Becoming an herbalist is more than just undertaking an online course. It becomes a way you see the world, and a practice. Here are some tips for beginning your journey into herbalism.
- Spend time in nature -
You can’t just study plants on a screen, and forget about spending time with them in the physical. You will get to know them in different ways, deeper ways, by going on nature walks and listening to the forest. Keep going back to the same place and getting to know one part of nature more intimately.
- Read books that stir emotions -
That being said, when it comes to study time, immerse yourself in literature that inspires you not just naturopathic text books but emotive books written by people who spent time on the land. Read the poetry of Mary Oliver and Emerson, read about Joanna Macy and Robin Kimmerer.
- Become aware of the seasons -
Start noticing patterns in the time of year and the types of plants you are seeing in your local area. When do the trees go to flower? When do the leaves looks lush and green? Notice which birds and animals are showing up at what times of day and season.
- Grow a garden -
This will be the most reliable ground upon which you enter into a personal relationship with plants. You will see how fast or slow they seed. You will discover what soil conditions they like and don’t like. You will begin to understand how they respond to moisture. You will smell their medicine and taste their flavours. You will feel things when (or if) you decide to harvest them.
Herbalism in its truest, deepest, ancestral form isn’t a clinical relationship. You will discover what it is only by allowing nature to tell you.
#diyherbalism #becomeaherbalist #herbalism #herbalist #herbalmedicine #natureknowsbest #studentofnature #nimbin #apothecary #nimbinapothecary
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Here’s a few herbs that come to mind when thinking about uterus health and fertility. There are also practices of massage, yoni steaming, sex, diet and hygiene that will play equally important roles in a healthy womb.
The dialogue a woman has with her womb is also very important, such as how she treats this place in love making, who is welcomed in and what energy and belief systems are behind it all. We have all been impacted deeply by the media and the portrayal of sexuality that many young girls use your sexual energy as a way of receiving what feels like love. This is all stored in the womb, and this is the literal seeding ground of the next generation.
You don’t need to wait until making babies or menopause to think about your hormonal health; you can begin to cleanse, tone and relax tension in this area to allow for a deeper connection with your body and your sensuality.
#nimbin #nimbinapothecary #herbalmedicine #yonihealth #wombhealth #healthysexuality
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It’s time to get into the garden and start planting for Autumn - if you haven’t already.
Autumn is a time for clearing away and preparing for the cool to come. Harvest those summer veggies and fruits and clear away the garden patch for a new season. For those of you around the sub-tropical zones of South-East QLD and NNSW, these plants are some of the herbs you could incorporate into your Autumn patch.
If you are have big property, a small raised garden bed or a balcony pot plant garden, you can connect with seasonal herbs and plants and get growing in any capacity. It’s an amazing process of listening, patience, and nurture, and in return you receive so many gifts.
#autumngarden #herbalmedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #growyourfood #growyourherbs #gardeninglife #homegrown #apothecary
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In the current world we live in, it’s becoming increasingly harder to focus and complete tasks. Our neurotransmitter systems have been hijacked & desensitised by quick and cheap dopamine sources which means showing up to the hard tasks with delayed rewards (aka accounting & tax, creating e-books, writing a novel, finishing uni, producing an album of music etc.) is getting harder and harder. We have become hardwired for the instant.
This is where the brain herbs come in - they can be drunk as a tea, or kept alongside the study desk to be smelt fresh to awaken the mind. Overtime, with reduced exposure to social media and sugar, it’s possible we slow down and show up to the tedious and sometimes boring tasks in life that reward us in much bigger ways down the line!
#studyherbs #withania #bacopa #brahmi #gotukola #herbsforthemind #studyaids #herbalism #herbalmedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary
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THE 6 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL MEDICINE:::
We’ve finally reached our last natural medicine principle in this series of write ups on the 6 Principles of Natural Medicine. If you’d like to read about the first 5, scroll through out past posts! We’ve covered topics around treating root causes, educating the client, not using treatments that are harmful, and understanding health as nature’s default mode to heal on all levels.
The sixth & last principle of natural medicine is:
PREVENTION : Prevention is the best cure
This guiding principle reminds us that it’s not necessary to wait until we are experiencing pain and discomfort to pay attention to our health. Health is a practice. It’s not a destination. You will never be ‘there’, rather work on tending to your health here and now.
Your health is a relationship with your body and whole being. It need not be a relationship dominated by the doing of actions like taking herbs, getting massages and going to see therapists, it involves first and foremost LISTENING. Listening to your body’s likes and dislikes of food, listening to what’s underneath your cravings for sugar or coffee or alcohol, listening to when you need rest and when you need exercise and when you needs to sing in the shower at the top of your lungs!
