Taking Back the Power of Our Own Health

Now might be the time to pay attention and be proactive.

When I moved from the city to the country in 2020, I did a grand purge of everything, thanks partly to a friend who stood in for Marie Kondo, the sweet-natured but ruthless Japanese organizing consultant.

I let go of so many things. I didn’t realize how my Taurus Moon and Rising signs have made me hold onto things. I love to blame things on my astrology. :)

Books were the hardest, but I managed to whittle them down to two bookshelves. Well, maybe three because there are probably enough on the floor to fill another shelf.

I let go of piles of art books and self-help books, and fiction. But, most of the health-related books remained. I’m glad I kept them, and I’ll tell you why.

Has anyone done an Internet search lately for a health-related topic?

I used to be able to search about the healing properties of a plant, for example, or how to heal a fill-in-the-blank holistically.

Up would pop articles from herbalists, energy healers, homeopaths, etc., both well-known and not-so-well-known.

Heck, sometimes I would search for something Ayurveda-related, and my own articles would show up! That never ceased to amaze me because I’m definitely a little fish out there in the big holistic healing world pond.

In fact, my own healing journey with fibromyalgia began with an Internet search back in 2002 when I typed in these words:

Pain all over.

Up popped hundreds of articles about fibromyalgia, and while today, having lived through and healed from it, I would disagree with a lot of that information, it gave me a starting point.

My doctor had never heard the word.

It’s a dumb word anyway, and in the end, it was the practitioners who used ancient healing methods (Ayurveda, TCM, energy healing, meditation) who helped me heal myself.

It was my leaving behind of allopathic medicine.

But now? It doesn’t matter if you use Google, Duck Duck Go, Brave, or any other search engine. Typically, the first page is almost completely western/allopathic medicine minded. WebMD, Healthline, NIH, etc.

Even if it’s about a plant or a more traditional healing modality.

In a quick search about homeopathy, the first article to pop up on Brave (not even Google!) was a negative one by the US Dept of Health and Human Services, NIH.

“What do we know about the effectiveness of homeopathy?

There’s little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific health condition.”

The second was WebMD. They somehow top the list of most health-related searches.

This was no surprise as the FDA has recently gone after homeopathy again.

If you click and read the article, you can clearly see the fear-mongering and one-sidedness it presents. Surely, before you give your child anything (or take something yourself), homeopathic, herbal, or other, you must educate yourself.

But how many parents, on their allopathic doctor’s advice, give their children Tylenol or Benadryl like candy? Most over-the-counter drugs might stop symptoms, but they're certainly not healing, nor are they benign, or do they get to the root of the problem. At best, they're quick-fix bandaids.

And while I’ve just mentioned the word “healing,” why is it that that word is practically forbidden to be used for fear of the FDA coming after you?

Who deemed western medicine the god of all healing?

Oh, right. Rockefeller.

I know very little about homeopathy myself, but I know many people who use it regularly and believe it has helped them tremendously.

As for Ayurveda, the ancient healing modality meaning “the Science (or Knowledge) of Life,” a quick search brought up this:

A pseudoscience??

It’s shameful that big tech, big pharma, and western medicine have such control over these searches.

We’re lucky that we can still find information on the Internet at all. And so, in a proactive manner, I’ve begun acquiring more physical books on health that might come in handy if this information disappears.

The ones in the photo are only a few, as you might imagine. They run the gamut of home remedies to more esoteric ways of healing.

If I had to choose two books right now that I think everyone could benefit from on a really basic level, it would be:

“The Gift of Healing Herbs” by Robin Rose Bennett

I have read and own a plethora of books on herbs, as well as taken numerous courses. There is something special about Robin’s book. It is suited for the beginner and the non-beginner, and I would recommend it to anyone. It could prove invaluable in the days ahead.

And “Ten Essential Herbs” by Lalitha Thomas.

Lalitha’s book (she’s quite quirky!) focuses on ten essential herbs that should be in everyone’s kitchen cabinet. They are: Cayenne, Chaparral, Cloves, Comfrey, Garlic, Ginger, Onion, Peppermint, Slippery Elm, and last, but most definitely not least - Yarrow! Chaparral is the only one I wasn’t very familiar with and didn’t already have.

There is also bonus information on honey, Echinacea, Goldenseal, and Myrrh.

Everyone can easily find these herbs online. But, this may not be the case for long. And so, even better, grow the ones you can by yourself. I just planted Comfrey under my apple tree and have lots of Peppermint and Queen Yarrow! everywhere.

Comfrey is controversial, but I love what Rosemary Gladstar, one of my favorite herbalists, says about it.

For anything you don’t have or can’t grow yourself, I’m happy to share resources with you if you need them. Just reach out.

