Herbcast

Herbal Solutions for Women's Health - Series 4 Coming Soon!

Get ready for an exciting new series of Herbcast, where we turn our focus to women's health and the vital role herbal medicine plays throughout the stages of a woman's life. 

Introducing your brand new host for series 4, the brilliant Marion Mackonochie, a clinical herbalist and herbal medicine researcher, who will be guiding us through this enlightening journey.

Marion, a familiar voice from series 3 when Marion was a Herbcast guest, now brings her extensive expertise to the other side of the microphone, exploring with m...

**Correction to the discussion on degree courses: there is one still running at Lincoln College**.

Join us for an enlightening discussion with seasoned herbalists Simon Mills and Sebastian Pole as they delve into the evolving landscape of herbal medicine and its integration into modern healthcare. This episode tackles the critical question: why isn't herbalism more mainstream, despite its proven benefits and growing demand?

Simon and Sebastian reflect on their extensive experiences in the field, exploring the historical and cultural barriers that have kept herbal medicine on the fringes of mainstream healthcare. They discuss the rigorous...

Adaptogens: The great rejuvenators with David Winston

In this episode, Sebastian welcomes renowned herbalist and educator David Winston, whose five decades of experience span herbal traditions from North America to Asia. David, a founder of the American Herbalist Guild and author of *Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief*, offers a deep dive into the fascinating world of adaptogens. He traces their origins back to Soviet research in the mid-20th century when scientists were searching for substances to enhance resilience against stress. Unlike many herbal remedies rooted in traditional practices, adaptogens emerged from a modern...

Join us as we cross the Irish Sea to delve into the heart of herbal practice with Vilma Matuleviciute, a seasoned herbalist and naturopath based in Ireland. With over two decades of experience, Vilma shares her insights on the multifaceted approach to heart health, combining the physiological with the emotional.

In this enlightening episode, we explore the unique challenges of practising herbalism in Ireland, including the impact of Brexit on herb supplies. Vilma discusses the importance of listening deeply to patients, understanding their emotional and mental landscapes, and tailoring herbal treatments to suit individual needs.

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Herbs for Colds and Fevers: The Diaphoretics with Dr. Amparo Aracil

In this episode, we explore how diaphoretic herbs can boost immunity and help manage seasonal infections. Discover how these herbs regulate body temperature, improve circulation, and support the body's immune response.

With extensive training and practice, Dr. Aracil blends herbal and medical expertise. Their holistic approach combines traditional herbal wisdom with modern medical insights, making them a respected voice in integrative medicine.

Dr. Aracil explains how the body responds to infections, detailing the role of fever and the immune system's mechanisms. Learn...

Enter the world of bitter herbs, and learn about their historical significance and modern-day applications with expert herbalist Guido Masé. As a renowned herbalist, gardener, and educator,  Guido shares his extensive knowledge of how bitters can enhance digestion, regulate appetite, and support metabolic health.

Guido Masé RH(AHG) is a clinical herbalist, educator, and garden steward specialising in holistic Western herbalism with an eclectic approach. Born in Italy, he has lived in Vermont since 1996. He is a founder and faculty member at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism and serves as the herbalist, principal scientist, and chief for...

Ever wondered how herbs can influence your mood and stress levels? We explore the world of nervines, nootropics, and sedatives with the esteemed Julian Barker. A seasoned herbalist and philosopher, Julian shares his vast knowledge of how these herbs can help manage emotions, memory, and cognitive function.

Julian Barker taught in England and France before becoming a theatrical and literary agent in the 1960s. He botanised and studied herbal medicine in the USA and Central America for four years. Returning to England, he apprenticed at Suffolk Herbs, managed Hulbrook House Herbs, and studied with NIMH. A graduate...

Have you ever stopped to appreciate the simple act of breathing? Each inhale brings life-giving oxygen into our bodies, but what happens when this effortless process becomes a struggle? In this episode Ramana Zahn reminds us that healing is a holistic journey that requires us to look at the body as an interconnected system.

About Rumana: A Clinic Director and Consultant Naturopath, ND, BSc (Hons), DipCK, DipA, DipM, CEd, FAMH, MGNC. Rumana began her career as a microbiologist specialising in food and water analysis before transitioning to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. She eventually redirected her focus...

Revealing the secrets of botanical medicine in treating urinary and kidney health, Dr. Sally Moorcroft discusses the vital link between the gut microbiome and urinary function. Hear real-life success stories of patients finding relief from chronic conditions through herbal interventions.

