I am so. sick. of. puke. Vomit, throw-up, by any other name would still smell as not-so-sweet. Not to be gross, but nothing else can quite as effectively cause you to wrinkle up your nose with a disgusted look. You guessed it. The stomach bug was the latest visitor to my house. And like most unwanted house guests, he overstayed his welcome, hitting everyone in the house except me. According to the CDC (2013) Noroviruses are responsible for more than half of all reported outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the United States. It's unrelated to influenza, but can have such similar symptoms that we often call it the stomach flu. I don't care what you call it. It sucks. So in between washing all the bedding, delivering bowls and towels to the afflicted, and making simple veggie broth soups for those on the mend; I made tea. Which brings me to my lovely herb of the week. Ah Chamomile. So simple, so pretty, so delicate. But not really. This herb is actually a hard hitter for any kind of digestion issue. Here's the breakdown: Scientific Name: Matricaria recutita Common Names: Chamomile, German Chamomile, Wild Chamomile Description: Chamomile has a branched, erect and smooth stem, which grows to a height of 15–60 cm. The long and narrow leaves are bipinnate or tripinnate. The small flowers are borne in paniculate flower heads with white ray florets and disc florets that are yellow. Basically, each flower is yellow in the middle, surrounded by white petals. And it smells oh-so-sweet. Blooms: June-August Uses: Carminative, antimicrobial, sedative and tonic. Translation: It's great for gas, bloating, and other digestive issues. It also is a great nerve sedative, and acts as a tonic to the gastro-intestinal canal. Its power is in it's anti-inflammatory effects, which relaxes the smooth muscle, thereby helping relieve nausea. The infusion of 1/2 oz. of the dried flowers to 1 pint of boiling water may be given freely in teaspoonful doses to children. Adults can double that dose. Be sure to cover the tea while it's steeping to save the precious volatile oils. Those with ragweed allergies may want to be cautious with this one. If the stomach bug tries to visit your house, pull out the Chamomile to send him on his way. Just don't send him back to my house. Be Well, Kristin
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The holidays are gone, your relatives are gone, and by now even your New Year's Resolution might have flown the coop. Perhaps the only evidence of the holiday season is that nice round belly you developed from all the holiday indulgence. While it is normal to gain a few pounds over the winter to insulate the body and keep warm, that doesn't mean that we have to lose our core strength. Or our self control with that pint of ice cream! It's really not all about having a flat tummy. Core strength is important for a healthy back and full range of motion as well. Anatomy breakdown: There's the rectis abdominis (the 6-pack) that helps us bend forward. The obliques (on the sides of the rectis) that help us bend side to side. The transverse abdominis (like a corset that goes from diaphragm to the pelvic floor) that helps us do the heavy lifting. And then there's deepest and the longest muscles, the psoas. These babies attach at the vertebra of your lumbar spine, wrap up and around your hip joint, and then secure to your femur at the inner thigh. Tighten that too much and your back will be hurting. So we strengthen, and lengthen for healthy core. Which brings me to the pose of the week: Dolphin Plank. Looks fun, doesn't it? Here's How:
1. Start in Table Top. Hands underneath your shoulders, knees on the floor underneath your hips. 2. Then, drop down to your forearms. Here, your forearms should be slightly narrower than your shoulders, the palms of your hands pressing into the earth. Keep the fingers spread wide. 3. Inhale and begin to straighten your legs, knees lifting off the floor. 4. Exhale, and walk your feet back until your shoulders are directly over the elbows and your torso is parallel to the floor. Press your inner forearms and elbows firmly against the floor. Firm your shoulder blades against your back and spread them away from the spine. Similarly spread your collarbones away from the sternum. 5. Now, press your front thighs toward the ceiling, but resist your tailbone toward the floor as you lengthen it toward the heels. Lift the base of your skull away from the back of the neck and look straight down at the floor, keeping the throat and eyes soft. Stay anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute. Then, release your knees to the floor with an exhale. Rest in Child's pose. A great follow up pose is Bridge, allowing your psoas to lengthen after all that toning. Healthy core, healthy back, and total integration = bliss. Be Well, Kristin The holidays are drawing to a close, and let's face it. Most of us probably need a drink.
