Heallist Podcast

Learning herbalism with KhadiYah Preciado

• Yuli Ziv • Episode 65

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In this latest episode of the Heallist Podcast, founder of Yah's Apothecary and herbal expert KhadiYah Preciado, discusses the rich history and healing properties of herbalism. She explores the importance of kitchen herbs, the misconceptions surrounding herbal remedies, and the role of herbalists in modern health. KhadiYah also shares her personal experiences with herbs, particularly dandelion, and emphasizes the need for patience and understanding in herbal healing. The conversation highlights the growing popularity of herbalism and encourages listeners to reconnect with nature's healing power.

Takeaways:
- Herbalism includes kitchen herbs and common plants.
- The oldest records of herbalism originated in Africa.
- Many people still rely on herbs for healing worldwide.
- Herbal studies are limited due to profit motives in pharmaceuticals.
- Natural does not always mean safe; dosage matters.
- Capsules and gummies may dilute the benefits of herbs.
- Garlic is a versatile and powerful healing herb.
- Dandelion can help with various health issues.
- Herbalism requires patience and understanding of the body.
- There is a growing interest in herbalism among younger generations.

Check out KhadiYah's Free Beginner Ebook: http://www.yahsapothecary.com/freebook

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Yuli:

Welcome to the Healist Podcast, where we unpack the many layers of holistic health. I'm Yuli, founder of Healist, your portal to holistic healers worldwide. Now let's go deep. Hello, dear friends, and welcome to the Healist Podcast. We have many new listeners who join us lately, especially since we launched the video format. So I just wanted to acknowledge all of you and welcome to the safe space of healing conversations. And if this resonates, please just hit subscribe or follow wherever you're listening. It's a small and simple way to support this type of independent and free content. So I'm really grateful for you. And today we're diving into a modality that's been around since the inception of the earth, way before we humans discovered its incredible healing properties and its herbalism. And we have an incredible expert to guide us through. As the founder of Yaz Apothecary, she combines her professional expertise with personal experience to empower others to heal their bodies, nurture their families, and build thriving herbal businesses. I'm so thrilled to have you here. And I just love this topic. It's uh really I love diving into some of those holistic modalities and bring experts like yourself. And today I just I'm gonna be a student. I can't wait to learn all this incredible wisdom. Again, something that has been around for so long, and it's incredible that there's people like yourself who are bringing it back and promoting it in this crazy world that is driven and controlled by substances, and just like it's so refreshing to bring back the herbs. So thank you for doing your beautiful work and welcome to the podcast.

KhadiYah :

Thank you. Thank you so much for allowing me to share about something that I really love. And more people, as you said, should um definitely explore it. Amazing.

Yuli:

So I want to dive um right in and um just unpack for people who may be new to this concept. What are we talking about? Is it herbs that all of us have in our garden? Is that what is herbalism and some of the maybe foundational elements just to center us?

KhadiYah :

Yeah, so herbalism, I love to talk about the kitchen herbalism. So it does include the spices that we have in our kitchen, the quote unquote weeds that we have growing in, you know, the sides of the sidewalk and our backyards. And it does include the imported herbs or the packaged herbs that you can get as well. So it pretty much is just plants that we use for medicinal use. And so, yeah, I love to say start with the kitchen first. Those are the ones you're gonna be the most familiar with. They're gonna be really accessible, and then if you actually want to take that healing journey for yourself, then you can explore the other plants that are around you and continue and go more from there.

Yuli:

So, can we talk a little bit about the history, right? And you specifically uh specialize in African herbalism. So I'm just curious, where did it emerge as a modality? Um, and and what are maybe some of the differences between different like submodalities of herbism?

