SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Witches in Yoga Pants, your cozy corner of the cosmos, where modern magic meets everyday life. We're here to explore magic, mindfulness, and personal growth with a grounded no-fluff vibe. Whether you're into moon rituals, tarot spreads, or just trying to survive Mercury retrograde, you are in the right place. So get ready to disrupt some old patterns, explore what it means to reclaim your power and remember who you really are. So pull up your yoga mat, light a candle, and let's get into it. All right, welcome back. I am joined today by Amanda Furby, uh master herbalist and owner of the Herb Shop PDX. And Amanda, thank you so much for coming back.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It was so fun last time. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

It was so fun. Yes. Well, today we are recording this actually on spring equinox. So we are just at that tipping point where the light is coming back.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yes, it is. And thank you for that. I feel like uh, you know, especially here in the Pacific Northwest, we all are hibernating in the winter, and just like the second the sun comes out, we all just go, oh my gosh, I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

It's like, yay, the lights are back on. They are for sure. It has felt like, even though it's been a mild winter here where we live, really. Yeah, it has, you know, comparative to other years, um, it still just feels gray and dull, you know. So it's so exciting to have light.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

You know, yeah. The big thing is the light, right? You know, if the sun going down at four o'clock in December is so brutal. So I always like to deal with myself.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

I'm always like, is it 10 o'clock? It feels like 10 o'clock. It's just like you just want to go to bed at four.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

It's true. So bad.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

And so last night we did a sound, you hosted a sound healing and a plant meditation that we did, and it was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yay! I'm so glad you came in.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

It was so fun. And we we focused on the plant nettle, which I know we're gonna talk about today, right? Because you tied that in for a reason.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

That's true, that's true. Gotta love nettles for allergy seasons.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

And we're gonna kind of cover your blog too. Okay. So let's just go ahead and just start talking about that. Tell us about I think nettles first, is what you're gonna talk about, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah, nettles. I mean, um, so I mean, nettles is an amazing herb. It is uh a super food, it is um incredible for inflammation, it's incredible for arthritis for people. Um, and I feel like it's the most well known for you know seasonal allergies, which is what comes along with spring. It is, it definitely does. They go hand in hand. They go hand in hand. Um, you know, I feel like I'm always saying, you know, look around and see what's coming up at different times of the year, because there's a reason why that's coming up certain times of the year. Right. Um, nettles is this is it's you know, peak time, and you know, you'll see it in giant fields, you'll see it by the river, you'll see it, you know, in lots of different places here in the Pacific Northwest. And if you ever accidentally come across it, you will know it. Yes, because it stings. It does, it does, it stings. Yes, you know, but those stingers are really important too and really powerful to use topically for inflammation to get the circulation going. Um, just great, a great, you know, natural pain reliever, even though they cause pain initially.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

I was gonna say that's almost counterintuitive. It's like, ouch, but oh, you can help with pain. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

But you know, I feel like I should tell the story about my interaction with Steve. I feel like you should.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

I feel like you should.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

So I went to harvest a small amount of nettles the other day for our class or our plant meditation last night. And I forgot that I was wearing, you know, pants that stopped up my knees. And, you know, here I am in this giant, beautiful field with nettles, and I'm getting stung every which way. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, I didn't even think about that. And that night it was really intense. I mean, it was really, really intense, and all the way until the next morning, my legs from my knees down just had the pens and needles. And in a weird way, it feels really good. You know, after it gets past that initial, like stinging feeling, you're like, oh, this is such an interesting, like vibrating sensation. That's kind of a tingle. It is a tingle, it's kind of like when your foot falls asleep and it's waking back up. But I could just tell it was doing all this movement, and my legs had been a little bit sore from um the week from exercising and from the horses and all kinds of stuff. And I was just like, oh, this is exactly what I need. But you know, also like, holy cow, it's so much. It was so much for for a time period.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Super intense, super intense and just kept you awake and even though it wasn't like, oh my gosh, this is so incredibly painful. It's just distracting from sleep.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

