podcast

Katja & Ryn discuss how these “exotic spices” came to be ubiquitous among Americans, and how we can learn from the history of plant trade, cultivation – including some bitter history and present affairs of colonization and slavery. We try to recognize and explore the chain of relationships between the farmers and ourselves, and give…

Ryn leads off this week with a discussion of herbal affinities – the ways in which herbs may be centered in their effects on a particular organ or type of tissue in the body – and how these can help you make good herbal choices or make more effective formulas. Katja shares some thoughts about…

This week Katja had a bit of back pain, and has some thoughts to share with you about how this can happen an what to do about it. From mindset management to gentle movements for the release of tension and improving alignment, of course with the support of herbs, here are a few quick tips…

Katja this week reflects on a bit of wisdom surrounding downtime, and on the ways in which stress management can sometimes be the most difficult of our fundamental pillars of health, or the one that gets sacrificed first. Ryn shares his love of jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum), a particularly excellent adaptogen for the dry and tense…

Katja shares a hard-fought lesson: that health is not equivalent to merit, and that as herbalists it’s important for us to stay away from idea that there is A Right Way and We Know It. Instead our role should be to offer a wide variety of tools to try that can help build greater resilience,…

Since it’s Herbstalk’s 2018 Herb of the Year, Katja wants to finally give Tulsi its due with a quick monograph for you today! As promised last time, Ryn shares an exercise in herbal formulation: attempting to re-create the actions and qualities of an herb you don’t have, by mixing together several other herbs. We each…

After seeing Rising Appalachia the other night, Katja wanted to sing! She sang so much she gave herself a sore throat. So today she’ll tell you all about her favorite herbs for soothing sore throats! Ryn breaks down a couple of “classic cancer cure-all” formulae you may have heard of: Hoxsey and Essiac. He talks…

Katja shares her thoughts on herbal supports for those who are coping with eating disorders. Herbs can help reduce anxiety, center us in the body, stimulate appetite, and make it easier to manage cravings. Ryn gives you some guidelines for building a warming, relaxing herbal muscle rub. This will help speed recovery after an intense…

Ryn describes a method you can use to expand your understanding of energetics by comparing ailment profiles and the herbs recommended for them in our book. If you love lists, this is for you! Katja shares her best strategies for getting through a day when you wake up feeling zonked – from uncoffee to yerba mate formulation…

This week Katja has some thoughts about the number of syllables in neuraminidase and what it means to be a woman in science. Ryn tries to keep it simple with a basic protocol for heartburn. Mentioned in this podcast: Behave, Robert Sapolsky Student-faculty research suggests Oreos can be compared to drugs of abuse in lab…

Turmeric is a great herb and an effective anti-inflammatory, but it’s not the be-all end-all it’s sometimes made out to be, usually by folks who want to sell it to you! This week Katja shares some other anti-inflammatory herbs you may not have considered. Meanwhile, Ryn’s been thinking about dreaming – or dreaming about thinking?…

This week Katja talks about the herbs that defined taco seasoning in her Texas upbringing, and their qualities when as medicinal herbs. Along the way, she takes a moment to appreciate the life of World War I herbalist and author, Maud Grieve. Ryn goes over an important lesson in phytochemistry – that no one compound…