calm

We all get stressed sometimes, and that stress can have detrimental effects on our lives and ability to enjoy the moment. There are many herbs that can help with stress, including adaptogens and tonics that support the body at a foundational levels, alteratives that enhance metabolic processes, and also nervines, that help us relax in the here and now. Chronic anxiety can be downright debilitating, from brief but recurrent panic attacks to daily feelings of fear, helplessness, and overwhelm. 

Relaxant nervines are a class of herbs that help, through various mechanisms, to soothe the nervous system in times of stress or anxiety. Each herb is a little bit different and some people respond much better to certain ones than others, so it’s worthwhile to read through the indications and find what most matches your situation and/or personality and then try the most likely ones out on yourself to see which is the best fit for you! 

Please do realize that while a living connection to medicinal plants and fungi on both a physiological and spiritual level can make an enormous difference in someone’s life, it is not necessarily a replacement for adequate therapy, counseling, and warm human relationships. These brief profiles are meant to serve as an introduction to commonly available and frequently helpful plant allies, and to help you differentiate which ones might be the best matches for you, your life, and what you’re dealing with right now. I’ll be adding to these Nervine Portraits regularly.

Additionally, to understand nervines in a deeper way with energetic nuances, you may also want to look at my Terms of the Trade article and scroll down to the nervines section.

Avena: Wild Hearted Healing

Milky Oats - Avena sativa or Avena fatua

To obtain the the nerve healing medicine of Milky Oats, you need to use tincture made with the fresh oat top harvested in the milky stage. You can easily grow and tincture your own Milky Oats, or you can purchase the tincture ready made from a good herb supplier or herb farm.

If your nervous system is so fried that you’re burnt out, exhausted, and feel hopeless about ever recovering stamina, joy, and resilience, then Milky Oats is a primary herb to consider. Milky Oats is a great remedy for grief and heart centered pain in any phase of the grieving. It’s also an excellent nervous system trophorestorative, which means that it actually heals and restores a damaged nervous system rather than simply relaxing or sedating it. Calming, uplifting, gentle and moistening, Milky Oats is a near perfect nervine for almost everyone. It makes a great base for many many adaptogenic and nervine formula, and can be combined with any of the other nervines listed here to create a more nourishing formula for long term use. 

Betonica - Earthen Amulet

Wood Betony - Betonica (formerly Stachys) officinalis

While no longer a well known herb, Wood Betony has an illustrious medicinal past and certainly very useful in the treatment of anxiety, stress, and tension. The first known reference to Wood Betony was by a physician who recommended it as a protection against sorcery and as a protective herb against all evil influence. It is an incredibly grounding medicine, it brings us back to our roots, and provides protection by reconnecting us to our original power. Which is a roundabout way of saying is that Betonica is perfectly capable of slamming you back in your body when you’ve wandered too far off into the ethers and come untethered from self, place, and relationships. If you find yourself becoming forgetful, spacey, ungrounded, and emotionally erratic when anxious, Wood Betony can pull you back into yourself. If this is a chronic problem that requires an extra push, try combining Betonica with Schizandra chinensis to help ground and firm up the emotional self and self-perception.

It is especially specific to those who get tension headaches, and can help prevent them if taken at the first signs of onset, and help to ease them if taken during.  Wood Betony also seems specific to tension that caused or aggravated by excessive thinking that results in mental exhaustion. For people who spend too much time in their heads, Wood Betony can be a grounding and calming remedy that brings them back to the here and now in a gentle and soothing way.

It is also a specific for nightmares and sleep disturbed by fear.

Eschscholzia - A Golden Charm

California Poppy - Eschscholzia californica + E. mexicana

California Poppy is a great general nervine for nearly any kind of stress, and it blends well with most other nervine type herbs too. It’s wonderful combined with Skullcap and Sage for deep nerve trauma, and is excellent for general insomnia where stress is a factor. I especially think of Eschscholzia where there is anxiety and/or depression from pain, whether chronic or acute. Emotional lability with heat signs are some specific indications for this remedy, even in babies and children.

This is another plant easily grown in most gardens, and also widely available for purchase.

More here in my Gold Poppy article.

. 

Hypericum - Touch & Heal

Touch & Heal/St. John’s Wort - medicinal Hypericum spp. including H. perforatum and H. maculatum

This is a plant of protection above all, against demons, malevolent influences, illness, evil eye, poverty/loss, enchantment, and even death. It can be worn, ingested, strewn through the house, and hung from doorways. At Walpurgisnacht it is still sometimes a practice to hang the flowers in front or above a picture to ward off malevolent spirits, bad luck, and illness. It drives away sadness and unwanted melancholy, calms obsessive anxiety, feeling of vulnerability and unsafeness, emotional hypersensitivity, and a sense of doom that refuses to lift. 

