This episode shares practical information about the Herbalism, PTSD and Traumatic Stress Course that is launching on Saturday 22nd March! Learn more about the modules and the content of the training and why this course matters.

Links & resources from this episode

• Herbalism, PTSD and Traumatic Stress Course – https://solidarityapothecary.org/herbalismandptsdcourse/
• Join the course waiting list – https://mailtrain.solidarityapothecary.org/subscription/fmbLcOZlJ

Find them all at solidarityapothecary.org/podcast/

Support the show

Music from Sole & DJ Pain – Battle of Humans | Plant illustrations by @amani_writes | In solidarity, please subscribe, rate & review this podcast wherever you listen.

Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast with your host, Nicole Rose, from the

Solidarity Apothecary.

This is your place for all things plants and

liberation.

Let's get started.

Hello. Welcome back to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast.

On today's episode, I'm going to be talking about the Herbalism PTSD and traumatic stress

course.

And I'm always.

I always feel like I talk about the course too much in this, like, promotion time.

But then people are like, oh, my God, you launched a course.

Like, oh, ****, I miss the enrollment.

And then, yeah, people are just like, you need

to talk about it regularly, all the time.

So I'm just.

Yeah, I'm just trying much better with this,

like, whole marketing shebang to.

Yeah.

To promote the course because obviously, you know, the family need the funds and things,

and the Solidarity Apothecary depends on this course for, you know, all of the other work

that I do in terms of supporting people experiencing state violence.

But I also just desperately and deeply want it to serve people because it has.

And I'm going to be reading some of the testimonials later on in this episode, and I

just want to.

Yeah, I just feel passionate that so many people are experiencing distress and

experiencing symptoms of kind of trauma and how their body's expressing trauma and

distress.

And, like,

obviously this is kind of part of a very, like, human need to survive and adapt.

But also some of these things are unnecessary.

Right.

Like, we can work through them.

We can have support from plants to feel differently.

And I was definitely just smashed with trauma for, like, a good decade through my 20s, and I

wouldn't wish it on anyone.

And I think, yeah, it's part of my work in the world to try, you know, to support people to

access different states of feeling and being so that they can, you know, live the lives

they want to live, whether that's engaging in struggles for liberation or just, you know,

having a. Yeah. Having a kind of pleasurable, meaningful life.

So, yeah, anyway, I'm not going to apologize about marketing it because I know that it can

really, really help folks.

And I think it's a super unique offering.

And, you know, it is.

No one turned away for lack of funds.

So when you're listening to this, I hope you know that it is literally accessible to

everyone.

So if you are in a place where you don't have

the finances right now to enroll, like, that's not a barrier.

I'll talk a bit more about that as we go on.

But, yeah, I just want to introduce the

course, the different modules I'LL talk about myself and my sort of scope of practice and

putting it together.

I talk about who it's for and yeah, how it's structured, how you can access it, how the

kind of enrollment works.

Everything you need to know about the

herbalism and PTSD and traumatic stress course I will cover.

But if I don't cover it all and you still have a question, please feel free to email me if

infoolidarityapothechry.org or feel free to like DM me on Instagram.

You might get a faster response in there.

Okay, so yeah, what is the course? So it is an opportunity to develop an in depth

knowledge of plant medicine, trauma and nervous system physiology grounded in an anti

oppressive analysis.

So it's an in depth program consisting of eight modules that explore how herbalism can

support us through distress and aid in like trauma recovery.

And I, you know, I talk about how traumas like not in the past.

Like it's not necessarily something we've gone through historically that we're still coping

with.

It's like actually people are going through

things right now.

Like you might be leaving an abusive partner right now or surviving a genocide right now,

for example.

So yeah, it's kind of not just in the past, if

that makes sense.

Okay. In terms of like practical things, it is open for enrollment on Saturday 22nd March and

the last day to enroll is Sunday 13th April.

So it's only open for those few weeks.

And the reason I do that is because marketing, it is a lot of work to kind of like

consistently promote the course.

It's also a lot of work to kind of do the

admin and onboard people and you know, people have like payment issues, stuff like this.

And also like yeah, it's just kind of a way for me and my life and the things going on.

You know, like historically I used to.

