S4-EP27 Holistic Healthcare Tools For Living Your Best Life!

[00:00:00] that can be the hardest thing in the world and is resting more. But I think the more we normalize that, like I work with so many leaders and every person is a leader in their own life. The people that are heading organizations mothers matriarchs, like people that have a lot of responsibility and their decisions influenced a lot of other people.

And they they’re getting burned out. They don’t know how to, in a stress. And they look for me, you know, for support and they changed their life. They normalize their routine. They find that they can actually. And take really good care of themselves and be very productive, you know, it’s actually win-win

Welcome to onward. Live a live stream, focused on encouraging you to create a life you love living. Now let’s go beyond success to significance in clear on our, why is crucial. It requires doing the inner work, finding ourselves, getting to know ourselves, embracing our inner child, shedding social conditioning, [00:01:00] and letting go of perfect.

We know obstacles make us stronger. We can dream big and take action. Believe you can. And you’re halfway there. I invite you to tune in every week and engage with me and my inspiring guests. Invite your friends. Let’s make time for what matters most in our lives. Let’s move onward together.

Hi, everybody. Welcome to another episode of onward live. And I also take this and publish it as the onward podcast about a month from now. So I’m Emily Harmon. I’m the host of onward live and the AMR podcast. And each week on Wednesday night, I come live at seven 30 Eastern and I just bring guests that can, that I, a lot of them lately have been guests that have helped me along my journey of awakening my journey of coming back to myself, my journey of.[00:02:00] 

Discovering who I really am at the core. I’ve shared my story. I was but if you’re the first, this is the first time you’ve heard it. I retired from the department of the Navy in may of 2019. And I had, you know, made, I had achieved, achieved, achieved, achieve achieved. I made it to the top. I was a senior executive and, but I just felt like something was missing.

And I didn’t, I wasn’t really having meaningful conversations. I was always too busy to have those meaningful conversations. And I knew that I wasn’t feeling my feelings. I was too busy and I knew that it was my job that was keeping me so busy. So I figured that once I retired things were going to be so much better.

I was going to be more relaxed and I was going to have more time to just work out and go on hikes and do what I wanted to do. And then what I realized is when I retired, I was busier than ever. And the only, I couldn’t point at a job, you know, I had to point myself, [00:03:00] it was me causing this work. Like, you know, I knew I wanted to be a coach, but I, you know, I just was conditioned to achieve, achieve, achieve, push, push, push, keep going, keep going.

And I really didn’t know how to relax and I’ve gotten so much better at that. And a lot of it is with the help of a counselor who referred me to Whitney, my guest tonight. And a lot of it is with the help of all the guests that I’ve interviewed on this show. You know, the show initially started out as the onward podcast facing adversity and moving forward because that’s what I’ve done had done all my life up until then, like just pushed, pushed through.

And now that I’m an energy leadership. Certified. I’m excited about that. I’ve learned that that’s like level three energy, you know, looking at the bright side, but there’s seven levels of energy and push energy, looking at the bright side, moving forward, you know, achieving, keep getting [00:04:00] things done. That’s that’s level three.

And sometimes when you’re in that level three energy, you avoid your feelings because they would be distracting from you getting something done. And do you, you know, so that’s, that’s where I was. So the initial podcast was on we’re podcast, facing adversity and moving forward. And then I changed it to facing adversity moving forward and discovering ourselves along the way, because I was learning so much about myself that I wanted to share with everybody.

And. And then I’d recently changed it in January to create a life you love living now. And the instigator behind that is my former husband. He was in the intro video. There’s a picture of me with him and the kids because right after I, he I retired, he got sick with cancer and passed away in five months.

He was paralyzed within two weeks of, of his cancer diagnosis. And then he, and then he passed away five months later and I [00:05:00] saw him suffering and I saw him suffering with regrets about how he had lived his life. And I think a lot of his stress and anxiety manifested in itself in his body. As the cancer, and I know that he passed away with regrets.

And so I encourage people to create a life you love living right now. And you know, I, haven’t been very clear on my, my target audience. My target audience is women who my target client, women who are in their fifties, maybe sixties, getting ready to retire or have just retired high achievers, still want to accomplish yet.

You know, they’re tired of accomplishing, accomplishing and feeling yet still something is missing. What’s missing is our inner peace, our inner joy. It doesn’t come from outside circumstances. It doesn’t our stress. Isn’t always caused solely by our jobs. It’s our thoughts and our react, our [00:06:00] thoughts, which generate our feelings, our thoughts about those jobs.

And that’s what I learned about me. It was my. My thoughts that were driving me. And so I’m excited to bring Whitney on because I just started working with her in early March and I’ve already learned, you know, felt a lot better and I’ll bring her on. And then I’ll kind of explain why I started working with her, but she’s helped me tremendously in managing my health and my depression with holistic options.

And so we’re going to be talking about health care tools for living your best life. Living a life you love living now. So welcome Whitney. I was such a joy to be here with you, Emily. Thank you for inviting me. Yeah. I’m excited that you’re here. . So Whitney, I, you know, Mary recommended my counselor recommended I start working with you and, and I’m glad that she did. And the reason was I think the instigator, maybe [00:07:00] some, maybe other things too, but it’s like every time I, I go on a trip. And get out of my normal routine kind of thing.

And then when I come back, that’s when I noticed that I was noticing that I was starting to feel like depressed. Like it was really hard for me to get back into my regular routine. And she recommended, I started working with you and I did. And then I went on a two week trip, which was a really, you know, fun trip, but also it could be challenging.

I spent a week with my roommate from the Naval academy in Seattle, Washington. So I traveled all the way across the country. And then on the way back I stayed a whole extra week with my daughter in Denver. So I was gone two weeks kind of out of my routine. And when I came back. With the T regimen and stuff that you had me on, I didn’t have that feeling.