When a terrifying or painful thing happens we are often forced to shift our entire attention to it in order to protect ourselves and to get away from the thing causing us pain. And sometimes, even after that thing is further away or has ceased directly causing us pain, we still cannot take our eyes off of it. Our body points itself in the direction of what has hurt us and we cannot let go of that focus even when there’s no longer any productive point in it. This is a part of many kinds of trauma, and the letting go of such vigilance is a step toward recognizing ourselves as safe enough to relax and look elsewhere. Hypericum can be helpful in just such a case where it lights up all the dark corners, allows us to see our surroundings fully so that we can turn our back to the room and give attention to internal matters. 

When life has shoved you down, turned off the lights, and made you feel alone and afraid and like you’ll never find the light again, this is a good time to turn to Hypericum. Tea, tincture, flower essence, even a small pouch of the plant hung around your neck or carried in a pocket. 

Note: If you happen to be taking medications that are contradicted with the use of Hypericum, you can also just add a few drops of the tincture or flower essence to your Wood Betony and Vervain elixir for the energetic/vibrational effects without ingesting a material dose that will impact your liver metabolism. 

Lavendula - Wrap Me In Your Arms

Lavender - Any aromatic Lavendula species

Lavender is one of the most widely applicable relaxant nervines I’ve worked with, and while some people dislike the taste, the effect is appropriate for almost everyone who needs to a sense of calm security and grounded comfort. It’s warm, fuzzy, and sweet and works for nearly anyone. A hug in a bottle, if you will.

A flower that is able to move energy as well as calm, many people have found Lavender to be distinctly mood enhancing. For pain, stress, trauma, hyperactivity, and other unpleasant feelings. It seems especially helpful at teaching us how to enjoy close up comforts – a hug, a big quilt, warm tea, a cozy sweater. It just enhances our ability to be sensorily aware and present. Even if that means getting really sleepy.

Matricaria - The One Who Listens

Chamomile - Matricaria recutita, M. discoidea, and allied spp.

This plant is wonderful at soothing all sorts of emotional sensitivity, reactivity, and irritability. Fantastic for fussy infants, reactive children, harassed mothers on the verge of tears, grouchy old cowboys with an oversensitive side, all that sort of thing. When everything hurts your feelings, you feel clinging, unappeasable, and like nobody understands how much everything just —-hurts—- right now, Matricaria is a good friend to have. Specifically indicated where anxiety is causing an upset to digestion.

More in my Chamomile article right here.

Oenothera - The Changeling Remedy

Evening Primrose - Oenothera spp.

This is an energetic medicine for the solar plexus and heart, balancing receptivity with expression and allowing us to open fully to love without fear of rejection or betrayal. A key word in the symptom picture of this beautiful herb seems to be irritation -- hyper sensitive nerves, muscles and mucus membranes that just want to overreact to everything often respond very well to this plant. As a nervine, it is potentially very effective, but not all respond to it immediately, and sometimes prolonged use is necessary to take advantage of it deepest benefits. It can be a most useful calmative, especially suited for nervous exhaustion, hormonally oriented irritability and depression and anxious, tense children. It is of an uplifting character, and useful in cases of mild to moderate depression, most noticeably so when associated with exhaustion, addiction withdrawal and chronic digestive issues.

I consider the lunar flower essence of White Evening Primroses to be specific to those who don’t feel that they truly belong in this world, or are somehow a different species than everyone around them. They feel like their true skin has been ripped off, taken or hidden somewhere. Like a selkie, they feel separated from their true home and self, and have been left incredibly sensorily sensitive, where every sound, touch, and ray of light can be acutely painful and upsetting. The tincture of Oenothera can be used in a more general, but similar fashion.

My article on the medicinal properties of Evening Primrose can be found here.

Prunus persica - River Music

Peach Leaf - Prunus persica

Peach leaf is a traditional Southern tea that has often been use to soften the delivery of bad news, punishment, or grief. It’s especially useful during long Summers where the seemingly endless heat can cause irritation, short tempers, digestive upset, and even depression. Peach is milder than its close relative Chokecherry, and better suited for overall stress that is felt throughout the body. It’s also considered safe for pregnant or nursing women, as well as children and elders. It has a pleasant flavor that makes it easier to give to little ones than many other herbs.

Peach is great for those prone to frequent adrenalin rushes, dry tissues and signs of heat. In dry, hot summer a cool cup of Peach leaf tea is like laying back in the river and just letting the water flow over you. It takes the stress response down a few notches, allowing for better integration and presence. It’s also suited for the dryness, hot flashes and tension that often accompanies menopause.

I love iced Peach leaf tea in the Summer, but a tincture or elixir can be made from the Summer leaves or the Spring flowers and twigs for greater convenience and travel. Peach can be hard to find at normal herb suppliers, but being a widespread landscaping and orchard tree, it’s often possible to find some nearby. I recommend searching out the most fragrant tree by scratching and sniffing a twig. The stronger the smell, the better the medicine! 

More about Peach in my article here.

Rosa - My Secret Bower

Rose - Rosa spp.

Rose is one of the most commonly used medicinal plants the world over, and for good reason. This plant is gentle, effective, multifaceted, and easily found. I personally prefer the medicine of Wild Roses, but any aromatic species has medicinal properties. Even food grade Rosewater can be used, and like most Rose based preparations, it tastes incredible!

