How to heal and not harm with medicinal plants.
As herbalists, our #1 goal in our work is to provide healing and alleviate the suffering in the people we serve. But that typically leads into our #1 fear as herbalists, which is that we might inflict harm or hurt someone with the medicinal plants we give them. This is a totally valid concern, for…
Legal Concerns of Practicing Herbalism
A major concern of folks on the path of becoming a practicing herbalist is that they’ll get sued for practicing medicine without a license. Being an herbalist in the United States is a little bit of a grey area, as there are thousands of practitioners out there helping people with plants that aren’t necessarily licensed…
“How much of an herb do I give?” A discussion on dosage of medicinal plants
From a single drop to 5 mL of tincture and 1 tsp to 5 grams, the range of how much of a medicinal plant to give varies greatly from practitioner to practitioner. How much of a plant to administer to someone also greatly depends on their constitution, what herbs you plan on giving, whether…
An Herbal Formula for an Embarrassing Condition
I always like to say that every client you see is a chapter in your experiential book of learning herbal medicine. And that is the very best book you can get to learn about how to use plants effectively. Recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to treat a condition I’d never treated before… hemorrhoids.…
The Holistic Properties of Valerian
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is one of those herbs that a lot of people are aware of, especially in regards to its usage as a remedy for sleep. But why does Valerian help us sleep? What are the underlying properties that lend to this popularized usage? And what else can Valerian be used for? In this…
Herbs to Support the Heart in Times of Grief
“Grief expressed out loud, whether in or out of character, un-choreographed and honest, for someone we have lost, or a country or home we have lost, is in itself the greatest praise we could ever give them. Grief is praise, because it is the natural way love honors what it misses.” -Martine Prechtel Grief is…
The Herbal Equation: Plants AND People
I know how it goes when you first start studying herbalism, you get SO excited about learning about all of these beautiful amazing plants. I mean after all, isn’t that what usually gets us into herbal medicine to begin with, an absolute love for plants? But they are just one half of the “herbal equation.” It’s…
The Human Body: Machine or Ecosystem?
Modern biomedicine tends to view the human body like a machine made up of multiple “gears.” When something goes wrong, we simply need to fix the broken part (or replace it in some instances). This mechanistic view of the body is significantly different from more traditional perspectives on our anatomy and physiology. Central to the…
Developing Your Herbal Competence and Confidence
As we walk the plant path, there eventually comes a time when we come up against certain blocks that prevent us from reaching that next level in our practice of herbalism. While it’s critical that we learn the external skills, strategies, principles and practices to become an herbalist, there is also an internal component…
Preventative Medicine With Astro-Herbalism
One of the main problems with modern medicine isn’t just based on the fact that pharmaceutical drugs can often cause more problems than solutions, but rather, it’s a problem of philosophy which directly influences the way medicine is practiced. The overarching philosophical approach to modern medicine is based on the treatment of symptoms. It is…
