems to be surrounded. These, my personal examples, surely correspond to other’s unique experiences. Stress throughout the year relates to lifestyle, lack of sleep, aging changes, social and financial pressures, hormonal imbalances especially menopausal, depression and anxiety. The scientist who coined the term stress in the 1940’s, Hans Selye, called it the salt of life. His theory labels stress as making life worthwhile, that it is not something to be avoided and adopting the right attitude can convert negative stress into positive.

Each person has a different aptitude for stress; their reaction to it is what creates problems. Selye’s own stress management involved not fighting if he could not win or at least if he was convinced of that. Instead he gave up, admitted defeat and did something else. Sounds logical but most real life situations cannot just be ignored. The next option could be entrust support to help get through and minimize the overwhelmed, panicky response. In my life, if someone were constantly holding my hand, there to jump in weaknesses, balancing yin with yang, my stress would be much relieved. Without that hand, in the moments before panic if my body can feel calm I am better. I return to 7song’s advice. Without that hand, it is herbs that I turn to daily, first thing.

N=1/Individualizing herbal medicine

David Winston…It is the skillful combining of herbs chosen for the individual patient and their unique symptom picture that defines the true art of herbal medicine.

Categorizing herbs by their actions and effects helps break down the many herb choices to individual matches. The N=1 research model employs the idea that what happens to you and only you is enough of a study population to prove that a remedy is a good or bad personal partner. This is exactly what my teacher, David Winston’s philosophy as he teaches how to match the herb to the person and not the disease. By looking at an action category and all the herbs in it, the best-suited choice can be made, which incidentally changes and evolves with time and circumstance. Additionally, he teaches that it is the thoughtful combining of herbs that help deliver the best effect and taking one herb alone will not likely be as good. His herbal tincture company, Herbalist & Alchemist (H&A) sells thoughtfully designed compound formula tinctures with names like Serenity Compound, Phytocalm, Emotional Relief, Tension Relief, and Women’s Calmpound. Even these few examples show how diverse formula mixtures address different issues. Choosing one of these is a great place to begin if not able to work with an herbalist on an individual basis but want herbal support for stress. H&A even offers a box set to address stress in different situations

Nervines

Hans Selye…Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.

Nervines may be one of the most useful herb categories, especially in today’s high stress world. Which one and how often will differ, but potential need for their calming nature does not. The wide variety offers ammunition against the unsettled state of tension that manifests in unique ways depending on who we are and what we are experiencing.

Nervines support nerves, the fiber bundles that send impulses to all systems in our bodies and so reach far and have wide impact. They strengthen, relax, calm, and restore. In times of stress, nervines are a best friend.

What can nervines do?

• nourish and restore shattered nerves
• provide relief for emotional instability
• restore a sense of peace and calm in overstressed times and for anxiety
• relieve anxiety spawned by hormones as in PMS or menopause
• diminish over-thinking and worry
• assuage agitation especially during withdrawal from substances like caffeine, amphetamines, cigarettes, or sleep medications
• lessen reaction responses for those who may be delicate, touchy and supersensitive, someone who cries easily often in an emotional outburst or gets rattled by small things
• release of stress induced muscle spasm or pain, headaches and nervousness
• soothe “butterflies”, nervous stomach or stress induced indigestion like heartburn, diarrhea, cramping
• alleviate insomnia with middle of the night waking and inability to get back to sleep

Nervine herbs sound too good to be true, but they are real. I have proof in my N=1 experiment. Anxiety is more than my acquaintance, certainly not a friend and without ways to ease it panic can take over. My most anxious time is the morning, thinking about the day ahead. I wake in dread, but by the time I get to the kitchen and sip my herbal formula tea, without my even being aware, my body calms down and I move on with the day.