It was, yeah. I kept like falling asleep. I had kind of a rough night of sleep just because every time I'd try to go to sleep, I felt like my legs were doing that that moment of you know when you're almost asleep and you jump a little bit. But it was like they were like waking up from being asleep type feeling. And I was like, okay, all right, this is what we're working with. I'm fully submerging myself into nettles the day before this plant meditation.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

I was just gonna say, you didn't even you didn't do anything counteract to try to like counter it either. You're just like, nope, I'm just letting it happen. Letting it happen, letting it go.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

And you know, I was practicing with the singing bulls, and it was so interesting because as the vibration was coming off of those bowls, it was vibrating into the points on my legs where the nettle was coming from so I feel like I was getting this extra double, you know, sound bath, you know, healing breath. Just that it was really powerful.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

That's amazing. I mean, you're basically nettle now.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

I feel like I am one with nettle.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

You are one with nettle. You said, Well, you even said that even your dog acted like it.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

For sure. She was like, I I mean, we were having a conversation if it was gonna affect her or not, you know, because she has fur and all the things, and but she was up all night too. And I was like, Oh, she must be feeling this too, you know, and the next day she was fine, you know. But it was really unusual for her to get up in the middle of the night, also, and kind of lay in the living room and look at me like I don't know what's going on. What did you do to me? Yeah, totally, totally. But you know, she has some joint pain too, so I thought, well, it's gonna help you too. It will help. It will help. Yes, yes, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah, you know, and you know, nettles are an incredible herb. I mean, they are used for so many things, you can eat them with food. Um, I love nettle pesto, which is one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, we got to sample that last night. It was delicious.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

So yummy. Um, and there's actually a recipe on my blogs. On the website, you can get that.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yeah. And that's um the herb shop PDX. Yes, herb shop PDX. Um, shop is with a P or with an E.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

It's yeah, S-H-O-H-O-P-P-E. Yes, there we go. Um, and then you can also take nettles and do a star fry with them. You know, I'm a huge advocate for food as medicine. And um, you know, you can always take it in a capsule or tea or tincture, glycerite, things like that as well. But um, you know, you know, when you start incorporating into food, you're getting that double take of like, oh you know, and some people have really bad allergies and they need as much in their body as they can possibly get in. Um, I feel pretty fortunate that I don't have like horrible allergies. Yeah. But when they come on, they come on, and it's about every three years something blooms here that I've got. Oh, interesting. What is happening? I still haven't figured it out 14 years later. Like, what is it? But, you know, I do get them every couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Oh, that's so interesting. Do you now do you think that your system is different and it's just responding to the something blooming differently, or is there something that blooms only once every three years?

SPEAKER_01 7:58

I have no idea. I have no idea. But it very well could be that my body is adjusting. You know, I've lived in different parts of the states and I've never had allergies before. Um, but you know, they run pretty rampant in my family and like hardcore allergy family. Yeah. And I just have never ever had them. You've never had them. Never had them.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

I've heard so many instances of people not having allergies and then getting them later. Yes. Or people having allergies when they're young that they outgrow, even food allergies. Absolutely. That's it's just so interesting.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

It is, you know, and our bodies are always changing and evolving. And um, you know, I think it's really important to pay attention to that. And um, one part of allergies that I think is important is detoxing. And um, you know, it's a really good time of the year to start thinking about that, you know, January, February, start that detox process because um then you're flushing out the winter, you're fleshing out, you know, everything from hibernating and the year before, even. Um, and so it makes a lot of sense, you know, that your body's changing and evolving. Um, so doing a very gentle cleanse, um, I have an anti-inflammatory diet that's on my website as well. Um, and I do that about once a year because I'm like, oh wow, look at that. Never had a problem with that before, or now I don't have a problem with this anymore. Right. You know, and that's you know, really what we're trying to accomplish here is like you understanding your body specifically and what works for you because it's always changing, it's always evolving.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

And it's different for everyone, it's different for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

There's no one size fits all for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

