The Amazing Healing Benefits of Stinging Nettles

 

 

Musings from 20th Street

Farewell to our dear friend, Muli Green.

He was filled with light, intelligence, a passion for life, wisdom, generosity, and above all, love for his wife and two daughters.

Look at the joy in his eyes.

Muli with his wife Zipi and beautiful daughters, Mia and Zoe.

I’d also like to take a moment to pay tribute to Alec Sutton. He was taken away from the world, his mother and his friends by a drunk driver late last year. 18 years old, a young man of imagination, cleverness and a future about which he was greatly excited.

We will all miss him enormously. 

I welcome our guest writer, Mary Houston, who has genrously written for Musings in the past. We have stinging nettle on my farm in Puerto Rico, and I can sometimes buy it at the Farmers’ Market at Union Square in NY. I can usually find it at the Windfall Farms stand, as I did this past week. I knew to use it for tea — but pesto? This is such good news for me, as I make fresh pesto every week from Farmers’ Market basil. Now I have a recipe to enhance the benefits of my delicious pesto. I made it in abundance this past week, and passed it on to grateful friends. Ate some of it myself; delicioso. Put the rest in the freezer.  

Thank you, Mary.

THE AMAZING HEALING BENEFITS OF

STINGING NETTLES

My journey — and journey it has been! — with stinging nettles began about ten years ago. I was sitting in a café​ in Vermont reading a book on Indian philosophy when a young man at the next table asked me about the book. We soon began talking philosophy and then he told me his story.

He had been homeless, living on the street and mentally ill with psychotic delusions. It was during this time he began to pray and heard a voice speaking to him. The voice guided him to eat the weed along the side of the road. He began to live off the weed for the most part and, as he did, his delusions subsided and he began to get well and strong. He later researched the weed and discovered it was stinging nettles. As soon as I returned home I looked up all the research I could find on stinging nettles.

Stinging nettles are the most amazing herb. It’s free and grows everywhere. It has so many health benefits. What helped the young man get well, amongst many of its attributes, was that it contains high amounts of serotonin. Serotonin is one of two brain chemicals that, when out of balance, cause depression, mental illness and psychosis.

Of course, there are other possible reasons and chemical imbalances that cause depression and mental illness. However stinging nettles worked for this young man. Perhaps Divine intervention!

Here are some of its other benefits: Hildegard Von Bingen, the medieval mystic, first historical composer, healer, herbalist, playwright, and the first woman to be the head of a monastery, used stinging nettles in the early Spring to detox the body. It’s also used for dissolving kidney stones. It’s wonderful for anemia and increases circulation. It stimulates the metabolism and is anti-inflammatory. Studies in Frankfurt and Munich Universities demonstrated small amounts eaten every day seem to remove the pain of arthritis and rheumatism. 

This was only my first brush with the legacy of stinging nettles. It’s been used throughout recorded history. The Greeks and Romans used it on wounds and as poultices to heal wounds and pain.

I took a book reading class at the Monastery in Woodstock and we read The Life of Milarepa. Milarepa was an enlightened Tibetan Mystic. He lived for long periods of time on only stinging nettles… so much so that he apparently turned green! I often wondered if this helped him achieve the State of the Clear Light. First of all, it detoxifies and cleanses the body, and it alters brain chemistry. Perhaps someday we will know?

Since I eat mostly raw, I don’t cook my stinging nettles, but you can find many recipes that do. You can make a stinging nettles soup with vegetable stock. Just add handfuls of nettles (wearing rubber gloves, of course), add other veggies (carrots, turnips or potatoes) and simmer until softened.

You can also make nettle tea. After picking your nettles hang them upside down to dry. Once dried, place them in a clean container. Use a teaspoon or two for tea.

I make a stinging nettles pesto. Pick your nettles in early Spring. I wear gloves, long sleeves and pants because the little hairs really sting which is why most people blanch or cook them. However we discovered that if you put them in the food processor they lose their sting. Some people are not bothered by them.

Here is my recipe for STINGING NETTLES PESTO:
Makes: 1 generous cup

1/2 pound nettles
4 large garlic cloves, smashed (or less)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
(1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese: OPTIONAL. I use almond cheese made at home.) 

Optionally, you can also add some basil to your nettle pesto.

The pesto freezes well so you can make enough to last you throughout the summer and fall. You can have it on spaghetti. I also like to serve it on raw spiralized zucchini spaghetti. Put it on sliced tomatoes with mozzarella or almond cheese for a snack. Use it as a salad dressing. Wilt it to put in a salad or as a vegetable for dinner.

Bon appétit​ and enlightenment!

Mary

You can find Mary — and many more wonderful recipes — on her Facebook page.