Perhaps there is no avoiding daily life stress, no changing that it is inevitably with us no matter what we do. If help is needed to get through a time of year that is supposed to be happy, nervine herbs can help and then may continue into the New Year. Herbs are soft, subtle in their action, like a leaf blowing in a gentle wind. The calm of herbs like lemon balm, chamomile, lavender, tulsi, and passionflower, convert unbearable, burdensome stress into ways to adapt and thrive within it, even in spite of it. Equanimity – maintaining calm in periods of stress.

Calming Nervine Herbs

• Blue vervain
• Catnip
• Chamomile
• Damiana
• Lemon balm
• Lemon grass
• Lemon verbena
• Motherwort
• Oats
• Passionflower
• Rose petals
• Skullcap
• Tulsi
• Vervain

 

 

Be not sick too late, or well too soon…Benjamin Franklin

Immunity has embarked on a journey of change. Its path leads to a new home, one that mixes innovative thought with present practice and integrates science with tradition. Our body’s immune cells are cast as heroes and heroines battling toxins, pathogens and barriers that threaten along the way. But these fighters also encounter friends and allies, a group of which is botanicals.

"We are inhabited by as many as ten thousand bacterial species; those cells outnumber those which we consider our own by ten to one, and weigh, all told, about three pounds--the same as our brain. Together, they are referred to as our microbiome--and they play such a crucial role in our lives that scientists have begun to reconsider what it means to be human.”
― Michael Specter, The New Yorker and New York Times science and technology journalist

There is no turning back on the journey. The 19th century germ theory rescued a population dying from infectious disease. A central founding principle of modern medicine, the model identified microorganisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi as germ sources causing epidemics. The development of antibiotics ensued destroying microorganisms to allow recovery. Currently chronic diseases: cancers, autoimmune conditions and heart disease overshadow infectious disease. The germ theory labeled microbials dangerous, but microbiome research has shifted them to a protective role. The microbiome is majorly complex, opening all new doors of self-care and medical practice. Herbs reach across all avenues offering prevention and additional immune stimulation, modulation, and regulation. The phytonutrients of plants span multitudes of function participating as partners in this new paradigm.

Your immune systems are comprised of all parts of the eco-system you know as yourself, and include not only every part of you, from your conscious and subconscious thoughts to your physical body systems, but also how you live and function in relationship with the larger ecosystems that surround you. Robin Rose Bennett, herbalist

Parallels help break down the multifaceted subject of immunity and illness prevention. Here in football season focus, my beloved team is lacking a great season, still playing strong, though, with no sign of giving up. Some games the offense shines, others defense. Their coach ever directing, special teams ready to step in. Everything goes better when all the team performs well. Same goes for immunity.

The Coach – Regulators

The coach directs players where to go, how to play. The immune system has the difficult task of maintaining a healthy balance and precise control, while allowing its components to fight pathogens yet refrain from self-attack. It stimulates response to pathogen presence and inhibits response that leads to tissue damage or inflammation as in autoimmunity. Like a football coach plays are being called, decisions are made and encouragement is offered. Immune regulatory herbs achieve their effect primarily due to their strong anti-inflammatory actions.

Immunoregulatory Herbs

• Boswelia
• Gotu kola
• Sarsparilla
• Turmeric
• Cinnamon

The Offense – Potentiators

Offense builds your lead, scores points against the enemy germs. These herbs nourish and strengthen the body’s immunity, helping it respond better to threats. The offensive line of a football team is in possession of the ball with the task of advancing to goal. Immune system potentiators accomplish this as antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, antimicrobials, and protectors.

Immune Potentiator Herbs

• Reishi
• Maitake
• Chaga
• Shitake
• Astragalus
• American Ginseng
• Asian Ginseng
• Ashwaganda
• Eleuthero
• Schisandra
• Cat’s Claw (una de gato)

The Defense – Antimicrobials

Defense comes in and knocks the enemy down, tackles them and sacks them. The defensive goal is to prevent the other team from scoring points, stopping them in their tracks, preventing them from advancing. The faster done, the better for the team. Antimicrobial herbs are not antibiotics but they do stimulate the cells of the immune system to deflect the infection or aid its rapid departure.

