Covid-19 and Supporting Stress and Our Immune System

March 25, 2020/Heather Plant

Supporting Stress In Our Bodies and Strengthening Our Immune System In Regards To Covid-19 Using Simple Remedies You May Already Have In Your Home

Hello my dear friends!

With the new craziness going on and our new normal drastically shifting from day to day many of us are experiencing a lot of fear, anxiety, and overwhelm with all that is going on. To hopefully provide a little help I want to share with you what I am doing personally to help support my family, clients, and myself during these times in hopes it may also help you in some way.

Let me preface by saying that I am not a doctor and do not pretend to be one. I am an herbalist through which I act as a health educator. I cannot and do not guarantee you will not get sick. Not a lot is known about this particular virus and how to specifically handle the protocol for an infection, but we have more awareness of how it acts in the human body every day. There is however a lot known about how we can strengthen our immune system and there is a lot that you can do to support yourself and your loved ones at this time. I hope to offer you some information so you may not feel completely powerless right now, and provide you with some options to help and support any anxiety you may have. With access to obtaining supplies becoming more limited right now I’m going to focus on using things you may already have in your pantry. Some herbs I mention may still be found online or in grocery stores. If you need help finding some things reach out as I still have some herbs on hand or may have resources to reach them elsewhere.

First, lets take a nice big deep breath in and out S L O W L Y

I know that most of what you find in your inbox, or see on TV is all about Mr. 19, and I’m sorry for having to provide you with
another piece of that information. My goal for what I write below is solely to add some hope, some power, and to talk about this subject while provoking as little trauma and anxiety as possible. With that you will find no calling it by it’s full name or images because I wouldn’t be happier if I never saw a picture of it under the microscope again right now!

What I do want to do is offer you some tips on what you can do to support yourself right now and over the next few months, and hopefully help ease some of your tension. You see, the human body is so truly amazing. All it wants is to live and experience every day to it’s fullest. With that being said, there is so much we can do to tweak it one way or another to help strengthen it. As an herbalist the main thing I am doing right now is to support the immune system making it as strong as I can so if my loved ones do happen to come in contact with Mr. 19, or the cold and flu that is going around right now, it will have a lot better of a chance to fight it off or help their bodies get over the illness easier if they do get sick. This right here is where you have a lot of power that you can take on. Prevention is your big friend and knowledge truly is power.

With the news of Mr. 19, most people are either living a world where they think it’s not a big deal, nothing to worry about, or they’re the opposite; scared out of their mind and/or possibly shutting down. You can’t turn on the news without being hammered with the constant play by play of the number of cases with the never ending scary music in the background as if you’re watching a horror movie. You also get very little information from those running the country about what little they are actually doing about it. I admit I swing from both perspectives on a daily basis while pulling from my understanding of the human body and how viruses work (and how little we know they work at times). But in these times we all need to find a way to stay in the middle being aware of what’s going on, while trying to stay calm as much as we can. (Trust me I know, I know… someone telling me to stay calm or calm down is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves and has the opposite outcome). But, even though I hate being told that, there is so much truth to that key phrase right now… and I’ll give you some pointers below on how to actually do that.

First here are some simple tips to apply to your day to day lives (many are the things you have been hearing about but I wanted to elaborate a little more).

The basics:

Wash your hands often. I know, I know this is common knowledge but many people don’t do it properly, or long enough to make a difference. We need to scrub our hands thoroughly (think about how surgeons scrub them before surgery), and scrub them for at least 20 seconds. You’ve heard the routine of washing to the birthday song or the alphabet. I got tired of wishing myself a wonderful birthday so a nice alternative is to think about what you want to release, and then what you want to bring back into your life. In your minds eye see what you’re releasing go down the drain… germs, fear, anything that doesn’t serve you. Energy follows intention so why not use all this extra hand washing time to put it to work for you!
Plain old soap is your best friend. Now many people love hand sanitizer, however they don’t truly compare with soap when it comes to getting rid of viruses. That clear stuff in a bottle may remove some bacteria, but many have actually become resistant to it thanks to it’s antibiotic action. Overuse of antibiotics have caused many “superbugs” to develop as they learn to become resistant to our antibiotics. Viruses usually have an oil based protein that surrounds them to act as a protective barrier. Regular soap works amazing at “degreasing” that oil layer leaving these little aliens without their defenses, and the scrubbing action and water allows those aliens to get flushed down the drain. So please wash your hands with soap as often as possible, especially when out in public. If you do use sanitizer it should have a high alcohol content which tends to rapidly dry your hands out so make sure you moisturize them often so you don’t make yourself more vulnerable to exposure by adding open cuts to your body. With hand sanitizer hard to find below is an easy homemade recipe you can make.

