April 30, 2025 • 14 mins
Arejay discusses the shift towards natural and holistic wellness, emphasizing a systemic approach rather than symptom suppression. Holistic wellness considers the entire person, including lifestyle factors, and views symptoms as messengers. Arejay warns against the misconception that natural remedies are universally safe, highlighting the importance of understanding herbs' contraindications and proper use. They stress the need for balance, cautioning against overuse of herbs and the dangers of "kitchen sink" solutions. Additionally, Arejay advocates for ethical wildcrafting practices to ensure sustainability and respect for the natural world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Arejay (00:07):
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of people becoming more
interested in natural remediesand in holistic wellness, and I
think that's wonderful. And I'malso seeing some pitfalls that
people aren't aware of whenthey're new. So I want to kind
(00:28):
of go over some of those to helpyou more easily transition into
learning about like, the naturalwellness and the holistic
wellness. So one of the firstthings is, like, holistic
wellness looks at everything aslike a system. It looks at the
(00:48):
entire system. So it's not justlike, Oh, you have a cough and
it it's not in the cough is theproblem, right? It's not a one
to one. So sometimes people comein and they're like, what Herb
Can I take for this problem, andthat's not how holistic medicine
or wellness looks at thesituation, right? It's not a one
(01:11):
to one, and we look at likewhat's going on with the
entirety of the person, becausethe symptoms that present,
which, when you come fromWestern medicine, like, Western
medicine is pretty much symptomsuppression. So like, Hey, I
have a cough, and Westernmedicine is like, let's get rid
(01:33):
of the cough, right? Let's stopyou from coughing, not
necessarily, what's causing thecough, and then let's get rid of
that. And where did this thingeven come from? Right? Which is
more of a holistic perspective.So it's not about a one to one,
and it's not about things beingin isolation. It's about things
(01:56):
working in a synergistic manner.So sometimes you'll have there
may be traditional uses for aparticular herb and it may
satisfy like the problem or theissue that you're looking at
that's presenting. But there mayalso be other herbs that you may
(02:18):
want to also have because theybetter support the absorption of
the main herb that you want,right? You also want to look at
like, what's the lifestyle like?Because it's not just one thing
that's causing this, right?Like, it's not just like, oh,
okay, it popped up one day, andnow we just need something to
(02:39):
make it go away. There'ssomething in the way you are
eating or sleeping or thinkingor being, or the relationship
that you have, the spirit, orany number of things that are
all working together andimpacting and they've all
aligned in a way that this thinghas been able to come into your
(03:02):
physical form, right? So lookingat things in a synergistic
manner, looking at things as anecosystem, and not just looking
at one thing also. Let's go backto symptom suppression, not just
trying to stop the symptom,right? Because often it's so
(03:25):
much easier for you to go into,like, natural and especially
holistic wellness, thinking thatI want you to think symptoms are
the messengers, and they're alsoyour body's attempt to take care
of the issue on its own right.Like, it's kind of autopilot. So
you don't necessarily want tostop the symptoms. Like, yes,
(03:48):
some symptoms can be annoying,some can be painful and and a
lot of other things, but it'syour body going, hey,
something's not right. There'san issue here, right? So you
want to be able to look at it.And then again, it's also the
body trying to take care of it.So you don't necessarily want to
stop it. So, you know, you'llsee this a lot with like fevers
(04:12):
and coughs and things like that.And yes, a fever at a certain
level can be dangerous, but at acertain level, it's your body
doing what it's supposed to do,because it's trying to kill off
the invader, right? It's tryingto stop the problem. So if we're
just like, hey, we just droppedthat fever down, it doesn't kill
off everything that it's tryingto kill off to protect itself.
(04:35):
So sometimes you want to let thefever run its course. You may
want to support the warmth thatyour body is trying to produce
and have localized. So it's notthe symptoms. Don't think of the
symptoms as your enemy, right?They are the red flag in the
alert system, and they are alsousually part of your body's
(05:00):
normal process to put a stop towhatever the issue that's
actually going on is. And thefinal thing I want to talk about
that I see people coming intothe natural wellness space is
this misconception that becauseit's natural, it's just like
(05:26):
safe across the board, right?That's not true. There are some
things that actually aren't safeat all. There's nature makes
poisons, just so you know,right? But learning to really
take the time to get to know theherbs, especially if you're
going to be working with themlong term, right? Like, I'm not
(05:49):
saying it should stop you fromgetting started working with
herbs and delving into like, thenatural wellness and stuff.
