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Cooling Herbs for Summer Self Care

Jul 07, 2022

In our last post on the Traditional Perspectives of Summer, we covered how Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayruveda see the summer season, as well as a few self care tips to consider as we strive for balance during the hottest time of the year. 

To accompany these tips, it can be helpful to have some good plant medicine to make balance easier!

You will notice a few similarities in these plant medicines, specifically that they are either neutral or cooling in nature, or that they address excess heat in the body.

When we think about cooling herbs, it can be helpful to understand the different ays that herbs address heat in the body. 

    • Anti-inflammatory herbs work in many ways like blocking certain chemicals that directly contribute to inflammation, increasing antioxidants that influence the inflammatory pathways, and support and encourage the chemical mediators involved in inflammation soothing

    • Refreshing herbs that are cooling to the body, usually through some chemical constituent like menthol that offer a refreshing zing

    • Refrigerant herbs that actually expel heat from the body, for heat that has settled into the body like in the case of like inflammation or loose stools, heart burn things like that, so herbs like yarrow and elderflower that help cool the body down by sweating vs just mint which is a refreshing herb and valuable for cooling

We see that though plant medicine and chemical mediators, we have a few different ways to cool the body when it expresses excess heat, as well as different degrees of cooling. 

 

REMINDER

As with any type of self care and herbal information, remember that herbs are very powerful. They have a significant effect on the body and they can influence prescription medications. Please always do your personal research in what ever field of study is the most appropriate for you, whether its from a medical perspective, a folk and family medicine perspective, or an ancestral perspective to make sure you are having the most appropriate relationship with new plant medicines that you can! 

 

Hold up! Are you an auditory learner? LISTEN to this article in podcast format ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

 

PEPPERMINT
Mentha Pipperita

 I specifically like to talk about peppermint, but there are so many types of mint that we can work with including spearmint, chocolate mint, wild mint, mountain mint, and more! They are going to have the same energetics and can be used fairly interchangeably so whatever you are a fan of can be your go to! 

Mints are valuable for heat in the digestive tract not just because they are generally cooling and refreshing, but also because of their essential oil content. A good rule of thumb is that volatile oils (the essential oil) will soothe and relax smooth tissue in the body (the tissue of the digestive system). 

This makes mint valuable for gas and bloating and it can also reduce pain and headaches, especially when nervous tension is associated with anger and hot emotions.  As a digestive aid, I suggest using a tea. 

It is a very easy plant to grow and propagate from cuttings. Once you have mint established in your garden, just keep cutting it back and harvesting and drying and you will always have mint available, which makes it a win because of it’s accessibility!

 

HIBISCUS
Hibiscus rosa sinensis

 Hibiscus is a beautiful plant that is part of the mallow or malvacea family. 

This is a common tea and remedy in many cultures around the globe including North Africa, Russia, and the Carribbean where it’s called sorrel. Even ancient Egyptians used hibiscus tea to lower body temperatures.

Hibiscus has a sour tastes. Sour tastes have a cooling effect on the body in general, and that goes for all sour herbs, especially within that refreshing category. Hibiscus is also slightly astringent which makes its good for drying up excess oily heat in the body.

Remember that summer can be expansive. This may exacerbate lax tissue and show up as excess heart burn or loose stools which would indicate that hibiscus is a good tonic for someone with those issues at this time. Sometimes we need extra help to draw ourselves back together. I think of this in the case of the leisure and downtime that summer offers us. This can lead to laziness and laxity which may not be appropriate if we have a lot of work to do or if we need to focus. If this is the case for you, hibiscus can be a valuable herb for tightening your energy back up.

Part of herbalism is thinking about our lives, minds, and bodies systemically and not just linearly. We are dynamic creatures and so exploring the mental effects of our medicine is also important. 

I suggest working with hibiscus as a tea or a syrup! It is often balanced in carribbevn cultures with cinnamon and other spices and it is easy to use when it is fresh or dried.

Do note that hibiscus is significant for lowering blood pressure so be mindful of that if you have blood pressure concerns. It is also an herb that can interfere with certain medications if consumed regularly so be a good citizen scientist and do some cursory google searches before bringing hibiscus into your daily routine!

 

LEMON BALM
Melissa Officials

 Not only is lemon balm in the mint family, it is also a sour herb, making it one of the few sour mints. As we have just learned, sour herbs have a general cooling effect on the body and lemon balm is a really pleasant tasting herb with a citrusy flavor that cools the body down, supports digestion, and is a phenomenal nervine that supports mental relaxation and a positive demeanor. 

Lemon balm is a phenomenal ally for stress, is an antiviral, it is calming, antispasmodic, and an effective antidepressant for mild depression (especially when paired with St. Johns Wort). I find it to be mentally and emotionally uplifting which makes it a valuable ally for activities, allies, and people who are supporting loved ones through hard times. 

