There’s something magical about studying herbs, healing habits, and other natural remedies while spending the summer in a place where I can wander through wildflowers, soak in rivers, and quietly focus on my own well-being.
I notice what works for me, and I see what works for others, as I create a compendium of treatments to help clients with the endless versions of health concerns that present as suffering and blocks in the path. Overall, I’ve discovered that the most effective remedies are not the most expensive. In fact, they are often completely free.
This reality goes against everything we’ve been taught by modern medicine. For decades now, modern society has come to believe, thanks to very expensive advertising campaigns, that we’ll need to take expensive pills for the rest of our days. If those pills cause additional problems in our lives, that’s just the way it is. We’re given a label, and that’s that.
If you buy in fully to your diagnosis label as a medical fact that can never be changed, then you’ll be correct. You’ll never have reason to deal with the root cause. It’s like trimming the leaves of a weed but never fully pulling it up, then wondering why it keeps emerging.
Naturopathic remedies are holistic and, through optimistic curiosity and educated experimentation, try to find the root of the matter. We use whatever methods make the most sense: Diet and nutrition are usually the first experiments, but herbal teas, flower essences, yoga and movement therapies, and so many other healing traditions may follow.
Naturopaths have a big toolbox, well beyond whatever mixture of lab-produced chemicals a pharmaceutical company is pushing to doctors at the time. The way to know which tool will help truly untie the inner knot is to first recognize that the actual root of most pain and suffering is a quite common one.
No one’s pain is particularly special, yet all of us are very special indeed.
Pain has endless causes, but suffering does not. Suffering always is caused in the mind. You’ve likely heard those stories of old people who are dying but smile. You’ve heard of people whose shock from some event causes them to, at least temporarily, forget how much pain they’re in.
We can sometimes put the cart before the horse, too. Much of the pain people have actually originates from the suffering they build around the initial cause.
This secondary pain, of course, must be treated quite differently from the original cause of pain. Adults (and often children, alas) have traumas in all kinds of shapes and sizes. It may be some kind of loss you experienced or perhaps abusive behavior that you never processed. It could be the sad realization that you’ve spent a lifetime climbing the mountain, only to realize that you were climbing the wrong mountain.
Emotional suffering and physical pain do go hand-in-hand, and frequently it is the emotional pain that brings about the physical pain. It’s easier to talk about physical pain in today’s society, so sometimes we just make it that way. How? This is the power of the mind-body connection.
We explore this in yoga sessions. If you’ve ever been in a pigeon pose and truly think you’re going to break, that your knee will rip out of the socket, that the hip will tear from all the searing pain, and that maybe if you tense up your shoulders and grit your teeth that you’ll survive … you know what I mean. We so often create our own misery.
But I’m more than a yoga teacher and naturopath. I’m also a journalist who’s interviewed scores of scientists and researchers. So, I don’t deny that some medical cures and interventions are very, very necessary. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a biohacker, too.
I know that if you’ve eaten a diet full of processed meats, preservative-rich chips, and sugar-filled cookies, it would help your health if you dramatically changed your diet to one filled with plant-based, whole foods. Unfortunately, that’s likely not enough to cure your cancer.
I love working with people who are past the dramas of how their pain is so much worse than everyone else’s pain, that I “just would never understand” how bad and special their pain is. The truth is, it’s not a contest.
Some people suffer very small misgivings and create monuments to their pain that take years to break down, if they even prefer the crumbling to the honoring.
Other people have constitutions and situations that allow them to process horrific traumas in a way that lightens their spirits and makes them more compassionate and caring for others. This is what Thich Nhat Hahn calls “suffering well.”
A motivation for going through that “dark night of the soul” is so you can get to the end, see the light, and encourage others to keep going. This is what Eckhardt Tolle calls being part of the “new Earth.”