About Sally:

Integrative and function doctor. MBChB, BSc(Hons), MCPP, MFHom(Med). Clinical Lead Dr. Moorcroft has 20 years of clinical experience and is one of the most highly trained Integrative and Functional Medicine doctors in the UK. She is also a Core Tutor at the National Centre of Integrated Medicine in Bristol (NCIM).

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From Burdock to Blood Cleansers: dive into the power of alterative herbs with Sebastian Pole and today’s guest Graeme Tobyn. With over a quarter-century of expertise, Graeme brings his wealth of knowledge from his roles as a herbalist, educator, and author, currently enriching minds at the University of Lancashire.

About Graeme: Graeme Tobyn graduated from Leeds University in 1978 with a degree in Russian with Italian. He developed the Latin and French he learned at school for use in his later studies of the histories of Renaissance and early modern medicine. He trained in herbal medicine in th...

Join Herbal Reality’s Simon Mills Embark on a journey through the delicate intricacies of women's health with expert herbalist Ginny Kemp. With a medical science background, Ginny discovered her calling in the world of herbs back in 2007. Since then, she has cultivated a thriving practice with a particular emphasis on women's health.

Ginny delves deep into a case study that epitomises the power of herbal treatments in addressing fertility issues. She shares the tale of ‘Alice’, a 36-year-old woman trying to conceive, battling with fatigue, anxiety, and a host of other interconnected health concerns. Ginny's approach is a t...

Welcome to series 3 of Herbcast!

In this episode, Sebastian Pole is joined by Marion Mackonochie, a seasoned herbalist, senior advisor at Pukka, and editor of the Journal of Herbal Medicine. In this liver-focused episode of Herbcast, Marion and Sebastian navigate the complexities of hepatics – the category of herbs that support the liver, our body's metabolic maestro. They discuss signs of liver imbalance, the power of bitters, and the wide-reaching impact of hepatics on conditions ranging from skin ailments to hormonal imbalances.

Marion shares her insights on the relationship between mood and liver health, the nuances of...

“That coming together, gathering foods and gathering medicines is deeply healing and satisfying and an enjoyable way to experience life. And it’s simple and it’s free.”

Robin Harford established his wild food foraging school in 2008, and his foraging courses are listed at the top of BBC Countryfile’s ‘Best foraging courses in the UK’. He is the creator of eatweeds.co.uk. Michelin chef Richard Corrigen recommended the site for inclusion in The Times' Top 50 Websites For Food and Drink. 

Robin refers to himself as an ethnobotanical researcher who is interested in the relationship be...

“If something is irreparably defective, either because it's adulterated intentionally or accidentally contaminated, then it should be removed from the supply chain. ”

With 50 years of diverse experience as an herbal advocate, consultant, educator, researcher, writer, and advisor, Mark Blumenthal has an extensive comprehensive background in herbs and medicinal plants. Mark is the Founder and Executive Director of the American Botanical Council (ABC). An independent, nonprofit organisation, ABC is dedicated to disseminating accurate, reliable, and responsible information on herbs and medicinal plants. Mark is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of HerbalGram, an international peer-reviewed quarterly journal, the contents of whic...

“Suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under 50”

 Phil’s route to herbal practice has encompassed work as a doctor in hospitals, primary care and unscheduled care settings. Although he now identifies as a herbalist, his experiences in conventional healthcare have equipped him to reference a number of perspectives when supporting people with their health and wellbeing as a herbal practitioner. 

Phil has presented guidance and created resources for herbalists and students on possible approaches to men's health issues - both in terms of physiological wellbeing and through the lens of perceived masculinities and thei...

“Keeping our blood sugar within limits and eating slow-releasing food is absolutely fundamental to inflammatory disease”

Alex is a practising medical herbalist and phytotherapist with more than 20 years of experience. She runs the UK's first herbal clinic in hospital dermatology at Whipps Cross University Hospital, where she is tutor-practitioner to BSc herbal students. She also practises at Breast Cancer Haven and privately. She is a council member of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP), and formerly of the Aromatherapy Organisations Council. She has published clinical research and is a visiting lecturer to universities including Westminster, East Lond...

Chanchal is a medical herbalist and has been in clinical practice for 35 years  with a specialty in holistic oncology. She is the author of Fibromyalgia: A Journey towards Healing and her latest book Holistic Cancer Care: An Herbal Approach to Preventing Cancer, Helping Patients Thrive during Treatment, and Minimizing the Risk of Recurrence, which launches in April 2023. 

She held the faculty chair in Botanical Medicine at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in New Westminster 2004-2016. She serves on the board of advisors of Dominion Herbal College in Burnaby, on the editorial board of Medical Herbalism clinical ne...

