Healing Birch Studio

11/04/2024

Cold and flu season is here again so it’s important to nurture that immune system to prevent or lessen symptoms of either ailment. First and foremost, tending to nutritional and mental needs as well as rest. Herbs can have antiseptic/antimicrobial and antiviral properties by stimulating different elements of the immune system or acting directly on viruses and bacteria. When stimulating the immune system be sure it has all the nutritional elements it needs to produce immune cells. There are both vitamins and minerals that are vital to its function.
We can also use herbal tonics (etc. medicinal mushrooms, astragulus, elderberry) to help when someone is in a deficient state. They nourish body systems, helping them function optimally. There are many contributing factors to an optimally functioning system. Just stimulating it when the system is struggling with other deficiencies is not healthy. Herbal tonics may be very helpful and specific to an individual’s needs
Deficiency states are a common problem brought about by conditions in the diet, sleep patterns, stimulant use, stress management patterns, exercise habits and mental attitudes. The solution to general deficiency is to change the patterns that are causing it. Herbs shouldn’t be the only solution but can be very helpful.
Getting enough sleep is vital. Your immune system repairs and replenishes itself while you are sleeping. Stress also has a significant effect and can cause immune suppression. Be sure your diet is sufficient in Vitamin A, vitamin D, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, vitamin B6/pyridoxine, Folate and B12. Also important are zinc, copper, selenium, essential fatty acids and probiotics. Because micronutrients play crucial roles in the development and expression of immune responses, selected micronutrient deficiencies can cause immunosuppression and thus increased susceptibility to infection and disease.

To learn more about herbs and strategies that can help with recovery from illness or make you more comfortable without suppressing your body’s ability to fight disease you can contact me at healingbirchstudio@gmail.com
Cold and flu season is here again so it’s important to nurture that immune system to prevent or lessen symptoms of either ailment. First and foremost tending to nutritional and mental needs as well as rest. Herbs can have antiseptic/antimicrobial and antiviral properties by stimulating different elements of the immune system or acting directly on viruses and bacteria. When stimulating the immune system be sure it has all the nutritional elements it needs to produce immune cells. There are both vitamins and minerals that are vital to its function.
We can also use herbal tonics (etc. medicinal mushrooms, astragulus, elderberry) to help when someone is in a deficient state. They nourish body systems, helping them function optimally. There are many contributing factors to an optimally functioning system. Just stimulating it when the system is struggling with other deficiencies is not healthy. Herbal tonics may be very helpful and specific to an individual’s needs
Deficiency states are a common problem brought about by conditions in the diet, sleep patterns, stimulant use, stress management patterns, exercise habits and mental attitudes. The solution to general deficiency is to change the patterns that are causing it. Herbs shouldn’t be the only solution but can be very helpful.
Getting enough sleep is vital. Your immune system repairs and replenishes itself while you are sleeping. Stress also has a significant effect and can cause immune suppression. Be sure your diet is sufficient in Vitamin A, vitamin D, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, vitamin B6/pyridoxine, Folate and B12. Also important are zinc, copper, selenium, essential fatty acids and probiotics. Because micronutrients play crucial roles in the development and expression of immune responses, selected micronutrient deficiencies can cause immunosuppression and thus increased susceptibility to infection and disease.

To learn more about herbs and strategies that can help with recovery from illness or make you more comfortable without suppressing your body’s ability to fight disease you can contact me at healingbirchstudio@gmail.com

Send a message to learn more

03/25/2024

Allergy Sufferers
Do you suffer from seasonal or other allergies. If you are an allergy sufferer here is some important information that can potentially diminish or even stop your allergy symptoms from happening.
Allergies or Allergic symptoms can happen as a result of your body being overwhelmed by other chronic inflammatory triggers; your allergic load can no longer be managed by the anti-inflammatory mechanisms in your body. If your body is in a constant state of producing cortisol to quench inflammation when these chronic conditions overwhelm your system you start to have symptoms. If we could get rid of those underlying inflammatory conditions, perhaps your allergy symptoms would go away. There are different elements of your anti-inflammatory biology that can be contributing to your symptoms and can be the root cause of your inflammatory response. Food allergens can be a chronic trigger that your body is dealing with, nutritional deficiencies like lack of good oils that effect your anti-inflammatory enzymes, and vitamins that help stabilize the mast cells that producing histamine, and nutrients that help your liver rid your body of histamine can all be addressed and perhaps address your allergic symptoms. All these deficiencies impact your anti-allergic potential and increase the allergic load on your body. When your body is dealing with multiple sources of inflammation and your antiallergic potential is overwhelmed and another allergen is introduced e.g ragweed, your body may no longer be able to suppress that inflammation and symptoms emerge.
There are natural ways to reduce or eliminate your symptoms if we can identify those chronic underlying conditions. This approach coupled with medicinal herbs to modify symptoms may allow you to wean yourself off drugs you need to manage your allergy.
The allergic load on your body can affect presentation of symptoms as well as nutritional deficiencies. You want to remove as much underlying inflammation as possible, make sure you have the appropriate oils in your diet to assure an anti-inflammatory environment vs a proinflammatory environment, be able to process histamine effectively in your liver and assure there is no adrenal exhaustion from the allergic load.
It’s important to be proactive particularly with seasonal allergies. There are many herbs and dietary measures that can help alleviate symptoms while working on lessening the underlying symptoms. As an herbalist and nutritionist, at Healing Birch Studio, we can assess your allergic state and come up with a plan to relieve your symptoms naturally and improve your overall health as a result.
Contact Tish at healingbirchstudio@gmail.com for a consultation or 603-560-1966.