And I was so, so excited. So anyway, that’s why I started working with you. Tell us a little bit about [00:08:00] yourself and, and then we can address, you know, how you helped me out, but tell us how you got into this herbal studies and holistic. Yes. So I am tuning in from a Massanutten mountain and it’s a local Buffalo mountain initiative into a valley.

And I have been interested in holistic health for so long. I really didn’t have a lot of great options when I was growing up though. And it wasn’t until I lived in Santa Fe for a few years, which is like one of the centers for holistic health in the country. There’s lots of acupuncture, massage schools there.

Just very normalized to receive professional holistic health services all the time. But that was not my norm before that. And I’ve also gone through a lot of my own personal health struggles and I found that holistic therapies have really worked for me and I. I was diagnosed with a brain condition when I was 20 years old and I was given a 50% chance to live.

Obviously on [00:09:00] the other side of that right now. But it started about an eight year journey for. Looking for ways to heal. And I was already very into conscious living at that point. I’d spent several years traveling around the world, working on organic farms really clean with my diet and lifestyle.

I had a merit scholarship at an Ivy league school. Like there were a lot of really good things going and it was really such a surprise for me. So I found that health is complex. A lot of young women are struggling in major ways and I see that a lot in my private practice and that there weren’t easy answers.

But it started a really deep quest for me. And I learned so much in that process. I lived in New Mexico for several years. Received so much healing found out that this was actually my path to also be of service and healing toward others. And I found several things were really monumental in my journey.

One was finding. And I’ve been doing yoga regularly for over 20 years. I grew up doing a lot of gymnastics and dance. Yoga really filled in a missing piece for me. And it was like, no looking back since then. And initially it [00:10:00] helped with a lot of back pain that I was experiencing from a gardening job, working with native plants.

And I remember I was 16. I was like, I’m having back pain. And she seems to be going to be experiencing that. And my back pain completely went away by doing yoga and. Yeah, it was dramatic. And and so that stayed as a regular part of my lifestyle for that on out. But it also brought me into a lot of deeper aspects of our time and I’ve studied with a lot of different lineages.

And that’s something that I’d bring a lot into my work with people. And eventually that led me to studying aryuveda very in-depth and that’s the twin healing science of yoga and that’s like the health and wellness and that’s something that completely shifted my life. So I had. All a lot of tools which were very valuable.

And I was receiving a lot of regular body work. I was looking deeply at stress management, but I really didn’t have an understanding on a day-to-day basis about a lifestyle and how that could really [00:11:00] support my optimal health and wellbeing. And it really helps me with being in the world full time of.

Having tools on a day-to-day basis, not just recharging on the weekends to increase my energy levels, sustainability. And then I opened a private healing arts practice for six and a half years ago. That’s been my full-time job since then. That’s what led me to you and so many women. And I found in the first year of my practice, there is just this gaping need for hormonal balance for the female body and that so many women falling through the cracks.

And I, myself, as part of my own healing journey had, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and autoimmune conditions. And I don’t know how many years, you know, that I felt under the radar. But once I knew that it was going on and I, I have this amazing holistic healthcare team and I still, you know, rely on them very much as much as I do this for other people.

And I was able to reverse it in one year, a hundred percent naturally. So I’ve been through it. And I, and I share those tools with other women but [00:12:00] also so many women approached me. Just have been trying for years and years and really struggling and still feeling like they weren’t getting the results that they were looking for, like greater balance and ease in their body, how your energy levels ways to deal with anxiety and depression.

And looking at more clarity, you know, for their life purpose and just feeling like more fulfilled. So I found it’s a very complex issue without easy answers. And, you know, I have best friends that are Indies, nurse practitioners, acupuncturists. Everything I do is a hundred percent natural and holistic and I’m a clinical herbalist.

And so I have a very integrated approach, you know, I take each person where they’re at. They choose their healthcare team, you know, I have a very non-competitive approach and I just join in and I fill in with any missing pieces that can support their highest health and wellbeing. And you were referred to me by a counselor yoga therapist and you enrolled for one of my six month programs.

And then that’s my main offering for women like you and at any time in their life. And I do a really in-depth customized health [00:13:00] intake. Very in-depth awesome. So yeah, that, that sets the tone. I learned so much about you on an individual level. So I mean, there’s you know, a million things that we could do and, you know, there’s internet medicine, you can learn about, you know, anything you want to, in a general sense.

And a lot of that can be very helpful, but a lot of women still also feel stuck knowing whether it’s the right choice for them. And whether it’s safe is that the right timing? And that’s why I have such a customized approach because there just are a lot of things that can’t be recommended in a general sense, especially when it comes to herbs.

And you know, I had been started on. Fluoxetine, which is I think the one of the names for Prozac or something, I had been started on that by my OB GYN when I was probably, you know, I don’t know, in my 40 some time. And she said it was like, peri-menopause, that was, you know, I was just really stressed.

Well, I had a lot of things going on in my life too with my kids and things like that. And work and, you know, didn’t have the skills [00:14:00] to, in some cases handle a lot of the stressful things that I was going undergoing. And so, you know, when I took that pill 20 milligrams, it really took the edge off. But then one of the, and I, and I had been on it even up until when I retired.

So probably, I don’t know, 15 or more years, probably more to 20. And I wanted to start coming off of it because Mary, my counselor had said how that. Prohibits you from feeling your feelings. And so remember at the beginning of the show, I said, you know, I knew I wasn’t really feeling my feelings. And so I guess it kinda levels levels you off and you don’t really have any highs and lows.

