Podcast 105: Holistic Herbalism for Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of exposure, a feeling that one is without protection. The much-maligned ‘safe space’ is in fact a necessity for all humans. (Those who malign it tend to be speaking from a place of unchallenged safety.) But how to create that for yourself, in an environment that feels hostile? Herbs can help, and in more than one way! Working with the principles of holistic herbalism for anxiety involves several interwoven threads.

Building healthy boundaries is a way to protect your inner space – both to keep unfriendly things out and to leave room for you to focus on your present moment. Anxiety is fundamentally an expression of tension, so relaxing tension in the muscles and nerves, and in the emotions themselves, is almost always needful. Anxiety both causes and results from elevated stress hormones, and reducing cortisol in particular helps mitigate the physiological effects of stress.

Holistic lifestyle changes are the core of the work, and herbs help us enact these intentions. The synergy between them is what we mean when we talk about employing holistic herbalism for anxiety. Listen in for lots of ideas as to how they can fit into your life!

Herbs discussed include: motherwort, yarrow, lion’s mane, chamomile, linden, skullcap, passionflower, betony, calamus, kava, tulsi, ashwagandha, turmeric, cinnamon, & st john’s wort.

Mentioned in this episode:

• A Midwife’s Tale, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
• Katja’s Favorite Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Substitutes
• Gut-Heal Tea

Our End-Of-Year Sale is going strong! Don’t miss out – use the code 2019 to get 19% off any of our courses or programs today!

As always, please subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen, so others can find it more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.