The first step on this sometimes very long path, then, is to recognize that you are your own healer. Only you know what happened, and only you know really what your sensory organs are telling you. When you listen deeply to yourself, magic happens. That’s exactly what it feels like when I wander through the mountains of Bulgaria, picking wildflower bouquets and researching different treatments for those who connect with me.
Here are five of my favorite natural remedies that may benefit you in your life, too.
1. German chamomile
In almost every little grocery store everywhere, you can find chamomile tea — and it’s not just because it’s a nice alternative to coffee. Chamomile, a pretty and delicate flower sprouting from soft, green ferns, has been widely studied by herbalists over the centuries.
A mild sedative, it’s great for soothing the nervous system and encouraging sleep. In compresses, German chamomile also helps to speed wound healing and reduce inflammation.
Basically, this herb just instructs the body to calm down and let healing happen. There are many other herbs that act as nervine agents, but this one is perhaps the most well-known.
Problems sleeping are increasingly common in this stressed-out modern life, but I wonder how many insomniacs brew cups of high-quality chamomile tea and sip quietly in the hour before they wish to sleep. A cup of tea isn’t a panacea, I know. But it’s the start of a bedtime ritual that can help you make a habit of relaxation every day.
2. Warm lemon water
For the last year, I’ve run accountability groups as part of my coaching work. To take advantage of the opportunity for growth and change, I usually choose a few daily healthy habits to push me toward achieving personal goals. This last round has included a new morning ritual I’ve called the 11:11:11 routine. It’s at least 11 ounces of water, at least 11 pushups, and at least 11 minutes of meditation.
It didn’t take long for me to add on. I’m now up to 20 pushups every morning and 15 minutes of meditation. I also drink two full glasses of water, and recently I’ve been making it warm lemon water.
This joyful habit hydrates me after sleep. It stimulates my digestive system gently and provides a barrier for the gut before coffee. It also gives me a small boost of vitamin C.
Vitamin C is known as “nature’s antibiotic” for good reason. Taking large amounts throughout the day (500 milligrams is the most the body can process at a time, with the rest simply passing straight to your urine) fights bacteria by changing the body’s internal pH balance enough to make it inhospitable for growth.
A urologist many years ago explained this to me … right after I balked at her prescription to take an antibiotic pill every day for the rest of my life to avoid further UTIs. Instead, I started doubling down on vitamin C when I felt that familiar ping of pain. I’ve never had a UTI since, and I take extra vitamin C whenever I’m feeling a little rundown.
The warm lemon water doesn’t provide enough vitamin C to combat a UTI or a cold, but it can provide a small boost to the immune system. Doing it daily can add up, preventing more serious problems.
3. Bach’s Flower Essence Rescue Remedy
Flower essences fall under those naturopathic remedies that make more cynical people look sideways: So, you’re telling me that flowers are going to make everything better? Well, take it from me after I’ve picked a pretty bouquet and arranged it in my living room. Sometimes, they do.
Flower essences differ from essential oils in that essences don’t contain active biological ingredients like terpenes, flavonoids, or other vital chemical compounds. These products are created more energetically in a way that one might say is, like a walk in the woods, magic.
And yet, talk to the millions of people around the globe who have used Bach’s Rescue Remedy. You can’t argue with results! This proprietary blend of five flowers (cherry plum, clematis, impatiens, Star of Bethlehem, and rock rose) helps you feel relaxed and calmer, especially when you’re on the verge of freaking out.
Rescue Remedy also works on pets. Just put a few drops on the soft bottom part of the paw. I used to have a cat with extreme abandonment issues, and he would make messes in a tragic attempt to get attention, negative or otherwise. This product was an important part of his healing journey.
4. Saying “no” to refined sugar and its addictive substitutes
Part of the reason I sometimes crave an ice cream cone, I suspect, is because I need to let the cute little kid inside me pop up and get reminded that she’s loved. I’m not sure why else I would ever want to eat it otherwise, since in reality I get gassy and feel achy the next day. I’ve finally cut sugar from my daily diet long enough to directly connect the odd “I’m old” feeling with consuming sugar.
