Herbal Support for Radiation – Wise Words from Dori Midnight

Kristen Dilley is sharing this: it is reposted from her other blog, The Urban Field Guide. Please repost widely and I hope that you benefit from it:

A few weeks back I wrote a post about the ever so lovely and wise Dori Midnight. I feel honored to have received a guest post from her to share with you today. In lieu of her regular full moon letter she has sent the following letter to her West Coast friends. It is reprinted here in full. I am hoping that Dori will continue to share her insights and adventures here at The Urban Field Guide. To visit her blog for further reading please go here. And please share this letter widely, the content is important and poignant.

Hi West coast friends,

We are living in some intense times- the earthquake and nuclear failings in Japan is just part of it. This is not my usual full moon letter (it’s not the full moon!), but a just little peep about things you can do to help support your body (and spirits) right now. As you’ve probably heard, there may be some radiation moving across the pacific in the next weeks heading towards the west coast from Japan. To keep going, be alive, and not shut down, we need courage, nourishment, and support- make a pot of soup! (and can I be a grandma for a minute and say if you haven’t made an emergency kit, please do?)

I will be posting more recipes and some herbal first aid/community healing basics on my blogthis week. If you have friends or family in Japan or Hawaii, you can pass this along to them too.

Your friends:

1. SEAWEED: eat nori, put wakame, kombu, and hijiki in your soups and stews. The iodine in kelp helps draw out the radiation and protect your thyroid from radioactive uptake.

2. MISO: good medicine full of live cultures, amino acids, minerals, and protein. I’d recommend making a big pot this week, having a bowl everyday and feeding it to all your friends- recipe follows.

3. MUSHROOMS: strengthen your immune system with some shitake mushrooms, sauteed or in soups.

4. Eat vegetables, especially DAIKON radishes and BURDOCK root- stick them in your soup too or make a shredded salad (recipe below). Daikon has been used for drawing out radiation, post nuclear fall out- it’s cooling and detoxifying.

5. BATHS in epsom salt and baking soda (1 lb of salt, with a bit of baking soda 2x week)

6. DRINK lots of WATER

7. IMMUNE support: do the things you know boost your immune system- sleep well, eat garlic and Vitamin C rich foods, and go easy on the sugar.

8. LOVE: send prayers, love, healing thoughts for those who need it most. Instead of freaking out or shutting down, let your anger, fear, and grief flow- it’s what makes us human and feel connected to what’s going on in the world right now. Crying is a potent way to detox, friends.

9. HERBS: if you want to get herbal, some great allies are nettle tea, cilantro (eat a lot of it or take a tincture- it helps draw heavy metals out ), and milk thistle (helps your liver process toxins). Also Yarrow Environmental Essence from FES is a beautiful formula to support the body in environmental disasters.

RECIPES:
Magical Medicinal Miso Soup
Saute one onion, sliced thin, til translucent. Add water, seaweed of choice (I like Kombu and Wakame), shitake mushrooms (dried or fresh), burdock root, carrots, and any other hearty roots you like. Simmer for 25 minutes.
I like to add shredded or sliced ginger near the end, so it’s strong, and some garlic, which I like really strong. You can also add greens, like kale or spinach. Simmer another 5 minutes.
Because you don’t want to boil your miso, I usually put a large dollop of miso paste in my bowl and then pour the broth on top to dissolve it.
Drink and offer bowls to all your loved ones and neighbors, kiddos and pets, family and friends.

Get your Daikon
Easy Shredded Salad
Shred carrot and daikon radish (2-3 roots)
Mix with sesame oil and a little umeboshi vinegar (also a great medicine!), sesame seeds, whatever fresh herbs you’ve got on hand (I love mint or cilantro), and a little tamari. Eat and feel alive and well thanks to the plants, the sun, the water and the farmers.

Take good care, my lovely friends!

With love,
Dori

spring: seedlings, pollen, and your...liver?

