SPEAKER_01 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. Hello and welcome back. Today I'm joined by Amanda Furby of the Herb Shop PDX here in Portland. And we are talking about her latest blog, Stress, Anxiety and the Nervous System and Herbs and Practices for Coming Back to Calm. Thanks for coming today, Amanda. It's good to see you again. Thanks for having me. We had a little, I had a little break and we kind of had a little break. You were doing pick-athon and all kinds of fun stuff this summer.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

So all the summertime events.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Keeps you busy. Yeah. It definitely keeps me busy. And then I need like a whole month of just resting.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Totally, totally. It's like, okay, I have to recalibrate now, see what's next. Yes. Because fall season isn't really a slowdown time for you. It seems like it would be a pickup time with your herbal business.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

It is for sure. I mean, it's interesting because usually, you know, classes and stuff for me really kind of start picking up again in September and um, you know, definitely through the end of the year, and then there's a little break in the winter, and then we're back to classes and all the things, you know. All the things.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Well, you started your new sound bath series, and I know I did. I know that's sold out because but I was there last night and it was amazing. Yeah. But yeah, you have all of that happening too.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So for sure, for sure. Last night was really special with Mugwart and it was great. Um, I do have a few spots left in the blue lotus class. Um pressure cedars sold out though, but okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

So the that would be the October class, right? Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah, and then also doing one with oak up in Welchus for the fall equinox. It'll be really special. Fine. Um, it's a space up there, a good friend of mine owns, and um this beautiful space. I'm excited to bring some oak medicine into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

I'll look I'll look for that. That sounds like that sounds fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Okay. Well, let's get into it. Let's talk about stress, anxiety in the nervous system. Right. Like we all need this. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Um, like where to even begin. Where to begin. Like everybody has, you know, multiple varying levels of stress, right? And like stress is normal to have in the body. It's not like you're gonna completely get rid of all of your stress ever. But it's more about how do we manage that stress stress in our body and how do we, you know, continue to have that balance throughout, you know, life. Totally. You know, if you're in a state of of crisis or your, you know, adrenals are completely fatigued or out of balance, you know, like our whole society is just go, go, go, go, go all the time. Absolutely, right? Go, go, go. And it's like, where's the off switch? Right. You know, there really isn't an off switch, and it can be really overwhelming at times. So you know, I think talking about the nervous system is really important and how we can manage that. Um definitely.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

And I think a lot of people, there's taboo around resting. We've talked about this before. Oh, yeah. You know, that a lot of people don't feel like they can rest. Yeah, and stressed totally, at times myself as well. Yeah, and stress is the underlying cause of so many ailments. It just is. Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

I mean, I think that you know, the more we can manage balance that the nervous system overall, the better off like we're all gonna be. But you know, again, don't think that like, oh, cool, like I got this balance. I'm just gonna be chill forever. Like, there's gonna be things that happen that we have no control of. Right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

And that's and balance isn't a place where you arrive. Like it's it's it's a responsive state. It's it's a constant. It is it's a constant balance. It's not just a you're not gonna just ever get there. Sorry. No, totally you're gonna disclaimer people.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Right. You're gonna be teeter-tottering back and forth between like your whole life, and that's just that's the way it should be reality, right? It is and I mean, really, would you want everything to be just even kill your whole life?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

How boring.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

I know. I think that that wouldn't I don't know. A few minutes of that would be okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Yeah, give me a week of it. Give me a little bit of great. Give me, give me small, you know, chunks of it. But yeah, constant state would be you're not growing, you're not changing, you're just exactly there. Yeah, you know, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

We all have to evolve a little bit and grow and push our thresholds. Sometimes the growing hurts. It does hurt. Like, but that is that is life, and that is how we evolve. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, so a little bit about you know, the stress responses in the body themselves, I think that are important for folks to understand are uh, you know, the automatic nervous system is like the things that automatically happen in your body. So like breathing, your heartbeat, things along those lines, those are automatic. Um, the sympathetic nervous system is more that fight or flight, you know? And so that's really where you know we don't want our body to be in that state all the time. Right. Right. And so many people get stuck in one of those or the other.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Absolutely. Well, fight, fly, I always stutter on this. Fight, flight, or freeze, actually. Right. And I think a lot of people get in a freeze state because our world is overwhelming all the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Oh, for sure. I've seen it firsthand so many times too, and it's it's interesting which direction we go and how sometimes you are somebody that freezes, sometimes you are somebody that fights. Absolutely. Sometimes you can swap it up and do do both of those things, you know. It just really depends on what's going on in that exact moment. Um, you know, and the other, the other, you know, stress response in the nervous system is the parasympathetic nervous system. And so that is like your rest and digest, right? That's where we want to be. That is where we want to be for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

As much of the time as we can. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