And you would recommend doing that then before allergies present themselves.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Before like absolutely, yeah. I mean, I usually start talking about you know, detoxing in January, you know, do I just like liver live and it's gentle, you know? We're not trying to like do anything that's like insane, but something that's very gentle and nourishing for the kidneys and the liver and the lymphatic system is a really great place to start again, just kind of flushing that out of your system, getting all those toxins out of the system makes it a little easier when allergy season comes around. Um, you know, go ahead and start introducing, you know, nettles and local honey or B pollen into your system before allergy season hits prior to having experience with it. Yeah, yes, exactly. I love that. And then of course you can use it through, but it just seems for most people when they do that and they flush the system a little bit before that it is um a little easier for allergy season for people, especially if you have really heavy hitter allergies, like it's just a nice little kind of reset.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Proactive almost about it too.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah, absolutely. It is, you know, and it's on on the daily, every everywhere we go, you know, we're ingesting different, you know, things from our surroundings, from work surroundings, from being in the car, from whatever it is, you know, there's toxins everywhere. And so, like, why not like try to flush the system and get a clean or slate, you know, yeah before allergy season starts.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah, definitely. And is nettle in an immune booster too? Because I I noticed when you were talking about it last night in in the blog, you talk about all the vitamins that it actually has in it. Yeah, and it is a super food.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, for sure. Um, it's a great blood builder, so it's really good for you know, it's an iron source if you're low in iron. Um, it's also a great adaptogen herb, so it's gonna work with the adrenals, which helps to um bring balance to bot to the body, really, you know. So if you're if you can't sleep or if you are feeling extreme fatigue, like that is a really good, you know, balancing herb for that. Um, as far as like uh being an immune herb, I mean, I feel like it is kind of because it's that that superfood, but it maybe is not something that it's recognized, like elderberry. Right, right, right. You know, something like that. So but yes, yes and no. Yes and yes and no. It does make sense. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

It just seems like, especially if you're using it as in a detox, it just kind of like like you said, wiping the slate clean and giving a little bit of strength to it because exactly, exactly. Metal's prickly and like you were saying, it's protective.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

And so maybe when you think about the energetic properties of it, for sure, you know, it's like it, you're like, okay, look at this plant. Like, what does this plant scream to you? It's got all these little stingers all over it. So it's you know, it is like, hey, this is protection all in itself, you know, when you're thinking about an energetic standpoint. I feel like nettles also uh really represents like resilience and strength, um, which is really, really important right now. You know, we're all needing that that extra um going, you know, in our day-to-day lives.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Absolutely. Yes. And you know, as we were doing the meditation with it last night, I know that's its property. That's that those are the properties of it. In my body, nettle felt soft for me. You know, and so I think it's it's that that tough outer shell that's gonna help you fight off all the things.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

It's also kind of like mama energy a little bit, where it's like, you know, your mama's gonna fight mama bear's gonna fight off anything, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

But it's like I like the mama bear, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:19

So like okay, I am I am being snuggled and protected and I'm nourished because of this. And so I can a hundred percent feeling.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Even after I poke you, I'm going to give you a big hug.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Exactly. You know, I mean, that's kind of what moms do sometimes, right? They're like, hey, let me let me make sure you're paying attention to this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah, I love that for sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Okay. So you have some other herbs on the blog here that you're talking about that because we are going into allergy seasons.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

We are for sure. You know, another really great one is dandelion. Um, and you know, and like nettles, I didn't really dive into this too much, but you know, there are multiple parts of nettle that can be used. Oh, yeah. You know, like the roots are great for a lot of different things, especially um prostate health and things of that nature. Um, the leaves, you know, are great for kidneys and iron and uh superfood, and then the nut the seeds themselves are great for for kidneys and often used with cats. And, you know, they're again kind of that superfood, kind of like you know, hemp seeds, you know, you might want to throw them into your smoothie. Right. Um, you know, and so dandelion also is great and very, you know, similar in the aspect of like, you know, you can use the roots for detoxifying um the liver, you can use the leaves for kidneys or salads or you know, like that superfood. Also, lots of vitamins and minerals. Um, and then of course, like the the flowers themselves are super delicious and nutritive as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

