Podcast 015: Harm Reduction Herbalism + African Ashwagandha

This week, Katja describes a way of working with herbs to reduce the harm done when lifestyle factors like diet, sleep, and movement are less-than-ideal. (Because really, how often is everything in your life perfectly “right”?)
Ryn identifies a mental blind spot in the course of “discovering” that aswhagandha is in fact native or naturalized in large parts of Africa and has a long history of use there. (Did you, too, think of it only as an Indian/Ayurvedic herb?)

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Ashwagandha monograph from the Plant Resources of Tropical Africa project
• Ashwagandha monograph from the PlantZAfrica project at the South African National Biodiversity Institute
• this Global Mapper from Discover Life can display worldwide plant distribution maps!
• Krystal Thompson’s ashwagandha monograph at HerbRally
• Production dynamics of Withaferin A in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal complex., Kaul et al (Nat Prod Res. 2009;23(14):1304-11. doi: 10.1080/14786410802547440.) – one investigation into the differences in chemotypes within the Withania somnifera species.
• African and Vedic ecotype ashwagandha seeds from Strictly Medicinals