Learning about how to listen to the body takes time. Small things we can start paying attention to help. *** It’s best when we can taste our medicine which is one fundamentally critical difference from pharma. Herbs and food have taste that prepare the body for what is coming. And as we pay attention over… Continue Reading →
These are relationships. You get to know the plant and how you interact with it. There are times when it’s appropriate and there are times when it is not and this is true for just about everything.
Those of us with these injuries know something about the trickster in just about any food or substance. We have a lot of sensitivities. I find that most herbs have a sort of polarity in which they may be just what you need today but not tomorrow. And they really do act differently in the body depending on what is going on. All herbs do this in one way or another. Some are much more noticeable than others. …
a few thoughts on an article I saw. the FDA is cracking down on false claims, which is okay in and of itself but the take away it seems is to shun herbs altogether which is not okay. Below are my brief comments. This is the link to the article: FDA, FTC slam 7 companies… Continue Reading →
My collection of Stephen Buhner’s books. An incredibly rich and important resource for any herbalist and self-healing freaks of all sorts. I love these books. Many of us with long term chronic illness will find that we have chronic infections of various kinds as well. Lyme disease is really just a somewhat more recognized cause… Continue Reading →
My primary relationships right now are with the plants that are healing me. It’s an all encompassing love affair. What humans have never been able to give me, these plants are offering. Plant spirit medicine is for real. we are all one. nature is inherent to how we evolved. Whether we use the language of… Continue Reading →
Layers of delusion and dissociation have been directly correlated with bad bacteria and other issues with biofilm matrixes in the body. As I have cleansed (detoxed) I’ve healed long-standing autoimmune disease as well as brain injury imparted from psych drugs. “Mental health issues” associated with trauma also cleared up as the layers of dissociation disappeared with the biofilm matrixes. Word “disappeared” while true, belies the real work involved in letting go. This has both an emotional/spiritual process and a physical one. Both have been critically important processes in the healing process. We are truly one. There is no separation between the physical and the emotional. No separation between body and mind. And everything matters because everything is interconnected. …
Update Sept. 2016: I had reason to remember this post today since I’m off to a local’s house to pick up some branches so that I can harvest the bark. I’m very excited to have some local bark. This is a lovely herbal medicine that I am now using in a formula from Chinese Medicine that helps soothe the soul. A shen tonic which includes polygala, poria, astragulus, licorice, and reishi. Yes, I’m now learning a bit about chinese herbalism and I can finally do formulas because I continue to heal and am no longer so hypersensitive.
By Jon Keyes- We live in a world that is disconnected from this way of looking at plants/herbs and see them as either fairly useless or often as a capsule to ingest to gain a desired effect. When I work with people who are recovering from trauma, I often do the simplest thing possible, I have a cup of tea with them. Just the act of siting down and sipping a gentle tea brings connection, warmth, a movement towards increased stillness and trust and away from the noise and the overstimulation of the modern world. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
By Jon Keyes
Mental health herbalism is the practice of working with herbs and other plants to improve well being, develop keener insight into patterns of imbalance and to reduce emotional distress. As a licensed professional counselor and herbalist, I often incorporate the use of herbs for helping people to get stronger and feel better. I have seen herbs improve mental health and I have also seen herbs bring profound insights that help a person work through emotional knots. Plants not only work on a physical level, they are able to transform people emotionally and spiritually as well. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
I am using a lot of herbs that are categorized as “nervine” herbs. They support the nervous system. I find that they are truly profoundly healing. Psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome, is among other things, an autonomic nervous system injury. The herbs are healing in a very literal sense in that they don’t just soothe the nervous system — I can feel them building it. I don’t have to use the herbs in an ongoing way the way pharmaceuticals are used and what’s more I find that if I meditate after taking them I can process old traumas and shadow content from my psyche in such a way that old traumatic stuff moves through and is healed. Truly astonishing and wonderful. I don’t expect everyone would find this to be true for them, but I’m very grateful that if works this way for me. As I suggested earlier, there was time when taking the herbs would have been too much for my nervous system and it taking them would have been detrimental. Again, timing is everything. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Everything Matters 
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