Tag Archives: well-being

February 11, 2026 · 5:55 pm

Anxiety and Tension Busting Skullcap

Mint family plant in bloom with blue-purple flowers.
Skullcap is effective for relieving anxiety, calming anger, clearing the head.

Likely the most common request I’ve had for herbal support has been for the relief of anxiety and stress. Speaking for myself, stress, tension, and anxiety have been a condition for which I’ve sought an antidote over the years.

Enter Skullcap.

Skullcap is well known in herbalism as an effective relief for anxiety, stress and muscle tension, especially in the neck, shoulders, and head. Herbal Reality, an excellent source for all things herbal, also notes it is used for the relief of angry hot states and as a support in addiction withdrawl. It’s beneficial for those dealing with tension headaches or TMJ.

Taken as a tea or in tincture form, it’s a reliable way to calm the mind during the day because it does not bring on drowsiness. And combined with Passionflower, Hops, or Wild Lettuce it becomes a sleep formula, lending it’s calming and relaxing effects to the hypnotic effects of these other herbs.

In a tea it has a mild flavor, so it’s easy to add to any loose tea you are drinking or to have on its own. Native to North America, it grows readily in moist places.

It’s a good friend to have along in a dosing bottle of tincture to take the edge off on stressful days… I can personally vouch for it’s effectiveness!

Skullcap is safe for folks of all ages, is gentle, and benefits teenagers who are often anxious. The dose is 5-30 drops of tincture a day or 3-6 grams of dried leaves and flowers in a tea. You can find this delightful herb at Mountain Rose herbs or you can easily grow it in your backyard in a sunny moist spot. Take care to get the right variety – Scutellaria lateriflora – if you choose to grow it yourself!

Mint family plant in bloom with blue-purple flowers.
Skullcap, Scutellaria lateriflora and also called Mad Dog skullcap growing happily in my backyard.

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January 25, 2026 · 8:20 pm

From High Blood Pressure to Peace: Healing with Herbal Remedies

viburnum opulus in flower
the flowers of cramp bark

Some years ago during my time as the Digital Program Manager for the New England Journal of Medicine, I developed hypertension. I was genuinely surprised; I’d had low blood pressure most of my adult life.

In retrospect there was a clue; my predecessor had been gifted a blood pressure cuff by our General Manager at her going away party. Why should I have been any different?

My physician, a wonderful, deeply practical and very knowledgeable internist, advised me my diastolic pressure was dangerously high and had to be attended to. But I didn’t want to take pharmaceutical blood pressure medicine. So we agreed I could try exercise and meditation first and return for a blood pressure check soon.

When I returned my blood pressure was not reduced. It proved to be a tenacious condition. I was busy at work, and agreed to monitor my blood pressure daily and take the meds. I did this, meditating regularly, which did help. But I maintained a high stress level despite efforts to manage it, and my blood pressure remained high, too.

Eventually I left the job, taking another job in program management. My blood pressure remained a problem throughout, no matter how much I exercised, meditated, and ate foods that supported me.

The meditation helped and I got to a new place in understanding what was happening in my mind – very powerful. But my daily life and internal dialogue were still driving my blood pressure. I think meditating more would have ultimately helped bring it down reliably, but I have not disciplined myself to a practice that regular and deep, yet.

So, finally the game-changer was an herbal formula I found in David Hoffman’s book “Medical Herbalism.” Not just the motherwort, the hawthorne, the linden, the skullcap — all very helpful and they do affect my pressure positively — but the addition of crampbark to the formula was the magic. My diastolic blood pressure finally came down into the 70s.

And I feel that the crampbark has affected my thinking and my stress level, too. I can calm my stress reaction much more effectively now that I’m working with it. Somehow it’s shifted my relationship with the narrative that causes the pressure, in the same way a conversation with a wise elder brings fresh understanding.

It’s hard to describe the relief I felt when the monitor started to show me acceptable numbers without taking the lisinipril. Peace. Freedom. Deep deep relief.

peace sign carved into the sand on a beach at low tide, sunset.
Peace created.

