Lemon Balm

Lemon Balm 🌿🍋
 
Bright, lemony, and ever-giving, Lemon Balm has long been called a plant of joy and restoration. Cooling in its energetics, it works on the nervous system with remarkable intelligence, calming what is agitated without causing drowsiness, lifting what is low, and steadying what is scattered. Ancient physicians called it an "elixir of life" and said it "makes the heart merry." Herbalists today reach for it just as readily. Hand-selected, organic, and lovingly packaged in the Colorado mountains.
 
🍋 For: anyone working with anxiety, stress, insomnia, depression, heart palpitations, digestive tension, or viral illness
🍃 Botanical name: Melissa officinalis
🌱 Part used: leaves
⚡ Energetics: cooling, slightly moistening
👅 Taste: sour, slightly sweet, mildly bitter, aromatic
🔥 Actions: nervine, antidepressant, antiviral, antispasmodic, carminative, diaphoretic, anxiolytic, mild sedative, anti-inflammatory
🌲 Body systems: nervous system, digestive system, cardiovascular system, immune system, reproductive system
🌿 Traditional uses: anxiety, stress, insomnia, depression, heart palpitations, digestive upset and bloating, fever, cold sores and herpes simplex, menstrual pain. Used internally as tea, tincture, or oxymel; topically in baths and skin preparations.
☕ How to use: brew as a tea (1-2 tsp per 8 oz, steep 10-15 minutes), use as a tincture, or add to baths and oxymels. Best used fresh or recently dried to preserve volatile oils.
🌾 Variation: as a natural botanical, color and aroma may vary slightly batch to batch
⚠️ Not for: contraindicated in hypothyroidism. Use caution if taking CNS depressant medications. Generally considered very safe for all ages.