Todd Caldecott is a Medical Herbalist and practitioner of Ayurvedic Medicine, who has been in private practice since 1995. He is the Executive Director of the Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine and author/editor of three books including Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life, Food As Medicine: The Theory and Practice of Food, and Ayurveda In Nepal.

Todd is a creator and/or contributor to Traditional Ayurvedic Medicine (Introduction & Materia Medica), Applied Phytotherapeutics (1 & 2), History of Herbal Medicine, Essentials of Pathology, Western Materia Medica (1 & 2) with Wild Rose College.

Todd began training as a clinician in herbal medicine...

Since 1979, Josef has worked at all levels within the medicinal plant sector; organic farming and wild collection, production of extracts, manufacturing of finished herbal medicinal products, TCM clinic, standards-setting (quality and sustainability), and consulting governmental- and intergovernmental organizations in sustainable development and biodiversity conservation projects in Africa, Asia, and South America.

From 2002 to 2016, he served as International Consultant on Market Intelligence for Medicinal Plants at the International Trade Centre, the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations; 2004-2008 as a member of the International Standard for the Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and...

Christine Herbert FAMH, DipAET, BA(Hons) qualified as a herbalist in 1997 and has been practising and learning herbal medicine ever since. During the years of her practice, she added many skills, including nutrition, aromatic medicine and flower essence therapy, in order to be best able to help the many people who came to see her. She retired from practice in 2019 so that she could teach and write using all the knowledge she had acquired. She served on the Association of Master Herbalists council for several years and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship on retirement. Previous to 1997, she worked as...

Since his initial training in chemistry and medical pharmacology, Nathaniel Hughes has pursued the question; how much can we learn from plants directly? He has spent over 20 years exploring the spiritual, somatic, relational, trauma-informed and process-oriented aspects of healing. His robust way of working with herbs now has its foundations in the spiritual, where he strives to create bridges between experience, the spiritual and the physical. This perspective helped birth Insight Herbalism, a professional training course delivered at his school,  The School of Intuitive Herbalism, which has been offering courses in Herbalism for over 10 years. Nathaniel has also written t...

Sebastian and Simon reflect on Season 1 of Herbcast and discuss their enjoyment of speaking to thought leaders across the herbal medicine community. They introduce the solutions-focused Series 2 which aims to focus on some of the most important conditions affecting the modern world today that herbalists are treating in clinic. From digestion and inflammation to sleep, anxiety and trauma the series will focus on the fundamentals of health as well as highlight sustainability issues faced by the industry.

Now if your time to catch up on any missed episodes from Season 1 and if you haven’t already, sign-up fo...

An internationally respected practitioner, author, and educator in the field of Chinese medicine, Charles Buck was amongst the first to practice and teach CHM in Europe. Having been awarded a BSc in medical Physiology from Bristol University Medical School, Charles then took a 3-year degree in acupuncture and began practising CHM in 1984, He was invited to be course leader for the UK's 1st College-based CHM course in York in 1994 and honoured with an RCHM Fellowship in 1998 for contributions to CHM education.

Charles is a Fellow of the British Acupuncture Council where he served a 3-year t...

Bevin Clare is a herbalist, nutritionist, mother and Professor and Program Director of the Master’s of Science in Clinical Herbal Medicine at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. She holds a MSc in Infectious Disease from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has studied herbal medicine around the world to blend her knowledge of traditional uses of plants with modern science and contemporary healthcare strategies as a consultant and educator. She serves as an adjunct Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Northeast College of Health Sc...

Euan MacLennan is a Medical Herbalist who practices in an NHS General Practice in Central London.

He teaches pathology, clinical medicine, and differential diagnosis to undergraduates in various medical disciplines and is conducting a clinical doctorate in gastrointestinal medicine at the University of Bath. Euan is also an editor for an Elsevier medical journal, the Journal of Herbal Medicine.

Practicing in one of the only GP practices in the country that offers herbal medicine as a service, Euan shares his insight into the benefits of an integrated health approach. A firm believer in g...

Roy Upton is the founder, president, and editor of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP). He has been working and practising professionally as a herbalist since 1981, and he trained in Ayurvedic, Traditional Chinese, and Western herbal medicine and has also studied and worked extensively with Native American and Caribbean ethnobotanical traditions. As an integral part of his work as a herbalist, he spends a great deal of time defending the rights of consumers to access herbal medicines and to see herbal medicine integrated into the fabric of both our homes and health care systems.

In this e...

