Topic: The herbs

Lucy’s Heartbreak Tea – “To cherish and nourish”

Creative impulse

I created this tea for myself whilst waiting for the ingredients of my intended original recipe. It’s an accidental brilliance which came out of my own need for succour. At a time when old hurts have been re­surfacing and playing out vividly. At a time when healing those wounds is my primary imperative because I know that from now on, all else depends upon the healing of those wounds. In order to truly step forward into my full self and my full human capacity as healer, mother and wife.

A while back, doing some healing work, I had a vision of myself having constantly struggled against the restraints the impact of bearing wounds has had. Wounds which weren’t intentionally inflicted but nevertheless hurt me deeply. So deeply, I didn’t know how to feel the impact so I pushed it down. Because when you push it down, it doesn’t affect you any longer, right? I saw it as a thick band around my waist which drags at me, holds me back against the direction I want to go in. Holds me back because it is tethered to an enormous, round boulder. It’s round so it ‘can’ be rolled but not easily; it takes all my strength. Every centimetre is a life’s energy.

During the time when I created this tea, it felt so like that. Being restrained, not shackled and, ostensibly free. Free, but unable to roam. Held to the weight of the hurt held within me for many decades. Pain from old hurts. Pain from events with people who were supposed to love and care for me. And, they did. But they also hurt me.

It may sound strange to say but recently I’ve been struck very forcefully by the strong sense that I carry pain which isn’t mine, in addition to my own. I carry pain from others in my line. I know that I actively tried to carry my Mum’s very substantial pain. And that I was successful enough in taking it on, in empathising with it, that others have presumed me to have experienced the same. My understanding was so deep that I appeared to have experienced the same. But, I haven’t. And, even if I had, it would be time to put it all down. Time to move on from the shackles of pain.

It feels like it’s late to begin this, I am at midlife, on the cusp of peri menopause but maybe that’s exactly why the time is now. And, perhaps, I am afraid that if I don’t do it now, I never will. And, if I don’t, then who will? If the line of pain and hurting doesn’t stop with me, then I gift it through my learned traits, as well as my epigenetic tags, to my daughter. Who would knowingly pass on these things to their off­spring? Not any that I know.

So, then, in order to process my pains, felt in the wounds I received and the wounds I learned, I lean into my herbs. I seek out their comfort, their wisdom and their succour. And relish the beauty as it travels round my body. Knowingly gifting those things to myself. Feeling the embrace of the floral notes which dance on my tongue and weave into my soul like sistren and brethren.

I created this tea to feel like the warm embrace we all need when our hearts are sore. When we feel our hurts right up at the surface. When we ache all over from internal pain. It is not meant to replace the embrace of A.N. Other, rather to enfold you in love for and from yourself. To lavish yourself with the nourishing support needed when your heart feels like it’s in many, many pieces.

Contact me on Lucy.Blunden.Botanicals@gmail.com to order yours.

How does healing heartbreak taste?

On the first sip, I am struck by the warmth it brings to my chest region – I often drink teas cold. It has a full feeling in my mouth-round and expansive. This extends downwards into my chest and fills me with warmth, a teeny bit of hope and some inkling of love. The flavour is floral with a strong element of summery fruit – no specific fruits, just a fruitiness. This is a herb tea which has flowers to nourish, to protect and filter and to strengthen against lifes tricky bits – the bits which leave us feeling raw and undefended.

If your heart is shattered and in need of re-gathering, this is the tea for you. Contact me on Lucy.Blunden.Botanicals@gmail.com to order yours.

Knee pain and herbs

If you have read my previous blog on Knee Pain you will know that I used tapping to begin to address my mysterious knee pain!

You might be wondering why I didn’t raid my huge dispensary full of marvellous herbs ideal for such a situation…

Well, the honest response to that is that I simply didn’t know what was going on and where the injury was. Yes, in my knee but which part? Which kind of tissue was hurting?

So, I felt a bit stumped.

I had a trip to my osteopath to see if that would help. As a result, I now understand that there are postural things I have probably been doing for a long time which leave my knee under a constant stress-irritation. I habitually rotate externally from my hip and my foot pronates excessively, all of which leave my knee stuck in the middle.