Antimicrobial Herbs

• Andrographis
• Boneset
• Honeysuckle
• Myrrh
• Echinacea
• Isatis
• Oregon grape root
• Goldenseal
• Elderflower and Elderberry
• Hyssop
• Garlic
• Thyme
• Oregano
• Sage

The Special Teams – Modulators and Tonics

Special teams include kickers who punt and score extra points. Key to the kicker are the other players who protect him and block the other team from running a long return. Special teams impact the game through critical points and slowing down the opponent. By definition, modulation is tempering, toning down, tonifing. Herbal immune modulators impact responsiveness either by stimulating and strengthening or by calming an over-active reaction. Herbs provide relief for the discomfort of illness, blocking and scoring against it, preventing a win over your health.

Herbs for Symptom Relief (this list is a combination of different types of herbs, not only immune modulators and tonics)

• Osha
• Eyebright
• Yarrow
• Peppermint
• Catnip
• Licorice
• Horseradish
• Ginger
• Mullein
• Usnea
• Yerba Mansa
• Yerba Santa

Kitchen Medicine Cabinet

The first wealth is health…Ralph Waldo Emerson
Because the immune system intricacies remain mysterious, boosting philosophies may or may not make sense. It is hard to know. Under best preparation, one germ can fight its way in exactly during weakness such as less sleep or more stress. In my own experience, supporting immunity leads to less frequent or severe illness. The concept of boosting is rather reinforcing and strengthening response, pointing in the right direction and offering assistance. The key is start early, at least 6 weeks prior to onset of cold and flu season. Early remedy is also critical. By intervening at the very first sign, often a slightly scratchy throat, defenses can kick in quickly and soften the blow. November is the perfect time to stock a kitchen medicine cabinet with remedies so there if and when needed and also to begin prevention.

Each patient carries his own doctor inside him…Norman Cousins
The ultimate don’t get sick studio inhabits the kitchen. Possible remedies abound. For me, real life gets in the way of all that I want to do, but living without three key remedies is not an option.

The first indispensible: a strong tonic created by one of the modern day pioneers of herbalism, Rosemary Gladstar. She has written several invaluable books on medicinal herbs with supremely practical information and methods to incorporate them into life. I have not met her, but heard her speak and read her writings. She is my inspiration and role model. Rosemary calls her immune tonic, Fire Cider, a mixture of horseradish, onions, garlic, ginger, and bit of cayenne pepper infused in apple cider vinegar and sweetened with honey. The ingredients are powerful immune enhancers that will help to ward off colds and flus. Rosemary shares her recipes freely to bring herbalism back into people’s kitchens. Fire cider is easy and rewarding to make at home for an essential kitchen apothecary supply. Here is Rosemary’s Fire Cider recipe as well as her other favorites for fighting colds and flus

My second crucial kitchen apothecary tool for winter illness prevention is broth, Homemade broth, legendary as a remedy, made with beef or chicken bones (or without if vegetarian) enhanced by immunosupportive herbs like medicinal mushrooms, astragalus or garlic eases illness impact and restores vitality. Another inspirational herbalist, Jim Mcdonald, practices with a unique style bringing herbalism to a level of easy understanding. I love everything he teaches and writes. His website, herbcraft.org, is so packed with information I get lost in it for hours. Here is his recipe for bone broth.

Responsible for my initial aha herbal moment, astragalus root powder proves over and over its versatility and effectiveness. When I began studying herbal medicine, my children were past the age where what their mom said was gospel. As I learned herbal uses for their minor ailments, I hoped they would embrace the benefits. No such luck. Perhaps I was overzealous or maybe I didn’t realize medicinal herbs to be more an acquired taste, a taste that my children hated. They even gagged at smells. My oldest daughter, then about to turn thirteen, seemed to suffer a cold every 3 weeks. I began to add astragalus powder into whatever I could, spaghetti sauce, chili, lentils, soups. Its mild bean like flavor blended in, she had no taste complaints and the colds stopped. No coincidence. For centuries astragalus has been traditionally used as a kitchen remedy. Research supports its ability to strengthen and enhance immune cell response. Illness prevention is where it shines.

