Rise Rooted Wellness

09/09/2025

RFK’s big plan to overhaul healthcare kind of reminds me of bloodletting— you know, that old-school practice where doctors would drain your blood thinking it would “balance your humors” and fix what ailed you? It looked like medicine, but it didn’t actually heal anyone.

These days, we’re not using leeches, we’re just calling it “detox.” It’s the same energy. A trendy cleanse. A sweeping reform. A hard reset. But underneath all the talk of purity and clean slates is… nothing. No infrastructure. No scaffolding to support people who are actually sick. Just a cleanse for the sake of optics?

On paper and in theory, it sounds bold— shut down corrupt agencies, take on Big Pharma, build something better. But when you look closer there’s no enforcement. Just rhetoric that plays well online.

And let’s be honest, the people cheering this on the loudest tend to be the ones who already have access. The ones whose health is straightforward. Who can afford high-quality supplements, functional lab testing, out of pocket expenses, fresh organic food. Who have time to meal prep and the stability to track their biohacks.

But public health is a messy web of stress, chronic illness, environmental exposures, food deserts, housing insecurity, and generational trauma. You can’t detox your way out of that. And you can’t gut the system without offering people something better. If you’re not replacing what you tear down with something rooted, resourced, and real— you’re not liberating anyone. You’re just abandoning them to figure it out on their own in a system already stacked against them. Which they kind of already are doing…

Read my deeper thoughts on substack & share yours ✨

https://open.substack.com/pub/riserooted/p/rfk-jrs-hollow-health-revolution?r=1t7cya&utm_medium=ios

08/30/2025

It’s been a while since I posted— and the truth is, it’s because I haven’t known how to show up in this space. I am on pause in my herb business world. And I have nothing to sell you.

This space used to be so much for us. It’s where I first connected with other herbalists. Back in the realm of around ~2011 I was so excited to find other plant people! I made my first connections with other small herb companies and herbalists in this space.

I still show up for that vibe. To connect in that way. Despite the affiliate marketing boom and the large companies who have taken over the algorithms.

I’m still here to connect. To see what you’re growing, how your life is expanding, how your families are growing, what you’re creating, what you’re canning…

I’m still doing the same ol’ things- gardening, foraging, medicine making, crafting, being a mother. Being a life lover.

I started school (yes, again) hehe and am filling time with microbiology and philosophy. And working on our land to increase production so we can offer land-based goods in the future:) but for now I don’t plan on creating content to post here. I just don’t have the bandwidth to do it. I’d love to get back to offering classes again when things are settled. And have slowly been working on a kids herbal book:) but I’m not rushed on that timeline and so… I have nothing to sell you. I’m just here to be here! It almost feels weird to just be here, and not be here with some business driven purpose since this app has shifted but I sort of want to reclaim this space back so we can just share little thoughts and snippets again ☺️

So here are some lil snippets of late summer life 🍃

05/09/2025

leaning into spring—

the season of change & transition

working to make visions reality in my tiny sphere of life whilst dreaming up endless possibilities to create

What are you dreaming into life?
🌾🌾🌾

05/02/2025

04/17/2025

Why are we so chronically unwell?

In an era boasting advanced medical breakthroughs, we’re witnessing an alarming rise in inflammation, autoimmune disorders, metabolic diseases, and mental health crises.

The prevailing narrative—that illness stems mainly from genetics, aging, or personal lifestyle choices—overlooks a deeper truth:

Our health is intricately linked to the ecosystems we inhabit, and these ecosystems have been compromised.

As a health coach and herbalist, I’ve observed how chronic illness often mirrors the degradation of our environment. Toxins in our air, water, and soil seep into our bodies, manifesting as persistent health issues.

It’s not just about individual choices; it’s about the collective impact of environmental neglect.

In my latest essay, I delve into this connection, exploring how our well-being reflects the world’s health.

To read the essay, follow the 🔗 to THROUGH THE UNDERGROWTH in my bio—

& as always, you’re welcome to share your thoughts 🫶🏼

•••

04/02/2025

What happens when we colonize medicine, care, and motherhood?

In a world that glorifies individualism, hustle, and silent suffering, motherhood has become a performance of resilience, not a relationship of support. We spiritualize care instead of materializing it. We praise sacrifice but withhold the systems that make joy sustainable.