You just kind of stay stable, but it’s also like taking a pill that I don’t even know what’s in it and I wanted to come off of it. And so now I’m down to 10 milligrams and well we talked to tomorrow, but I’m not ready to come down [00:15:00] further yet. I don’t think. But but anyway, what the, the herbal teas and some of the other things that you gave me, which we can talk about are, are really helping as well.

Can you explain like how those help and is that an area? Cause I think that’s an area that you help women in quite a bit, right? That coming off, that medicine. Yeah, well, I take each woman where they’re at. Some of them will rip which at a very different place in their life. I’m looking for other choices and options.

And I’ll be the first person the, to recommend somebody stay on something and to get lots of lab work, I think that’s very valuable and I cross you for all the time. And so I only do that process when somebody is working with the prescribing physician, we work together as a team and everybody’s on board at the same time.

And a lot of times people you know, there’s very high benefits to something like that in that time of your life, it was the perfect medicine. However you’re in a very different place in your life. And sometimes that can have negative side effects over a long period [00:16:00] of time. And.

That’s something that a lot of people are looking to avoid. They’re looking for safer long-term options and also might be ready at a different place in their life to explore what it’s like to not have that veal to go deeper with your emotions. Typically people have done a lot of inner transformational work when they, when they get to that place.

And so they really aren’t the same person anymore, and they’re just a lot more stable in a lot of ways. So provided a lot of foundational holistic nutrition recommendations. And like for you, like you know, your blood sugar balance, even though you were super conscious with healthy eating and you know, cooking all your own foods.

And a lot of my people started out at a very advanced level and you did, for sure. However, there were still, you know, some gaping missing pieces and you know, blood sugar and balance is a huge trigger for anxiety and depression. And so and that’s something that. Safe within any of our means to look at and just having a more regular meals, having increased healthy fats and your sugar cravings went away.

Yeah, they did. I don’t really [00:17:00] crave sugar. Like I, like I used to. And so, and I didn’t even really notice that, but I had been on that two week trip. And which is a time when you kind of, when you get out of your routine is when maybe you can eat kind of junky foods and stuff. But I did a little bit with my friend, Darlene.

We had like taco covered almonds or something, but for the most part, I wasn’t craving that kind of food. And so it felt really, it felt really good. My body was just feeling so much more healthy. And you had mentioned that inner journey, that’s the journey I’ve been on a lot. And when you’re like looking at your life, becoming more aware, going on that inner journey, you need to be able to feel your feelings.

And I think that the medicine was keeping me from. Getting sad about something or getting really happy about something. It was just kinda keeping me level. So now I, at where I am now with the 10, I definitely feel [00:18:00] my feelings and I want to get off of it. But it’s something that, you know, you kind of go off of it really slowly.

So, yeah. So the T rec that you recommended for me, I don’t, did I show you this, that I keep it in this jar that my mom made. And that’s where the tea is that you recommended. She made this nice little jar for me, and then you gave me, and then I told her, well, I, it would be nice to have a spoon. So she gave me, she made me another one.

And it has, you know, where I can keep my spoon. This is for that heart powder stuff that you, that you gave me. So I just wanted to share that my mom’s making always making such awesome pottery for me. I love that a super special. And I got I’m a former Potter, so definitely appreciate that. And and you’re looking at herbal blends.

And so I think for most people it’s just normalizing that more is part of our daily routines, you know, and those all are blissed about this being the people’s medicines. [00:19:00] And there’s so much medicine growing in our backyard. So and you know, how strict I am about sourcing that everything is sustainably source wildcrafted there, there’s no harm done in the whole process.

And we’re taking things that tough, the ability to you know, grow again and be in a reciprocal relationship. And so for getting really high quality fresh high vibration herbs then we’re bringing nature school medicine. You know, and refusing it. And there’s just so many guests it’s in less, you know, the nature and with, with herbal medicine I find it within industrialized countries as a chin that’s changing, but the U S is really at the bottom is far as accessibility of herbal medicine and education.

And so you know, places like the UK, it’s completely normalized. There are botanical colleges there that were never forced to clues. And so these things are changing a lot, but I think a lot of people have a fear of taking herbs or don’t take it in high enough amounts for a long enough period of time to get optimal benefit.

There’s just a lot of reasons why people [00:20:00] might be reticent to embracing that and Always very, very important to be very safe and use common sense and work with a practitioner. But there’s a lot of things that we can do. In a short amount of time, you know, to learn about you know, home for remedies and teas, we can drink on a daily basis.

And what I do with people like you, and when we’re looking at a more longer in depth program after doing, you know, an extensive comprehensive intake, I’ll make custom herbal formulas. I’ve been taking enough to last for six months. And, you know, I reassess along the way, I’m checking in with you to see how you feeling.

It’s extremely rare that there are drug herbal interactions but it is possible. And so I just also run by everything you’re currently taking just to make sure everything is very safe and appropriate. And you know, that can just make such a big difference. It’s just a great ally. You know, life is hard health and herbs can really make a huge difference.

So yeah, even on a tea, the tea blend, accustom powder blend, and also a fire essence blend. Yes. Yeah. These drops that I put under my tongue flower essence [00:21:00] and yeah, I love them in a pretty, in a pretty blue bottle. What do all those things, like? What do all those things do for me? What can they do for somebody?

Okay, well, we need several hours. Well, okay. At a top level, like what do they, they do say I’m drinking the tea to. Out of a mug that my mom gave me. Oh, that’s so beautiful. We’ll have to talk more about pottery. So when we’re looking at the hundreds and hundreds of. That are in our herbal Pharmacopia.

