What is your relationship to plants?
How do you use them in your everyday life?
In what ways are you taking advantage of all that they have to offer?
These are important question to think about and to feel on deeper levels. To reflect on and take more seriously.
The power of plants is awe-inspiring. Mother earth’s medicine. Able to combat any ailment that might arise in other living beings.
And it makes sense.
The symbiotic nature of the planet.
It kind of like Newton’s 3rd law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
So, it also makes sense that we should all be using plants.
To their full potential.
For our health, well-being, longevity, and fulfillment.
Today I am going to talk about one special plant in particular that I think know can help every person on this planet, especially when used on a daily basis.
It has a list of benefits that seems to never stop giving.
And it’s been used for centuries to treat and heal a wide variety of ailments.
It’s called Jiaogulan (also known by it’s scientific name Gynostemma Pentaphyllum).
I might turn this into a series where I talk about different powerful plants from around the world. Let me know if this is something you would enjoy.
For now, let’s turn our attention to Jiaogulan.
An Ancient Herb
Jiaogulan is an herb that grows natively in Southern China and Southeast Asia. It is a vine and can be trellised like in the picture above.
People in this region of the world have known about this powerful plant for many centuries.
They have been using it to successfully prevent and treat a wide range of ailments.
And it even gained the name “The Herb of Immortality” because people who were drinking it every day seemed to live a lot longer than people who were not.
So of course, when I learned about this plant for the first time I was excited to say the least.
I wanted to learn everything that I could about this special herb.
The history, the growth cycle, the energy.
What it’s properties were.
What people had been successfully using it for.
Everything.
How The Plant Is Used
So how were people using this plant?
Well it appears that the main way people were using Jiaogulan was by taking the leaves off the vine and making a tea with them.
A delicious, bittersweet, herbal tea.
I love tea, so I was delighted to first learn this.
In addition, people would use it to create a tincture that could be used in different ways as a more concentrated elixir.
Nowadays, one of the most popular options is to take jiaogulan in capsule form.
And it’s easy to understand why.
Capsules are convenient and can be taken anyway.
One is not always in a position to make a cup or pot of tea, so capsules are a great option to have for any situation.
Plus, not everyone likes to drink tea.
So capsules offer a hyper-convenient way for people to get all the benefits that this amazing plant has to offer, all while they are on the go.
For me, I love the combination of the two – jiaogulan tea and jiaogulan capsules. And that’s what I would strongly suggest to anyone who wants to utilize the healing power of this plant.
That way you get the best of both worlds.
You can drink your jiaogulan brew when you have the time and space.
And you can use jiaogulan caps any time, any place.
In addition, this herb can also be used in a variety of different topical solutions such as lotions or salves. I would certainly recommend to try this if you feel like it.
Salves are something that I have been wanting to get more into myself.
My Relationship to Jiaogulan
Well, this is a VERY long story, so it might take me a while to document it all. But stick with me. I promise it will be worth it 🙂
As you may or may not know, I care very much about health.
The health of the planet and every being in it. Of course, that also includes myself. I am ever more conscious about my own health (on all levels) and how to consistently become a healthier being.
One of the levels of health is physical health.
(And when I talk about health by the way, I mean REAL health – natural health.)
And so, one of my focal points is physical health. Because it’s all about the mind-body-soul connection. If one of those areas is neglected, then the other areas cannot function to their optimal levels.
To keep my body in peak physical health, I do a variety of (nourishing) things. One of them is consistent exercise. This is essential. Getting the blood flowing and the heart really pumping. I do a combination of cardio, body weight, and free weight exercises.
And I walk a ton. Walking is not only insanely healthy (and low impact), but it’s also simply one of the most enjoyable parts of life. You really get to see life on an intimate level. You notice things you wouldn’t otherwise. It’s a beautiful thing really. And it’s the perfect time for reflection.
I also eat a very clean, natural diet of wholesome, nutrient-rich foods. This is also essential. You must feed your body clean and nourishing food if you want it to function properly throughout your life.
In addition, I use herbs and supplements for healing and to prevent my body from any ailments. This is the most important part of the equation in my opinion. And this is where jiaogulan comes in.
I am always searching for new foods and new herbs to add into my daily routine for health, overall well-being, and longevity.
On my quest, I have found some incredibly powerful plants out there.
And one of, if not the, most powerful plants that I have come across is jiaogulan. It’s genuinely hard to believe how many benefits this wonderful plant has to offer our bodies (and minds in fact!).
As soon as I started reading about this plant, I knew that it was something I needed to have in my daily life.
So I started researching like a mad man. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the plant, its uses, its history, etc. And I wanted to find the best jiaogulan on the planet.
So this is how it all started. With a literal hunger for health.
But there’s so much more than to the story than that.
Read the full story of how I first encountered jiaogulan here.