This isn’t just about Chappell Roan’s viral comment—
It’s about what that comment revealed:
A culture that romanticizes motherhood while abandoning mothers.
A wellness industry that sells “self-care” while stripping away systems of support.
A society that forgot that caregiving is meant to be shared—and revered.

In my latest Substack piece, I dive deep into what happens when we sever the roots of community care, how patriarchy and capitalism shape maternal burnout, and why so many mothers are choosing resistance.

I’ve spent years working against this undercurrent in my wellness practice, writing, and life as a mother.

Because real wellness doesn’t come from greenwashed products or hustle culture.

It comes from choosing slowness, softness, and sovereignty in a culture that asks us to betray our peace.

🌿 Read the full essay at the link in my bio:
“Chappell Roan Said They’re Living in Hell. The Internet Got Mad. But Was She Wrong?”

https://open.substack.com/pub/riserooted/p/she-said-theyre-living-in-hell-the?r=1t7cya&utm_medium=ios

Tell me what it brings up for you. ✨

03/27/2025

The air feels heavy again—

Six months ago, Western North Carolina was reeling from a devastating hurricane. Our community across Southern Appalachia has been working tirelessly to recover—rebuilding homes, tending the land, and supporting each other through it. And now, the wildfires have come.

After relocating from Northern California, I thought I’d left fire season behind. But the smoke followed—and with it, that familiar ache in the throat and lungs, the fatigue, the pressure in the head…

The effects of wildfire smoke are more than physical.

The tightness in your chest, the low energy, the anxiousness… it’s not just in your head—

It’s your body responding to stress, cellular death, inflammation, and the weight of it all.

That’s why I’m sharing this post— it’s a little collection of gentle, supportive herbal practices I return to year after year — steams, rinses, infusions, nourishment, and the plant allies that help protect the lungs, calm the nervous system, restore energy, and carry us through.

🌿These aren’t quick fixes. They’re quiet, consistent acts of care.

A way of saying to your body: I see you. I’m with you. I’m listening.

If you’re in Western North Carolina or anywhere navigating the weight of smoke and fires, I hope these practices offer you a moment of steadiness—a breath of grounded support in a challenging time.

There is still care to be found. In breath. In plants. In the quiet ways, we come back to ourselves.

02/26/2025

History is a teacher. It is both wound and wisdom, pain and possibility. The past cannot be undone, but it can be reckoned with, reshaped, and healed.

We are at an inflection point, one in which health, wellness, and political forces are more intertwined than ever. Today’s political landscape is a direct assault on these foundations of well-being.

When history is erased, our bodies bear the burden. When education is censored, when the truth is distorted, and when laws are passed to strip marginalized communities of autonomy, the effects ripple through every aspect of health—physical, mental, and collective.

To truly heal—ourselves and our communities—we must recognize the systems that make us unwell. The call to protect herbalism, traditional medicine, and holistic wellness is the same call to protect history, education, and human rights. It is about the right to knowledge, the right to sovereignty, and the right to thrive.

Herbalism has always been a tool of resistance. It has been a lifeline for those denied access to care, a form of autonomy when institutions failed to protect or serve. Women, Indigenous communities, enslaved people, and marginalized groups have always turned to the land when the system refused them care.

Today, that same struggle continues. We see it in policies designed to limit reproductive rights, restricting access to both modern and traditional forms of healthcare. And we see it in the movement to erase history—because when you erase history, you erase accountability.

The fight for justice, truth, and well-being is not separate from the work of herbalists, educators, and healers—it is the same fight.

📖 I explore this deeper in my latest Substack essay- 

Will we have the courage to face it? To heal the past so that our future is different?

02/12/2025

Wellness doesn’t start with a supplement—it begins with the land.

And yet, the land has been exploited, poisoned, and hoarded by the same corporate and political forces that profit from our declining health. Big Ag, Big Pharma, and the politicians in their pockets aren’t invested in making us well—they’re invested in keeping us sick, dependent, and distracted.

Meanwhile, politicians like Trump have convinced millions they’re fighting for the “common man” while selling them out to the very industries poisoning them. And the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement? A co-opted wellness grift that ignored the real causes of our declining health.

