Susun S. Weed's Blog

Ask Herbal Health Expert Susun Weed.

Tonight 7/22/2025

Join Susun every Tuesday night 7:30-9:30 pm EST.

Email your questions ahead of time to wisewoman@herbshealing.com .  

Susun answers 90 minutes of herbal health questions followed by a 30 minute interview.

Visit the link below to Listen in during the event or listen to the replay anytime:

Click here to Listen

Note: if you would like to listen on a device or ask questions you will need to download the Podbean App. Link to download the app is on the link above.

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her Mentorship website. Get new content every week, such as, the expanded herbal ezine, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, Q&As, many articles, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com

Wise Woman School Sale!
20% off Abundantly Well - Seven Medicines!

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In this course you will learn:
* What are the Seven medicines.
* How to use the first steps to heal yourself.
* When to seek medical intervention (the last steps).
* How to use all Seven steps together to complement each other.

Use coupon code: AWSM20

www.wisewomanschool.com/p/abundantly-well

Offer valid until 8/22/25

Blue

Blue is a color.
Blue is a mood.

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Blue flowers are calming.
Being blue is being sad.

Blue flowers are rare.

Blue is the most difficult color to perceive.
Our eyes are great at distinguishing shades of green.
Poor at seeing blues.
We confuse blue with the colors nearest to it:
Purple and green.

"Blue is the hardest color to see.
More light energy is required for a full response from the blue-violet cones in the human eye, compared to green or red.
This is why it can be tricky to tell if something is black or navy."

The first use of the word "blue" was not until the mid-thirteenth century.
The seas in the "Odyssey" (written in the eighth century BCE) are not blue
But "wine red."

Few "primitive" cultures have a word for blue. Or so I learned.

"Languages from several ancient cultures did have words for the color blue.
Ancient Chinese used 'Qīng' as the traditional designation of both blue and green."

"Ancient Egyptian used the word 'wadjet' to describe a range of hues including blue, blue-green, and green."

Blue, purple, green.
Soothing colors.

Blue is the rarest flower color.
Less than 10% of flowers are blue.

Delphinums, plumbago, bluebells, hydrangeas, dayflowers, morning glories, cornflowers, forget-me-nots, some agapanthus.

Horticulturists are working on it though.
Here's the word from
David Lee
author of "Nature's Palette: The Science of Plant Color"
and a retired professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University in Miami.

"Less than 10 percent of the 280,000 species of flowering plants produce blue flowers," he said. "Blue is a color that is infrequent in nature."

The article, from treehugger goes on:
Why Aren't There More Blue Flowers?

"But for the first time, a group of scientists say they have genetically engineered a flower — a chrysanthemum — to produce a blue hue.

"'Chrysanthemums, roses, carnations and lilies are major floricultural plants, [but] they do not have blue flower cultivars,' Naonobu Noda, lead study author and scientist at Japan's National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation, told Gizmodo. 'No one has been able to generate blue flower cultivar by general breeding technique.'

"The researchers used genes from two other blue-flower-producing plants, butterfly peas and Canterbury bells, and mixed those genes with chrysanthemums. The resultant color was the work of 'co-pigmentation,' an intra-flower chemical interaction.

"'There is no true blue pigment in plants, so plants don't have a direct way of making a blue color,' Lee said. 'Blue is even more rare in foliage than it is in flowers.
Only a handful of understory tropical plants have truly blue foliage.'

"The key ingredients for making blue flowers are the red anthocyanin pigments.

"'Plants tweak, or modify, the red anthocyanin pigments to make blue flowers.
They do this through a variety of modifications involving pH shifts and mixing of pigments, molecules and ions.'

"In fact, the Japanese scientists who created the blue chrysanthemum say they did so via a 'two-step modification of the anthocyanin structure.'

"'Insects and birds can widely detect blue as a wavelength,' Lee said.

"Many of our favorite garden and cut flowers, such as roses, tulips and snapdragons, do not produce blue flowers.

"Chemists have been able to use delphinidin, the pigment that makes delphiniums and violas blue, to make a purple rose, but they still haven't been able to make a truly blue one. The same is true with carnations.

< "Blue did not develop as a common color during the process of natural selection." >

Lee has a presentation he gives to garden clubs that he has titled
"The difficulty of being blue."
"I like to end those talks with a reference to Kermit the Frog's song on 'Sesame Street' in which Kermit sings that 'it's not that easy being green'.

"It's even harder to be blue."

So, don't be blue.
Let blue ease you.
Look up.
Fall into the blue sky.
Let blue expand your heart.
Let blue give freedom to your voice.
Welcome blue
With a smile.

It is in beauty.
Beautiful blue.
It is a giveaway dance.
Breathing in blue.
All hearts beating as one with the heartbeat of the earth.
Surrounded with green blessings.