In preparation for the final party of the year, I thought I'd highlight some delicious herbal cocktails. Sure you can serve the traditional beer, wine, and champagne. But hey, why not throw some glitzy drinks in the mix, that add both pizazz and just a bit of health into your evening. They range from simple to complicated in preparation, and somewhat healthy to gluttonous. And here they are, in that order: Elderflower Champagne Cocktail Basic Recipe: 3/4 glass of Champagne or Prosecco 1/4 glass of St. Germain (Elderflower liqueur) 1 sprig of mint *Fill a tumbler with ice (or use a chilled champagne flute). Pour in the Champagne, then top with St. Germain. Mix well and top with mint sprig. To look even fancier you can put a raspberry or cherry in the bottom for a sweet finish to the drink. Did I mention that elderflower is a great herb to use when you feel a cold or flu coming on? Lemon-Ginger Hot Toddy Basic Recipe: 1 oz Whiskey 1 slice lemon 1 slice of Ginger 1 tablespoon of honey Top with hot water *Mix well and serve in your favorite mug. Feeling sick? Add some Echinacea Tincture, sprigs of thyme, cinnamon stick or any other herb that will make you feel better. This is a great winter staple! Raspberry Lavender Margarita Basic Recipe: 1 1/2 ounces silver tequila, such as Patron 1/2 ounce Cointreau 1 1/2 ounces raspberry puree 1/2 ounce Lime Juice 3 fresh raspberries 1 dried lavender stem *Mix together first 4 ingredients over ice in a shaker. Shake. Salt or sugar the rim of a chilled martini glass. Strain ingredients into the glass. Garnish with raspberries skewered onto a dried lavender stem. Chocolate Mintini Basic Recipe: 2-5 leaves fresh mint 1/2 ounce vodka 1 1/2 ounces Chocolate Liqueur 1/2 ounce Kahlúa® *Muddle mint leaves and vodka, add chocolate liqueur and Kahlúa® over ice in a shaker. Shake well. Swirl chocolate sauce in the inside of the martini glass, strain in mixture and garnish with more mint leaves. Three....two....one....Happy New Year!!!! Be well friends, Kristin Is this how you're feeling right now? Well, you're not alone. The holidays carry a lot of baggage. The (sometimes) unrealistic expectations of holiday mirth and cheer, mixed with bittersweet childhood memories, and topped with the financial burden of gift giving. At a time when we are supposed to be drawing within and slowing down, we are expected to speed up and go out. Thus, the revival of my Restore sequence. This is a series of poses that can be very useful in times of stress, to calm anxiety, or simply come back to balance when you are feeling run down. 1. Start seated- Close your eyes. Focus on your breath. Breathing in to a count of five and exhaling to a count of five. Let your awareness settle into the present moment and notice how your breath feels in the body as you expand and contract. 2. Bound Angle- Bring the soles of your feet together, spine reaching tall. Let your knees slowly and gently travel towards the earth. Begin to shift your weight to your left, then forward, right, then back. Keep slowly opening the hips by moving in these wide circles. Repeat 3-5 times, then reverse direction. 3. Cat/Cow- Come to hands and knees (Tabletop), shoulders over your wrists and hips over heels. Take a deep breath in and look up as you arch your back, drawing your chest slightly forward. Exhale and round the spine, gazing towards your navel and pushing the hands down into the floor. Repeat 3-5 times, integrating your movement with your breath. 4. Table Top Twist- Re-align yourself into table top position. Root down through your left hand and reach tall with your right arm. Bring it slowly underneath your left arm, twisting to the left and bringing your shoulder to or towards the floor. Stay here for a few breaths. Repeat on your other side. 5. Child's Pose- Keep your knees wide and bring your hips towards your heels as far as feels comfortable. Rest your forehead on the floor, a blanket, or a block. You can always use a blanket or bolster under your belly if your knees resist. Stretch the arms out in front of you and reach towards the front of the room. Breathe here, then slowly walk your hands out towards the right. Open up your side body as you push down and away with the hands here. Walk hands back to center and then over to the left. 6. Legs