I took the words in the below two paragraphs, with permission, from Elissa Hayman's November blog post. Elissa is a spiritual healer from New Mexico. I was introduced to Elissa and her work by a fine, local lady and friend.
I was stopped in my tracks by the most fiery blaze of coppery gold color I ever saw, radiating off a long line of cottonwoods on the riverbank.
Someone else had stopped to admire them and we got to talking. He turned out to be an herbalist who lived in the nearby mountains. His renowned company, Dragon River Herbals, was on the scene in Santa Fe; they supplied doctors and health facilities with their high-quality, wild-crafted, organic products.
Through this herbalist, I learned something interesting about wild-crafted herbs: their medicine is so much more potent because in Nature, they go through a lot of stress. The plants' response to the natural stressors in their environment makes them produce more potent medicinal properties. The "fat cat" herbal plants grown in cultivation don't need to develop the inner strength necessary to BE strong medicine.
That's something to remember in November 2014, when it will behoove us to see challenges like a plant in the wild, as something that develops our powers.
I love these words. It is the wise woman teaching I do around the foods we eat, the herbal plant foods we use for medicine, and the way we cultivate personal power in our mind, body, and soul.
Organic foods have this magic about them as well! When food is grown organically, the food itself has to fend off foreign invaders. In this dance for survival, the organically grown food develops higher amounts of nutrients and develops nutrients that do not exist in conventionally grown agriculture's foods (because conventionally grown foods do not survive these natural stressors).
We are approaching the American holiday of Thanksgiving; a time to be grateful for all that we have and have experienced in life.
Life experiences are the building blocks of who you are as a being; your wild crafting as a human. Take a moment to express gratitude, every day, for your life and all the wild crafting that has made you grow stronger. Life experiences are powerful medicine!
Feed your body, mind, and soul well!
Gratitude for making it safely into the Supai Village in the Havasupai Home, the Indians of the Blue Waters. Gratitude for surviving the long and very, hot trail down into the canyon. Getting out was easy; we started at 4:30 AM and beat the sun out of the canyon!
Happy Thanksgiving with Love!
Herbal Recipe to Clean the Liver from Holiday Eating and Imbibing!
Simple Liver Nourishment Cleanse
Liver Nourishment: This is a very simple way to nourish the liver as it goes about its non-stop job of filtering your blood. Your liver is not “dirty.” Spending a few days focusing on nourishing this important organ is a good way to prevent disease and heal your body. Love your liver with good food, liver specific herbs, and relaxation. Oh yeah, did I mention fun and laughter? Anger is a toxin to the liver; let go of anger and revel in fun, love, and laughter.
Raw food fast for 3 days: lots of local and seasonal berries / fruit in AM with nuts and seeds and then vegetable salads and raw nuts and seeds at noon & PM meals.
***If pre-diabetic, diabetic, or you have any metabolic syndrome issues (where you need to not have high levels of blood sugar surging through your system) keep your intake of fruit conservative and eat more vegetables.
Raw root veggie and cabbage slaws are great in fall and winter for the raw, seasonal veggies.
AM liver flush before any food: juice of 1 whole lemon, 1-2 tsp olive oil, pinch of unrefined sea salt. You can use this simple liver flush in the PM and/or the AM.
I have clients who do it in the AM because they drink their Essiac detox tea at night.
Detox infusion: purchase an ounce of each of these herbs: cut burdock root, cut dandelion root, nettle leaf, dandelion leaf, and red clover blossom.
Each night heat 1 quart of water, stainless steel pot please. When water is simmering turn to very low heat and simmer 1 tsp. each of the burdock and dandelion roots for 10 minutes. This is a very gentle simmer with the cover on the pot.
After the ten minutes, shut off the heat and have 1 tsp. each of the dandelion, nettle, and red clover. Add to pot, stir to get wet and cover pot. Let it sit over night to steep, pot covered. Strain into quart canning jar in AM and drink 3-4 cups over the course of the day.
Relaxing habits when doing a liver nourishing cleanse: Plenty of fluids; lots of good, restful sleep, eating in a calm environment (without screens) and chewing very slowly and thoroughly, yoga, massage, relaxing by the fire or under a favorite tree (seasonally dependent behaviors!) while reading a good book…the point is to nurture the whole you and make your liver feel at peace and loved.
When to nourish the liver: Ideally 4 times a year at the spring and fall equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices. I recommend waiting past the Winter Solstice, after the December holidays, for obvious reasons!
Milk thistle is a good herb to take for liver nourishing and rebuilding. It can be added to the above dandelion, etc. herb tea. Milk thistle is a seed and needs to be added and simmer with roots and/or barks.
http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/making-herbal-infusions-teas/
Capsules, tinctures, teas of milk thistle are good options as a single herb or as a combination herbal formula with turmeric and perhaps ginger…
Taking milk thistle for a couple of weeks after a three day nourishing cleanse can help to nourish and rebuild the liver. You can make milk thistle into a tea with nettles. Again, simmer the milk thistle seeds, very gently for 10 minutes before adding the nettle leaves. Shut off the heat before you add nettle leaves and allow the herbs to infuse, covered, for at least 4 hours.
If you would prefer to do a more intense liver nourishing (that is pre-packaged for you, creating ease), go to this website: www.herbdoc.com and search under the 5 day detox programs for the liver cleanse. It is a very complete liver cleanse kit with a well written book explaining liver cleansing and its benefits to your health and longevity. Think of it as nourishing your liver, fortifying it with the nutrients it needs to do its blood filtering job well.
Dr. Schulze’s products are top of the line and use high quality herbs. They tend to be a bit more expensive but quality is quality.
You can do a more intense, longer, liver / organ cleanse by putting the materials together yourself and following the cleanse for more than 3 days
- Whole foods, raw
- Herbal teas
- Fresh made juices
- Lots of pure water (no chlorine and flouride from municipal water supply; both are toxins to body cells and your liver.)
- AM flush
If you have diabetic tendencies do not do a "juice or herbal tea" only liver cleanse. Eat food and keep your protein level up.
Need help? Give me a shout.
