152 – LAST DAY to join the Herbalism, PTSD and Traumatic Stress Course!

Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast with your host, Nicole Rose from the

Solidarity Apothecary.

This is your place for all things plants and

liberation.

Let's get started.

Hello.

Welcome back to the Frontline Herbalism

Podcast.

I'm in the ******* car park right now.

My son's grandma, bless her, has just arrived so that I can focus on the course launch stuff

today.

So I will be getting to my inbox shortly and

replying to everyone's emails and also spamming people to tell you that it is

literally the last day to join the herbalism PTSD and traumatic stress course.

So if you haven't joined, I'm sure lots of people listening have probably heard me talk

about it to death, but I'm just going to talk about it briefly.

It is a ******* epic course, not going to lie.

It's eight modules all about herbalism and

trauma and the nervous system.

So all the kind of like herbal content is there, like how to make medicines.

We look at tinctures, glycerites, infused oils, like drying herbs, like sustainably

harvesting herbs.

We look at,

yeah, just kind of all the medicine making stuff.

The like, necessary foundations like herbal safety and herbal energetics.

There's also stuff around kind of like the fundamentals of health, like sleep and

nutrition and yeah, the role of kind of herbalism in all of that stuff.

And then in terms of the trauma content, there's like modules about like, what is

trauma? And kind of looking at how trauma is defined

in the kind of global north, which is like a very imperfect term, but in a way of kind of

describing like attitudes to trauma as a very kind of individualistic,

pathologized thing rather than something that is,

you know, systemic and, you know, oppressive and all of this other stuff.

But yeah, we look at the kind of politics of trauma and more like expansive ways of like

framing trauma.

We look at collective responses to traumatic stress.

So how do we respond to these conditions to try and change them collectively while also,

you know, trying to take care of ourselves, which I know isn't always easy, but it's all

kind of connected.

And then there's just ******* shitloads of geeky stuff.

So I go into like the physiology and anatomy of the nervous system from looking at kind of

how it's structured, how it functions and communicates things like neurotransmitters to

different nervous system states.

So frameworks around describing kind of different survival responses and states in the

body, like fight or flight, freeze, fawn.

Like all of these things we kind of

interrogate in a Bit more detail.

So, yeah, yeah.

And then the last two modules are basically 32

plant profiles of herbs with an affinity for the nervous system.

So these are called nervines.

And we look at nerve tonics.

So these are herbs that can help us recover and kind of cope with like ongoing stress and

burnout that support the kind of structure and functioning of the nervous system in different

ways.

You know, whether that's supporting the HPA axis or whether that is like addressing

nutritional deficiencies.

Like, there's many different actions of nerve

tonics.

And we look at relaxant nervines.

So these are herbs that have a kind of action

on triggering a more like parasympathetic state.

So kind of helping us shift from this sympathetic state, our kind of fight or flight

response, to something a bit more kind of,

yeah, steady and focused so that we can kind of be what I call, like safe and social.

So we can,

you know, connect with other humans and feel grounded and feel alive and access joy and

play.

So, yeah, they're all very important.

But, yeah, relaxing nervines are like fantastic herbs that we can work with through

the daytime and also in the evenings and nighttime.

And then there's a big,

like a bunch of herbs that are sedative nervines.

So these are herbs that have a more kind of hypnotic or sedating effect on the nervous

system that are commonly worked with in states of kind of pain, but also sleep.

There's lots of nuances to those.

So if you listen to the last podcast episode

where I bang on about sedative safety, you'll know that there's like lots going on there.

And then finally there's stimulating nervines.

So these are herbs that have a more kind of

stimulating effect in terms of not putting us in fight or flight in this kind of activated

sense, but helping us access more kind of energy in the body.

And also a lot of these herbs have a real affinity for brain fog and memory issues,

concentration, stuff like that.

So anyway, so yeah, so there's 32 plant profiles.

There's things in there about how to build a plant ally practice, how to choose and connect

with one plant on different levels, how to learn about that plant in terms of kind of,

you know, research and everything else, but just kind of more like energetically and

emotionally to kind of have that like, friendship building state with herbs.

And then there's lessons also about how to like, deepen your herbal practice.

So how do you find your kind of crew? How do you find other herbalists, people that

are Passionate about herbalism, you know, how do you design your kind of learning journey

going forward of what you'd like to learn and how do you,

like, take action for plants and act in reciprocity with these amazing herbs that are

giving us so much? So, yeah, it's absolutely jam packed, but I do

only launch it twice a year, so I open it in March and September, like at the spring and

autumn solstices.

I always get asked of why I do that, but basically people just wouldn't join if they

thought it was available all the time.

Like humans are humans.

Like we're busy.

So that's why I kind of open and close it.

It means more people will kind of like make

that decision to join the course.

But I want to emphasise you can basically take

all the time in the world to complete it.

So I know some people like to like bash through things fast, but it is lifetime

access, so you can join it and not start until, you know, December or next year or, you

know, 10 years time, like, that's fine.

I mean, who knows if it'll be online then, but I'm sure it will be.

But yeah, it's totally.

I have designed it.

Like I spoke to lots of people when I was

creating the course about how to structure it, what people are interested in, and like

everyone was just like,

we just don't need any more pressure.

Just something that is nourishing, that you

can work with through your own time.

It's now in its own private podcast feed, so if you don't have time to kind of sit and

watch lessons on a computer, even though my presentations are very beautiful,

you can listen to it on the go.

So, yeah, and I'm also doing a workshop in

November for anyone that joins the course about all of this stuff in practice.

Basically how do we work with trauma in kind of herbal practice.

So, yeah, look out for that.

And lastly, it is no one turn away for fun, for lack of funds.

So you can join it for free if needed.

You can join it for like a small monthly

donation, you know, popping in a couple of quid each month.

That's amazing.

You can have a payment plan spread over like

five or more months.

Yeah, it's.

I've tried to make it as accessible as

possible, but people that are able to financially contribute, you are basically

sustaining the whole of the soldier apothecary.

So all the things I do, like the care packages distributed to.

Distributed to people experiencing repression, like all over the world world.

The Black Flag Herbal Clinic, which is like a free clinic for anarchist Comrades that are,

you know, struggling with, like, burnout and repression, things like this.

All the books to prisoners.

The prisoners, herbal books that distributed

all over the world, again by the thousands every year that the Apothecary funds.

And also I run, like a bunch of group programmes for people experiencing state

violence, including prisoner families and defendants going through repression.

So, yeah, it funds a lot of things and it also obviously funds my livelihood.

And yeah, I'm a single mum and, yeah, it is just very,

yeah, kind of important to, I guess, my survival.

That's a bit scary to say, oh, ****, I better get in this ******* cafe and get these

newsletters out.

But anyway, but I'm just saying, like, yeah,

it is a kind of regenerative offering of your contribution is just going to,

like, ****, tons of solidarity work.

So, yeah, I think,

yeah, that's probably different, right, to a lot of, like, herbal programmes and things.

So anyway, everyone is welcome.

Well, unless you're a fascist or a cop.

But I mean, you know, if you're interested in herbalism and this course is speaking to you,

I think it's ******* fantastic.

It's super well organised and structured, like absolute, like gold mine of resources.

Everything's referenced, all of the things,

there's transcripts and captions on all the videos, stuff like this.

So, yeah, please, please join it if you're interested because, yeah, today is the last

day and I will be taking it offline tomorrow morning to join.

So, yeah, don't miss it.

All right, thank you for listening.

Take care.

Thanks so much for listening to the Frontline Herbalism podcast.

You can find the transcript, the links, all the resources from the show at

solidarityapothecary.

Org podcast.