Practice social distancing and if you feel sick at all please stay home and self quarantine. This can be hard especially with the obvious financial repercussions. However, lessening the amount of people that get exposed to this virus will make a rapid difference in the speed our country can recover. A great example was provided in a recent NY Times article calling this Flattening the Curve as you can see in the picture below. I know it’s hard to put your life on hold, but this illness can be very hard on people with a weekend immune system, breathing problems, or other underlying illnesses that weaken the body. We need to work together in this world by making sure we don’t spread it to others that many not be able to fight it off as easily. This isn’t a time to be selfish. It’s a time to be a human living in the web of life on this planet.

Communicate with those around you. This sounds contradicting to the social distancing aspect but we need to try to work together as a community. Check on your neighbors and see if anyone is in need of something. When we are isolated and we feel alone it actually lowers our immune response… our society can be very disconnected as it is and it’s easy to feel alone on a regular day, so please try and stay in contact by email, or a phone call with those around you.

Immune Support:

Ok enough of the basics, now on to some self care and herbal support!

Ways you can help support your immune system:

Limit consumption of the things that make it harder for your immune system to work… sugar, nutrient deficient foods, sleep deprivation, caffeine, and stress. I know these are all the big hard ones we become addicted too and many of the things you may reach for in times of stress. Try your best though to do what you can. For example go to bed a little earlier rather than watch another Netflix episode, boost your nutrient uptake as much as you can sneaking in as many of the foods below, and try avoiding sugar especially when you need to go out in public. Twenty minutes after consuming sugar the ability of your white blood cells to do their job and consume viruses and bacteria is lessened by 50% for up to 5 hours! So limiting sugar is hugely important right now for how well our immune system can work for us.

Fill your diet with lots of:

Mineral rich greens like cabbage, spinach, and kale
High antioxidant rich foods like berries
Lots of antiviral herbs such as ginger and garlic. Try and incorporate a little bit into your diet with every meal.
Immune boosting mushrooms like shiitake and maitake
Good quality protein like grass fed meats and pasture raised eggs
Spring greens that are loaded with nutrition and just starting to come up right now like dandelion greens, nettles, and mustard greens. These are all very good at detoxifying our system and they provide loads of nutrition.
Bone broth (check out the link to my post on how to make it). This is great as prevention and also while sick as it’s a very easily digestible source of nutrition when our bodies can’t handle heavy foods. It also helps build our strength so is great for the post illness stage while your body needs nourishment to build itself back up.