So it's so cool how plants have different properties for their different parts sometimes. It's amazing. It's true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I mean, and not to go on a little side tangent, but I always think about yarrow whenever we're talking about things like this. Oh, yeah. Because yarrow is such a smart plant that you know it can register in the body if your body needs to start bleeding or if you need to stop bleeding, you know. So it's like, how does that plant know if you take that, like what exactly you need? But you know it's smart. It's smart, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

You know, a little side note about your they have their own agenda going on for sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

They do.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

But I like the point that you brought up is they kind of appear naturally at the time when your body needs them.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah, for sure. And I also, you know, on that same like thought, you know, I think that you know, paying attention to what is an abundance all around us, things like dandelion, they're everywhere. And we're always like, oh my gosh, all the dandelions, you know, except for us herbalists are like, say, you know, so like it was always a battle in my yard to like which dandelions are we keeping, which ones we're not keeping. But you know, that's something to pay attention to because dandelion is so great for liver and kidneys and that superfood, um, vitamins and minerals, things like that. And it's great for allergy season, but it's also great just all year round, you know, and it is everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

And and don't don't kill dandelions because the bees love them too.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

So yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

No spraying dandelions.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Yeah, save the bees, please. Like we always, but yeah, I could definitely go down a whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I could go down a whole thing on that too.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Because I'm like, yeah, for sure. You know, and and you know, similar to nettles, dandelion, you can, you know, use in fresh salads, you can saute them, you can do them in tea, leaf or root, or you know, some combination of that. Um, there's roasted dandelion tea too, which is really yummy. Like they're and it tastes kind of um, if you if you like coffee, it's like kind of coffee-y. Yeah. So a lot of times people kind of a little bit more bitter. Yeah, a little bit more bitter, but has that roasted flavor that you know, a lot of times when people are trying to, you know, detox from coffee or staff coffee, that is a great substitute. And it's also flushing your liver and helping that detox process. Um, so it's actually helping your body have better natural energy, you know, real natural energy versus like something with caffeine in it that overstimulates the body and exhaust overexhausts the body. I mean, if you ever have had, you know, coffee or um, you know, something that has a heavy stimulant in it, like coffee caffeine, um, you oftentimes feel really exhausted after a while. You know, you kind of have that crash. Uh-huh. You totally do, you know, and that's what we're trying to avoid. Not that, you know, coffee is not amazing because it is and it's coffee's totally amazing.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

But it's also nice to not have to have like an even yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

And that's what you want, right? You don't want those peaks, you know. You want that, like your body wants natural energy, you know, all day long and consistently versus like oh my gosh, and then crash burn.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

So yeah, yeah. So it's like a yay and then a crash.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah, it really, it really is. I'm I'm incredibly sensitive to coffee. I actually can't even drink it. Oh, really? And you know, it's it like one ounce of coffee sends me totally off the rails. Like, heart's pounding. I start sweating, which I don't sweat on the regular, so that's weird. Oh end up with like migraine, all the things, you know, just like done, done with. So that was a um a really sad lesson that I learned at 16 that I couldn't have you can't have coffee.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah, I feel like it used to impact me more than it does now. I mean, I just I really just drink it in the mornings, but it used to be if I did have a coffee coffee in the afternoon, I wasn't going to sleep that night. Yeah, like it really impacted me, and it's not like that so much anymore. Yeah, it's for energy. Your body changes.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Your body changes, exactly for sure. Um, so the last herb that I want to kind of talk about on here today for allergies is eucalyptus. Um, you know, again, there's so many plants that you can use for allergies, but I feel like eucalyptus is such a great one. It is, you know, such a heavy hitter again for like clearing the sinuses out. You know, it's not one you want to necessarily take internally, but it's great to use like if you have a bathtub or a head cold steam, which I know we're gonna talk about a little bit. Um, you know, that is fantastic for clearing out the sinuses. I love eucalyptus. Yeah, I mean, if you've ever seen like the eucalyptus uh rainbow eucalyptus, the bark on that, it is one of the most beautiful trees I've ever seen in my life.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Wow, I don't think I've seen that. We're that's not from they don't throw around here.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

There is one in my neighborhood.

unknown 19:25

What?