KhadiYah :

Yeah, so actually the oldest um records that we have of herbalism did start in Africa, in Egypt specifically, the written records that we have. And of course, it looks different today, outside of like Western society, it still is pretty much the most practiced. So you'll see in Asia and Africa, you know, 80% or more people actually still rely on herbs. And that's for a lot of reasons for accessibility and then also tradition as well. Um, and I would say herbalism looks different too, depending on what continent it was found. African herbalism started just with, I would say, herbalism of the people, just how a normal person will look at a plant and kind of understand a little bit about it, observing and looking at the characteristics, you know. Oh, that looks like a heart. I wonder if it's, you know, useful for the heart, or it's growing in this certain area. Maybe it can help me with this. And so if you think about like the first people, they didn't have much to go on. So they had to pay attention to the senses and how did it feel, how did it taste, and just the way animals kind of instinctually know which plants are the ones that they want to go for. Um, there's the same way that we people have developed. And way back when in the US it was called Freedom Gardens, and people were growing in their own foods and had more of a relationship, and now everything has been, you know, more convenient. People are moving out to different places. And as we have learned and had more education in some aspects, we have lost a lot of that when it comes to understanding our bodies or understanding what some of these new drugs or pharmaceuticals are doing to ourselves. And so I think that it's important to kind of go back and glean a little of it from those who came before us.

Yuli:

Absolutely. So you mentioned some of uh one of the things that I think um, you know, a lot of holistic modalities have an issue with. There's not clinical studies, right, about every single herb out there. And um, how do people know, I guess, what are the true benefits? Since it's um a lot of it, it may be based on this intuition or ancient traditions.

KhadiYah :

How do we thrust the herbs? So for many plants, the studies have pretty much stopped because it's much more profitable to, you know, serve a drug. Even though the drugs themselves may cost a little bit, like insulin, maybe about $2, they estimate. But when it goes on the shelves, it can be, and depending on where you live, actually depends on the price too. In Europe, it's a little bit cheaper, but it still is like 50 times more, et cetera. And the US, you pay thousands, you can pay thousands of dollars. And so it's not profitable. Um, and so that's why, and it's not something you can patent and you can't own in that way. And so it's much easier for the benefit of which the medical industry now has to act for profit. And so it's not as empowering to tell you to go pick up a $2 pack of seeds and grow something and then actually not have to come back as often for every little thing. But there are studies. There are different categories of herbs that have the most studies. A lot of our traditional herbs that we have in the kitchen have been studied extensively. Time there's different studies on those types of plants, basil, etc. And then there's also studies on adaptogens. So those are pretty much some of our most studied herbs. But yeah, the studies aren't as much. And when they do study, a lot of times it's based on just a chemical compound, but not actually the way that a person would drink a tea. So it can be for those who are very science-based, um, it can seem like there's not that much evidence. But one of the main things that I always share is that a lot of the medicines that we have actually are derived from plants. And so the ones that we hear all the all the time, aspirin is derived from salicylic acid that is found in like willow bark or um foxglove is where we get some of our heart medications. Uh, birth control also came from a plant called wild yam. And so when you think about these things, the scientists knew that the plants had these effects, but it just looks differently when you're choosing herbalism. It won't act the same as a medication because now it's just one part of the plant and one isolate isolated chemicals from the plant. But the other part about that is you may have maybe a quicker result or maybe more of a reliable result, but there's also more side effects that now come because the plant was meant to come with all of these different compounds and now you're having one. And if you have one thing in isolation, that often can lead to problems. And so I think that it is just a nice harmony of knowing for the everyday thing, you can take care of it at home and you can use, you know, herbal medicines, but then for a first aid or for an accent or something like that, there's also other choices for you as well. So I think it's just a perfect harmony of understanding your body and you know being more empowered about your healing and having all the different choices at your disposal.

Yuli:

Absolutely. And can you talk a little bit about some of the misconceptions or maybe misusages of herbs that you're seeing out there? I'm sure there's a lot.