Like, yes, work with aknowledgeable practitioner,
learn about it. And I reallywant you to, like, as you get to
(06:11):
know the herbs, right? Like,especially when you're first
starting out, learn to look atthe contraindications of stuff,
right? Because there are certainherbs that shouldn't be used
like if you have certainconditions going on, it's not
going to go very well. It's nota very good blend. And normally
you can find another herbthat'll work better with
(06:31):
whatever existing conditions youmay have, or other herbs you may
be taking right? Not everythingplays well together. So it's
really important to startlooking at what all is going on,
what all am I bringing into thisso that we can know, like, Oh,
(06:53):
okay. Like, yeah, I can use thisherb. Or maybe you have high
blood pressure, so the herbthat's normally recommended for
the underlying condition thatyou have is not good. It's not
the recommended one because youhave high blood pressure, and
it's going to elevate that evenfurther, right? And also, please
(07:14):
don't try to kitchen sink herbalsolution, because you can overdo
it, right? Like you can overcompound and effect. So let's
say people are like, oh, like, Iwant to lower blood sugar,
right? And so they're just like,let's just kitchen sink. Like,
all the herbs that we know helplower blood sugar. That creates
(07:38):
a very dangerous situation,because now you're dropping your
blood sugar too low, right? Sowe're always working for balance
in holistic and naturalmedicine, and it's very
important to understand how, howto balance what is there, right?
(08:00):
So just because it's naturaldoesn't automatically mean it
safe. Doesn't mean it's safeacross the board, there are even
certain sometimes the same herb,like different parts of the same
herb, will have differenteffects. And so it may like you
can't just swap out parts of theherb and expect them to do the
(08:22):
same thing, because it doesn'tnecessarily work that way. A lot
of herbs have are wonderfulallies for a lot of different
things, and the different partsare going to be more potent for
certain situations. So that'ssomething else to consider, and
even some of the ways that youprepare the same herb, and same
(08:44):
herb part will affect, like, howit's absorbed, what it does and
everything. So there's a littlebit more. Actually, there's a
lot more than just, like, whatHerb is good for, like,
headaches, right? There's moregoing on. Like, there are
different types of headaches, ordifferent reasons that you're
(09:06):
getting headaches. So what isgoing on there? Like, what's
causing the headache to beginwith, right? So it's just, it's
a lot to think about andconsider, and just something to
be aware of, especially the moreyou move into this journey to
not bring these misconceptions,this the allopathic mentality
(09:33):
into it, right? Everything isthe ecosystem. Everything acts
and responds to each other andwith each other. So it's about
learning. What are the correctinteractions that we're
creating, what are the potentialrisks right? What is the
(09:54):
potential best use, and what isa potential best like way of
interacting with the herb forwhatever using it for, but we
always want to be looking like,it's great to look at the herbs,
you know, for kind of you'relike, hey, I immediately need
(10:17):
relief from this, and that'skind of what we're trained to
do. But beyond the immediaterelief, you still want to be
diving into a lot of thelifestyle things, because it's
the habitual stuff that we dothat's creating these conditions
in the first place right now,yes, there are things like, oh,
like, it's, it's a, you know,where it's like a virus or
(10:41):
things like that, where it kindof it comes up, and it's not a
habitual thing. But a lot of thehealth issues that we struggle
with are more from habitualthings. We do, things, we eat,
things we aren't doing a lack ofcare for our body, but it's more
(11:04):
on the habitual side. It's notthey're usually not these one
off things. So I just wanted toshare that, and hopefully that
helps you, if you are someonewho is coming into the more
holistic wellness, who'sstepping into, you know, using
the natural remedies and thingslike that. You know, come in be
(11:26):
curious, understand that it'sabout synergy and balance and
respect the plants, right? Thereis a intelligence and there is a
power that we should both begrateful for and respect and
(11:49):
appreciate, right? And anotherthing is like, how we how we
cultivate these herbs, how weharvest them, how how we just
interact and work with them,right? Like, I really would
encourage you to not think of itas using an herb. I would really
(12:11):
encourage you to think of it asworking with because these are
beings that do have their ownlife force, that have their own
intelligence. It's not the sameas a synthetic pill in a lab,
right? It's really not so makingsure that we're coming in a way
(12:32):
that is respectful and gratefuland also in a way that is
sustainable, right? I don't knowif you've if you've ever come
across braiding sweetgrass, oneof the beautiful things and a
lot of the ethical herbalists,especially the ones that wild
(12:53):
craft. And for if you're notfamiliar with the term wild
crafting, it's for those peoplewho actually like go out into
nature as it is, and willharvest plants from there, and
normally will also startcrafting like the tinctures or
whatever it is that they'remaking, whatever medicine
they're making with it out inthe field itself. They're not
(13:13):
it's not a grown and cultivatedplace. It's just out in nature
as it is. But the ethical oneswill do it in a way where
they're not taking all of aplant in an area, right? Because
we want to make sure that theplant can come back. We want to
make sure the plant survives.They're not taking the first of
(13:39):
a plant because you, if you takethe first plant that you see,
you don't actually know thatthere are more you haven't gone
to see, that there are more toensure that you're not, in fact,
taking, like the only or thelast plant, right, and never
more than half, right. Becausewe want things to be able to
(14:00):
again, be sustained, to tocontinue. We want to be able to
continue to have this plant inour lives, and for it to
continue to grow and thrive. Sothat's what I wanted to share
today. Thank you so much.