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah, there is one in my neighborhood, but it is not like it's not native to this area. It's not something you see very common. And there's a lot of varieties of eucalyptus, you know. So you'll you'll see different varieties of it here, even. But um, you know, it's just so great. And if you ever come across a fresh tree, just you know, having a leaf of it and rubbing it between your fingers, you smell that all the volatile oil smells so good, really, really quickly.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Yeah. And it does clear your sinuses quickly.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

It does clear your sinuses pretty quickly. It's again great for that head congestion, chest congestion. Um, if you use it in an essential oil form, just make sure that you're adding some sort of base to it. Some kind of carrier oil. Yeah. If you're putting it topical. Yes, yeah. It could be in a salve. Like I have it in my breathe salve, which is great. Um, but yeah, you can just even grab some olive oil off your shelf and add a little bit to that. Um, you can put it if you have a bathtub going, you can add a you know, a little tiny bit of that is very potent. And so I was saying like one or two drops is probably uh enough for a bathtub. Like, yeah, you know, you don't want it to burn your skin, and that can definitely happen.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Um yeah, eucalyptus smells delicious.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

It does for sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

The the one the one we see most commonly, like I love the way it looks.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Yeah, it is a very beautiful tree. It's a very beautiful tree. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And it just it seems different, it seems like it's from a different place.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

It does look like it's it's like are like are they from this plant?

SPEAKER_00 20:52

See, I've I don't think I've ever really come across the actual tree. I just see the oh yeah, branches, I guess, of what you see like when you buy like yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Well, look up in your spare time the rainbow bark. I want to so pretty. It is so so pretty.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

So awesome.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Yeah. So um a couple other like lifestyle tips for seasonal allergies that can be really helpful. Um, you know, are definitely just staying active. It doesn't you don't have to be like extreme, you know, active, but just keeping your body active on the regular, whether that is, you know, walking around your neighborhood, whether that is, you know, going for a swim somewhere, you know, whatever it is, like just really trying to keep that going. You know, I love yoga for that, even even yen yoga, you know, you're just laying on the floor, but you're doing these intense deep stretches and like it just feels really good. And you're, you know, again, like keeping things moving through your body.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

I was gonna say that's exactly what it does. Movement is helping things move through. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

You know, and this is a really great part where you know, the lymphatic, you know, you can dive into that a little bit. Um I'll let you, you know, you have probably have a better background with like the actual like strategies for lymphatic, but there are lots of lymphatic massage techniques.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

There's massage techniques. And you talk about um dry brushing, like that's excellent for lymphatic system, you know, movement. Yes. Um, rebounding, like if if you have a mini trampoline, bouncing on that, even gently, you don't have to like bounce off the no, you don't have to your feet don't even have to leave it. Just gentle bouncing helps the lymphatic system move.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

That's such a great tip. I'm like, I want one of those. Yeah, I probably need one in general just to like with my like ADHD levels, you know, like just get out of the trampoline and bounce for a few minutes.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

It helps. It makes you feel and guess what? It counts as steps. Like if you're wearing a what it counts. It counts. Awesome. Love it. It's it's wonderful. I love it. Yeah, so many good points for that.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Totally, yeah. Yeah. I'm I on that note, I just got the um and one of the rings, the activity rings. Rings? Yeah, it's called it's called ring comm. It's a little bit different than the aura, but different brand, but same concept or whatever. And I'm like obsessed with checking my like here's my steps. Like it checks your heart rate, it checks your breathing oxygen levels. And I'm like, how simple is that? You know, just to have everything in one place. No, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Yeah, I I used to wear my watch because it was tracking my sleep and stuff. And I found it was kind of creating a little bit of anxiety for me because I'm like, Oh, yeah, oh, I'm not getting enough REM sleep. I'm only this much percent. Like, I don't know. And then I started like thinking about it too much. And so I found that that wasn't good for me personally. Yep, but everybody's different. Everybody's different. I think that um it's good to be able to track that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Yeah, I uh actually stopped wearing watches when I was uh 15 or 16 too, mainly because I just kept losing them. They kept falling off my wrist. And I was like, okay, I think it's just time to be done with these.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

