Layered Herbal Medicine: Healing for Our Times
There is a profound relationship that we can access between using herbs and healing emotional traumas.
My interest in this connection began many years ago as I worked with clients and noticed how deeply emotional experiences are embedded in our bodies and how earlier traumas can manifest later into physical symptoms or even illnesses. For instance, deep heartbreak manifests as symptoms resembling cardiovascular disease, and sexual trauma can result in reproductive health issues such as PMS or infertility.
Somatic Experiencing and EMDR suggest that the traumas we hold in our bodies affect both our emotional and physical health. This body/mind/spirit connection is the foundation of many holistic healing practices. As an herbalist, I came to believe that just using herbs, essential oils, supplements, diet, and lifestyle changes alone are not enough. Healing includes more than just our bodies. Successful healing must focus on our whole selves: emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual. Healing needs to connect us to our own center and to the earth.
Over the last 10 years, I have become increasingly interested in how we can address the trauma that‘s firmly fixed in our bodies. Connecting with others, counseling, and physical exercise are very helpful. Herbs can also be powerful and gentle allies in this healing process.
Is it possible to learn part of what it means to be human from the non-human world? I believe so. Each plant might have something specific to offer to deepen our healing process. I believe herbs can help us remember something fundamentally true about ourselves – that we are connected to all life, and therefore not alone. Practices such as meditating with the plants, forest bathing, exploring plant spirit medicine, growing herbs in your garden, forming a deep commitment and bond to certain herbs, and nurturing the well-being of wild places can all contribute to healing the whole self.
Along these lines, I have been exploring and using herbs in a new way. I call these remedies “Layered Herbal Medicines”. In my experience, working with a single plant in several forms creates a powerful synergy that is deeply healing.
I want to be clear that I believe plants inherently contain all of these healing properties. We can use a vibrant, whole plant and get the same effects I’m referring to. But we can also highlight different properties and energies of a plant based on when the plant is harvested or the medicine is made, extraction methods, parts of the plant used, and properties of the herb including medicinal, energetic, and spiritual. Diversity enriches healing.
My journey started with my beautiful heritage rose bush that grows in my backyard. I believe this bush is very old and was most likely planted around the time our house was built over 100 years ago. In working with my PTSD, I was drawn to combine rose in different ways: tincture, flower essence, and essential oil. Blending these different extractions created something beautiful in me: a shift, an opening, a “blossoming” if you will. I started feeling more connected to my heart and intuition. I could examine some of my deeper traumas in a new way.
I began adding other rose elements to the formula resulting in the following recipe:
Layered Rose Elixir:
Rose petal tincture: 4 ounces. I use the heritage rose in my yard and infuse the petals in brandy as the base of the formula.
Rose-Infused Honey: 1 ounce. From my own beehives, I use rose-infused honey to add a touch of sweetness and the magic of nectar, bees, and the enchanting emergence of honey.
Rose hydrosol: 10 mL. Hydrosols are the aqueous (water) products of steam distillation in aromatherapy. My purpose here was to combine hydrosols with essential oils and complete the energy of the whole plant.
Rose Essential Oil: 1 drop. Rose essential oil is calming and soothing. It aids in emotional recovery and encourages feelings of love and compassion.
Essence of Rose Quartz: 1 drop. To help ground the formula. Rose quartz is said to be the stone of universal love.
Rose Flower Essences: 1 drop of each. I used several kinds, including one I made myself from my heritage rose bush. Each rose essence is slightly different, but general themes include awakening the heart, and embracing life and love.
Dosage: take 1 drop every day with deep intention, attending to your goal. I focus on the word LOVE every time I use the formula.
Note: Experiment with any recipe, but make sure you have a minimum of 35% total finished alcohol in your formula to preserve it. You can top off your blend with a bit of extra alcohol if necessary.
I began sharing this formula with students, clients, and friends. Many of them also had transformational experiences. People began using it in different ways. Some folks found that taking more than one drop a day was lovely and revitalizing, encouraging slight euphoria. Those having very difficult times found it better to just take one drop every 2 or 3 days. Some mixed a drop in water to dilute it even more.
Over the last few years, I began layering other herbs. I was primarily drawn to herbs for the cardiovascular system and calming nervines (plants that act on the nervous system). Although there are many parts of us that can be impacted, these systems seem to be greatly affected by trauma. I also realized that the herbs I was using were all flowers. Why? I’m not completely sure, but possibly because, as a flower essence practitioner might say, flowers embody the highest vibration of the plant.
These are some of the herbs I have been working with:
Motherwort
Hawthorn
Arnica (A very low dose herb. Only use one drop of tincture diluted in water. I combine the tincture with homeopathic arnica and arnica flower essence.)
St Johnswort
Passion Flower
Linden flower
Skullcap
Clary sage
Chamomile
Fireweed
You can make your own layered herbal medicines. Please make sure that all plants used are edible and safe.
Some herbal medicines to work with:
Tinctures
Herb-infused honeys, vinegars, and oils
Flower essences
Edible essential oils (greatly diluted--1 drop is good)
Homeopathic remedies
Edible hydrosols
Other Ideas:
These are experiments next up on my list. I’d love to hear your ideas or experiences in the comments!
Work with a plant used by your ancestors. Call on them and honor them when you take it.
Work with a favorite herb that grows near you. Native medicinals and weeds can be powerful allies!
I hope this idea of “Layered Herbal Medicine” is helpful to you and that, should you choose to try some, you find healing at your very core. Beautiful journey, friend.