Children are filled with love and sticky fingers and manage to bring home every bug from school. As a result, common childhood ailments regularly include diarrhea, vomiting, earaches, and coughs. While these common childhood conditions are important for strengthening the immune system, they can be burdensome to a working family.

Half the battle is having a well-stocked botanical medicine cabinet, and the other half is getting kids to take the herbal preparations. Learn about creative (and tasty!) ways to get these medicines into kids. Ayurvedic and western dietary and herbal preparations are discussed. (Catalog Number 20ME29)

Resilience is the ability to cope with stress and adversity and bounce back to a state of normal functioning. Botanicals can aid in resilience by countering catabolic processes associated with stress, improving carbohydrate metabolism, and aiding the recovery of the normal functioning of the mind and body. This lecture from naturopathic physician, Tori Hudson, explores botanicals including Rhodiola, St. John’s wort, ginkgo, lemon balm, red clover, kava and others. (Catalog Code 14SW03)

This lecture examines the relationships between fragrance, olfaction, the limbic system, moods and mental states according to concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda. Explore Shen (spirit) disturbances and the Seven Pathological Emotions, Prana Vata (mind / breath current) and mental health, and essential oils as botanical Chi and Prana. David also discusses the use of aromatherapy for the management of anger, depression, addictions, OCD and PTSD. (Catalog Code 15SW16)

Water extracts are an easy and essential source of nutrition and holistic care. Herbal medicines delivered as teas are under-appreciated, powerful allies and can correct imbalances, build vitality and offer therapeutic results. Here Teresa draws on 30 years of experience to describe the art and science of preparing tea blends based on a person’s constitution and the symptoms indicating imbalance. These blends also take into account aroma, taste and eye appeal (beauty) of the mixture. Join her on this audio while she describes three separate cases and mixes the tea blends most suitable for them: nutritive tonic tea, rest and relax tea and cool down tea. (You’ll also hear Teresa call on her assitant for help with the mixtures, since she had recently broken her arm, which has since healed completely.) (Catalog Code 20ME24)

A few years ago, at Medicines from the Earth, Leo Trasande, MD gave a thorough presentation on the chemicals in our environment and the harm they do to the human body. He described avoidance as the best solution, and the steps he is taking to show the high monetary cost of these chemicals as a way to convince governments to eliminate them. The next year, Donald Yance presented an intensive which highlighted the research on the concept of hormesis, which showed that a small amount of ingested toxins can actually strengthen the body’s resilience when dealing with these chemicals.

The third prong of the approach to the overwhelming daily toxicant burden is presented here by Walter Crinnion, one of the foremost experts on environmental medicine. He cites extensive research indicating that daily intake of commonly available botanicals (often found in indigenous diets) has shown the ability to both prevent and reduce toxicant damage. A summary of articles published within the last two decades provides us with a list of botanicals that have the widest beneficial effects. (Catalog number 16ME07)

January’s Featured Recording: Panel Discussion: Preventing Joint Degeneration with Botanicals
Panelists in order of presentation: Jason Miller, DACM, LAC, Steven Johnson, DO, David Winston, RH (AHG) and Amanda McQuade Crawford, Medical Herbalist

Four panelists discuss joint pain caused by rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, plus prevention and treatment of a host of other musculoskeletal ailments including bursitis, Lyme disease, gout and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. From Traditional Chinese Medicine lifestyle and herbal formula recommendations to Western herbal, osteopathic and naturopathic therapies, this panel contains many useful clinical pearls which address the chronic joint inflammation so rampant in our modern world. Moderated by Mark Blumenthal of the American Botanical Council.

December’s Featured Recording: Botanicals for Cognitive Support with Lise Alschuler, ND

Cognitive decline is on the rise in the US population and practitioners will be seeing more questions about this in the years to come. There are limited pharmaceutical options for supporting cognitive health – especially for prevention and early changes. Botanical therapies may limit the progression of cognitive changes through cerebral activation, increased cerebral blood flow, anti-oxidation, and anti-inflammation.

A review of the pros and cons of pharmaceutical approaches is included in this presentation from naturopathic physician, Lise Alschuler. Presentation includes a summary of lifestyle and nutritional therapies to support cognition, and an exploration of botanicals including Ginkgo biloba, Eleutherococcus (Ginseng), Crocus sativus (Saffron), Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s mane mushroom), Bupleurum falcatum, and Boswellia serrulata (Frankincense).

November’s Featured Recording: New Insights into Commonplace and Undervalued Herbs with Paul Bergner, Medical Herbalist

Sometimes our most commonplace herbs, often growing abundantly around us, are overlooked in favor of newer, exotic, or imported herbs or preparations. But the commonplace “boring” herbs endure through millennia because they are reliable, potent, and versatile in their applications. In this presentation from Paul Bergner, we discuss recent research and traditional uses for Urtica, Matricaria, Althaea, Allium sativum, Plantago, Calendula, and Hypericum.

This focus on using common medicinal plants growing in our own region is more important now than ever before as climate change and overharvesting place a huge stress on wild medicinal plant populations. We can look to new and expanded uses for our common species as part of the solution to this crisis.