We’re also looking at a lot of different lineages where the herbs are sourced, how they were grown. And so you know, very common or that’s an, a lot of people back yards now you know, dandy lion, you know, a lot of people think is a weed. It’s actually a very powerful medicine. It’s really good for a female hormonal balance.

And it’s very supportive for the liver. It has a hepatic protective action and that’s something you can, you know, dig up and to us the roots and make a tea out of it. And it’s [00:22:00] amazing medicine. So either there’s so many things like that, that we don’t realize it’s actually a lot closer than we may realize now.

There’s a lot of herbs that have standing clinical use, like ones that you’re on, like Rami hostel warn caduceus. Ashwagandha ginger. These have been used in a lot of herbal medicine traditions. A very long time, thousands of years. And so we can just acknowledge that these are evidence-based systems.

And I like to combine both the traditional cultural wisdom with modern health research. Let’s bring the best of those best of both of those worlds together. And with herbs we’re looking at, what do you need to balance your system right now? And so, I mean, there could be hundreds of herbs that could help you for one condition.

And like there’s tons of herbal sedatives for insomnia. That’s a huge issue that I see a lot of people struggle with sleep issues. There’s more mild or severe. And I make customer role remedies all the time for pregnant women. [00:23:00] And so we know that there are a lot of gentle herbs that are safe for that delicate time.

And so, you know, no matter where you are in your life, there’s herbs that are for you, it’s just a matter of connecting the. And what about for menopause? Yes. So we work with a lot of women that time of life and things can dramatically shift and you might just feel like you have a very different body.

And so a lot of hormonal normalizer, they’re very helpful in India shatavari is food and medicine that women take and it pretty much neutralizes negative side effects around menopause. They just don’t have the same rate of incidents we have here. So that’s a really lovely one. And you can add that to food.

You can make that as a tea. I just made a shutoff free latte yesterday with almond milk dates, cardamom cinnamon Safra. Blended it out with like a quarter teaspoon should topper. You was so delicious. So that’s just as simple where I’d be like, you can [00:24:00] put your medicinal herbs into food and we’ve been having our sessions over zoom.

And I think we meet again tomorrow, but my next session I’m coming out there. So yeah, I have an in-person place with my apothecary and we can meet out in the woods. I have, you know, some private natures setting places. I also meet all over the country and worlds on zoom. I’ve been doing that a long time before COVID, but especially over the past couple of years there’s also a rasa teas that I recommend.

The gosh, there’s, there’s so much, and I’m just talking in a general way, you know, this evening, and there might be specific things for every person that’s listening that might be more helpful for the unique system, but usually when people are running into complications around menopause has been a lot of stress for a long time leading up to that and the kidney and adrenals organs.

I’ve just been taxed for a long time and they start to take on more of the functioning of some of our other reproductive organs. That’s just the design. That’s what happens. It’s a natural process that we don’t have to demonize it, but if the kidney and adrenal [00:25:00] organs are in really good condition, then it’s going to be a smooth transition.

So, so we want to look at reducing stress on all levels. We also want to look at building up the kidney adrenal functioning. If there’s been any you know, history of fatigue or weakness, And also we want to look at what are the long-term goals for that person to, where are they looking to guard they’re still working full-time and do they have a more relaxed schedule?

And we just want to make sure that things are really practical, that can work for them, where they are in their life. And and it doesn’t matter where a person is. You can always do something. So on a lifestyle level stress management, for sure. We also want to look at a buffering, the firstly of tissue that’s nourished after we food which we call in our UV to the rasa layer smell layer.

And a lot of times that tends to dry up around menopause. And so that’s a place that I like to always start to make sure that that layer of the body and those tissues are very strong and nourished. And [00:26:00] so that’s through plenty of hydration, not only with liquids, but also with healthy fats, which you’ve been doing and that’s making a huge difference.

And I find most women are deficient in that they just skimp out on. Yeah. So I don’t know why someone posted this, but maybe, you know, this Turkey tail is that a. Herb or something? I don’t know. That’s true. Okay. The winter hiking. It’s beautiful. It has these a Greenbow colors coming out. I have some friends that will harvest mushrooms.

It hasn’t been my specialty. I love to work with. And I knew people that would do like whole mushroom, like programs. It’s really good for the immune system. I know a lot of times it’s taken for immunomodulator action. Sometimes they have to be careful with thyroid issues to have too many mushrooms.

So that’s why you can, we want to look at each unique person. But yeah, that’s a fabulous one. Okay. And th oh, Kelly asked that my friend Kelly. Hi Kelly. And then Lizabeth is asking what about migraines? Yes. Yeah, a lot of women struggle with that and that’s something that can show up with [00:27:00] the classic hormonal imbalances.

So PMs symptoms, you Rocky menopause, rude. And just like if you had a problem with your car and you went to the mechanic there could be 20 or 30 different things, you know, Could be at the root of the same problem. It’s similar with librarians. So what’s going on for you? There might be 20 or 30 different reasons why somebody has them as a whole though in being deficient in blood, making sure your person’s not anemic.

And I recommend somebody get lab testing for that. Cause that can show up, especially around heavy bleeding, like situational anemia too much stress not having enough juicy again, hormones for deficient and progesterone. That causes a whole host of complications. And there are whole herbs that can help that, that hormonal normalizer action, like shatavari also chaste tree Berry and don’t cry.

There’s several that can help in that regard if there is a deficiency, but that can trigger migraines. Dehydration is a big one too, making sure somebody has plenty of water and [00:28:00] liquids. MSG is another one which unfortunately is added into a lot of ingredients, even the natural ones in the states you have to really dig carefully to make sure that’s not added in.

Sometimes just removing that from the diet can make a huge difference. You know, plenty of sleep making sure that the sleep routine is really. And you falling asleep easily getting a good night’s rest. And, and usually, you know, for migraines, it’s not just one thing. It’s many things together and we just keep knocking off, you know, anything that might be out of balance until enough things come together.