So, you know, it's important to like understand each of those, you know, sponsors that are that are happening in the body so that you can better manage all of those things that are happening in the body and you know, recognizing in your body, oh, okay, I am in a state of like fight or freeze or flight or whatever. Right. You know, or like, oh, I'm really calm right now, too. Like just acknowledging that and feeling it in your body. So then you do know, okay, I need to manage this or not manage this.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Absolutely. Well, knowing what state you're in and what that feels like and recognizing it, right? A lot of people are just wired all the time and they're they're they're constantly it, you know, on.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah. And I mean, you just see like this buzz that's happening around them, and you're they're like, they can't focus, they can't, you know, figure out what's wrong, they can't figure out which direction to go, they can't rest, they can't sleep.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

It's like they're running, you know, and it's like and you don't they might not realize it until they until you feel calm and you're like, oh wait, what's this? Yeah, yeah. I think you know that's very true. I think our world can make you try to be have to be on all the time.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yeah, oh, for sure. I mean, my mom said for years, like you have two switches and it's on and off, and that's it. There's nothing in between. There's no in between. There's no in between. You're running or you're not running. Yeah. I mean, for years I've like tried really hard to focus on, like, okay, how do I relax? You know, like, and how uncomfortable it is for me to try to force myself to relax and what that brings up for me also, like emotionally, when I am like, okay, like this is really hard. Why can't I rest? And why what's wrong with me? There must be something wrong with me if I can't rest. Right. No, not necessarily. Totally, totally.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

It's like that's society, that's conditioning, and that is just not learning how to rest.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Yeah, for sure. And you know, again, we're so overstimulated with, you know, we're getting pinged on everything on our phone or a laptop or the TV or the radio or whatever it is. Like everywhere you look, there is some sort of like stimulation that is happening. Right. Um, and you know, that kind of leads into like the next thing I want to talk about, which are the adrenals. And I know we talked a little bit about that before, so I'll just kind of you know briefly talk about that. But you know, this is there's such a powerful gland, and it's just you know, it's right above the kidneys. Um, I feel like I see it in a lot of clients where you're just that total burnout, you know. But the the adrenal glands are literally like the balancer in the body, right? So they're the ones that if you can't sleep or or you are so exhausted, like that is kind of two polar ends of the spectrum. And so a lot of times like working on nourishing the adrenals can really help bring that into balance. Um, you know, and that can be done in a lot of different ways. Whether it's herbs or through breath work or through meditation, even it can do all of those, all of those things can help to balance out the adrenals. Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

And the adrenal fatigue is is you hear that associated with the beginning symptoms of like a lot of stuff too. Oh, yeah, yeah. Of like the beginning phase of whatever is gonna develop.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Then your immune system. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Everything goes like that. It totally does. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

So how can how do how can people tell? I mean, obviously they could book a a consultation with you, your sliding skill consultation to find out, but if somebody suspects they have adrenal fatigue or or their adrenal glands are being um taxed, like how what how would you know that? Like what would you what kind of stuff would you look for to say, like, hmm, maybe maybe I need to look at this?

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yeah, I would say, you know, start tracking things, you know, like it's always good to kind of document your cycles, whatever it is, you know, like because we have so many different types of cycles in our life. So like if you can't sleep, like then like let's look at what are your sleep habits and you know, what time are you going to bed? How long are you sleeping? Is it restless? Is it not? You know, is your brain running? Like maybe you need to turn off all the technology 30 minutes or an hour before bed. Maybe you need to take a bath before you go to bed. You know, like look at like setting up those patterns and um routines that can help to shift that. Okay. Like so just starting to recognize, you know, oh wow, like why is it that I feel so burnt out? Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

So it's a burnout feeling that you're looking for. A lot of sleep cycle, probably menstrual cycle if you're in that phase of your life. Like I would imagine everything being impacted, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Everything can be for sure. Yeah. I mean, again, like the whole body, it's all connected, right? Absolutely. Like if one thing's not a whack whack, then I wouldn't be surprised if other things are too. Right. Um, I tend to see it the most in like that burnout or like disfrazzle phase where totally, you know, it's like, all right, let's nourish the body. Like what foods are you eating? Like, how are you resting? Right. What's your exercise look like? You know, where's your brain, your mental health, and and the the hamster will all of those things. All of those things. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So it can be a lot of different things. And, you know, it's something to also keep in mind that it's not like you're gonna have a magic herb and it's gonna happen overnight. Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

There's a lot of pieces to it. There are a lot of pieces. It's probably not just taking an herb.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Yeah, and your body didn't typically get there overnight. So it's not gonna happen overnight, you know. Right. The patience of okay, it's a slow re-nourishing.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Absolutely. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, and this talks about your blog talks about the adrenal adrenal glands being responsible for the your body's ability to recover from ongoing stress. Like that's part of it. So once they're burnout, yeah, your stress, your your tolerance for stress probably is just like bottomed. Oh, right. Absolutely. It's like, nope, can't handle anything right now.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean part of the burnout. Yes, exactly. Like you, it's like anything can set you off when you get to that point of you just being completely fatigued. It's like, oh my gosh, that fly that's buzzing around the ramp. I'm going to like lose my mind if something doesn't get it. You know, whatever. Yeah. What a smallest thing. The smallest things, you know. And so if you're, you know, finding yourself really like irritated, agitated, like can't sleep, feeling super frazzled, brains not clear, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Oh yeah, the brain fog. That's a the big one for sure. That's a big one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