You forget you're look you forget to look at them, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:50

But I also like caught myself being obsessed with it, you know. You're talking about that. And then it was just like where you're checking your watch every like five minutes and like, oh, it's still the same time type.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Maybe a ring would be different because it's the data's not right there.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Yeah, I don't even think about having this on most of the time. And but I do enjoy the the tracking of things, which is really nice. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, anyway, back to fine notes. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Um back to management for for allergies.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

For sure. So another thing is uh, you know, we kind of talked about this a little bit, but just eating your greens, you know, like those dandelions and nettles and like, you know, get them into your food system, like you know, start thinking about them more as something that is just part of your regimen versus I have to take my medicine, you know. Right, you know, keeping that going through smoothies are great this time of year. Um, I feel like I always start really craving like salads and fresh greens and definitely all of that stuff this time of year. Definitely, and that's normal. Like that's what we should be craving. That's what we should be craving.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

That's what's starting to grow around us.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Exactly, exactly. Um, also local honey and you know, bee pollen too, and like making sure you're really getting local to you and your region is really important because um, you know, the bees are harvesting, you know, the pollen from what is in your region. And so that's why whenever you start taking that in, it's kind of you know, like a little small dose of it, you know, it's almost like um well, I'm gonna talk about Rosemary Gladstar for a second here. Like she has a story where she became, you know, immune to poison ivy because she was eating a little tiny bit of it every single day. You know, so it's a very similar concept of you know, local honey or bupollen is that you're you know slowly introducing those things into your body so that it doesn't feel like you get hit in the face with allergies, right? Uh, but your body becomes a little bit more immune to like what's growing in the region, you know.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

And so it starts recognizing it as something that belongs there. Yes, because that's really what an allergy is is your system is recognizing it as something that's not aligning or it doesn't belong.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Yeah, if your body's danger, danger. Yeah, exactly. Like trying to push it out of the system as much as possible. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so you know, get your bee pollen and your honey, like the bees are there doing their magic for us, and um, you know, very needed in honey is so beneficial. Yeah, I mean, honey makes everything better. Honey makes it does. So I'm like, who needs sugar? Who's that?

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Mary Poppins, spoonful of sugar. Yeah, honey makes everything better.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Honey makes everything better for sure. Definitely, yeah. You know, and then also just staying hydrated, you know, like that's so important, especially if if you are like really working to detox the system, you know, make sure you're continuing to eat or drink that water. Um, and that will help with again flushing the toxins out of the body. Um you know, there's different theories on how much water you should have. Um, I've always been told like half your body weight and ounces is like a good place to start. Um, you know, and obviously that will shift and change with different people at different times. But um, you know, so if you weigh 100 pounds, 50 ounces of water a day is like, you know, a pretty decent estimate. What's right ballpark?

SPEAKER_00 27:15

And I do think we have to like uh pay attention to our bodies and what we feel like too, and remembering to like because sometimes you you're thirsty and you kind of forget to drink. Yeah. If you're thirsty, then you need you need to drink and not like push it aside. Yep. But also I know like, you know, growing up, I might age myself a little bit here, but you know, we did not carry, nobody carried water bottles around.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Nobody carried water with them, you know, just drank. It definitely is like good. Yeah, it's definitely a thing. So it's become a thing now, and I think it's good because it does help flush and stuff, but it's like it does, you know, and adding electrolytes to the water too can be really helpful.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Like, I'm especially if you're sweating a lot. Yep, exactly. Like keeping steep, keeping hydrated, keeping you know, everything, you know, moving smoothly through your body, and you know, especially your organs, like you know, like if you get dehydrated, that's you know, that's bad news. Like that can put you in a hospital really quickly, right? Yeah, for a million different reasons.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Oh, yeah, definitely. But I've also noticed if and I don't know whether this has medical evidence or not, but um when I'm thirsty and I'm drinking and I still am thirsty, like even it just like water's just not hitting it. If I do an electrolyte drink or add electrolytes to it, it it quenches. It's like, oh, my body actually needed the minerals in there too, not just the water.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