Where is the blue hiding?
Gratitude for blue.
Here is my joyous ode to blue, for you.

3 Exercises That Quietly Rewire Your Brain for Deep Sleep

Reposted from superage.com
Edited, with comments by Susun

"Insomnia takes a toll on your body and your mind. Medications and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have long been standard treatments. [Unless you know which green allies can help.]

"A new, large-scale study published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine suggests that something as simple as moving your body might be just as effective, without the side effects or access barriers. [I have long countered the standard advice to limit exercise before bed. A stroll — even in your home — before bed, is my suggestion for deeper, better sleep.]

"Researchers conducted a network meta-analysis of 22 randomized controlled trials involving 1,348 participants and 13 different interventions for insomnia. Seven of those were exercise-based. [I'm impressed. That's a lot of data.]

"The top three? Tai Chi, yoga, and walking or jogging. Compared to usual care and even CBT, these forms of movement significantly improved sleep quality, duration, and efficiency, while reducing nighttime awakenings and how long it takes to fall asleep. [A short, calming session is best before sleep. Corpse pose. Quiet deep breathing. Cloud hands. No sweating. No elevated heart rate.]

"While cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) remains the gold standard for treating insomnia, it isn't always easy to access. Exercise-based interventions, on the other hand, are low-cost, widely available, and increasingly backed by science. [Yes.]

> "Tai Chi: This slow, flowing movement practice is a quiet powerhouse for sleep. People who practiced Tai Chi increased their total sleep time by more than 50 minutes per night and spent over 30 fewer minutes awake after falling asleep. On average, it helped people fall asleep 25 minutes faster. Many of these improvements persisted for up to two years, suggesting that Tai Chi not only soothes the nervous system in the short term but may also support lasting changes in sleep architecture. Tai Chi is a form of meditative movement that reduces hyperarousal in the nervous system, promotes emotional regulation, and may reduce inflammation, a common drivers of chronic insomnia. [You don't have to do tai chi just before bed, as the effects persist.]

> "Yoga: Yoga delivered the largest boost in total sleep time: nearly two additional hours per night! It also improved sleep efficiency by about 15 percent, helping people spend more of their time in bed actually sleeping. Participants experienced fewer nighttime awakenings and fell asleep nearly half an hour faster on average. Yoga integrates breath, movement, and focused attention. It's been shown to lower anxiety and depressive symptoms, likely by shifting brain chemistry and dampening stress responses. [Like tai chi, effects of yoga persist, so you don't have to do it right before bed. But how easy to go from corpse pose to sleep if you do it in the dark.]

> "Walking or Jogging: Walking and jogging stood out for reducing insomnia severity and improving how people felt during the day. Participants reported major improvements on the Insomnia Severity Index, dropping nearly 10 points, a clinically significant change. The mood-lifting and energy-regulating effects of steady movement likely play a role here, as walking and jogging may promote melatonin production and support deeper, more restorative sleep. [As you know, I believe in walking so much that I walk at least four miles every day.]

> "CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) continues to be the most widely recommended non-drug treatment for insomnia, and for good reason. It has consistently been shown to improve every aspect of sleep, from helping people fall asleep faster to reducing how often they wake up and increasing overall sleep duration. However, the availability of CBT remains a challenge for many, making accessible movement-based approaches an important and empowering alternative.

"CBT targets racing thoughts, unhelpful sleep behaviors, and conditioned arousal by retraining both mind and habit. Through techniques like sleep hygiene, stimulus control, sleep restriction, and cognitive reframing, CBT helps calm the brain's hyperactive sleep-wake system. Over time, it restructures the mental loops that keep you up at night, replacing anxiety and frustration with trust in your body's natural ability to rest.

< "The evidence is clear: consistent physical activity, especially when it calms the nervous system, can offer meaningful, lasting relief from insomnia. >

< "Choose the right movement for your needs:
For longer total sleep time and overall architecture improvement: try yoga.
For nighttime wake-ups or chronic arousal: Tai Chi may be most effective.
For fatigue, mood swings, or daytime dysfunction, consistent walking or jogging.

< "Start small. Stay consistent: Many of the interventions in the study lasted between 4 and 26 weeks. You don't need to commit to hour-long sessions, just find a rhythm that fits your life. Ten minutes of yoga before bed or a 20-minute morning walk is a solid start. [Great advice. And even two minutes counts.]

< "Track your sleep: Use a sleep diary or wearable to track how movement affects your sleep. Look for improvements in how quickly you fall asleep, how restful you feel, and how many times you wake up. [I am a Fitbit fan. I've worn a Fitbit tracker since they came out in 2009. I currently use Inspire 3, which tracks my sleep as well as my steps . . . My heart rate, my oxygen level, and more.]