THANKS AGAIN TO DR. T FOR ANOTHER ENLIGHTENING TALK AT LA CASA

Dr. Tel-Oren gave another wonderful talk at La Casa on April 19th. If you weren’t able to attend, and would like to hear “More Than Skin Deep: What your Skin and Hair reveal about your Brain, Gut and other Critical Organs,” please click the image below to see his presentation in full. 

Respectfully submitted by:
and
*Licensed Psychologist
*Certified  Psychoanalyst
*Stone Carrier Medicine Woman, Native American Traditional Organization

Jane speaks around the country about holistic health and the true origins of disease.

If you are interested in  interviewing her for your podcast or radio show, or if you would like to book her to speak at an event, please get in touch:

Email

janegoldberg@janegoldbergphd.com 

Phone

212-477-6039

A TIP FOR CLEARING NEGATIVE ENERGY AT HOME

A tip from Gwen Foster, who created the Nu|Vision, which is a scanning system I use for La Casa clients (when appropriate).

Give it a try and see if it makes a difference in how a room feels — whether it feels heavy and depressing, or light and airy!

To clear rooms from negative energy that may be trapped:

Negative Energy Water Trap

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons granulated salt
16 ounces filtered water

Directions:

Get a clear glass and add all of the ingredients and mix well for 60 seconds. Position the glass in a place you spend a lot of time and leave it there for 1 complete day.

Check to see if the salt is rising, once it stops it has captured all of the negative energy and you can cleanse another area of the house.

ADORATION OF THE PIGEON

Some surprising information about our feathered friends, courtesy of the fantastic Mother Pigeon (who, if you live in New York City, you have no doubt seen around Union Square and Williamsburg):

1. Pigeons mate for life. Both parents make milk and take turns feeding their babies.

2. Pigeons do not carry diseases. This is a money-making lie by greedy exterminators.

3. Pigeons have remarkable homing instincts. The location where the bird is born is where he will spend the rest of his life. Say hello to your resident pigeon.

4. Pigeons are highly intelligent. They pass the “mirror test,” able to recognize their reflection, are only one of 6 species and the only non-mammal to do so.

5. The reason you don’t ever see baby pigeons is because unlike most birds that fledge at 2 to 3 weeks, pigeons fledge at 2 months. By then, the baby is fully feathered and looks like a grumpy old man with a big beak.

6. A fully grown pigeon has about 10,000 feathers.

7. Pigeons have been known to live up to thirty years. City birds only live up to 2 years because of lack of food and clean water.

8. Big cities do not provide bird baths or clean water for the wildlife. Pigeons love to bathe and preen. Their favorite food is crushed peanuts and high quality birdseed. My favorite thing to do is sit on a park bench and feed the birds. It is fun to get to know them.

9. Look at pigeons the same way you would a rose or a bed of wild flowers. They are each beautiful and unique, with each one different from the rest. It is a privilege to have them here.  

Click HERE to donate to La Casa Puerto Rico, in our rebuilding efforts.

Donations to
La Casa Spa & Wellness Puerto Rico are tax deductible.

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is registered as a not-for-profit corporation.

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Book Your Room at La Casa de Vida,
Puerto Rico Now!

Our stunning La Casa de Vida, in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, is finally getting back on its feet again after terrible storms.

Once again, the gorgeous cottage on the property is available to rent, through Airbnb.

You can make a reservation HERE.

La Casa Spa and Wellness Center was created out of the experience one woman had with her mother. Long before holistic medicine became widely known, Dr. Jane Goldberg spent the 1970s seeking alternative cancer therapies for her mother, who had been diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. Following sound principles of holistic health, Jane’s mother was able to reverse her cancer condition entirely, moving from her wheelchair to joyfully playing tennis again. This experience inspired Jane to specialize in her psychoanalytic practice to work with cancer patients, and to fulfill the need for a holistic healing center in NYC. Jane and La Casa invite you to partake of the restorative and profoundly cl cleansing therapies that have brought La Casa world-wide recognition.

La Casa Spa and Wellness Center was created out of the experience one woman had with her mother. Long before holistic medicine became widely known, Dr. Jane Goldberg spent the 1970s seeking alternative cancer therapies for her mother, who had been diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. Following sound principles of holistic health, Jane’s mother was able to reverse her cancer condition entirely, moving from her wheelchair to joyfully playing tennis again. This experience inspired Jane to specialize in her psychoanalytic practice to work with cancer patients, and to fulfill the need for a holistic healing center in NYC. Jane and La Casa invite you to partake of the restorative and profoundly cleansing therapies that have brought La Casa world-wide recognition.

Legal Disclaimer
Information provided is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. No health claims for these products or therapies have been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nor has the FDA nor any other medical authority approved these products pr therapies to diagnose, cure, or prevent disease. Since every person is unique, we highly recommend you to consult with your licensed health care practitioner about the use of products or therapies discussed here as it relates to your particular situation.