Well, not historically, but literally before I

got pregnant I used to be going to northern France every month working in a mobile clinic

for refugees.

So yeah, having this kind of big course launch was something that I needed to do like focus

time on.

And at the moment I'm looking after my 10, 10

month old beautiful son called Lee.

So yeah, I just, I'm not able to work full time.

Do you know what I mean? So anyway, so yeah, it's just open for this

time period so really want to emphasize that like I'm very strict on not letting people in

afterwards.

Like I take all their enrollment infrastructure offline just to kind of like

have that boundary.

So yeah, so please Please, please.

If you're interested, join in.

This time it's not going to be open again until this autumn and I don't know when that

could be September, but that could be November.

Do you know what I mean? It sort of depends on the baby and some other

offerings I'm working on and stuff.

So. Yeah, so sliding scale pricing.

I will talk about that more in depth soon.

Zero time stress.

Right.

So it's a course.

You sign up, you get instant access, and then

all the materials are online ready for you to work through.

And you can work through them now, you can work through them in two months time, you can

work through them in two years time.

As long as the solidarity apothecary exists, it will be kind of there for you.

And, you know, including any, like, future updates on the course.

I wanted to create something for people who have overwhelmed and stressed nervous systems,

which is, to be honest, the majority of people living in capitalism.

But that's a side note, but I wanted to create something that didn't create this like, huge

container of time pressure.

So I want people to be able to just like dip in and out.

So maybe you watch a few videos and then life gets busy and then you come back to it.

Or maybe you encounter an amazing herb somewhere and you think, oh, I'd really like

to know more about that.

So then you, you know, you go to that specific

lesson on that specific plan, for example.

Other people like to work through it, you know, in a very like, structured, kind of

linear way.

And yeah, whatever your learning style that's

kind of supported.

So yeah, it include video lessons.

So it's mostly me like talking like the audio with slides.

So I'm like a super visual person, visual learner.

So the slides are, you know, it's not just like death by bullet points, but there are a

lot of bullet points and quotes and memes and pictures.

I've tried to put things into frameworks and diagrams and things and.

And then, yeah, you're able to download all those slides.

So if you like printing them off so that you can kind of illustrate them or draw on them,

then you're welcome to do that.

Um, there's also transcripts for every episode and there's also downloadable audio files so

you can listen kind of on the go.

One of my things, like in the near future that

I'd like to do is to put all the audio files, like in a private podcast feed so that it was

like,

much more accessible for people to.

Yeah. To kind of work through.

Yeah. And then there's Also resource lists for deeper learning.

So if I've talked about a plan and I've quoted some sort of,

you know, clinical study on that hub, like I will include like the original research paper.

I've also got a kind of.

Yeah, it's, it's unfortunately, I know Google

are really evil, but it's kind of like, yeah, just this horrible thing about accessibility.

But it's like a whole drive basically of resources where there's like tons of handouts

and further reading things that are kind of open source and available.

There's also lists of, you know, reading lists and podcasts and videos and things.

So what I've tried to do is introduce various topics in the course and then you can kind of

like build on that for your own deeper learning and also, you know, to kind of like

make it a bit more diverse in terms of like, whose voices are you hearing,

like whose body, bodies of work are you engaging with or, you know, interfacing with.

And I'm obviously like a white herbalist who lives in England.

You know, I mean I have a very working class background, but it's definitely like one voice

amongst like thousands of different people.

So yeah, I wanted to kind of amplify different people of color and their research and links

to their projects and their books who've already got, you know, huge bodies of work on

this topic or like these topics.

So yeah, so there's this whole resource drive for you.

So there's no, there's no like group calls like I did when I was designing the course.

I did a lot of kind of like talking to people one to one about, you know, what they were

thinking and emailing people thinking, you know, would you be interested in this

offering?

And like it was very clear that around like such a sensitive topic like trauma, people

hate doing these online courses where they're like forced into zoom rooms without people

they, with people they don't know where people are like disclosing like really heavy **** or,

you know, they feel pressure to disclose what's going on for them,

you know, and often their kind of life experiences are like very deeply sensitive and

I just, I just didn't want that.

So yeah, so there's no kind of like group

calls.

Like you don't have to interact with anyone.