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of people becoming more
interested in natural remediesand in holistic wellness, and I
think that's wonderful. And I'malso seeing some pitfalls that
people aren't aware of whenthey're new. So I want to kind
(00:28):
of go over some of those to helpyou more easily transition into
learning about like, the naturalwellness and the holistic
wellness. So one of the firstthings is, like, holistic
wellness looks at everything aslike a system. It looks at the
(00:48):
entire system. So it's not justlike, Oh, you have a cough and
it it's not in the cough is theproblem, right? It's not a one
to one. So sometimes people comein and they're like, what Herb
Can I take for this problem, andthat's not how holistic medicine
or wellness looks at thesituation, right? It's not a one
(01:11):
to one, and we look at likewhat's going on with the
entirety of the person, becausethe symptoms that present,
which, when you come fromWestern medicine, like, Western
medicine is pretty much symptomsuppression. So like, Hey, I
have a cough, and Westernmedicine is like, let's get rid
(01:33):
of the cough, right? Let's stopyou from coughing, not
necessarily, what's causing thecough, and then let's get rid of
that. And where did this thingeven come from? Right? Which is
more of a holistic perspective.So it's not about a one to one,
and it's not about things beingin isolation. It's about things
(01:56):
working in a synergistic manner.So sometimes you'll have there
may be traditional uses for aparticular herb and it may
satisfy like the problem or theissue that you're looking at
that's presenting. But there mayalso be other herbs that you may
(02:18):
want to also have because theybetter support the absorption of
the main herb that you want,right? You also want to look at
like, what's the lifestyle like?Because it's not just one thing
that's causing this, right?Like, it's not just like, oh,
okay, it popped up one day, andnow we just need something to
(02:39):
make it go away. There'ssomething in the way you are
eating or sleeping or thinkingor being, or the relationship
that you have, the spirit, orany number of things that are
all working together andimpacting and they've all
aligned in a way that this thinghas been able to come into your
(03:02):
physical form, right? So lookingat things in a synergistic
manner, looking at things as anecosystem, and not just looking
at one thing also. Let's go backto symptom suppression, not just
trying to stop the symptom,right? Because often it's so
(03:25):
much easier for you to go into,like, natural and especially
holistic wellness, thinking thatI want you to think symptoms are
the messengers, and they're alsoyour body's attempt to take care
of the issue on its own right.Like, it's kind of autopilot. So
you don't necessarily want tostop the symptoms. Like, yes,
(03:48):
some symptoms can be annoying,some can be painful and and a
lot of other things, but it'syour body going, hey,
something's not right. There'san issue here, right? So you
want to be able to look at it.And then again, it's also the
body trying to take care of it.So you don't necessarily want to
stop it. So, you know, you'llsee this a lot with like fevers
(04:12):
and coughs and things like that.And yes, a fever at a certain
level can be dangerous, but at acertain level, it's your body
doing what it's supposed to do,because it's trying to kill off
the invader, right? It's tryingto stop the problem. So if we're
just like, hey, we just droppedthat fever down, it doesn't kill
off everything that it's tryingto kill off to protect itself.
(04:35):
So sometimes you want to let thefever run its course. You may
want to support the warmth thatyour body is trying to produce
and have localized. So it's notthe symptoms. Don't think of the
symptoms as your enemy, right?They are the red flag in the
alert system, and they are alsousually part of your body's
(05:00):
normal process to put a stop towhatever the issue that's
actually going on is. And thefinal thing I want to talk about
that I see people coming intothe natural wellness space is
this misconception that becauseit's natural, it's just like
(05:26):
safe across the board, right?That's not true. There are some
things that actually aren't safeat all. There's nature makes
poisons, just so you know,right? But learning to really
take the time to get to know theherbs, especially if you're
going to be working with themlong term, right? Like, I'm not
(05:49):
saying it should stop you fromgetting started working with
herbs and delving into like, thenatural wellness and stuff.