That that just hopefully resolves for you. Yeah. Wow. So, oh, someone said, ah, MSG, the natural flavor. Yes. It’s, it’s natural. If you read the product ingredients and it says natural flavors and you think it’s natural and it’s actually just a cheap disguise for Ms. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you all for tuning in.

I see a Gracie Ruth is here and Luchia is here from Costa Rica. So, yeah. And then [00:29:00] Elizabeth said migraines more due to weather changes and smells. Yeah, I know. I have a history of horrible migraines. And I worked as a Johns Hopkins neurologist for awhile. And there’s one that has a great book of like heal your headache.

1, 2, 3 that’s a nice resource. I found from my own unique system that I have to be really strict with And I don’t do anything. That is really synthetic as far as cleaners in my house. The, all the essential oils that I do with the REM therapy are a hundred percent wildcrafted or organic you know, also fair trade, sustainably sourced you know, just removing a lot of those triggers.

You know, I have a really good friend that, you know, can walk by like a synthetic fragrance store and immediately gets a migraine. So yeah, sometimes it’s avoiding those things, but try to minimize as much as you can in your house. Also, the changes in barometric pressure, you know, when a rainstorm starts to come on, I knew you can start to get a migraine, but usually again, it’s not just that one factor.

It’s like many of those things and it’s compounded together. So [00:30:00] there’s some things we can control. Some things we can’t, we can’t control the weather. We can control other things. So if we can decrease those other things below your threshold, then we decrease the likelihood of a rainstorm triggering a migraine.

Yeah. Awesome. Great questions. Let’s see if there’s another one. Yeah. There’s oh yeah, I’ve got Dr. Alexandria Rosa to tuning in from Ohio. Hello. And then I was wondering like, why, why is it that this kind of natural herbal remedies, these kinds of remedies are not as prevalent in the United States as they are in other areas?

What’s your opinion on that? Yes. That’s a great question. Well, born and raised American you know, very loyal and, you know, I come from a long lineage of veterans both. Fathers, you know, were in world war II. And so it’s out of so much love for wanting the very best for everybody. And just noticing that sometimes there’s things that have happened where people haven’t really cared as much [00:31:00] about house and wellbeing because as they did then, you know, certain things wouldn’t have happened.

But they did, and we kind of have to acknowledge that history. And like there was a time when breastfeeding was recommended to be avoided. And we know now that’s just been completely debunked. A lot of that is like, you know, when, when profit is more of a concern over health. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, sometimes it’s, we just don’t have enough information or people try things because I think it’ll be helpful, whatever that may be.

But there’s just a much lower usage of verbal medicine actually outlawed. There were all of the early pharmacists and the rest were herbalist and you could look at that, you know, and all the historical texts. And we’re looking at hundreds of years of verbal medicine and all. Settlers a hundred percent relied on herbal medicine to survive because that’s what all indigenous people, you know, practiced and offered here.

So it’s really much the medicine of this land and it’s still here and is still alive and well, and I think it’s just a matter of accepting with integrity and respect that we can still apply the medicine that’s still living [00:32:00] here. Yeah. And I mean like, all right, you’ve got a long list of training in this area, just so many different things and you’re very detailed.

And so there’s a lot of I know that you put a lot of. Thought and education and training into everything that you do for your clients. It’s clear, it’s clear in the debrief, you know, in the first initial intake session, you know, all the detailed questions that you ask and all the things that, that we, that we go over.

I see you also have a certification in Reiki. I interviewed somebody recently about Reiki and I’ve started doing that. And so like, that’s why I bring in all these different people. Cause it’s like Reiki, yoga, all these things that I never really learned about that much when I was too busy. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, we can stay on the busy [00:33:00] train for a long time and not know how to get off. And that’s a huge thing for taproot. Hormonal imbalances is learning how to turn off the stress triggers and then there’s healthy stress we need, like, but when it’s too much, and it becomes toxic over a long period of time, that can actually be harmful to us.

And and that’s huge for women, you know, always comes up. We always have to look at okay, what is really as a stress about us, keep pulling back the layers and going back to the origin and that can look very different for every woman, but definitely overwork. Just never creates a good situation in the longterm.

So just giving more permission to rest and having family and work cultures that really support that. You know, it makes a huge difference knowing people really love and care about you, positive socialization. So yeah, everybody’s here is welcome to contact me and apply for a complimentary breakthrough session to see if I’d be a good fit to work with you.

One-on-one and occasionally I do a group [00:34:00] programs and workshops as well, so yeah, feel free to be in touch and and we can just, you know, meet for an hour or so, and just find this, this is you know, something that would be appropriate for you. And you know, Herbal medicine. And like, you know what, the benefits that you’ve gotten, if you’ve been doing it regularly over a long period of time and you know, within like a month, your energy levels increased like dramatically and your resist stress.

And we were targeting those things. That’s, that’s what they should do over time. Not to say that always will work for everybody, not at all, but for you, it did. And you know, there’s a saying in our, you Veda that what works for one person might be the complete opposite for the next. And there’s also another thing that everything works for somebody, but nothing works for everybody.

So we also have to learn how our bodies change over time and throughout the year. Also Henson, you know, four seasons army, what we do to take care of ourself and the summer might be completely different in the winter. And it’s not that it’s good or bad. [00:35:00] It’s just applying the right choices and medicine and the right timing.

So more cooling foods would be very helpful and appropriately like cilantro and coconut and watermelon in the thick of the summer heat. And there’s a lot of lifestyle practices that can help with that. And in the middle of the winter, when it’s so cold, we won’t, we’re heating foods, you know, internally and, and heating spices and herbs things like cloves cinnamon, ginger, things that really warm up the system.

