Lila's Herbal Revolution

Lila Swanberg | Clinical Herbalist

Lila is a clinical herbalist here to make natural healing potent again. And these are the conversations making it happen. Both sides of the fence are failing — and flailing. Conventional medicine has missed the mark, and the alternative health and wellness scene has become a mess of internet health gurus, bloggers regurgitating bad information, wellness marketing machines, and dogmatic opinions. Here we help you find what's been missing in your health journey. The potency needed to move the needle and prove that natural works. Get ready to find the tools, the knowledge, and something about

  1. 5d ago

    The Lie of SSRIs: A Natural Approach to Understanding and Healing Depression

    🌀 Ready to go deeper on today's topic? Join Path to Practitioner Potency, my mentorship community for practitioners who want more training, more herbs, and real dosing guidance beyond what a podcast episode allows: https://www.skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445/about 🌀The Lie of SSRIs: A Natural Approach to Understanding and Healing DepressionI have never felt this topic land closer to home. Friends, family, clients, it feels like depression is everywhere right now, and I wanted to give you both the natural therapies that can help and a wider look at what's actually going on, including the real shortcomings of the conventional model. I share my own history with depression, the myth that natural healing only works for "mild" cases, and why I think that narrative is b******t. Then we go deep on SSRIs, the studies behind them, and the Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine concepts that explain why depression feels like a heavy, stuck fog, plus what actually clears it.What We CoverWhy natural therapies work across the full spectrum of depression, not just mild casesThe difference between situational, mild, severe, postpartum, and seasonal depressionAyurveda's Sampropti, the six stages of disease, and why catching imbalance early mattersAgni and Sadhaka Agni, the fire that processes emotional challengesNon-attachment, the Bhagavad Gita, and not letting external forces control your stateSSRIs: full side effect breakdown, the black box warning, and why we still don't know how they workKirsch's 2008 placebo data and the 2017 study on serious adverse eventsKapha, Tamas, and Mano Vaha Srotas: the Ayurvedic map of why depression feels stuckTraditional Chinese Medicine angles: phlegm in the heart orifice and liver qi stagnationNutrient depletion and the "empty tank" feeling behind depressionSense organ overstimulation, screen time, and losing the ability to process lifeHerbs worth knowing: cayenne, curcumin, albizzia, rose, lithium orotate, shankhapushpi, bacopaLinks and Resources🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Work with me → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌀 Path to Practitioner Potency (PTPP) → https://www.skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445/aboutEmail- Hello@tvnhc.comWebsite- tvnhc.comA Quick NoteThis podcast is shifting from weekly to biweekly to keep the quality high and make room for everything happening in PTPP. I may still release the occasional weekly episode when inspiration strikes, but every other week is the new baseline going forward.Coming Up on Lila's Herbal RevolutionA For Science episode on Bacopa, featuring a therapist trying the herb firsthandA dedicated fall episode with practical seasonal support as the days get shorterThe 30 gram ashwagandha experiment with Mason from HerbrallyA herb-drug interactions masterclass with KP KhalsaSo don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on the fun!

  2. Aug 25

    Ginseng for Fatigue & Natural Birth Wisdom with Doula Sonny

    🌀 Come Join us In the Path to Practitioner Potency Community. After multiple requests for mentorship I launched this program to create a space for herb learning. If you are a practitioner, student, podcast fan, this is the place to go deeper, ask questions, get support, join monthly trainings, Q&A's, Learn new materia medica, Experiment with herbs and more! This community is designed to fill in the gaps I see in the natural healing space. The ones that prevent it from all coming together, making sense and applying it IN PRACTICE. Join here: skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445 🌀 Ginseng for Fatigue & Natural Birth Wisdom with Doula SonnyA red ginseng energy experiment, then a doula's take on birth, fear, and the postpartum void. This episode is really two conversations in one. First, Lila and guest Sonny Dahood, a doula and herbalist based in New Hampshire, break down a two-week red ginseng experiment Sonny ran for fatigue. She reports unexpected wins beyond just energy, including deeper sleep, fewer sugar cravings, and a "clean" motivated feeling with none of the jitteriness she usually gets from stimulants. Lila explains why ginseng, despite its energizing reputation, can actually be one of the best sedatives in the herbal toolkit when the picture is right. Then the conversation shifts entirely into Sonny's work as a doula. She and Lila get into home birth versus hospital birth, the fear and stigma around out of hospital birth, the systemic issues baked into modern maternity care, and why the way we're born may shape our health for decades. They also cover placenta preservation, herbs used to support labor like black and blue cohosh, postpartum Ayurvedic care, and the postpartum depression and anxiety that so often goes unaddressed once the focus shifts entirely to the baby. What We Cover: Part 1: The Ginseng Experiment Why Lila reaches for red ginseng specifically, and how it differs from American ginsengSonny's day by day experience with ginseng: energy, motivation, cravings, and sleepThe lesser known link between ginseng and better sleep, straight from Michael Tierra's teachingsDosing ginseng, from saturation dose to long term maintenancePart 2: Doula Work & Birth What drew Sonny to doula work and her own home birth journeyHome birth vs hospital birth outcomes, interventions, and the fear narrative around eachHow the medical model designs care around edge cases instead of the average birthThe push toward more autonomy in hospital births, and what's still stuck in the old modelHerbs used to support labor, including black and blue cohosh, red raspberry leaf, and evening primrosePlacenta preservation options: encapsulation, salves, prints, and burialWhy the generational trauma of depleted birth may be compounding across generationsPostpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and how the system checks on baby but forgets momAyurvedic postpartum care: warmth, grounding, and why AC and fans work against healing✨ Want to learn more about Sonny's work? ✨🌿 Visit her website: https://sonshineraine.com/ Links and Resources:🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Work with me → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌀 Path to Practitioner Potency (PTPP) → https://www.skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445/about🌐 Website → tvnhc.com📧 Email → hello@tvnhc.com