Like I don't have the capacity to like

facilitate that kind of space.

And I think facilitating that kind of space is

such a huge skill.

So not that I don't have those skills, but just that like curating an online space to

talk about, you know, trauma is like its own thing, right?

Like, so yeah, there's none of that.

And yeah, there's also no exhausting information overwhelm.

Like when I was talking to people designing the course, it was clear, like people just

like, they're just broken with like forums, messages, emails, newsletters, you know, so

there's none of that.

Like you'll get a welcome email, you'll get an email every two months just like reminding you

that it exists and how to log in.

And then you'll get an email when you complete

the course.

And other than that, like, I'm trying to just like be as hands off as possible so that you

can study when you have like the headspace, the energy and the desire.

Okay, so what's inside the course? So I'm going to talk through the different

modules.

So module one is all about like, what is trauma?

So yeah, we look at kind of the reductionist ways.

Trauma is like commonly framed.

You know, that it's a result of brain

chemistry that we are sick, insane or mad, like air quotes.

And you know, we explore trauma as part of the world around us that shapes us from racism to

ecological destruction.

And we dive into common trauma dynamics such as lack of safety and support, powerlessness

and dysregulation.

In this module we also confront the kind of

phrase ptsd.

And we look at this framework of like disorder

and some of the kind of oppressive dynamics around psychiatry and things.

It's like very briefly touched on.

We also look at the kind of history of like

the PTSD diagnosis and people that have like lobbied for it, like survivors of sexual

violence and veterans from various kind of military operations and things.

And yeah, I mean, it's like so hard to not just like want to go there with that

politically right now.

But yeah, we're kind of looking at what is

trau, like, how is trauma commonly framed and what are some like more liberating ways we can

kind of frame trauma.

Like, you know, how do we frame trauma in a kind of anti capitalist or anti colonial

framework, you know,

and then finally I think kind of probably the hardest lesson for most people is this common

trauma dynamics where we look at like what makes particular life experiences like

traumatizing, whether that's threat to life or you know,

captivity, things like this.

And so yeah, we kind of dive into some of the

kind of common trauma dynamics.

Okay. And then module two, we bring in the plants.

So here this is the kind of like setting the scene.

It's like the herbal foundations module.

So we look at important kind of herbal safety information ways to work with plants, medicine

making, foraging, journaling, and more, and the many incredible medicinal actions of

plants.

We introduce a framework for looking at constitutions, tissue states and energetics.

And we also look at the role of plants in the essential foundations for health, sleep,

movement, digestion, and nutrition.

So, yeah, so this is kind of like a really fantastic introduction to herbalism.

And even if you're already on your herbal journey, which a lot of people who enroll are,

everyone has gotten something from this lesson, like, from this series of lessons.

So it's really encouraging you to think about, like, how you're gonna, like, kind of begin

your herbal journey, if that makes sense, while, you know, talking about important

things like safety,

understanding the lingo in terms of herbal actions, and, yeah, introducing these kind of,

like, frameworks of energetics.

Like, what do we mean when we say herbs are

cooling or heating, for example, or drying or moistening.

And then the essential foundations for health is really kind of like drawing on my work as a

herbalist in terms of, like, when I support someone one to one, like, I have a framework

of, yeah, really focusing on their sleep, for example, and then their nervous system health

and then their digestion and nutrition,

and then addressing, like, chronic inflammation.

And we kind of, yeah, we talk about those things of, you know, what are common

nutritional deficiencies that can contribute, for example, to anxiety or depression or, you

know, expressions of distress in different ways.

And then module three is about how trauma shapes the body.

So I've written here on the course page, there are 8 billion people on this planet and 8

billion ways in which people experience and process trauma.

Our bodies express distress in multiple ways, which are different for all of us.

But this module explores common trauma symptoms and the ways that trauma can impact

our bodies, from triggers and flashbacks to autoimmune conditions and chronic

inflammation.

So, yeah, in this kind of module, we're kind of getting an understanding of, like, how can

these, like, distressing, difficult life experiences, like, how do they sort of impact

our kind of physiology?

And I've got a framework around how the body expresses distress.

So we're looking at things like hyperarousal, you know, like rage and anxiety and

irritability and anxiety.

