Total Body Wellness with Herbal Tonic Tisanes

​People love to get their nutrients and medicines in a pill. Especially when it comes to herbs. But - except for the few very, very badly tasting herbs that only require small doses - capsules are the least effective method for taking herbs. Particularly if you're taking tonic herbs, which are herbs taken as part of your daily health routine because they profoundly nourish, tone, and strengthen different body parts and organ systems. The amount of plant material required for these tonic herbs to be effective in a capsule would have you taking A LOT of pills each day. And even if you do manage to swallow them all, how well you absorb the plants' compounds is minimal because your body has to first breakdown the capsule before getting to the herb, which is in an unprocessed form, making the nutrients less bioavailable. 

Instead, you want to drink your tonic herbs. This method is quite familiar to most: it's infusing the herbs in water - what you likely refer to as a "tea." But more accurately, these infusions are called tisanes, because only infusions that contain the tea plant (camellia sinensis) are actually "tea."  Infusing your herbs in water and slowly drinking the resulting tisane is one of the best ways you absorb herbal goodness. That's right - in this scientifically-advanced modern age where chemicals are created faster than we can process them, H2O remains superior for extracting a diverse range of plant constituents from tonic herbs. And ideally, the longer you steep your tonic herbs, the more nutrient-dense your resulting tisane. You can also make a more potent Tonic Tisane by using larger quantities of plant material. Susun Weed coined the term "nourishing herbal infusion," which refers to a tisane made with 1 ounce (by weight) of herb steeped in a quart of water for 4-10 hours. She uses herbs that border the line of medicine and food, such as nettles, oatstraw, burdock root, and raspberry leaf. All of these tonic herbs contain high mineral, vitamin, and protein content. All of the Tonic Tisanes in GreenWitch Gardens Medicine Collection are formulated with tonic herbs as the base, and call for you to use 2 tablespoons per pint, however you can also brew them using larger quantities, as in Susun Weed's method, in order to get a stronger dose of nutrients. This can be an especially effective method if you are trying to correct a nutrient deficiency. Each GWG Tonic Tisane is formulated with herbs that have a specific affinity for a specific body system/organ, and can be consumed on a regular basis in order to nourish and strengthen that organ/body system. 

Once you've made your Tonic Tisane and strained the herbs out, make sure you drink the infusion properly. Your Tonic Tisane isn't a pill you throwback quickly and you're done. Sipping your tisane slowly throughout the day (or 2 days) keeps a steady stream of nutrients in the body, allowing your body to effectively break down and distribute the nutrients to the proper organ systems. Guzzling your Tonic Tisane, instead of sipping it, only results in a spike of urination, oftentimes too quickly after you finish.

Alternatively, make drinking your tisane part of your daily ritual practice. In our whirlwind world, we hardly carve any time out of each day for a mindful practice of intention setting and tuning within. Instead, too many people live rushed, over-worked, over-stimulated, malnourished lives and something as simple as a 15-20 minute personalized ritual that's done 1-2 times each day is just too easy of a way to avoid disease, pre-mature aging, and emotional and mental distress. Visit the GreenWitch Gardens Medicine Collection for various types of Tonic Tisanes for whole body wellness.