Our bodies are constantly being affected by stress, our environment and modern life itself. After an extended period of unmanaged stress, the impact can be seen through symptoms such as pain, fatigue, anxiety, dis-regulated blood sugar, menstrual irregularities and so much more. It’s our bodies’ defense mechanisms that work hard to protect us first; the nervous system, the adrenal glands, the thyroid gland and the immune system all act as first lines of defense from stress and the world around us. Cortisol is a hormone produced in the adrenal glands, it is a boss hormone that plays a big role in our stress response. Cortisol affects processes like blood pressure, metabolism, blood sugar and immune function, all in the name of survival. Because cortisol is a bossy hormone, when we have too much unmanaged stress for too long, cortisol can disrupt other endocrine processes and steal hormone precursors from our sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone.

When the body is experiencing high levels of stress or dis-regulated cortisol, our sex hormones and fertility can get put on the back burner, because they are considered non essential for survival. This is when menstrual irregularities and hormone imbalances can occur.

If all of this mayhem can be caused by cortisol, one of the body’s endogenous (natural) hormones, just imagine what the body has to protect itself from in our environment!

Hormone disruptors are everywhere, body care products, synthetic fragrances, plastics and pesticides to name a few.

These are called xeno-estrogens (synthetic chemical estrogens) and they can also add to the stress on our endocrine systems. They are disrupting because they mimic and block our natural estrogen and have a much stronger affect that can lead to states of estrogen excess.

That’s where herbs can help!

Herbs work to support the body’s elimination pathways so that our bodies can naturally cleanse harmful and “used up” estrogens. Along with lifestyle changes, herbs can help us adapt to stress by nourishing the adrenal glands and the thyroid. There are herbs that contain gentler plant estrogens (phyto-estrogens) that can act as protectors to the hormone receptor sights in some cases. Herbs can strengthen damaged tissue, fight infection, soothe and repair the nervous system. They can build blood, move stagnant blood and stimulate the pituitary gland and the ovaries.

Herbs aren’t pushy, yet the effects from them can be profound. We don’t use herbal medicine to override the body’s natural processes, we use them as support. Herbs work with the body, not against it. They work to nourish, build and invigorate the body.

Are you curious about how to bring herbs into your life? If so, you’re probably tapping into an innate desire to use medicine that is of the earth. Plant- human connections are as old as time, it’s just that sometimes those connections were lost over the centuries. But you’ve heard the call, the call back to the co - creative relationship that is using herbal medicine.

We are not separate from Nature, we are part of Nature.

This is a principle of the Vitalist traditions of herbal medicine, we are interconnected in this Great Web of Life. Vitalism says that all living organisms have “vital force” or spirit within them.

Sometimes our vital force is affected in a negative way and we experience all kinds of symptoms. Symptoms are messages from our bodies, messages that our vital force is out of balance. These messages can point to the root cause, if we so choose to delve a little deeper.

Being living organisms, the plants also have vital force. When we understand the principle of interconnectedness, we can begin to see how we might use the vitality of herbal medicine to bring our own spirit back into balance. Except I don’t like to think about us “using” the plants, I think of it more as co-creating with them, like it’s an evolutionary path we’re on together. The chemistry of herbs effect us a physiological level, whereas the spirits of the herbs effect us on more subtler levels.

When we approach an illness or dis-ease from the root cause(s) and bring into account a persons vital force and their whole story - body mind & spirit, we are thinking holistically.

It’s important to be consistent with a new herbal routine, we have to take the herbs for a least a few moon cycles before we see great change. Our cyclical nature needs time to align with the herb’s vital force.

*If you ever experience immediate adverse affects from taking herbs, you should stop using them.*