This amazing herb is called ‘Spikenard’ or ‘True Nard’ in English. Its from the Valerian family and is called ‘Nardostachys Jatamansi’. Once growing all over the earth, in recent centuries it almost went into extinction – found wild only in the higher mountains of asia.
It’s the stuff of legend – a lucky charm, a sacred symbol associated with love (the Song of Solomon in the Bible) and regeneration of dying and lost causes.
I have found it all absolutely true.
There are a handful of herbs that can cure anything given some time – a heal-all, whether the problem is with body or mind, or gut or soul. One of them is Spikenard. When everything else fails, try Spikenard.
It is one of those herbs that affects people differently.
For example, given to children it helps them stay calm in stressful times – like exam-time, and gets their digestive system going. In teenagers it stimulates the production of the sexual hormones so their reproductive system develops properly, a great help for those teens who are stressed out about not developing physically like their peers.
In adults Spikenard supports hormonal re-adjustment to new environments – imagine what that means for people who move house to climates they are not accustomed to! No matter where you lack energy in your body, Spikenard will cause energy to go just there.
This is also perhaps why it is one of the most difficult herbs to understand. What do you do if a herb that’s supposed to make someone sleep better, actually causes the person to feel more awake?
Spikenard and the Valerian family in general are unpredictable because it surrenders its energy and lets itself be directed by the person’s body and energy field itself. This is so relaxing, our deep abdomen and gut release pent up tension.
What happens next is totally dependent on how your body wants to use the energy. Just like wind moves from an area of high pressure – where there’s lots of air – to an area of low pressure – where there is less air – so energy in the body moves to where its needed. Spikenard just makes that possible.
How beautiful is that!
I was taught about it by my great great grandfather John Waltham this way:
‘No matter what you want to do, Spikenard helps you do that. If you need to cry, you will cry. If you want to sleep, you will sleep. If you want to dance, you will dance, if you want to love, you will love. Do not try to control Spikenard, it follows divine paths through the body.’
Some of the amazing applications of Spikenard;
1) Melatonin Balance in the Pineal Gland
Spikenard is the vital herb I use to treat imbalance and enlargements of the Pineal Gland. It balances the amount of melatonin in an overactive Pineal Gland. It itself is a source of melatonin – the hormone that makes a person feel sleepy, but will also reduce melatonin in those who have too much. This is an invaluable aid to sleep cycle correction, treatment of chronic clinical depression and all manner of sleep and nervous system disorders. The chain reaction set off in the body by the Pineal Gland balancing its function (and even size over time) are just as amazing.
When the Pineal Gland rejuvenates itself it slowly stops piling on the grey ash-like deposit of calcium that settles over it with age – this is one of the foremost triggers of ‘ageing’ in the body as the light reaching the Pineal Gland gets blocked off by the calcium. Slowing or stopping this depository activity means ageing in the body itself slows down as the Pineal Gland continues to direct the body’s energy to flow just as in youth. This means proper Vitamin D synthesis because of the light exposure and this leads to great sleep, mental and nervous balance, weight balance, skin health, bone health, robust immunity, hormonal balance, balanced sexual energy flow and so on.
2) Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome – from Babies to Adults
IBS is caused by a long term imbalance in the chemicals in the bowels making our tummies hyper sensitive and unable to deal with various substances. Spikenard’s energy property of simply sending energy where it is needed ends up balancing the chemical reactions in the stomach as a secondary effect.
A whole lot of chronic problems with the gut are more than just an irritated gut lining. Chamomile or Slippery Elm Powder can soothe those. For those whose gut problems have energetic, emotional and hormonal triggers as well, for who disturbed sleep and lack of enough sleep has affected the digestion, Spikenard’s the solution. It has a bit of an appetite suppressing effect sometimes, and that can be a very good thing if you’re trying to heal the stomach.
3) Treating Chronic Bad Breath
Chronic Bad breath is simply staleness or infection somewhere in the digestive tract (mouth to intestines) or ear-nose-throat canal. If you know where the infection is, its easy enough to treat. But chronic bad breath is usually difficult to place. There doesn’t seem to be any one particular place, and the person is otherwise in completely good health, so what do you then? The solution here is Spikenard.
