The Holistic Herbalism Podcast

On the top-selling herbs list for 2023 (the most recent data), the herbs in places #19-21 were Tribulus terrestris, Pycnogenol (an extract of Pinus pinaster), and garlic. Today we continue our series on commercially popular herbs, and share our views as herbalists on the actions, benefits, and applications of these ones. The pine extract is an interesting item, given that it’s not an entry for the herb itself but rather for a specific proprietary extract from one species. It’s true that this extract has been well-studied and shown to exert good effects, but it’s also true that pine is much more than this one product. Today’s trio also offers an excellent opportunity to apply herbal energetics to help us critique and navigate marketing hype. While tribulus is very popular as a body-building aid, its cooling nature tells us that it is most helpful for those who already run hot. Garlic is the polar opposite of that. While garlic is very famous for its capacity to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, these effects are not as straightforward in a hot, dry, tense body – garlic could cause adverse effects for such a constitution. So, looking through the lens of herbal energetics remains one of our best methods for matching the right herb to the right person. 19. Tribulus – Tribulus terrestris Tribulus terrestrisGokshura (Tribulus terrestris)20. Pycnogenol® – Pinus pinaster Pine bark: cardiometabolic healthHHP 205: Herbs A-Z: Pinus & PlantagoPine wallpaper for phone & desktop21. Garlic – Allium sativum Garlic at Herbal Reality Every herbalist should understand energetics, and be able to apply them effectively. Our Energetics & Holistic Practice course has all the info you need to understand herbal actions, qualities, tissue states, and constitutions. These critical concepts set herbalism apart from other healing modalities and are essential to effective herbalism. Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! That course is one part of our Community Herbalist program. This program prepares you to support your family & community with holistic herbal methods. If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Mutual aid projects are a natural place for herbalists to gravitate, and setting one up in your community is easier than you think! Our mutual aid startup guide is a free resource we offer you to help with this. You can download it right here: Mutual Aid Startup Guide In today’s episode we want to emphasize two key things about this: First, it doesn’t have to be an enormous undertaking. You can start with a small circle of friends, and build from there. The keys are consistency and continuity of communication. Second, getting started can be very simple! So often, people feel hesitant to begin – thinking they need a fully fleshed-out concept and perhaps some financial backing before they start. But mutual aid can be something that fits into your schedule and that lifts you up instead of burning you out. We discuss three examples to show what mutual aid can look like at different scales: a small personal support network, a medium community fix-it club, and a larger community disaster response team. We hope this episode inspires you to get started, and if you have any questions, reach out to us! Everything’s on sale in July! All our offerings are self-paced online video courses. They all with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! Use code HAWTHORN at checkout to get 20% off! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Our semi-annual 20% off Sale is active now! For the entire month of July, use code hawthorn at checkout to take 20% off all our online courses! Sussing out herb-drug interactions is complicated! In this episode we take the example of Celexa + skullcap, and demonstrate the process of investigation we’d use to sort out whether a proposed risk is real. We start with the Botanical Safety Handbook, because it has certain features which make it significantly better than other manuals or databases. These include the varied relevant experience and skills of the editorial team, its clarity about real vs theorized reactions, and other critical data points which are directly relevant to the herbalist’s practice. Checking one resource isn’t sufficient, though. We also need to consider the fact that ‘absence of evidence is not evidence of absence’, and remember that constitutional variations can significantly change the efficacy of a given herb for a particular person. Information outside of scientific studies – such as the popularity of an herb or the prevalence of a drug, as well as traditional practices with plants – can help us to orient ourselves more precisely. For further education about herb-drug interactions: Herb-Drug Interactions & Herb SafetyThe Botanical Safety HandbookHHP 101: How Herbs Are Different From Drugs Everything’s on sale in July! All our offerings are self-paced online video courses. They all with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! Use code HAWTHORN at checkout to get 20% off! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Our semi-annual 20% off Sale is active now! For the entire month of July, use code hawthorn at checkout to take 20% off all our online courses! On the top-selling herbs list for 2023 (the most recent data), the herbs in places #16-18 were saw palmetto, cinnamon, and echinacea. In today’s installment of our best-sellers series, we share our views as herbalists on the actions, benefits, and applications of these herbs. All three are long-term residents on the market report’s top 40 chart, and there’s no reason to expect that to change in the coming years. In this series of episodes, we’re working to present you with the perspective of a practicing clinical herbalist on these very popular plants. In the form of supplements, they’re among the most-taken and most-asked-about herbal remedies for the modern population. Their presentation in the marketplace, though, is generally quite restricted and limited in comparision to both historical and contemporary herbal practices! These herbs are “good for” more than just what’s on their packaging. Let’s break them out of their pigeon-holes and appreciate their depth & complexity together! If you’re new to studying herbs, these episodes will armor you with protection against “herban legends” and misinformation about these plants, which is sadly very common throughout the internet of today. If you’re already a practitioner, well, you know how valuable materia medica study has been, is, and will ever be! Because these supplements are so popular, you can expect many of your clients to be taking them already, and to ask you about them when they come to see you. Best to be prepared. 16. Saw Palmetto – Serenoa repens HHP 158: Saw Palmetto Doesn’t Discriminate On GenderThe Historical Interplay of Plant Biology, Trade, and Human Interactions with Saw Palmetto17. Cinnamon – Cinnamomum spp. HHP 182: Herbs A-Z: Citrus & CinnamomumHHP 048: Pumpkin Spice – That’s Herbalism Too!HHP 035: Cinnamon, Vanilla, & Cacao18. Echinacea – Echinacea spp. The 3 types of echinacea: A comparison of medicinal actionsGangrene averted by EchinaceaThe sustainability of echinacea within herbal medicine Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Bandaids are undeniably handy, and there are plenty of situations where they do the job that needs doing. But there are also lots of times when a wound is too big, too irregular, or too sensitive for a bandaid to be the best choice. That’s where bespoke bandaging comes into play! You can learn bandaging basics really quickly – yes, even through podcast audio – and that’s what today’s episode is all about. Bandages are extremely versatile and customizable – even without getting a dozen different types of gauze and pads. Truly, a box of 2″ and 4″ roller gauze, plus some gauze pads and micropore tape, is plenty for most situations you’ll run into. For the purposes of practice, they’re all you need to get started. When you’re practicing your bandaging technique, your big goal is to make the bandages neat, secure, and yet still allowing for a normal range of motion. The best way to get good at this is to practice. The best way to practice is to get some friends together for a “mummy party”, where everyone gets bandaged by everyone else! We’re highlighting first aid herbalism on the podcast all month. You can use the discount code FIRSTAID during checkout for $25 off of our Herbal First Aid course for the month of June (2025)! Our Herbal First Aid course has plenty of video showing you bandaging techniques, tips, and tricks! It also teaches you all the fundamentals of working with herbs for acute care. Wounds, burns, sprains, bites & stings, and emotional first aid needs can all be addressed with herbs! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When putting together a bug-out bag in case of emergencies, don’t forget your herbs! Just like a first aid kit, a go bag is best when you construct it according to your specific needs, and the needs of people you’ll be with. This isn’t a “one size fits all” situation! The same goes for circumstances when you need to shelter in place. A ‘stay-in stash’ is just a go-bag without the go. It’s an orderly, intentional accumulation of all the things you’ll need if the power goes out for a week, or you can’t leave your home for an extended period of time. Herbs, food, and ‘everything else’ all need to go in there – and don’t forget water! In this episode we discuss what to include, what to avoid, and ways to keep your stock rotating and fresh for a moment of need. Mentioned in this episode: HHP 233: Emergency Readiness Needs A Meal PlanFEMA AppWe’re highlighting first aid herbalism on the podcast all month. You can use the discount code FIRSTAID during checkout for $25 off of our Herbal First Aid course for the month of June (2025)! Our Herbal First Aid course teaches you all the fundamentals of working with herbs for acute care. Wounds, burns, sprains, bites & stings, and emotional first aid needs can all be addressed with herbs! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Just like checking your stock of remedies in the apothecary, herbal first aid kit maintenance is one of those things you need to carve out time for – at least once a year! It’s June, which is the kick-off to summer adventure and here on the east coast, also hurricane season. In other regions, wildfire season is already started, and even without a disaster, summer means more bumps & bruises – so it’s the perfect time for us to be focusing on first aid and updating your kit. Your kit might need updates if your health needs change, or if different people enter your circle of care. Sometimes old remedies need replacing, or you find a better system to organize everything. Your first aid kit is like a garden – it needs tending to be at its best. This month we’ll be sharing lots of first aid information on the podcast. Let’s start off with your first aid kit. If you have one, it needs maintenance. If you don’t have one, this is the time to build one! This episode has everything you need to do both. Use the discount code FIRSTAID during checkout for $25 off of our Herbal First Aid course for the month of June (2025)! Our Herbal First Aid course teaches you all the fundamentals of working with herbs for acute care. Wounds, burns, sprains, bites & stings, and emotional first aid needs can all be addressed with herbs! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This is the second half of the Disaster-Proofing your Herbal Business theme. Economic uncertainty is part of business – but there’s so much you can do to make sure your business stays strong throughout the ups and downs. In the previous episode, we covered the first three steps in the work of diversifying your revenue streams and your product/service offerings to make sure that your herbal business keeps growing! In this episode, we’re talking about expanding both your offerings and your target audience so that you can broaden your reach into more markets. This takes some creativity and some market research, but don’t worry! It’s not hard to do and this episode has plenty of tips. The most important take-away is that if you stay flexible and try several different ideas at a small scale to see what gets traction, shifting your business with the economic conditions becomes a lot less challenging. Most importantly though: you don’t have to do all this alone! Join our Herbal Business Program and let’s do it together! Not only will i personally help you, but you’ll also have access to our private community of herbal business folks – so that you get a nurturing peer support group as well! The Herbal Business Program covers every aspect of GMP compliance, as well as every other part of running your business, from getting registered, paying taxes, and getting insurance to building your website and marketing without selling out – even hiring employees! All of our courses include twice weekly live Q&A sessions and you can ask questions in the discussion thread attached to every lesson – we answer them ever day! Plus we have a student community where you can get support from other business herbies too! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Economic uncertainty is part of business – but there’s so much you can do to disaster-proof your herbal business and make sure it stays strong throughout the ups and downs. This episode is the first three steps in the work of diversifying your revenue streams and also your product/service offerings to make sure that your herbal business keeps growing! We’re focusing here on how to shift your marketing so that your products/services remain essential as people tighten their budgets, as well as shifting which products or services you offer to make sure that you really do remain essential! In order to do that, you’ve got to really know your customers, and so we’ll talk about exercises for how to do that, too. Taking the time to gather some data will help you to stay relevant and survive the budget cuts! And if your business is still in the planning stages, that’s great – that means that you can be structuring your business to be economically resilient right from the start. Most importantly though: you don’t have to do all this alone! Join our Herbal Business Program and let’s do it together! Not only will i personally help you, but you’ll also have access to our private community of herbal business folks – so that you get a nurturing peer support group as well! The Herbal Business Program covers every aspect of GMP compliance, as well as every other part of running your business, from getting registered, paying taxes, and getting insurance to building your website and marketing without selling out – even hiring employees! All of our courses include twice weekly live Q&A sessions and you can ask questions in the discussion thread attached to every lesson – we answer them ever day! Plus we have a student community where you can get support from other business herbies too! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In our fifth installment in this series, we address the facts & fictions about ginkgo, guarana, and maca supplements in commerce! These were #13, 14, and 15 on the top-selling herbs list for 2023 (the most recent data). This series is all about sharing an herbalist’s understanding of herbs very popular as commercial supplements and other mass-market products. We want to share perspectives of both traditional and contemporary herbal practice, so people can understand these are “good for” more than just what’s on their labels. It’s too easy for herbs to be boxed in to smaller and smaller ranges of application when they’re commercialized. This is an antidote to that movement! For practicing herbalists & clinicians, it’s very important to know well those herbs which are most commonly consumed. Your clients will ask you about them, or be taking them before they even visit you – so you’ve got to know what they do! You might be able to give advice about a better remedy, or a compensation for some effect of the plant. This can help your clients just as much as a new recommendation, so don’t neglect it. If you’re new to herbalism, this can also serve as an inoculation against “herban legends” and misinformation – which is rampant on today’s internet. 13. Ginkgo – Ginkgo biloba HHP 139: Six Herbs for Cognitive Decline PreventionHHP 047: Tinnitus & Headaches14. Guarana – Paullinia cupana Guarana at Examine.comGuarana in King’s American Dispensatory (1898)15. Maca – Lepidium meyenii Maca at Examine.comMaca at Herbal RealityFind the previous episode of this series here: (Part 1): Psyllium, Elderberry, Turmeric, Ashwagandha(Part 2): Apple Cider Vinegar, Cranberry(Part 3): Wheatgrass, Beet Root, & Ginger(Part 4): Green Tea, Fenugreek, Ivy LeafWhether you’re a brand-new beginner or an herbalist with experience, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs! This self-paced online video course comes with access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

What does it mean to heal? When are we “healed”? Are there some wounds that can’t be healed? If we can’t heal – in the sense of achieving “perfect health” – are we failures, as people or as herbalists? In this episode, Katja shares her thoughts on the words and ideas “healing” carries in our culture, offering a critique of their common (and commercialized!) semantic and emotional baggage. Transcript Lately, in conversations with several different people from different realms of my life, the word “heal” – healing, healer – has come up a lot, and specifically, what we mean when we talk about “healing”. I have some strong feelings about this word that might resonate with you. I think that it’s an important discussion about how we understand health and care, how we understand our bodies, and how we understand the journey of being a human. ​ Lots of people call herbalists “healers” – but we’re not doing any healing, you, the people we help, are! I don’t like to call myself a healer because it means that i’m taking credit for work that the people i help are doing; it’s disempowering. Sure, i motivate, i educate, i use my education to build a plan together with my clients – but in the end, they’re the ones that are doing the real work! And what even is healing? If we’re talking about a topical wound, i suppose it means “the process of the skin growing back” – but what about scars? Is there such a thing as “healed”, even in the simple sense of a wound? What does it mean to “heal” internally – let’s say, cardiovascular damage? Maybe you do a lot of work on your cardiovascular health and get your blood pressure down – that’s really good! Herbs and holistic strategies are really good at this kind of work. But is that healing? The problem can always come back, if you have to deal with a lot of stress over a period of time, for example. If it comes back, is that a failure on your part? Did you “do a bad job at healing”? I don’t think so. I think that if you improve your health by working on it, that’s awesome, and if life gets stressful and you have a flareup, that’s just the reality of being a creature of fluctuation. We’re not permanent, we’re not static – we’re always reacting to our environment, and compensating for factors that are out of our control. What about things that can’t be healed? ... To read the rest of the transcript, click here! Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