KhadiYah :

Yeah, there are many, yes. But I think because we're in a society, again, where everything is quick and fast, a lot of times people will see maybe 30-second or 60-second video and they're like, oh, I want to try that. But just like even when you have the commercials of the pharmaceuticals, you hear all the different side effects. People don't often talk about that when it comes to herbs, and they don't might not tell you, these are the people who maybe shouldn't use this. Or if you're trying to give it to a child, you have to change a dosage, or maybe you don't give it to them at all. Or if you're pregnant. And so um, a lot of times people think natural means safe and take as much as you want of it. If this is a dosage they say it's one teaspoon to use, if I use two teaspoons, it's twice as good. And so you still have to take more a level of discerning to be able to understand. You have to break it down and study and still research as well. All of that's important. You have to have the context. And so, yeah, those are some of the biggest things I would say is thinking that more is better. More herbs. If I take five herbs that are gonna help to boost my immunity, that's gonna be five times as better. If I take more, that's gonna be better. Or I don't have to worry about side effects or anything like that because it's natural. So I think that with herbalism, if you do start with like kitchen herbs, then those are typically gonna be the safest and that's the best way to start. But a lot of times what we want to do is the herb of the moment, the trendy herb, the ones that we're hearing about. And the other thing too is utilizing capsules or gummies, those kind of things are wonderful. But a lot of times people don't even understand what the herb actually tastes like, what it looks like. And so just having more of a relationship, don't just swap out, you know, pills for plants, but actually try to change your mindset about how you think about your health. Change maybe the foods that you're eating, have a relationship and be more slow and intentional and relearn all these different things. So I think that that is the important part in peace, other than just saying, here, take herbs and you know you'll be healthier. There are other parts to go along with it.

Yuli:

So, since you mentioned capsules, I have to ask you, there's also so many companies that try to package herbs, right? And all kinds of capsules, gummies. The that market is just so saturated and it's just so hard to navigate for a consumer and to know what's real, what's not, what's diluted, what's the right dosages. And I think unfortunately, there's also some players that are profiting off because again, like you said, it's not patentable, it's available for all. Pretty easy to make money. There is the herb of the months, there's a trendy stuff that everyone's all of a sudden take. So there's definitely a commercialism aspect to it. So, how do you recommend? I know it's a big question, but any kind of quick tips to navigate the supplement uh herbs market.

KhadiYah :

Yeah, um, that and that's really good on what you're talking about because that is really real and what we're seeing, especially companies that are not known for health are now deciding to jump in because it's trendy. I would definitely say if you can do it yourself, if you have a little bit of time, a lot of times people overestimate what is actually required. And so you just need a little portion of herbs and you can actually grind it up at home yourself, and you can actually get a little capsule filling machine, or sometimes I would actually do it by hand and you can actually make the capsules up yourself. And that's gonna be better because you don't know how long something's been sitting on the shelves, you don't know where they harvested it. So the more that you know, the better that you can know that you're getting a great product. But other than that, I would look for companies. I would I always love to do organic if you can, wild harvested. You're looking more into the company as well as for something to make sure that it's ethical and all of that. And then also the companies that have a long track history um and that are known for the wellness space and not just getting into it in year two or three, but they've been doing this for decades, is the best. But I would always say it's best if you can do it yourself. I wouldn't necessarily go to like a G and C or something like that. I would even, if you have, depending on where you live, will um determine how accessible this is. But if you have a local herb shop, then many times they can go in, they can give you the herbs themselves, they can grind it up for you and actually do it fresh. So going to an actual herbalist, maybe doing a console with them and having them actually fresh make it for you would be a lot better as well. But I would steer clear of more of the regular drugstores that we have. I don't want to say names to make them the bad guys, but a lot of the stuff is not gonna be fresh. Um, a lot of times it's very small dose. And so you can make it yourself, go to an herbalist you trust or look for organic and companies that really give back into the communities where they're harvesting the herbs. They have their own research available online to you where you can see that it's tested and it doesn't have leads and the different things like that that have a long track history. And so don't just go for the cheapest option because a lot of times you do get what you pay for.

Yuli:

Amazing. Well, you're inspiring me to start making my own capsules. I didn't even think about it, that it was an option. Right.