Health is about listening and then tending to, and this means it starts right now with prevention of chronic diseases by treating the whispers of imbalance before they become screams of sickness.
#principlesofnaturalmedicine #naturalmedicine #herbalism #naturopath #naturemedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #natureknowsbest #preventationasmedicine
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THE 6 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL MEDICINE:::
Each week we have been exploring a different principle at the heart of the natural medicine modalities of herbalism and naturopathy. Ideally, these are principles at the heart of any healing therapy, as they are ideals that are supportive of life.
The fifth principle of natural medicine is:
DOCTOR AS TEACHER : Docere
This guiding principle reminds the practitioner of their role to educate the patient to take responsibility for their own health. The doctor-patient relationship acts to enable the patient to heal themselves. Listening, understanding, and communicating are therefore key aspects of a doctor/practitioner’s job criteria. It’s not about what you know, it’s about transmitting that to your client so they can nurture and protect their own health.
This principle also reminds therapists to not claim successes of treatments as their own; let’s reflect that back to our client’s as their wins! It is each person’s relationship with themselves that is creating and curating their health. Not the doctor. Not the herb. Not the medication. Not the physical adjustment. It can be so tempting to project healing unto another, when it is actually happening inside our own bodies, under our awareness and responsibility.
Healing is truly about meeting yourself, and creating a tender relationship with your body - that is TENDING to you body’s needs compassionately.
#principlesofnaturalmedicine #naturalmedicine #herbalism #naturopath #naturemedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #natureknowsbest #healthewholeperson #doctorasteacher #docere #innerhealing
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THE 6 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL MEDICINE:::
Each week we have been exploring a different principle at the heart of the natural medicine modalities of herbalism and naturopathy. Ideally, these are principles at the heart of any healing therapy, as they are ideals that are supportive of life.
The fourth principle of natural medicine is:
HEAL THE WHOLE PERSON : Tolle Totum
Each person is seen as an integrated whole, with all parts of their body working together as one unified consciousness with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. The harmonious functioning of these parts is essential for healing. The whole is seen as greater than merely the sum of the parts.
For example.. It wouldn’t be enough to merely treat a range of symptoms of fatty liver such as tiredness and weight issues, and leave the diet of greasy foods & alcoholism to the side. It needs to be an integral part of the conversation. Likewise, it wouldn’t be enough to merely take the food & alcohol away, without exploring the driving factors to consume these numbing agents. This is a Tolle Totum approach, with the client at the centre of the treatment.
What happens with all the aspects of a person are looked at together, is a much greater response to healing than looking at each individual part alone.
#principlesofnaturalmedicine #naturalmedicine #herbalism #naturopath #naturemedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #natureknowsbest #healthewholeperson #tolletotum
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THE 6 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL MEDICINE:::
Each week we are exploring a different principle at the heart of the natural medicine modalities of herbalism and naturopathy. Ideally, these are principles at the heart of any healing therapy, as they are ideals that are supportive of life. In these discussions we can unpack what healing actually is, and make sure our choices are in line with that.
The third principle of natural medicine is:
IDENTIFY AND TREAT THE CAUSE : Tolle Causam
This is a really important principle, which modern medicine is sadly failing at with dangerous repercussions. We must understand that a symptom is merely a flag getting your attention, and it generally isn’t the origin of the environment causing the issue. As a therapist it is your role to educate your client about this and to look beyond the symptoms to the underlying root causes. A holistic treatment will address both what’s presenting and what is underneath.
Symptoms are expressions of the bodies attempt to heal something and should not be merely suppressed. It’s actually very dangerous to suppress a symptom alone; it can tell the body you are ‘not concerned’, or ‘not listening’, and in effect can be similar to telling someone to stop crying when they are upset. Through the process of crying, our mind and body come into unison and confront something. By listening to a symptom we can follow it’s thread back to the root issue and thank the body for telling us what’s up.
#principlesofnaturalmedicine #naturalmedicine #herbalism #naturopath #naturemedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #natureknowsbest #tollecausam #rootcause
]]>THE 6 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL MEDICINE:::
Each week we are exploring a different principle at the heart of the natural medicine modalities of herbalism and naturopathy. Ideally, these are principles at the heart of any healing therapy, as they are ideals that are supportive of life. In these discussions we can unpack what healing actually is, and make sure our choices are in line with that. Check our last week’s post on the first principle of natural medicine.
The second principle of natural medicine is:
THE HEALING POWER OF NATURE : Vis Mediatrix Naturae
As herbalists and natural medicine practitioners, we see nature and all her medicine as alive, living, intelligent, and informed. We trust in the inherent wisdom and power of the body to heal itself. And this is because the body is not separate from nature, it is not outside of nature, but intrinsically woven into the fabric of nature. That means we are intelligent, we are alive and living, and we are healthy by nature and able to heal.
