How long we can keep going half empty? We plough on with a shopping list in one hand, phone in the other, plans spinning like a Catherine wheel in the background. We attend to work, children, relatives, errands, emails, worries. The body [quiet and loyal] keeps up as best it can, like a trusted car […]
Doing the fun stuff… I don’t just teach, see patients and write stuff. I get to have fun… Spring and summer may be busy gathering leaves and flowers, dodging the showers or melting in the heat, but making useful stuff from stuff I have gathered from my garden or elsewhere satisfies the alchemist in me. […]
It’s safe, and it works…. I’ve been speaking to people, and what I’m going to say to you now, many of you probably know; lots of people already use this remedy, and I will explain why it works so well. But before I get into sharing this specific remedy that people can take to improve […]
A new-to-me remedy for painful joints… Last post I hinted at a surprise entrant to the painful-joint-remedy list of contestants. And here it is: Cirsium vulgare aka Bull Thistle, or Spear Thistle. While some of you may have heard about it – I hadn’t, until a colleague read an article about it and found some […]
The Flavour Connection… In traditional herbalism, taste has been a diagnostic tool, a therapeutic guide, and a window into a plant’s healing potential. Among all the flavours that our tongues recognise, bitterness stands out as perhaps the most medicinally significant. Ironically, it’s the most avoided in our modern starch-based, sweet-obsessed culture. What our ancestors understood […]
Or Just a Convenient Scapegoat? In December 2024, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) updated its guidance on herbal medicines. The document confirms the strict safety requirements for registered products under the Traditional Herbal Registration (THR) scheme. Even with these controls, herbal medicine remains an easy target in the media where it […]
Support for Damaged Cartilage and Joint Pain Many women of a certain age complain of aching knees, stiff shoulders, or hips that don’t move like they used to. They often describe a grinding sensation [crepitus] when they squat down, go upstairs, or try to lift their arms above their heads. Ageing combined with shifts in […]
Herbs Might Be Your Best Friend… Have you suddenly developed that nagging shoulder pain that just won’t shift? Or maybe you have pain in your hips and sleeping is uncomfortable. Do you get pain in your knees from doing… well, nothing much? If you’re a woman in your 40s, 50s or beyond, and dealing with […]
Concerning pain and laundry… Some years ago I wrote an article about wanting to live ‘the good life’, where I would grow my own veg, have chickens, raise pigs… you know they sort of thing. I had read a self-sufficiency book, and to be fair it looked doable. I had a few chickens, but they […]
You may be surprised… There’s a persistent myth in both conventional and complementary circles that herbal medicine is slow medicine, something that works by nourishing the body, nudging metabolism into a healthier state, strengthening the structure and function of organs. Something gentle to turn to if you have time: time to brew, time to wait, […]