amy branum amy branum

5 Herbal Additions to Upgrade Your Hot Cocoa

Hot cocoa is one of my favorite winter drinks. It is uplifting to the mood and energy and delicious! I love to add all sorts of things to my cocoa. I know you all know about things like cinnamon, but here's 5 of my other favorites. You can use them in combination or individually. Feel free to add them to your favorite cocoa mix or make your own like I do.

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amy branum amy branum

Assessing scientific research articles as an herbalist

As an herbalist, there are a lot of things to take into consideration when approaching the world of scientific publishing. These articles can be a great asset to one’s practice and research, but we also need to be aware of bias and other aspects. I address a few of those things here in this article.

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amy branum amy branum

Decking the halls with Holly

Holly, being that go-to winter holiday decoration, must have some reason besides the nice color of the red berries, or that the evergreen species stands out strong throughout the winter. However, there’s more to the plant than just decoration. It has medicinal and energetic value as well.

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amy branum amy branum

Vata Season + Holiday Season=The perfect storm for stress

It’s here folks, vata season. Just in time for holiday season, and as some of you know, vata season + holiday season = the perfect storm for a mental breakdown, explosion, or some other debilitating experience.

In Ayurveda, vata is made up of the air and ether elements. When in balance it helps one to be more creative, to move around easily and allow change, it can be inspiring and spiritual.

When out of balance, it can increase the effects of anxiety, ungroundedness, overwhelm, the inability to focus on one thing. One will tend to skip sitting down for meals and just grab some snacks to get by, or get so wrapped up in thoughts or nervousness that they forget to eat.

Sound familiar?

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