REGENERATIVE HERBALISM

the soul of nature and healing

One day my client unpacks a worn slip of paper - an old weathered article written in blue ink - laying it among her gemstones, where she always makes an altar when she comes in. 
As i sit across from her, my eyes are drawn to the words. 

“Wow, that’s beautiful! Who wrote that?”

“You did”, she said…

…and i was immediately swept away and swooning in the loving force of the plants, and the memory of a life and hope restored.

Regenerative Herbalism - a redundant phrase nonetheless packed with the power of Soul.
Herbalism is inherently regenerative when based on relationship, gratitude, and respect.
How else can life succeed?

Herbal medicine has nothing to do with fancy labels and swallowing capsules; and everything to do with surrender to love.

This newsletter my client saved was written in 2010, as i was self-healing a sprained and shattered hand. 

i’m not talking about one muscle or ligament; everything in my right palm and fingers was forced backwards and torn apart, black and purple and screaming; my pinkie was fractured, my fingers did not move, and my hand - my beautiful strong bodyworker’s hand of 30 years - was mangled and unusable for 8 months. That’s eight months!

i wrapped and treated it every day, and it was six months before i could actually touch, sculpt, or manipulate the tissue - but all along i was guiding it back into place - energetically and directionally by the angles of the wrapping each day, and chanting yogic healing prayers.

AND WITH COMFREY, my first potted medicinal plant. 

i’d always wanted to make herbal medicine because it’s all i use, and California School of Herbal Studies put out an 8 week course for that right after i got hurt. So into the car i got, drove the three hours north, and started that first day.
Though i had not registered and the class was full, they graciously admitted me and my mongo useless hand; they dug up a comfrey plant for me to take home; and they carried all my tools and supplies because…well…i was pretty helpless at digging and cutting and scrubbing for the better part of the year… 

COMFREY, nicknamed Bone-Knit, repairs broken bones, resolves bruising, and knits open skin. COMFREY juices heal open wounds overnight.

i had absolute faith in my new best friend, and made poultices, teas, and ate comfrey-laced vegetable stir fries and soups.
(the comedy of one-handedness: drive to Trader Joes with usable left hand  steering and shifting, buy packaged vegetables already washed, and hold the bags between my knees while poking them open with scissors in my left hand; forget bottled water, just fill the damn pot somehow…Did i mention my hair chose this particular year to curl up tightly into dreads?…)

Well meaning friends pounded on me to see a hand surgeon, certain that i would never use my hand again. i refused, challenging them that i would; but still faced some of the darkest most fearful days alone in my apartment struggling to hope and believe. In the beginning i planned to log my healing journey with a before and after x-ray; but that got ugly fast; the x-ray technician whacked my agonized misshapen hand down on the glass, then the doctor wanted $300 to read the x-ray weeks later - then schedule me for surgery - which was not anywhere close to my plan! i never went back.

Real people don’t have a chance in that nuthouse, so my (lifelong) “allegorical” evidence is what you get. Luckily, there’s plenty of that, and i can’t wait to one day tell you about the more serious injuries i’ve tackled by myself..so that you can be less afraid when it happens to you. And of course, you could also contact me for support…

Self-healing is the ultimate dark night of the soul, as the 3rd dimension scourge of idly passing time laced with dread beats against your brain and heart like a dripping sink in a solitary prison cell.

i say this lest you ever doubt yourself, because self-healing from a major injury is an act of grit baked in faith. You see your mangled part just  hanging there - or you turn away - and try to remember who it was before. Day after day after day after day.

Comfrey repairs broken bones?

Yes, and all the soft tissue too - my palm and finger muscles eventually knitted and the tendons reattached to their bones, and i gradually brought my hand back to life.
Years later, i learned that adding Solomons Seal as well might have prevented my bent “teacup pinkie” because Solomina, as i call her, knows bones and joints…but hey, i got two hands and no doctors; and a stuffed apothecary of smart green friends…

Comfrey seals open wounds?

Yes. But herbalists know to use comfrey only after the wound is completely clean (hence Yarrow and Calendula first, for instance), because otherwise in Comfrey’s bounding enthusiasm to knit your skin together NOW, the dirt gets trapped inside.
When my friend J fell on the trail and embedded sharp pebbles in her knees, first aid was Calendula-Yarrow salve which our herbal teacher had in her bag; then after a couple days, once the wound was fully clean, we could add comfrey to the mix.
Months later J shared with me that the Plantain formula i gave her actually sucked out rock shards from her knee that she didn’t realize were still embedded deeply under the skin. 

Plant medicine is teamwork.
Plants honor the web of life and know who they are and why they’re here.

All plants have numerous overlapping medicinal benefits - which is how and why they survived this long to be our ancestors and friends.

Plants understand evolution - they don’t wait for medical research or anything else before they race to work. They get on with adapting.
Plants value relationship; if we don’t see and engage with them, they can’t help us. And even a plant in a pot can grow sky high and blow seed babies everywhere.

Did i stop working that year? No, and despite a bowling ball size wrap capping that loudly mangled right hand, some clients didn’t even notice, and on we went with bodywork just like before.
Did i actually use the hand? NO! That was not an option. i couldn’t use the arm at all except for the elbow; and even that skill was limited because it yanked at the fascia of the torn forearm fibers…everything is connected, after all…

…which brings us back to where we began - that worn old newsletter from 2010. Let me transcribe that message for you, exactly as it was told to me:

“(some say) eating that much comfrey is not good…i know it was for me, because having comfrey come to me in my time of need, we formed an indelible bond.
i took her in and she went to work.
Plants value relationship, as does all that is alive.
i love Nature, in the most sacred and reverent way. Plants are my partners and friends, and i can now recognize them in a crowd.

This is Plant Spirit Medicine, i learned: the plants come to you.
They keep showing up; you welcome them with joy and excitement in your heart. They vibrate in ecstasy to feel your love, and very quickly it spirals out of control, both of you pumping out enormous bursts of positive life force, breathing together. Each inhale, the other’s exhale; as you breathe out, you return the gift of life to the plants, and prana everywhere is exponentially increased.

It’s all Yoga, how we breathe in and out with the trees and the plants.

The deep reverence and relationship with all life that we find in Herbalism is the foundation of Yoga and Ayurveda too.
Holistic. Indigenous. Inspirited. Alive.”