Ashwagandha and Stress Relief

One of my favorite medicinal plants is Withania. It is commonly known in Ayurvedic medicine as Ashwagandha. Ashwagandha has recently become popular in the west and has been labeled as an “adaptogen,” a natural substance that helps the body cope with stress and promotes homeostasis.

Its earliest recorded benefits going back 3000 years, studies in biomedicine have shown Ashwagandha to lower cortisol levels which contributes to stress, anxiety, insomnia and depression.

We often hear about the negative aspects of cortisol, it being a hormone released when one is stressed. However, cortisol was meant to be helpful; it helps us identify stressors and turns on the sympathetic responses that helps us flee or fight in potentially harmful situations. Our bodies were not meant to endure prolonged hours of stress. Stress responses were meant to be short lived, alert us to danger and to help us get the hell out of bad situations.

Unfortunately in this day and age, most of us endure prolonged stressful situations, albeit at work or home, not just one day at a time, but for years.

Ashwaghanda is one of a few adaptogenic herbs in BALANCE Potion 11. This plant medicine can help during a stressful day by creating space in your body and mind, helping with the biochemical processes that relaxes the body so that it can repair itself to natural calm state.