You may feel like your creaky, inflamed body is a result of one of the diagnoses a doctor gives you, or you may feel that’s the reality of getting old. However, these symptoms often relate to chronic nutritional problems. On average, Americans eat 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day. That’s 60 pounds of sugar every year.
Sugar, of course, sneaks in almost everywhere there is processing. It takes me a few hours of multitasking to make my own tomato sauce, which I prefer since almost every pre-jarred brand includes sugar. Most condiments and salad dressings have sugar. Most crackers and snack foods have sugar. If there is no sugar on the label, there’s likely one of its chemically produced replacements like corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, and glucose.
As I weaned myself off sugar, I had a few months of allowing myself honey and dark chocolate. Psychologically, it didn’t take long to notice that I’d turn to one or the other as a “well-deserved treat after all my productivity.” I think that inner child was getting a little spoiled.
But you know, honey made my hips inflamed too. Turns out extra sweetness is just, well, completely unnecessary. Beyond inflammation, too much of this “good thing” can cause obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, dental issues, and many other health problems. It’s best to cut it (and all toxins, really) out of your life — completely if you can.
5. Gratitude journaling
With holistic health, as with everything, you must decide that you can heal yourself. This could be obvious for some and a mental “turning of the Titanic” for others. Simply believing in your own abilities may feel like a big fat lie if you’ve grown up with limiting beliefs and a lack of evidence from naturopathic work.
Yet, both scientific research and spiritual texts confirm that the placebo effect — that what we believe does indeed manifest in our bodies — is real. That’s why all my clients use journaling prompts as part of their transformational journeys.
A journaling exercise I particularly enjoy is listing the things you are grateful for every day. I don’t just stop at one or two, like many pre-formatted journals. We’re forging new neuropathways in the brain to create thought processes that recognize gifts in our lives more easily. In turn, we actually have more gifts. Then we live a richer, fuller life.
As we move through that change, it can feel like “faking it ‘til you make it.” That’s why I make it tough. I ask my clients to write down 10 things every day. Some days, there will be some overlap of specific things on the list, but I encourage them to try to think up awesome new items each day. I’ve done the same thing for years. It works.
If you’re of a cynical nature, you may think that gratitude sounds like pretty fluffy therapy — but there’s plenty of scientific research to support this, too. There’s a lesson in the Yoga Sutras called pratipaksha bhavana in Sanskrit. In essence, this is the practice of replacing a negative thought immediately with a positive one.
Again, at first, it feels like spiritual bypassing. Yes, we need to feel those feelings. But as we discussed earlier, our mental suffering often causes more pain. When we make a habit of focusing on the things that make our lives joyful, we will find more. We will notice less pain and feel better. I think everyone would appreciate that.
Bonus Treatment: Stretching
We all know we need to move our bodies, and even the simple 10,000-steps rule is a good place for many people to start. But when was the last time you stretched? Most of my clients try to integrate exercise, but they miss the benefits of static and kinetic stretching for the body.
No, stretching doesn’t burn calories. It’s not going to give you great abs. But it will make your body feel better. Guaranteed.
If you add five to 10 minutes a day to stretch your body, I am here to tell you that those deep breaths will make a difference. Your fascia, or the connective netting that holds the muscles to the bones, needs to stretch (and be hydrated! Drink water!). Your tendons, ligaments, and joints need to stretch.
Otherwise, things get really tight. Soon, you’ll be shuffling around like those old folks who can barely look up. You don’t want to age like that, do you?
My simple daily routine always includes the six movements of the spine. That consists of side bends — first to the right, and second to the left. Then make a cat/cow shape with the body, bringing the shoulders back as you look up and jut your tailbone out, then curve in and look at your belly button. Then inhale as you twist and hold to the right, then twist and hold to the left.
That’s the bare minimum that everyone should do. Add in more yoga or stretching to feel even better … which is why we seek out all this magic, right? Let’s feel better together!