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 available and inexpensive. Hepatoprotective and even able to regenerate damaged liver tissue, it is at the same time a very gentle and benign plant. But don’t try to make tea with it!

Black cohosh’s reputation is as a remedy for PMS and menopausal symptoms, and often this is attributed to phytoestrogenic activity or constituents. The reality is murky – and has remained so despite decades of argument and investigation on both sides of the claim. Regardless, black cohosh can often help. We find it best to view the herb through the lens of its action as a relaxant. If PMS or menopause are showing up with lots of tension, it’s worth a try and most likely to help. But we can also apply that action much more broadly, for injuries, spasms, and (certain kinds of) headaches.

22. Milk Thistle – Silybum marianaum

• Milk Thistle: Herb of the Week
• Milk Thistle at Herbal Reality
• Milk Thistle in A Modern Herbal, M. Grieve, 1931 – presented in this text alongside multiple other thistles, which allows for close comparisons among them.

23. Black Cohosh – Actaea racemosa

• Wuttke, W., Seidlová-Wuttke, D. Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) is a non-estrogenic alternative to hormone replacement therapy. Clin Phytosci 1, 12 (2015). doi: 10.1186/s40816-015-0013-0.
• Mohapatra S, Iqubal A, Ansari MJ, Jan B, Zahiruddin S, Mirza MA, Ahmad S, Iqbal Z. Benefits of Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) for Women Health: An Up-Close and In-Depth Review. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2022 Feb 23;15(3):278. doi: 10.3390/ph15030278. PMID: 35337076; PMCID: PMC8953734.
• Black Cohosh at Herbal Reality
• Cimicifuga in King’s American Dispensatory, 1898 – has an impressively long list of indications and applications for this remedy.

If all you’d heard (before today) about black cohosh was that it’s “good for menopause”, you might want to check out our Reproductive Health course! We discuss the whole range of human reproductive variability and herbal medicines to support all kinds of people. We even bust a few reproductive-health myths and herban legends. (Hint: vitex is not “a miracle herb for all women”!)

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

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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, different strategies work for different people. Holistic herbalists are never trying to present “one right way” that everyone has to adhere to.

Which means that as herbalists, we need to be creative and flexible. We need to match our strategies to each person’s life individually – and that creativity can be challenging!

That’s one of the skills that we teach in our Clinical Skills course. Today’s episode is a segment of content on this topic, from that course, which we wanted to share with you. It’s self-contained, but it’ll also give you a peek into what our course material sounds like.

When we talk to a client, we listen to their health goals and priorities. We also form our own understanding of the case, and our own thoughts about what to prioritize – which herbs and interventions to try first. Here’s the thing: their priorities are more important than ours! If we discern some fundamental factor they aren’t aware of, it’s our job to teach them why it’s a priority. It’s our job to educate and negotiate – not to dictate.

Sometimes we’ll propose an idea and the client will be uncertain, or will outright reject it. When this happens, it’s not helpful to insist they follow our instructions. That’s not the relationship we have as herbalists – we’re not doctors, giving “orders”. So when the client expresses some resistance, we respect it. That respect may look like offering more information and context, or it may look like going in another direction entirely.

The motto for this mindset is: Support the resistance.

It’s easier said than done – but learning to do it is something we consider essential to the herbalist’s skillset.

If this episode caught your attention, then our Clinical Skills course is for you! Learn to practice legally, safely, collaboratively, and effectively. Get all your client forms & scheduling systems sorted. Cultivate consultation interview skills, and explore methods for planning personalized protocols. Everything you need to be a top-notch herbalist!

Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

On the top-selling herbs list for 2023 (the most recent data), the herbs in places #19-21 were Tribulus terrestris, Pycnogenol (an extract of Pinus pinaster), and garlic. Today we continue our series on commercially popular herbs, and share our views as herbalists on the actions, benefits, and applications of these ones.

The pine extract is an interesting item, given that it’s not an entry for the herb itself but rather for a specific proprietary extract from one species. It’s true that this extract has been well-studied and shown to exert good effects, but it’s also true that pine is much more than this one product.

Today’s trio also offers an excellent opportunity to apply herbal energetics to help us critique and navigate marketing hype. While tribulus is very popular as a body-building aid, its cooling nature tells us that it is most helpful for those who already run hot. Garlic is the polar opposite of that. While garlic is very famous for its capacity to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, these effects are not as straightforward in a hot, dry, tense body – garlic could cause adverse effects for such a constitution. So, looking through the lens of herbal energetics remains one of our best methods for matching the right herb to the right person.

19. Tribulus – Tribulus terrestris

• Tribulus terrestris at Examine.com
• Gokshura (Tribulus terrestris) at Herbal Reality

20. Pycnogenol® – Pinus pinaster

• Pine bark: cardiometabolic health (Herbal Reality)
• HHP 205: Herbs A-Z: Pinus & Plantago
• Pine wallpaper for phone & desktop

21. Garlic – Allium sativum

• Garlic at Herbal Reality

Every herbalist should understand energetics, and be able to apply them effectively. Our Energetics & Holistic Practice course has all the info you need to understand herbal actions, qualities, tissue states, and constitutions. These critical concepts set herbalism apart from other healing modalities and are essential to effective herbalism.

Like all our offerings, this self-paced online video course comes with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

That course is one part of our Community Herbalist program. This program prepares you to support your family & community with holistic herbal methods.

If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!

Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!