It’s a wonder that it hasn’t hurt before.

Does that render the emotional things irrelevant? No. But, it certainly gives me a few more things to consider.

When I was tapping, I ‘felt’ my way into my knee, the surrounding areas and asked what was going on. I was aware of a constriction across the top of my thigh which I felt unable to let go of (stubbornness anyone?) and the pain itself was localised to a ring around the knee. Revising my knee anatomy, I saw that the tendons form a ring around the patella and ultimately they are attached to the thigh muscles. And, the thigh muscles are connected to the hip flexor which I know to be tight on me.

So, what to do now? Begin by bringing attention to the position of my foot and leg. Think about the hip rotation and foot pronation so that I can think them into a position which is more anatomically aligned. Not ‘trying’ to move anything but thinking into it, feeling it in different positions and generally having greater awareness.

Then to the herbs.

  • Pain relief? Topical mint and chilli.
  • Soft tissue repair? Topical comfrey
  • Anti-inflammatory? Topical lavender and arnica

I created a very strongly mint-scented cream. It is dark grey from the comfrey root tincture I made and contact with eyes must be avoided as chilli and mint in the eyes is not funny!!!!

I love creating creams. They are one of the many pleasures of my job. I am a creamy person! I love hand creams, face creams, lip balms and anything to smooth into my skin. I have dry skin so my skin laps it up! I was once told by a massage therapist that I was absorbing the same quantity of oil she’d’ve expected for a 6 foot hairy man! Not exactly flattering to my 5’4″ unhairy 20-year-old self but I know now what she meant. Dealing with that is a whole other blog post!

A bespoke cream in addition to internal herbs can make for a full spectrum of treatment. Things on our skin end up in our bloodstream and consequently, I take very seriously what I put on my skin and give to my patients to put on their skin.

If you are struggling with your health and feel you would like a complete treatment, get in touch. I would love to create the cream for you.

Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall?

I’m British and I like Autumn but the blog heading will get you singing and that’s all good.

Oh my goodness what a productive day it has been! Clean-Slate September here we come… Not only have I completed the tasks I intended to complete, I have fit more in too! Wowsers.

Now, based on previous experience, I am anticipating hitting a low tomorrow. The excited new-start feelings and Summer of my menstrual phase will plummet and I will slide off the testosterone-fuelled turbo back into the mire of self-doubting, questionning and halting normal.

Or will I? I really hope not. I usually feel like I have no control over these extremes. But, perhaps I have more than I think.

In my aims to combat this, I am setting out my next self-employed work day in my planner, ready to grasp the nettle. So, after a walk in the woods to set up my day, during which I will tap on any creeping self-doubts, I hope to continue in this productive vein.

However, whilst those things are important, what I think is mostly key, is the need to measure my energy. I view energy like money. If you spend what you haven’t got, you have to work harder to pay it back. To climb back up to zero again. When I am keyed up and excited, I spend frivolously and copiously.

And then I run out. Then I hit Winter, regardless of my menstrual season.

I find it really good to know when the days of menstrual Spring and Summer are here and when it is Autumn or Winter instead. Those seasons are the days for looking inwards, planning and creating rather than putting it out there like the energy of spring and summer.

Do you know your Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer modes?

You don’t have to be a menstruating woman to feel them. They might be phases of each day. It might coincide with the moon. Times when you are buzzing with new-day energy or are slower and more reflective. Maybe it’s after physical exercise that you find your outwards, Summery energy? Maybe it’s after a long, nourishing nap or meditation? Knowing these things in yourself are the key to getting to the best bits of you at the right times and not forcing it when it’s not there.

Spend your energy wisely. It is your currency for life. Feed your energy well and it will nourish and serve you as well. Rest times in the day. Pauses with nothing in them. Not scrolling. Just being calm and present, breathing and resting to reset your body, nervous system and more.

It’s hard, though, isn’t it? I’m not sure why, but it seems to be hard for us all to find a few moments of calm contemplation. I presume it’s because we’re all, on some level, running from ourselves. Running from our feelings, driving through on adrenaline and pushing at all our limits.

I have been doing this for decades.