So it could be so many aspects, but those are really good, like things that stand out a lot of times when the adrenals are a little bit out of whack.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Okay. Good to good to know. Good to think about. Right. I might need to pay attention to that myself. We don't know. We all do.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

I'm like, I feel like probably most of the world right now is, you know, definitely experience some level of burnout. For sure. So it's it's just it's a slow process of learning your body and how to renourish it back to get to health.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

So yeah, and managing the stress.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

It's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, like another part of the body that I think is really important within the nervous system is the vagus nerve. And um, you know, I love this nerve. I don't know why. I just I always have a weird fascination with this this particular part of the body. Um, and it basically starts like at the at at your brain, at the end of your brain, and runs all the way down your body, but it's you know, this communication like a portal, right? It's your brain's way it's magical, yeah, communicating with the rest of your body. Yeah. Also, like especially like your heart, your lungs, your digestion. You know, so a lot of times if you are in that like freeze phase, you think about like people and their digestion, just oh, you know, like this, you can almost physically see that people are frozen, right? And so, like, if that happens, then like your digestive track is off, like you know, so many things are just out of balance, and you know, with our gut being known as our first brain, more so absolutely, you know, and how it ties so much to you know our other brain, it's it's either there is that connection, huge connection, and then it's the immune system connected in there as well. And like people have that nervous gut, you know, and it's like okay, like let's look at the digestion, what you're eating again, but like let's also target the nervous system because they're all connected.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

They're all connected, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

So, you know, uh the one thing that's beautiful about the the vagus nerve is that um, you know, once you are starting to like really work on resetting that, um, you know, the reason why things work really well, uh, like such as um you know, breath work and and and singing and just humming, stretching, like walking outside. Um, you know, put your phone down, look at it. Uh all of these things are so important and really simple, easy things that you can do to start resetting that vagus nerve and the you know, the whole body and the nervous system and the adrenals and all the pieces that you know make our nervous system.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Yeah, absolutely. Um, so when we're talking about the vagus nerve, um what kind of stuff would you I mean, what would you look at to say, okay, I I actually do need to focus on this. This is this is something that's impacting me. What symptoms might you be experiencing if that needs attention?

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah, I mean, definitely digestive track. Again, kind of that like nervous gut, you know, anything that's happening in the digestion more that I mean, that could be, you know, constipation or the you know, the polar opposite end of that. Um it could also be like, you know, like if you're feeling like you can't breathe, like not necessarily chest pains, that'd be something, maybe something more you want to look at, but you know, like just the tightness in your chest.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

I was gonna say, I I know I had a client that had tight chest from that, and that was the determined that this was spasming, the Vegas nerve was spasming.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

I often felt like um you well, I mean, when you are feeling something in your body that just feels stuck, you know, like a lot of times I'm I'm like, oh, I I need to talk because my throat chakra, my throat itself physically feels like feels locked up, right? Yeah, absolutely. You know, and that again is like your nervous system kind of in that like fight or freeze, you know, phase because your body is physically doing that because your brain needs to communicate and get something out. Right. You know, so you might feel that in your heart chakra, you might feel that in your solar plexus, you know, like anywhere in the body, really you could feel that. But I feel like those are telltale signs. Okay. If there needs balancing in there.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Well, that throat, that you know, the throat thing that you mentioned with people walking up. I mean, a lot of people have throat chakra emotions and trauma that they need to clear out. Yeah. Because they've they've been suppressing their truth or they haven't been able to express themselves for whatever reason. Yeah. Whatever needed to keep them safe in childhood or what you know, who knows if that can happen. Um and then the heart, the heart chakra is right there too. And we have heart walls that we build up over time too. So those could be impacted energetically.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Um I definitely think so, you know, and I think where we hold our stress on our body also can turn into illnesses, you know. And uh I think the throat chakra for me personally like has been a learning tool to learn to release a lot uh over my life. And I recently I feel like I've gotten a better at it over the years, you know, but you know, I feel like um I was just like last week or two weeks ago, I really needed to say something to a really good friend, and I was nervous about saying anything because I didn't want to hurt our friendship, and but my throat just kept getting tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter. And I was like, You're like, okay, I get it. I have to get this out. I have to get this out, and I did, and it was totally fine, and it was great, you know. But it worked, yeah. It was this amazing kind of like almost PTSD a little bit where you go back and you're like, wow, okay, I have grown enough that I'm not gonna hold this in, you know, until it becomes something that maybe I yell about or uh I'm upset about, you know, instead I'm listening to my gut right now and you know, going to speak about what I need to speak about. What you need to speak about, get it out of your body. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

