Here in Northern California we are facing incredible amounts of wildfires which have devastated Napa and Sonoma Counties and are greatly affecting the surrounding areas.

Here are some ways to care for yourself with herbs, nutrition and ways to care for those affected.

SELF - CARE

Get a mask - N95 or P100 - this category of mask will block out the size of particulate that is in the air. Most bay area stores are completely out. Order online to get shipped ASAP. If anyone has a better suggestion, I'd love to know how to get a mask faster.

Get an air purifier. These fires could be out soon, but there will be residual particulate in the air that can affect you and your Lungs. There are all types, but the best according to The Sweethome is The Conway - linked here for $230 on Amazon. Higher end or budget pick listed on this post by The Sweethome.

Support your Lungs with Nutrition - the Lungs are a crucial part of our immune system and they are greatly supported by our digestion.

To eat

some sour flavors - with this dryness, our Lungs need support keeping moist. Sour helps to astringe moisture - citrus is one of the easiest ways to get sour.
some pungent flavors - radish, onion, garlic, ginger - this can help dispel toxins that are accumulating in the Lungs.
pears - are a superfood for the Lungs - AND they are in season - they help to moisten the lungs. Eat raw or make poached pears. Here is a great recipe with some seasonal spices.
white unprocessed foods - pears, apples, onion, garlic, white rice, white sesame seeds, lotus root, lily bulb - all of these have medicinal effect in Chinese medicine specifically to support the Lungs
warm cooked foods - support your digestion with soups
fermented foods - eat fermented to support your gut health which in turn supports your immune system

To limit / avoid -

sugar
dairy
refined foods

Herbs

cordyceps - Root and Bones has a great product but is sold out at the time of this post. You can search on google. Mountain Rose herbs is a great supplier. Or check with your local herb store.

SF - Rainbow Grocery or The Scarlet Sage
Oakland - Five Flavors Herbs or Homestead Apothecary
Berkeley - Lhasa Kharnak

If you are having specific symptoms I recommend you check in with an herbalist or acupuncturist to create an herbal formula specific to your needs. I provide herbal consults. If you are interested you can sign up here. Or contact me for more details.

How to Help

There are a lot of people to help right now and ways. There are options, do what you can with what you can.

With your dollars

Community Foundation of Napa County

Napa & Sonoma County Fire Relief

The Milo Foundation - their animal sanctuary was evacuated and they need dog food, cat food, cat litter, dog and cat bowls, financial donations, foster families and more.

With your time

Foster an animal through The Milo Foundation or Hopalong

Bring Supplies

SO many medical offices, small businesses are taking donations and collecting them to send up. Check in with your community and see where you can bring helpful supplies!

I will do my best to update this list as things move forward.

“Wounds don’t heal the way you want them to, they heal the way they need to. It takes time for wounds to fade into scars. It takes time for the process of healing to take place. Give yourself that time. Give yourself that grace. Be gentle with your wounds. Be gentle with your heart. YOU DESERVE THAT.”

— Dele Olanubi

The tragedy in Charlottesville is a sharp reminder that there are so many hard edges, so much hate, so much scarcity, so much fear, so much division in our America. It has been a struggle to for me to find the right words and to take the right action. I spent time this week posting and reposting the work of many incredible people I follow who have been advocating for a world without white supremacy that unites to take action against hate.

As a healer, in my struggle to find words I have done what I know how to do, examining America as a living, breathing, heart beating body. Upon examination, I see our political system as broken limbs and our leader as a head completely detached from any symptoms of pain. I see America's heart as broken, like two charms separated into two pieces with a zig zag down the middle. Our continuous struggle to mend the broken heart charms but separation, scarcity, fear, otherness getting in the way.

I have been thinking about healing the body, the thing I know how to do for myself, the thing I know how to help others do. If America were my patient what would I do?

Charlottesville is a gaping wound. The wound is deep, gushing, threatening the lifespan America's body. It is raw, exposed and bleeding out. We need help to save us.

I have been struggling to find the right words. How to fight, how to heal, how to stay soft but firm. How do we heal this wound in time? What if time runs out? What if the pulse stops, there is no more breath in our country? How do we move forward in the midst of hate of close minded white supremacists, when our country was founded by people who had the same oppressive values?

America has changed, healed and evolved since it was founded. But these old wounds are re-surfacing and coming to a head. It's painful, it's frightening and it needs to come out so that we keep talking about it. I know what I would say if America was my patient. I would say "better out than in." This does not mean that I support acts of violence or that I am rooting for my patient to experience pain. It means that when things lie dormant, under the surface they can be more dangerous, more powerful than when they are exposed and visible. As a practitioner when I see things come to the surface and show as symptoms, they are finally treatable.

Let us keep hope as these terrifying and horrible actions surface that we continue conversations that need to happen. Let us see the symptoms and TAKE ACTION to treat what is happening.

Resources are listed below. Please please please take the time to check them out.

RESOURCES:

Want to be a white ally but need help? Join & support Safety Pin Box

BUSTLE - How to Help Victims of Charlottesville RIGHT NOW

Tema Okun on how to end White Supremacy Culture in Organizations

"This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture that show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed below are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being proactively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white supremacy thinking. Because we all live in a white supremacy culture, these characteristics show up in the attitudes and behaviors of all of us – people of color and white people. Therefore, these attitudes and behaviors can show up in any group or organization, whether it is white-led or predominantly white or people of color-led or predominantly people of color."

Put your money towards businesses owned by POC, Women, LGBTQ and other minority groups. Our country runs on money and money deeply expresses our values. Not only spending your money but also following these people and reading their posts are an incredible way to support the America you want to live in.

Self Care under Fire