Pushing myself, through and on until I am forced to stop by a minor illness with strong fatigue, and usually a bit of fever – what I now recognise to have been a mild form of burnout. I might also experience strong overwhelm, that I can only rest in bed and then migrate to the sofa for non-challenging TV dramas for a few days. Doesn’t last long and then I’m back into pushing and full-on drive again.

The last time, the fatigue and feeling of emptiness lasted a lot longer than a week. It went on for a couple months with about 1 month at the level of nothing in the tank + brain fog. Word recall was really hard. Memory was non-existent and energy for anything other than basic routine absent. I had to cancel a lot of things. Work. Social engagements. Family life.

So, after coming through this, I am aware that each time I drive myself with adrenaline, I am risking pushing beyond my personal limits. Into the zone where there is nothing in the tank but I’m still going.

Does this resonate with you? Would you like help to navigate a thriftier you who spends (their energy) within their means? My unique combination of Herbs and EFT address the underlying emotional drivers which make it so hard to find a new path by yourself and nurture the body back into its natural balance.

Get in touch to explore whether this combination suits you and whether we will make a good team.

An unexpected lesson from Rosemary! Sleep part 10

I tend to think of herbs as slow medicines. As a gradual shift back into health and wellness. As a re-education. But, sometimes, they are just as powerful as pharmaceuticals. And, they can surprise me at how little can have such a positive impact on someone!

I gave a talk for a local WI this week. After a few days, I got an email. It went like this:

I was at the W I on Tuesday evening,and I had the best nights sleep I have had for months

WI member

WOW! What an amazing testimonial. I am so thrilled that herbs have had this effect for her (I don’t think it was the effect of my talk as I am far too bouncy for that!)

One of the actions of Rosemary is sedative but I had always assumed it was only mild because it has such a perky smell and is stimulant in some of its actions! A great lesson for me.

I gave each person in attendance a fingerful of tea in a cup. To my mind, it was enough to truly get a taste of it and that was about all.

It seems I was wrong.

And, I am delighted to have been wrong. It shows me that there are other ways to think about what I do and reminds me that there are other outcomes from those which I might expect. It’s good to be pushed out of our zone of comfort.

It also reminds me not to underestimate the power of the herbs. After all, our most potent anodynes come from plants, as do our most addictive substances.

I now welcome Rosemary with open arms to my sleep herb armoury. I have used it in many ways prior to now but never considered it for a sleep mix. This also has a poweful potential in symbiosis with the other actions of Rosemary. There are many situations in which I would now add this herb to a blend for someone. How very exciting.

Thank you for showing me your other side, little green one.

Move Mountains with me

National Stress Awareness Week

How I reduce your stress with herbs and EFT

So, we all know how it feels to be stressed. We all know what it’s like in our bodies, in our minds and how it impacts on us.

Or, do we?

Do you notice the relentless micro-stressors in your daily life? Do you feel the constant onslaught of more things to do and get done, more blips on your phone nagging at you, your children tugging your sleeve wanting things and maybe your partner asking for things from you too?

Sometimes, you will and you feel ok about it and sometimes, it all builds up into TOO MUCH and that’s when we might eg shout at someone we love and then feel guilty. It’s a relentless cycle sometimes.

How can herbs help me with that? That’s just in my head, isn’t it? It’s up to me to be more controlled and in control of myself. Right?

How’s that been going for you?

Adaptogens

As a herbalist, I have an entire armoury of wonderful medicines at my disposal to support you. There are different ways of approaching it. If you are feeling stressed and that’s the predominant feature, I can prescribe one out of many different adaptogens. These literally do what they say – they assist your mind and body adapt to stress.

My most recent work with a patient who is taking the lovely adaptogen Withania somnifera has been remarkable. Withania is indicated in many scenarios but particularly for the ‘tired and wired’ and can be brilliant for busy, working mums. We’re also using EFT-tapping and she’s finding the ramifications of the double-pronged approach and subtle changes to be really far-reaching:

  • She is calmer at work, choosing to lead with love (she’s in what she describes as a ruthless industry)
  • She has told me that she has chosen the humble path with her husband and that an argument was diffused and she felt much stronger and less petty

These changes are not directed by me, she is growing them from within her as she feels stronger and more at peace. How much more peaceful (and less stressful) are the choice of humility and love? Those outcomes may not completely resonate for you but these outcomes feel right for this person.

