Natural Herbal Beauty

Cellulite is a common condition that appears as lumpy fat on the thighs, buttocks, abdomen, and upper arms. While exercise and a cleansing diet are essential for eliminating cellulite, massage will greatly speed the process. Cellulite is an indication of stagnant lymphatic flow and impaired detoxification. The deep, strong strokes of cellulite massage help to release the accumulation of waste materials that manifest as cellulite. For best results, perform cellulite massage daily, or even twice daily. (more…)

It’s simple to create your own custom blends of aromatherapy massage oils. Essential oils not only add a delightful fragrance to a massage blend, but they also impart healing properties which are absorbed through the skin and into the tissues. (more…)

Rest = Restoration. It makes sense, doesn’t it? While exercise and movement are essential for stimulating circulation and the elimination of toxins, rest and sleep provide an opportunity for the body to cleanse, repair, and rejuvenate on a deep cellular level. Most people in our society are chronically sleep deprived. Use your detoxification program as an opportunity to nourish your body with plenty of healing sleep and rest. (more…)

Much of the body’s healing work takes place while you sleep. Without the need to attend to all of the functions of daily life, your immune system and organs of detoxification can focus attention on cleansing and restoration. This is the time when your body does major housecleaning, taking care of wastes that have accumulated during the day and repairing cellular damage. Cultivate the habit of going to bed early, before 10 P.M. (more…)

1. Use caution if you have a chronic disease. Cleansing herbs can often be helpful as part of a treatment program for chronic disease, but check with your health practitioner before beginning an herbal or any other type of cleansing program. (more…)
    

Hawthorn Crataegus oxycantha

Description: a common deciduous shrub or small tree, often used in hedging, with deeply lobed obovate leaves and pink or white scented flowers in late spring. Dark red oval fruits form in early autumn and are usually eaten by birds.

Parts used: flowering tops, collected in spring, and berries, collected when ripe in autumn

Actions: antispasmodic, astringent, heart tonic and restorative, normalises blood pressure, peripheral vasodilator, sedative (more…)

Hemp agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum

Description: A tall, sturdy plant with narrow leaves longer at the base and arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers form in dull pink clusters in late summer and early autumn.

Parts used: aerial parts, collected when flowering; roots collected in autumn

Actions: anti-scorbutic, bile stimulant, diuretic, expectorant, febrifuge, laxative, purgative and emetic in high doses, possible immune stimulant (more…)

Description: a vigorous, hardy perennial with round, lobed leaves and purple, five-petalled flowers, appearing throughout the summer and autumn. The plant will grow to 120 cm.

Parts used: aerial parts collected during flowering Actions: anti-bacterial, anti-tussive, demulcent, possible immune stimulant, mild laxative

Common mallow with its lobed leaves and bright purple flowers is a not unattractive common garden “weed” and hedgerow plant: it will, however, self-seed enthusiastically, so needs treating with caution in the garden.The botanical name derives from both the Latin malva and the Greek malake, which mean “soft” — a reference to its medical properties rather than to any particular softness of its leaves. (more…)

Description: common plantain (P major) is characterised by its rat tail-like flower spikes and basal rosette of fleshy, rounded or ovate leaves. It grows to around 15 cm high and is commonly found in gardens and pavement cracks. Ribwort plantain (Planceolata) is taller, up to 75 cm, with more pointed, lance-shaped leaves with three to five prominent ribs. Its flowers are dark rust with clear white feathery stamens and appear from late spring to early autumn.

Part used: leaves (more…)

Yellow dock Rumex crispus

Description: a biennial growing to around I 50 cm in height with a robust tap root and long-stalked ovate leaves up to 50 cm in length.The flowers are purple and thistle-like, appearing from early summer to mid- autumn and followed by hooked fruits.

Part used: root

Actions: alterative, bitter tonic, bile stimulant, laxative

Yellow dock is generally found growing in wild, grassy places, waste land and along the road side.The plant is able to concentrate iron from the soil in its roots thus making a valuable iron tonic in anaemia: in the past herbalists sprinkled iron filings around their yellow dock plants to produce iron-enriched specimens. (more…)