We're looking at kind of changes in worldview,

like, you know, not trusting people, not trusting the world, hyper vigilance, things

like this.

You know, we might be looking at sleep disturbances.

That's like a very common pattern of PTSD and trauma.

We might be looking at memories, trigger and triggers, for example, so looking at how

trauma literally affects, like, brain physiology, how we integrate Traumatic

memories, how we process them.

Yeah, it's kind of just like, again, super comprehensive.

Like, lots of people find it really interesting.

And then there's a lesson around trauma, chronic illness and inflammation.

So how these kind of like processes of, you know, activation in the body can lead to

chronic illness.

You know, whether that's hypertension, like

high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes, for example,

from, you know, the body being in this kind of sympathetic fight or flight state

consistently.

Okay. And so then module 4 is called how we can shape it back.

So in this module, we take a deep look into the understanding of nervous system

physiology.

We look at different frameworks for describing states of being, such as polyvagal theory,

which is a framework for understanding how the autonomic nervous system has evolved to keep

us safe and alive.

We introduced the roles of plant medicine in shifting how we feel and explore some of the

goals we can aspire to in healing and feeling differently.

So in this module,

excuse me, there is like, the focus is this like, nervous system deep dive.

So I'm trying not to be like, too geeky, but I think it also satisfies people that are geeky,

like, are, you know, like kind of a bit more like biomedical.

So understanding the sort of different branches of the nervous system and, you know,

like networks of nerves and the tissues, they innovate and stuff.

And, you know, like, what are these kind of different states?

What do they look like in terms of parasympathetic, this rest and digest state

versus fight or flight.

And then looking at this layer of polyvagal

theory of different nervous system states that you've probably come across in popular

culture, like fight and flight and freeze.

But we also look at mixed states like shutdown and play and stillness.

And yeah, it's a really, really helpful theory for people trying to understand how they are

feeling.

And also that then indic.

What they might need and, you know, how we can move to a state of what polyvagal theory calls

safe and social.

Like, how are we feeling able to kind of

connect with others?

So, yeah, so there's like comprehensive deep dive into that stuff.

And then there's just a small lesson about healing goals and talking about kind of, you

know, like, there's lots of like **** on the Internet about, you know, just like the whole

world is traumatic.

You just have to get on with it.

Like, everyone's traumatizing capitalism,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And it's just like really, really, really

deeply frustrates me because, like,

it is possible to still find the world distressing and Engage with the horrors of the

world and not shut down,

you know, and shutting down is a survival mechanism.

Like it is impossible to.

It is possible to engage with those horrors

and still be like operating from a place of safe and social.

And you're focused and you can do the work, you know, and you can like move in and out of

states.

You can soothe yourself when you're triggered,

for example,

you know what you need in a certain moment.

And that, yeah, experiencing certain kind of expressions of distress is just like, not.

It doesn't have to be that way, if that makes sense.

So yeah, it's like setting kind of goals for yourself of like, how do you want to feel?

Okay. And then module 5 is like collective responses to traumatic stress.

So here we introduce a framework exploring radical responses to traumatic stress.

We look at the many individual and collective practices that can aid trauma recovery.

Plant medicines are like one tool in the toolbox.

And in this module we look at their role in each of these necessary stages to help explore

the diverse role of plant medicines in trauma recovery.

So yeah, I kind of like developed this framework and I talk in the course about what

the different, the whole ton of influences that have, you know, fed into the design of

this framework.

But it's kind of based around like release.

So how do we kind of like release trauma from

the body? How do we like release kind of like activation

and energy and distress and then rest and renew?

So after any kind of like traumatic experience or period of ongoing stress, like we generally

need like a period of rest.

And when we don't have that, that's when, you

know, we're heading into territory of like deep, deep burnout and chronic illness, for

example,

and then reconnect is all about this safe and social state.

How do we work through trauma to be able to have healthy relationships with people, for

example? And this is where we talk about relationships

with plants.

Because it's not just humans.

The non human world can bring so much to us

and then there's finally resistance.

There's no point going through this trauma and

doing all this healing work if that trauma is just continuing to harm people.

So it's like, how do we get the kind of root causes of these sources of trauma?

And I included this module because plant medicines are not enough.

