Be Your Own Apothecary: Herbal Remedies for Inner Self-Care

In today’s society often we place more significance on our physical bodies' needs rather than our inner self. We remedy lethargy with sleep or exercise, forgetting a pivotal part of the body in the process, our heart, soul, and mind. Truthfully, it can be difficult to find time to attend to one’s inner self or pick a point to start, oftentimes resulting in an inevitable burnout.

However, our heart/soul/mind’s vitality and our essence of self are important too! Self-care starts with the acknowledgment of its importance for overall well-being, with awareness then comes action. One way to remedy a racing and fidgety inner self would be through the natural power of herbal remedies.

An apothecary: Someone who preps and sells drugs and other ingredient compounds for medicinal use. A person with knowledge of the healing properties for certain ingredients (herbal remedies).

We’ve prepared a few tidbits of knowledge in digestible bites ahead for you. You can use this information well to bring healing to yourself! Are you ready to be your own apothecary, mending your heart, mind, and soul in the process?

What is your inner self?

Your inner self makes up the psyche of your past experiences, trauma, beautiful memories, childhood, and otherwise. It is the child in you aching to learn, grow and experience more of the world. Your inner self can directly affect your wellbeing. Whatever mental strain, stress, burdens, and pains you experience in your daily life can build upon your soul and in essence your inner self.

By being aware and maintaining a healthy relationship with your inner self you might discover more about yourself than you ever imagined. Why you function the way you do, why you react certain ways to varying on social situations and environments. Establishing boundaries with safety and stressors with healing and awareness can lead to greater protection of the heart which can strengthen courage, openness, connection with other beings, as well as promote a healthier heart, in turn, mending and strengthening your body in the process.

Why herbal remedies

If you look at your inner self as a pivotal part of self-care, it will have a greater effect on your moods, thoughts, and mindsets. Attending to our inner self will not only build a healthier bond with self but can directly link to energy levels, digestive and immune systems. As our physical self can damage or heal our emotional and inner self, your inner self can also decrease or uplight your physical self.

This path of self-enlightenment is certainly not just a stroll by the peonies. It will require sweat and most of the time tears (just as going to the gym for your body might acquire). If you’re willing to believe in yourself and trust in us, you’ll be so much better, and happier for it. Through the use of herbal remedies, you can heal with the process of aroma, touch, sight, and taste. We believe this paving journey doesn’t have to be completely bitter but can tend to the softness and sweetness natural medicine will bring to your soul.

Healing herbal remedies can directly (and indirectly) affect many things, to protect, soothe and strengthen your heart’s inner self. These are the 3 herbal remedies we will dive into today.

• Hawthorn berry, leaf, and flower for protection
• Linden flower and bract for relaxation
• Tulsi leaf for realignment

A dive into 3 herbal remedies

Hawthorn Berry, Leaf, and Flower for Protection

It comes in the name, Haw-thorn. Thorns are symbolic of hardiness and serve as a protection for plants and animals alike in nature. It resembles boundaries and protection of the inner self. The walls we build to protect ourselves. While thorns can require caution and patience to clear. Thorns also allow us strength, compassionate ferocity in the self and for others. It brings out courage and highlights personal needs and space when applied correctly.

Hawthorn is a plant of nurturing (and of course healing), it allows us to build a nest of healing and homeliness to protect what we should hold dear (our inner self), there can be respect and gentleness where thorns lay. It allows us to be held in protective forces while healing from past trauma that we work through each day at our own pace. Allowing us to grieve and be held simultaneously.

The leaves, berries, and flowers of the hawthorn come from the rose family, fittingly so, as such beauty and uniquely fragranced extravagance should be treasured and protected with healthy boundaries and means (same goes to you, reader). So how can we benefit from Hawthorn's enticing properties? You can do so by an overnight infusion (a tea).

Overnight infusion for Hawthorn tea

Ingredients

2 large tablespoons of organic hawthorn Leaf, Berry, and Flower

1 pint (in the form of a jar or lidded mug)

Springwater

Directions

1. Fill a pint jar with 2 generous tablespoons of hawthorn leaf, berry mixture and flower.
2. Pour boiling water on the mixture and set for overnight brewing.
3. Strain the next morning and sip to your content. This can be warmed or drunk as is.

Linden Flower and Bract for Relaxation

This plant is known to relax and relieve tension to soothe heartache or torment. In the past Linden trees were a place of gathering to find solutions and peace. Its leaves are heart-shaped, fittingly a herbal substance to remedy those who are overburdened stressed, and restless. The way to infuse this herbal ingredient in your life can be via soaking in its calming benefits in a bath. Baths drawn by Linden bring openness and love. Take a deep breath of this tea bath’s aroma and it will feel like all that restlessness melts away.

Bath Tea of Linden

Ingredients

1-2 cup fulls of organic linden flowers and bracts

1 medium undyed cloth drawstring bag (you can use Innerfyre’s drawstring pouch for similar results)

Directions

1. Fill the drawstring bag with the Linden flowers and bract and tie it off.
2. Place your “tea bag” into the bath.
3. Fill the bathtub
4. Immerse yourself in the aromatic beauty of Linden and soak in it’s benefits

Optional: During this time, take some deep breaths and envision all the love you have for your friends, family, and partner, now pour that love onto yourself!

Tulsi Leaf for Realignment

Tulsi nudges the body and mind towards jubilation and liveliness. It is a substance that helps the body to adapt to stress, it also has digestive and relaxing properties, promoting receptivity and strengthening our core sense of self. When stress is relieved our fears no longer align with our very physical self. It detaches from our psyche and loosens its hold on our body and gives reign to other things like a better functioning digestive and immune system. This also benefits our nervous system greatly and gives way to freer actions without being weighed down by the weight of our fears and emotional burdens.

Tulsi Tea

Ingredients

1 large tablespoon of tulsi leaf

1 pint (in the form of a jar or lidded mug)

Springwater

Directions

1. Fill the jar with 1 large tablespoon of tulsi leaf.
2. Pour boiling water into the jar, and leave for 15-20 minutes.
3. Strain and enjoy the nourishing effects and perceptive focus Tulsi will bring.

These herbal tea remedies only skim the surface of the many possibilities nature offers. Of course, there are other ways to nurture your inner self, like lighting a candle for yourself, taking a walk by a nostalgic and memorable place personal to yourself, or even just having a few minutes to yourself before bed to reflect, meditate, or journal. The possibilities are endless!

However, knowing once you’ve acknowledged your inner self working a little something-something into your routine can be an easy way to start. By being your own apothecary and brewing your own teas, or drawing a comforting bath with a few extra steps, can be your redemption to a healthier mind and, in turn, healthier body!