When you fall over and graze your leg, your body heals the wound. It knows exactly what to do.
The healing process itself is ordered and intelligent; nature heals through the response of the life force. When we use plants as medicine we are attuning our bodies and reminding them or their aliveness through a mirroring with Earth’s field of flowers, roots, bees, trees, whales, and oceans. We are waking up the innate healing capacity of our bodies.
#principlesofnaturalmedicine #naturalmedicine #herbalism #naturopath #naturemedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #natureknowsbest #healingpowerofnature
]]>Healing is to reconcile a conflict, to bring together a rift and restore amity. Healing is to cleanse something and to remove an evil. Ultimately through these processes healing is to make healthy, whole, or sound and to restore to wellness free from ailment.
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THE 6 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL MEDICINE:::
Each week we are going to explore a different principle at the heart of the natural medicine modalities of herbalism and naturopathy. Ideally, these are principles at the heart of any healing therapy, as they are ideals that are supportive of life. In these discussions we can unpack what healing actually is, and make sure our choices are in line with that. We are sometimes making choices that feel good for us, but are actually in response to temporarily numbing ourselves, distracting ourselves to relieve pain in the moment, and cause much more pain in the next. We might think that relief of pain is healing, but is it really?
Healing is to reconcile a conflict, to bring together a rift and restore amity. Healing is to cleanse something and to remove an evil. Ultimately through these processes healing is to make healthy, whole, or sound and to restore to wellness free from ailment.
The first principle of natural medicine is:
FIRST DO NO HARM : Primum Non Nocere
What this means is that the therapy or treatment used must bring about a process of restoring health and removing sickness without causing more. All of the therapeutic actions should be complementary to and synergistic with the body’s own healing process. We must utilise the most natural, least invasive, and least toxic therapies.
Can you think of ways that you tried to feel better by making choices that actually made you feel worse? You might be able eat a whole block of cheese and feel numb to your stress, but when your belly digests it, you sure will feel a whole lot more unease.
There are therapies used all throughout the world that are carcinogenic, life-threatening, and very invasive - all used in the name of healing. There may be circumstances where this feels like your only choice, but for us herbalists and naturopaths they are not therapies that we are able to utilise in good faith as it breaches the ethics of our practice.
#principlesofnaturalmedicine #naturalmedicine #herbalism #naturopath #naturemedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #natureknowsbest
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The Liver is the Army General of your body!
Ever heard of the term liverish? Someone can be called liverish if they are irritable, or feeling upset in the belly, queazy, and looking a little green in the face.
When the liver is under too much stress from not being able to detox each night between 1am and 3am, then it starts to get angry. This can come out as hot irritated conditions; anger, inability to sleep (mind ticking away at night), anxiety, tension in the shoulders and headaches. If this liverish energy is not addressed at this stage by cooling, moving and detoxing, it will move into a deeper state of stagnation and toxicity. This can be seen as a yellow complexion in the eyes or face, feelings of nausea, and skin disorders.
We really love our Liver Tonic powder, as it will be easy to assimilate into the body and support your liver to function better. Everyday your liver makes a huge amount of decisions about what to do with all the things in your blood; medicine, drugs, food, emotions, toxins, hormones. Did you know the liver plays a huge role in the digestion process as well? Liver health isn’t just about blood, hormones and headaches, the liver helps to digest and breakdown fats at the right time in peristalsis by making bile. If you don’t have enough bile to break down fats, you will be missing out on a huge amount of nutrition. It will also put your digestion under stress by having insoluble fats to deal with in the intestines.
How can you support your liver?
You can integrate the powder into your diet quite easily by mixing a teaspoon into a smoothie. It will go great with a greens powder! If you don’t like smoothies then just pop into a a glass of water and wash it down.
You can buy the Liver Tonic from our website:
https://nimbinapothecary.com.au/products/liver-health-tonic?_pos=1&_sid=d836c2598&_ss=r
#livertonic #liverdetox #liverhealth #herbalmedicine #nimbin #nimbinapothecary
]]>Did you know it’s not always a great idea to eat your medicine in capsules? If you have impaired digestive function, which a lot of people seeking digestive support will have, then taking capsule of herbs may not going to be the ideal way!
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WHICH WAY TO TAKE MY MEDICINE?
Did you know it’s not always a great idea to eat your medicine in capsules? If you have impaired digestive function, which a lot of people seeking digestive support will have, then taking capsule of herbs may not going to be the ideal way!