And because another option is like just suppressing it and keeping it there forever, and then it turns into a disease down the road.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

So yeah. I think that happens a lot with people where when we look at diseases in the body and where they are, and then you start, you know, going, oh, okay, you haven't you needed to speak your voice. Now you have something going on with your throat. And so they're a hundred percent related, you know, absolutely stress and emotions and the nervous system. They're definitely so so connected, all of it tied together. Mm-hmm for sure. Absolutely. Yeah, and so you know, lucky for us, there are a million ways that you can, you know, start to work on those things and you know, recognize it, like you said, is obviously the number one thing that you want to look at. Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Recognizing it's like, wait, I'm not in a relaxed state. Wait, maybe I never really am. What now?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

That's yeah, yes, you know, breath work, I think can be really powerful. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, it could be just a simple like inhale and like slowly exhale and do that a few times. It could be the square box, which I really love, or box breathing. Box breathing. Yeah, it's like four, count four in, hold for four. Yes, four out. Basically, like make a box with two.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

It's like a little four breath.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Yeah, I find when I'm like really, really stressed out or having anxiety, or you know, something's really getting me, that box breathing is so helpful. You can do it anywhere, you know, your car, your house, walking down the street, absolutely, wherever you want.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Sometimes just remembering to take a deep breath.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Because we get in this shallow breathing space where it's like it's like when's the last time you just stopped and took a deep breath?

SPEAKER_00 20:11

It's like I think I forget to breathe, you know, and I'll be going, okay, like why does it feel like you know, nothing's working?

SPEAKER_01 20:21

You can hyperventilate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Oh, you've been holding your breath for how long? Like what?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Yeah. No, it's easy to do. It's easy to do.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Yeah. Well, you know, and that kind of goes into like what we were talking about with the automatic system and how like breath is supposed to be something that we do without thinking about.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

But well, and you are still breathing, but you're breathing so shallow because the rest of your body's going, Oh, I'm stressed out. Like, you know, it makes the breathing kind of go, okay, we're gonna back off here. Yeah, something we're dealing with. Yeah. Well, guess what? There's probably not really anything you're dealing with. But your body thinks it is. Totally.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Oh, and that's like a key moment when my body should go, or my brain should connect to my body and go, wait a minute. Yeah, something's going on here. Yeah. You know, we should we should take some deep breaths before a walk, whatever it might be. Yeah. Um, yeah, you know, and so I, you know, really appreciate breath work for that. And definitely. And just being outside, that's my other, that's my other favorite where I can just go outside. Just touch grass. Yes, take your shoes off, walk around and feel like we've talked about this a little before, but it's so important and so important.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

I think I think we always need constant remind heck, I need constant reminders of it. It's like, oh, have I I'll get busy with clients and be like, I have not been outside today. It looks like it might be warm out there. I should probably go out there and stay checked.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Like, you know, yes, get some sun on your skin and all the things.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Definitely. Yes, I love that. I'm guessing there are herbs that can support this stuff as well. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

I mean, I feel like there's so many nervous system herbs, and I love that. You know, because one, it's not a one size fits all, right? You know, so like sometimes you need to try a couple things to be like, that worked great, that didn't work, I don't like that at all. You know, or I really like these all mixed together, you know? So with all herbs, I think it's important to start individually, like with one herb. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

See how it feels in your body.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

See how it feels in your body. And then if you're like awesome, I really love chamomile and lemma bomb milky oats, make a blend with it. That's fine too. But yeah, you know, I think it's good to fill them, you know, because they're all gonna have slightly different properties. Um, several that I have listed here are, you know, chamomile, which is such a gentle, sweet um plant. I mean, I love chamomile and it's it's it's easy and gentle enough for children and for for pets and you know, for yourself. It's not so sedative that you're gonna not be able to fall asleep. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

It's just calming. Yeah, but it's I love chamomile.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