It makes a great tea or tincture so use it in which ever way is most pleasant for you. 

Do note that it is shown to inhibit thyroid hormones like thyroxin, so it is contraindicated for those with hypothyroidism. This quality makes it very valuable for those with HYPERTHYROIDISM and overactive thyroid conditions like graves disease, though!

 

REISHI
Ganoderma Lucidium

 Also called lingzhi, Reishi is a medicinal mushroom, referred to as the QUEEN of mushrooms in Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as the Mushroom of Immortality. 

I have included it in this list of summer herbs because it is a primary heart medicine. If you recall from our last post, the heart (in TCM) is said to hold a persons SHEN. Shen is usually translated as spirit but it encompasses so much more than that. It is also your mind/consciousness and emotional balance, So the HEARTMIND rather than just the heart itself. 

Recall that in TCM one of the main issues with an excess of heat energy is that it can disturb the mind and the heart and the Shen leading to 

      • Aggression

      • Agitation

      • Insomnia

      • Agitated sleep

Because of how Reishi supports the Shen, it is valuable for ailments like mild depression, anxiety, panic attacks, restlessness, and insomnia that may come along with excess fire energy.

Summer is primarily a yang season and Reishi is the perfect YIN herb to harmonize the psyche at this time. 

Beyond it’s SHEN soothing benefits, it can boast these amazing and well documented qualities:

      • Immunomodulator

      • Cancer fighting

      • Lowers cholesterol and blood pressure

      • Prevents arteriosclerosis

      • Strong anti-inflammatory activity

      • Protects the liver

      • Helps the body adapt to stress

      • Antiviral

My preferred way to take it is in a tincture form for people who are very lethargic, Or in a capsule or powder form if you are primarily using it as support for the mental/emotional concerns.

 

GUDDUCHI
Tinospora cordifolia

 Guduchi is an anti-inflammatory herb that I take everyday to relieve the excess pitta that comes with having an autoimmune disease. It is a bitter, a tonic, alternative, diuretic, an aphrodisiac, rejuvenative, and antirheumatic. 

It helps the body adapt to stress and counteract the stress in the body, as well as increasing the stress threshold (aka how much stress the body can experience before the effects are seen in the body). 

I include it as a primary summer herb because in Ayruveda, it is a phenomenal rejuvenative for PITTA, and summer is the pitta season! It is said to remove excess fire from the body and promote healthy elimination of natural toxins. This makes it a powerful herb to take during recovery from illness, chronic ailments, or infectious disease. It also supports the function of liver and kidneys and support the regeneration of the liver and protect it from harmful chemicals. 

It further makes an excellent tonic for the immune system and is one of the best herbs for poor immune function and autoimmune diseases because it boosts immunity and promotes vitality. It also reduces stress and anxiety and relieves chronic fatigue syndrome. 

My preferred way to take it is combined with another great pitta reducing herb: Anantamul. I mix the powders of both herbs into ghee and take 1-3 teaspoons per day. 

 

ROSE
Rosa damascus

 Our final summer herb is ROSE. Rose is another sour and astringent herb and a really beautiful plant to incorporate into our healing. In ayurveda, rose is considered to be tri-doshic meaning that it should’t exacerbate any energetic effects like excess anxiety or lethargy. Even though it is soothing to all constitutions, it is particularly valuable for for cooling down hot, fiery conditions. 

One of my favorite ways to use rose is to spray rose water in my eyes and ears and on my skin when I feel over heated. This is especially valuable after I’ve been staring at the computer for too long. A quick spray in the eyes helps to soothe my tired and overworked eyes. 

Rose also makes a sweet tea that reminds us that beauty can be soothing and healing. Of course it is not naturally sweet. The sweetness comes from the energy of the plant spirit. You can sweeten this tea up with milk and honey though to make it pleasurable! I like combining red raspberry, tulsi, and a pinch of cinnamon for some heart and womb medicine, especially in the summer months. 

 

Elderflower

 

Yarrow

 

To close out this post, I want to give an honorable mention to two herbs that are refrigerant herbs: elderflower and yarrow. These are a little bit more intense as heat expellers. They expel heat deep within the body and will have a cooling effect for deeper tissue. I use yarrow to expel heat form the urinary tract in the case of infections and I use elder flower AND yarrow to increase fevers in the case of bacterial and viral infections to help burn through an illness faster. 

Both of these herbs will also increase sweating, which is one mechanism for cooling the body, hence their refrigerant quality. 

I hope this herb list support you in considering how you can achieve more balance as your body moves through the seasons of the year and of your life. Plant medicine is such a valuable modality to work with during the natural fluctuations we go through and as a practice, is a beautiful reminder that change is the only constant and that we are never alone in navigating that change. 

 

Listen to this post on the Herbs + Ease Podcast for a more detailed educational experience!

 

 

 

Kristen Prosen