Herbal Medicine-Introduction And Nettles

Herbal Medicine is People's Medicine. I am so happy to share the first track of my 8 Herbs in 8 Minutes course. This track introduces my teachers and heritage and my plant spirit alley, Nettles! For all of those who want to start learning about herbs, this would be a great introduction! Sit with me for a few breaths, and then learn about the plant spirit and the medicine of Nettles. Enjoy.

Transcript

Hello and green blessings to you.

Thank you for being here.

My name is Shoshana Weinberg and I am honored and grateful that you've decided to show up.

Thank you for allowing me to be here with you so that we can find healing through eight herbs.

Thank you for your trust.

You are now,

In this moment,

In the process of being aware of the present.

You are now in the process of accepting the past.

Let's take a few deep breaths together and call in the divine power,

Our higher being,

So that we can connect together in that mindset,

Feeling the inhale and the exhale coming out of the nostrils.

And we're going to do three deep breaths.

Inhaling deeply,

Feeling the air blow out the stomach,

Bring the air into the chest.

You can even lift your shoulders,

Take another sip of air in,

And you can exhale out of your mouth or your nose and just release.

Release your shoulders,

Release your pelvis.

Let's take another deep inhalation,

Feeling the abdomen come out,

Bringing the air up into the chest and the lungs,

Growing the shoulders back,

Growing the heart open.

Take another sip of air and exhale,

Completely let go.

You can add an ah if you want to on the exhale.

One more of these delicious inhales.

Inhale,

Feeling the abdomen rise,

Bringing the air all the way into the lungs,

Into the heart space,

Opening.

Breathe more into the throat chakra.

Put your chin up high,

Take one more inhale and then exhale completely.

Ah,

Let it,

Let it go.

Today I bring with me three lineages,

Three teachers.

My first teacher was,

Of course,

Myself when I was a little girl growing up,

But my first real teacher was Robin Rose Bennett.

And she chose me as her first apprentice.

I was very lucky.

We were living in New York and we used to take a train together over and make it to New Jersey,

Her beautiful house there.

And we would walk through the woods,

Identifying plants,

Doing ritual,

Picking,

Foraging,

Making medicine,

Seeing clients.

It was incredible.

I'm bringing in my second line of healing,

Which in lineage,

Which is Dr.

Ladd from the Ayurvedic Institute.

I spent a year and a half with him studying Ayurveda at the Institute.

And then he placed me with Pratima Raichur in her Ayurvedic Skin Care Clinic.

So she's another teacher of mine,

But the same lineage,

Ayurveda.

And then I bring in Michael Moore and the heroic herbalists.

He was this wonderful herbalist in Bisbee,

Arizona,

The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine.

And I spent a term with him,

Or I don't know,

A couple seasons learning about herbs of the desert.

From the heroic,

More of that,

Let's treat this type of herbal medicine.

Let's tincture and macerate and,

You know,

Really get the medicine out of it.

Whereas Robin Rose Bennett and Susan Weed and Juliette de Barclay and,

You know,

Going back,

All the wise women are more nourishing.

How can we find nourishing herbals to deal with the balance within our body?

And then Ayurveda,

Of course,

Is the science of life,

From everything from the subtle energy down to the physical and then atomic energy.

So I'm bringing that,

Those three lineages,

And we will spend eight minutes on eight different herbs in this course.

Each herb will have a plant spirit element to it.

So we'll do a healing,

We'll find a healing that comes from each of the plants that we meet.

And then we'll just talk about the herb and really learn about all the minerals and active ingredients.

And so,

Okay,

Now you know where Shoshana is coming from.

Let's learn about our first herb,

Nettle.

Hello,

Nettle.

Urtica diocea.

I can never say that.

Stinging nettles are our first topic,

Course,

Class.

And it is such a beautiful plant.

I mean,

When I talk about nettles,

The first thing that comes to me is an all-around tonic,

Holistically nourishing,

And a super adaptogen.

If you've ever come across a nettle,

Then you know that she's got an amazing sting.

I mean,

It really feels like a bee sting,

Where there's an immediate histamine reaction to the skin,

And then it becomes red,

And you have all these little.

.

.

So I have already started my children meeting nettle and brushing up against,

Because it was believed that nettle was used in arthritic patients,

Kind of more in an external potus rather than internal,

But using that sting to create,

You know,

Blood flow in stagnant areas.

So I just think the medicine of nettle is so fascinating.

But before we go into all of that,

Let's meet her plant spirit.

So closing the eyes and feeling a seat,

Feeling your seat,

Feeling where your pelvis touches the ground floor chair.

See if you can notice your body seated on the carpet or on the bed.

So you're almost looking at yourself seated,

And you imagine in your mind's eye your head,

Your shoulders,

Your face would look like.

You can see your chest,

And you can see your arms,

Your hands,

Your legs,

Your feet.