KhadiYah :

Yeah. But it actually, you know, it is very easy, especially for those who are used to the coffee drinkers who grind up their coffee fresh in the same amount of time. You could be grinding up some herbs fresh and using that powder in your smoothies or using it for capsules, and you know that it's fresh and that it's good quality. And you actually know and see everything that goes into it.

Yuli:

That's amazing. I love this advice. All right, I'm gonna try it. So now can we talk a little bit about what are the common herbs that maybe we don't even realize their healing potentials or something that you see is really um, you know, resonates with some of the clients that you work with, it's always kind of like a hit or something that's very potent.

KhadiYah :

Yeah, I would definitely say the kitchen herbs. I think a lot of times when people are like, oh, they want to be an herbalist, it's it's always about, you know, I gotta go to the store, I gotta get all the jars, I gotta get all the herbs. But you have a lot of the materials that you need inside the house. Um, and as I said, a lot of these plants are tested. And so, and you can use them as food, and that's like the you know, the best way to actually get them into your diet. And so they're very easy. You can go to a local grocery store and now find starter plants. And so um, some of the plants that I would say garlic is one that is really cheap, easy to grow. Uh, doesn't have it's one of the plants that have the least amount of pests or um different like critters that want to attack it. And it's extremely easy to grow. And you can regrow it from your own garlic, but it is used, you can have garlic-infused honey, you can have it fresh in your foods, you can actually use it for poultices. It was used a lot of times in poultices, um, or basically you could put some in your sock when you had congestion, when you had a cold and you it was really hard to breathe, you would put it in your sops. That's like a old wives' tale, um, but it really works. You can also, garlic is actually used in oil, actually for hair, for hair growth, because it has sologen and different vitamins and minerals in it. And so it is something that's really powerful and you can use it for so many different things. It's used also like uh for parasites, so flus or any kind of bugs, infections, it's used, um, even for the mouth. You can have it and gargle with it. And so it is really versatile, it's extremely cheap. And I do hear a garlic talked about, but I always just say, just because you don't want it to be where it's a money thing or I don't have time. So if you already have garlic, just chop up a little bit of extra and make a honey with it. I like to make, I'm trying to remember the name of it, but I like to mix it in with other ingredients. Now you do have to be careful with the fresh garlic if you're putting it in oils. That's another way that people use it. Um, you have to be careful for like botulism. But put it in a fresh food, putting it in the fridge, and just using it is really easy. And you definitely will feel the benefits whenever you have any kind of stuffiness or sore throat or anything coming on. If you feel the first sign of illness, uh, garlic is definitely one that you should use.

Yuli:

Amazing. I love it. And uh, what is one herb that surprised you with its qualities? Maybe you gave to your client who I'm really amazed by the results.

KhadiYah :

I would say for me, dandelion. Now, dandelion is one where it's cliche. You hear herbalists talk about how wonderful it is. But for me, it was really powerful because that really kind of unlocked and let me know that I actually could heal the long-term issues that I had. So just to backtrack, I had absent periods for over a decade and doctors couldn't tell me what was wrong. A lot of people were like, why is that a problem? You know, you're not having as many periods. It was a wonderful thing. But I knew long term that that wasn't because infertility or bad quality eggs, all of those different things are what was going on. And so I just looked into, you know, what the root issue was, and I knew that for me, I was born at 30 weeks. I had constipation, all these things that were really saying liver, liver, that my liver really needed to be restored. And so I just tried dandelion root and I committed to it for 30 days. And in 30 days, I actually found out for the first time how long my periods were. I was never able to have a calendar or do the, you know, normal things that came along with women in menstruation. And so for me, that let me know that anything was possible and that I was a true believer that herbs work. And so it grows everywhere. Um, and it wants to grow through wood, it grows through cracks and everything like that. And so I definitely say it is something that everyone should try and really see. It's used for all types of things like edema. So, like water retention, you can see water weight just fall off for skin. I also struggle with acne-prone skin. And so, just to be able to see all the different ways that one plant was able to help me, I think that maybe someone is listening and they're like, Yeah, I'm I'm struggling with constipation. And it's amazing that one plant can touch on so many parts of the body.

