On this episode of Lila’s Herbal Revolution I’m joined with Maria, from Green Dragon Healing to get a Bai Zi reading.

I had zero knowledge of what was to be revealed before the episode, and filmed it live for everyone’s benefit to see how a real life Bai Zi reading may go.

Ba Zi is a traditional astrological assessment used to better understand ourselves and our lives. It can help us with relationships, business, our spiritual work and more. It connects to patterns in our being, and helps us bring our gifts to the world.

In this episode we cover 

* What is Bai Zi 

* Traditional vs. Modern Medicine 

* Is it Woo??? 

*  What are the 4 pillars

* Lila’s Very own Chart Reading

*How Bai Zi has helped Maria in her own journey
I hope you enjoy this insight into myself, and this ancient practice. I found it to be fascinating, resonant and an insightful exercise.
Maria was a wonderful guest, and a great chart reader! If you are interested in more of her work you can connect with her here:

https://greendragonhealer.com/https://www.instagram.com/greendragonhealer/
Maria, an Herbalist of Chinese Medicine and Ba Zi  chart reader based out of Toranto Canada. Maria works with the chart and with the life around it: health, habits, the shape of ordinary days. The aim is that you leave clearer, and more at ease in your own timing. She sees clients virtually, check her out! 
I will definitely be back for another reading. Especially when I’m out of this crazy period of my life! 

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

Email- [email protected]

Website- tvnhc.com

🌀 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 bullshit. 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- [email protected] 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!

🌀 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 Sonny
A 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 ginseng
• Sonny's day by day experience with ginseng: energy, motivation, cravings, and sleep
• The lesser known link between ginseng and better sleep, straight from Michael Tierra's teachings
• Dosing ginseng, from saturation dose to long term maintenance

Part 2: Doula Work & Birth

• What drew Sonny to doula work and her own home birth journey
• Home birth vs hospital birth outcomes, interventions, and the fear narrative around each
• How the medical model designs care around edge cases instead of the average birth
• The push toward more autonomy in hospital births, and what's still stuck in the old model
• Herbs used to support labor, including black and blue cohosh, red raspberry leaf, and evening primrose
• Placenta preservation options: encapsulation, salves, prints, and burial
• Why the generational trauma of depleted birth may be compounding across generations
• Postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and how the system checks on baby but forgets mom
• Ayurvedic 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 → [email protected]

🌿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 → [email protected]

🌀 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 Doubled
Why "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 clients
• The real cost of sourcing: budget, supply chain issues, out of stock herbs, and price fluctuations
• Working from a planetary perspective and why that means juggling Western, Chinese, and Ayurvedic suppliers separately
• Apothecary vs drop shipping: the tradeoffs of holding inventory versus sourcing per client
• Why 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 ratio
• Real examples: butterbur safety questions, He Shou Wu processing, burdock root vs seed, nettle root vs leaf vs seed
• Why I don't forage or make my own medicine, and why that's a deliberate choice, not a shortcut
• What young practitioners need to think through before they ever write their first protocol

Links 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 → [email protected]

🌀 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 advice
• Jordan's experience: energy, mood, a surprisingly heavy period, and tongue changes I tracked throughout
• The 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 medicines
• Why Shilajit can aggravate Pitta in excess, and who should be cautious with it
• A real case: how Shilajit helped my dad turn a corner after a debilitating wasting illness
• Why sourcing and quality matter so much with this herb, and what to watch for

Links 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 → [email protected]

🌀 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 creates
• Symptoms as signals, not problems, your body doesn't have another way to get your attention
• Three anchoring concepts: we're all unique, everything is connected, everything matters
• The "smoking gun" myth in root cause culture, why parasites, SIBO, candida, and mold usually aren't the root
• The tree and branches exercise Lila uses in workshops
• How Western herbalism, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine each treat symptoms vs. root cause differently
• Ayurvedic causes of disease: constitution and epigenetics, misuse of the senses, suppressing natural urges, weak agni and digestion, seasonal and circadian timing
• Why genetics aren't a life sentence, the epigenetics piece
• Lila's own approach: blending symptomatic relief with root cause work, and why that's not a compromise

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 → [email protected]

🌀 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 potency
• The placebo effect, the nocebo effect, and where Lila draws her ethical line around it in practice
• Why Western herbalism is the weakest of the three major herbal systems, and how Ayurveda and TCM fill that gap
• Moe's ketamine therapy journey: dissociation, neuroplasticity, and processing loss he didn't know he was carrying
• His brother's death by suicide, and what it's like navigating grief and mental health as a man
• Learning to cry, unlearning the "men don't do that" conditioning, and why emotional suppression has a cost
• Albizia's reputation as the happiness bark, and whether that connection to joy and childhood memory holds up

Links 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 → [email protected]

Connect with Moe and see all his awesome mushroom pictures!
https://www.instagram.com/moecelium/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581375219113

🌀 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 🌀

Summary
This 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 it
• Why calling Ayurveda "unscientific" misses the point of what it actually is
• The difference between treating a diagnosis and treating a person
• The full Charaka Samhita quote on Ayurveda as a lifelong journey
• Cleaning the mirror vs spreading the light, and the real tension between the two
• The three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas, and how to recognize which one is driving you
• Sattvic foods and herbs that support mental clarity
• The actual causes of disease in Ayurveda: too little, too much, or the wrong type
• Crimes against wisdom (prajnaparadha): knowing better and doing it anyway
• Misuse of the senses and what happens when you suppress your body's natural urges
• Why Ayurveda prioritizes the middle path over extremes
• A first look at the three doshas, vata, pitta, and kapha, and the difference between your constitution and your current imbalance

Resources
🪬 Pattern assessment quiz → https://tally.so/r/n05N1y
🪷 Work together → https://tvnhc.com/start
🌿 Subscribe → https://tvnhc.com/listen/
🌐 Website → tvnhc.com
📧 Email → [email protected]
📺 Ayurveda Vs. Western Medicine TED Talk → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzTvEK1sVi0

🌀 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 🌀

From Vomiting Calamus to Dumping My Tinctures: Mistakes I Made Early On

In this episode I'm getting honest about the early missteps that shaped me as a clinical herbalist. From buying ashwagandha and shatavari in the wrong form to choking down half-ground herbs in my kitchen, to dropping fifty bucks on a bougie Sedona shatavari tincture that had barely any herb in it, these are the lessons I wish someone had handed me instead of learning them the hard way. I'm also getting into the times I threw myself out of balance experimenting on my own body, including a cayenne experience that dried me out and a calamus dose that ended in a full night of pitta style vomiting before a public talk. Plus why I stopped making folk method tinctures, why I finally built my clinical reference document, and the moment I realized I couldn't save everybody who wasn't ready to be saved.

What We Cover:

• Why herb form and part used matters more than most retailers let on
• My ashwagandha and shatavari cut and sifted disaster
• Raw guggul resin versus processed guggul, and why I ended up burning mine as incense
• The fifty dollar Sedona shatavari tincture that taught me to stop paying for packaging
• How cayenne pushed me into a hot dry vata pattern and what that taught me about energetics
• My calamus overdose story and the vomiting that came with it
• Why I finally built my own clinical reference document, and why you should start yours today
• Learning that not everyone wants to be saved, and letting go of the need to convert people
• Buying herbs I never used and the herbal waste that came with it
• Why I stopped making folk method tinctures and who I trust to make them instead
• Moving from timid dosing to confident clinical dosing
• Why I created Path to Practitioner Potency

Links 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 → [email protected]