So true. And you know, like reminds me of a little side story too. Like I remember, you know, several years ago, I was like, I feel like I drink water and it just runs through my body. Yeah, you know, and yeah, and so after talking to a naturopath, she was like, Yes, like you want to like make sure you have a little salt in your water, you know, which you know, electrolytes are doing the same thing, so it actually sticks in your body and doesn't just flush through. It doesn't just flush through, you know. So it is important, you know, and getting a good electrolyte, like uh there's some great ones out there now that actually don't have sugar in them, which is great, but they have you know potassium and magnesium and a lot of the other things.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

There's some there are some good ones, but there's also some to avoid that have a lot of yes, not natural things in there. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

A lot of sugar, a lot of so make sure to look at the ingredients list before you just buy. But that's that's definitely a really important part part or point is to Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

And you can make your own by just doing adding salt and lemon.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Uh yep. Mm-hmm. You definitely can.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

So you're it's not gonna cover all the bases as a an electrolyte drink would, but but also a little honey in there too.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

A little honey, there you go. Instead of having that processed sugar.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

So just have tea. Tea makes everything better.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Right, exactly. So true. So true.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

I was gonna ask, I know we're gonna go into some. Was there anything else you wanted to say about?

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Um, no, I mean, we kind of went over the lymphatic support, you know, that's the other one, you know, and having a gua shaw tool can be really good for that. Also as you're doing um and learning the techniques with, you know, with the lymphatic support. So um yeah, I think that that is, you know, kind of the you know, a few little highlights of managing your seasonal allergies.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Right. So I was this is what I was gonna ask is um as an herb from an herbalist standpoint, somebody comes to see you and they have allergies. Are you at that point mostly because what we've talked about is is preventative in a way, like doing the detox, you know, keeping your lymphatic system moving, all of that stuff is proactive.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

You've got someone sitting in front of you that is experiencing allergies. Are we uh then treating the symptoms then with herbs, or are we uh treating the system with support? Like what what's your biggest, like what or can you do both at the same time?

SPEAKER_01 30:48

I mean, I guess you're kind of doing both at the same time, but you know, ultimately you're you're trying to get to the root cause of what's going on versus like a band-aid, you know, type situation. Um, you know, and again, like there's lots of herbs and lots of, you know, I have a whole product line just specifically for allergies. They're gonna help you out. But if you have those other tools in your tool belt too that you're doing, totally it's gonna work a whole lot better for totally.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

So you might you might use different herbs than if someone's an active allergic response.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Essentially, like it really depends on the just depends on the person. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

I thought it was, I don't know, I just popped in.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Yeah, there's a question. Yep, for sure. Always ask. Yes, better to ask than not to ask. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

And you did some fun recipes on this blog too. And I know you have more probably on your website as well.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

For sure. Yeah. This this particular one is um the clear head herbal steam, um, which I actually make this at the shop or you know, something very similar to this. Um, and you know, a head cold or just a head steam in general is so amazing. Like I always forget how simple it is. But literally, you can take a combination of, you know, any of these herbs that are listed here, eucalyptus, torehound, um, coldsfoot, molin, elderflower, sage, peppermint. Um, I love menthol crystals. They're insanely potent though. So like a little tiny bit goes a long way. Um, and what you're gonna do is you're gonna put it in a you know, a small pot on your stove, bring it up to a boil. Um, and then you're gonna like bring, you know, reduce it back down to like just a gentle, gentle simmer, really. Okay. Um, and then you put a towel over your head and you put your face over the pot, you know, not so close that it's burning, but like, you know, just enough that you're getting all those vapors into your lungs and just breathe. Just breathe and just breathe it in. Keep on breathing it in. Um that's amazing. You know, just a couple of minutes. I mean, you you don't have to do it for a super long period of time. Um, and you can reuse that that pot several times. So, like, don't throw it away after the first use. Like a lot of times I'll, you know, put it back in the fridge overnight and do it again the day. Do it again. Yeah. And so this is excellent not only for allergies, but any type of head congestion or lung congestion. Um, it's just really helping them move that stuff out of there and and out of your system again a little faster. Um, but yeah, I had a friend recently that was um hanging, was here in town and hanging out with me, and she was really struggling with, you know, she was like, is this a head cold? Is this allergies? And you know, we were back and forth and kind of working on a few different things. Um, and she did the head cold steam and she was like, wow, she's like, that worked better than anything that I have done at all, you know. Yeah. So that to that moment, and she did, I think, three days of that one pot of it, and was like, she's like everything cleared up for her, you know. That's amazing. Yeah, just something that simple, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Now, are these fresh herbs that you would use, or can you use dried? You can use both. Can you use yeah, like how do people access these?