Yuli:

Amazing. So, what do you do? You just walk around, you pick up some dandelions, you make a tea.

KhadiYah :

Yeah, so for me, I use dandelion roots. So if I was to do that, yeah. As long as you don't use weed killer or anything on your garden. So I would say to try to use your own backyard or maybe a friend's or someone, as long as they haven't sprayed, like within the last three years, it's fine. Parks, you do have to be careful because they do usually spray every year. So maybe if you go into a forest and it's okay to harvest plants, I would do there. Or you can actually grow dandelion. I know that's probably a thought of who would want to grow dandelions, but you can actually do that as well. There's some real nice varieties of dandelion, by the way, too, that you can grow. And so, yeah, you would just take the plant, you wash it off. I particularly use the roots and those are more geared towards the liver, whereas the leaves are more for the kidney issues. And so, yeah, just wash them up and I put them and boil in the tea. Now, some people also roast them in the oven and it gives more like a coffee flavor when you roast them. And if you're a coffee lover, you can definitely try some dandelion root tea. It's gonna be, I think it tastes similar. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I think it tastes similar and you can add whatever you want and just take the tea. So it's really um simple. You can boil them for about um 20 minutes. If you dice it up pretty thin, then you can just have it in your tea as normal and just let it steep for about 15 minutes or so.

Yuli:

Amazing. I love this.

KhadiYah :

Yeah. So it's yeah, it's really simple. And I just like to amaze people with really how simple it is. You can do a lot of things in just five minutes a day.

Yuli:

Yes. I think this is one of the misconceptions that people often have. Now, healing in general, I feel like it became so complicated, right? With the medical industry. And we kind of forget how simple some of those remedies used to be.

KhadiYah :

Yeah, really. And you know, right. Oh, I was gonna say, and and like for some people, some of our grandparents or great grandparents, they weren't the most educated, but they did understand their family member always used a certain T for XYZ. I mean, even little things like taking casserole, that's something that's uh really popular. And people don't understand that casserole is a natural accessive. And so it really was simple and it was just able for everyone to be able to do. That's why I like to share about kitchen herbs because you can still do it cheaply. You can, like I said, still do it in five minutes. Many of us don't have more than five minutes, and you can make so many different things. You can make tinctures, you can make the herb-infused honeys like I talked about, and there's other things that um a lot of people haven't even heard of, like optionals, and they all take about five minutes. There's actually it's called the folk method. When you're making things, you're not even necessarily measuring it. You could just maybe fill up your jar to a certain amount and just you know pour things on top. So it is really easy and um accessible and affordable.

Yuli:

That yeah, I definitely I can relate because as a child, I grew up in the in communist Russia, so we didn't have big pharma and we all we relied on herbs. I think we had maybe like five medications and pharmacy and everything else. We had to rely on herbs. So from my childhood, I know uh I'm very used to like just using like castor oil or uh herbs or like garlic, like you said. This was just like what my mom would use um and us kids. And it was incredible after you know, I came to the Western world uh to kind of see the size of pharmacies we have and the different uh the variety, the sheer variety of quick fixes, right? That you didn't even know that people needed, but yet they exist. And I think also what comes with it, and I think you mentioned that earlier, is that idea of like uh quick results that people got trained to expect um soundless medicines? And I think a lot of us also really lost our um like pain tolerance. And um, yes, with herbs, sometimes you have to be patient, and like you said, it took like 30 days to see the results. Um, you know, sometimes it takes months, right? To to see the effects. So what would you tell to people that are like maybe inclined to try herbs, but they really they might be thinking, but I'm really in pain, or you know, but I'm I'm afraid if I like move to herbs or maybe um you know, try to replace some other medications with more natural herbs, it's not gonna have the same effect, or I'm gonna be suffering. Like, do you have any uh anything to say to people who are apprehensive about trying more natural methods?

