Herbal Allies for Mood Support
There are many tools for supporting a healthy, flexible nervous system and plant medicines can be a powerful ally in supporting the creation of new neural pathways, patterns and ways of being.
Chamomile bed in flower at Blue Crow Botanicals Farm
As people we are all influenced by our emotions and moods. Learning to recognize our own patterns and ways of thinking is a powerful first step to gaining some influence over our reactions and then our moods. Plants can aid us in this journey by creating more space in the mind, lending us their calming, uplifting, and nourishing qualities, and helping us to release that which no longer serves us.
The chemistry in each herb acts on the body's systems, influencing mood through the nervous system or the adrenals or the organs themselves. Plants also have an energetic influence and individually we may be drawn to certain herbs that become true allies or friends.
Calming Herbs
Valerian
Valerian is like a warm quilt. It is earthy, weighty and slow in energy. It also has a nice muscle relaxing quality, known to be calming to the heart. It is especially beneficial to people who tend to hold energy and emotion in a tight chest or a heavy heart and is a great choice for those who tend to tighten and brace against what life brings, holding on with muscles, jaw, neck, buttocks, calves, or low back. Valerian is an ally for calming down, slowing down, and self soothing and helping to stay rooted in a soft way. Valerian is well known to be a sleep aid but is stimulating occasionally for some.
California Poppy
California poppy has wonderful sedative energy and is cooling for the tired and wired among us. california poppy does not contain opioids. The whole plant from root, stem, leaf, flower and seed are used to create fresh extracts. The energy of california poppy is a bit less physically heavy than valerian but is more relaxing for the mind. It is know to lessen pain in a very gentle manner and can even be used with children for pain or sleep support.
Passionflower
Passionflower is another herb that tends to unwind and calm the body and mind and is often tried for sleep. It isn't usually used as a single but rather in formulation. It is sedative and anxiolytic or anxiety relieving. This plant is beloved to many as a calming, quieting herb.
Kava Kava
Kava kava is plant from the South Pacific that reflects the energy of its origins in the islands. It is traditionally chewed and fermented, and used by everyone from children to elders. It relieves anxiety on the spot, but can cause some numbness in lips and extremities; not to be used with power equipment or if driving, or in large doses. kava kava is a muscle relaxant like Valerian. Some people feel silly, some love the mind altering effects. Everyone has a different reaction to kava kava. It's your ally or it's not.
Lemon Balm
Another antiviral like st. john's wort, lemon balm, is a lovely calming plant with bright energy useful for times of feeling blue or down or anxious and nervous.Wonderful for children and teens as it tastes so good and is so gentle and soothing. It is mood lifting as well as calming. It makes a lovely tea with milk (cow or plant) and honey. Warm and nourishing.
Chamomile
Helpful for those who feel challenging emotions in the stomach and/or digestive system. In the Caribbean it is used in many preparations and for all ages, here we use it primarily for children. Mild but effective and greatly under-appreciated. A true ally for a restful night’s sleep or daily to put the stomach and the mind at ease.
Roses and Lavender
These flowers have a special soft but strong nurturing ability. Turn to roses whenever some softness and sweetness are needed. They both have a sublime energy that nourishes the heart. Rose is a generous plant for reaching into our deeply feeling side while still feeling strong.
Uplifting Herbs
St. John's Wort
St. Johns wort is a great ally for moodiness, low energy or a spirit that wants lifting. It helps us maintain serotonin in circulation in the brain. Melatonin is made from serotonin so it may aid sleep if a low serotonin level is the cause. St. John's Wort has a very sunny, bright and uplifting energy. It also is a very good nervous system tonic. If nerves are frayed or feel kind of burnt, St. John’s can help insulate our wires. Please note that the use of st. johns wort is contraindicated when SSRI medications are in use.
Albizzia
Albizzia is an herb from the Traditional Chinese pharmacopeia. It’s bark and/or the beautiful Dr. Seuss like feathery flowers are used to help soothe and heal a broken heart or the sadness of lost love.
Skullcap
Some minds are always on and can't slow down or unwind. In this case Skullcap may be the perfect nervine ally. It is used like St. John's Wort as a nervous system tonic, but works more to quiet the mind while maintaining its clarity. Helpful for those who find themselves overthinking, ruminating, or using the mind intensely and feeling unable to stop. Skullcap allows us the space to drop into the body and be present with feelings.