Although the temperature and steady downpour of rain here in Portland may not exactly feel spring like, the plum trees, forsythia and daffodils remind us otherwise. As I’m sitting here writing I can see a bright pink plum tree bursting with buds and flowers against the grey sky. It’s a reminder that with the oncoming of the new season, that it is a good idea to reflect on the past winter and start preparing for spring.

As an acupuncturist and herbalist, I have a specific perspective on spring. Spring is traditionally associated with the Liver and Gall bladder; in this post I will focus specifically on the Liver. The Liver is represented by the fresh green color of a plant’s new growth, wind, sour taste, muscles and tendons and anger. Knowing this information can help inform some easy and positive changes you can make during this spring to better enjoy the changing season.

The Liver responds to sour tastes like lemon. A good routine to put into place is drinking a glass of room temperature or warm lemon water in the morning. The sour taste of the lemon helps to alkalinize your body, which is a nice counterbalance to the typically acidic conditions a lot of us have built up during the long winter months, especially with the many fine places to order up comfort food here in Portland!

Eating fresh greens like kale, chard, nettles, dandelion greens and chickweed also help the body recharge a sluggish metabolism. Too much raw food at this time is not a good idea however since it can be too cold for the digestive system, so it is optimal to lightly steam them, or make an herbal tea.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Liver is associated with muscles and tendons in TCM. If you have found yourself to be less active this winter try to implement some stretching and exercise into your daily routine. How we nourish and support the organ systems associated with each season determines not only our current health, but carries over into the next season. Start off slowly with your routine, and remember it’s not summer yet, so dress warmly to avoid catching a cold!

On a recent walk in the woods I saw nettles beginning to peek up from underneath the layers of leaves. If you are a spring time allergy sufferer nettles can be one of your best allies against your body’s response to pollen. In my experience it is good to begin building up your system with strong batches of nettle tea during the winter, but if you haven’t don’t fear! But do begin to take freeze dried nettles immediately. There are specific acupuncture points and techniques that can also help alleviate allergy symptoms. Dietary approaches should include avoiding mucus producing foods in the diet like dairy, sugar and cold food/drinks.

The predominant emotion of the Liver is anger. Springtime is an explosion of life, color and productivity and while that is amazing and welcome, it’s also tricky. Too much movement too quickly whether it’s a longer to do list, or a pulled muscle from not stretching properly, can cause frustration, which in turn can cause anger. Take on the new season slowly and with a still partially inward consideration of what is good and nourishing for you. Take some time to yourself to go for a walk, get a massage or some acupuncture, maybe plan out your garden.

If you find yourself needing some assistance this spring or want to talk about any of this further please contact me. And in the meantime, Happy Spring! We’ve made it!

This is a post from nightingaleacupuncture by Kristen Dilley, MSOM, LAc.

Nurture Welcomes Kristen Dilley

Nurture warmly welcomes our newest Family Wellness Professional Member, Kristen Dilley. Kristen is an acupuncturist and an herbalist with a special interest in women's health. Read on to find out more about Kristen and all that she has to offer:

nightingaleacupuncture.com
503-953-0933
the urban field guide blog

I am a licensed acupuncturist in the state of Oregon and California as well as nationally certified. I’ve completed over 2000 hours of coursework and over 1000 hours of clinic in my academic program at the Acupuncture and Integrated Medicine College in Berkeley, CA. I specialize in women’s health, autoimmune disorders and stress reduction, but enjoy working with a wide range of people to provide some relief to what ails them. …. Or better yet, to prevent anything from ailing them in the first place!

I have been working professionally with plants either in the garden or training as an herbalist for over a decade. My love of Western clinical and energetic herbalism led me to further my plant studies within Traditional Chinese Medicine. I am a strong advocate of plant medicine being integrated into one’s daily life, whether in the garden or in your medicine cabinet.

I am so happy to be working at Nurture and to be able to offer healthcare services on a sliding scale, and I look forward to meeting you! Please contact me with any questions or to book an appointment at 503-953-0933 or through the contact page at nightingaleacupuncture.com.