KhadiYah :

Yeah, a a lot. I have a lot to say. A lot is coming up in my brain on that question um because you can actually use herbs with pharmaceuticals. So I wouldn't do it if it if I just became an herbalist or just had a curiosity. So I would go to a practitioner to be able to assist me with that. But there are negative contraindications you have to look for. For a person who's trained for that, sometimes I've had clients and they don't necessarily want to get off their medication. So if that's not their goal, that's not something I'm gonna push them to do. I always think about what the person is comfortable and what their goal is. And I would say it's just like it's delayed gratification, just like investing. It's just a way of investing in your health. So maybe it might not work right away or it's quickly. Would you like the chance to not have to take something for the rest of your life for that ailment? And so it has so many other wonderful benefits as well, nutrition-wise and other side effects where it can maybe improve your digestion or different things like that. And so I would just say, you know, um, try it and you don't have to quit anything cold turkey. You don't have to commit to anything. So you can start wherever you are. So yeah, you can still use it with your medication, even with the main intent not to be to stop using medications, but maybe you just want to have a better quality of life, or maybe you just want to eat healthier, or maybe you just want to ease into it. So it is just an investment into your health. And oh, the other thing about that herbs may not work. What if it doesn't work? I would say with medications, what happens a lot of time is that there's, you know, dependency on things. And so you really don't think about it, but a lot of times it's not necessarily helping you. With pain, it's just maybe dulling the sense of it, or your brain is just not picking up the signals. And so it's not actually helping you because if you stopped, you would still feel the same thing. Whereas with herbs, it can be rebuilding over time and actually lead to healing later on as well. But there's all different types of herbs and there's all different certain levels. And so if this certain herb doesn't work for you, there's so many other options. But when we think about the pharmaceuticals, there's there's many. I don't know, I'm just gonna say 10,000 or so. But with herbs, there's hundreds of millions. And so there's different, there's I believe that there's an herb for everyone, but it's um may just be a process of learning, you know, how does my body respond to this? But I definitely think that it's worth a try for long-term health. Because what if your situation changes and you're not able to afford the medication? So it's wonderful to have other options, and then they can be cheaper. Um, and then you can use them for all types of things. And like I said, they have other benefits, other wonderful side effects as well with it. And I think the body just also appreciates them as well. So, and then you get to a chance to learn more about your own health. So there's just so many other things that maybe you can't um quantify it. And I think it's it is a misconception that the herb, um, that a drug is necessarily it doesn't really heal. It just helps you to manage it and it's really all about in that moment. But if you were to stop it, you would see that it's actually not helping.

Yuli:

Can you talk a little bit about the work of herbalists and people who never went to one or want to understand how to work with the herbalists? Is it when do clients usually come to you? What does the process look like?

KhadiYah :