06/08/2023

Understanding Lyme Disease and Natural Healing
Workshop June 21st Bethlehem Public Library, Bethlehem NH

Knowledge is Power in Keeping You Well. While rates of Lyme disease infections continue to rise, we are faced with a disease that can be crippling and is often misunderstood by the medical community. There are so many potential symptoms and lack of education on treating Lyme, these symptoms can often be ignored or misinterpreted.
You don’t have to have Lyme disease to benefit from attending the workshop on Lyme Disease. It is very important for everyone to understand ways to prevent infection, how it is contracted, the symptoms and how it is effectively treated. Lyme disease and the coinfections can be contracted in several ways and not always effectively treated with antibiotics. The symptoms can be very similar to some very serious diseases leading to misdiagnosis and left untreated. Its very important that we all know this information, so we can help ourselves, family and friends.
• Learn what Lyme disease is and how to prevent it
• Learn how to treat Lyme disease naturally
• Understand the elements of treatment that need to be considered
• Understand signs/symptoms and potential affects on the body
• Learn about the co-infections that often accompany Lyme
• Learn how to help a family member, friend, or yourself manage Lyme disease
I have come to learn a lot about Lyme from my personal experience with the disease and intense herbalism education focused on Lyme disease. She brings her background as a Nutritionist and Medical Herbalism to the treatment of Lyme disease. She has a B.S. in Nutrition and certifications from the Boston School of Herbal Studies and The North American Institute of Medical Herbalism.

03/21/2023

Suffer from seasonal allergies/Natural remedies
If you are an allergy sufferer here is some important information that can potentially diminish or even stop your allergy symptoms from happening.
Allergic symptoms can happen as a result of your body being overwhelmed by other chronic inflammatory triggers. This is when your allergic load can no longer be managed by the anti-inflammatory mechanisms in your body. If your body is in a constant state of producing cortisol to quench inflammation elsewhere in your body your system may not be able to quell other allergic reactions. These chronic conditions overwhelm your system you start to have allergy symptoms. If we could get rid of those underlying inflammatory conditions, perhaps your allergy symptoms would go away. There are different elements of your anti-inflammatory biology that can be contributing to your symptoms and can be the root cause of your inflammatory response. Food allergens for example can be a chronic trigger that your body is dealing with, nutritional deficiencies like oils that effect your anti-inflammatory enzymes, and vitamins that help stabilize the mast cells that producing histamine, and nutrients that help your liver rid your body of histamine can all be addressed and perhaps address your allergic symptoms. All these deficiencies impact your anti-allergic potential and increase the allergic load on your body. When your body is dealing with multiple sources of inflammation and your antiallergic potential is overwhelmed, then another allergen is introduced e.g ragweed, your body may no longer be able to suppress that inflammation and symptoms emerge.
There are natural ways to reduce or eliminate your symptoms if we can identify those chronic underlying conditions. This approach coupled with medicinal herbs to modify symptoms may allow you to wean yourself off drugs you need to manage your allergy.
The allergic load on your body can effect presentation of symptoms as well as nutritional deficiencies. You want to remove as much underlying inflammation as possible, make sure you have the appropriate oils in your diet to assure an anti-inflammatory environment vs a proinflammatory environment, be able to process histamine effectively in your liver and assure there is no adrenal exhaustion from the allergic load.
There are many herbs and dietary measures that can help alleviate symptoms while working on lessening the underlying symptoms. As an herbalist and nutritionist, at Healing Birch Studio, we can assess your allergic state and come up with a plan to relieve your symptoms naturally and improve your overall health as a result.