Soups and stews that are easy for our body to digest and allow nutrients to assimilate easy.
Seaweeds
Fermented foods like kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, fermented veggies, and/or a probiotic. These fuel our gut flora which plays a major role with our immune so making sure that our flora is strong is vitally important. Most of our immune system actually resides in our gut!
Consider supplementing with Vitamin D3 and Vitamin C as both are essential for our immune system.
Take Fire Cider. Fire Cider is a spicy tonic made using kitchen herbs such as horseradish, ginger, and garlic. I will be posting an article on how to make it shortly.
Avoid adding stressful situations right now as much as possible (easier said than done I understand). Stress drastically lowers our bodies ability to fight for us. So a key focus of your day should be to work on self care as much as possible. Take a relaxing bath with some lavender or chamomile tea added. Drink some chamomile tea or lemon balm. Spend time outside. More on stress support below.
Movement…. move your body to move your lymph and get your immune system going. A simple walk for even 10 minutes can have a huge impact. Do what you can when you can.
Breath work. This one is HUGE right now. Many people are scared and when we are in fear we stop breathing deeply. Instead, we breathe more shallowly which puts our bodies in an automatic stress response state. When this happens our immune system cannot function at it’s best as our bodies are focused on survival only as it’s in fight or flight mode. Also, this is especially important as Mr. 19 makes a beeline for the lungs. When we are in a fear state our lungs specifically take a hit as we can trap that stress in them making us unable to move through life smoothly and efficiently. Right now with the fear being focused on a virus we often limit our breathing for fear of breathing it in. This is a crucial thing we need to combat right now and it can be simple. When you are home and feel safe, allow yourself to relax and take some long deep breaths in and out. Do this for at least a minute as often as you can. Doing this outside in nature among the trees is even better. This is pure simple medicine for your whole body right now. Breathe. Don’t hold it in. Give yourself the chance to relax into it. Breathe work is very powerful medicine for your whole body!
Herbal steams. This is a very simple remedy that helps support our lungs directly providing them with warmth and moisture. Simply place a tablespoon to a small handful of aromatic antimicrobial herbs into a bowl or cup. Add boiling hot water to the cup/bowl and position your face directly over it being careful not to touch the hot container. Cover your head completely with a towel to trap the steam into the cocoon you just made and breathe in and out deeply for a good ten minutes. As the herbs are heated they release volatile oils that are highly antimicrobial and clearing. As you breathe them in they go directly to your lungs where the action is needed. This is great to do as soon as you come home from being out in public, and also if you are experiencing any chest or sinus congestion. Many culinary herbs often found in your cupboard can be used such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, and orange peel. You can use just one herb or make a combination. A tiny bit of peppermint is also nice (only a little as it can be too overwhelming). Chamomile is another herb that is nice to add as it helps relax the mind at the same time. White pine needles can be used also… more on Pine below. Use whatever you have on hand. Exact instructions are provided in the link above.

Stress Support:
As I mentioned above, supporting the calm aspect in our minds right now is essential. We all have so many different emotions flowing around and it’s hard to be grounded and present in a calm space understandably. It’s very easy to get caught up and panic and filled with anxiety. Here are some recommendations for a few things that can be done to help open some space in our minds to relax a little and step out of the fear and back into our relaxed bodies.

Simple ways to support anxiety and fear right now or anytime:

Spend time outside. This is another huge one that is highly effective and simple, especially with all that is going on. It’s very easy to get caught up and lost in the all encompassing topic. When we spend time in nature it automatically helps shift our bodies into a relaxation mode, even if for a few minutes. Right now it’s even more effective because when you stop and look around you at the animals, plants, and Earth, you realize the whole world isn’t consumed by this. Life is still going on and surviving. It is Spring and the Earth has awakened again and plants are beginning to grow and bloom. This simple awareness can be very powerful as it’s so easy to become lost in the fear. Let nature help shift you back to the present and your large connection to the Earth and deity, or whatever you believe is the energy that exists that is greater than us.
Sit down on the ground and feel the Earth below you. (You can do this standing also). Let the fear come out of your body and go through your feet and into the Earth. Allow it to release outside of your body. Whether you can feel it or not it doesn’t matter. Energy follows intentions and you don’t want to trap all that fear inside of you. Give it to the Earth and it will be composted into something better. Do this as often as you can as as often as you need to.
Walk alongside the trees and breath deeply and slowly breathing in the wonderful cleansing energy they give off. Look at the branches of those trees… what do they look like? They look just like your lungs and all of their own branches. The roots of the trees are almost exactly like their branches. Trees are huge medicine for the lungs and right now they are waking up as their sap inside is flowing freely. Walking in a forest is powerful medicine for both our lungs and our souls as we breath in the negative ions and magic that the trees release. These trees are our elders and it’s hard not to feel like a young child as we stand next to a tree so many years beyond us and think about all that it has seen.
Many trees can be used in teas and some are loaded in vitamin C making them a perfect tea remedy for the times. Below is a very simple tea recipe using White Pine that grows all around us and is everywhere in the Northeast. Just gather some needles from recently fallen branches.