America’s food system was built on stolen land and stolen labor—and it still runs on exploitation today. Industrial agriculture depletes the soil, poisons our water, and keeps power in the hands of corporate giants—all while feeding us nutritionally empty, ultra-processed garbage.

If you want to get mad, direct that anger where it belongs—at the billionaires and policymakers keeping regenerative farming on the fringes, subsidizing factory farms, and making sure the cheapest, most toxic food is the only thing millions can afford.

How can we be well when the systems in place are built on exploitation, greed, and control?

You can read the full essay, “When Wellness Begins with the Land,” on Substack— https://open.substack.com/pub/riserooted/p/when-wellness-begins-with-the-land?r=1t7cya&utm_medium=ios

02/04/2025

There’s a stark difference between sharing health information and assuming authority on complex conditions—gender, neurodivergence, chronic illness—without the necessary training, education, or experience.

Many wellness influencers present their opinions as science, their ideology as medical advice, and their worldview as fact. But in reality, it’s all a cleverly constructed facade. Some build entire platforms around bad science, outdated research, and selectively chosen studies to reinforce a rigid, patriarchal, colonial mindset—one where everything must be categorized as right or wrong, clean or dirty, good or bad.

And when everything is filtered through this lens, even normal childhood behaviors become a diagnosis.
One popular influencer recounted how her toddler stopped wanting to wear dresses and ponytails. Instead of seeing it as normal behavior, she framed it as a gender dysphoric crisis—something to be “healed” with gut protocols and detoxes she was selling.

In this wellness echo chamber, even the most normal behaviors can be twisted into something they’re not. In this distorted reality, basic humanness is seen as a pathology, something to be corrected.

They claim to be about health freedom—but absolute freedom doesn’t come with conditions.

They frame their health ideology as radical, but it’s just a new version of the same old narrative of control.

I wrote about this in-depth—the contradictions, the dogma, the conditioning, and how wellness has become a gateway for ideology.

🫖 Swipe for a preview, then read the entire piece on Through the Undergrowth— https://open.substack.com/pub/riserooted/p/the-cult-of-clean-living?r=1t7cya&utm_medium=ios

What do you think? Have you seen this play out in wellness spaces? Let’s unpack it.
👇🏼

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02/01/2025

Your nervous system isn’t meant to hold this much—

The constant stream of information, opinions, outrage, and conflicting narratives is exhausting. Yet we keep taking it in—scrolling, engaging, reacting.

But at what cost?

What we think, we feel. And what we feel, we become.

The mind isn’t just a processing tool—it’s the control center of our reality. When it’s overloaded, we lose clarity, disconnect from our instincts, and surrender our autonomy without realizing it.

This is why using our minds against us is one of the most effective tools of destruction.

So, how do we stay informed without becoming manipulated?

How do we engage without losing our ability to think, feel, and choose for ourselves?

🌀A new dive into mind control & the effects on our health is on Substack: “Reclaim Your Mind: How Digital Propaganda Hijacks Your Reality.”

Read, reflect, and let me know your thoughts

•

https://open.substack.com/pub/riserooted/p/reclaim-your-mind?r=1t7cya&utm_medium=ios

01/31/2025

My life as a herbalist has always been rooted in resistance—in reclaiming health, pushing back against the systems that seek to control it, and in creating space for community, sovereignty, and true well-being.

As much as I would love to only focus on the beauty of plants and their healing agency in this world, health is political. Even natural health is political. And we’re seeing that intersection now more than ever.

RFK Jr. has aligned himself with Trump, pulling wellness-minded people into a political machine that has actively undermined public health and environmental protections at every turn. Meanwhile, the very politicians shaping health policy are the same ones with deep investments in Big Ag, Big Pharma, and private hospital chains.

This isn’t about right vs. left—it’s about power, profit, and control.

Public health isn’t failing—it’s working exactly as designed.

How do we navigate a system that profits off dysfunction while selling us the illusion of change?

I’m unpacking it all in my latest essay. Read the full piece now on Through the Undergrowth— https://open.substack.com/pub/riserooted/p/health-is-a-business-and-youre-the?r=1t7cya&utm_medium=ios

—And don’t forget to take your nervines 🫖 🍃