A comprehensive manual of holistic herbal therapeutics for pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. The book is based on the author's experience and knowledge gained during 35 years of clinical practice in the UK and Ireland, and is written for herbalists and herbal students, as well as birth-keepers, midwives, doulas and other health professionals. Packed with practical examples, the book describes the author's personal therapeutic approach, reflecting how herbs and a holistic approach can support women and their babies from the time of conception until the months following childbirth. The various stages of childbearing are clearly explained with details of conditions encountered in practice and the safe herbal treatments and supportive care that practitioners can provide. Throughout history, medicinal plants have played a significant role during childbearing, and the accessible and extensive material in this book aims to equip practitioners with the skills and confidence to continue this valuable age-old tradition.

Herbal treatments and aromatherapy are valuable, time-proven, natural approaches to a healthy and more comfortable pregnancy and birth as well as a successful breastfeeding experience. Herbalist, instructor, and midwife Demetria Clark explains everything a woman needs to know about using herbs and essential oils during this important time of life. Demetria explains which specific essential oils can help with particular physical and emotional challenges that commonly affect women during pregnancy and birth. She also explains how essential oils are made and their various purposes and applications, including infusions, topical preparations, and air dispersal via sprays and diffusers. Readers will find practical tips on how to purchase essential oils and use them safely, along with a list of essential oils to avoid during pregnancy and postpartum. A reference section covers both common herbs and those typically familiar only to herbal practitioners. Descriptions include which conditions an herb is best suited for and when that herb should not be used. Demetria provides the botanical name of each herb so it can be identified regardless of the common name it's sold under. In addition, she offers basic information on how to make herbal remedies at home and how to grow, gather, and prepare herbs from fresh plants.

Boost your health and improve your self-care with over 100 herbal medicine recipes to make at home An herbal medicine-making guide for modern life that starts with you. Learn how to make over 100 easy herbal remedies at home that will improve both your mental and physical well-being. Organized by everyday needs and ailments rather than by herb, this intuitive, beautifully illustrated guide will help you find the right herbal restorative for you, investigate the root of problems, and better understand your physiology. Celebrated herbal practitioner and best-selling author Andrew Chevallier offers a holistic approach to natural medicine. He will teach you not only to treat symptoms, but to identify their causes and explore the mind-body connection, so you can meaningfully apply each simple herbal solution. Covering everything from poor sleep, common colds, and menstrual problems to low mood, heart health, and safe dosages, discover how you can make plant remedies an integral part of your self-care routine and master essential medicine-making techniques for maximum efficacy. This is the indispensable companion to self-healing with herbal remedies.

A practical guide to connecting with plants through ceremony • Explains how to commune with plants and their spirits through the traditional shamanic method of “plant dieting” to receive their teachings and guidance • Details 8 ceremonial plant initiations centered on common, easily recognized plants and trees such as primrose, dandelion, oak, and dog rose • Provides instructions to develop your own sacred plant initiations and make ceremonial plant elixirs • Includes four audio journeys to facilitate plant initiations In this guide to sacred plant initiations, medical herbalist and shamanic practitioner Carole Guyett explains how to commune with plants and their spirits through the traditional shamanic method of “plant dieting.” A plant diet involves ingesting a particular plant over a period of time so you regularly receive the plant’s vibratory energy as well as its medicinal actions. Adding a ceremonial element to plant dieting offers a sacred initiation by the plant world, allowing you to connect deeply with all aspects of a plant, receive its sacred teachings, and forge a relationship for guidance and healing, benefitting both yourself and others. Each of the eight ceremonial plant initiations detailed in the book was personally developed by the author through extensive work with her ceremonial groups. They each center on an easily recognized plant or tree such as primrose, dandelion, oak, and dog rose. These common plants have powerful teachings and healing guidance to share with those who communicate with and honor them. The initiations, for both individuals and groups, work with the Wheel of the Year, honoring each plant’s sacred timing and connecting with one of the eight Celtic and Pre-Celtic Fire Festivals--the solstices, equinoxes, and the holy days of Beltane, Lughnasadh, Samhain, and Imbolc. Offering practical instructions so you can develop your own sacred plant initiations, the author also include access to 4 audio journeys to facilitate the initiations in the book. She also explains how to make plant elixirs for use in plant diets and for healing. She shows how connecting with plants allows us to deepen our relationship with Nature, access higher levels of consciousness and spiritual realms, and facilitate the full flowering of human potential.

"Partial Stories takes readers to Malawi, where roughly one in twenty women can expect to die of a pregnancy or childbirth complication, despite decades of safe-motherhood programs. The stories of these mothers are told in hospitals and villages, by chiefs and doctors, herbalists and nurses, epidemiologists and healers, and competing explanations proliferate. The mothers' stories are used by elders for technical education and moral instruction at a coming-of-age-ritual, a district hospital's mortality review, and in the reflected glow of a computer screen at an international conference. After orienting readers to urban Malawi's context of therapeutic pluralism and material scarcity, Claire Wendland discusses the ways various experts account for maternal death, showing how their diverse explanations reflect competing visions of the past and shared concerns about social change. She looks to a series of pregnancy-related deaths in order to consider bodies as biosocial phenomena, shaped from before birth by history and social inequality. Wendland reveals an uneven therapeutic landscape that pushes experts to improvise, clinically and ethically. Their creative, essential, and sometimes deadly improvisations ask us to reconsider the "best practice" dogmas of global health and transnational research, as well as the nature of medical authority and expertise. Wendland demonstrates how strategies of legitimation render care more dangerous and knowledge more partial than it might otherwise be"--

Women's health care for child bearing years.

The Woman’s Herbal Apothecary is every woman’s lifelong guide to herbal remedies for common health concerns. Novice herbalists and advanced practitioner’s alike will learn how to naturally treat the complete spectrum of women’s concerns, including preventative self-care, life transitions, and common feminine ailments. Learn how to prevent, soothe, and heal without resorting to medical remedies, which are often harsh, costly, and include unpleasant side effects. The Woman’s Herbal Apothecary contains 200 natural remedies, covering the topics of menses, pregnancy, menopause, aging, fibroids, bladder infections, and low libido, among others. The book is conveniently divided into the major cycles of a woman’s life: pre-childbirth, reproductive years, menopause, and beyond. Each section discusses specific physical complaints and how to treat them. You will learn which herbs are the most helpful for each phase of life and which are contraindicated or to be avoided. Master herbalist and naturopathic doctor JJ Pursell provides her own herbal solutions and DIY herbal remedies. The concluding section is divided by specific common health issues in women, such as cardiac disease, thyroid disease, and adrenal dysfunction. With The Woman’s Herbal Apothecary in hand, you are on your way to healing, hormone balance, beauty, longevity, and calm—the natural way.