Commonwealth Podcast For Holistic Herbalism

It’s 2020, we don’t need to convince you that bone broth is good for you! But in case you’ve been living under a rock, bone broth is awesome for your digestive health, immune defenses, musculoskeletal resilience, and plenty more besides. So all on its own, it’s great – but you can add herbs to supercharge bone broth into something even better!Our favorite herbs to enhance bone broth come in several key categories: Seaweeds provide mineral nutrition including iodine, along with unique seaweed polysaccharides that build immunity. Mushrooms have similar powers, and are even more famous as immunomodulators to help with everyday health as well as complex immune disorders. Other immune-centered adaptogenic herbs support immunity from the marrow on out. Mildly bitter, prebiotic roots improve digestion, liver action, and gut flora composition. And then there are plenty of “herbs & spices” to try for digestive benefits and for specific medicinal attributes.Learn how to work with all of these and make your homemade

The Whole30 is one of our favorite diet plans – or, as we prefer to call them, food experiments! It’s a great way to reset your eating habits, change your relationship with food and cooking, and discover your own personal food intolerances or sensitivities. As herbalists, we’ve seen it accomplish amazing things for our clients – but we’ve also found ways to make it more enjoyable, efficient, and effective! Nowadays we always recommend herbs for Whole30 enhancement to our clients and students, and work with them ourselves.In our experience, the best herbs for Whole30 success have effects on one of three main areas: cravings, digestion, and nutrition. Herbs like tulsi and schisandra can really curb sugar cravings, or longings for foods that are not Whole30-approved. Plants like calamus and sage can improve your digestive function, which is especially relevant if your Whole30 diet has more fat or protein than your previous habit, as often occurs. Wild greens like dandelions & nettles provide nutrient density

What do you want to bring into the new year with you? Our first piece of advice is to be specific with your intention – envision how this change will happen in your own real day-to-day life, in detail. This helps you make sure it really happens!Intention is key also in transforming our relationship to Stuff. Many people feel like their Stuff owns them instead of the other way around, and being intentional about how and what you consume can go a long way toward changing that. Fostering (or giving the gift of) experiences and skills is one key way to change that dynamic.You need to pick your battles, though! It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the long list of troubles in the world, and to feel like you need to change them all yourself. Selecting one or two things to focus on is more effective, but also feels better inside. Plus, it’s a way you can find or create community, which is so critical to sustaining these things long-term.Finally, we conclude with a discussion of a few herbs which help strengthen resolve.H

Anxiety is a feeling of exposure, a feeling that one is without protection. The much-maligned ‘safe space’ is in fact a necessity for all humans. (Those who malign it tend to be speaking from a place of unchallenged safety.) But how to create that for yourself, in an environment that feels hostile? Herbs can help, and in more than one way! Working with the principles of holistic herbalism for anxiety involves several interwoven threads.Building healthy boundaries is a way to protect your inner space – both to keep unfriendly things out and to leave room for you to focus on your present moment. Anxiety is fundamentally an expression of tension, so relaxing tension in the muscles and nerves, and in the emotions themselves, is almost always needful. Anxiety both causes and results from elevated stress hormones, and reducing cortisol in particular helps mitigate the physiological effects of stress.Holistic lifestyle changes are the core of the work, and herbs help us enact these intentions. The synergy between th

The hawthorns (Crataegus spp.) are some of our most generous and protective herbs. Hathorn offers abundant berries, rich with heart-supporting medicine – but its thorns mean you can’t just come and take everything in one swipe. Hawthorn demands a careful and respectful approach, and it can bring all these qualities to our physical bodies and – our emotional ones, too!An ally for everything from high blood pressure, to water retention, to grief and loss, to that not-quite-at-home feeling we sometimes get when family relations are difficult; hawthorn is there for you. Especially at this time of year, when hearts are both agitated and a little more exposed, it’s a particularly important plant to know and to work with.Herbs discussed include: hawthorn, linden, cacao, cayenne, ginger, goji, rose, hibiscus, goldenrod, jiaogulan, heather, vanilla, tulsi, dandelion, damiana, chamomile, catnip, motherwort.Mentioned in this episode:The Once and Future World, J.B. MacKinnonOur End-Of-Year Sale is in effect! Don’t miss o