06/21/2021

Herbal Plant Walk
Healing Birch Studio is hosting a herbal plant walk on Sunday June 27th from 2:30 to 4:30. Tish Webber, of Healing Birch Studio, is a Medical Herbalist and Nutritionist, a Reiki practitioner and Yoga Instructor. She
makes much of her own medicine from the plants grown on the farm.
The farm is nestled in the woods so there will be lots to discuss
regarding plants growing in the environment and being cultivated. You can visit the website to learn more about the business and her
background. It is free of charge but does require registration. To
register for the plant walk and get further details please email her at
healingbirchstudio@gmail.com.

04/27/2021

Healthy Brain Smart Brain
I'm having a workshop tomorrow at 5:30 on keeping your brain healthy if you or any of your friends are interested. Please see below. You can get more information on the Balance Website.
Decreased brain function can happen at any age due to underlying health conditions. It is not inevitable that our cognitive function declines with age. There are preventable measures that can be taken even for diseases like Alzheimer's. The health of our brains (or lack of health) affects cognition, nervous system function, and a myriad of other processes and pathways in the body. The effects of aging and other health conditions on brain health can be influenced by many lifestyle factors such as diet, nutrition, exercise, etc. Learn about the underlying causes and factors in your life that you can influence to maintain a healthy brain. We'll review many of the practices, foods, and herbs that can be introduced to support a healthy brain, as well as lifestyle factors to prevent disease and enhance lifelong functionality.
This class will be offered both online and in person respecting social distancing practices.
Wednesday, April 28 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Balance Bethlehem's Online Classroom-offered both in person and online
https://www.balancebethlehem.com/schedule/

ZOOM CLASS SCHEDULE Sat Nam Foundation and Balance Bethlehem have taken our yoga classes online! You can join us from around the globe. All classes are taught by donation to benefit Sat Nam Foundation. Your donations are tax deductible. Zoom Classroom Class Donations To see the details of any class....

10/16/2020

Stress, Anxiety, Insomnia and Depression during these Stressful times
In these stressful times due to the Covid -19 virus impact on our lives, and political and societal unrest many people are experiencing emotional challenges. Some of these challenges may simply be due to emotional overload resulting in stress, anxiety, insomnia, or symptoms of depression. There are so many ways to help manage this emotional challenges. Of course, seeing a doctor may be the best route for you but if you want to seek natural remedies, they are available. Often there are other underlying health factors that are contributing and make you less able to manage these feelings or reactions. Its always good to look at your over all health and once that has been assessed there may be herbs and other practices that can help you navigate and perhaps relieve the unpleasant symptoms or feelings you are experiencing.
Its so important that we do manage stress right now because our immune system can be significantly impacted, digestion less efficient, and impacting our general health. It can spiral into more negative effects on our emotions and health. If you would like to talk I can be reached at Healing Birch Studio in Bethlehem, NH. On line (zoom/phone) and socially distanced in person consultations are available.
healingbirchstudio@gmail.com