They are a fantastic, amazing, incredible life changing tool.

But we need much bigger social change and we need collective care and mutual aid and

support.

So that's kind of what this module's about.

And you can see in each of the lessons where plant medicines are part of that that.

Okay. And then, yeah, module six, we start to get deep with the plants.

So, yeah, this is when we begin our series of lessons, taking a deep dive into nervines.

So these are plant medicines with an affinity with the nervous system.

So we introduce herbs which enable our body to feel calmer and grounded, prepare us for sleep

and allow us to move into a more parasympathetic or rest and digest state.

We also look at nervine tonics.

So herbs which act to tonify, strengthen and

restore the proper structure and function of the nervous system.

They are a key tool in enduring and recovering from traumatic stress.

So there's a kind of introductory lesson all about working with nervines.

Like, where do you start? How do you choose that herb?

What factors do you need to consider?

All of those things, safety things, stuff like that.

And then we have this like, deep dive into relaxant nervines and then a deep dive into

nerve tonics.

So, yeah, each plant profile,

there's 32 plants that are like profiled in detail.

So they're all kind of like filmed separately.

And again, I'm sort of talking through slides,

but you can, you know, download them.

So we look at the kind of plant chemistry, we look at the medicinal actions,

we look at how to work with the plant as a nervine.

Sort of like recommended ways to work with the plant.

And like, you know, there's like a lot of nuance there from a lot of experience that

I've got working with these, with these herbs.

And yeah, and then I kind of introduced some of the research that's available around them.

And yeah, they're all, you know, they're all quite like comprehensive.

They're definitely a work in progress.

Like, you know, I would really like to update

them sometime.

Like, new information's coming out all the

time about plants,

but yeah, they're really, really comprehensive introduction to these amazing plants.

And then module seven is like basically a part two of this.

So this is when we explore are kind of hypnotic or sedative nerve irons.

So these are herbs that can help us kind of induce a stronger relaxant effect and like a

deep and healing state of sleep.

We also take a deep dive into cardiac nervines.

So these are herbs that have an affinity with the heart and the cardiovascular system.

And then we also explore stimulating nervines.

So these are herbs that can have a sort of

direct stimulatory effect on the nervous system,

which are kind of appropriate in certain contexts.

And again, yeah, 32 plants all together of these nervine steep dives.

So yeah, you'll, you know, you'll get to know several of them and hopefully begin working

with them in your life.

And then module 8 is all about practically working with plant medicines.

So this module introduces many of the incredible ways we can make medicine with

plants and includes how to guides for making tinctures, glycerites and infused oils,

amongst other things.

You will learn how to harvest herbs and make potent medicine for yourself safely,

effectively and sustainably.

This module also explores case studies of the ways that plant medicines have supported

people with PTSD and traumatic stress in their lives, giving us a clearer idea of effective

ways to support ourselves with plant medicines.

Over time, you will make an implementation plan for yourself and identify clear next

steps to put the program into practice.

So yeah, so this module,

there's a really fun lesson all about kind of like sustainable foraging and ethical foraging

and wildcrafting.

The working with plant medicine and practice

is just like, like so much there about making medicines, you know, and a lot of herbalists,

like all herbalist training will or should include medicine making.

But you know, I have worked, I have been a medicine maker for a really long time at a

massive scale.

You know, we distributed 17,000 medicines

during the invasion of Ukraine.

Like I've made like thousands of medicines for distribution with our clinic in northern

France,

you know, and just made loads of medicines for my family and their clients and my herbal care

packages for people experiencing state violence and stuff.

Like I am a very like zero fluff teacher.

Like you will not find extra information that's just there to like soothe the teacher's

ego.

You know, like it's all super practical tips

of like what you need.

Here's the folk method of how to make this

tincture.

You know, shove these herbs in a jar and cover it with vodka.

Here's the standardized way to do it.

Here's how you weigh and measure them and

blah, blah, blah.

So yeah, you'll kind of have a, have a pick and mix.

But yeah, this is all about kind of putting the course into practice.

So that's it, that's the, that's the different modules.

I just wanted to kind of, yeah, keep going really, of why the course matters.

So yeah, there was one testimony that I've put on the, on the course page from someone called

Ash that says this course was incredible.

