Which herbs should I use when I have a difficult period?
Period cramps, lower back pains, anaemia, headaches, bloating, digestive changes, nausea, breast tenderness, mood swings, spots and insomnia are some of the symptoms that can affect women throughout our menstrual cycles. Keeping a hormone-balancing, womb-supportive tea on your shelves can be a real-life saver and smoothe the ride through your monthly cycle. This blog post is about some of our favourite local plants you might want to work with.
Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris)
Raspberry Leaf (Rubus idaeus)
Nettle (Urtica spp.)
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
Yarrow (Alchemilla millefolium)
Dead Nettle (Lamium album)
The first two plants, Lady’s Mantle and Raspberry leaf are both part of the wonderfully astringent rose family, all of whom are high in tannins. These two in particular are both womb tonifying and nourishing as they target the uterine tissues with their vast quantities of vitamins and minerals.
With the ability to strengthen uterine contraction, Lady’s Mantle and Raspberry leaf are helpful with cramps, aiding you in expelling all your period blood in an efficient manner. Bleeding during our periods is one form of detoxifying or cleansing our system. Throughout the menstrual cycle, the lining of our womb thickens and grows; collecting hormones, and various chemicals in our bodies ready to be released and fully excreted from our system. Herbs that promote natural contractions of the womb help to fully clear our systems.
Nettle is so high in iron and other nutrients that this herb offers excellent support in any period tea. Nettle is known as an alterative in herbal medicine which means it cleanses the blood by supporting your tissues to function to their best ability. This powerful herb of mars gets the job done and boosts energy in the system. Nettles support the kidneys too – another route for cleansing. When all our organs of elimination are functioning well, it helps us to avoid headaches and bloating.
Mugwort is an amazing tonifying herb for women. Like the Lady’s Mantle and Raspberry Leaf, mugwort is a uterine stimulant, so can help to ease your cramps. She also contains bitter principles which help support the liver and digestive system. Each menstrual cycle we produce many hormones and these fluctuate during the month. Couple this with alcohol consumption or high sugars in the diet, and your liver may feel a strain, impacting our whole system. Mugwort is also a nervine herb, relaxing and restorative.
Yarrow is a specific circulatory to the lower abdomen, promoting blood flow. Wherever freshly oxygenated blood flows, it brings with it immune-boosting complexes, the bodies cleaners, so creating space where optimal healing can occur. Yarrow’s influence on abdominal circulation will aid your bodies natural impulse to release and cleanse via your menstrual blood.
So, how do we use these herbs alongside our monthly cycles?
Natural Remedies for your Period:
1) Herbal Tea for Menstruation
Mix yourself a herbal tea blend especially for support during your period. The Seed SistAs blend equal parts of each herb and drink them for the three days prior to and for the duration of our bleeds.
2) Seed SistAs’ Ladies Lovelies Drops
“Protective, Nurturing & Balancing”
Lady’s mantle, revered for its mystical qualities, has been associated with wisdom and female power. Ruled by Venus, Lady’s Mantle is applied for many imbalances affecting the womb. Science owes its womb toning, astringent properties to the tannin content of the herb. It helps movement out of stuck situations and away from the past.
Raspberry leaf is again toning to the womb and is used successfully during pregnancy to aid in birth. It is extremely protective and nourishing.
Nettle is used as a cleansing herb to support the kidneys and nourish and cleanse the blood. Ruled by Mars, it empowers the fire element in a person, breaking up excessive or waterlogged emotions.
Click above or contact us to find out if Ladies Lovelies is the remedy for you!
Lady’s Mantle / Alchemilla vulgaris / The Little Alchemist
The Seed SistAs have a regular column in Juno Magazine. We’re in the middle of a series of ‘The 8 Rites of Feminine Passage’ where we are exploring pivotal points in a woman’s life using specific herbs to support these transitions. This month, we wrote an article about using the transformative power of Lady’s Mantle to support the cleansing and “letting go” that our natural mentstrual cycles do as the lining of the womb is shed each month.
For those of you looking for more guidance on making the amulets referred to in the article, here is a diagram to give you a visual guide.
