Results for Category: Live Well
How To Support A Broken Heart With Herbs
Heartbreak spares no one. Sooner or later, we all get to know that particular emotion which, for us, might show up as sadness and despair, or anger, or numbness. Our heartbreak might show up in the body as sleeplessness, a lack of concentration and focus, diminished appetite, or even physical pain. Our herbal forebears were […]
How To Make Essential Oil Solid Perfume to Warm Your Winter Romance
Winter, in many places in the world, means shorter days, longer nights, and cooler temperatures. We tend to stay indoors more and ...
5 Storage Containers Every Herbalist Should Have On Hand (And Where To Buy Them)
One of the joys of being an herbalist is making herbal preparations. Whether you are using herbs from your own garden and foraging...
Top Essential Oils for Winter Wellness
Cool crisp air. Snowflakes floating down. Children laughing during a snowball fight. A fire crackling in the fireplace. Salvation Army kettle bell ringers. Door wreaths and garlands. Candles. Reds, blues, yellows, greens, and silver. Hot cocoa and hot tea. Snuggly blankets. Sneezing. Coughing. Stuffy nose. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Winter can be a beautiful time […]
How To Make Your Home Smell Good With Essential Oil Diffuser Blends
What is one of the first things you notice when you arrive home from a long trip? What makes “home” feel so “homey” when you first walk through the door? Oftentimes, it is the smell. It might be a comforting smell, the smell that tells you that you are back in a safe place. Or, […]
Find Your Way Through Winter With These Herbalism Tips
Winter is often a time of year that people dread. It’s filled with long nights, cold weather, and the pressure to feel connected...
How To Address Crown Chakra Imbalances For Health Support
We’ve now reached the top of the head where the 7th or crown chakra is located, and today I want to talk about how to address cr...
How To Approach Headaches Naturally With Supportive Herbs And Essential Oils
You might feel pressure behind your eyes. You might feel pain across your forehead or just on one side of your head. The ache may be dull or sharp and may increase slowly or quickly. You might have blurred vision or a sensitivity to light or sound. All of these symptoms have one thing in […]
How To Balance the Third Eye (or the 6th Chakra)
From the root or base to the throat chakra, each month we’ve looked at attributes of the first five chakras as well as ways to bring balance to each of them. Today, we will look into how to balance the Third Eye or the 6th chakra. As goes the rainbow, so go the chakras up […]
Safe & Powerful Alternative “Thieves” Blends For The 1%
One of the most famous and best-known essential oil blends is the “Thieves” blend and all of its variants. This blend is named...
6 Ways to Display Dried Herbs in Your Fall Home Décor
As the fall months roll around, your herb gardens may be coming to an end. However, herbs aren’t only used for their great taste...
Demystifying Weight-to-Volume Tinctures
Many of us begin our exploration of herbalism by making tinctures using what is often called the Folk Method. And there’s nothing wrong with this method—tinctures made this way can be absolutely effective. They are made and used by the most experienced of practitioners as well as those of us who make tinctures for home […]
Tips on Balancing the Throat Chakra
As we have moved up the body and looked at the main chakras: the root, sacral, solar plexus, and heart, we now encounter the fifth major chakra located at the throat. We’ve learned that in the Eastern traditions, the chakras are our energy centers and each is attached to certain areas of the body. For […]
Approaching Inflammation and Chronic Pain Through Diet and Herbs
As we discussed in Herbs and the Chronic Pain Puzzle, sometimes inflammation and chronic pain are interrelated. In this article, w...
Lemon Balm: The Immortal Life of Bees
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) goes by many names: bee balm, Melissa, heart’s delight, and sweet balm. Whatever we call it, b...
Lavender Essential Oil: A Must-Have for Every Natural Medicine Chest
The lavender essential oil botanical family “Lamiaceae” is prolific in its production of aromatic and medicinal plants. One of its most famous members is lavender essential oil (Lavandula angustifolia), one of the most widely researched and commonly used essential oils in our modern pharmacopeia. It is so useful, in fact, that it is often called […]
How Autumn Energetics Affect Our Self-Care
Summer is officially a wrap. The barbecues and pool parties have ceased, children are back to school, and you might be reminiscing over your vacation experiences (or looking longingly at others’ vacation photos on social media!). Gardeners have harvested their peak season of tomatoes and melons, while the lettuces and leafy greens emerge from their […]
Herbs and the Chronic Pain Puzzle
In our series on herbalism and the problem of pain, we’ve already looked at An Herbal Perspective on Managing Pain, and at Herba...
Tips On Balancing The Heart Chakra
Our fourth or heart chakra is the middle chakra. It brings together the three lower chakras: root (survival), sacral (sexuality ...
Get Cooking With Herbs! (Family Herbal Summer Series: Part 6)
Welcome to the last week of our Family Herbal Summer Series! It has been quite an adventure so far and I am excited to share this last part of our journey. This week is all about something that most of us love dearly—tasty food! Cultures around the world enhance both the flavor and health of […]
How To Use Essential Oils For Scarring
Essential oils are an excellent component in any first aid kit, as their antimicrobial qualities are well known, both traditionally and through scientific research, but their ability to help with wound healing and scar tissue formation, in particular, has not been as well established. While there is some anecdotal evidence that there are helpful essential […]
6 Tips for Storing Dried Herbs
When putting together an herbal apothecary, dried herbs take center stage. Dried herbs are the first ingredient in so many differe...
7 Tips That Will Help You Stay Cool During Menopause
Summer can be a particularly rough time for menopausal women who experience menopause symptoms such as hot flashes. Fortunately, t...
Kid-Friendly Body Care (Family Herbal Summer Series: Part 5)
It’s week five for our super fun Family Herbal Summer Series, and I am so glad your family is joining us. This week we get to incorporate all of our learning into good, squeaky-clean fun by making kid-friendly body care! Herbs are great fun to use in body care products, easily lending their beneficial properties […]
Herbalism and Acute Pain
The topic of herbs and acute pain is an important one for many herbalists- family herbalists and advanced herbalists alike! After all, everyone gets aches and pains or bumps and bruises occasionally. Generally, it’s much simpler to unravel the threads that lead to acute pain than it is to address chronic pain. Acute pains will […]
Essential Oils for Insect Bites and Stings
I love this time of year—the trees, the flowers, the sunshine…the bugs. While I accept that they are an important part of our ...
Tips On Balancing the Solar Plexus Chakra
Looking at the ancient Eastern chakra tradition, we’ve reviewed some of the basic information about the first or root chakra (re...
Stocking the Family Herb Cabinet (Family Herbal Summer Series: Part 4)
Welcome back to the Family Herbal Summer Series at the Herbal Academy! I am so happy you and your family are here to join us for our fourth week of camp. This week during our Family Herbal Summer Series we are going to get crafty and enjoy making some wonderful herbal preparations to stock the […]
An Herbal Perspective On Managing Pain Using Herbs
How does an herbalist use herbal theory when managing pain using herbs? Most of the time, people tend to think of pain as a simple experience, one that is isolated within itself. We think to ourselves that “the problem is that I am in pain,” rather than “pain is a signal of something else.” Over […]
The Truth About Phototoxic Essential Oils & How To Use Them Safely
As you look out the window, you see that it’s another beautiful summer day! You anticipate feeling the warmth of the summer ...
