Pills or Plants?
Today I wanna talk a little today about plant medicine. Plant medicine is the oldest kind of medicine. Long before science got involved and we were more in tune with nature as a civilization, what was found in nature was used to correct imbalances and heal conditions. Just as our current medical system is not 100% effective, the same is true of the natural remedies and ways of bringing the body from a state of imbalance back to ease. We all want ease and pleasantness in our lives, right? Sadly, it’s not going to magically happen! And a pill isn’t going to bring it either. Until we can acknowledge that we are responsible for whatever we are experiencing, it’s not likely that we will experience ease and pleasantness at the level we desire. We search for physical reasons to many ailments only to have the doctor tell us that they cannot find a reason for what we are experiencing. The reason they can’t find a physical reason is because it’s not a physical problem, it’s a energetic or mental/emotional or psychological problem. When I say that, some people immediately dismiss the idea and are offended that it would even be suggested that they have a “mental” problem. This is because they do not understand what is meant here. What I’m saying is the way you are thinking or your perceptions, perspectives or framing of something happening or that has happened in your life is creating suffering for you that you are experiencing in your body. I’m not questioning your sanity in any way. Something has not been properly understood or processed or needs to be reframed and as result we have made up a story about it that causes us some degree of pain, worry or concern. Worry about the future is a prime example. We spend a lot of time preparing for things that never happen, things we have allowed the mind to focus on that create worry or concern for us. We remember what happened to someone else and we imagine what we would do if that happened to us and we try to prepare so it never does. We do not understand that if a certain set of circumstances is meant to happen to us, it will despite our plans and preparations. If we trust the creator and the plan our soul set up for us to have certain experiences, truly trust it, we stop trying to manipulate things to get what we want or avoid what we don't’ want. We say we trust the creator but our actions aren’t congruent with that trust. There is a concept in yoga that all lack of ease begins in the mind. This is a good example of that. My mother was a huge worrier. And I decided very early in my life that I was not going to live like that. I went a little far in the other directions at times but overall it was a crucial decision that has allowed me to explore things like plant medicine without concern for what anyone else thinks about it. It’s’ my existence and I am here to explore as many dimensions of life as I can. Plant medicines give us access to many of these other dimensions as does meditation and other yogic practices.
Right now I am treating myself with herbs and natural substances to restore balance to my system that was massively disrupted by my long time boyfriend, Mark’s death. I’ve shared recently that my process of grieving has been very physical and this imbalance is of heaviness in my system and an effort to replace the sweetness that Mark brought into my life. It has tested my knowledge and my ability to apply that knowledge in a dynamic situation and interpret the information I am receiving in response to the treatment. Natural methods require more of our attention. Everything is about attention really and usually it is our lack of attention that has created whatever imbalance we are dealing with in the first place. The body is brilliant and will adapt to whatever conditions we put it in as optimally as possible. But because it has adapted to something that is less than optimal, we can not expect optimal results from the body. Makes perfect sense, right? Many people want consistency from the body and its performance but fail to treat the body consistently so it can not be. If you fail to put gas in your car, it will not run. If we do not heed the messages the body is giving us, eventually we will find that the body will stop us in our tracks and refuse to continue in whatever way we have been requiring. We can decide well it’s always been this way and I would say to you because you’ve always needed to make some kind of adjustment that you have failed to make. Health is our birthright but it is also our choice. Until we come into the kind of deep relationship with the body that is needed we may not experience the level of health we desire and we may be planning or preparing for what we will do when our health fails which in turn, is concerning the mind. This is what is meant by lack of ease beginning in the mind. We may be expecting our health to decline. Certainly we have been led to believe that certain things are just part of the aging process and there is no way to avoid them but that is not necessarily true. It is also possible to obsess over certain functions and pay more attention to them then is truly needed. If there are repeated episodes with your heart, then I would suggest that emotion is involved or I should say a restriction of the expression of the heart energy. Both my dad and my boyfriend Mark ultimately had heart issues. But heart disease kills as many women as men. The difference is the risk factors are not the same. If I am aware of irregularities in my heartbeat for instance, I can create all kinds of stories in my mind about what that means and what I need to do. Often they are harmless but we can choose to create a different perception there. What is arrhythmia? It is a problem with the electrical impulse in the heart. So for me, electrical impulses says central nervous system and I would treat that first and foremost. When Mark died, my heart hurt. So I began to support it with certain herbs and I also used calming herbs for my nervous system. And it worked very well. Do I like to take pills? No, who does? But there isn't a mile long list of the possible side effects of most of the herbs I use and I find them to be quite effective. I know part of the reason why is I believe they will help me. We all know about the placebo effect and that it is often just as high as the use of whatever substance is being tested. Interestingly, what that says to me is that as long as you truly believe that what you are doing will help you, it will! So I choose those things that are natural and don't require as much processing by the body which is already overtaxed simply with digestion for many of us.