Everyone’s different and most people struggle with their systolic, rather than their diastolic pressure. What works for me might not work for others – perhaps unsurprisingly there are several formulas in Hoffman’s book that address blood pressure associated with a range of conditions; dealing with the root cause is always the aim and Hoffman’s formulas make clear that there are several plants that can work together to address hypertension in an individualized way.

And interestingly, if you monitor your blood pressure it’s not hard to see how it responds to your medication and your state of mind -experimentation is not hard.

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January 14, 2026 · 4:36 pm

Epilogue on Clinical and Herbal Medicine Together

Elderberries
Native to the Northern Hemisphere and a modern staple in many households, elderberries, in the form of elderberry syrup, help the body fight the flu by blocking the virus’ replication.

By way of an epilogue, the flu (Influenza A to be precise) had a short stay of about 4 days in the house, thwarted as it was by the raft of anti-flu remedies I mentioned in the last post.

For my part, I did feel it coming on but the blend of elderberry, echinacea and goldenseal capsules, and fire cider were successful – no flu days for me and I didn’t need to call on the Tamiflu. Same for Jon – he took only herbs and did not have the flu, although he had the added protection of a flu shot.

Clinicians often suggest avoiding herbs to their patients because they don’t know much (or anything) about their effects. And most herbalists don’t think the living is better through pharmacology. But there is room for both in everyone’s lives–and which to choose depends on the change you are trying to support or effect.

Wishing everyone a healthy flu season. I heartily recommend picking up some Elderberry (Sambucus) Syrup, just in case.

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January 1, 2026 · 1:13 pm

Embracing New Beginnings in the New Year

snow covers a front yard
New Years Day snowfall on Cape Cod

I’ve heard many people say that they don’t set a New Years resolution because they view New Years as somewhat arbitrary. For me, the new solar year, begun on the solstice and beginning to evidence itself in a growing length of day by New Year’s Eve, is a moment in time for setting a new intention (or even a couple of new intentions).

The idea of seasonal medicine – that every season has its medicine – supports the idea that a new solar year is a good time for a new beginning. A time to consider what we’ll grow and nurture in ourselves and in our lives and relationships during the coming sun cycle. After all, the seed catalogs have begun to arrive!

Happy New Year to all who choose to celebrate, to those who claim a fresh beginning, and to those who just enjoy a quiet day, perhaps recovering from a night of revelry.

snow on trees
Snow covers tree tops at Killington Vermont

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October 5, 2025 · 10:31 am

Who We Are

seagulls sitting in a line on a curved roof

It’s been a long and strange road since the war erupted in the middle east and we got a new president here in the US. There’s no point in commenting on the bonanza of international unrest and political commentary. There really isn’t.

I have found myself listening to both sides, listening to the middle, and trying to reconcile what I hear in public discourse with what I’m experiencing first hand talking to people. Sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn’t.

Overwhelmingly my sense is that people want to see themselves in the people around them. They want to believe that they are accepted, and that the people around them have similar beliefs. Even if there’s no evidence of this being true, it’s an assumption I see people making as they interact with strangers and acquaintances.

And it’s good. It allows for a kind of civility between people that we don’t see in public discourse. And thank god.

I’ve come to Tampa to be with my daughter Inga through a medical procedure. She and her roommates have an apartment with a balcony. In the morning I’ve been enjoying my coffee on the balcony with the seagulls in the photo above for company… witnessing a continual flow of people and their dogs at the dog park below, people going to work, families coming and going, heron fishing in the pond, palmettos swaying in the wind — enjoying a view on this little community starting its day.

red leaves emerging from a tropical potted plant
Inga and Bella’s balcony plant

Realizing that everyone is venturing out with their unique reality and experience in their bodies has made just sitting here watching an adventure. Whatever challenges or beliefs, whatever physical circumstances they have, there’s a beauty in the sameness of everyone – even the heron – navigating life. I equate this with working with plants and learning about their medicine. They are endlessly giving of healing support, endlessly patient, individuals themselves, and they interact with each person as an individual. Mutual respect and recognition are the only real rules.