Yeah, so usually with me, a lot of times clients are going to the doctor and maybe not getting the results that they want. So maybe they're told, like me, they couldn't find anything. Because for some people, it's not gonna show up on a blood test, or you might have the right numbers. It might look good on paper, but you're still saying, you know, something's wrong. For me, I had a lot of clients who were at the last rope. So some people that were sent home from hospice and they were told that there was nothing they can do for them. So that's unfortunate. But I would think that I would encourage a person to come before it gets to that because, you know, it's gonna be better for you and then better for the herbalist that's working with you. But usually when you come to herbalist, it is very similar going to um a doctor's office. So you would typically start with some type of paperwork on your health history so they get to know more about you. The main difference that you'll see is when you're talking, you're talking to the actual herbalist who is gonna prepare something for you. Whereas when you go to a doctor's office, you usually spend more time with the nurse telling them. And then the nurse will, you know, um give the notes and everything. And a doctor might spend, you know, five minutes. But with your herbalist, you're able to usually 30 minutes or even an hour. Everyone's different. You have time to really talk about the issue and you're able to ask the questions there. And then with herbalist, you also are able to follow up. And so it's just much more of an intimate um process. And like let's say you come in for an issue. Um, when you're with an herbalist, you can talk about all the different issues, and we are actually interested in that because all of that tells us more about what your lifestyle requires or what other issues might be going on. So it's not just about like the one thing. We want to help you to come back and be whole, right? And so um I would say that's the main difference is that we kind of walk you through the process. For me as well, I I give the handouts like you might get at the doctor's office, and I explain about the different herbs and explain why I um why I recommended it. So I try to really walk people through it because a lot of times it is something new. I tell you how to prepare it, you know. I even give the the recipe. So we talked about like not being able to patent, right? But when someone comes to me for help, I give them it's their recipe. I make them their own recipe and I give it to them. So if they want to go and now buy the herbs and make it themselves, I, you know, I encourage that. So I think with herbalists, we really just want our clients to be um empowered to have a relationship with plants and for it to continue throughout the rest of their life. And I don't want them to always feel like they have to come back every single time they have a problem. I would really want to give them knowledge to be able to find answers on their own because I believe that you are with you yourself 24 hours of the day. So you know your body the best. And so I just want to work with you to be able to get you to where you know you want to be, what your goals are.

Yuli:

Oh, that's incredibly generous. And I love this so much. And I know you also work with herbalists, actually, or training herbalists or people who like to get into it more professionally, which I find very fascinating. So, can you talk about that? Are you seeing other practitioners from like other modalities coming to you and want to add herbs to the mix? Or are you seeing people who are just go through their own journey, see the benefits on themselves, and then try to learn it professionally? And what does it look like?

KhadiYah :

Yeah, so I see uh a mix. A lot of times it is the person who is just starting and they really just want to take better care. Care of their family. They know maybe their family is not eating the best foods and they're maybe lacking in nutrition. Their children are constantly sick. And so they're like, I want something better than just going to the doctor over and over and over. And so we do have people who are at that level or just the learner level. And then I do see a lot of people who've gone to a lot of different schools, but even the way that we learn in today, I think it's all about just very rigorous. It's not really organically in the way that um like how children would learn of just asking questions and being curious and experimenting, where a lot of times it's you sit and you listen and you raise your hand, you know, um, but it's not really like student-led. And so a lot of times it's more about memorization, cramming for tests or different things. And they saying, I really don't want to just know facts. I really want to have a deeper understanding. And so that's where we take it back. I always try to do things in a way that's just organic, the way it would naturally happen, in a way that it's gonna stick, in a way that empowers you not to just be a carbon copy of, you know, your teacher or whoever taught you, but for you to be able to have your own way of looking at things, your own methods. And I think that that's really important. So giving them footing to be able to stand on their own and feel confident and then also have confidence to be able to help clients in a really beneficial way.

Yuli:

Amazing. And do you find that herbalism in general is becoming more widely acceptable, popular? What do you see from your perspective, from doing it for years? What is happening today with this modality?

KhadiYah :

Yeah, I think that herbalism is becoming more, more known. And um, I wouldn't say necessarily more respected. I think that a lot of times people are just looking for in a new outlet. And so what I see is I call it modern herbalism of today, where it's just kind of like the same as modern medicine, but just with herbs instead. That's why I try to encourage more of the relationship and and more of in which we used to have with plants, where it was just more common knowledge and people understood where the plants come from. I remember I was talking to someone and they said that like broccoli was their favorite plant. And I had showed them a picture in my garden. They're like, you know, what is that? And I'm like, it's your favorite plant. You say you eat it every week, and you know, you just thought it was, I don't know, like another dandelion or just another weed. And so you would walk right by it. And so I think that it is getting more popular just for the profitable of it, because you know, they are very cheap as well and they will grow quickly and abundantly. So not necessarily for the right reasons. So what I would like to see is more of people adopting a more holistic mindset. I think everyone says holistic, but a lot of times people can't tell you what holistic is or tell you what it looks like. And so just taking a little bit more time. And I think that now some of the younger generations are saying, you know, kind of going back and saying, you know, I tried what my parents did, it didn't work. And, you know, I don't want to do X, Y, Z. And so I think that we might get there just based on people saying, you know, this isn't working. We need something new. And so I think that's where we are. I think we're right at the turning point. And I think that's why society is really needing something, and it's it's a perfect opportunity for herbalism to kind of be reintroduced with new eyes to everyone.