It’s easy to get caught up in your to-do list and everything you “have to” do.Sometimes, it’s ok to not.This week we’re modeling that behavior, with a micro-cast just to prove we mean it!We’ll be back next week with an episode about hawthorn and getting through difficult times. Until then, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, drink some tea, and remember – sometimes, you don’t have to.❤️❤️❤️If you’re local to Boston, we’ll be at Herbstalk’s Wintergreen Market tomorrow, November 30th, from 11:00 – 5:00… find us and say hi!Support the show (https://commonwealthherbs.com/supporters/)

As a brand new student of herbalism, you might think there are a lot of herbs to learn. As an experienced herbalist with decades of practice under your belt, you’ll DEFINITELY KNOW there are A LOT OF HERBS to learn!! That’s one of the things we like best about herbalism – there’s always more to explore, a whole world full of plant potential. Having a strategy for how to learn a new herb is helpful at every stage of your herbal journey.We advise a multi-directional approach to this. Rather than looking for “the best” book, website, or teacher, we urge all our students to seek out multiple sources of information about every plant they study. That doesn’t just mean multiple books, it means multiple forms of knowledge, too. Direct experience with an herb – taking it daily and consistently, in lots of different forms – is just as valuable as reading a shelf of books. When you do both, you’re in a much stronger place!Resources we mentioned in this episode:Henriette’s Herbal Homepage – One of the oldest & best h

Herbs differ from pharmaceuticals in important ways. Understanding how they’re different helps us make better choices about what to take, and how to take it, to get the effect we’re looking for. It also helps us avoid common misunderstandings about herbs and herbalism – like thinking that the effect of an herb can be reduced down to the action of its “active ingredient”. And, knowing how herbs are different from drugs lets us set expectations clearly, and recognize that not all preparations of an herb are equivalent.No one would say that aspirin is “synthetic willow”, but people often talk about willow as “natural aspirin”. In our cultural context we have some understanding of aspirin as a painkiller and fever-reducer. Because willow can relieve pain and reduce fever, and because some of its constituents are similar to aspirin, you can see why it’s common to talk about them as if they were nearly equivalent. But this is misleading, because the herb is actually very different from the drug – it doesn’t have th

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were one book you could read, one teacher you could study with, one website you could scroll through – that would tell you everything you need to know about herbalism? Sometimes it seems like there ought to be a definitive guide to herbalism – and for our 100th episode, we’d love to give it to you!But the thing is, there isn’t one.There’s only the hard way.But don’t let that discourage you! The “hard way” turns out to be the nuanced way, the complex way, the adaptable way – it turns out to be the only way, because shortcuts don’t work. Lifehacks don’t hack it. One-size-fits-all prescriptions and panacea formulae don’t actually fit everyone or solve everything. Herbalism has to be flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of people in different bodies, situations, times, and places.Herbalism has changed and evolved a lot just in the time we’ve been practicing, and it will continue to change for as long as humans and plants come together. So even though there’s no definitive guide to

Our ideas about health are often context-dependent, and clinging too tightly to rules about what is “good” and “bad” can really get us into trouble when context changes. It can also get in the way of communicating and sharing knowledge with people who live in contexts that are different from our own.Like many herbalists, we teach and practice the avoidance of sugar in most situations. Most… but not all! Recently we posted a video about how to make an elderberry syrup with sugar, and got a lot of negative feedback. “You should only ever use raw local honey!” was a common refrain in these comments. But sometimes, there are good reasons to make your syrup with sugar – it does result in a non-alcoholic, shelf-stable product, and that could be necessary for some people. And in the end, an elderberry sugar syrup is better than no elderberry syrup at all!Similarly, there are sometimes reasons to make your liniment with rubbing alcohol, or to work with herbs in ways that are unusual or uncommon. Oftentimes, these are