I learned so much about myself and my brain

despite having PTSD my entire life and being in therapy on and off for decades as well as I

did herbalism and supporting all the folks like me.

Nicole has written a love letter to the suffering and covered it in rose petals.

I cannot recommend it enough.

So yeah, you might be wondering if the course is for you.

And I kind of have identified like two groups of people that will really, really benefit

from the course.

So it's folks who are like experiencing PTSD

or traumatic stress, so you're seeking relief from that.

And then it's also folks who want to show up for others experiencing trauma.

And as we know, a lot of people fit into of those categories.

A lot of people are engaged in amazing sort of solidarity and care work because of what

they've been through.

But yeah, in terms of people that are kind of experiencing trauma or maybe they don't use

that language.

Maybe you don't have that language to describe

your own experiences, but it might be for you.

For example, if you're feeling stuck in like survival mode, you know, experiencing a lot of

anxiety or hyper vigilance or even emotional shutdown or exhaustion,

you could be experiencing things like panic attacks or nightmares.

There's flashbacks, insomnia, anger, maybe digestive issues and headaches, a feeling of

brain fog or you know, just kind of frequent infections and like immune system challenges,

or maybe muscle pain.

You know, like I said, like everybody is different in expressing distress.

But either way, like you are, you know, you're kind of desperate to feel different.

Triggers might feel constant and finding a sense of peace or control could feel

impossible for you.

You might be really frustrated with PTSD resources you like.

Maybe they're super expensive and inaccessible, or they've just been ineffective

for you, or they're just trying to treat something that's in the past and not with the

reality of what you're dealing with right now.

Maybe you feel disconnected from your body, from support systems and from the land.

People talk about collective care, but right now maybe that feels like a fantasy because

you feel so isolated.

You may be curious about herbal medicine, but feel overwhelmed by kind of wellness culture

that ignores clarity, past poverty, trauma and oppression.

For example,

you know, you might be struggling with chronic illness and knowing that trauma plays a role

somewhere, but not sure where to begin with that.

Maybe you've experienced a recent bereavement or you're kind of haunted by grief and loss.

And yeah, maybe you just want to learn about trauma, but you just can't face another group

where people don't understand how you're feeling.

And yeah, maybe you just need something that's self paced where you can explore trauma on

your own terms, in your own body, without external opinion, opinions or Judgment.

So, yeah, if that's you and you're feeling those things, then yeah, I just want to say

I'm sorry.

I've been there, you know, I'm still there

sometimes, you know, with certain situations and things.

But yeah, there are,

there are routes out, you know, like you can feel differently and there are tools and

collectives and communities that are possible to offer support.

But yeah, the course kind of, you know, introduces them.

So yeah, it might also be that you just want to show up for others experiencing trauma.

Like, you can see that the world isn't becoming any less traumatizing.

Like, ****, we can see that.

Obviously I'm in England, but I have got my eyes on what's happening in the so called us

and this, you know, real apparent rise of fascism and stuff.

You do your best to organize support in the face of massive threats from rising fascism to

ecosystem collapse, but it's exhausting.

I know a lot of people who kind of like follow

the apothecary online or support my work are engaged in different struggles for liberation.

And yeah, I know folks that are.

They want to have that kind of understanding

and knowledge of trauma so that they can be,

you know, great kind of community organizers, basically.

Yeah, you.

Yeah. So you want to feel resourced and

prepared because, you know, understanding trauma is essential for navigating the years

ahead.

You care deeply about liberation, but

collective organizing has left you drained.

Your friends, comrades and loved ones are wrecked with anxiety, chronic stress, poor

sleep and burnout that are everywhere.

Yet you feel powerless to help.

And you want to understand how trauma actually affects people and how to help them find a way

out of the PTSD maze.

Maybe you just think herbalism is cool as ****, but you couldn't tell a dandelion from a

daisy.

I hope you think herbalism is cool.

I'm trying really hard to think, to get people

to think herbalism is cool.

But yeah, maybe you just need structured support to build the kind of plant knowledge

you've always craved.

Or, you know, you could be a practicing herbalist and you might be like deeply

knowledgeable about plants, but you were never taught about trauma in your clinical training,

for example, even though it affects so many people that you support and you want to show

up for them in a deeper way.