Another FDA target is supplements. This has been going on for some time, but if there ever was a time when they could be successful, it’s now. A friend just shared this article with me this morning.

I, personally, take very few supplements. A huge percentage of them are just a notch above pharmaceuticals, and many of these companies are owned by big pharma.

I prefer whole foods, sunshine, fresh air, trees, sleep, a healthy daily routine, meditation, doing things that bring me joy, to popping a handful of pills. I don’t believe our wise bodies need or want to receive nutrients this way.

I make some exceptions on occasion, but they’re mostly a few Ayurvedic herbs in the form of pressed tablets or powders that are easily assimilated.

This is just my opinion and not meant to sway yours in any way. I’m including this article so that if you do use supplements, you might want to keep an eye on what is happening.

More importantly, and the real purpose of this post, is to get you to think about how you can take back the power of your own health. This may or may not include the use of a doctor.

The point is you should know your body better than anyone else.

We seem to have lost that ability over the years.

Slow down enough so that you start to feel and hear signals.

Learn about the energy centers in the body and how they correspond to pain, illness, and disease.

So much of our poor health is due to poor digestion. Ayurveda believes all dis-ease starts with improper digestion.

Even western medicine has finally caught onto this. But, per their usual mo, they like to throw pills at the problem.

Food really is medicine.

Or poison. Depending on your particular body.

Ask yourself:

Why do I get migraine headaches all the time?

Why am I always overheated and suffering from heartburn?

Why am I always depressed?

Or, the big ones:

Why do I have diabetes?

Why do I have heart disease?

Why do I have cancer?

There’s no way around doing the deep work when healing is needed.

I know, I know, accidents happen. It’s good we have emergency rooms. But I think you know what I’m talking about.

There are both inner and outer influences on our health. What we take in - not just food but also our thoughts and emotions.

And outer influences like EMFs, chemicals in our food, water, and raining from the sky most definitely impact our health.

If things continue on, we will be losing less and less control over our own bodies. Our own health.

The WHO (World Health Organization) is busy scheming to take our power away regarding health decisions, and the government is all in.

If you want to hop down that rabbit hole, let

James Roguski

show you the way.

Secret Meetings at the WHO

I made the choice years ago to completely extricate myself from the system. It might not be a choice you have any interest in making. And that’s ok too.

You can still regularly see a doctor and empower yourself with how-to-heal knowledge that, at the very least, can keep you from running to urgent care every time you feel sick.

What if one day in the near future, your doctor will only see you if you’ve been fully jabbed? We may not be far from that scenario.

So, while there is still information available on the Internet (and there’s lots of it!), take advantage. Buy a few basic books. Take a course if you’re really interested.

Here are a couple of online herbalism communities that I belong to that I really enjoy. I’ve included their podcasts, which are free, and I think are a great way to learn if you’re more of an auditory learner.

Learning Herbs (Herb Mentor Radio Podcast)
Commonwealth Holistic Herbalism (The Holistic Herbalism Podcast)

And then there’s the belief that we don’t even need to ingest a plant to benefit from its healing. One of the books on my shelf is “Plant Spirit Medicine: A Journey into the Healing Wisdom of Plants” by Eliot Cowan.

I studied with Eliot at his beloved Blue Deer Center in Upstate, NY. Sadly, Eliot left this Earth last year, so I carry his wisdom close to my heart.

We sat with the plants. Touched them. Drew them. Listened to them. Talked to them. Smelled them. Tasted them. And then we went and journeyed to the Lower World to meet up with the spirit of the plant we were with.

The Blue Deer Center is where I first met my beloved Yarrow.

One thing I’ve honed over the years (probably the most important thing) is my intuition and my ability to feel what resonates and what doesn’t.

I don’t agree with everything written in these books or everything taught to me by the many teachers I’ve studied with over the years.

I’ve practiced modalities and then abandoned them when they no longer seemed to serve me.

If there’s one thing I hope you take from this article, it’s this.

You have to know yourself. Know your body, your mind, and your spirit.

You are unique. Just because someone deems a practice to be healthy, it might not be for you.

There’s a mantra that I learned many years ago, and whenever I’m feeling unwell, anxious, fearful, or ungrounded, it always pops into my head. I go into slow breathing mode and say these words:

I am safe.

I am happy.

I am healthy.

I am at peace.

I say them over and over until I feel my heartbeat slow down. I cannot begin to tell you how healing these words are for me.

You can use them or not use them. You can change them up. Find your own mantra.

Whatever works for you.

I’ll leave you with a picture of my favorite healing modality. It needs no introduction.

Nature Heals

Much Love,
Barbara