We discuss green tea, fenugreek, and ivy leaf in this, the fourth part of an episodic sequence about the best-selling herbs in the US. Our primary purpose for creating this series of episodes is to share an understanding of these herbs from the perspectives of traditional and contemporary herbal practice. Frequently, the high-volume sales of these herbs comes along with oversimplified or diminished ideas about what they can do. If we ask “what does this herb help with?” and answer it based only on what we see on store shelves and product websites, we’ll miss out on a lot of possibilities! Every herbalist practicing in the US today should be familiar with these herbs, because they are the ones your clients are most likely to be taking even before they show up for an appointment with you. Their use may have implications for your own herbal recommendations, or serve as a jumping-off point for a more involved protocol. You may also be able to advise your clients about alternatives which may serve them better, or even some supplements that aren’t really worth the price. So overall, this series is both an example of materia medica study and also a guide to ‘marketing literacy’ for supplements. 10. Green Tea – Camellia sinensis Green Tea11. Fenugreek – Trigonella foenum-graecum Fenugreek12. Ivy Leaf – Hedera helix “Hedera.-Ivy.” in King’s American Dispensatory, 1898Find the previous episode of this series here: HHP 240: Herbalists’ Views on the Top-Selling Herbs (Part 1): Psyllium, Elderberry, Turmeric, AshwagandhaHHP 244: Herbalists’ Views on the Top-Selling Herbs (Part 2): Apple Cider Vinegar, CranberryHHP 246: Herbalists’ Views on the Top-Selling Herbs (Part 3): Wheatgrass, Beet Root, & Ginger Whether you’re a brand-new beginner or an herbalist with experience, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

In part three of our series on the top-selling herbs in the United States, we cover wheatgrass, beet root, and ginger supplements. As we share our opinions about these popular herbal supplements, our primary goal is to help you understand these herbs in their breadth and depth. They’re too often pigeon-holed into limited ranges of application – the usual answers to “what is it good for?” are too small! There’s plenty more to say about them than their most common selling points. If you’re an herbalist, it’s good for you to be well-informed about herbal supplements which people take most often. You can learn what is popular, and why it is. You can understand how to answer questions about those plants, how to differentiate hype from health, how to help someone find a better alternative, and which supplements just aren’t worth the cost. This series is intended to help you do that! If you’re new to herbalism, we’re happy that we get the first chance to form your thoughts around these herbs. At the same time, this will act as a guide to developing ‘marketing literacy’ as applied to herbal supplements – and some good old-fashioned materia medica study, too. 7. Wheatgrass / Barley grass – Triticum aestivum / Hordeum vulgare What to Do When You’ve Been Glutened8. Beet root – Beta vulgaris Beetroot9. Ginger – Zingiber off. HHP 227: Herbs A-Z: ZingiberGinger: Herb of the WeekFind the previous episode of this series here: HHP 240: Herbalists’ Views on the Top-Selling Herbs (Part 1): Psyllium, Elderberry, Turmeric, AshwagandhaHHP 244: Herbalists’ Views on the Top-Selling Herbs (Part 2): Apple Cider Vinegar, Cranberry Whether you’re a brand-new beginner or an herbalist with experience, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

If you’re trying to decide whether you need adaptogens or a nap, well, the answer just might be both! But you can learn how to combine your adaptogens with other holistic interventions for better effects. In this episode we’re talking about choosing the best adaptogens to work with when what you really need is rest – a super common situation we all find ourselves in from time to time. We talk about ways to get rest – even if you don’t have time to nap! – as well as ways to rest that aren’t about sleep at all. How to start? Well, we can choose the least stimulating adaptogens necessary, first. That might mean going with tulsi before red ginseng, or jiaogulan before rhodiola. It might mean combining reishi and lion’s mane with burdock and dandelion root, to keep a grounding influence right there with our adaptogens. It might even mean formulating with digestives and nervines to subtly shift the influences of the adaptogenic herbs themselves. We can also be discerning about the type of activation we get – mental or physical at the fore. Tulsi & green tea is a very different combination than is eleuthero & coffee! Let’s also consider creating a support blend to go along with my adaptogens. This might include demulcents (marshmallow, fennel), nutritives (nettle), digestives (calendula, plantain, ginger, chamomile), or nervine relaxants & sedatives (skullcap, passionflower, betony, vervain). As always, herbal formulation is a great way to direct & enhance the effects of our primary herbs. ​Finally, here are three questions you should ask yourself whenever you’re thinking about adaptogens: Interested in learning more about adaptogens, nervines, and related herbs for nerve & mood support? Check out our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This course is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This episode continues our series covering the top-selling herbs in the United States. As we give you our thoughts about these popular herbal supplements, we’re hoping to help you break out of the box. These herbs are frequently pigeon-holed into very narrow ranges of application – the answers to the question “what is it good for?” are usually very limited! There’s more to say about them than their most effective selling points or marketing campaigns. If you’re a practicing herbalist, you should be well-informed about the herbal supplements people take most frequently. You should know what’s popular, and why. You should know how to answer people’s questions about these herbs, how to sort hype from health, how to identify better alternatives, and which ones simply aren’t worth the money. This series is intended to help you do that! If you’re new to herbalism – we’re glad that we get to help you form your initial opinion of these herbs. More broadly, though, this will serve as an introduction to marketing literacy in the realm of herbal supplements, as well as some good materia medica study. In today’s episode we cover apple cider vinegar and cranberry supplements. 5. Apple Cider Vinegar – Malus spp. jim mcdonald’s Apple monographKatja’s recipe for Paleo Apple Fritters6. Cranberry – Vaccinium macrocarpon HHP 224: Herbs A-Z: Urtica & VacciniumHHP 006: Dynamic Desk Work + Crazy for CranberriesFind the first episode of this series here: HHP 240: Herbalists’ Views on the Top-Selling Herbs (Part 1): Psyllium, Elderberry, Turmeric, Ashwagandha Whether you’re a brand-new beginner or an herbalist with experience, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Katja writes… Today a student sent me a question and it was so important, i asked her if i could (anonymously) share it, because i know other people are wondering this too. She wrote: "I wanted to ask for any advice or your thoughts on how to handle being a plus size herbalist. I am plus sized. Though I am currently in working on a healthier life style that includes using herbs, I feel like when people see me or see that Im plus sized that they may not want to work with me or any of my products. I feel like this is my calling I have fallen in love with herbs and how they naturally work with in the body. but I feel like this could possibly hinder me from even opening my own practice one day. I kinda feel alone in this due to most of the herbalist I see on social media are very fit and “healthy”. Am I wrong to want to be an herbalist even though I am also going through a battle and journey with my weight?" The bottom line is: we need you. We need plus-sized herbalists. We need everyone, no matter where you are in your journey, whether you’re small or big or short or tall or thin or fat or disabled or abled or sedentary or athletic or anything else. And the other bottom line is that weight and health are not the same thing. I know that society has all these ideas about what is “good” and “healthy” but that doesn’t mean they’re true. You can be healthy and big! You can be healthy and small! You can be unhealthy and be small or big too! We’re all just trying to get through our day, and we’re all in the body we’re in. You don’t have to get thin to get healthy, so let’s make our bodies healthy now, regardless of what size or shape they are. And let’s love them too because bodies are pretty amazing actually! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Talk of herbal detox comes up every spring – some years, earlier than others. We field a lot of questions from people asking our opinions on detox protocols, bowel cleanses, liver flushes, you name it. So, in this episode, we’re giving you our fundamental thoughts on the topic. Ryn wrote you a poem that sums up our perspective. Here it is: The Don’t Ox if you think you need a detox, hear & heed the Don’t Ox – listen well when he talks, when he says: Don’t. don’t you doubt your liver!, and the action it delivers in concert with your kidneys to clean your blood. if you feed your body rightly if you sleep you well a-nightly if you walk when sun shines brightly you’ll keep inner waters clear. you don’t need to haunt the potty – you just need to trust your body: give it nicely more than naughty without force and without fear. if you taste a bit of bitter eat some greens at every dinner then you’ll run that inner river in a flow, but not a flood! now every day’s a detox and our good old friend the Don’t Ox is sure when we hear “purge” talk we’ll remember: Don’t. Listen to the episode for the elucidation and explanation of everything that’s contained in this poem! Perhaps you will adopt the Don’t Ox as a personal mascot, too. 🙂 For the full story, you’ll want to dig in to our course Elements of Detoxification. This course takes a fresh look at the concepts of “toxicity” and “detoxification”, a holistic perspective that goes beyond “cleanses” and products. Learn a memorable, practical model for understanding how the body’s detox functions work, along with the roles herbs can play in supporting them. Like all our offerings, this is a self-paced online video course, which comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