Beyond prevention, plenty of research studies support herbal use as therapy for colds and flu, especially alleviation of symptoms. Having herbal supplies on-hand in your kitchen pharmacy makes life easier especially if you are the one sick. For me, there is a sense of empowerment to have tangible remedies for my family or myself when the need arises. The following are a few examples.

Inhalation

Warm steam inhalations moisten respiratory tissue, help to drain sinus congestion and clear infection. A strong herbal tea infusion prepared in a pot can be used as inhalation by placing the pot on a surface and tenting a towel over your head. Relax and breath in for about 5-10 minutes intervals or as long as you can. Common kitchen herbs such as thyme, peppermint, sage, chamomile, and lavender are perfect for this remedy.

Tea

Drinking tea soothes and provides a breath of relief during illness. Herbal tea blend infusions gently heal and support the body’s ability to recover. Use any of the symptom relief herbs or purchase one prepared.
Prepare a large amount and keep warm in a thermos to sip throughout the day.

Honey

Another of Rosemary Gladstar’s famous remedies is onion-honey syrup. Coughing can be the most annoying, lingering cold and flu symptom. Here is a short video of Rosemary teaching preparation of this easy cough syrup. Watch to see her beauty and special teaching style as well as learn the recipe.

Tinctures

Keeping tinctures to use at the very first signs, such as sore throat or tightness in chest may indeed prevent a cold or flu. Andrographis and Echinacea are two of the strongest. Don’t stop just because you feel better, keep going for at least three days beyond when you have symptoms, even if you feel fine to make sure the germs are not lingering. My most trusted source for tinctures is Herbalist and Alchemist, available for purchase online.

Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.
― Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor

Fighting off illness can be as straightforward as washing hands, avoiding touching your face especially the eyes, nose, and mouth, sufficient sleep and rest. Easy to say not so easy to all the time do. Plants and their medicinal parts gift us a source of reassurance during a season filled with potential for illness.

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost, the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost…J.R.R Tolkien

Deep roots: a symbol of durability, resiliency and unfaltering character, grounded and strong. Prune a flower, trim a leaf branch, harvest berries or fruits, strip the bark, but leave a plant’s roots intact and there may be damage or stress but it survives, regrows or regenerates. Pulling the roots with no trace left behind guarantees the plant’s demise. Ask any gardener. To weed effectively one must pull from the bottom to get out the roots.

Autumn in the herbalism realm signifies harvesting roots. A plant’s energy retreats from above ground to below so root nourishment will be strong.

The Other Side of the Ground

The fairest thing in nature, a flower, still has its roots in earth and manure…D.H. Lawrence

Living above ground in sunlight, breathing air and moving freely, I wonder what happens underground.

Does a root only know darkness or does sunlight penetrate the thickness of soil? Is it seeking something, forcing it to reach out, grow more? How does it stay securely planted? What evils lurk and how does it deal with stress? A root’s life not visible to our eye seems mysterious yet solid. In the dark, dense dirt, roots grow downward feeding on rich nutrients. Our personal roots also reside deep, behind closed doors that which others cannot see. We show the leaves, flowers and branches, not what happens inside.

For plants, parallels exist between above and below ground parts. The counterpart of the stem is the underground rhizome. Roots grow from the rhizome, as do leaves from the stem. While the stem extends vertically, the rhizome stretches horizontally underground, anchoring the root system to provide a plant’s secure base. Young roots have hairs that absorb water and nutrients from soil just as leaves provide food energy converted by chlorophyll from sunlight and water. Aging roots become carbohydrate storage chests to help the plant survive in times of stress and scarcity, preparing like bears in winter. In contrast, the short-lived flower exists to attract pollinators for fertilization and reproduction, assuring continued life in a different way. Humans differ little from plants in our parallels and contrasts.