Yes, there are herbs for joint pain, and they really work! But when we’re working with this problem, we like to pile on – lots of herbs (in lots of ways), plus some changes to the diet, plus gentle movement, plus better sleep & stres management. This is what holistic herbalism looks like: combining strategies for maximum effect.For joint pain, herbs can help very directly. Decoctions and liniments help us work from the inside out and the outside in – and they work best when you do both. At the same time, you can eliminate pro-inflammatory foods and emphasize anti-inflammatory ones. You can move in ways that build your range of pain-free motion without directly aggravating the sore spots. And you can sleep more and stress less, which may not sound like they’re directly related to joint issues – but they really are.Whether it’s from a sports mishap, a repetitive stress injury, Lyme disease*, rheumatoid arthritis, or some other source, these strategies & herbs for joint pain have brought enormous relief

Everyone gets stressed out sometimes. So if you’re among “everyone”, you might like this herbal stress remedy formula! It’s one of our favorites and we turn to it again and again.Like all our formulas, this one can be customized to meet your own needs & personal taste. In this episode we describe what each herb is doing to contribute to the overall impact of the blend, so that you can choose the herbs that are most relevant to your own situation. Whether stress shows up for you as agitation, fear, or feeling stuck; whether it comes with headaches, digestive upsets, or a short temper . . . these herbs can help everything be fine again.Herbs discussed include betony, tulsi, linden, rose, elder, st john’s wort, goldenrod, sage, chamomile, catnip, hawthorn, skullcap, lavender, vervain, & boneset.Intrigued by our discussion of elderflower as an emotional support herb in this episode? Then you should check out our mini-course all about Elderberries & Elderflowers! In it we teach you everything we know a

Change is hard. It’s hard for everyone, not just you! Acknowledging this is important, whether you’re trying to make a change in your own life or guide others through that process. Since making change is at the heart of holistic herbalism, finding ways to make it easier is critical to success.Sometimes, the best catalyst for change is … change! A small healthy change in habits can give you a new perspective on a big thorny problem, and it can also make a big shift easier to approach. If you shop in a different store, you might find it easier to break out of your autopilot and make more intentional purchases. If you take a short walk, you’re more likely to take a longer one – and more likely to smell the roses, or climb the trees! If the end goal seems distant, take a small step in that direction and see if it doesn’t look that much closer. And of course, herbs can help with this!Herbs discussed include hawthorn, linden, tulsi, schisandra, elderflower, lobelia, motherwort, elecampane.As always, please subscrib

Earlier this month, Ryn attended a Level 3 certification event for MovNat – a 4-day course/test/immersion in natural movement. It was quite the challenge! On this week’s episode, we talk about all the herbs he took to prepare beforehand and the ones he brought along to help him get through. If you want to work with herbs for physical challenges in your own life – whether that’s an intense sporting event, or a job or lifestyle that’s physically demanding – these might help you, too!Mentioned in this episode:Pumpkin Playtime: An Outdoor Adventure – coming up on October 19 & 20! Join us for a weekend of forest movement skills: learn to move quietly, quickly, and confidently over uneven terrain while you protect your precious pumpkin. Your weekend includes paleo meals, comfy camping, and of course, herbal medicine too!The Holistic Herbalism Podcast Episode 44: Empty Nests & Challenges – In the second half of this episode, Ryn reflected on the MovNat Immersion he attended in 2018, and shared some lessons h

Good health takes effort. It doesn’t just happen, and our cultural norms definitely don’t make it easy. You have to plan for it! But it can feel difficult to do all that planning on your own, and you know what they say about the best-laid plans… What’s needed here is a culture of support for self-care and good health habits. If you don’t have that in place already, don’t worry! You can create one, for yourself and for those close to you. This episode is all about how.First by changing the mindset we bring to self-care & community-care, and then by turning that positive mindset to the four fundamental pillars of good health, we can make this attainable for anyone. Accountability and camaraderie go a long way toward dispelling feelings of deprivation! If you’re trying to create a culture of support in your own home or family, these tips will help you.Mentioned in this episode:4 Keys To Holistic Herbalism, our FREE mini-course about the fundamental philosophy and practice of holistic herbalism.Emergent Respo