When you think of UTI and herbs, you probably think of cranberry and uva ursi first. You’re not wrong to do so! They’re reliable and effective remedies. But if you stop there, though, you’ll be missing out on some herbs who can also do the job, and do it well. In this episode we outline two herbal UTI formulae we work with ourselves, and explain why and how they’re helpful. We also take this opportunity to demonstrate our method of formulation, and show how the same actions and qualities can be achieved from different sets of plants. Formula 1: primary – yarrow (Achillea millefolium) flower, goldenrod (Solidago spp.) flower; support – linden (Tilia spp.), marshmallow (Althaea off.) leaf, chamomile (Matricaria recutita) catalyst – juniper (Juniperus spp.) Formula 2: primary – heather (Calluna vulgaris), calendula (Calendula off.) support – marshmallow (Althaea off.) root, catnip (Nepeta cataria), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) catalyst – cedar (Thuja plicata) leaf If you’d like to learn more about supporting your urinary system, our Urinary Health course is for you! It’s too common to neglect this system of the body – until something goes wrong. Take proactive steps to prevent UTIs and kidney stones, and learn methods to manage issues such as interstitial cystitis or incontinence. You’ll be glad you did! And if you’d like to dig deeper into formulation, well, then our Fundamentals of Formulation course is where to go next! Learn our strategies for combining herbal actions and balancing the qualities of herbs to produce more effective remedies. Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you enjoyed the episode, it helps us a lot if you subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

This episode begins an intermittent series we’ll be doing this year, covering the top-selling herbs in the United States and giving you our thoughts about them. From the perspective of a practicing herbalist, these herbs are frequently pigeon-holed into very narrow ranges of application – the “what is it good for” answers are quite limited! The Herbal Market Report from the American Botanical Council comes out every year, with data about herbal supplement sales for the prior year. Check it out and take a look at the “mainstream” and “natural channel” best-seller lists – you might be surprised at what’s on there! If you’re an herbalist, you should be well-educated about the herbs people take most frequently. You should know what’s popular, and why. You should know how to talk to people about these herbs, how to correct misconceptions, how to offer more effective alternatives, and which ones are worth the money. We’re hoping this series will help you do that! If you’re new to herbalism – yay, we get first crack at forming your opinion of these herbs! 😄 More importantly, this will serve as an introduction to marketing literacy in the realm of herbal supplements, as well as some good materia medica study. In today’s episode we cover psyllium, elder berry, turmeric, and ashwagandha. 1. Psyllium – Plantago ovata HHP 205: Herbs A-Z: Pinus & PlantagoPlantain: Herb of the Week2. Elder berry – Sambucus nigra, S. canadensis Elder: Herb of the WeekHHP 216: Herbs A-Z: Sambucus & SassafrasElderberry and Cytokine Storms3. Turmeric – Curcuma longa HHP 184: Herbs A-Z: Crataegus & CurcumaHHP 149: Our Top Topical Herbs for Acne4. Ashwagandha – Withania somnifera HHP 226: Herbs A-Z: Withania & ZanthoxylumAshwagandha: Herb of the WeekHHP 155: Equinox Thoughts On Balance & Amphoteric Herbs Whether you’re a brand-new beginner or an herbalist with experience, it’s always helpful to study the herbs in depth! Our comprehensive presentation of herbal allies is in our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course. It includes detailed profiles of 100 medicinal herbs! Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, and more! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Welcome to 2025, everyone! Let’s give the year a bitter start – that’s better than a bitter end, right? If you don’t think so yet, listen to this episode and by the end, we’re sure you’ll agree! Bitters are a truly indispensable piece of an herbal toolkit. They – like demulcents, adaptogens, and alteratives – can achieve things in the body which pharmaceuticals, acupuncture, and other healing modalities simply cannot replicate. Bitters are one of the herbalist’s superpowers! In this episode, we cover: bitter as signalbitter deficiency syndromeenergetics of bittersactions of bitter herbsbitter-tasting constituentssubcategories of bitter herbs:how to take bittersSince they’re so helpful – and really, not only for digestion – we address bitter herbs in many of our courses. Quite possibly all of them, now that we think about it! They’re that important. Bitters get a significant mention in: Holistic Herbalism Materia MedicaHerbal Medicine-MakingHolistic NutritionDigestive HealthBasic PhytochemistryNeurological & Emotional HealthLike all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more! If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!! Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas. Support the show You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!