This year marks ten years since I qualified as a Medical Herbalist. When I was planning to move to Barbados, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to source the herbs I was familiar with using and that I would be lost with the local herbs. During her recent lecture, the Healing Plants of the Ancestors, Dr Sonia Peter highlights how we are in danger of losing our biocultural knowledge.

There are hundreds of stories around the world of couples, happily married for decades who, in old age, die within hours or days of each other. Take for example the case of Judy and Will Webb from Michigan who, at the age of 77, started to experience almost identical severe health issues. The couple who had been married for 56 years eventually died in hospice care on the same day from their illnesses. There are also similar cases of non-romantic pairs such as Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds. On 27th December 2016, Carrie Fisher died following a cardiac arrest. The following day her mother Debbie Reynolds, who she had an intense but close relationship with, died of a brain haemorrhage. Following their deaths, Reynolds son Todd Fisher said, “she wanted to be with Carrie”.

In the 1990s, Japanese scientist Dr Hikaru Sato began to identify signs and symptoms similar to a heart attack in people, usually women, who had recently experienced acute emotional stress. The condition became known as taktsubo cardiomyopathy, stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome. Although this condition is reversible and rarely results in death, bereavement or grief can cause serious physiological changes, some of which may be fatal. During times of increased stress, such as the death of a loved one, the body mounts an acute stress response including a surge of adrenaline, increased heart rate and blood pressure and reduced immune function. This may last for 6 months or a number of years. What is it that can cause a couple or close loved ones to die within hours or days of each other? The answer may not be taktsubo cardiomyopathy but it may still lie in the heart.

The practice of detoxing has of late taken a bit of a knock. The idea of detoxing is often associated with the tree hugging hippies, high on magic mushrooms, dancing around a fire naked. But detoxing or cleansing in its various forms, has been practised for thousands of years (clothed and naked) for health, spiritual and religious purposes.

Expressing our sensuality is far more than just sex. It is about connecting us with our bodies, with our emotions, with our truest expressions. It is about self-love and self-care and enhancing this immense healing energy. 

Thanks to my mum, I have grown up with the belief that Aloe vera can cure just about anything. (And she was probably right!)

This rosemary hair oil is a simple infused oil that can be used as a deep conditioner, or daily hair or beard oil.

A speedy smoothie with titillating properties

When I first started studying complementary therapies, the emphasis seemed to be on using medical equipment such as stethoscopes to listen to a person’s heart. Although this method of diagnosis is extremely valuable, there seemed to be something I was missing