Your body will have to have good enough digestion to break down the capsule at the right time to get the herbs to the place they want to go. An alkaline belly may help with inflammation, but it’s the acidic belly that is strong enough to break down a robust range of food. Breaking down food to properly assimilate it takes energy, energy that a depleted person may not have. Often undigested food is passed onto the small intestine not ready to be assimilated into the blood, and food will be passed on to the colon and removed from the body undigested.
If you have a slow sluggish belly, this may mean that your medicine is being digested too late in the metabolic process. This is where powdered herbs and liquid herbs are much better. Powdered herbs have the added benefit of being able to coat the lining of the digestive tract and treat the physical area needing support.
It’s very important to know WHY you are taking a medicine to make sure you’re taking it at the right time of day and in the right form for your intention. Get clear!
#herbalmedicine #naturalhealth #nimbin #nimbinapothceary #herbalism #apothecary #naturalwellness
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SLOW MEDICINE
This is not a word that comes to mind when one think’s about our modern society. Slow is something we have forgotten. We have raced through industrialisation and in the last 200 years we have completely renovated ourselves so that convenience is at the heart of our lives. Sometimes it feels like a heavy price to pay for that makeover.
Convenience is quick and easy, which lends itself to cheap. Faster growth times of crops from planting to harvest, and faster food with emptier nutrition. Quicker builds of homes with cheaper materials that feel empty and void of life inside. Faster growth of the economy which is quicker to collapse. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with quick and easy, but let’s not pretend it will carry us into our futures with stability, reliability, and resiliency. And these are attributes that are very important each of us as we prepare ourselves for the changes of our generation.
Never before have we been unable to prepare our children for the way of life that will ready themselves for their adulthood. When life is unpredictable, looking to nature is a beautiful guide, and sometimes our only guide.
Nature doesn’t do quick and easy. Nature takes her time. Nature moves slow, and makes slow medicine. Nature is patient. She lives in deep time, and builds her wildest dreams over eons. Nature doesn’t lie. Nature recycles all and consumes all. And the very quality of what she consumes marks the quality of what she produces. Nature knows.
When it comes to healing your body and mind, it’s not just a matter of popping pills, be that pharmaceutical or nutraceutical. It’s about understanding the true pace of life and healing. Healing takes time. Growing good medicine takes time. Growing healthy people takes time.
Here at the Nimbin Apothecary we are learning more and more about slow medicine. What it takes to grow medicine from seed to bottle takes time. And it’s also why artisan nature made-hand made medicine have a higher price. It’s of a higher value, and not subsidised by the government or pharmaceutical companies.
#nimbinapothecary #nimbin #slowmedicine #herbalmedicine #naturetakestime #takeyourtime #slowdown #handmade #homegrown
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The Honourable Harvest
Where a plant grows wild, is the place that plant choses to grow rather than where it was sowed, and tends to be a place that it thrives. Often times this is the most potent form of that plant’s medicine; wild herbal medicine. But how can we harvest and forage wild plants in a way that is good and right?
First Nations people all over the world have been listening to plants and collecting medicine in a way that it can continue to sustain them. Here are some of the governing principles of the Honourable Harvest according to Robin Kimmerer, a Potawatomi woman, botanist and author of the profound read Braiding Sweet Grass.
Ask permission of the ones whose lives you seek. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Take only what you need and leave some for others.
Use everything that you take.
Take only that which is given to you.
Share it, as the Earth has shared with you.
Be grateful.
Reciprocate the gift.
Sustain the ones who sustain you, and the Earth will last forever.
These guidelines are bound by the tenets of reciprocity. That is to give when we receive, and to share the abundance around. Principles of reciprocity have been important regulators to First Nation’s people keeping in check our own individual desires towards greed, and keeping us humble.
Imagine a modern world where reciprocity were at the heart of our values. Would it not look very very different!
#wildforaged #herbalmedicine #foraging #growingmedicine #herbalism #nimbin #nimbinapothecary #reciprocity #robinkimmerer #braidingsweetgrass
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Summer is in full swing and it’s time to be foraging and collecting herbs from the garden and from wild places. Always remember the honourable harvest; which Robin Kimmerer speaks extensively to. We’ll explore this topic soon in it’s own post, but for now remember…
Right now the St John’s Wort’s Hypericum perforatum are flowering down south. These make a great oil infusion for external use! The Dandelions Taraxacum officinale/vulgare areready to pick the leaves and flowers which can be eaten in salads or sautéed. For any St Mary’s Thistle Silybum marianum plants growing in the dry sunny areas, the seeds will be ready which can be used to help protect the liver.
Don’t forget to spend time in nature, watching the plants grow and hearing the land sing.
#wildforaged #herbalmedicine #foraging #growingmedicine #herbalism #nimbin #nimbinapothecary
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