So we're looking at ourselves,

And then we're gonna bring that energy of looking at ourselves into our physical body.

So feel like you're bringing your subtle energy inside,

And what that does,

Is it clears away the past,

And it clears away the future,

Which allows us to access the plant spirits.

So imagine now that there's a nettle sitting in front of you,

And she has these very jaggedy leaves.

On her leaves,

These green luscious yummy leaves,

On her leaves she has these spikes that come up on on the top of the leaves.

She has this long stalk,

Very strong,

And her flowers,

They curl around.

They're these beautiful little flowers that kind of curl around.

She's the sister of cannabis.

They used to be the same family,

So you can imagine these beautiful nettle flowers.

You see this plant spirit in front of you,

And imagine the depth of her all-around tonic.

She is so nourishing,

And her medicine goes into our bodies and heals.

It's as simple as that.

She's this great healer.

Okay,

Let's open our eyes.

Let's get busy here.

Now I know these are only supposed to be eight minutes,

But because we did that introduction,

We're gonna now really talk about nettles.

I met nettles,

Like I told you,

When I was young.

I experimented with,

You know,

The plant.

I was,

Of course,

I stayed away from her because it stung,

But it was a good,

You know,

She grows in wet spaces near rivers and creeks.

I saw her in Greece,

In Turkey,

In these old ruins.

I mean,

Nettle medicine is very old.

They used to use the stalks for making clothes,

Paper,

Ropes.

You know,

It is the sister to hemp,

So it's that very thick cord that could be braided.

So I love nettle.

She's my plant spirit.

I've had a connection with her for so long,

And I feel like her benefits,

Sting or not.

She's so healing.

Her leaves,

Her stalks,

Her seeds,

Her roots,

And her flowers.

Now I typically don't use her roots.

I use her dried leaves.

If I had a nettle patch growing near me,

I would pick the young leaves and saute them with butter.

That's what I would do with fresh nettles.

But if I was brewing them,

I would take an ounce of the dried herb and pour one quart of boiling water over and let it sit for eight hours to overnight,

Decant it in the morning,

And then drink that quart of,

It's a little bit less than a quart,

But that quart of tea the whole day.

So that's how we drink our nourishing herbals,

One at a time and for the entire day.

So nettles,

Let's say,

Is Monday.

We're drinking nettles today.

She's a member of the mint family.

Her family's changed from the cannabis to the mint.

Although she doesn't taste like mint,

She's more like a spinach.

There's so much chlorophyll that makes her this beautiful,

Bright emerald when young,

And then it gets a little bit darker when older.

So she tastes intense,

Earthly,

And deliciously green.

Her stingers were probably adapted to stop animals from grazing,

But her healing is so good and has been cooked since the beginning of time.

I think even the ancient Egyptians used to use infusions to treat arthritis.

She's full of phytochemicals,

Full of minerals,

Trace minerals,

Amino acids,

And contains five times more beta carotene than a carrot.

She's a precursor to calcium,

Vitamin B complex,

Vitamin D,

E,

K,

And she is 10 times more vitamin C than an apple.

She incorporates manganese and manganese,

Selenium,

Sulfur,

Chlorophyll,

Chlorium,

Cobalt,

Copper,

Potassium,

Phosphorus,

Bromine,

Iron,

Zinc.

Can you believe how full nettle is?

Why are we not drinking?

I'm drinking my nettles now.

There's this glistening green.

Okay,

I have to keep going quickly because there's so much to say.

She is an anti-inflammatory.

She relieves pain.

She can heal damaged tissue.

She's been proven to be useful for arthritis.

High in ammonia,

Carbonic acid,

Phosphates,

Which are all stimulating.

They stimulate the blood cells.

But when we think about nettle,

We also think about the renal system immediately because she helps with everything to do with our waterworks.

She's a wonderful ally to the kidneys,

Supporting dialysis and assisting kidneys,

Bladder stones.

She's great for soothing urinary tract infections,

Cystitis.

She's a diuretic,

So she flushes the kidneys and the bladder and great for the adrenal glands because she is an adaptogen,

Which means that when you drink nettle,

The geoms,

The makeup of the nettle will find the area specific to your genomes,

Which end up being the adrenal glands.

So what she does is that medicine will allow the adrenal glands to relax and the entire central nervous system,

Which then allows the actual organs to do their work more efficiently.

That's an adaptogen.

She is alkalizing.

That's a hard word for me.

Acting as an anti-inflammatory wherever she goes.

For example,

Washing out uric acid from muscle joints.

So also great for after a run,

Arthritis,

Rheumatism.

She's calming to the gastrointestinal tract.

She nourishes the stomach,

The liver,

The spleen.

She's great for anyone with digestive issues,

Especially including constipation all the way to stress diet or hemorrhoids.

She helps strengthen arteries and is good for the heart.

So great for the cardiovascular system too.

She supports our immunity,

Enhancing our resilience against most external issues like influenza,

COVID.

