Online Herbal Remedies Advice
The Healing Power of Medicinal Plants

This online herbal remedies advice article also covers medicinal plants and includes an overview, benefits, types, best herbal remedies, and much more additional information. Many of the processed medicinal plants found in grocery and health food stores which come in the form of capsules, tinctures and powdered herbs comes right from our own backyards! This article is intended to support you to make a more direct connection with these powerful healing plants.

Some simple online herbal remedies advice to start with is to understand the basics. Medicinal plants are plants that have recognized medicinal, curative or therapeutic uses. An herbal remedy is another term for the herbal preparations or medicines used for injuries like cuts and bruises. They can take many forms, including salves, poultices, infusions, and more.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Benefits of herbal remedies and medicinal plants

One piece of online herbal remedies advice I'll give you right away is to look at the benefits. Perhaps the most obvious benefit of using herbal remedies that you can make yourself from gathered medicinal plants is that they're very inexpensive and often times free! The cost of a few basic items needed to make your own herbal remedies is significantly less compared to buying herbal remedies at the store. For example, you can walk into a store and buy a container of salve for anywhere from $5 to $25. The cost of making your own is usually less than a dollar - that's pocket change! Depending on the plants, even buying herbs to make your own medicines can be cheaper than buying them in the store.

Herbal remedies are, of course, powerful medicines that can relive us from pain and bring us healing. They can even make the difference between life and death. Medicinal plants are like the Red Cross coming in to aid you in times of difficulty. In a survival situation, they can be a life saver when there are no modern medicines present or we don't have access to a doctor. Another piece of online herbal remedies advice is this. Herbal remedies and medicinal plants don't just help you in times of illness; they are wonderful for nourishing your body and continuing health and wellness on a day to day to basis.

In this way, herbal remedies and medicinal plants invite us to not just look at medicine as something we use in a reactionary way when we are sick or hurt, but something to use pro actively on a day to day basis, maintaining a high state of health.

Here is some more online herbal remedies advice to consider. We live in an extremely complex modern world. It is so easy to just walk into a store and buy medicine. Medicinal plants can truly be your guide to herbal remedies. By making our own herbal remedies and gathering medicinal plants we directly involve ourselves in the healing process. We are awakening our awareness for self-healing. We are gifting ourselves with an incredible opportunity to connect with nature in a deep and profound way. Making herbal remedies helps us to form a muscle for sensitivity to the medicine plants and to our surroundings.

We're empowering our body's wisdom for attuning to health and healing. We are learning how to be our own doctor and investing in our role as herbalist. By connecting with medicinal plants up close and in person we are saying to ourselves, "I have time for my health." That is not to discount the value of doctors. It is important to know our limits for each of us as individuals, and know when we need outside help. When balanced with making personal connection with medicinal plants and herbal remedies, we can truly optimize our health.

Herbal remedies from medicinal plants can often be more potent and effective than store bought medicines. This is because they can be freshly made and are sourced from the plant in its wholeness, rather than being broken down into parts and manufactured.

Stories are a wonderful way to offer online herbal remedies advice. One of my favorite stories illustrates this. I once made an herbal salve for my father for Father's Day. My dad normally uses conventional medicines for every ailment so when he received this herbal salve as a gift it went right into the "junk" drawer. Being that he is a school teacher he's always busy preparing assignments and paperwork for his students. One day he stapled his index finger while correcting his students' paperwork. After trying several other ointments on the market like Neosporin, his finger continued to fester, swell and I hate to be graphic here, ooze with pus. Pus is a sign that the body is rejecting bacteria so it's clear it was infected. My dad's finger hurt so much that he had to use a different finger to perform certain functions like starting the car with his car key.

After several days of experiencing my dad's anguish my mother began to desperately search for another alternative. That's when she pulled the herbal salve out of the junk drawer. "Honey, try this," she said, speaking with the pure gentleness of the plants themselves. My dad lathered it all over his tender finger and covered it with a gauze bandage before heading to bed. It throbbed all night long. In the morning, when he took the bandage off, the wound and all the redness was completely gone. "This is incredible! Can you tell where I had that wound?" he asked my mother. And all they could see was the tiny mark of where the staple had gone in.

This story is my guide to herbal remedies in a sense, my compass, my touchstone, keeping me connected to the fact that medicinal plants are powerful and that they can truly heal us.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Guide to herbal remedies and medicinal plants

There are many kinds of medicinal plants and a vast selection of herbal remedies. The beauty of making your own herbal remedies is that you can avoid many of the excessive ingredients that are in store bought medicines. Many of them just aren't needed! Fortunately, there are medicinal plants and natural ingredients that have their own preservatives right in them. With that said, one of the pieces of online herbal remedies advice I'd like to offer here is in the form of a basic list of herbal remedies that are fairly easy to make and even add to any first aid kit.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Tinctures