up the Wall- Move to the wall with 1-3 folded blankets or a bolster. Stack the blankets and line them (or the bolster) up to the wall. Begin with your right hip and shoulder just grazing the wall, sitting on the side of the blanket. Slowly swing your legs up the wall and let your head and shoulders rest on the floor. Don't be discouraged if you need to wiggle to get your hips closer to the wall, or if it takes you a few times to get there. You'll get there eventually. :) Keep your legs firm on the wall, but release your arms to your sides, palms facing the sky. Close your eyes and let all the tension and anxiety you've built through your day melt. Stay here 5-15 minutes, then slowly bend your knees and roll off your supports. Stay on your side for a few breaths, then slowly come back to seated. Ahhhhhhh!!!!! Repeat as needed. If we can approach this time of year with a calm and balanced mind, we will most certainly find that true holiday mirth and cheer. Be Well, Kristin These cold dark mornings have me literally dragging myself (and the little ones) out of bed. Grumpy old man sounds are often emitted out of my 7 year old's mouth. Followed by.."but I'm tiiiiired!". We all are darling. With the days reaching their shortest length of the year, it can be hard to be motivated to face the dark early morning hours. Cloudy skies rob us of our Vitamin D, which depletes us of energy and focus. While exercise, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep to begin with all help; I also have a secret weapon. Herbal Chai. Don't get me wrong, I love coffee. It gets the job done, and I am up and out the door. But over time it also leaves me feeling depleted. You can't stay in overdrive forever. This is where herbal chai comes in. It's full of nourishing herbs that warm me, wake me, and improve my digestion to leave me feeling great. Want in on the secret? Here's my recipe: Herbal Chai
~Bring water to a boil. Add all ingredients except Black Tea, then reduce heat and let simmer 30 minutes. ~Add 1/2 tspn of Black Tea and let steep 10 minutes. ~Strain, add milk honey, or maple syrup to taste I actually make a big batch of this (with powdered ginger) to have sitting around for a quick fix in the morning. Steep about 1 tablespoon in hot water for 15 min. Then, just add your desired sweetness and milk, and you are ready to go. Try it yourself, or order from our store here: http://www.banyanmoonbotanicals.com/teas.html Be Well, Kristin Need an easy homemade gift idea? It doesn't get any easier than infused honey. Delicious, creative, and powerful medicine. Here's what we've been doing this week: 1. Start by filling a clean mason jar about 1/3 full of herbs of choice. Be creative! Here we chose a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, orange peel, cardamon, clove, allspice, and black pepper. Mmmmm....warming digestive herbs. We made another batch with lavender, chamomile, and lemon balm. I feel more relaxed just thinking about a cup of tea with this to sweeten it. 2. Get a nice big jar of local honey. Our 5 lb. jar here filled about 2 mason jars. Still following me? I know, it's complicated. 3. Pour honey over herbs until the jar is full. Place in a sunny windowsill for about 2 weeks. Strain and pour into pretty bottles. Be sure to save some for yourself. :) Your sweet gift is sure to be a big hit. Be Well! Kristin This week as I've been starting into the holiday season, I find I've been finishing a lot of the bounty from the growing season. The snow peas, so carefully frozen in June are now all gone. The shelled peas suffered the same fate a few weeks ago, and the blueberries....well, they didn't even make it into September. Each time I come to the end of a bag, or a jar, I have to sigh a little bit. Not only for the deliciousness that I won't experience again until the next growing season, but for each memory tied to that particular food or medicine. So much of the world has lost this kind of meaningful connection with their food. I feel so very grateful to my CSA, Riverland Farms, for working incredibly hard to feed the people of my community. They have nourished our bodies and our souls! And truly, it gives real meaning to the celebration of the harvest. Hope your holiday is full of gratitude, and butternut squash!