So whoever you side with, if you take a side at all in any of the many disagreements we have, we’re all in this together. It’d be nice if we led with that.

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January 23, 2024 · 11:49 am

Flow and Adapt

Ashwagandha, Rhodiola root, and Schisandra Berry powders

My son decided to drop out of his college program with approximately one year remaining. He has practical reasons for this, but also, he was stressed out and his health wasn’t benefiting from the lifestyle and pressure he had. One way he chose to address the stress was to buy a bottle of “adaptogens” – capsules filled with Ashwagandha, Rhodiola root, and Schisandra berry. Most of us have heard of adaptogens – plants that help us manage and recover from stress – and Tristan found them to be very useful to him as he tried to balance his full-time course load with a new business that he was trying to get off the ground.  

In my studies, I’ve learned that some producers are sourcing their plant material unethically – many are, in fact – and so I suggested he allow me to make capsules with the same adaptogens in them. This way I was able to ensure the herbs are sourced ethically, which is important to me.

As so often happens, the universe was presenting me with a prompt; I would really benefit from taking adaptogens in, as well! One of my key aims is finding flow during my day. Being “in flow” comes with focus, intention, even meditation, and having a bit of support from one’s parasympathetic nervous system is a like riding a beneficial tide in the right direction! When we are in flow we are channeling creative energy, intuition, and doing our best work.

Along with the bumps, periodic grief and loss, and stresses of life, most of us (myself included) are at least a little overloaded (even strung out) on information overload and the pace of modern living. So engaging a parasympathetic nervous state is seriously helpful to most of us. A few adaptogenic herbal friends that can help with that:

Ashwagandha (withania somnifera) is traditionally an ayurvedic herb, and is a thyroid adaptogen. Not great if you have a hyperthyroid, It stimulates the thyroid, affecting and regulating the adrenals, and increases thyroid hormones that circulate through the body. It’s also anti-inflammatory. It’s beneficial for fatigue and insomnia, encouraging deeper, restorative sleep.

Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea) has also been used for centuries – since at least 1100 AD – in Scandinavia and Russia, where it thrives in cold climates. It’s root is an adaptogen, containing more than 140 active ingredients, and is used to treat anxiety, fatigue, and depression. It is known to support the immune system, and protect against infection and flu.

Schisandra (schisandra chinensis) is native to asia, an antioxidant known to support endurance and resilience, and protective to the liver. It aids the body in returning to a parasympathetic state, helping to manage stress reactions.

image of capsule machine, mixed ashwagandha, shisandra berry and rhodiola root

There are many adaptogens out there – these are just three that have become popular and have long histories of use.

While you can buy adaptogens in capsules and gummies at pharmacies, it’s not hard to make capsules. This capsule machine and gelatin capsules are readily available to buy online and you can buy powdered herbs from ethical suppliers like Mountain Rose Herbs online.

Wishing you flow, peace, and fun during these lengthening winter days.

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March 12, 2019 · 5:40 pm

Sacred Connection

Sitting in the grass, sitting bones against the earth, is a birthright few of us spend much time exercising. The energy that flows up into us from the earth is so different from the experience of sitting in a chair; taking the time to sit intentionally, allowing source energy to enliven your spine, support your legs, bottom, and root chakra (the energy center that resides at the base of the spine), is self-prescribed therapy. Resting directly on the Earth reminds us of our connection to everything, and allows us to root and be present to our body in a way that is intensely grounded, momentary, and personal.

The feeling of the soil, soft and malleable, accommodating,
invites us to sit for a while as indigenous humans do, with our bottoms pointing behind us to support our backs, vertebrae stacked, root chakra at the base, breathing in the smell of grass, flowers, or other flora nearby, and the soil, warmed by the sun. Or lie down and look up, clouds floating by in a panoply of shapes. The trees arcing up to touch the sky, birds criss-crossing above.

With the earth beneath and around you, you might feel that you come from this earth, are part of this earth, one with the wind, the birds, all growing, crawling things. Or you might just feel a little better, more grounded. I’d bet, though, that you won’t just do it once.

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