A tincture is a liquid such as alcohol, glycerin, or vinegar which extracts the medicinal qualities from a plant. This is a very concentrated medicine and is usually taken internally with water or some other liquid but can also sometimes be used externally, for example as an eye wash. A tincture can last for many years and thus, an excellent way to extract the medicine from plants.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Salves and Ointments

Salves and ointments are creamy mixtures made from medicinal plants which are blended with oil, beeswax, water, paraffin, and a variety of other ingredients. It's an amazing alchemy. They are used for an array of ailments such as cuts, bruises and cracked or dry skin.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Compress or Poultice

A compress or poultice is for soothing aching wounds, burns, inflammations, relieving pain or drawing out infections. This is a moist mass of fresh or dried plant vegetation set on the skin where a wound is. Compresses are an often forgotten but incredibly wonderful healing agent for a range of different injuries.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Infusion

An infusion is created by steeping plants or their parts in a liquid like alcohol, oil, water or even vinegar. Steeping can be anywhere from 30 minutes or longer and the proportion of water to herbs greatly depends on the plant. The longer you steep or simmer, the stronger your brew. These are made for a variety of uses such as drinking a medicinal tea to making massage oil for sore muscles.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Decoction

By boiling or simmering some water and adding in fresh or dried herbs we are creating a decoction with the medicine being extracted from the plants. I personally favor simmering. The main difference between a decoction and infusion is that with a decoction you boil or simmer the plants, and with an infusion you steep them.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Best herbal remedies and medicinal plants

Some good online herbal remedies advice is to start with the most common medicinal plants. Here are some of the most common medicinal plants and it's synchronistic that they solve many common problems! While this is not an exhaustive list of plants and their medicinal qualities, with this online herbal remedies advice article I've given you a list of 15 plants that you can find almost anywhere in North America. I recommend deepening your knowledge, experience and confidence with a handful of plants before expanding your horizon when it comes to medicinal plants. Take your time, there is no rush. Once you connect powerfully with a medicinal plant, it's like making a lifelong friend.

• Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica): Nettle tea is well-known for drinking in the spring as a blood tonic. Drank or applied topically, this tea can also help with allergies, excessive internal and external bleeding, sores, rashes, infections and hair rinse!
• Common Plantain (Plantago major): I think of plantain as one of the heroes or heroines of our times with its green cape flying in to save the day in moments of emergency. The leaf poultice is good for skin and eye injuries (ex. bee and wasp stings or snake bite), cuts and swelling. The leaf tea is good for coughs, diarrhea and dysentery. I've seen completely frantic patients instantly calmed by freshly mashed plantain leaves swabbed on their wasp stings!
• Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale): For an excellent spring tonic you can eat the leaves raw or boil them for a tea. The leaf and root tea can also treat liver and kidney disorders, back pain, arthritis, stomach aches and allergies.
• Wild Ginger (Asarum candatum): The rhizomatic roots of the wild ginger can be made into a delicious aromatic tea. Savor the taste while you cure your headaches, indigestion and other stomach ailments, colds, and poor circulation.
• Great Mullein (Verbascum thapsus): Mullein flower and leaf tea has been used for coughs, colds and asthma. The flowers are famed for soaking in oil and using as ear drops for ear infections and other ailments.
• Red Clover (Trifolium pretense): Red clover is a very common plant found in most lawns. There's a good chance some is growing within 100 feet of you right now. Red clover flower tea is good for coughs, arthritis, purifying the blood and for kidney and bladder infections. The tea can also be used as a wash for burns.
• Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris): The purple flowers and dark green leaves of this beautiful, tender plant can be added to oils, salves and ointments which heal burns, bruises and other wounds. The juice from the stems soothes poison ivy and nettles and insect stings.
• Common Burdock (Arctium minus): Burdock leaf poultice heals burns, sores and skin rashes and infections. The roots can be decocted to make an excellent tonic for the liver and purifying the blood.
• Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis): Goldenrod flowers and leaves are classically steeped as tea for allergies, colds, headaches, the flu and fatigue. The taste of goldenrod tea is absolutely heavenly.
• Heart-leaved Arnica (Arnica cordifolia): The freshly mashed up plant can be directly applied to bruises, swellings and cuts. The flowers can be used to make massage oil and other oils as well as a salve for wounds and other injuries.
• Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): Yarrow flower and leaf tea is fantastic for treating rashes, sore eyes and insect bites and stings. The chewed up leaves of yarrow can heal sores, wounds and bruises.
• Western St. John's-wort (Hypericum scouleri): The yellow flowers of this plant can be soaked in oil for massage oil and salves, ointments and lotions. This powerful herb is good for sore muscles, burns, strains, bruises, wounds and infections.
• Wild Roses (Rosa sp.): This leaf tea is great for yet another spring tonic. The vitamins and minerals packed in the rose hips fused into even one cup of tea will help ward off a cold, stomach ache and headache. A decoction of the flowers, leaves and rosehips treat bladder and kidney problems, stress and nervousness. A leaf poultice or fresh flowers can be used for insect bites.
• Blue Elderberry (Sambucus cerulean): In true alchemy fashion, the berries can be made into potent medicinal syrup, good for coughs, colds, fevers and the flu. Bark or leaf poultices are good for bruises, swelling and skin rashes.
• Wild Mint (Menthe canadensis): Mint is a refreshing, cooling and calming herbal plant. It's evident that these qualities are reflected in the medicinal value. The leaf tea is good for colds, coughs, tooth aches, stomach aches, headaches and calming the nerves. Leaf poultices help ease pain and swelling.

