I am always saddened when I hear of harm consciously being done to our co-inhabitants of Mother Earth. In addition to my community work, I am on the board of directors for Herbalists Without Borders, a global humanitarian organization with a mission is to support local humanitarian groups to help with food and health justice for all.
As I think of people living in war-torn, or high-violence areas, the first herb that comes to mind for resilience is thyme. Why Thyme?
The Trauma Informed Herbalist by Elizabeth Guthrie is an excellent introduction to how healers can be more considerate and aware of trauma. Trauma, in this book, refers to a personal reaction to a range of negative experiences such as ongoing microaggressions related to race, ableism, weight, etc. and PSTD from domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Guthrie, PhD in Natural Medicine, delves into various areas we can all be more sensitive and gives examples and insight from years of personal experience, professional experience, and research. She provides a comprehensive resource list of books covering areas where she lacks first-hand experience.
Instead of going into depth on herbs, she provides an overview of ways to support people and avoid triggering them. Guthrie looks at how and when to use essential oils, yoga, energy healing, environmental choices, thoughtful language, offers a substantial section on flower essences, and discusses some herbs.
I was hoping for more discussion of herbs given the title. I do appreciate the book and the pathway of discovery it opens up. I recommend this read for people working with others who would like to be more thoughtful about trauma in their practice and/or life. Check it out, and invite in the information for your development.
Herbs and natural remedies can help many things but, social problems like isolation, racism, misogyny, and safety concerns need other solutions too. Community building is for everyone. Here are some reasons why its important and some easy ways to get started. Improving and expanding your connections is fun and it's also important to our physical and emotional health.
Hey, it's Arati. I joined Herbalists Without Borders Board of Directors this January. I was super excited to discover the organization's work through Carolyn Jones and the Healing Project based in Queens. I too am passionate about improving accessibility to herbal wisdom in conjunction with the herbs themselves. If you have information without the actual herbs, you are kind of out of luck! Herbalists Without Borders is so empowering, offering herb lovers support for creating their dream projects and supplying herbs.
VanDyke starts off by looking at the history of African American herbalism, including prominent herbalists and midwives and the roots of their practices. Later on in the book she shares the work and wisdom of modern day, African American herbalists. This book includes how-to’s on medicine making, a materia medica including herbalism for physical wellness, warnings, and magical uses of the same herbs, and many of enticing recipes. It is a wonderful addition to my herbal knowledge and would be a great first herb book for any new herb enthusiast. The best part was hearing VanDyke’s way of expressing her connection with the plants themselves.
I recently did an interview with powerhouse, Anabel Velasquez, check out the podcast and her work improving legal outcomes from abuse victims at therundown.org Her main mission is to remove the stigma associated with being a victim of domestic and/or sexual abuse. We discussed healing with plant medicine while enduring and recovering from family and sexual abuse.
Tina Price is the repair person for my cigarette making machine. In spite of being in the cigarette industry she has managed to be tobacco free for three years. That's strong will power! Tina is 5'2" with a smoker's voice. She has so many cool interests: crystals, mounted archery, and belly dance to name a few. The story below is my favorite Tina moment.
This exercise comes from the Yogi Bhajan lineage. It is said to be the best yoga meditation for women. In this exercise I define that as having female hormones (there is a gender neutral version with plenty of videos about it on youtube). I found this exercise to be hugely beneficial for recovery from PTSD. I recommend doing this exercise for 40 days consecutively.
