Since 1994, Teresa Boardwine, RH, AHGI, has been on a mission to educate and empower others to heal themselves using herbal medicine—both on the inside and outside—through the Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine. Boardwine, the founder of the school and an herbalist for 22 years, she also is registered with the American Herbalist Guild.

Her school is located in a yurt in the lovely Blue Ridge Mountains of norther, Virginia, as the curriculum is best experienced by the senses and interaction with the plants, people in the class and the elemental beings of the mountains.

She offers a wide array of classes and workshops, teaching her students a wide range of educational opportunities, from the basics of herbalism and instructing them on how to make tinctures, cordials and elixirs. Her gifts as an educator enable her to fulfill her deep passion—to connect people and plants. Beginning in the new year, Boardwine will be offering two new courses; Farmocology and Western Energetics of Herbalism.

To connect her students to the realm of natural beauty and love, Boardwine will again be offering the Botanica Erotica Love Feast on February 4, 2017. As she notes, “Plants play a vital utilitarian role in the rituals and celebrations of love. Aphrodisiac plants can enhance such a ritual of sharing in love and intimacy…Herbs that have aphrodisiac properties potentiate physical passion.” Plants have been used historically in every culture and after taking this class, her students will be well equipped to their own research.

For decades, Boardwine has delighted in offering to her many students and clients her perspective on medicinal plants with healing benefits specific to their needs. Her encouragement to find health and beauty in the world of plants has touched the lives of so many from the greater D.C. metro area.

Water is essential to our health, and every cell in our body. Rituals performed using water are as ancient as man. It changes the structure as it takes on the energy of the words directed at it, noting Masaru Emoto. Therefore, praying over our waters, then drinking it and bathing in it can be rituals for a busy modern woman.

Self-care rituals include making a tea to drink throughout the day. In herbal medicine, one can create formulas to add nourishing herbs (see ingredients below). Simply boil water, steep one-quarter cup of the herbal blend for 20 to 30 minutes, strain, add honey and drink.

This tea ritual is a wonderful way to revitalize the body, mind and spirit. Water is the essential element, replenishing and cleansing. As you prepare the tea, pray for peace, safety, clarity and health, and these will become a part of the tea you consume.

Bathing is another self-care ritual using water as the cleansing element. It is deeply relaxing to sit in a hot tub of water. With the addition of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), it is relaxing to the muscles and draws out toxins. The ritual begins with the drawing of the bath as the water runs in.

Pour in some essential oil for revitalizing mind, body and spirit; lemon is uplifting, rosemary for memory, lavender for relaxing—to shift your disposition while taking your cares away. It is a perfect place to meditate, pray or allow the emotional dump. It only requires 30 minutes to reset your mental outlook, restore your physical sense of well-being and relax before bed.

Water, our gift—a necessity and a ritual—is the essential ingredient to restore health, clear skin, maintain our waste elimination and refocus our day. Let’s give gratitude for the water.

Ingredients for Revitalize and Uplift Tea:

• Nettles
• Damiana
• Lemon grass
• Lemon Balm
• Holy Basil (Tulsi)

It is my belief that there is a physiological and emotional aspect to each symptom, imbalance and disease.  Our nervous system is taxed with the busy “things to-do” list, sleep deficiency, stress of jobs and relationships or lack thereof.  How can herbal medicine, nutrition and supplements help?  Plants and nature can aid the body, mind and spirit to rejuvenate, provide inspiration and balance the demands of our lives.

Herbs are plants that provide vital nutrients, phytochemicals and energetic support of humans to balance, support and tone.  The herbs for the nervous system vary from a gentle nervine like lemon balm to the more intense anxiolytic herb like kava. Lemon balm (melissa officinalis) offers its aromatic lemon volatile oils to our brain promotes joy and productivity, it grows easily and make a delicious tea which “gladdens the heart”.

The herb I like for anxiety is kava (piper methysticum), grown mostly in Hawaii and the South Pacific, works wonders to quiet anxiety and promote peace and euphoria.  There are many herbs known to relieve tension and offer support to stressed lives, like passion flower (passiflora incarnate).  Passion flower is one of my favorites to enjoy in the evening before bedtime to release the tension in the shoulders and promote restful sleep.  Skullcap (scutelaria laterifolia) is useful for busy minds that need a rest and it also rejuvenates the nerves.

There are deeper diagnosed conditions and symptoms of depression, lack of focus, excessive thoughts and insomnia that are challenging to any individual.  Herbs may not be the cure but can certainly be of help to balance the physical, emotion and mental imbalances.

When there is a dark cloud hanging over our heads, we can look to a wonderful herb known to us casually as black cohosh (actea racemous), used for rheumatism, hormonal imbalance but it also helps relieve the pressure from congested cervical vertebrae, compromised by whiplash.  Released, the congested cerebral spinal fluid may be the headache or depression remedy specific to an individual who was rear-ended.  Others may be best served by an anti-inflammatory nervine that I use for sciatica, shingles and fried nerves, St. John’s wort (hypericum perforatum). It may not be the best for depression but it will help to repair the nerves.  To boost well-being, raise spirits and generally promote a happier nervous system, I like to include damiana (turnera diffusa), known as the happy herb and lemon balm, the gladdening herb and bacopa. Bacopa is an ayurvedic herb that is said to stimulate memory and generally feed the brain. It works with antidepressant herbs well and increases a sense of well-being.

For anyone dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or have long-term stress, adrenal adaptogens may be needed to build resistance to stress.  Adaptogens have been used in many cultures to build support, boost vitality and promote chi.  Siberian ginseng, now known as eleuthero (eleutherococcus senticosus), was studied by Russian scientists in the 1950s. They discovered that it fortifies the individual and takes them out of fight-or-flight mode.

These herbs combine easily into teas or tinctures to provide support to an individual finding herself frayed from the worries of the world.  Several herbal supplement companies make capsule formulas which target letting go of stress internally. As always, look for quality products.  When you find yourself in need of nervous system support you may just want to find a local herbalist to consult. However you proceed, you might want to look up the herbs, read about them and always buy quality.  May you find relief from the stressors of life by reestablishing your health and balance with plant medicine.