Last summer, I was helping my mom garden some of the beds in the back of her house when we stumbled upon something that looked too amazing to be true. A gorgeous Reishi mushroom was growing on the stump of a hemlock tree underneath the fence between her and her neighbor’s yard! You know, Reishi, the ...
Why do so many people equate relaxation and pleasure with walking barefoot along the beach as the waves roll in? How come my son River’s first instinct is to take his shoes off when he sees a field of green grass? Is it kooky human behavior that is simply hard-wired into our genetic makeup, or is there ...
Okay, I have to admit—it took me a while to get on board with my chakras. First of all, they don’t teach us about our energy systems in science class. Second, we can’t see them, so they’re not obvious parts of our bodies like, say, our hands. But the more I learned about chakras, and the more I got in...
When I was reading the prayer below the first time, it sent a course of energy through me from head to toe. Sharing this with you is an honor. Written by Shantideva, a Buddhist monk of the Mahayana tradition that lived around 700 AD, he was a devoted practitioner who authored the Bodhicaryavatara or ...
3500 years ago, a powerful detox practice was born in the heart of India. Vedic folk healers learned that swishing a tablespoon of oil around in your mouth not only eliminates bad breath and makes the teeth stronger, but seems to speed up the body’s recovery from a number of major illnesses and also ...
Every week, we receive emails from folks who are on the hunt for that one exotic herb that will solve all their problems. Maybe it can only be found in the mountains of Mongolia… or along the shores of the Caspian Sea. Our first question is always the same. “Have you explored the powerful herbal ...
Planting an herb garden is the perfect way to bring in the spring, and we humans have been doing it for thousands of years. The ancients believed that every one of us can speak the language of the plants. That we can learn how to harness their medicines by spending focused time with them — just like ...
There’s an old saying in the Maya cultures of Guatemala, “Don’t put things on your face that you wouldn’t put in your mouth.” Our mouths are not the only entryway for our bodies to receive nutrients and toxins through. A new study has shown that the pores in your skin can absorb up to 64% of the ...
Last year, I had the honor of sitting down with the godmother of American herbalism, Rosemary Gladstar, at her magical home in Vermont. I have to admit, I was nervous going into this interview because she’s, well, one of my heroes 🙂 Today, I’d love to share a quick video from our encounter with ...
Ever wondered why certain plants are considered weeds and others are deemed worthy of keeping around? The herbalists that we work with would tell you there’s no such thing as a “weed”, and that often times the wild plants that sprout up in our well-groomed backyards are encroaching on our lives ...
Do you remember what you dreamt about last night? How about the night before? For thousands of years, we humans have placed a ton of value on the content of these bedtime reveries, deriving inner wisdom and even premonitions from them. Dreaming feels like a birthright, an extra sense that allows us to ...
Since the dawn of time, our species has been scrambling to not only survive, but thrive. We humans have a built-in need to find our flow, our happiness, our sweet spot in this cosmic unfolding that we call life. Yet somehow, our modern lifestyles seem to be coming up short. Just look at the world today! ...