I know, right? It can be so great to to take, you know, to drink that or take a tincture of that even before bed or put some in your bath if you're taking a bath, you know, make make an herbal bath. Like that's you can incorporate herbs and into your routine in so many ways. So many ways. Yeah, definitely. Um lemon balm, also one of my favorites. Uh is also very gentle, it's not uh super sedative. I find that lemon bomb is excellent also for the brain, too, especially when you put mix it with skull cap. Okay. Um it really helps with that monkey mind and just you know, kind of giving you a little balance. Yeah, for sure. I love that. It's also in the mint family and has excellent like volatile oils. So if you touch the plant and you then you smell your finger, like those are the volatile oils that you're smelling, which is ultimately what they're extracting when they do, you know, essential oils or hydrosols. So when you touch a plant and and you smell your finger and then and it has a smell after that, that is that is where essential oils come from. That's where the oils come from. Okay. So it's a very sweet, gentle one too. And then milky oats or oat straw, either one. Um, milky oats are uh best used whenever they're fresh. So I usually will harvest those fresh um or you know, purchase them from somebody that's local that has harvested those and then make a tincture with that. Oh, okay. Um, I feel like it that is such a great nervous system tonic. I mean, I feel like it's food, it's food for your nervous system every time you have a cup of tea of a milky oats. Nice. Um, passion flour and skull cap. I love those two. Also, they are again a little maybe slightly a little bit heavier than chamomile and lemon balm as far as like sedative properties, but I've I've found that I can take those on the regular during the day. Okay. Um, and you know, if you've never seen a passion flower flower, it's so magical. So I highly recommend, you know, and there are lots of different varieties of passion flower, but uh the flower alone is just this gorgeous. Is it purple? It the the main one that we use for medicine is definitely like kind of purple and blue.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Okay, because I think I can I think I have it in my brain. Yeah, I think it's in there.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

I'm sure you're sure you've seen a picture if you haven't seen one. They do grow here in the Pacific Northwest and like you stumble across one and you're going, You're like, What? Are you from this world? Like this for sure. Um, between Passion Flower and School Cap, I like them mixed together personally. Um, if I have to pick between the two though, I'm tend I tend to go a little more towards the school tap school cap school cap. Sorry, get that out. Um it just seems a little bit more gentle on the nervous system for me personally. Okay. Um, but you know, both great, great mix together.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Now, when you say gentle on the nervous system, do you mean like less symptoms of feeling it and it just kind of eases in? Or what do you mean when you say more gentle on the nervous system?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

I guess what I mean by that is kind of similar to Milky Oats, you know, like it just feels a little more nourishing for some reason. Okay. I don't really have any science behind that. That's just how it feels. Yeah, no, that's just how it feels. I was just wondering. Yeah, in my body for sure. Okay. Um, and then a few others are Tulsi and Ashwagonda, which these tend to go a little more into the adrenals, they're adaptogenic herbs.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

I was gonna say, I know ashwagandha is an adaptogenic.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

And I love the the flavor of both of these, you know. I think they both have just yummy, yummy flavor to them. So like that's always helpful when you're drinking tea, is is to be able to actually like something that's palatable. There are lots of herbs out there that are super better, better, super bitter. Yeah, absolutely. And not that that's not a bad thing. Like sometimes you really need butters in your system, but I I think these two are really awesome for the nervous system, and they kind of feel like a big hug to me.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Yeah, well, ashwagandhas in a lot of like if you look at a lot of natural supplements, ashwagandha is one of the ingredients.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

So to incorporate that into you know, a tea if you like it that that way, you know, yeah, just and I think it has kind of a little bit of a malty flavor to it, also, which is kind of nice, like it's a little sweet, maybe a little nutty-ish, like trying to describe the flavor of ashwagandha, but it has a unique flavor for sure, but it's it's one that's really palatable and nice. Um and Tulsi, which is also holy basil, uh has a couple different varieties that you can get, and they're all slightly different, but they are all still gonna be in the adaptogenic, and the flavor is just slightly different with each of those.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

So new listeners that I mean, we've probably talked, I think we've talked about this, but for new listeners, can you just explain what an adaptogenic herb is for somebody that doesn't get it?

SPEAKER_00 27:48

Yeah, for sure. So, you know, again, that adaptogenic herb is the balancer. So when you take one of those, they're kind of I I mean, they feel magical because you're going, Oh what? I can take ashwagandha and it gives me energy and it makes me sleep. You're like, how is that possible? Right. So they're that that balancer that really works with the adrenals to to help bring, you know, that nourishment back to the body. Right. Whereas a lot of the other things we've talked about are a little more targeted towards the nervous system in general. Yep. Um these two are just a little bit more towards the adrenals, I think. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah. And the adapting adaptogen part is basically helping your body adapt to whatever it needs to adapt to. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah. That's why it's the balancer, right? It's like, oh, you need this now, you need to now you need this.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Oh, you need to sleep. Oh, but now you need to wake up. Okay. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

For sure. I and I feel like when I first started working with uh both both Holy Basil and Ashwagandha at separate points in my life, I felt fairly immediate like responses in my body to these plants. And you know, again, that goes into you should try the plants individually because some things you will feel pretty immediately. Other things may take a little while for your body, and then all of a sudden one day you wake up when you go, wow, I feel pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Right. And you have no idea really what it was if you haven't tried them individually. You'll be like, oh.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Yeah, yeah. Uh the last herb on here, but definitely not the least. I mean, there's again so many great nervous system and adoption herbs is Kavakava. I think Kavacava is is fantastic. It is such a but it is a heavy sedative herb, you know. It is one to take lightly, it's one that you don't want to take a long term. It can have some issues with the liver. Um, but it has a really rich history um in Hawaii and the Philippines. Okay. Um, it was often used as a drink during moments of confrontation. Oh. And so, you know, let's say two people are having a disagreement, they're like, go sit in your corners and drink your kava, we'll come back and talk about this, you know. So, you know, it just calms things down. It has a little bit of a euphoric property to it. Um, it is very bitter. It's not one that is like super easy to, you know, to on the palate if you're not used to that. Um, it also has a numbing agent to it. So like you'll feel your tongue go like a little bit numb. That's that's good. That's normal.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