  3. Aug 19

    Herb-Drug Interactions Aren't What The Internet Says They Are

    🌿Herb Drug Interaction Masterclass with KP Khalsa. 👉 https://buy.stripe.com/aFafZgcjr2HM95og019Ve0bHerb-drug interactions are one of the most daunting corners of herbalism, and the fear around them is almost entirely out of proportion to the actual risk. In this episode I'm breaking down where that fear comes from, why it doesn't hold up, and what I actually do in clinical practice instead.Why herb-drug interaction fear can quietly end herbal practice before it startsThe Western medical lens we've applied to plants, and why it doesn't fitThe garlic-and-dogs study that shows exactly how reductionist science creates false alarmA recent conversation with a nursing student that revealed how this fear gets built into medical trainingThe "5 G's and baby aspirin" video making the rounds, and what the evidence actually saysWhy adverse drug events are one of the top 3 causes of death in America, yet drug-drug combinations barely raise an eyebrow onlineThe compliance question nobody's asking: what happens if people actually took every drug exactly as prescribed?My real clinical framework for working with clients on medication: intake, drug mechanism, dosing strategy, and where the real risk actually livesWhy licorice root's scary reputation doesn't match how billions of people actually use itIf you've ever felt frozen by a contraindications list, or you're a health seeker wondering if it's safe to combine your herbs with your meds, this one's for you.✨ Get the masterclass with KP Khalsa Here 👉 https://buy.stripe.com/dRm4gyfvDcimchAdRT9Ve08Links and Resources:🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Work with me → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌀 Path to Practitioner Potency (PTPP) → https://www.skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445/about🌐 Website → tvnhc.com📧 Email → hello@tvnh.com

  4. Aug 11

    Sourcing Herbs Is a Nightmare: Out of Stock, Wrong Form, Price Just Doubled

    🌀 Come Join us In the Path to Practitioner Potency Community. After multiple requests for mentorship I launched this program to create a space for herb learning. If you are a practitioner, student, podcast fan, this is the place to go deeper, ask questions, get support, join monthly trainings, Q&A's, Learn new materia medica, Experiment with herbs and more! This community is designed to fill in the gaps I see in the natural healing space. The ones that prevent it from all coming together, making sense and applying it IN PRACTICE. Join here: skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445 🌀 Sourcing Herbs Is a Nightmare: Out of Stock, Wrong Form, Price Just DoubledWhy "just go buy the herb" is one of the most misleading sentences in herbalism This week I'm talking about herb sourcing, one of the least glamorous but most important parts of clinical herbalism. I run a fully virtual practice, which means I'm not handing someone a plant, I'm handing them a protocol and trusting them to go find the right herb, in the right form, from the right supplier. I talk through why that's harder than it sounds, what can go wrong between writing a protocol and actually getting herbs into someone's hands, and how I've built my own process after years of six-hour sourcing sessions. What We Cover Why I built my practice virtual from day one, and what that means for how I get herbs to clientsThe real cost of sourcing: budget, supply chain issues, out of stock herbs, and price fluctuationsWorking from a planetary perspective and why that means juggling Western, Chinese, and Ayurvedic suppliers separatelyApothecary vs drop shipping: the tradeoffs of holding inventory versus sourcing per clientWhy the right herb isn't enough, you also need the right part (root vs seed), the right processing (raw vs processed), and the right extract ratioReal examples: butterbur safety questions, He Shou Wu processing, burdock root vs seed, nettle root vs leaf vs seedWhy I don't forage or make my own medicine, and why that's a deliberate choice, not a shortcutWhat young practitioners need to think through before they ever write their first protocolLinks and Resources🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Work together → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌐 Website → tvnhc.com📧 Email → hello@tvnhc.com