Don’t forget nervines…

A medicinal preparation, usually of herbal origin, which is said to act on the nervous system, reduce anxiety and tension (nervine relaxant), and stimulate or strengthen neural function.

https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/nervine

Nervines calm you by soothing and nourishing the nervous system. We have a wide variety of nervine herbs with subtly differing actions – some also support the digestion, some support the gynaecological system, some the muscularskeletal system and others the cardiovascular system. I choose the herbs which align most closely with your experience. Is feeling stressed sending your blood pressure through the roof? There’s a herb for that. Are you getting palpitations when you’re uptight? There’s a herb for that. Do you get bloating in your belly? There’s loads of herbs for that!

I would use a nervous system trophorestorative when someone’s body is far out of whack with what would be considered normal rhythms and responses. Perhaps you’re a hypervigilant new mum who can’t fall asleep as every noise triggers an ‘alarm’ response preventing the ‘permission’ to sink into sleep. Or a distressed student who is feeling totally overwhelmed and panicked by the volume of work they have to tackle and the upcoming assessments and deadlines. Maybe the business person who lies awake half the night, then eventually oversleeps and ends up dashing for the train every morning…

Maybe one of those describes you?

When we work together and using herbs and healthful food choices to nudge the body back to a state of wellness and the EFT to clear out habitual patterns of emotional responses, we can, almost literally, move mountains. Those old thought patterns get tapped away so that the herbally nourished body can flourish.

I have seen it time and again. When our frenetic brains lead the way and we forget our bodies, then we can move out of balance and into a situation of illness. Often something with no name but a collection of life-impacting symptoms. Maybe it’s a dodgy digestion, hurting head, aches and pains, tired all the time…? There are so many annoying ways our clever body devises to send out the SOS signals. My job is to hear them and help you to find the best ways to soothe them and take notice in a constructive, reparative way.

Sounds difficult? Not got time? We do it in ways which work for you and with your routines. Baby steps or giant leaps, whatever you need and are ready for. There is no set path as it is entirely tailored to you. Every prescription is different. Every bit of advice on food and lifestyle. Each takes into account what you can do and manage. This mountain is not moved in one day and not by you on your own. We’re in this together, picking up the pebbles and step-by-step, moving your mountain.

Let’s do it! Contact me to support you in choosing the pebbles to move to become a less stressed and healthier you.

Autumnal bug-share

The school’s are nearly going back, the leaves have begun to fall (yup, I know, we’ve hardly had summery weather in the UK this year and we’re already heading into the darkness). And, after all this isolation, distancing and more with Covid-19 measures, we’re going to start mingling our germs too. Usually, that would be OK. In fact it still is, as being exposed to new mildly pathogenic microbes is part of keeping a strong and fit immune system.

HOWEVER, it also means that we are being bombarded with the potential for those seemingly endless Autumnal and Winter infections.

Do you seem to get every bug going? Are you constantly streaming with snot and snuffling, sneezing and coughing? Are you worried that you’ll catch everything the children do but worse?

I can help.

Herbs are brilliant at managing symptoms of these kinds of self-limiting, minor infections, shortening the duration and preventing them occuring in the first place.

You have a couple of options for working on this with me:

A mini consultation where we discuss you most usual symptoms and how the infection progresses and I make you up a special herbal tincture mix to take in small doses as prevention and then an ’emergency’ mix for if you do get something. These can be teas or tincture blends.

Children’s appointments – Children respond so well to herbs. They are brilliant as their bodies are less stuck in habits and habitual ways. I love working with them as they are so honest about what happens to them. My 4-year-old loves my ‘bogey picking nail’ (which is just a long pinkie finger nail which happens to fit up her nose for those chunky boogers she’s not yet old enough to care about! She loves taking her herbal syrups and often reminds me to dose her up each day.