Professor Kerry Bone is the co-founder and innovation driver at MediHerb, a herbal supply company, where he serves as Director of Research and Development. In 2016 MediHerb was awarded the American Botanical Council’s (ABC’s) Varro E. Tyler Award for excellence in Phytomedicinal Research. Kerry is Principal of the Australian College of Phytotherapy and also Adjunct Professor at New York Chiropractic College, providing input into their postgraduate applied nutrition program. He also founded the successful Masters of Health Science (Herbal Medicine) course at the University of New England in 2004, and served there as Associate Professor from 2004 to 2012. 

H...

"I see herbs as the bridge between foods and medicine."

Joanna Webber is a fully qualified Ayurvedic Practitioner with a BSc in Ayurveda as well as a Hatha Yoga teacher. She loves to weave the two sister sciences together to support a more integrated approach to health. She lives in Somerset and spends all her spare time growing, foraging, and cooking local, sustainable food and herbs. She is the founder of the Ayurvedic Yogi clinic and co-founder of The Ayurveda Academy, offering practical and engaging courses combining Ayurveda’s ancient wisdom with modern insights on how to li...

Having completed a Permaculture Design course in 1997 and her diploma in 2000, Helen Kearney went on to teach Permaculture courses and helped establish LEEP (Langford Environmental Education Project). She completed her herbal medicine training in 2012 whilst working as a Forest School Practitioner. She lives at Elder Farm, a 5-acre organic off-grid herb farm, and currently helps to run The Betonica School of Herbal medicine, a community interest company founded in 2016.

Reminiscing on the moments in her life that connected and drew her to herbalism, Helen discusses the beginnings of Betonica and how it aimed to make the studying...

Andrew Flower has been practicing acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) since 1992. In 2009 Andrew completed his Ph.D. at The University of Southampton exploring the role of CHM in the treatment of endometriosis. He has published a number of peer-reviewed papers relating to Chinese medicine research, including two Cochrane systematic reviews. In 2011 he was awarded a 5-year NIHR post-doctoral Fellowship to investigate Chinese herbs for the treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections (RUTIs) resulting in the RUTI trial. In 2017 he helped set up the recently accredited White Crane Academy of CHM. He is a founder member of the Jade...

"There is this incredible philosophy around healing and wholeness and working with plants yet most people only experience it through products on a shelf."

Ann Ambrecht is a writer and anthropologist (PhD, Harvard 1995) whose work explores the relationships between humans and the earth, most recently through her work with plants, herbal medicine, and the botanical industry. She is the director of the Sustainable Herbs Program, a program of the American Botanical Council, which she began in 2016 to help bridge the gaps between the values of herbal medicine and the reality of sourcing and producing herbs on a...

"Herbs nudge the body to better physiological activity"

Simon is the Self Care Lead at the College of Medicine and Herbal Strategist at Pukka Herbs. He has been a herbal practitioner in Exeter for 45 years. He has led the leading professional and trade organisations for herbal medicine in the UK and served on Government and House of Lords Committees. He has authored standard textbooks used by herbal practitioners worldwide, including with Professor Kerry Bone from Australia. He co-founded the University of Exeter's pioneering Centre for Complementary Health Studies in 1987 (building complementary research and postgraduate teaching programme from...

"I discovered there was another language for describing our health and another way to feel empowered to look after it."

Simon Mills (our Herbcast host) interviews Sebastian Pole (our other Herbcast host!) as a welcome and introduction to the inspiration behind Herbal Reality.

Sebastian is a registered member of the Ayurvedic Professionals Association, Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine, and a Fellow of the Unified Register of Herbal Practitioners. He qualified as a herbalist, using the principles of Ayurveda (the ancient art of living wisely) and, the Herbal tradition to help transform health. He co-founded Pukka...

"Integrated medicine encourages patient empowerment and responsibility, engendering the motivation and will within patients and the knowledge to help them get better themselves."

Dr. Edward Thomson is a General Practitioner with expertise in Integrated Medicine. He believes in approaching all types of medicine, healing, and treatment with compassion and an open mindset, placing the patient and their symptoms firmly in the center. He graduated from Leicester Medical School (MB ChB) in 2007 and completed his GP training in 2012. He is a Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP). He originally graduated from St Andrews University with...

Welcome along to Herbcast!

Do you know your Echinacea from your Eleutherococcus? Or your lavender from your lemonbalm?

Whether you’re a budding herbalist or a botanical beginner, Herbcast is here to inform and inspire you to explore the integration of herbs in our every day lives.

Meet Sebastian, your host and founder of Herbal Reality, for a taste of what to expect from Herbcast; the podcast from Herbal reality, delving into the plant-powered world of herbalism.