Pine C Tea Recipe
Handful of pine needles
Quart of water
Toss some fresh pine needles into a pot of just boiled water and let it steep for 5-10
minutes covered with a lid. Strain and enjoy. The tea will have a slight citrus taste.
If you chew on some of the leaves you can taste the citrus strongly... the taste is
correlated with it's Vitamin C content which is great for our immune system.

Plant something. We all might be subject to staying home for an extended period of time in the near future resulting in a feeling of lacking of control. Instead of focusing on that, try focusing your attention on something you can control to help get you out of your head and get your hands into the Earth. Pick something you enjoy eating or something new you want to try and plant some seeds you can tend to over the upcoming months. You can always find something to plant in a container if you don’t have the room. Maybe some culinary herbs like thyme or basil, both of which grow great in containers as most culinary herbs do. When you plant these seeds, think of something you would like to happen in the upcoming months while you place them in the soil. Allow your wishes to grow as the plant grows and nourish that dream as you nourish the plant. Giving your mind something to focus on is a great way to help alleviate some fear and worry. Anytime you can take a break from the stress and put your mind on something peaceful you are feeding your nervous system with calming energy to calm your whole being in more ways you can possibly imagine.

Drink calming tea on a daily basis. There are many plants that are specific to calming down the nervous system and helping us deal with stress. Common ones that are easier to be found locally include chamomile, tulsi, ashwagandha, lemon balm, catnip, rose, and linden. If you don’t know about how to prepare teas or infusions with loose leaf teas many of these herbs can be found in tea bag form at your local grocery store. Traditional Medicinals is a good brand that can easily be found or any brand of chamomile will do in a pinch. Tea bags are usually not as fresh but you can make whatever you have work. If using chamomile in tea bags then just steep one bag in just boiled water for about 5 minutes. Make sure to cover it with a lid so the volatile oils don’t escape (that’s where a lot of the medicine lies).

I hope these tips help bring some moments of joy and release into your life as you go about your day. Below are some good articles with more specific information regarding Mr. 19 and an interesting astrological interpretation.

I wish you all a Spring filled with health, joy, and fresh air!

~Heather Plant

References and Recommended Resources:
1. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/coronavirus-curve-mitigation-infection.html Flattening the curve article
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/?fbclid=IwAR0tIBiv90e2CBeXqb_EGjTHfZ9gfEbldoduIwwvejOocowPZFku4xXDYHs Great reference for seeing why it’s important to self quarantine
3. The Astrology of the Coronavirus This is an interesting video discussing what’s going on astrologically right now and the correlation to Covid-19. I’m not an astrology expert so I cannot vouch for the total accuracy, but found it a little
enlightening to our current situation.
4. https://avivaromm.com/category/covid-19/ This is a site that is written by an herbalist and MD with articles
she has been writing daily in response to Covid-19. She heavily focuses on information regarding children and pregnancy.

Self Care Practices:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xtIWDCTLvU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1g88jlufj8ou02WOhsiYTqgExP2kX-7tSGC5dEnOagQslskVt-KmpHByI Air moxa (This uses heat on acupressure points that are super helpful for strengthening the immune system, helping with respiratory issues, and anxiety).
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZHrGFh8Xcw&fbclid=IwAR3qJnedc122MBYvknHrHC8RVXQPppX5TY4HSJt97ky64mcwHkx0Swy0nbE This provides info on how to use tapping for anxiety to calm the mind down

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor; I am an herbalist that acts as a health educator. I do not diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. I only make recommendations on what may be a good way to best support your own body. Everyone’s body is different, and it is up to you to choose how to best take care of your own body, regardless of what you see on the internet, or even what a physician may tell you. As ultimately, the decision is always your own to do what is best for you.