And then we also look at a person’s constitution, you know, in relation to the season. So, so it’s not like health is always static or we make all the same choices all the time. It’s about, you know, this, this dance and really honoring ourselves getting to know ourselves really well. And just owning what works for us.

Yeah. Honoring ourselves and knowing ourselves well this hasn’t been the best week for me. And I think that it’s like a combination of a whole bunch of things that have happened. One is I stubbed my toe and my whole foot is swollen and, you know, and so there’s pain there. And [00:36:00] then I started getting pain in my hip from boxing.

So I went to a chiropractor today and I definitely felt, feel better. But when I have all that pain, it takes away from my ability, my wanting to, you know, concentrate on some of the tasks that I need to do. And then I think the pollen to all of that combined is just like this has been an, a tiring week for me.

And I don’t know, maybe also, because I turned 59 on Monday, it’s just a combination of a bunch of things. And then emotions come up and, and so one thing I’ve did today is. Give myself a frigging break, which is not something I’ve always done and, you know, just relaxed and, and made my tea and not tried to accomplish, accomplish, accomplish.

And it, it felt good. And that in the past is something that has been very hard for me to do. I would have, you know, probably just kinda push through it or had like negative thoughts about like, [00:37:00] I should be able to keep going or, you know, I had trouble meditating and I was talking to Mary and my counselor and she’s like, thanks, Nikita.

And she’s like, well, when you’re trying to sit there and meditate, but then your foot hurts and your hip hurts and stuff like that, it takes away, you know, your attention from that. So anyway, I just wanted to share that. And what do you recommend when someone’s doing pretty well and then has. Period like that type of time.

Yeah. Well, first and foremost yeah, I’m really sorry that that happened. That doesn’t sound like any fun. And I, yeah, you’re mending very quickly. Also you are not alone. This always happens, and this is why I’ve set up longer-term programs. It’s just, people get the best results for making a commitment and going through all of the ebbs and flows, you know, that we all experience.

And it’s not a matter of if we’re going to have more challenges, it’s a matter of when. And, you know, and we can all probably relate to that rate. And COVID definitely brought this to the forefront and I found so many people reaching out this. [00:38:00] Like lives were turned upside done. Some people had a strong health foundation maybe able would go through more smoothly, but so many people struggled so much and just looking for a reset and looking to reconnect.

And also it’s almost like a rebirthing, you know, like who am I now? At this time how do I relate to others in my community in a healthy way? How do I keep my health at the top of my priority list? So there’s a network called bone set that, you know, if you have any kind of broken bones it can help speed the healing process dramatically.

So that’s something we definitely want to look at and think we’re talking tomorrow, so we can go and also topicals. So, you know, our Nicola’s really great for pain relief. You’ve probably heard of that. Are those still of helichrysum frankincense? Looking at keeping that area, very lubricated with lots of oils that always helps with wound healing.

You know, there’s compresses and poultices, that are very easy to make. And if just depending on the type of, you know, skin wound healing that needs to happen, we might do that a couple of times a day, or you can let go to sleep with a [00:39:00] tea that you’ve made that then turns into some kind of compress Also resting as one of the very best things you can do, you know, after an injury.

And and that can be the hardest thing in the world and is resting more. But I think the more we normalize that, like I work with so many leaders and every person is a leader in their own life. The people that are heading organizations mothers matriarchs, like people that have a lot of responsibility and their decisions influenced a lot of other people.

And they they’re getting burned out. They don’t know how to, in a stress. And they look for me, you know, for support and they changed their life. They normalize their routine. They find that they can actually. And take really good care of themselves and be very productive, you know, it’s actually win-win and sometimes it was like the more we do externally, the more productive we can be.

But that has a shelf life to it. Right. That’s the short term solution to get by. It’s more of a survivalistic type of mode, but we have more of a thriving type of mentality. Yes. There is space to take really good care of ourselves and their space to be [00:40:00] very active. And actually I’ve seen, they’re like, there’s no other way.

If you want to make a difference and selfless service for your family and community, like take really good care of your health and wellbeing. So yeah, so resting is great medicine. Yeah. And we might think that we don’t have time for that, but it’s like, how do we not have time to take care of the body that we live in?

Right. It has to last a long time. So we need to, to make that time and to take care of our minds. Let’s see. I’m Don jet posted a little comment here. When you were talking about the foods and southerners practice, natural holistic medicine, Polk salad, fresh homegrown fruits, and veggies raised with no pesticides.

So yeah, no pesticides is, you know, sometimes hard to find, but it’s important to make that decision. Like my mom will not buy strawberries unless they’re grown organically because I guess that’s. The number one fruit where all the pesticides like stick to it and stuff right. For strawberries is a bad one is what I understand, but, okay.

So if you’re [00:41:00] into the herbal medicines and stuff, what about marijuana? What are your thoughts? That’s super popular question. There’s actually an entire meter. My university I’m just finishing a master’s of science and clinical herbal medicine from the Maryland university of integrative health. And there’s like a whole degree now on cannabis.

So it’s huge and we have a really good family friend that’s been doing that full-time for a while. It, it’s not my specialty per se. I definitely know about CBD topical oils. I was just working with a woman this past week. It’s one of the very best things that she does for her peripheral neuropathy pain.

And it can really help with sleep in the evening. So there’s a lot of medicinal benefits with, you know, with the oil. I like, I work more with CBD. It can also help me with glaucoma, a lot of health conditions. And that’s why, you know, it’s been very highly prized in that way. However, there’s a lot of other anti-inflammatories and you know, in my scope of practices as a clinical herbalist, there’s lots of other choices as well.