I was gonna say, I feel like when we were in Miami, um, I was there with my daughters and we we were um we stumbled across this what we thought was a coffee shop, but everything had kava in it. And we're like, we're like standing there going, What is what is it? And we went outside and Googled it and we're like, oh, we don't need that right now. We're doing stuff. Like, but it's like yeah, it's a they have cafes with kava.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

There's two here in Portland that I love. Um there's the Nola Kava Bar and the Bulla Kava bar that are in Portland. Okay. Um, they both have great options and lots of you know varieties of ways to work with the kava.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

And so that's kind of an herbal version of you could go like, yeah, it's it's equivalent of maybe going and having a cocktail or something. It is, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Okay and in fact, a lot of folks that you know maybe like trying to limit alcohol or like get it out of their life. Like, I I feel that there's been several people that will kind of transition into like kava, and hey, it's you know, it's helping to nur you nourish the nervous system while you're rebuilding because anytime you're getting off something like alcohol, right? Your body's going through a whole lot of things can feel really weird and hard and challenging, you know. So bringing in some nervous system tonics and adrenal stuff is never a bad thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Definitely and just helps to kind of in that get you back in that relaxed state, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah, for sure. You know, and a little bit goes a long way with kava.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Like don't overdo it, huh?

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Don't overdo it. I'm like, I you know, I say that with a smile on my face because I'm notorious for that.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

I was gonna say, I'm sure you have a story about overdoing kava.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Oh, yeah, for sure. Always, always like I mean, even you know, it's funny, like starting out as an herbalist, like I've been doing this for 15 years now. But yeah, you know, what I thought was a little bit was not, you know. So there's sure lots of grand lessons within all of that. But you know, herbs, you know, they're they're potent and powerful in a small amount. Like one tablespoon of something can be a whole lot of something.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Right. Absolutely. Well, and that's why, you know, I mean, not to be afraid to like use things like chamomile or you know, but but there are some herbs that you should have some direction from somebody who knows what they're doing before you start messing around with them because ice cream, they can be really potent and they can just like anything else. You know, too much. Yeah, too much is not always a good thing. Not always a good thing. No, no.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

It reminds me of cinnamon. Of what? Of cinnamon. Cinnamon? Yep. I'm gonna go on a tangent for a second. Okay, do it. Um as a child, I loved cinnamon toast. My mom would make cinnamon toast for us. Oh yeah. And I thought it was just like the best thing in the world. And I was hanging out with my good friend and we got hungry. It was like lunchtime or something, and all we found was cinnamon in her pantry. So we're like, oh yeah, cinnamon toast. Cinnamon toast, it's delicious. Oh no. Oh, yeah. So we turned, we turned up the whole bottle of cinnamon powder, and I don't think I could taste for I don't know, maybe a couple weeks or something.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Oh my gosh, could you even breathe? No, I mean it's like you're so intense.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

I get just a whiff of it, and I'm sneezing and it's incredibly drying. So as soon as it hits your tongue, you're just like, I have no saliva left in my mouth. So it was this huge like lesson once again, and like, oh yeah, you you know, you need some other things to like you can't just turn up a bottle of cinnamon.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Right. I did a similar thing with vanilla extract because it smells so good. Oh, yeah, you know, yeah, it doesn't taste like it smells. Not when you just take it from the bottle. It's not, it's not a big thing. It needs a little sugar to make it sweet.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

It needs sugar for sure. So yeah, you know, I'll I'll say that probably every time we talk. Like a little bit goes a long way. And totally, you know, whatever herb you're working with, like taste a little bit first before you do.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

See how your body reacts if you're taking it for relaxation or to try to calm adrenals. Yeah, for sure. See how your body responds to a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah, like in kava, for example, I would never say, you know, take a large amount of kava and then, you know, go drive. Sure. Like, you know, if you have the function and do something where you you need to be really focused on something, kava may not be the one for it. It's not the one. You know, it's I feel like it's it and when you blend with it's not in that not in that environment. Yeah, yeah. Like when you blend it by itself or with other herbs and like smaller amounts, I I love it that way. But you know, just to have one full cup of kava, like I have definitely felt intoxicated before from one cup or one cup. One cup of kava. Yes, yes. So I love that the plants are making their way into you know scenes like the the kava bars. Um definitely.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Well, I I feel like a lot of people are questioning their relationships with alcohol and deciding not to drink or to limit it. And and I think having other options because our society is so socialized around alcohol. Absolutely. You know, it is. And so having options like a kava bar to go to, I feel like is really it's great. I think it's important.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