  5. Aug 4

    30 Grams of Shilajit With Fan Favorite Jordan

    🌀 Come Join us In the Path to Practitioner Potency Community. After multiple requests for mentorship I launched this program to create a space for herb learning. If you are a practitioner, student, podcast fan, this is the place to go deeper, ask questions, get support, join monthly trainings, Q&A's, Learn new materia medica, Experiment with herbs and more! This community is designed to fill in the gaps I see in the natural healing space. The ones that prevent it from all coming together, making sense and applying it IN PRACTICE. Join here: skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445 🌀 (For Science) Fan favorite Jordan, from the lithium orotate For Science episode joins us once again to do therapeutic doses of Shilajit! This was Jordan's first experience with the black, sticky tar, and we take some live on camera to show you what it's like actually taking therapeutic doses of this very potent, very important Ayurvedic herb. If you want to hear how everything turns out, tune in. 🎥 Watch: How I Like to Take Shilajit → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVA4w66R3B0 What We Cover: What Shilajit actually is (a purified mineral resin from the Himalayas, not tar, though it looks and smells like it)Why we did 15-30 gram daily doses live on the show, and how that compares to typical internet dosing adviceJordan's experience: energy, mood, a surprisingly heavy period, and tongue changes I tracked throughoutThe math on real therapeutic dosing costs versus what influencers are selling as "effective"Shilajit's traditional actions in Ayurveda: Rasayana (rejuvenative), supporting kidney function, memory, reproductive health, and enhancing the potency of other medicinesWhy Shilajit can aggravate Pitta in excess, and who should be cautious with itA real case: how Shilajit helped my dad turn a corner after a debilitating wasting illnessWhy sourcing and quality matter so much with this herb, and what to watch forLinks and Resources:🪬 Curious what's actually driving your symptoms? Take the pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Ready to work together? Book a consult → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Don't miss an episode → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌐 Website → tvnhc.com📧 Email → hello@tvnhc.com

  6. Jul 28

    Why 'Root Cause' Healing Is Usually Wrong Too

    🌀 Come Join us In the Path to Practitioner Potency Community. After multiple requests for mentorship I launched this program to create a space for herb learning. If you are a practitioner, student, podcast fan, this is the place to go deeper, ask questions, get support, join monthly trainings, Q&A's, Learn new materia medica, Experiment with herbs and more! This community is designed to fill in the gaps I see in the natural healing space. The ones that prevent it from all coming together, making sense and applying it IN PRACTICE. Join here: skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445 🌀 There's No Smoking Gun: Symptoms, Root Causes, and How to Approach in Practice Doctors treat symptoms. Wellness culture blames parasites, candida, SIBO, and mold as "the root cause." Lila argues both camps are making a version of the same mistake, chasing an endpoint instead of understanding the terrain that let the problem take hold in the first place. In this episode, Lila breaks down what symptomatic treatment actually is, why root cause healing has its own blind spots, and how the three major herbal traditions she practices from, Western herbalism, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, each handle the tension between fast relief and lasting change differently. She closes with her own approach: not a purist on either side, but a blend built around meeting people where they actually are. What We Cover Why Western medicine defaults to symptomatic treatment, and the merry-go-round that createsSymptoms as signals, not problems, your body doesn't have another way to get your attentionThree anchoring concepts: we're all unique, everything is connected, everything mattersThe "smoking gun" myth in root cause culture, why parasites, SIBO, candida, and mold usually aren't the rootThe tree and branches exercise Lila uses in workshopsHow Western herbalism, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine each treat symptoms vs. root cause differentlyAyurvedic causes of disease: constitution and epigenetics, misuse of the senses, suppressing natural urges, weak agni and digestion, seasonal and circadian timingWhy genetics aren't a life sentence, the epigenetics pieceLila's own approach: blending symptomatic relief with root cause work, and why that's not a compromiseLinks and Resources:🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Work with me → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌀 Path to Practitioner Potency (PTPP) → https://www.skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445/about🌐 Website → tvnhc.com📧 Email → hello@tvnhc.com

  7. Jul 21

    Albizia (Happiness Bark) for Grief and Mental Health, with Forager Moe.

