herbs to support mental & emotional well-being

In general, acupuncturists and herbalists do not separate the physical health from the emotional health. Most of the herbs in this category are primarily intended to address mental and emotional well being, while also treating aspects of our physical bodies. For example, lemon balm is known to treat heartbreak as well as the cardiovascular system, or herbs that treat stress and burnout will also treat the adrenal system or the circulatory system. With the mental / emotional herbs, in particular, we encourage you to choose your herbs based on what's calling to you in the moment.

  • Perfect for your morning start or for the mid-afternoon slump, Day Break tea is a vitamin-rich, relaxing, grounding, digestion-soothing blend of nettle, sage, lemon balm, & tulsi. You can even brew it and add it to green or black tea if you still want some caffeine.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • Drawing on a multitude of breathing practices from different healing and spiritual traditions, The Power of Breathwork includes 25 simple exercises that can be practiced alone or with a partner to enhance connection, creativity, joy, intuition, or to reduce depression, anxiety, trauma, tension, physical pain, and more.

    Knowing how to breathe and how to use your breath purposefully has been proven to reduce negative mental and physical issues and actually heal the body and mind. A regular home breathwork practice is an affordable and easy way for you to engage in self-healing practices that can have a profound impact on your overall health.

    Author, practitioner, and grief worker Jennifer Patterson begins by explaining what breathwork is, why you should try it, and how it can be used to heal the bodymind. Then, you'll learn what happens in your physical body, energetic body, and emotional body as you practice it. Before you start the exercises, find useful tips on building an altar, using scent, visualizations and grounding, and somatic writing prompts to help support your practice.

  • depression::grief::rage

    Calling on wood betony, mimosa, st. john’s wort, and cinnamon chip, the hope is that they will help us get our head above water just a bit. This formula isn’t meant to erase the hard stuff we’re navigating but rather, help us stay afloat, help us find our way, lift some of the heaviness so that we can hold steady. The way through is to feel it all and feel it we will do— but with a little help from our plant friends.

    Ingredients: wood betony, mimosa, st. john’s wort, cinnamon chip, energetic essences of moss and datura, vodka

    Note: There are a number of contraindications for use of St. John's Wort and a solid list is here. Please review before considering. Not for use for people taking SSRIs as St. John's Wort is contraindicated. And if you are taking estrogen or HRT, if your levels are "balanced" it can shift the levels a bit and could make it seem as if you are a bit deficient, while taking SJW, or overloaded if you stop. It's not necessarily a reason to not take it, but something to consider and perhaps if you do decide to try it, a lower dose and monitoring your levels is ideal.

    It is sometimes recommended that those navigating Bipolar or finding themselves on the higher for activated/ manic ends of the spectrum limit mimosa use. Might also be helpful to instead work with it in drop “spirit” doses where it can support on more on an energetic level.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • Perfect for honoring and holding all the heartbreaks.

    It's also lovely for the busy busy busy of those of us hustling in cities and through our lives. Cooling and calming, it allows us to center, reset and stay open in the world even when it feels increasingly hard to do so and keeps anxiety and stressful feelings at bay.

    Ingredients: rose, hawthorn, motherwort, carnelian and rose quartz crystal essences, organic raw honey and brandy.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • It’s soothing. It’s nourishing (thanks oat tops!). It’s restorative. It’s floral and sweet and strong. Packed with the adaptogen schisandra , this blend will help level out the nervous system on those days where you just need to put on your badass cloak so you can get back to the business of being your bright self in the world. It takes care of those fried nerves and edges and the rose supports your work in giving a little love back to yourself.

    Ingredients: rose, lavender, oat tops, schizandra, organic raw honey and brandy.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • At the Threshold is a remedy for the times we are in. Where the full collapse is so clearly outside of us, in our world which also always means it is inside us too., like a mirror. It's a blend for when the heart is shattered and you're feeling kinda like fuck everything but you gotta witness the grief, stay alive, grow deeper roots, step into the void, reconnect with the bits of joy you can find, keep supporting yourself and your people as you bloom out of the rubble and into something new.

    Ingredients: mullein, yarrow, rose, st. john's wort, mimosa and vodka

    Note: There are a number of contraindications for use of St. John's Wort and a solid list is here. Please review before considering. Not for use for people taking SSRIs as St. John's Wort is contraindicated. And if you are taking estrogen or HRT, if your levels are "balanced" it can shift the levels a bit and could make it seem as if you are a bit deficient, while taking SJW, or overloaded if you stop. It's not necessarily a reason to not take it, but something to consider and perhaps if you do decide to try it, a lower dose and monitoring your levels is ideal.

    It is sometimes recommended that those navigating Bipolar or finding themselves on the higher for activated/ manic ends of the spectrum limit mimosa use. Might also be helpful to instead work with it in drop “spirit” doses where it can support on more on an energetic level.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • In short— deep relief from the flutter and burst of constant or ongoing stress. Bringing balance, it’s a balm for when we find ourselves emotionally and physically at extremes. It’s also a powerful ally for restoring the adrenals and nervous system after periods of over-reliance or misuse of substances like alcohol, tobacco, opiates and caffeine or other things used to excess.

    Oats are hearty and can survive and even thrive in less desirable temperatures and soil. Energetically, it helps us find our way back to the path we are meant to travel. It’s a really beautiful tincture to take daily as you restore your body from the inside out.