< Think long-term.
While medications can offer short-term relief, movement-based therapies and CBT offer compounding benefits. Beyond sleep, these practices improve mood, reduce inflammation, and enhance overall health, core to aging well.

"Slow down into stillness. With every breath and step, you're not just moving your body, you're healing your sleep."

...
Want to know more about herbs for sleep?
I cover all the best herbal sleep allies, and every other sleep-related helper, including herbs for dreaming, in my course
"To Sleep, Perchance to Dream." Available through Wisdom Feed.
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream – A short course on sleeping well with Susun Weed.
https://wisdomfeed.thrivecart.com/perchance-to-dream/

...
It is in beauty.
(Yawn.)
It is a giveaway dance.
A dance of letting go.
(You are feeling very sleepy.)
Our hearts beat as one with the heartbeat of the earth.
Mother's heartbeat is the sound of safety.
(Your eyes relax. Your breathing deepens.)
Surrounded by green blessings.
Gratitude
Joy
(Sweet dreams)

Ask Herbal Health Expert Susun Weed.

Tonight 7/29/2025

Join Susun every Tuesday night 7:30-9:30 pm EST.

Email your questions ahead of time to wisewoman@herbshealing.com .  

Susun answers 90 minutes of herbal health questions followed by a 30 minute interview.

Visit the link below to Listen in during the event or listen to the replay anytime:

Click here to Listen

Note: if you would like to listen on a device or ask questions you will need to download the Podbean App. Link to download the app is on the link above.

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her Mentorship website. Get new content every week, such as, the expanded herbal ezine, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, Q&As, many articles, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com

Ask Herbal Health Expert Susun Weed.

Tonight 7/22/2025

Join Susun every Tuesday night 7:30-9:30 pm EST.

Email your questions ahead of time to wisewoman@herbshealing.com .  

Susun answers 90 minutes of herbal health questions followed by a 30 minute interview.

Visit the link below to Listen in during the event or listen to the replay anytime:

Click here to Listen

Note: if you would like to listen on a device or ask questions you will need to download the Podbean App. Link to download the app is on the link above.

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her Mentorship website. Get new content every week, such as, the expanded herbal ezine, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, Q&As, many articles, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com

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Linden, linden heal my heart. You can bring me a brand new start.
Soothing Linden Conference
May 3 - 10 2025
🍃
We ended the fear with The Comfrey Conference. We put a dent in the nonsense at the Hypericum Conference. We finally made sense of phytoestrogens at the Red Clover Conference. Now, let's flow and soothe, lubricate and protect, like mucus, the unsung hero of health, at the Linden Conference.

I have championed slime and mucus ever since I threw away my copy of Arnold Ehret's The Mucusless Diet Healing System several decades ago. And the slimy herbs have supported me in my quest for ever more ease and abundance.

Join us May 3 - 10 2025
Don't miss the Early bird price!
.
Register Now!
https://www.wisewomanschool.com/p/soothing-linden-conference
🌿

We Are All Medicine Women: Part 2 - Rooted in Earth

Now that Luzclara Camus and Susun Weed have introduced you to the wise ways of medicine women and matriline healing practices, they have decided to throw more wood on the fire and, taking a torch, go further into the ancient cave, into the crystalline heart of the great mother of all, to share detailed mother wisdom from the earth.

Ancient wisdom for modern times.

All sentient beings are welcome.

Dec 2nd, 5th, 9th, 12th and 16th - 7PM to 9PM EST
Wisdomfeed

Register here:
https://wisdomfeed.thrivecart.com/rooted-in-the-earth/
🌿

Susun Weed on blogtalkradio.

Tonight 11/5/24

Join Susun every Tuesday night 7:30-9:30 pm EST.

Call in with your questions (646) 929-2463 or email ahead of time to wisewoman@herbshealing.com .  

Susun answers 90 minutes of herbal health questions followed by a 30 minute interview.

Visit the link below to Listen in during the event or listen to the replay anytime:

Click here to Listen

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her Mentorship website. Get new content every week, such as, the expanded herbal ezine, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, Q&As, many articles, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com

Wise Woman Bookshop Sale on Juliette de Bairacli Levy's books.

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Juliette de Bairacli Levy, was a world renowned herbalist, author,
and pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine.

If you've been wanting to read Julliette now is a great time to get her books:
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Common Herbs for Natural Health — classic, encyclopedic herbal for everyone
Nature's Children — marvelous, sometimes outrageous, green childcare
Summer in Galilee — plants and people of the Galilee, Israel
A Gypsy in New York — wild and wooly herbal adventures in Manhattan
Spanish Mountain Life — amazing story of giving birth in a small Spanish town
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Sale ends 11/22/24