Or, you know, you just want that kind of more in depth study of nervines or just to hear

someone else's perspective on them.

Or you could be a trauma practitioner.

You've, you know, you've got it down.

You've got your fluent in the language of it.

But you're just really interested in the

herbalism aspect and how that that can play a role.

Or maybe if you're none of these things, or you're all of these things, you might just

feel that the plants are calling you because.

Yeah, I hope they are, because that's what

happens.

Like, we, you know, we feel drawn to a herb often and then feel inspired to learn about

them.

And then, you know, there's often that shift

of, you know, needing that medicine in your life and being transformed by that plant.

And anyway,

which actually leads to the.

To the next section about transform your life

with plant medicines.

So, yeah, this as some of the benefits of the course.

So, you know, what are you gonna kind of be able to take away from this?

Right? So you will be able to develop a personal

plant medicine practice.

So you'll learn to create your own herbal remedies for nervous system support.

From tinctures and teas to oils and glycerites.

You will master the practical skills to build a personalized herbal medicine cabinet that

can support you through a lifetime of experiences.

And yeah, I just want to emphasize this lifetime thing because,

yeah, like, plant medicine can accompany us for our whole lives.

You know, like, I'm however many, nearly 20 years into this and I'm still learning about

herbs, like, every single day of the week.

I'm still taking medicine every single day of the week and connecting with plants outside.

And, you know, it is a tool that can be there for you, like, for your whole life.

And you don't know what's going to kind of happen in the future, if that makes sense.

But having these skills and this resilience is like, yeah, you're really kind, kind of a lot

stronger.

So you'll gain confidence in safely harvesting, preparing, and working with plants

that can help your nervous system.

You'll be able to understand trauma through a liberation lens.

So you can move beyond reductionist views of trauma as merely faulty brain chemistry and

explore how systemic oppression shapes our bodies and nervous systems.

While learning empowering frameworks that honour your experiences, you'll gain a deep

understanding of how trauma manifests physically, from sleep disruption to chronic

inflammation, and how plants can support healing on multiple levels.

So, you know, like most other trauma trainings that you'll do are often, like, very kind of

politically neutral.

And that is so frustrating for people

experiencing oppression.

You know, whether that's.

You're a racialized person or a queer person or a disabled person, like, you know, how

systemic this violence is and this oppression is and how that is affecting you.

But, you know, you're very lucky if you can find practitioners that are using that

language, you know, and obviously there are,

like I've said I've got this whole research resource library of folks that are doing this

work in this field, but I'm just saying, like, very mainstream trauma resources or books will

not talk about this.

So, yeah, you'll learn the language of the nervous system, so you'll develop an in depth

knowledge of nervous system physiology and nervous system states that can help make sense

of how you are feeling and enable you to choose the plant medicines.

Your body would be strengthened by being able to understand, describe and communicate to

others.

How we are feeling can be truly revolution.

I don't know if any of you are in a relationship, but with me and my partner, it's

like, you know, he has been through a lot.

Like, he's very working class.

He is a heroin user in recovery.

He's been through ******* shitloads with his,

you know, addiction and trauma and prison and all the things.

And I've had, you know, my own life experiences and so yeah, it can be a little

bit disastrous in terms of us both being in sort of triggered trauma states.

But, you know, like having that language of like, hey, babe, I'm feeling like quite

activated right now.

I just need 10 minutes.

Or, you know, he knows, like, bless him, like, he'll know when I'm like very overwhelmed and

triggered and I'll just come back and he's just like made me like handmade like potato

chips in the air fryer and I'm like,

oh, babe, like, you know, my love language.

But yeah, just like having those things like

that language and those tools to understand your body, to understand your state, to

understand what's going on, to know what you need, like, that's just like half the battle,

right?

Like, you're just like, yeah, you know, I literally spent my twenties just bouncing

about.

Like, you know, there's like pinball machines

where you're just like fleeing from one thing to another.

It's like, that's why I feel like you're like in trauma.

Like, you don't understand what, how you're feeling.

You know, you're overreacting to everything, blaming everyone else.

You know, just like in wild states of like hyperactivation, fight or flight distress.