A Winter wellness plan for the whole season. This is an in-depth treatment plan of herbs, food, lifestyle and tapping to prime your immune system for the winter. You’ll receive weekly emails filled with tips on feeding your immune system with great foods and herbs and a tapalong video. You have 1-2-1 sessions with me to keep yourself on track with the lifestyle changes specific to you. I’ll also create an emergency tincture mix in case anything passes your new resilience and a special early bird tea blend bonus. Click here to find out more. We begin in October.

The Spring herbalist

As the sun warms us up and the blossom cheers our spirits, we unfurl from our Winter hibernation ready to face the world again, much like the sticky buds of the Chestnut trees revealing their fresh, green new leaves.

The garden has leapt into life, the bulbs are gifting us their vibrant colours and Winter’s grey is finally starting to ebb away. What a relief. Spring has definitely started when Sunday’s dawn chorus is followed by the hum of lawnmowers!

Now is the time to think about those health changes which were too difficult as optimistic New Year’s resolutions in dark, dreary January.  When better to ‘spring clean’ yourself than with the lightening of the days?

Tips for aiding your Spring clean:  A cold infusion of fresh herbs

These wonderful can be gathered from your local park (watch out for dog toileting areas!), or if you’re really lucky, your garden!

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) leaves in Spring are less bitter than later in the year. Add a few to your salads and dose yourself with natural nutrition. Dandelions are diuretic but also a rich source of potassium. So, where a pharmaceutical diuretic leaches potassium from your body, dandelion assists in the elimination of excess water but also replaces the potassium! Clever plant. I get goosebumps when I think about how complete that is. You’ll find dandelion in most places where there is grass.  The yellow flowers are a giveaway but seek out the younger, smaller leaves.

Cleavers (Galium aparine) is a rampant, climbing weed which gest everywhere but it’s a herbalist’s dream! For your ‘spring clean’ it is a wonderful addition. It gives a light green flavour with a touch of the cucumber about it. One herbalist once said to me ‘imagine all those tiny hooks scrubbing and scouring through your lymph system’; a really great analogy and something for the post-Winter remnants. Readying you to spring into Spring.

Pick a large handful of each herb, place in a jug and cover with fresh cold water. Leave overnight and pour out a cup to drink the following morning. Feel the power of the green flowing through you. Drink in the fresh vitality of live plants from this simple and natural infusion! To make a more fragrant version, add a few leaves from a lavender plant.

Herbal ID

Dandelions and Cleavers are gentle herbs but be very sure that what you are picking is the correct thing – herbal mis-identification can be serious.  It may be natural but so are plenty of deadly plants!  To be sure, use a good ID guide or ask your local herbalist. I have written about mindful foraging

DISCLAIMER:  Before dosing yourself up with wild crafted herbs, be aware that if you suffer from long-term health conditions or are pregnant, it may not be suitable for you to follow these ideas.  Please check with a qualified medical herbalist first.

It didn’t work for me

Sometimes, it just doesn’t. A bit like if you attempted to fix your car when it breaks down. If you aren’t a mechanic, you may or may not get it right.

Also, mechanics don’t always get it right first time as cars (and bodies) are complex.

However, if you tried an over-the-counter herbal preparation there may be many reasons why.

  • It wasn’t prescribed for you

When you visit a medical herbalist, you are being assessed using the same approach to understanding your body that nurses and GPs do.

A herbalist looks at everything about your health before prescribing for you.

In a shop, the staff may not have had a medical training.

  • You chose it from a list of herbal options in a book

Whilst there is nothing wrong with this, it is a symptomatic approach and which can be very helpful, it may also simply not work for you.

Herbs are complex and so are we.  To get it right may require some understanding of the herb’s full action picture before being used.

  • You chose it for symptomatic relief

Again, there is nothing wrong with that but the cause of your symptoms is not addressed when you just treat the symptoms. Symptom relief is often very effective with herbal treatment but is not going to stop the illness. It also doesn’t take into account how a few apparently minor symptoms may all contribute to the same condition and the herb of choice wasn’t treating all of those things.

  • It wasn’t good quality

Some of the herbal supplements available in shops use different plant parts than those which are used by herbalists. For example, Echinacea is a brilliant herb. Herbalists use the root. Some capsules contain leaf and root. Now, the leaf also contains some of the good stuff but nothing like as much as the root.

