Read below to learn more about Burdock, including:
What Burdock looks like
How to forage for Burdock
The versatility of Burdock and why it's often recommended by herbalists
A profile of what burdock root tastes like
Various methods for preparing Burdock at home, including five nourishing (and delicious) recipes, including a Burdock Root tea recipe and how to make kinpira gobo (braised Burdock Root).
and more
The roots of trees have two key jobs (among many, many others), to anchor the tree to the earth, and absorb nutrients and water from the soil. As humans, our “roots” and foundations are our anchor points as we grow.
We grow stronger when nurtured with healthy food, relationships, lessons, feedback, and reflections. Though our roots are weak from a lack of coping tools, unhealthy relationships, poor nutrition, etc., we struggle to grow.
Trees, in particular, quietly offer many lessons from which humans can learn much. The David Suzuki Foundation created a thoughtful list to inspire perspective.
Gemini's domain is the shoulders, arms, hands, and lungs. May introduced that territory and the practices that open it. June begins there and moves down into the chest, the ribs, and the breath's deeper capacity. Three-Part Breath, which this month introduces, reaches further into the body than box breathing does, expanding the lower belly, the ribcage, and the upper chest in sequence. It is the breath of Cancer's water element: receptive, layered, touching the baseline of the self.
In the Western astrological tradition, Cancer is ruled by the Moon, which governs cycles, tides, and the rhythms of the body that are not entirely under conscious control. The practices this month work with that quality. Where May's practices asked for steadiness and physical form, June's ask for surrender to sensation. The chest opens not because you push it open but because the breath makes room.
Why Meeting Change With Body and Breath Works: Vagus Nerve and Stress Adaptation
On Bowen Island, November signals a true turning. The last leaves release to the forest floor, the daylight continues to shorten, and the stillness of winter edges closer. This seasonal threshold mirrors the changes we face in our personal lives: some invited, others resisted. Neuroscience suggests that how we frame transitions strongly shapes our stress response, or another way of putting it, those who approach change with curiosity rather than fear are more likely to adapt well.
