Motherwort

“Ask motherwort to ally with you in tough times, in shaky times, in enraging times, in scary times, in depressed times, in grief-filled times . . . when your nerves are frayed. . . and before stressful events.”

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Type: Nourishing tonic

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Properties: Cardio-tonic, anti-spasmodic, anti-anxiety, calmative, anti-atherosclerotic

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Part Used: Fresh flowering tops

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Preparation and Dose: Tincture in 100 proof vodka for six weeks; 5-25 drops 1-3 times a day or as needed in acute situations.

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Cautions: None.

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Motherwort, the lion-hearted plant, is one of the finest heart tonics known. (Leo is lion and cardiac is heart.) This scentless member of the mint family is tinctured when in full flower and used in doses ranging from 5-25 drops at a time. It is an ally in both acute situations like panic attacks and in chronic problems like drug-resistant hypertension.

Like sitting in your mother’s lap, motherwort eases anxiety and gives you heart. A dose can fill you with courage, to do what needs to be done. A dose of motherwort tincture can nourish your pride in yourself and open your heart to others.

Motherwort dependably lowers blood pressure. A dropperful of the tincture several times a day usually brings moderately high blood pressure readings down to normal within 6-10 weeks.
Motherwort is as safe as mint tea in terms of integrating herbs and drugs. All heart medicines, including all classes of hypertension medications, are safe to take with motherwort, and safer yet to eliminate when motherwort has returned your heart and blood vessels to health.

When anxiety turns into a panic attack, motherwort tincture acts immediately to slow a racing heart, even out irregular heartbeats, eliminate palpitations, and ease breathing. Not sure if you’re having a panic attack or a heart attack? Take 1-2 dropperfuls of motherwort tincture five minutes apart. (And a baby aspirin if you have one.) If you feel better after the second dose – which will open the respiratory passages, invigorate the circulation, and increase oxygen in the blood – no need to call the ambulance.

Motherwort initiates the growth of capillaries to the heart (and uterus), supplying the heart muscle with nourishment and oxygen even if blood vessels are stiff or clogged with plaque. This is especially important to women, for it is our capillaries that get calcified and narrowed, rather than the big, easily replaced vessels, and motherwort counters this precisely.

Motherwort is a direct and profound tonic to the heart muscle itself. Regular use of the tincture helps the heart beat more rhythmically and with more coordination, thus helping even a weak heart muscle become more effective.

Motherwort strengthens the blood vessels and gives them more thickness, more stretch, and greater elasticity. Regular use helps keep the blood flowing smoothly without thinning it.
Motherwort counters oxidation of lipids, such as LDL cholesterol, and soothes inflamed areas, like a mother’s caress on a fevered brow.

Motherwort resets the nervous system to peace instead of panic. This takes tension off the heart, directly, and indirectly, by helping the adrenals and kidneys and by soothing the nerves and acting as a translator for the hormonal messengers. Motherwort helps the body
understand and process the heart’s hormonal requests.

The German herbal doctor Rudolf Fritz Weiss recommends motherwort tincture to those with functional heart complaints, including weak valves, enlarged heart, congestive heart failure, shortness of breath, and irregular heartbeats. American herbalist Matthew Alfs suggests it for myocardial ischemia and ischemic cerebral edema, as well as Atherosclerosis and other “viscous blood conditions.”

Motherwort is as safe as a cup of mint tea. It has been used in conjunction with medications for a variety of heart conditions, as well as both before and after heart surgery of any kind.