Tag: health
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The Five Types of People In The Holistic Wellness Space
I’ve been in the holistic wellness space for about five years now, and I can confidently say this work will humble you, stretch you, and reshape you, if you let it. When I first started my wellness journey, I was so enthusiastic, so curious, and so passionate… But also, if I’m being honest, I was…
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My Honest Experience of Wellness and Holistic Medicine Schools
Over the last few years, I’ve enrolled in three very different wellness and holistic medical education programs: A lot of people ask me what schools they should attend to become a holistic practitioner. I wish I had an easy answer, but to be honest, in the holistic world, one school just doesn’t cut it. One…
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A Simple Way to Understand How the Body Falls Out of Balance
For most of human history, medicine wasn’t about naming diseases first, it was about noticing patterns in the body. Is the body running hot or cold?Dry or overly damp?Tense or weak?Heavy and sluggish or light and restless? This way of understanding health exists in the traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Unani, Greek medicine,…
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Why Sunnah Is Often Misunderstood When It Comes to Health
One of the most common mistakes I see, especially in wellness spaces that overlap with Islam, is the belief that sunnah equals a universal health prescription. That misunderstanding creates confusion, guilt, and sometimes even harm. Sunnah is not a biohacking protocol. It was never meant to replace medical discernment, nor was it designed to optimize every…
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Exploring Costa Rica as a Herbalist: A Day at El Arca Jardín Botánico
If you ever find yourself in Costa Rica and you’re into herbal medicine, El Arca Jardín Botánico is a must-visit spot that beautifully blends nature, healing, good food, and breathtaking views. El Arca Jardín Botánico is a beautiful botanical garden tucked away in Santa Bárbara de Heredia, home to a wide variety of medicinal plants, themed terraces,…
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Getting Beyond the Baby Blues
I remember the day I found out I was pregnant. I had been dealing with painful cramps for days and, like I often do, my mind jumped straight to worst-case scenarios. I was convinced it was something serious, maybe pelvic inflammatory disease. When I went to the doctor, the nurse casually handed me a pregnancy…
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Different Bodies, Different Movement
Not every body is built for the same kind of movement, and that’s not a flaw, it’s biology. Some people feel alive after a hard, sweaty workout. Others feel wrecked for days. Some bodies crave strength and resistance. Others soften, open, and heal through slower, gentler movement. None of this is random, and none of…
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The Small Habit That Changed How My Body Handles Life (and Digestion)
I started belly breathing because I learned it in Ayurvedic school. Belly breathing is when you inhale slowly through your nose and let your belly expand, then exhale fully and let it soften so the belly should be moving, not the chest. What I didn’t realize at the time was how shallow my breathing had become day to day. Everything…
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Is Ayurveda Compatible With Muslim Life?
This is a question I get often. And the short answer is yes, they can coexist, as long as Ayurveda is approached as a health framework, not a belief system. Ayurveda, at its core, is not a religion. It doesn’t ask for worship, devotion, or spiritual allegiance. It’s an observational system, one that looks at how the…
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To Ice or Not to Ice?
I run cold.Not in the personality sense, but in the body sense. My terrain runs on the colder side. Cold hands. Cold feet. Slow mornings. Low appetite first thing in the day. Stiff joints when I wake up. A tendency toward sluggish digestion, bloating, or feeling better once I’ve eaten something warm. I do better…
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Are Essential Oils Safe to Ingest? And How Should Essential Oils Be Used Safely?
Essential oils aren’t harmless. They’re highly concentrated chemical extracts. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just reality. And when something is powerful, it deserves boundaries. One single drop can equal the volatile content of dozens of cups of herbal tea, far beyond what digestion is designed to handle. Because of this extreme concentration, essential oils…
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What the Health (Netflix 2017) Documentary Review
What the Health wants you to believe it’s exposing hidden truths about nutrition. It isn’t. It’s pure vegan propaganda, wrapped in a documentary format. The film starts with a conclusion and works backward to justify it. Meat is bad. Eggs are bad. Dairy is bad. Animal foods are positioned as the villain behind nearly every…
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The Best Books to Learn Herbal Medicine (Without Superficial Knowledge)
If you want to get into learning true holistic herbal medicine and feel overwhelmed by the laundry lists of herbs, what’s it good for gargon, and Latin names, you’re not alone. Along the way, I’ve noticed that a lot of popular herbal books give you information, but very little understanding. True herbal medicine isn’t about…
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The Side Effects They Don’t Tell You About: What Long-Term Benzos and Adderall Use Can Really Do to You
For years, the mental health industry has sold us this idea that a pill is the fastest way out of our pain. A shortcut. A lifeline. A chemical solution for emotional problems that were often created by our environment, our trauma, our relationships, and our lifestyle. And when we’re desperate, hurting, or exhausted from carrying…
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ClassPass, Yoga, and Finding My Calm in This City
Miami is loud, fast, colorful, chaotic, and distracting. Yoga is the opposite. It’s the only place where I’m not thinking about anything else, not my phone, not my to-do list, nothing. Just breath, heat, music, and movement. Lately I’ve been using ClassPass to hop around different yoga studios all over Miami, and honestly… it’s becoming…
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Unfck Your Brain by Faith G. Harper (Book Review)
Honestly I’m really in my self-help books era right now. I’m craving anything that helps me understand my mind, my patterns, my healing, and the way my past still echoes through my present. What struck me most is how compassionate the book is. It doesn’t treat you like you’re broken or weak. Unfck Your Brain isn’t just a catchy…
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My Favorite Types of Yoga
I recently learned that Yoga is where my body feel safest. I move through different styles, looking for grounding, strength, balance, something that makes me feel more at home in my body. Hot yoga pulls me in first of course. The heat feels incredible. My muscles finally relax. For an hour, my body lets go…
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Honestly, Vanessa 