And sometimes those are overlooked. I [00:42:00] find just because it’s like very popular right now. I see. Okay. So is that something you’re going to start working with or, yeah, one of my classes I’m trying to get me to go down the road to where her son works at this like beautiful, organic you know cannabis dispensary and something that I’ve seen the entire time.

People have been taking this for years and years. It’s more so finding a high quality source. That’s reasonable, usually other anti-inflammatories I find are much more reasonable. So a lot of times you spend a cost thing. But. And something that yeah, I definitely agree is wonderful. I like combinations of herbs a lot, you know, is, you know, we love formulas.

So it’s like the synergistic effect of blending herbs together. Like one plus one equals 10. Like that’s how we grow us a lot of times. So, you know, topical CBD, I’m like, yes. And let’s add frankincense and helichrysum lavender. Let’s just get it all going on. So do you grow a lot of like the herbs or where did you get the herbs that are in my tea that you said.[00:43:00] 

Yes. So right now I don’t have a public retail store that I do, but I have lots of people that I love and refer to. So I work mostly in my private practice in a customized way with people. So after we do an intake, then I’ll recommend herbs to you. And and that’s what I stock myopathy carry.

So I have a medicinal garden which I love it’s more small scale. And I mostly look to Pacific botanicals Banyan botanicals and you know, select girls around this area, like radical roots, organic farms, Ablin farm in Broadway. And again, you can grow a lot of these things at home for sure.

And like, like Tulsi is one of my all time favorite teas. It grows so well in Southern Appalachia. It’s also synonymous, holy beasel. So Bazell grows well in your garden, you know, plant Tulsi and make tea out of it. So, yeah, Pacific botanicals only sells by the pound at a time. So that’s more large-scale Ben in botanicals would have smaller amounts and you can find them online easily.

Okay. Let’s see. [00:44:00] Oh, this is Kelly. She says she uses arnica with herself and her Newfoundland’s. Oh, lovely. Yes. And I was just meeting with some clinical herbalists a couple of weeks ago we were talking about astragalus is really good for preventing. Which is preventing Lyme. So if you’d like to be outside, which I do, I like live outdoors and just make sure to go out protected.

And so I’m taking struggle lists internally. It’s really good for humans and animals. So, yeah. And I do flower essences for animals all the time. It’s amazing for behavioral issues. Also hospice care you know, did that for one of my clients, like she had a dog that’s like 18 is like family member was passing and it helps them go so peacefully.

So, so yeah, herbal medicine is for, for all beings and through your pets to that’s awesome. So let’s see, I wanted to share a couple of things. If, if nobody has any questions I want to get into, well, we have one here maybe. Oh, you work with dogs. Question mark. So I’m not ever [00:45:00] really good veterinarian friends.

That is yes. We would want to look at the size of the dog and wait to determine dosage. But most anything that humans can take most dogs can teach you. Yeah, that’s there’s yeah. Same thing with children too, you know, with pediatric dosing. I like to teach all of my families, you know, Martin’s like, okay, if you, if you learn basic tools about how to take herbal medicine safely, you can extend that to everybody in your life and including pets.

And there’s a few things we have to keep in mind for safety, you know, with, with children and infants. However, it’s mostly finding out the correct dosage and it’s just finding out the, the weight, the size and then just reducing it. So in its appropriate amount, and then people can feel a lot more confident.

Well, Nikita you sh Nikita says I’m very interested in incorporating Earl herbal medicines. I just feel overwhelmed listening. Yeah. And so you know Whitney knows a lot about this. She’s been studying it for a long time and [00:46:00] she’s really good at explaining it so she can go into as much depth as you want on the topic.

So I highly recommend scheduling a call with her and just talking with her, with her about it. Maybe you guys can even partner up or something. And in case you don’t want to do it yourself, you want to refer some of your clients to Whitney. I’ve done that. So that’s something that you could do as well.

So let me put up, this is Whitney’s website and she has a holistic health newsletter that she sends out. How often does that go out? Yeah, that’s complimentary everybody who is welcome to get on my email list. And I’ll your other updates and news every so often. And that goes with every Equinox and solstice.

So four times. Alright. Awesome. And then you have Instagram. I just happened to tune in I don’t go on Instagram a lot, but I, I looked in it one day and you were putting my herbs, my tea together on that day. Yeah. It was like [00:47:00] several hundred cars. Yeah. Yeah. And then you also have, is this a, this is a Facebook page.

Yeah. Four seasons harmony. So. Yeah, Nikita says, thank you. And here’s a question. Are there basic beginner herbs people should start with? Yeah, I agree. So we can do a whole course, you know, herbs. And I was saying this for a long time suit. Some basic things to keep in mind is looking at like owning a few herbs initially is how I recommend people starting out.

So maybe choose like 10 herbs to focus on. And you have like in your cabinet now, if you look at your culinary herbal cabinet, things that you cook with regularly, those are all herbs. You know, you just get in smaller amounts all the time. Oregano time. Beasel margarine, ginger cloves. You know, so you’re, you can look at those just in higher amounts.

They’re just learning more about their herbal actions is a great starting place. [00:48:00] And you know, there’s just so many resources just go with what lights you up, you know, are you really interested about certain herbs over others? Start there is go with where your passion is. And you know, something like a Tulsi, which I mentioned earlier that goes really well in Southern Appalachia.

So called holy beasel very extensive use in our diabetic medicine, the, for thousands of years. And it’s considered like the queen of herbs of all the hundreds of herbs, and then you’re able to get for my Copia, which is saying a lot. So that’s a really beautiful one. You know, to maybe look at first as a suggestion.

