The Holistic Herbalism Podcast

We’ve come to the end of the “mainstream” top-40 best-selling herbs list! Dandelion, rhubarb, and ginseng take the last three spots.

Dandelion is an herbal workhorse. It’s inexpensive because it’s ubiquitous, and its resilience is legendary – dandelion coming up through the concrete is one of the herbalist’s favorite symbols of resistance and the power of nature. Much more than a simple “detox” herb, dandelion root and leaf improve ...

At number 35, 36, and 37 on the list of top-selling herbal supplements we find bacopa, senna, and rhodiola.

Bacopa is also known as brahmi, and this name is just as often given to gotu kola (Centella asiatica) as well. This is because both are known by that name in Ayurvedic herbalism, where they originate. Both are able to improve mental clarity and cognitive function, and have the same type of energetics as well as growth habits. ...

Back to it! Today’s best-seller herbal supplements are CBD, fennel, and oats. To the extent there’s overlap between these, it’s some capacity to touch on the nervous system – or at least, in the case of fennel, digestive symptoms which can be due to stress and anxiety.

CBD is a widely-known, and yet poorly-understood, substance. It is not identical to a full-spectrum cannabis extract, neither in terms of its range of effects nor its...

Have you ever wished you had thorns? Have you ever felt like you needed to protect your heart, your space, your peace of mind, or your time from a world that asks too much of you – or takes without asking? You’re not alone. This is what thorn medicine can bring you.

Thorns aren’t weapons, they’re defenses. They don’t seek an animal or human out with the intent to cause harm, they hold space and define boundaries. Touch me here, says...

What are the best herbs for happiness? How can herbs make you happy? What does “happiness” even mean? These questions are important to consider before we dive right in, searching for “herbs for happiness.”

When we say it, we’re thinking: what are the things preventing you from being calm & steady? It’s not so much about finding the herb to “make” you happy, as it is finding the herbs that alter your state such that happiness is ...

The best-seller herbal supplements we’re covering today are yohimbe & horny goat weed. They placed #30 and 31 on the list we’re using for this sequence of episodes. These two are marketed & sought-after as “male aphrodisiacs”, “testosterone boosters”, and even “herbal Viagra”. 

While it’s true that each can “help” with some forms and manifestations of erectile dysfunction, in the short term or “in the moment”, they cannot co...

When people start learning herbalism, it’s not unusual for them to begin to feel like there’s a lot “wrong” with their bodies. Some of this comes from a new recognition that symptoms they’ve been tolerating are actually a sign of something deeper, or indicate a need for change. Since it’s the new year, we’re thinking about this feeling of a need for “a whole new body” – what it means, and how to achieve it (or something more realis...

What kind of year has it been for you, as far as herbs & health go? On today’s episode of the Holistic Herbalism Podcast, we’re taking a look at the herbal year in review for 2025!

Everyone’s doing their year-end best-of lists, their ‘top 10 takeaways’, and the like – and we want to join in on the fun. As you’re considering your 2025 and looking forward to your 2026, don’t forget to take some time to think about the progress you...

Katja wrote this essay years and years ago, and it’s still a favorite. Today she needed to hear it again – yeah, you can do that with your own writing, it’s allowed, don’t worry – and she decided to share it with you. It’s about how so many of us think we’re the only trainwreck in any given room, and how we all have That Person in our lives (or just in our minds) who seems to really Have It All Together.

Why can’t I just get it toge...

Don’t forget, our December sale is on! Details below.

It’s time we resumed our exploration of the top-selling herbs as supplements in the US! We're three-quarters of the way through the main list. (Remember we’re working with the 2023 data for the purposes of this series, but I gave some updates about the 2024 Herbal Market Report data in the last installment.)

Our herbs today are valerian, pumpkin (seed [oil]), goji berry, and ...

It’s December, and here are some delightful things we’d like to share with you!

December 2025 Sale Code: CALENDULA
The code for this year’s sale is CALENDULA – use it during checkout to get 20% off everything we offer – all the courses, all the programs, anything on a payment plan, anything at all!

Browse All Courses

The discount code even works for gifts! Just make sure to check the box that says “this is a gift” and the ext...

A quote attributed to Hippocrates says “all disease begins in the gut.” No surprise, then, that gut-heal tea is a major part of our practice! We work with this formula – or better said, this schema for creating individualized formulae – very, very often. It’s not only a ‘digestive’ blend, it’s also a nervine formula: it operates at the nexus between the digestive and nervous systems.

But we don’t prepare it the same way every time! ...

Elderberry syrup isn’t everything an herbalist has to offer to someone suffering from a cold, the flu, COVID, RSV, or any of the other respiratory ailments to which we humans are susceptible. Despite being the first to come to many minds when asked if they’re prepared for winter illnesses, we encourage you to broaden your view both of what elder does, and what herbs can do.

Elderberry is famous for inhibiting viruses by interfering ...

We’ve been running a clinical herbalism mentorship program of one kind or another for more than fifteen years. We have some thoughts! Today’s episode is all about our model for a clinical herbalist mentorship, what we think it needs to include, and how it’s structured to benefit our students and clients most fully.

For context, we do have prerequisites to join mentorship – you need to have your herbal know-how dialed in before you c...

If you haven’t made herbal cold/flu/COVID care kits for your household yet, now is the time! Herbal care kits are one of our very favorite things. Here’s the premise: when you’re sick, it’s hard to think, no matter how good an herbalist you are. So get the stuff you’re going to need ready ahead of time! It’s like taking care of your future self.

Plus, it’s likely that you’re the herbalist in your household – so you’re going to need ...

This week we continue our investigation into the best-selling herbal supplements in the US. First, an update: the 2024 Herbal Market Report data is here!

The overall picture is very similar to the 2023 data, with most items on the lists simply changing position. The overall market had a 5.4% increase, topping out above $13.2 billion for the highest annual sales on record. Direct-to-consumer commerce – via websites like Amazon, for i...

When Ryn first met Katja, she was in the habit of inflating her age a bit. Why? Because as an herbalist – at that time – it was preferable to present as older, even as an ‘elder’, if possible. Times have changed, and now “influencerbalists” dominate the social media world’s public face, for herbalism as for so many things. Staying young forever looks almost plausible, when it’s shown through short-form videos on a tiny screen…

It’s ...

Herbs #22 and 23 on the top-selling herbs list for 2023 were milk thistle and black cohosh.

Today we continue our series on commercially popular herbs, and share our views as herbalists on the actions, benefits, and applications of these.

Milk thistle is widely known as an excellent herb for the liver, and this is a case where the common wisdom is correct. It’s one of the safest herbs out there, and fortunately, it is also widely ava...

When you’re using your herbal skills to help others – whether you’re doing that as a Clinical Herbalist in private practice, volunteering in your community, or even just caring for your own family – it becomes obvious pretty fast that your herbal knowledge is only part of the skillset you need.

You also need to creatively adapt what you know, so that it will actually work in that person’s life. Since every body is different, differe...