4) Rejuvenating Voice Function
Spikenard helping those with blocks around the vocal cords and breathing pipe- an area otherwise not very easy to treat. A ‘voice’ is a combination of healthy flexible vocal cords and a clean passage for air from the lungs right out the mouth. Keeping this area stress free and relaxed helps us have clear voices, and aids in getting control over the vocal cords. This is the only herb I know that works with those incredibly sensitive nerves and muscle fibers that make ‘voice’ happen.
5) Preventing Cancer anywhere in the Body
Those who have cancer prevention on their minds most are usually those who have fought with cancer once and do not want to go into remission. This can be difficult for a body that has just been bombarded with radiotherapy and chemotherapy as these therapies drastically alter cell health in the body. Herbs and natural foods that promote overall cell vitality help.
Spikenard is for those who don’t respond to most other ‘vitality’ supporting herbs and foods. It gets energy flowing to wherever it is needed and that ends up solving whatever is the problem with the person’s energy flow.
Spikenard specifically helps those men and women who have family members who have or have had cancers of the reproductive or endocrine systems (breast cancer, testicular cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, thyroid cancer etc). Any cancer to do with the endocrine system can be prevented only if the hormonal balance is really robust and stable.
6) Healing Bone Injuries, and boosting Bone Health, Joint Health
The energy the body requires to heal bones and keep them functioning and growing normally is not the same energy that is available – for example – in the stomach to digest food. This energy is produced in the body only in the second and third stages of sleep, when the Brain judges the body free of any other demands for the moment.
By promoting energy balance in the body during waking moments, Spikenard promotes energy balance in the sleeping hours. This is because when enough waking-time activities are finished within the waking time, the body has the time to work on the other areas needing replenishment in the sleep areas. Otherwise these activities overlap each other making us have restless sleep digesting our food while sleeping (which should be done when we are awake) and feeling sleepy, cramped and heavy in the limbs when we are awake (energy is still moving to areas it should be moving to only during deep sleep when we are motionless).
Spikenard balances this energy sharing activity when it is taken regularly and this means relief from various bone, joint and skeletal system related problems, from osteosarcoma to arthritis (even rheumatoid arthritis) and bone repair.
7) Resolving infections and conditions whose cause is unknown
Spikenard’s top of the list of heal-all herbs and hasn’t disappointed me so far in its ability to heal or bring out lurking hidden causes of conditions. It makes the body able to manifest the real problem so that can be addressed and the person put on the road to healing finally.
Using Spikenard for Healing
To enjoy Spikenard’s healing properties on an energy level put a drop or two of its essential oil onto your wrists, between your eyebrows, or on your belly button or where you instinctively feel you need it at bed-time or in the evenings. For those who don’t like the strong scent, you could dilute the essential oil with a carrier oil like olive or coconut oil.
For a strong sleeping aid and deep healing, extract Spikenard root by slow heating the dried root in a good quality carrier oil for a few hours.
A few tablespoons of crushed dried root will do for 100ml of a carrier oil. I put the herbs and oil in a covered glass jar, and the jar in a pot with a towel or old t-shirt lining the bottom and holding the jar in place (so the bottom of the jar doesn’t sit directly on the bottom of the pot and doesn’t move around). Then surround it with water, then keep it on the lowest level of heat possible and turn it off every now and then so it never gets too hot.You could have it on your kitchen counter to have it going on the side every time you’re cooking. That way in a day or two, you’ll see the oil change color. When the oil becomes dark brown (the darker the better) that’s the herb gotten extracted.
I almost never strain out the dried root. It continues to get extracted into the oil for months just sitting at the back of a cupboard, making a very potent extract. Even then I take out the root, and boil it in water to make a tea. And even after that I can’t make myself throw it away. It’s such treasure.
For adults, a tablespoon of the oil around an hour or two before bedtime is a good dose. For children, a t-spoon will do usually – more for hyperactive kids who’ve had sugar too close to bedtime.
This is a great help to get over jet lag and travel related hormonal and digestive disorders, especially when you need to get sleep before a meeting but you’re too high-strung and tense to relax and go to sleep in a new place.
You can also extract Spikenard into vinegar or alcohol – you have to cover the dried root in organic apple cider vinegar and leave in a dark cupboard, shaking it every now and then, for a few weeks at least. This can be taken 5-10 drops in water every night.