And yeah, like, not having the language to describe how you're feeling is like so hard.

So that's why this stuff is like so life changing.

Okay. Skillfully navigate nervines so you can gain an in depth knowledge of nervine herbs

and learn which herbs can help with different manifestations of traumatic stress.

So you'll learn how to match specific plants to your unique constitutions and needs.

So like for example, I'm a very like hot, warm person.

Like I rarely wear a jumper, I rarely wear socks.

Everyone laughs at me because I'm always warm.

So it's like for me, learning about energetics

and herbalism was so life changing because it was like, ah, I need like cooling relaxants,

you know, like lemon balm and rose and hawthorn.

Because I have such a warm constitution that if I take like warm, stimulating plants,

plants like garlic for example, like, I'm in trouble.

So yeah, just kind of understanding like plants that match your kind of body and your

needs is really important.

And likewise,

when you have this kind of like accessible mini apothecary to yourself, it's like, okay,

I can't sleep right now because, you know, I'm going over the death of my best friend like

over and over again.

So okay, maybe I need some passion flower tincture for those racing thoughts to help me

get to sleep.

Or, or you know, I have like really intense

muscle tension because I'm like super worried about money.

So like maybe I need like lavender right now.

Or I'm about to kind of enter a community

event and I'm feeling like super anxious.

I'm gonna have some lemon balm because it's

gonna like be a gentle parasympathetic kind of shifter, but it's not gonna make me too like

sedated,

for example.

So yeah, you'll have this kind of like

knowledge to like navigate these different plants, you know, and navigate which ones will

help you in different states.

States,

okay.

Build life changing relationships with plants.

So discover how the more than human world can offer connection and stability.

When you've had your trust in humans shattered.

Learn to develop long term reciprocal relationships with plants that go beyond just

taking remedies.

Through foraging, growing and medicine making practices, you'll create meaningful

connections that support you through life's challenges.

With plants, you are never alone.

And you, you'll like, you'll learn in the course that part of kind of common trauma

dynamics is obviously like increasing this distrust of other people, you know, and the

exhaustion of like hyper vigilance and like scanning people for safety and you know, like

ultimately feeling like the world is like now incredibly unsafe or maybe it has always been

unsafe.

You know, I talk about those nuances too, but like herbs are so wonderful because they're

not humans, so they don't trigger the same responses in us.

They can trigger feelings of safety and trust and help us move into this safe and social

state.

And yeah, they can give us meaning and relationship and connection in ways that

you've potentially missed if you've had a childhood of neglect and abuse, for example.

So, yeah, I think that's what is really life changing about herbalism, isn't just the thing

you're taking or ingesting.

It is really that relationship with the plants.

Okay. And finally, develop herbal resilience for collective liberation.

So in a world full of injustice and oppression, that can be deeply traumatizing,

we need plant medicines more than ever.

Connect with plant medicine traditions that have supported human healing for generations.

Learn how these time tested practices can help us navigate contemporary struggles from

climate change to state violence.

You'll discover how plants can help us build

resilience while working toward collective liberation.

And yeah, if you don't know me, if you haven't been following my work, then you're, you know,

like,

that's my jam, right? Like, that's my work.

It's like all about collective liberation and, you know, kind of politicizing herbalism and,

you know, working with plant traditions that humans have, you know, had for millennia.

But like, how do we work with them for the times that we're in now, you know, where our

nervous systems are under like vast amounts of pressure and, you know, there's huge kind of

escalating things going on like climate change and state violence and yeah, how can we kind

of build like herbal resilience for collective liberation?

All right, okay, so some more practical things.

I think I might have to do these in some separate episodes because this is nearly 40

minutes.

So I'm gonna stop now and then I'm gonna,

yeah, do a part two and I'm gonna continue working through the course page and sharing

all about the course with you.

So if you've got this far, thank you so much for listening.

In the next episode, I'm gonna be talking about the sliding scale, how much it cost,

this course, what the course is and isn't, and some of the commonly asked questions and

stuff, and some of the testimonials.

Okay, thanks so much.

Bye. Thanks so much for listening to the

Frontline Herbalism podcast.

You can find the transcript, the links, all

the resources from the show@solidarityapothecary.org podcast.