Medicinal Herb Blends

Allergy: astragalus, goldenrod, mullein, nettle, plantain, bayberry 
Arthritis: alfalfa leaf, devil’s club bark, nettles, burdock root, comfrey, white willow bark

Blood cleansing: echinacea, yellow dock, red clover blossom, chaparral, uva-ursi

Calcium tea: comfrey root, horsetail, oatstraw

Cold and flu: rosehips, elderflowers, peppermint leaf, yarrow flowers

Detox cleansing: chamomile, peppermint, catnip, hops, lemongrass, scallop, yarrow, yellow dock root

Fasting tea: alfalfa, nettles, yerba mate, uva-usi, juniper berries, rosehips, safe, yarrow, aniseed

Female: black cohosh, red raspberry leaf, blue vervain, blessed thistle, motherwort, partridge berry (squaw vine), vitex (chasteberry), blue cohosh

Headache: blessed thistle, wood betony, rosemary, thyme, gotu kola, chamomile, feverfew, peppermint

Kidney: juniper berries, parsley flakes, uva-ursi, marshmallow, meadowsweet

Laxative: senna leaf, buckthorn bark, fennel seed, licorice root, peppermint, yerba mate

Liver: Fennel, barberry bark, yellow dock root, Oregon grape root

Lower bowel: buckthorn bark powder, cayenne, ginger, barberry bark, cascara sagrada, goldenseal, red raspberry, rhubarb

Lung and bronchial: elecampane, comfrey, mullein leaf, coltsfoot, horehound, hyssop

Nerve blend: valerian, passionflower, hops, chamomile, wood betony, skullcap, vervain, oatstraw

Nursing mother: blessed thistle, red raspberry, nettle, blue vervain, fennel seed, marshmallow root

Pregnancy: red raspberry leaf, nettle, chamomile, lemon balm, passionflower, mashmallow root

Stomach calming: fennel seed, cinnamon, peppermint, papaya leaf, chamomile

Stop smoking: black cohosh, angelica, Echinacea root, calamus, catnip, peppermint, skullcap, slippery elm

Weight loss: juniper berries, cinnamon bark, chickwood, yerba mate, nettle, orange peel, horsetail

Thoughts on The Conscious Lifestyle: Facing Your Stress

Walking meditation in Nature
(Source: http://mettarefuge.wordpress.com)

In this article "The Conscious Lifestyle: Facing Your Stress", I think Deepak Chopra has put the issue of stress in its proper perspective in terms of long-term health because I have heard and read some other articles saying that some stress is good for people. Then again, these articles are probably written from the perspective of living in a modern society where people are expected to perform in work and studies, and see stress as a form of motivation. But Deepak goes deeper into the issue, noting that the primitive fight-or-flight response is an inheritance from our pre-human past, and "No one can healthily sustain the heightened alertness, quick burst of energy, rapid heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and other marks of the fight-or-flight response."

Yes, while our lifestyle may have changed to adapt to a fast pace of living in a modern society, our body remains physiologically and psychologically unchanged, and I have come to learn that our body is designed to function optimally when we are peaceful and rested as much and as often as possible. On looking back in my life, I can see why on some days I would have symptoms such as constipation - it must have been partly due to stress which caused various processes in my body (growth, digestion, oxygenation of muscles, etc) to temporarily shut down.

So I have been learning to be mindful not to allow "normal stresses" such as being stuck in traffic, trying to meet deadlines at work, etc affect my health. As noted in the article, diet, exercise, meditation and stress reduction are ways to manage stress and improve heart conditions (and overall health too).

Related post
Some more helpful tips on walking meditation

Pain-free menstruation and natural childbirth

According to this forum post, menstruation is not inherently linked to PMS (premenstrual syndrome).

"It seems like most women believe that painful cramps and moodiness are inherently linked to menstruation, since so many women experience these symptoms everytime they menstruate or right before the onset of their period. Some might even think it is not normal for a girl or woman to not experience any negative symptoms during their menses.

But I personally never believed it to be normal when women experience pain from their menstruation as I never experienced it and I have always thought that painful periods are not just a natural part of a woman's physiology that she has to put up with, because I don't believe it's normal and it's just a typical sexist belief to think that Nature or God would make women suffer merely for being a woman.

