THE HERB CORNER
Holy Basil: The Highest of the High Plants
well as markers of insulin resistance.” I also noticed that holy basil helped with the stress of owning a small business when walk in traffic halted due to Covid. This makes sense since holy basil has been proven to reduce cortisol levels significantly. Dr. Oz. on his website lists holy basil 6 th in his cortisol reducing list of supplements and foods. One test of an herb’s efficacy is to see what happens when you stop taking it and on the few days when I was unable to make my thermos of tulsi tea I could definitely tell the dif- ference. So, in summary, I found holy basil to lift my mood under trying circumstances, stabilize bold sugar, and reduce stress, probably due to its ability to reduce the stress hormone cortisol. Here’s what other herbalists have found from their research and experi- ence about holy basil: David Winston says in his book Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stam- ina, and Stress Relief : “In my clinical practice I use holy basil to enhance cerebral circulation and memory. It is used in Ayurvedic medicine to relieve “mental fog” caused by chronic can- nabis smoking. It can be combined with other cerebral stimulants such as rosemary, bacopa, and gingko, to help people with menopausal cloudy thinking, poor memory, attention defi- cit disorder (ADD) and attention defi- cit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and to speed up recovery from head trauma. I also use holy basil as an antidepressant for “stagnant depres- sion” which is a term I coined to describe depression due to an event in a person’s life that they are unable to move on from. In addition to therapy, herbs such as holy basil, rosemary, and lavender are especially helpful in removing this condition.” PMS Reliever: Holy basil has a high content of iron; just one tablespoon of dried holy basil can provide you with 10% of the recommended daily value. Menstrua- tion causes a loss in iron, which causes difficulties such as irritability, fatigue, bloating and general unwellness. Sprinkling holy basil on your fruit can help with the bloating (especially pineapple) and incorporating a cup of fresh holy basil into your salad twice a day can replace the lost iron that natu- rally occurs during menstruation. Blemish Eraser: Holy basil has a high antibacterial content. which can help heal pimples and blemishes. Many such blemishes are caused or worsened by bacteria on the skin, and holy basil can help! Try this face cleaning recipe once or twice a day to freshen your face: continued on page 80
BY TOMWOLFE, AHG, AND THE SMILE HERB STAFF
“Holy Basil (Tulsi) is the highest plant form and the last plant form in evolution before animal form” Meher Baba: God Speaks “Next to the Lotus, Holy Basil is perhaps the most sacred plant of India. Holy Basil opens the heart and mind, bestowing the energy of Love and devotion. Holy Basil gives the protection of the Divine by clearing the aura and strengthen- ing the immune system. A plant of Holy Basil should be kept in every house for its purifying influence.” David Frawley: The Yoga of Herbs In the 35 years or so I have been writing the Herb Corner for Pathways magazine, very rarely have I singled out one herb for a column. Usually I group the green angels together by what we call the Self Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE): Symptom, Action, System and Energetics. We call this approach SASE because it returns the responsibility for healing where it rightfully belongs … back to you, just like an envelope addressed to you from yourself (or should I say YourSelf). However, my experiences with holy basil (tulsi) over the past few months since the Corona Virus hit have left me in awe of this plant, so this Herb Corner breaks all the rules and is devoted to just one herb--basili- cum sancticum (also known as tulsi). First, I will share my experience with holy basil as a plant to grow, then I will share what benefits I got from the daily use of holy basil for the first two months of the pandemic. After that I will share what other herbalists have discovered, and a selection from the writings of two Friends of mine, Vishnu Das, the owner of Blue Lotus Ayurveda in Asheville, North Caro- lina and David Winston, owner and founder of Herbalist and Alchemist Herb Company in Washington, New Jersey. My experience with growing holy basil has been awesome! Amem- ber of the mint family, holy basil offers relief from anxiety, stress, depression, and more. And because it’s a member of the mint family, holy basil is very easy to grow from seed! Over the past winter I decided to see how holy basil wintered under shop lights in my new greenhouse. I discovered that holy basil winters over great in the DC under easily available shop lighting area as long as you water it once weekly. So, when spring came (along with a pandemic) I started making tea daily out of just the strongest part of the plant which is the flowers. What happened next is incredible, and I am going to make a
teaching video about just how awe- some it is to harvest holy basil flowers. What happened was each flower head cut made two flower heads which is called bifurcating in botany language. As I was cutting and using 24 flower heads daily (for protection in a dan- gerous time) there were 48 new flower heads beginning daily. Since I had wintered over about a dozen plants there began to be an amazing abun- dance of hundreds of holy basil flower heads so much so that even using 24 holy basil flower heads daily they kept increasing in number. From a few plants over the winter that I was not even sure would survive and prosper I now had a hundred flower heads and six large shrub sized holy basil plants growing larger every day. The more I clipped them the more they responded with abundance. Holy basil is here to serve and the more we allow it to serve us the larger and more vibrant the plants become. What a delight it was to find that holy basil, which in 1988 I saw grown as a perennial in Maharastra State, India could be es- sentially grown as a perennial here in the DC area as long as it is protected in the winter, watered weekly and given
sufficient light. Now on to what I noticed from tak- ing tea made out of 24 holy basil flow- ers daily. First, it elevated my Spirit and was slightly stimulating similar to a strong cup of black tea though without the caffeine. Secondly, my blood sugar levels seemed more even which is backed up by Western sci- ence. Kaiser Permanente of DC writes on their website that holy basil gets two stars in their raring system out of three stars for science backed lower- ing of blood sugar. Their website says taking holy basil may help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood glucose levels. From Kaiser Permanente’s website “Holy basil (Ocimim sanctum), also known as tulsi basil, has demon- strated positive effects in multiple studies using animal models of type 2 diabetes. A randomized controlled trial in people with type 2 diabetes found 2,500 mg of holy basil per day lowered blood glucose and choles- terol levels. Another pilot trial in overweight and obese youth found holy basil, at 500 mg per day for eight weeks improved glucose, insulin, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels, as
PATHWAYS—Fall 20—9
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