And that it just like Bazell is something that is just super safe. It goes a little bit further than what we might associate with garden diesel. It has an adaptogenic quality which means it helps with the body systemic resistance to stress. And you know, who does it need more of that? And that’s the first herbs.

I get people on just drinking as a small tea throughout the day. And. Yeah. And let me know if you, you know, you have any questions, but again, make sure [00:49:00] your quality sourcing is really hot and you have dozens of other companies too. Emily asked me for a couple of ideas, but I know many, many, many others. But whatever you’re living, you know, go talk to the local farmers at the market, see what’s available there.

You know, what’s accessible. Just make sure they’re not using any sprays or chemicals, you know, that that movement is starting to thin out more for sure. Just make sure that, you know, treated really well. And you can just make a simple T to start off with, you know, I was going to give a rasa tea recipe because you’re asking about menopause.

This could be true for a lot of different herbs is the B science. So and anybody who wants to email me, I can share it and, you know, simple infusion and decoction recipe. So, you know, if you’re looking at teabags, usually you want to have like three teabags together to have more of a therapeutic dose, like.

That’s usually about five grams a day, that’s in the way, low end. And so if you have a kitchen scale, you can measure your own herbs. So if you took time, for example, I made a time tea the other day. I mix some other things in with the marshmallow reboot, wild cherry bark. [00:50:00] And I, you just measure it about five grams, you know, in that kitchen scale.

And then you can put it in a little muslin bag or a tee-ball, something like that. And you just pour hot water over it and make sure it’s always covered and let it steep. Boom. You know, you’re good to go. You can do that with so many different arms. Now it’s something that is harder, like roots, berries, or bark.

You want to make a decoction, which means you just want to simmer it, you know, on the stove and water. Very simple to do, but you won’t get the medicine. If you just pour water over it like flowers or leaves or aerial parts of herbs. And so you can just take like a tablespoon. Of a bear like she’s DRA or astragalus root and then pour some water over it and let it boil, you know, five, 15 minutes and keep it covered the whole time and let it sit.

And then that’s going to be better medicine. So there’s different ways that we suggest to taking different herbs with different, like various menstruum. Sometimes it’s [00:51:00] water. Sometimes it’s alcohol. Sometimes it’s a mixture of both. So every plan is just so unique and that’s the beauty of botanical medicines.

Like you’re, you’re learning about nature and you’re learning about how much one single plant can offer you so I can go on for hours. But I just went today. I had mentioned to you that this is someone just says, I think it’s Kelly. I love this woman. Yay. I knew you guys would. That’s why I brought Whitney on.

So Oh, hi bill. Thanks for joining. We were just talking about herbs and about holistic health. We’re just wrapping up, but thank you for joining us bill. So I would just went today to the Blackburn in to talk to them about having a retreat probably in August or September. And so they’re putting some pricing together and I had talked to you, Whitney about maybe having you come down for an hour or two, just to give a session.

Maybe we could, the place that I’m doing, the retreat has a little kitchen, so maybe we could make a tea or, you know, something like that. That would be. Yeah, I did as the [00:52:00] zoom medicine, making sure once for my kitchen. And I had all these preparations, you know, it’s like, you know, going around I I’ve been in our elevator for the six tastes class at a food co-op the friendly city food co-op in Harrisonburg.

That was really fun. Cause they had like everything you could think of and all these samples of all the different tastes and was, it did a children’s herbal first aid class and I brought along samples and things. Everybody could take home. So, you know, I find herbal medicine. A lot of times another benefit is just you get this in store you’ll experience.

The birds mean I just light up every time I get an herbal shipment and I’m like, oh, I’m smelling the rose pedals. Like it’s just smells amazing. So just love all parts of the process. And this like having that experience will help your learning to your own. So it’s not just, you know, a theory or philosophy.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being my guest tonight, Whitney. I really enjoyed this interview and I look forward to my session with you tomorrow. I’m just posting up here how to get to you on Instagram, which at Whitney [00:53:00] four seasons harmony. And here’s your website four seasons harmony.com.

And you can learn a lot more about Whitney there and you can reach out to her. And if you hopefully you’ll schedule a time to meet with her, your, your, you will learn a lot for sure. So, oh yeah. Thank you so much, Emily. It was such a joy and it was great to meet everybody here through the ethers.

Please keep in touch. And I was just going to follow up briefly because I said, I’ll give the rasa tea recipe if you’re a tuning and this is a great menopause tea is great for other things. One table spend fin and Greek or so blurry out one, tablespoon, flax, one tablespoon fennel, and one tablespoon and Marsha.

Where do you get? I mean, we could go have another show. Like where do you get marshmallow root and where do you get the other thing that you mentioned at the beginning? Yeah. Pacific botanicals. Okay. Yeah. Or you’re a local food co-op if you have an apothecary close by, go check them out, see what they have in stock.

There there’s one it’s variable, Virginia Charlottesville. But anyway, just wanted to specifically give that recipe if you were waiting for that, because I said I [00:54:00] would and just use a quarter of water over that, but yeah. Thank you so much, Emily. And I look for, to see you tomorrow. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you, everybody that watched and joined in the conversation, it’s always exciting when you do a live and you have people there watching and joining in, and if you have a particular topic you want me to cover in an upcoming episode, just message me. Let me know. I appreciate everybody that watches.

Onward live is sponsored by Emily Harmon, coaching and consulting. Visit my website, Emily harman.com to learn more about me and my coaching programs. I’d love to help you create a life you love living. Remember every adversity is our own personal university. Sometimes the lessons are difficult and we must learn from our experiences.

Vulnerability is your super power. You are lovable and worthy, and we discuss these topics and more because [00:55:00] professional is personal. Thank you for joining us and engaging with me and my guests.