Book in to see a medical herbalist for the choice of herbs which will best suit your body’s needs. 07492 511 366

Sleep Part 3 – Stop trying!

You’re not sleeping well. You feel like you haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in a long time. I hear you. It’s an awful feeling. You know that everything in your body is not functioning optimally and you are putting yourself at higher risk of every ailment and serious disease going.

So, what do you do?

First things first, the research shows that the more we worry about not getting to sleep or having enough sleep, the less well we sleep! So, STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT!

Problem solved.

What do you mean that didn’t work?

It’s so much easier said than done. I remember right in the midst of my new-baby no sleep phase that I felt like I was broken. That my ability to sleep had been broken. I thought I would never sleep again. And, I thought I would die through lack of sleep. I felt terrible. I spent so long teetering right on the edge of being asleep but as soon as I noticed, or my partner moved, or the radiator creaked, I would ping back into wakefulness. I lay awake in my bed for hours failing. It became a place I loathed.

So, how do we stop thinking about not sleeping? How do we shift out of being ‘a bad sleeper’ into being someone who doesn’t have a label for their sleep, they just do it.

Warning: no quick solution!

We start with the daytime. We listen to our inner voice and hear how we are talking to ourselves. How are we mentioning our sleep? What do you hear?

What do you hear?

‘I’m such a bad sleeper’ ‘I’m an insomniac’ ‘I just can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep’

I think our brains and our thoughts are very powerful. When we tell ourselves these things repeatedly even if it seems as though it is just the truth of the situation, how can our bodies do anything but continue to obey?

I think this is a very powerful concept and one I use a lot when I work with my herbal patients and EFT clients.

I needed a lot of extra help to get back the skill of sleep. I wish I had known of the tools I now have and use with my patients. I think I would have been in a very different situation from the one I actually found myself in. And, in spite of that wish, I know that I learned a huge amount from my experience as that drove me to look for more tools. I also firmly believe that the best we can do with our toughest paths is to find the silver lining and use it to our eventual advantage which is where I am now. I know that my skill set is so suited to that kind of situation that I can help more and more people who feel like they are beyond help.

Read Part 5 in my series on sleep to hear about how I help myself and others to get a good night’s sleep.

Sleep Part 4 – Over-The-Counter remedies

Over-The Counter remedies

There are lots of over-the-counter (OTC) sleep preparations. They can really help and some are excellent. There are two things about them which I don’t like:

  • They are often standardised extracts rather than full profile herbs
  • They usually contain valerian root
  • They may not actually have all that much herb in them.

Valeriana officinalis is a go-to sleep herb for many people and lots of herbalists. However, if you’ve ever taken it and found yourself MORE AWAKE after taking them than before, the chances are you’re like me (and roughly 5% of people), and you react in the opposite way to valerian!

Wow. Yes, it is possible to take a sleep herb and be more awake.

That kind of experience tends to give herbs a bad reputation. If you take something and it doesn’t work, you’re then likely to assume that all things like it also don’t work. After all, it’s been manufactured and then sold in a pharmacy, so it must be good.

Also, valerian root can leave people feeling a little muggy the day after, like they have a bit of a hangover. So, taking larger quantities may not be a great idea.

I prefer that the herbs I take are whole plant. If it is root, then I mean all of the root rather than pulling out the known constituent from the herb which is currently shown by research to be the active one. As a herbalist, I like the synergy which occurs between the constituents and how they inter-react. This is something which is hard to quantify and get scientifically accepted proof for. But, it has been shown that for example, the plants from which we can derive salicylic acid have constituents which protect stomachs unlike the synthetic derivative known as aspirin. There is an intelligence in the full spectrum of the plant and I prefer to have that in its entirety in my medicines.

I like collections of different herbs in a sleep mix. Then you get the benefits of a range of different ways in which your sleep is improved. It might be that you need to still your mind, relax your body or cool down from overheating.

I talk more about the different ways to improve your sleep in further posts on sleep. Look for Parts 5 and beyond.

Do you want to work on your sleep? Please get in touch as herbs are a gentle, non-addictive way to really improve the quality and length of your sleep.