Be Well, Kristin p.s. Find a CSA near you! Sign-ups are happening now for the next season. Check out LocalHarvest.org and change your life! It feels like the world has been spinning out of control for the past few weeks. Super storms, trick or treating, nail biting elections, and Nor'easters. No wonder the kids succumbed to the infiltration of the latest virus going around school. Obviously, the Halloween candy did not help matters. First one, then the other of my little ones got hot! Both had fevers that went up pretty significantly. Enough to make my mama alarm bells go off. It's hard to remember that really, fevers are our friends. Fever simply represents our bodies normal response to killing off the virus that is invading our bodies. Raise the temperature of the body, and the virus will eventually die off. Since both of my kids are over one month old (in which case you should go to the doctor if temp is over 100.4 degrees F), I took a deep breath and did what I could to make them comfortable. Nothing quiets those alarms bells like action. I brewed tea. I made them rest. The herb fairy came and sprayed lavender hydrosol and put cool washcloths with peppermint essential oil on their little foreheads to calm them. All the time pushing fluids, fluids, fluids. My herbal ally in this fight: Yarrow. Here's the breakdown: Scientific Name: Achillea millefolium Common Names: Yarrow, Milfoil Description: Stem is angular and rough. Alternate leaves, 3 to 4 inches long and 1 inch broad, clasping the stem at the base, bipinnatifid, the segments very finely cut, giving the leaves a feathery appearance. Flowers white, like tiny daisies, in flattened, terminal, loose heads, or cymes. The whole plant is more or less hairy, with white, silky appressed hairs. Habitat: Grows everywhere, in the grass, in meadows, pastures, and by the roadside throughout N. America and Europe. Horticulture varieties of various color are cultivated widely, but are not as potent. Blooms: June to September Uses: Diaphoretic, astringent, tonic, stimulant and mild aromatic. Translation: Yarrow helps to raise the body temp enough to break a fever, it can help arrest bleeding, has antibacterial properties, and can even help repel bugs. The whole plant can be used. Truth be told, this one can taste a little bitter. So I made a tea blend with other fever-supporting herbs like peppermint, elder blossoms, lemon balm, and even catnip. My kids drank loads of this tea, sweetened with a bit of honey. Heck, they even bathed in a strong infusion of Yarrow, which brought considerable relief as it opened up their pores. Eventually they cooled down and perked up. My mama alarm bells stopped ringing. And as of this beautiful sunny morning, the world has stopped spinning quite so rapidly. Be Well, K Well, I guess I should be calling this the pose of the Month. My intention was to post more frequently on my favorite poses, but well, life happens. And intentions are just that, intentions. In Yoga we have to be willing to honor our intentions, but not judge ourselves if we need to revise them from time to time. Life is fluid. So with no judgement, I'm posting about a pose I've been working with a lot lately. Anjaneyasana. Likely you'll appreciate the common name of this one, since it's a lot easier to pronounce: Low Lunge. This pose is fantastic for a number of reasons. Just from the picture, you can see how this pose opens the hips, tones the arms and core muscles, and builds strength in the thighs. These translate into the therapeutic applications of this posture for sciatica. What you may not realize is just how well this posture opens up the heart, lungs, and chest. With the weather turning cooler, we often begin to round the back and hunch forward to gather heat from our inner core. Just cross your arms like your shivering, and you'll see what I mean. We need to actively counter this tendency in order to keep the heart open and avoid building tension in the neck and shoulders. Keeping the lungs open also helps to expel that disgusting mucus that comes with all the colds prevalent this time of year. Yuck. Here's the breakdown: 1. From Downward-Facing Dog, step your right foot between your hands on an exhale. Be sure to align the right knee over your right heel to avoid putting pressure on the joint. Lower your left knee to the floor, keeping the top of the left foot pressing against the floor. 2. Inhale and lift the torso up as you sweep your arms up towards the sky. Shrug your shoulders back, and lift your chest up just a bit more. 3. If your neck feels comfortable, look up slowly, being careful not to compress the back of your neck. Reach just a bit higher, and then exhale your hands back to the floor. 4. Root your hands into the mat. Tuck your back toes under, inhaling. With an exhale, step back to Downward-Facing Dog. Repeat on the left side. Feel free to put a blanket under cranky knees, and just work your way slowly into the full posture. It may be your intention to express the full posture right away, but hey, it's just an intention. Be flexible in your mind, and your body will eventually follow. Be Well, Kristin I just got back from the American Herbalist Guild Symposium. Even though I had a nine hour drive to process the weekend, I'm still spinning! So much incredible knowledge, support, and love surrounding these amazing herbalists. I spent three days in the lovely Fall cloaked mountains of PA, taking classes, gathering knowledge, and becoming inspired. Truly. There were times my heart felt so full I was afraid it would spill right over into the lap of someone sitting next to me. I am confident I would have been in good hands if it did. The Symposium wasn't just about learning new techniques to treat various chronic and acute diseases naturally (although there were plenty of enlightening talks on these topics). It was about making connections, finding our place in the world, and changing the way we view medicine and how we incorporate it into our lives.
But really, it all comes down to the same thing. Changing how we relate to our medicine. Growing or getting to know some of the plants that can change our health and change our lives. It doesn't matter if it is an entire farm of medicinal plants or a window box with kitchen herbs like rosemary, thyme, and basil (all powerful medicine by the way). It is simply taking the time to connect with these plants. We nourish them and help them grow, and they in turn do the same for us. As we care for our little plots of land, we become all the more aware of the interrelationship of everything. And trust me. That, will fill your heart.
Be Well, Krisitn |
AuthorI am constantly amazed by the healing power of yoga and herbs. They inspire me to heal, to write, to teach, and to keep exploring. Archives
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