I do too, I do too for sure. Um, anyways, okay. Back to it off the cinnamon. Yes, yes. Yeah. So um, you know, kind of lastly here is really just talking about again, those simple ways to uh support the nervous system and the adrenals. And so, like, move your body. You know, this does not have to be a marathon, this can be a walk around your block, you know, this would be stretching, this could be um some gentle dance or a little bike ride down the street again. Does not have to be anything insane, but just something to move your body and get things circulating around. Um, you know, again, getting outside, get your feet on the ground. I mean, like it's my favorite, even put it in the water, whatever. Just like get outside and have your feet, you know, touch something that is on the natural, that's from the earth.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Yes, exactly. Not not concrete.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Or yeah, yes, yes, and then you know, reducing the stimulation. That that's I think a big part of our burnout.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Um just we weren't meant to carry phones around in our pockets and feel the need to respond to messages. Yes, actually every second.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Just told me last night they are creating a cell phone that doesn't do anything except for answer phone calls, I think text messages and GPS, and there it doesn't allow anything else. And I'm like, wow, that kind of sounds nice.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Yeah, I mean, there's we do get kind of wrapped up in our phones, I feel like. We do. I mean, everything does, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Um, and then of course, like eating and hydrating, you know, food is medicine and like staying hydrated and drinking lots of water and electrolytes and the things that keep our body running smoothly. Absolutely. You know, like we're when we do that, it is you know, a nice little, it's like a gift to the nervous system too, you know. Right. I can't tell you how many times it'll be halfway through the day. And I'm like, why is my brain not reading? Oh, you haven't eaten anything since this morning or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

And I've been thirsty for hours and I haven't actually stopped to take a drink of water or anything. Yeah. And I think it's easy with the food to get, you know, sucked into where you're just eating brown things. Like it's it's like paying attention to make sure you're including fruits and vegetables, plants in your diet is super important.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

It is.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Because I know just myself, just recently, I kind of went, oh gosh, I'm really kind of not, I've slipped away. And I I've always eaten pretty healthy. Yeah, but it's easy to start like it's like, oh, I'm grabbing cheese and crackers for a snack now. It's like, hmm, okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

You know, I mean it's it's just easy to slip. It is, it is pay attention to that for sure. Um, one of my favorite things on here is just creating an herbal ritual, you know, and then you know, again could go into taking a bath and putting, you know, I like to make a strong like tea decoction on the stove with those and then pour that into your bathtub instead of necessarily like just throwing the chamomile into the bathtub. Then you have to clean that up. And if you're stressed out, you don't want to clean it up.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

But oh, I love the idea of brewing it first and pouring that in. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Brew it or keep it in like a muslin bag or something and leave it in in the bathtub that way. Love that. Um tinctures, of course, um, teas. You could also do uh like a flower essence blend in your bathtub. Nice, you know. So there's lots of ways to like whatever you you want to do with your herbal herbal ritual, but you know, incorporating that in is is as an a nice again, kind of just reset and reminder in your space. Maybe you have ultra space and you have something there, like a candle to burn. Right. You know, it could be lots of different things for sure. So love that. Yeah, and then of course, meditating is uh oh a great way to reset the nervous system.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

And there's so many different ways to meditate. I know we've talked about this too, but I mean it could be a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Everything from five minutes to hours for days. Exactly. I want to go on a meditation for days. I've always looked at those.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Have you seen those like 10-day silent meditation retreats? I have. I part of me wants to really do that, and then the other part of me is like, I don't know that I could be same silent. Same like we would have to like we'd go together and then sneak off and like no, I'm adorable.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

I'm like, would you just write little notes? Write notes? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I know. I think that it would be a really challenge. Yeah, it would be a huge challenge. I'm like, I'm interested in that too. Maybe we should look into that.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

We should look into that. But when you we have to sit quietly for that long, and wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

That's hard. I can barely do that myself. Yeah. Like by myself. I'll be talking to my dog, talking to my kids.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

I tend to meditate in different ways. Like I need some kind of music, like I can do like a chakra balancing meditation or a sound bath or something like that. Yes, yes. But to just sit and be quiet is that takes some time. I would rather journal and just free ride to meditate.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

You know, and I think that that is also kind of a way of meditation, too, where you're just like, I'm just getting this out. I'm drawing, I'm sketching, whatever it is. Like that's another way to meditate.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

It's an active way to meditate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Yeah. Um even, you know, you know that I work with horses also, and like working with the horses is very meditative. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

You know, well, they're such peaceful, huge spirits. Like they just, they, they, they're they're very peaceful animals. So I could see that that would be a meditative.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