I often use Rose where other people use Rescue Remedy, it’s joyful and relaxing nature is perfect for anything from grief to panic to trauma, and even a small dose can calm and soothe in a notable way. This wonderful nervine is indicated by feeling deep stress and fear, with an underlying sense of vulnerability, distrust, defensiveness, and even paranoia.  Rose can also be very helpful to those feeling a deep, numbing depression that is, once again, underlaid by fear. People especially suited to Rose are often terrified of abandonment and betrayal, showing that at their deepest level, they are struggling with the balance between vulnerability and boundaries. For the best effect in such a situation, it often needs to be taken in small doses over a long period of time. 

Salvia - The Wisdom of the Green

Sage - Salvia officinalis and many other spp. especially aromatic species but including Salvia subincisa

While Garden Sage is generally thought of in terms of culinary uses, it’s also one of my favorite relaxant nervines. It’s a bonus that the plant is easily grown or obtained, as well as being safe enough for food while still being quite active medicinally.

I find Sage specific to nervous exhaustion with shaking, tremors, and a sense of chronic inner trembling. Panic attacks with heart palpitations, nervous headaches, and a feeling of shaking loose from the body. An excellent nervous system restorative on par with Skullcap and Milky Oats, but quite underused. Also wonderful for waking up the mind, increasing memory and awareness while staying grounded and calm. Even the smell of Sage infused oil can be deeply calming and healing. 

Read more about Sage here.

Scutellaria - Blisswort

Skullcap - Scutellaria lateriflora and other species.

Scutellaria species can vary widely in strength, but the most commonly commercially available species, S. lateriflora is of moderate strength and widely applicable to many forms of anxiety and tension. Fresh plant tincture tends to be the best way to ingest the herb, as some species can lose their potency over time

Skullcap is ideal for nerves so frayed they’re about to snap, resulting in a very emotionally labile and reactive person. “At the end of their rope” is a very good way of describing it. These people have a tendency to flip out over (seemingly) nothing. They feel as if every sound, touch and bit of light is personally attacking them. Sensory hypersensitivity, as it were. They are exhausted on a deep level and need nourishment in the form of rest, nutrient dense food, and nervous system restoratives. Skullcap is a phenomenal restorative especially for those with nervous exhaustion as a result of burned out adrenals because it doesn’t just sedate your nerves but actually helps to heal the nervous system in a way that reduces reactivity and hypersensitivity.

You can find the extended version here, in my Skullcap article

Verbena- The Enchanter’s Green

Vervain - Verbena & Glandularia spp.

While many people benefit from Vervain’s multifaceted medicine, the individuals most prone to Vervain’s effects tend to be those who hold enormous amounts of tension and stress in their shoulders and neck, they are usually very intense, adrenally dominated, driven people who are highly critical and have a tendency to project their issues on other people. They are prone to blood sugar lability, and they are, as Michael Moore so aptly puts it, “metabolically brittle”. Their anxiety, while usually based in fear, mostly manifests as an aggravated, edgy attitude and an over-talkative brain that keeps them from restful sleep, good sex, and general satisfaction with themselves or their lives. They may seem initially growly and unhappy, but in many cases it is simply the tremendous pressure of their internal tension that makes them so unapproachable and even haughty. It’s not unusual for their to be some level of alcoholism or addiction issues present.

Vervain’s medicine tends to be very much about relaxing tension so that a fragmented person can become whole again, and in the same way, allows them to see through unclouded eyes what their path and perspective really is, usually after a time of feeling blinded and short-changed by their anxiety, buried fear and sharp-edged hypercriticism. It’s not just a relaxant, it’s a touch-stone, a mender of broken edges and sometimes, a great giver of dreams. For those who most need its medicine, its effect can feel radical and even unpleasant at first, as if someone is rearranging the entire inside of your head. It is these people that Vervain will help the most but its capabilities are broad and it can be used for many people. As a general nervine in the average human being though, it will simply feel like a gentle touch, a bit of release and relaxation as you lean into its effect. It promotes an overall sense of well-being, and is well combined with many other “happy” herbs like Motherwort, Linden, St. John’s Wort or Lavender.

Viola - The Face Under The Hood

Violet - Viola odorata, Viola tricolor, Viola canadensis, Viola yedoensis, and allied species.

Violet excels at clearing blockages, whether lymphatic, hepatic, or emotional. It’s a gentle relaxant nervine that allows us sort our way through frustration, anger, and irritability to the wound that lies beneath. In a practical sense, this means that Violet is an excellent nervine to take when grief caused tension or irritability is clouding our perception and thus impeding our ability to heal from the grief. More generally, it’s also a wonderful when combined with Rose or other relaxant nervines for a general calming effect. 

Viola spp. have long been used to treat all sorts of headaches, especially those due to tension, sadness, constitutional dryness, or lack of sleep. I find cold infusion or an aromatic flower syrup especially helpful for many headaches.

Read my more in depth look at Violet and its nervine properties right here.