5 active and interesting pathways… If you suffer from extreme low moods that teeter on the brink of depression, I might have some useful information for you. There are known pathways in the brain that are implicated in the development of the state of depression. If we know what these ‘triggers’ are, we may be […]
18
Sep
Sep
And I have 10 responses…. Recently I got a mild rap on my knuckles from a senior herbalist about what I had been teaching students in Herbal Therapeutics. The particular problem seemed to be my approach to Tuberculosis [TB]. The reasoning went thus; TB is such a serious problem that we mustn’t give the students […]
11
Sep
Sep
It is a biological signalling state… Although we say that we ‘feel stressed’, we are not really describing an emotion. Rather we are describing an experience; the shifts in our physiology which occur when our bodies are trying to maintain integrity while experiencing a threat. It can be really uncomfortable, and it can also have physical consequences. I think there are three types […]
04
Sep
Sep
Agency means one has the capacity to act on one’s own behalf with understanding. It is the opposite of passivity. It is the opposite of being carried along by systems or instructions without understanding. Agency, when used concerning health, is the sense that your choices or opinion or objections deserve consideration, and that having them doesn’t mean that you should be dismissed as weird, or worse. […]
28
Aug
Aug
It’s a long time since I had kids of my own starting a new school term, but I do have a new term starting and I must say [for me] it’s a lot more fun. So firstly, I have sent in my Dissertation which means that my MSc is done, and I can forget about deadlines, and research, and […]
21
Aug
Aug
A few months ago, I wrote two related Substacks; one was called ‘The Slow Work of Mastery’ [1] November 28th 2025, the other was called ‘Thyroid Mastery in 60 Days?’ [2] November 21st 2025, in which I moaned quite a bit about the modern trend to speed-learn, usually by downloading courses from the internet that can be completed in a matter of weeks to get a certificate of ‘competence’. And I quote; And so I grumble […]
14
Aug
Aug
When Did We Start Carrying a Litre of Water Around? We are in one of those extraordinary British hot spells as the Met Office has reported temperatures pushing into the high 30s in parts of England this week, and 2026 is currently on course to be the UK’s warmest summer on record. So yes, drink more if you’re hot. […]
07
Aug
Aug
Where my vitamins go to die…. Please, somebody… Tell me you have a supplement cupboard like mine. I wish I could tell you that I know exactly what I am doing when it comes to supplements; but I have a horrible feeling that I buy them on impulse and then forget what I have bought, why I […]
31
Jul
Jul
I sometimes think that I have the perfect job. Any day of the week, I could be harvesting chamomile, digging up dandelion roots, dehydrating leaves, making tinctures, weighing out teas, seeing patients, writing articles, teaching students, researching, and from time to time, doing courses to stretch my mind. After I qualified, I took two years to do post-degree teacher training, two years […]
24
Jul
Jul
What the Evidence Actually Shows “I have 48 tomato plants!” This may have been the first comment that came out of my mouth in a light-bulb moment, but you will have to watch Bendy Brain Episode 5 on YouTube to find out why….. 1 The thing is, in my MSc in Mental Health Science I am primarily researching […]