    Shake before use. All herbs are either locally and ethically grown and hand-collected or come from an organic herb company or farm. These came fresh from two queer-owned farms— Steadfast Farm and Bird Fork Farm.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • If your adrenals and nervous system are crashed out, and you’re running on fumes, and the depression and anxiety keep nipping at your heels, this blend is for you. It’s for you if you just. can’t. handle. one. more. thing. A powerful daily blend for those of us who are just trying to stay afloat in a world of heartache and wildness and racing. A good choice for if you feel yourself on the brink of a crash or are just coming out of it and also so great to start using if you know you will be coming up on a busy or draining time in your life. A mild and accumulative blend, it helps you build back up in a sustainable and supported way so that you can maintain it. Like all herbs, “it” doesn’t “fix” you but rather supports your body in building up a more grounded way.

    Ingredients: wood betony, oat tops, rose, tulsi, & vodka

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • Mimosa is such a powerful guide for returning to joy and as an anchor for the heart and spirit. It’s combined with reishi, which is great as an immune booster as well as supportive of the heart, lungs, kidney, liver, and more, and energetically, supports us returning to our own spirit. I added some flower and stone essences supportive of standing at the edges of pain (ghost pipe), for underworld traveling and breaking old harmful patterns (datura), letting go of control of others and the love they can/ can’t give us as we learn to give love to ourselves (chicory), and welcoming a connection to our own energy (carnelian).

    It’s a sweet and strong and confident blend that helps us return to ourselves and helps us return to the light above ground. It’s also so good for these times of deep grief and revolution, for finding pockets of joy where we can so that we can feel energized to continue resisting and rebuilding.

    Ingredients: tinctured mimosa & reishi double extraction with ghost pipe, datura, & chicory flower essences, carnelian stone essence, & vodka

    (it is sometimes recommended that those navigating Bipolar or finding themselves on the higher for activated/ manic ends of the spectrum limit mimosa use. might also be helpful to instead work with it in drop “spirit” doses where it can support on more on an energetic level. might be not for use during pregnancy. herbs are safe but please do research to make sure they are safe for you and your body and needs.)

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • A blend of St. John's Wort, Motherwort, Blue Vervain, and Yarrow, it's a blend for boundaries, for sadness and grief, for holding your line when you need to, for sopping up the wounds, so you can build yourself back up and radiate from the solid inside of yourself. It's also just a heart holder and a heart strengthener. And it's for speaking up, for naming what you need, for feeling grounded in your own voice and your own wisdom. It's a reminder that you have so so much to offer, that people want and need to hear from you and that you have a right to feel protected, boundaried and safe in doing so and doing you.

    Ingredients: st. john's wort, motherwort, blue vervain, yarrow, & vodka

    Note: There are a number of contraindications for use of St. John's Wort and a solid list is here. Please review before considering. Not for use for people taking SSRIs as St. John's Wort is contraindicated. And if you are taking estrogen, if your levels are "balanced" it can shift the levels a bit and could make it seem as if you are a bit deficient, while taking SJW, or overloaded if you stop. It's not necessarily a reason to not take it, but something to consider and perhaps if you do decide to try it, a lower dose and monitoring your levels is ideal.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • Panic Bloom is a blend to hold us in those panic places as we shapeshift through them. It's a blend to honor what blooms out of the panic, it's nourishing and it's a blend to counter the "attack" like of those 20 second stabilizing hugs for the heart that I'm always reading about and helps clear up the fuzzy brain that can be induced when triggered.

    It's for when we feel the anxiety brewing in our bellies or chests or for when we catch it right before or as it turns into complete panic.

    Ingredients: hawthorn, motherwort, oat tops, rhodiola, organic raw honey, and brandy.

    If you have an autoimmune condition, rhodiola might increase symptoms due to how it can activate the immune system. Feel free to still try it— just be mindful and try to notice if there’s changes upon introduction.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • Clear Head Elixir is great grounding blend for the headache-y, foggy headed days where you feel a little overstimulated and a little unfocused. Perfect to use when you need a little brain food before anything where you need to feel alert and rooted in clarity of thought.

    Ingredients: tulsi, brahmi, sage, rhodiola, brandy and raw organic honey

    If you have an autoimmune condition, rhodiola might increase symptoms due to how it can activate the immune system. Feel free to still try it— just be mindful and try to notice if there’s changes upon introduction.

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • This blend is good for when you need to bring the volume of your life down a notch and offer yourself a little patience and kindness in the hustle. Nerve-restorative and pain reducing, it’s a cooling blend that is perfect to use in larger doses, at the end of the day, or in drop doses throughout the day. Let a little easssseeee in.

    Ingredients: skullcap, oat tops, lemon balm, rose, & vodka

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.

  • Sweet Release is a favorite! Full of nervines, this blend is perfect for the moments where you need to settle, soothe and support a nervous system on overdrive, whether it's with racing thoughts, frazzled nerves or insomnia. A bit sedating, it is best to take right before sleep or when you have a moment to relax into it and take it easy. And it's also great for those times where you have physical pain that keeps you awake, head and heart-racing.

    Passionflower is helpful when trying to ease the repetitive and racing thoughts that sometimes come with anxious states.

    Skullcap is so useful for the headaches that come with tension and anxiety as well as other types of pain.

    And California Poppy is great for calming the nervous system but is also lovely for nerve and general (even acute) pain.

    Ingredients: skullcap, passionflower, california poppy and vodka

    For more complete descriptions of the Corpus Ritual offerings, please visit corpusritual.com.