Like, yes, work with aknowledgeable practitioner,
learn about it. And I reallywant you to, like, as you get to
(06:11):
know the herbs, right? Like,especially when you're first
starting out, learn to look atthe contraindications of stuff,
right? Because there are certainherbs that shouldn't be used
like if you have certainconditions going on, it's not
going to go very well. It's nota very good blend. And normally
you can find another herbthat'll work better with
(06:31):
whatever existing conditions youmay have, or other herbs you may
be taking right? Not everythingplays well together. So it's
really important to startlooking at what all is going on,
what all am I bringing into thisso that we can know, like, Oh,
(06:53):
okay. Like, yeah, I can use thisherb. Or maybe you have high
blood pressure, so the herbthat's normally recommended for
the underlying condition thatyou have is not good. It's not
the recommended one because youhave high blood pressure, and
it's going to elevate that evenfurther, right? And also, please
(07:14):
don't try to kitchen sink herbalsolution, because you can overdo
it, right? Like you can overcompound and effect. So let's
say people are like, oh, like, Iwant to lower blood sugar,
right? And so they're just like,let's just kitchen sink. Like,
all the herbs that we know helplower blood sugar. That creates
(07:38):
a very dangerous situation,because now you're dropping your
blood sugar too low, right? Sowe're always working for balance
in holistic and naturalmedicine, and it's very
important to understand how, howto balance what is there, right?
(08:00):
So just because it's naturaldoesn't automatically mean it
safe. Doesn't mean it's safeacross the board, there are even
certain sometimes the same herb,like different parts of the same
herb, will have differenteffects. And so it may like you
can't just swap out parts of theherb and expect them to do the
(08:22):
same thing, because it doesn'tnecessarily work that way. A lot
of herbs have are wonderfulallies for a lot of different
things, and the different partsare going to be more potent for
certain situations. So that'ssomething else to consider, and
even some of the ways that youprepare the same herb, and same
(08:44):
herb part will affect, like, howit's absorbed, what it does and
everything. So there's a littlebit more. Actually, there's a
lot more than just, like, whatHerb is good for, like,
headaches, right? There's moregoing on. Like, there are
different types of headaches, ordifferent reasons that you're
(09:06):
getting headaches. So what isgoing on there? Like, what's
causing the headache to beginwith, right? So it's just, it's
a lot to think about andconsider, and just something to
be aware of, especially the moreyou move into this journey to
not bring these misconceptions,this the allopathic mentality
(09:33):
into it, right? Everything isthe ecosystem. Everything acts
and responds to each other andwith each other. So it's about
learning. What are the correctinteractions that we're
creating, what are the potentialrisks right? What is the
(09:54):
potential best use, and what isa potential best like way of
interacting with the herb forwhatever using it for, but we
always want to be looking like,it's great to look at the herbs,
you know, for kind of you'relike, hey, I immediately need
(10:17):
relief from this, and that'skind of what we're trained to
do. But beyond the immediaterelief, you still want to be
diving into a lot of thelifestyle things, because it's
the habitual stuff that we dothat's creating these conditions
in the first place right now,yes, there are things like, oh,
like, it's, it's a, you know,where it's like a virus or
(10:41):
things like that, where it kindof it comes up, and it's not a
habitual thing. But a lot of thehealth issues that we struggle
with are more from habitualthings. We do, things, we eat,
things we aren't doing a lack ofcare for our body, but it's more
(11:04):
on the habitual side. It's notthey're usually not these one
off things. So I just wanted toshare that, and hopefully that
helps you, if you are someonewho is coming into the more
holistic wellness, who'sstepping into, you know, using
the natural remedies and thingslike that. You know, come in be
(11:26):
curious, understand that it'sabout synergy and balance and
respect the plants, right? Thereis a intelligence and there is a
power that we should both begrateful for and respect and
(11:49):
appreciate, right? And anotherthing is like, how we how we
cultivate these herbs, how weharvest them, how how we just
interact and work with them,right? Like, I really would
encourage you to not think of itas using an herb. I would really
(12:11):
encourage you to think of it asworking with because these are
beings that do have their ownlife force, that have their own
intelligence. It's not the sameas a synthetic pill in a lab,
right? It's really not so makingsure that we're coming in a way
(12:32):
that is respectful and gratefuland also in a way that is
sustainable, right? I don't knowif you've if you've ever come
across braiding sweetgrass, oneof the beautiful things and a
lot of the ethical herbalists,especially the ones that wild
(12:53):
craft. And for if you're notfamiliar with the term wild
crafting, it's for those peoplewho actually like go out into
nature as it is, and willharvest plants from there, and
normally will also startcrafting like the tinctures or
whatever it is that they'remaking, whatever medicine
they're making with it out inthe field itself. They're not
(13:13):
it's not a grown and cultivatedplace. It's just out in nature
as it is. But the ethical oneswill do it in a way where
they're not taking all of aplant in an area, right? Because
we want to make sure that theplant can come back. We want to
make sure the plant survives.They're not taking the first of
(13:39):
a plant because you, if you takethe first plant that you see,
you don't actually know thatthere are more you haven't gone
to see, that there are more toensure that you're not, in fact,
taking, like the only or thelast plant, right, and never
more than half, right. Becausewe want things to be able to
(14:00):
again, be sustained, to tocontinue. We want to be able to
continue to have this plant inour lives, and for it to
continue to grow and thrive. Sothat's what I wanted to share
today. Thank you so much.
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