The itchy, inflamed, sensitive presentation of a fungal skin infection is something no one wants. These kinds of infections can be difficult to resolve whether you’re trying with herbs or with pharmaceutical agents, but don’t give up! With a few pointers and a solid plan, you can be successful working with herbs for athlete’s foot. The difference between success and failure often comes down to how you prepare and apply the herbs – that’s what this episode will teach you.Our favorite antifungal herbs are actually some of the most common – plants like garlic, oregano, turmeric, and willow. With common household items like salt and vinegar, they can be made into very potent herbal remedies to combat athlete’s foot. We like to come at the problem from a few angles at once, working with soaks, sprays, and salves to keep the fungi on their toes – and get them off of yours!(By the way, these remedies are also helpful if you’re dealing with thrush, ringworm, or related issues. We offer some tips for applying these he

This winter elixir is our #1 cold & flu remedy! We make a big batch every year around this time, when most of the plants that go into it are fresh and ready to harvest. They need about a month to extract fully into the elixir, so we can’t wait until we’re already sick to start putting our elixir together. Preparing it now means it’s ready for us when the first respiratory infection of the season strikes. Holistic herbalism means thinking ahead sometimes!Our herbal elixir is designed to be general-purpose, to cover all the most important bases. When you have a cold or the flu, you don’t only need to “kill” the virus. You also need to keep your inner waters flowing, help fevers be effective & efficient, maintain mucous membrane function, and provide your immune system with the support it needs to function optimally. From the marrow on outward, our winter elixir is a full-spectrum solution to respiratory infections.PS: If you don’t have all the ingredients we discussed in this episode, work with what you

"Creating this community garden, and teaching families in your area how to grow food and look out for each other – that is abolition. We’re humanizing people again, and working for community health and ecological health, and all of those things are completely opposite to what the prison-industrial complex is trying to do. So in that way, herbalism is abolition."Today we’re honored & excited to share with you our interview with Nicole Rose of Solidarity Apothecary in the UK! Nicole is an herbalist who is working tirelessly to bring herbal medicine to incarcerated individuals, those who have been released from prison, and the families and communities who have been impacted by the state violence and the prison-industrial complex. She recently completed her new book The Prisoner’s Herbal, which Katja helped edit and which we’re going to help distribute in the US.We talked about how Nicole’s personal experience of finding support from wild plants during her own incarceration shaped her work as an org

Where does loosestrife belong? Is barberry a badberry? And what’s with all the knotweed everywhere?! Most folks will tell you it’s simple: “These are invasive plants. They’re bullies, who take over an area and crowd out “native” plants! They need to be pulled out, root and branch! No use for ’em – not a good seed in the lot!” … Whew. If that were true, there’d be no such thing as medicinal invasive plants – but we’re here to tell you, there is such a thing. Many such, actually!In this episode we’ll tell you all about three of our favorite “invasive” herbs in our part of the world: purple loosestrife, Japanese knotweed, and barberry (European and Japanese varieties). We’ll explore each one’s medicinal virtues and specific talents, drawing insights from historical & traditional practice, phytochemistry, and our own experiences working with these plants to solve problems and improve health.In the process, we’ll work to challenge some of the underlying assumptions in the standard narrative about invasive plan

Your skin is your largest organ, and it’s your presentation to the world – so it’s important to take care of it! It’s not just vanity. For most purposes, a simple daily routine will do the job. In this episode Katja shares her own personal daily routine, and then we discuss how to work with herbs for healthy skin care in a variety of situations. Simple kitchen ingredients and inexpensive herbs are the focus, as always!The best herbs for healthy skin are the ones that match your own constitution and your current state, so we offer insights into how you can choose the right herbs for your skin type. We’ve got tips for working with herbs to reduce acne, and herbal strategies for resolving eczema. And because we always keep things holistic, we share considerations around movement, stress, food, & sleep and how they can affect the skin. Lots of factors affect skin health, which is a good thing – it means you have lots of options for how to get started! Listen in to hear the choices and make your first steps.He