03/19/2020

Prevention of Covid 19

Know that your local herbalist is there to help in any way possible as we live through these stressful times of Covid 19. If you need herbs I can make arrangements to get them to you with minimal personal exposure. As disinfectants become hard to find or stress is getting the best of you our plants can really help. There are no known herbs that will combat the virus but certainly herbs that support recovery should you contract the virus. Also there are some plants that have shown promise in boosting the immune system to prevent contracting the virus like medicinal mushrooms (mushroom extracts such as reishi, maitake, shiitake, turkey tail, chaga and cordyceps) or astragulus. These provide immune-supporting properties. Cooking with medicinal mushrooms like shiitake is also helpful. Fire cider is great too. Caution is advised if autoimmune disease is present, you are on immune suppressive medication and also if you have active disease as one of the elements of the Covid 19 disease that causes severe symptoms is what’s referred to as a cytokine storm effect the decline of the lungs. Again, caution is advised in stimulating the immune system under these circumstances.
Because this is an enveloped virus alcohol-based disinfectants with a minimum of 60% alcohol are effective. Thymol, which we get from essential oils like thyme and oregano oil, have shown effectiveness as a disinfectant against Covid 19. We can make disinfectants from these plants/materials.
If stress is effecting you nervine herbs can be very helpful with relieving stress, just relaxing and maybe even helping with sleep. Its important to manage stress when we are trying to maintain optimal immune function.
Now more than ever is the time to focus on good health and support for our immune systems to allow our bodies to fight infection the best it can.
Other things you can do to support your immune system:
• Cut out sugar and refined starches. Studies have shown that refined sugars can suppress your immune system for hours after ingesting. Limiting starch and sugar will help your immune system function better and your overall health improve. Avoid concentrated fruit juices and sweetened beverages, as the sugar content is harmful for the immune system.
• Eat lots of colorful fruits and vegetables high in vitamins C, A, and phytonutrients that support the immune system. leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower), peppers, sweet potatoes, and squashes.
• Supplements could be helpful to support your immune system. Vitamin D3 is particularly important. Adequate vitamin D status is critical for optimal immune function and this cannot be achieved without supplementation during the winter months. A multivitamin, if you have it on hand, can also be helpful as it contains the other vitamins and minerals your immune system needs .
• Consume adequate protein intake. Most Americans get adequate amounts of protein, but some segments of the population are at risk, such as the elderly and vegan populations. Protein is critical for immune function. About two four-ounce servings of organic, clean animal protein or plant-based proteins (legumes, nuts/seeds) are adequate if consumed in enough quantity. Tofu and tempeh from non-GMO soy have the highest non animal based protein concentrations.
• Add garlic, onions, ginger, and lots of spices (oregano, turmeric, rosemary) to your meals. Garlic and onions are especially good as they offer wide spectrum antimicrobial properties.
• Taking a probiotic and eating fermented foods to support your microbiome and immunity. Sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, tempeh, unsweetened yogurt, kefir are examples.
• Drink plenty of fluids, especially warmer fluids. Consuming adequate fluids supports all your bodies’ functions including the immune system. Make soups and broths. You could add astragulus to them. Drink relaxing herbal teas and plenty of water.
• Get plenty of sleep We all know sleep restores and heals the body. Without adequate sleep, optimal immune function is next to impossible. Develop a routine of getting to bed earlier. Aim for at least eight hours a night.
• Moderate exercise. Mild to moderate exercise (for approximately 30-45 minutes) helps boost the immune system. Avoid overexertion such as training for endurance events as this will lower your immune defenses. Enjoy the outside if you can. Nature is a wonderful healer.
• Practice meditation and yoga. Incorporating various relaxation and breathing techniques throughout the day to help with stress and allowing the mind to rest and find peace is very helpful. Increased levels of stress increase susceptibility to viral infections. Take the time to learn about meditation. You can do this online as we are maintaining distancing. Deep breathing by itself is very relaxing to your body.
• Start a garden to get outside. If you live in an area with a lawn or some access to land, grow some of your own food (once the weather warms up).
If you are looking for herbal support please feeling free to reach out at healingbirchstudio@gmail.com or contact me at 603-560-1966.
My healing prayers go out to the planet,
Tish

02/11/2020

04/17/2019

Do you suffer from allergies, if so you'll want to read this note.
If you are an allergy sufferer here is some important information that can potentially diminish or even stop your allergy symptoms from happening.
Allergic symptoms can happen as a result of your body being overwhelmed by other chronic inflammatory triggers. This is when your allergic load can no longer be managed by the anti-inflammatory mechanisms in your body. If your body is in a constant state of producing cortisol to quench inflammation when these chronic conditions overwhelm your system you start to have symptoms. If we could get rid of those underlying inflammatory conditions, perhaps your allergy symptoms would go away. There are different elements of your anti-inflammatory biology that can be contributing to your symptoms and can be the root cause of your inflammatory response. Food allergens can be a chronic trigger that your body is dealing with, nutritional deficiencies like oils that effect your anti-inflammatory enzymes, and vitamins that help stabilize the mast cells that producing histamine, and nutrients that help your liver rid your body of histamine can all be addressed and perhaps address your allergic symptoms. All these deficiencies impact your anti-allergic potential and increase the allergic load on your body. When your body is dealing with multiple sources of inflammation and your antiallergic potential is overwhelmed, then another allergen is introduced e.g ragweed, your body may no longer be able to suppress that inflammation and symptoms emerge.
There are natural ways to reduce or eliminate your symptoms if we can identify those chronic underlying conditions. This approach coupled with medicinal herbs to modify symptoms may allow you to wean yourself off drugs you need to manage your allergy.
The allergic load on your body can effect presentation of symptoms as well as nutritional deficiencies. You want to remove as much underlying inflammation as possible, make sure you have the appropriate oils in your diet to assure an anti-inflammatory environment vs a proinflammatory environment, be able to process histamine effectively in your liver and assure there is no adrenal exhaustion from the allergic load.
There are many herbs and dietary measures that can help alleviate symptoms while working on lessening the underlying symptoms. As an herbalist and nutritionist, at Healing Birch Studio, we can assess your allergic state and come up with a plan to relieve your symptoms naturally and improve your overall health as a result.

04/01/2018