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Oh, yeah. I mean, uh they're probably gonna be easily available, dried, you know, at most places. Like they can get them at the shop. I have all of those. Yeah, they're on your website.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

And so it's fine to use dried then in those.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, if you can get fresh, great. That's never a bad thing. Yeah. Um, you know, the dried is gonna work just fine. The the main difference between like the fresh and the dried is that the volatile oils are a little bit more potent whenever it's fresh. Okay. For most plants, you know, and so anytime I can get fresh, I'm gonna, you know, treatment. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But you know, there's they still have a lot of the the volatile oils whenever they're dried, and um, they'll still work equally as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Amazing. Yeah, it seems like that would be good for your skin too.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, I actually love a facial steam like that. It feels so good on your skin, you know, and I mean different herbs necessarily for like what you're working on, but you know, I have a whole line actually of facial steam. Of facial steams, yeah, for skincare products. So love.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

Okay, I'll check that out. Yeah, for sure. I didn't see that. Okay, so yeah, that's a great tip to be able to do the head cold steam. I mean, that kind of will help determine is it allergies or is it are you yeah, because if you have an actual head cold, it probably will help, but it'll be back, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:07

It will help, you know. I I mean, and again, you know, one of the really easy ways to recognize the difference between like a head cold steam or head cold steam, sorry, um, an allergy versus like a head cold cold is like the fever that's you know, okay. You almost always have a fever with a cold where you don't typically have it with allergies as much. Um, and so that's you know, kind of a telltale with like, is this allergies or is this a cold, you know? Um, but you know, you sometimes you feel equally as bad. And so, you know, you have a lot of the similar symptoms. Um, and so I would say the head cold steam is gonna work both for the allergies and the head cold, but um yeah. But yeah, so both. So both, both, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

You know, all of this is perfect timing because I just recorded an episode um about energetic allergies and how our body responds or can respond to people or places or situations or things that don't feel in alignment and can act in our body with symptoms, just like an actual allergen could. And so I did a whole episode about that. I was wondering if, from your perspective as an herbalist, if you ever see stress or emotional stress or emotional states influencing how our bodies respond. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

I mean, our bodies are connected in every possible aspect, right? And so our emotions and our stress levels, everything is heavily influenced by what's going on, what's in our surroundings.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Stress is behind so much. It really is, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

And I love the perspective from Chinese medicine that every organ in the body is connected to a different emotion. Um, you know, and when we're thinking about allergy season, like the lungs come into place a lot. Um, and grief is one that is really connected heavily with the lungs.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

It is the lungs, lungs that is grief and letting go.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Yeah, all the things. So again, it's like, what are we doing for the spring equinox? We're letting go, right? Yes, you know, and so it makes sense a lot that we're getting hit heavy in that, and just in in the world right now and where we are and what we're dealing with, and you know, all the things. Um, you know, if you're feeling like your lungs are feeling a little heavy right now, like remember that grief is often an association with the lungs. With the lungs, yes.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Yeah, and and speaking of detox, the liver is anger is the main emotion of the liver. So yeah, let's get it all out, right? Some of that too. So yeah, just being able to like get all of that out. Yeah. Um, great. Well, thank you. This has been great.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

You're so welcome.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

I feel like we've covered, I feel like we've covered all of the spots or all of the things that we talked about covering. And um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yeah, and you know, keep your eyes open open out there. There's all the new little spring plant babies popping up.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

It's so fun to watch.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

It really is. I always feel like my friends are coming back to visit.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

My friends are back, new life.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Happy spring, everyone. Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks, Amanda.