It is very sweet energy, and just like, okay, I'm, you know, doing kind of a routine thing that my brain doesn't have to necessarily like think about and problem solve all the time. Absolutely. You know, and so that repetitive motion becomes a little meditative.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Well, and their their energy is just relaxing. Yeah. And I've actually done emotion code on on horses quite a bit, actually. Not for a while, but but quite a bit. Horses that were going to shows that all of a sudden were exhibiting this these nervous habits and all this stuff. And the my friend at the time was obviously had horses, and she would, can you do a quick emotion code? It's like, sure. And I did, and it made a big difference. But they would not let go of my pendulum afterwards. Like it's like their energy wanted to stay connected. They're like, oh, somebody's like, like they're very they're very intuitive. Intuitive animals. Anyway, that was a tangent. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Totally. That's all right. That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for. Um, also making room for joy, you know, that's that's so important too. And I mean, I don't know if that's hanging out with friends or you know, listening to something that's funny or whatever, you know, whatever brings you joy. Maybe it's gardening, maybe it's, you know, I don't know, painting or making food, even, you know, like whatever it is that is gonna nourish you um and bring you some a little extra joy is is is always a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Absolutely. And you know, nurturing those friendships of the people who do bring you joy and light you up, right? It's like making sure you're focusing on that.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Yeah, I mean, and that reminds me a lot of just like oh like the energy of people that bring you joy, right? That's like that's such a special medicine in itself, too, you know, absolutely, and if somebody doesn't bring that to you in your life, it is okay to to walk, you know, out of that energy and out of that presence. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and last but not least, of course, is uh resting, you know, again, just like take a nap. I'm trying to learn how to nap, and it is so hard for me to nap. Right. Um, I've taken a few naps, you know, in August because it's been my down month from you know, four months of events and all the things. Absolutely. And it it was so nice. And at first I felt like really guilty about it at first. Oh, well, and then I was like, wait a minute, I'm appreciating these little like 30-minute hour naps, whatever, in the middle of the day. And it really helped me reset, you know, because I was definitely at that burnt out, you know, adrenal fatigue at all through August. Right.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Oh, I can imagine. All through August. Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

I was just like, okay, I'm gonna do what I have to do. That's the basic essentials. And get it done. Yeah, and then and you know, try to get caught up on a few things I need to get caught up on. But I was really feeling that in my body in August. Of like needing to rest. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Well, when your blog here talks about your maybe your body's not asking for another cup of coffee, and it's like I feel that because I find myself reaching for uh Dr. Pepper Zero or another cup of coffee or some green tea or something, something to kind of get you through. And it's like, I mean, sometimes you have to do that, but ideally, it's like your body probably just wants to close lay down for a minute and it works to close its eyes.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

I was working with Holy Basil like all through August, which was really nice and lovely. And I feel like Holy Basil has a little bit of like a warming um property to it, also. And so for some reason that really helped my body where I felt sluggish and felt, you know, like I'm just so tired and lethargic right now.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

And I'm slowing down now.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

Yeah, absolutely. You can't help it. It was. I mean, I I have done this my whole life where I just go, go, go, and then crash and burn. And yeah, so it's it was really nice to go give myself permission to rest in August and to know all the things that I need to do are gonna be fine. Sure, they're all gonna be there when you get back. Yeah, and just to not add anything else to my plate that needed that wasn't already there.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Sometimes you just need a minute. You do, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

So resting is is hard. Sometimes it's harder than keeping going, but it's also really important to take that moment to rest.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Because then maybe you avoid adrenal burnout. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Right? Yes, yes, was it's which is exactly what I'm trying to not do. Yeah, trying to like prevent myself from getting into that that state where you're just completely exhausted.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Yeah. Which I think we all need to pay attention to.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

I definitely do agree with that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

Well, I think we've covered pretty much the blog. Do you want to just plug your sliding scale, your community clinic? Um, yeah, the website, all of that. You can find it in the show notes as well. I always tag Amanda when she's on, and I've got all of her info in there. You can find it there, but we'll just just kind of quickly give them the things.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Yeah, for sure. So you can visit the website at um the herb shop pdx. A shop is spelled S-H-O-P-P-E. Um, I offer a sliding scale 30-minute consultation. And that's, you know, the thing that I love about that is being able to have that one-on-one, you know, conversation with people. It's the thing that I miss the most from having the brick and mortar somebody coming in, you know. So that's why I do offer the sliding scale so we can talk about those things. Right. And everybody's different. Yep, everybody's different. You know, I I'm always happy to answer emails and text messages and things like that. But, you know, I really want to talk to people and see people, and I think that that is really important um to dive in deeper. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

See the whole picture. And then you you make those wonderful custom blends that you do, like just specified for that person for their thing. Yes. Well, thank you so much. It's good to be back. I'm I'm back and now you're back, and we'll get back into the swing of regular recordings.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

So I'm excited about what we have to talk about in the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 46:31

Yes, definitely. All right. Thanks for coming.