Many of the best herbal remedies and ways of working with medicinal plants begin with our connections with the places where we live and wander. The best remedy I know of that creates the most profound healing is connecting with nature. When I venture out into the natural world and I'm gathering medicinal plants, I can feel myself communicating with them in a language much deeper than cognitive thoughts and words. There's a unique sensitivity that's gained from slowing down and sitting with plants before even thinking of gathering them. There's a joint understanding that is formed between the plants and I after interacting with them over many years.

I step into the role of herbalist and invite the medicine of the plants to guide me in the work of healing and the plants can feel that. This only comes from a long time commitment and investment in connecting with nature and the medicinal plants over many, many years. I share this with you because you too can have a powerful relationship with the plants with time, practice, patience, simplicity and a willingness to continue learning about medicinal plants.

There are a plethora of medicinal plants out there and even more herbal remedies! I highly recommend you check out our other articles here that contain great online herbal remedies advice, and will give you information and inspiration on working with medicinal plants for healing various ailments. Sometimes it's the simple use of medicinal plants that can often make all the difference in a real moment of illness and pain.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Medicinal Plants Articles:

We invite you to check out our online herbal remedies advice articles below as you continue to explore the world of herbal remedies & medicinal plants and enjoy building deeper connections with the plants themselves. Enjoy!

Herbal Cough Remedies

Simple Herbal Cough Remedies - Get natural cough remedies for all kinds of coughs - the short lived and the tough ones, too. Come learn about herbs for cough, get remedy recipes and more.

Herbal Tea Recipes

Herbal Tea Recipes - Drinking for optimal health! Create beautiful gifts, save money, connect with nature, and keep yourself, friends, and family healthy and well with these herbal tea recipes!

Herbal Tea Benefits

Herbal Tea Benefits - Welcome to the herbal apothecary where herbal tea benefits abound. Learn all about how herbal teas promote health and wellness right here.

Peppermint Tea Benefits

Peppermint Tea Benefits - Bring renewed energy to your health and boost your immune system with all the nutrition and medicine that peppermint tea benefits have to offer.

Mullein Tea

Mullein Tea - The surprisingly simple wild plant medicine for many common illnesses - mullein tea. This hardy and robust remedy has a lot to offer and it's simple to make.

Elderberry Recipes

Amazing Elderberry Recipes! Discover a diverse collection of elderberry recipes that will boost your health and energy. Learn many marvelous ways to prepare this versatile berry!

Feverfew Migraine Treatment

Learn how feverfew migraine treatment is one of the most powerful herbal remedies. The feverfew plant holds a potent cure to the most painful of headaches, just one of the many feverfew benefits.

Lip Balm Recipe

Natural Lip Balm Recipe! From the heart of nature comes a truly versatile lip balm recipe to soothe, heal, moisturize, protect and beautify your lips!

Ode to the Skunk Cabbage

A tale of connection, adventure, awareness, medicinal plants, tenacity, discovery, herbal remedies, and renewal through the mighty skunk cabbage.

Benefits of Echinacea

Discover a powerful and effective wild plant medicine, so simple to use for so many ailments. The staggering benefits of echinacea will amaze you.

Medicinal Uses of Aloe Vera

The medicinal uses of aloe vera are amazing. Aloe vera remedies have huge benefits! Aloe vera is a famed household plant well-loved by many. Find out why it's worth having one in your home too.

How to Dry Herbs

Learning How to Dry Herbs. Want to know how to dry herbs? We'll give you the best time-honored methods of how to dry fresh herbs here, and preserve their essence in the process.

Online Herbal Remedies Advice:
Hazard Articles:

While you are out and about harvesting medicinal plants for herbal remedies, keep an eye out for these potential hazards:

Poison Ivy Plant

The Mighty Poison Ivy Plant! Dispel the myths and learn the poison ivy facts. Discover how to identify poison ivy, learn safe prevention, and feel safe and confident to go into the woods anytime!

Poison Ivy Treatment

Powerful Poison Ivy Treatment Are you looking for potent and effective poison ivy treatment? Discover the best natural options for poison ivy cure plus strong and effective conventional choices for poison ivy remedy!

Bee Sting Treatment

Natural Bee Sting Treatment Discover the number one bee sting remedy that is literally growing in most people's front lawns! These natural bee sting remedies are proven effective as bee sting treatment and more.

Wasp Sting Treatment

Wasp stings are a real hazard, and worth some research. This article details types of wasps, as well as wasp sting treatment, natural remedies, causes, prevention, symptoms and more.

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