I've always seen it as something psychological that has manifested itself into the physical level, something that women collectively carry along and I think I read a good explanation of the deeper-lying cause of those symptoms that accompany many women's moontime."
~ Yazzmyne

Having read the above post, I think it is interesting to see and understand the psychological (and perhaps metaphysical) aspects of menstruation - given that we all are energy and we are all interconnected, it makes sense to see that the collective consciousness of women would have accumulated the past hurt and abuse caused by the oppression in male-dominated patriarchal societies, and at the same time, it is empowering to know that women can reclaim their inherent power and be free from the pain body consciousness, by realising their true identity as goddesses, and that they need not subscribe to the conventional idea that menstruation and giving birth are always associated with pain - instead, they can expect to experience these natural processes without pain and even with joy and enlightenment, as the post puts it.

Here's sharing this interesting blog on moontime which I have come across some time ago, and it came to mind when I was reading the post.

"As women raised up in religious, patriarchal and misogynistic societies, we are taught our bodies are shameful, we are the center of sin, we are “unclean.” Our “moon time” or menstrual period are to be hidden. We are ashamed, embarrassed… Such a potentially spiritual time is degraded.

There was a time when a woman’s moon time was celebrated. The blood isn’t brought about through violence - peaceful blood - so it is holy. It is different.
...
The Oglala Sioux people of the North American prairies have a long history of revering the menstruating woman as a powerful being. The newly menstruating girl would traditionally undergo a purification ritual and undertake instruction from a holy woman. She would be compared to the sacred Mother Earth, yet her power was also considered to be dangerous if the proper rituals and instructions were not given. But once these conditions were met, her holiness was considered to extend to the entire tribe, not just to herself.

After these rituals, the young woman was told: “You are the tree of life. You will now be pure and holy, and may your generations to come be fruitful! Wherever your feet touch will be a sacred place, for now you will always carry with you a very great influence.”

According to the above blog, in some ancient cultures or indigenous societies, where women are treated equally and honoured, menstruation is seen as an occasion for celebration and reverence, not shame. Unfortunately, some patriarchal socieites have unwittingly put shame on women for experiencing what is only normal and natural. It is important therefore for more people to realise and appreciate the divinity and uniqueness of divine womanhood.

I also like what the post in the forum says here.

"If most women would take on the belief that they naturally can have painfree menstruation and painfree childbirth and even see these typical female phenomena as ways to become enlightened, gynecology would cease to exist and it will automatically lose it's grip and power over women when they become aware of their own true power."
~ Yazzmyne

When growing up, I also used to think that childbirth is almost always associated with pain (or labour pain), no thanks to mass media. Yet, recently, I have come across a post in an inspirational page in Facebook that shares about women who experience pleasure (or orgasm) during childbirth. I googled about it and came across similar accounts of women experiencing ecstatic joy during childbirth.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6120045&page=1#.UGO8_vlrbeM
'Dr. Christiane Northrup, a board-certified OB-GYN and author of "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom" and "Mother-Daughter Wisdom," said orgasms during labor are caused by basic science.
...
To actually experience an orgasmic, or pleasurable birth, Northrup says it's important for women to lose their fear and their inhibitions. One method is to practice relaxation techniques. For Hartnell, chanting and doing yoga helped transform the pain into what she calls simply "sensations."'

http://www.orgasmicbirth.com/what-is-orgasmic-birth
"It is possible to have an ecstatic birth—in fact, that is the best natural high that I know of. And these states of consciousness are best reached when a woman is fully aware and fully awake. Women don’t have a way to know how their body works until they really try it out in birth. I think that women can be just completely surprised by the change in them from giving birth—you have something powerful in you—that fierce thing comes up—and I think babies need moms to have that fierceness—you feel like you can do anything and that’s the feeling we want moms to have."

I think the idea of having pain-free menstruation and pain-free natural childbirth goes against the grain of the mindset of mainstream society. Like what the forum said, maybe it is because gynecology and patriarchy "do not want women to become enlightened and find their true power". Yet there have been real-life cases of women experiencing pleasure during childbirth, as mentioned in the above websites, so I believe that is possible when women rediscover their true identity and enjoy their goddesshood.

Related articles

• Menstruation is not inherently linked to PMS
• "Moon Time"
• Labor Orgasms Called 'Best-Kept Secret'
• What is Orgasmic Birth?

Reflections on the Article "Detoxing Mind and Body" by Osho

"Neglect not thy health... says Pythagoras...
Dispense with moderation food to the body and to the mind repose."

I think the article is one of the best medical or health advice I have come across so far as it is holistic and balanced. Most health practitioners tend to emphasise on eating well physically, while most spiritual gurus tend to emphasise on eating well spiritually, but Pythagoras is wise by advocating a moderation or balance of both physical and spiritual feeding, which would benefit both the physical body, our temple of God, as well as our souls, including our emotional and spiritual well-being.