Damiana
Damiana is a consciousness expander with a more spacious energy. People who love cannabis but don't want the psychotropic or foggy aspect might enjoy Damiana. It also increases neurochemistry and is a serotonin booster. It makes a better tea than an extract, but can be used in formulas if your mind seems stuck, heavy, or turned in on itself and repetitive.
Milky Green Oats
Milky oat tops are a gentle but powerful nerve tonic. Milky oats are picked at their juiciest and made into an extract or dried for tea. They build the sheathing of the nerves. Milky oats are a true tonic and can be used long term to rebuild or maintain a resilient system under strain. Oat baths, oat tea with nettles and any other tasty tea herbs are a winter staple. Milky oats work well paired with many of the other herbs listed here. They function best used frequently and regularly over time, helping to rebuild the nervous system through a period of growth like puberty or after a move or life changing event. Easy to grow on any patch of land and easy to harvest and prepare.
Motherwort
Motherwort is a heart quieting herb. For some people who hold emotions in the heart, motherwort can calm things down but without being sedative, just quieting and calming. It is a very bitter plant but it has a sweetness to its feeling, like a good mother.
Adrenal Herbs
In the case of overwork or overuse of the physical or mental and emotional bodies, or extensive traveling or caretaking, the adrenals with all their hormones like cortisol and adrenaline affect the nervous system and brain chemistry along the HPA axis (Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Adrenal). All this will impact mood as well.
Ashwagandha, Eleuthero
Ashwagandha and Eleuthero are two effective important adrenal support herbs that can help in getting back on track if the above situations have led to irritability, crankiness, exhaustion, depression, anxiety or any combination therein. They need to be taken for a longer period of time to fully be effective but their effects are usually felt right away.
Ashwagandha rejuvenates the whole system and even supports healthy sleep. It is calming without being sedative and strengthening without being stimulating.
Eleuthero has a bit more stimulating energy especially for utter fatigue.
These herbs can be taken either as singles or in combination. Consider trying them separately to see if a strong preference emerges or in combination, for at least a month.
Longevity Tonics
Strengthening the body and energy will also lift the spirit and mood. Try these herbs and see how a strong body can support feelings of positivity and readiness to live with vigor.
American Ginseng
American Ginseng is supportive of energy generation, and helps to rebuild the system if there is weakness. It is helpful also for renewing lung and adrenal energy.
Cordyceps
When people are drained of energy especially in the lungs with shallow breathing cordyceps can be a game changer. It builds overall energy and is a fabulous strengthening remedy especially after an illness.
Reishi Mushroom
Reishi is a great immune support. This mushroom calms the Shen, the Chinese word for the spirit which lives in the heart. It energetically strengthens from deep inside providing calm and stability, helping to generate a feeling of comfort in the world and with ourselves.
Reishi has the energy of a wise king and is a true longevity tonic.
Formulas to Support Emotions
People Calmer has six herbs in combination, Valerian, Wood Betony, Passionflower, Kava Kava, Skullcap, Black Cohosh, Chamomile. One of our most popular, tried and true formulas for stress and anxiety, it is effective as a daily tonic or for on the spot anxiety taken as needed. Small doses over a long period of time may help improve one's resistance to stress reactivity.
Free and Easy Wanderer is a Chinese formula for women who struggle with their hormone cycle and its impact on mood. It can smooth the liver’s energy and the anxiety that a stuck or depleted liver can cause. Free and easy wanderer is a great support any time during a woman's cycle. Formulated with: Bupleurum, White Peony, Dong Quai, Atractylodes, Red Root, Licorice, Ginger, & Peppermint.
Custom Pharmacy & Discovering your Herbal Allies
Blue Crow botanicals offers a custom pharmacy program for practitioners and novice herbalists alike, simply submit your prescription for a formula and we will make it for you in the size you want. We have over 150 single herbs to choose from.
It can also be helpful to try single herbs and find out who you ally with and then put something together with your favorites. Each person is unique but some herbs and or combinations work for a wide range of people. Working with a practitioner can be helpful for creating a well balanced formula and combining herbs that compliment each other.
Like life, herbalism is a journey. Learn the herbs, meet them, taste them, and spend time with each of their unique energies. By learning from them we discover many things about ourselves as well, they are great teachers.