She nourishes our lungs.

She clears out the respiratory system.

She's great for asthmatics and allergies.

She is just so full.

Nettle,

She really just is the ideal tonic.

And she's great for when you're giving birth,

For lactating.

She's your best friend.

She helps your milk come down.

She is a nutritional powerhouse,

Boosts our energy levels.

She's stimulating.

So when you ingest her,

You can actively solve issues,

But you can calm the body at the same time.

She clears skin of acne,

Eczema.

She can flush toxins from the body to calm inflammation.

And she is great for healthy,

Beautiful hair and skin.

I do a double brew,

Which means that after I've brewed my tea,

My one ounce of dried herb to one quart of boiling water,

I take that decanted herb and I pour another quart of water over it.

I let it sit for three or four hours.

Then I use that in the morning to wash my hair,

My face,

And my body.

I think I'm going to have to stop there.

I want to talk about nettle broth.

You can use fresh nettles or dried nettles,

Two cups of dried nettle,

Four cups of fresh.

Wear gloves if you're fresh.

One stick of celery,

Shiitake mushrooms,

Kombu.

You could put so much in there.

Add the ingredients to a pot,

Bring it to a boil,

Let it simmer.

You can let it cook.

The more it cooks,

The better it is.

Strain it and then eat it.

Nettle soup.

Oh my goodness.

Even if you want to throw some bones in there for bone broth.

Okay.

I'm going to stop there.

Thank you so much for coming today.

Let's close by finding a comfortable seat with a straight spine.

Let's take a deep breath here.

The belly breath,

Opening the chest,

Coming back into the body.

Let's leave aside nettle for a moment and leave aside what's next.

Let's just find bliss in this moment together.

Thank you so much for your time,

Your patience,

And I look forward to talking about oats,

Wild oats,

Avena sativa,

In the next course.

She's sexy,

Nutritive,

And relaxing.

Have a great day.

Reviews

I love Shoshana’s passion! Her introduction to nettles has gotten me so eager to learn more. She is such a fantastic teacher, creating an excitement to make me want to know more and more!

Shoshana your passion is so infectious, I was enthralled by the history of Nettle, it's different applications and its biological make up. I want to know more ☺️
Nettle feels like the wise women of the herb kingdom.
Thank you for giving your time and energy to share your knowledge and wisdom with us all, I absolutely loved this.
Namaste 🌼✨️💛🙏💛✨️🌼

What a beautiful connection with nettles, Shoshana! Thank you for this brief yet packed introduction! 🌱 ❤️ 💫

In a world obsessed with pharmaceuticals it’s crazy how much we overlook the power of plants. Keeping my eye out for the next in the series. Thanks 😊

Amazing 🤩🙏🏼💜

Informative and inspiring, roll on spring so I can harvest some nettles

That was so interesting I’m looking forward to making a nettles tea and soup a lot of great information thank you so much Namaste 🙏🏻

I love this! I've always been very interested in herbs but there's always more to learn! 💜

Love this!
I learned so much. I’m looking forward to the next one
Thank you 🙏🏼

Nettles are so delicious I made nettle spanakopita last year it was delicious! My husband is from Albania when he grew up on his farm they always gave nettles to their pigs it made their hair and skin so clean and beautiful

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with the benefits for herbs! Such great enthusiasm!

Thank You for sharing such necessary knowledge 🌱✨🙏🏻❤️

Wow. I was not expecting to find this on Insight. How beautifully nourishing and exciting. To learn about herbs and be inspired to forage for them to cook and heal. I’m wanting a walk in nature 💕 Thank you for the passion and insight you brought.

Loved that, said from such a passionate, loving place. I loved hearing about your teachers and how it all came about for you. So much powerful information, it is golden!
Thank you Shoshana for sharing, gren blessings to you🙏🍃🌱☘️💚

Gorgeous 💓💓💓💓🥳🥳🥳so excited to have connected with you ! I have always seen nettles and gone the opposite way , but yet have always been intrigued by her beauty !!! Learning about her today from you is truly revolutionary. I will no longer be scared of her sting and I will partake in her healing . Now to find nettles in the winter ???? I think she could really add to my healing ❤️‍🩹 maybe health food store ? Thank you

That was amazing! So informative! I appreciate all the details! Thank you!🙏🏽

Thank you for this beautiful journey with nettle 🍃 I habe been making infusions and integrating her in my diet for a while and it's been nice to get to know her better and learn more about her incredible nourishing and healing powers. Thank you, Shoshana!

Great introduction to the course. Nettles are amazing!

Very informative. Nettles is a dear friend. Thank you so very much for your time with me.

Thank you so much for the talk on nettles. Just found and started following you. Looking forward to learning more about herbal medicine and growing more herbs. Familiar with growing culinary herbs. Lemon Balm tincture was my introduction to a medicinal application. I am very intrigued now with nettles. Green blessings 💚
Tina