Yuli:

I love it. I can totally see it like people filming like cooking classes, but instead it's with herbs and learning about herbs and spices and just how to integrate them into food. I think that could be some great movement. I think we saw a little bit of it during the pandemic when everyone started their own garden. But then we kind of went back, right? There was like a brief moment and then we went back to the old days.

KhadiYah :

Yeah. So yeah, hopefully. But you know, a lot of times, sometimes you have to learn, like, you know, under the under the pressure and being forced into something. Hopefully it'll be, you know, you have to do it a little bit longer for it to be able to stick. But I would love to see that, like you said, like on um the food networks or whatever, to see segments on herbs. So yeah, I would love to see that. And I think that that's what we need, just more of people seeing like what it really looks like and just kind of talking about and demystifying some of the myths about what you know what people think. That yeah, it is like we were talking about earlier about yeah, like it is actually scientific too, not just, you know, hearsay or it has a long track record of thousands of years of it being effective. And so, yeah, I think that just people being more immersed into it. I think, you know, in school, I remember just, you know, like nutrition, it was just so like a small little segment of a class, but it should be talked about more because without health, we're not able to do so many different things. And so I think that we've been doing things the way we've always done them, and we haven't really, you know, took time to say, it's not working. Why is it not working? What should we do instead? And so, yeah, definitely I think investing into the next generation, um, teaching them, and then maybe they can change curriculums and they can change everything else with it.

Yuli:

Yes, I think the new generation has a lot of potential, probably more than ours. I know my kids read food labels and and they know more than like so it gives me hope. Yeah, definitely, definitely. I I believe in them. Amazing. Well, it's so I love your mission. It's so incredible. I love that you're spreading this into this world. And before we wrap up, any last words of wisdom.

KhadiYah :

I would say if you hear this and you feel inspired, I would say just choose one thing that you're gonna do. Maybe it's you know, three days, or maybe it's I'm gonna try a new herb, you know, that they have in the store. Just, you know, just come up with that one thing that you want to do and then actually try it and see if it works for you. So don't just, you know, listen to what we're saying. It make your ears feel good, but make your, you know, body feel good by actually following up and you know, choose yourself. In in today's society, it's so busy. A lot of us have families and so many other people to take care of, but it's permission also to take care of yourself and just choose that one thing and do it.

Yuli:

You're inspired me to try and or maybe I'll start with dandelions. That sounds like a good one.

KhadiYah :

Yeah, there's so many recipes dedicated to dandelion, you would be surprised. So there's also many different ways you can eat it. You can eat the leaves, you can eat the flowers, you can eat the roots. And so, yeah, definitely, and maybe try if you harvest a dandelion plant, try to see if you can find a recipe for the flowers. Find one for the leaves and one for the roots. Actually, I like um dandelion and salad. If you like bitter greens like arugula, um dandelion is in the lettuce family. So try it as your lettuce. And I also make a little dandelion salad dressing, too. But you don't have to do that.

Yuli:

But yeah, just try it that way. Yeah. That's incredible. I love this. All right, I'm inspired. I hope our listeners is well. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing your wisdom.

KhadiYah :

Thank you so much for letting me share. And I just love this space. It was just so relaxed and just a really needed conversation. And I think that's how real change actually happens from people talking and asking questions and just, you know, being open minded to hear other people. So I think that's so needed too right now in this society. So thank you so much for making this a healing space.

Yuli:

Love it. That's what we do. Thank you.

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Yuli

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