Embodiment Through Natures Medicines
15 years ago, I embarked upon a path that would change my life. One that would reshape the way I saw the world. A new way of life that completely changed my perspective on health and wellness as I knew it.
I’d spent years before that on repeat courses of antibiotics and painkillers, living prescription to prescription and always wondering why my ailments and health issues always returned. I became tired and weary and had lost my zest for life. My energy was being over-expended on recurring health issues and constant frustration, and the doctors had no answers for them.
I reached a point of irritation towards the health system that I had never felt before. Getting no answers, it felt like it was all in my head, and I started to doubt myself. This exacerbated an existing pattern of dissociation from my body, and I created more unhealthy coping mechanisms as a way to escape the pain and the hard truth that I had lost trust in my body.
I hadn’t lost hope, though. Something in me knew there must be a way to heal. So I turned to eastern practices and alternative medicine, something I had no knowledge about, but was keen to try a different perspective. Over time, I began experimenting with different herbs, supplements and ways of eating, understanding that certain foods I consumed created flare-ups with certain issues I had. I really started to see that my body was so sensitive and that everything I did, thought and ate had an impact, positive or negative, on my health. I started to pay attention to my body in a new way.
Over time, plants became my go-to for EVERYTHING. I started using Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors along with herbs, tinctures, flower remedies and a whole food diet. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy to implement these changes, they were built over time, but one thing that came easy, was the understanding that nature has all the remedies. However, although I was healing and I had experienced huge shifts in my health, I was still having some recurrences of my issues. There was still a missing piece.
My spiritual awakening in 2018 gave me one of these missing pieces I was searching for, and I soon came to understand the mind-body connection. I became aware of the impact events in childhood had on my mind, body and soul. When I looked back over the years and started to connect the dots, I saw that many of my physical health issues were linked to something stressful or an emotionally traumatic event. This is where my emotional healing journey began. And guess what. Hundreds of plants aided me in my emotional healing, too, which, in turn, helped me dissipate many of my physical issues! It finally made sense to me that physical ailments have an emotional root cause, and treating the symptoms of an issue will only do so much. Up until this point, I had only been treating the symptoms, which is why they kept coming back. I had to look beneath the surface and address the root cause.
Plants are intelligent. They contain energetic frequencies that hold wisdom and healing properties and have been used since the dawn of time. Every culture and country has indigenous plants that have a rich history of uses, and we can still use them today and tap into their healing powers. You will also find intelligence within the landscape in which plants grow, providing what is needed for a particular place. For example, Gorse is a flowering plant with spiky, needle-like leaves that is often found growing on cliff edges and the sides of busy highways. Their bright yellow flowers can be used as a flower remedy to fight hopelessness and despair, for people who may have lost hope and given up on life.
One of my biggest allies on my emotional healing journey has been in the form of essential oils and flower remedies, both of which provide support when dealing with hard-to-manage emotions. Essential oils aren’t used just for their scents (although that is a huge bonus!) but carry individual benefits. Take lavender- amazing for calming the nerves and anxiety, and on a physical level, also soothes and heals burns. Patchouli strengthens the connection to our body and geranium opens our heart to love and trust, so it would benefit someone grieving loss or having issues with a partner. The help they give is subtle, yet profound.
There really is a plant for all of our needs, whether that’s emotional, mental, physical or spiritual, and because we are intrinsically connected to nature, we can develop a relationship with the plant kingdom and learn how best to use them. It’s time to connect to plants like our ancestors did, because coming back to nature is coming back to ourselves. It’s a powerful way to become more connected to our bodies, too. Reconnecting with the plant kingdom, to nature, helps us, in turn, connect to our body. Our relationship with the earth will teach us a lot about our relationship with our bodies and vice versa. How is your relationship with your body?
Now with all that being said, the herbs and plants are fantastic, and if we are looking for physical support, we first need to look at our inner terrain, more specifically, our gut microbiome. I have been on quite a journey seeking digestive support, as it’s been a bit of an Achilles heel for me on this road to health. I know many will relate.
Currently, I am connecting with some new allies from nature that have supported my digestive system, gut health and energy levels greatly. I am so blown away by the potency of this beautiful substance, because, of all the supplements I have ever taken, even probiotics, none of them have supported my gut health in this way and had such a knock-on effect for my cognitive health too. We know that gut health is where we need to address before anything else, as so much of the immune system resides in the gut. The nervous system is also connected, and so if we are doing all the things to support ourselves but our gut is in a mess, then the other things we are doing, and even the healthy food we are eating, won’t do much if we cannot absorb the nutrients properly.
Introducing my new best friend, Black Stuff. Made entirely of Pine bark and Birch Chaga, this high-polyphenol blend helps to rebuild your gut microbiome. I’ve been on it for almost three months, and it's magical. It’s not just my digestion that has improved tenfold, but my energy levels are something else. In a world of chronic fatigue, compromised and weakened immune health and gut imbalances, it is the missing link to true health. Black Stuff supports:
The delivery of fulvic and humic acids in bioavailable form, vital for immune function, nutrient absorption
Detoxing heavy metals
Nourishing neurological and gut-brain pathways
Antioxidant protection
Cognitive function
Reduces inflammation
Reinstates the natural intelligence of the body
And there is more! Take a look for yourself, it really is a beautiful product, and having spoken with the founders, I really feel their integrity and values are in such alignment with my own, and this reflects in the product. That's why I feel so happy to have found it and to be able to share it here. If you are looking for something to support your health in all the ways I spoke about in this post, then check out Black Stuff and their other products here. I wish you well on your health and wellness journey!