    🌀 Come Join us In the Path to Practitioner Potency Community. After multiple requests for mentorship I launched this program to create a space for herb learning. If you are a practitioner, student, podcast fan, this is the place to go deeper, ask questions, get support, join monthly trainings, Q&A's, Learn new materia medica, Experiment with herbs and more! This community is designed to fill in the gaps I see in the natural healing space. The ones that prevent it from all coming together, making sense and applying it IN PRACTICE. Join here: skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445 🌀 For Science: Albizzia (Happiness Bark), Mental Health & More with Moe A week-long Albizia bark experiment turns into an honest conversation about grief, crying, and what it takes for men to finally let themselves feel it. This episode I'm joined by Forager Moe, who tried a therapeutic dose of Albizia bark (also called mimosa bark, or the "happiness bark") for a week, right alongside me. What starts as a lighthearted compare-and-contrast on taste, sourcing, and foraging turns into something much deeper. Moe opens up about his ketamine therapy experience, his brother's suicide, and what it's been like relearning how to cry as an adult man. We talk about placebo versus real physiological effect, why Western herbalism lags behind Ayurveda and TCM, and how Albizia's reputation as the "grief herb" showed up differently for each of us. What we cover: Moe's experience foraging and preparing Albizia bark versus flower, and why sourcing and growing conditions matter for medicinal potencyThe placebo effect, the nocebo effect, and where Lila draws her ethical line around it in practiceWhy Western herbalism is the weakest of the three major herbal systems, and how Ayurveda and TCM fill that gapMoe's ketamine therapy journey: dissociation, neuroplasticity, and processing loss he didn't know he was carryingHis brother's death by suicide, and what it's like navigating grief and mental health as a manLearning to cry, unlearning the "men don't do that" conditioning, and why emotional suppression has a costAlbizia's reputation as the happiness bark, and whether that connection to joy and childhood memory holds upLinks and Resources:🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Work with me → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌐 Website → tvnhc.com📧 Email → hello@tvnhc.com Connect with Moe and see all his awesome mushroom pictures!https://www.instagram.com/moecelium/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581375219113

  8. Jul 14

    The Ayurvedic Reason You Know Better and Do It Anyway

    🌀 Come Join us In the Path to Practitioner Potency Community. After multiple requests for mentorship I launched this program to create a space for herb learning. If you are a practitioner, student, podcast fan, this is the place to go deeper, ask questions, get support, join monthly trainings, Q&A's, Learn new materia medica, Experiment with herbs and more! This community is designed to fill in the gaps I see in the natural healing space. The ones that prevent it from all coming together, making sense and applying it IN PRACTICE. Join here: skool.com/path-to-practitioner-potency-3445 🌀 SummaryThis episode is the spiritual case for why Ayurveda matters, not a technical walkthrough. Lila breaks down why this 5,000 year old system gets dismissed by modern science, the real tension between "cleaning the mirror" and "spreading the light," the three gunas that govern your mental state (sattva, rajas, tamas), and the actual Ayurvedic causes of disease, including the concept of prajnaparadha, crimes against wisdom, knowing better and doing it anyway. She also teases the three doshas as a preview for a future deep dive episode. What We Cover Why Ayurveda and yoga are sister sciences, and how Ayurveda supports the yogic path without requiring anyone to buy into itWhy calling Ayurveda "unscientific" misses the point of what it actually isThe difference between treating a diagnosis and treating a personThe full Charaka Samhita quote on Ayurveda as a lifelong journeyCleaning the mirror vs spreading the light, and the real tension between the twoThe three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas, and how to recognize which one is driving youSattvic foods and herbs that support mental clarityThe actual causes of disease in Ayurveda: too little, too much, or the wrong typeCrimes against wisdom (prajnaparadha): knowing better and doing it anywayMisuse of the senses and what happens when you suppress your body's natural urgesWhy Ayurveda prioritizes the middle path over extremesA first look at the three doshas, vata, pitta, and kapha, and the difference between your constitution and your current imbalanceResources🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y🪷 Work together → https://tvnhc.com/start🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/🌐 Website → tvnhc.com📧 Email → hello@tvnhc.com📺 Ayurveda Vs. Western Medicine TED Talk → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzTvEK1sVi0

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Lila is a clinical herbalist here to make natural healing potent again. And these are the conversations making it happen. Both sides of the fence are failing — and flailing. Conventional medicine has missed the mark, and the alternative health and wellness scene has become a mess of internet health gurus, bloggers regurgitating bad information, wellness marketing machines, and dogmatic opinions. Here we help you find what's been missing in your health journey. The potency needed to move the needle and prove that natural works. Get ready to find the tools, the knowledge, and something about

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