Botanical function of roots

Read nature; nature is a friend to truth…Edward Young, 18th century English Poet

Any plant surviving via a system that moves water and minerals through its body has roots. Moss does not have roots. Roots are not dependent on sunshine like leaves and flowers. In spring and fall the root energy of the plant is strongest, nourishment richest. Roots reach their largest size in October and November when the nutrients from leaves and stems withdraw for winter storage. No coincidence these root vegetables decorate the table of autumn foods.

While roots anchor plants in the ground, draw nutrients out of soil for nourishment and store minerals, trace minerals and water for times of need; there invaluable contribution of phytochemicals assure a plant’s survival. Research on phytonutrients reveals that people, being similar to plants, also need these compounds in comparable ways. The phytochemical list is long but fascinating: alkaloids (anti-inflammatory, antibacterial), phenolics (structural integrity, antibacterial), coumarins (antispasmodic, analgesic), monoterpenes and triterpenes (antioxidant, immunoprotective), polysaccharides (immunoprotective), flavones and isoflavones (anti-inflammatory, antioxidants) and nutrients.

Nourish

All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted…Saint Teresa of Avila

The function of roots as part of herbalism is vast. Their healing touches all organ functions, all parts of the body, all ailments, all emotions. From ginseng’s restoration to turmeric’s anti-inflammation protection to ginger’s warmth and stomach calming to the nourishment of dandelion and the calming of kava, roots are worth their heavier plant weight in treasure.

Earliest herbal research employed observation, watching animals using plants. Perhaps this is the origin of root identification, safety and toxicity recognition. Five thousand years ago during the Chinese Han Dynasty, a legendary emperor Shen Nung, the Divine Farmer is credited with discovering Chinese herbal medicine. His story tells that to determine the effect of medicinal plants, he ate them himself and eventually died after ingesting a toxic plant. There is something to be said for an herbalist who develops knowledge not just from books but also from actual use. Obviously Shen Nung’s method proved dangerous, however, the kitchen is a perfect safe testing laboratory. In the kitchen experimenting with the roots of herbal medicine uncovers their abilities, alchemical properties and best ways to extract their nourishment.

A solid root substance calls for strong preparation like decoctions or alcohol extractions. Root energetics, whether as a vegetable or medicine, suit well in times when strength and nourishment are needed in colder and darker months of winter, fall or spring. Emotionally they provide humans the same anchor offered a plant when in soil, they ground and strengthen our inner core. There are numerous phrases or sayings about getting back to our roots or grounding in our roots to have the ability to fly. Our roots are past history, origin and culture that connect us in a world where taking risks and having courage to face change is often required.

In my search for deeper professional direction, herbalism appeared as a branch on my own nutritionist tree, an addition to my tool belt as my current tools were not functioning properly. I had no idea herbal medicine would grow to be my anchor, nor the immensity of its reach. Always a city dweller, never a gardener, and immersed in the clinical science of nutrition, I thought of herbs as the powders or dried leaves in spice jars or the occasional fresh parsley purchase from the supermarket. It embarrasses me that I gave no importance to roots beyond knowing the nutritional benefits of root vegetables.

Now in admiration of plants, I bow to the strength and importance of roots. Baking with roots offers endless botanical medicine possibility. Open the kitchen medicine cabinet to explore cultural cuisine, our own or others, while adding endurance, richness, strength and mystique from herbal roots.

Root Vegetables

• Beets
• Burdock
• Carrots
• Celeriac
• Horseradish
• Jerusalem artichoke
• Jicama
• Kohlrabi
• Parsnip
• Radish
• Rutabaga
• Turnip
• Yam

Herbal Roots

• Angelica
• Astragalus
• Ashwaganda
• Burdock
• Codonopsis
• Comfrey
• Dandelion
• Dang Gui
• Echinacea
• Ginger
• Ginseng
• Kava
• Licorice
• Maca
• Marshmallow
• Solomon’s seal
• Teasel
• Turmeric
• Valerian
• Wild Yam
• Yellow Dock