Fire & Lung Health

We are in transformational times in so many ways!  Breathing deeply & consciously is so importantly vital for optimal wellbeing.  In this episode, I'll touch on the devastating climate reality of California & what's happening when we breathe in toxic chemicals, How we can Strengthen & Help Heal damages done to our Lungs.  What herbs are best during times of involuntary breathing of toxic smoke...

References:

• https://www.cuspuk.com/fire-safety/plastic-fire-risks/burning-plastic/
• https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-04/southern-california-officially-enters-drought-as-forecast-remains-bone-dry
• https://www.gaiaherbs.com/blogs/seeds-of-knowledge/herbs-for-lungs? 
• https://www.wishgardenherbs.com/products/deep-lung-bronchioles
• https://www.healthline.com/health/polyphenols-foods#berries
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/
• Book: Herbal Solutions for Healthy Living; Richard Scalzo, Herbalist & Founder of Gaia Herbs and Dr Michael Cronin, Naturopath
• https://consciouschoicesforall.com/blog-conscious-wellbeing/https/consciouschoicesforallcom/blog-fires

Thank You All so very much for listening today!  I genuinely hope you learned something & I invite you to join me each week, so you never miss a conscious wellness beat!  This podcast holds a special place in my heart, dedicated to my evolution here, my passionate mission to spread more consciousness for the much needed wellness on Earth.  Come join me as a guest as well, let’s collaborate making change for future generations.. 

Thank you so much for joining me today! I strongly Believe that we are all Connected and want to Share our gifts with One another. Remember how amazing you are, Never Give Up, We can help and Support each other along this Crazy Journey...I'm going to keep Sharing what I can with all of You, just wish I could do more each day, Life is passing by too quickly! This podcast is new and will be ever-evolving & improving as long as possible...Please share this with others who could benefit from this information(:

5-Star Reviews are Welcomed & Kindly Appreciated
-Helping to Support this Show for Future Gens~

Here are links to my other Offerings:

https://consciouschoicesforall.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@belovehealing/videos

https://www.instagram.com/consciouswellbeing/

https://www.tiktok.com/@beluv73

https://poshmark.com/closet/belove73

Transcript

1:02

Hello and welcome everybody to the week, the second week of January. Today is the 11th, which is an angelic day of course being 1, 1, 1 and hopefully the angels are all over Los Angeles. It's devastating to know and to see what is happening. So close to home. I do not live there, but my oldest son, my firstborn child lives there. He moved there, which is a story I may tell someday. It's very interesting, fun story. He moved there one year after graduating high school. He grew up in a small town in northern California and he had a dream to move to Los Angeles, so he has been there over a decade. He actually left for a few years and went to Florida because his wife now who he met in Los Angeles is from Florida, and so they've spent a few years back there as well, but they're back in Los Angeles the last three years or so, and he's been there for most of a decade and they want to stay there. And my other son lived there for many years as well, and I've gotten quite familiar with la. I used to actually dread LA and was really anti LA for different reasons, but I have come to have a special place in my heart for Los Angeles in the last decade, and I am more a San Francisco girl, a NorCal girl. I live up in the Bay area, but my heart breaks and I was going to of course be doing this episode on a different topic, but I just could not. I had to do it on an honor of what's going on out there right now. So as wildfires or fires increase every year in California, which is where I'm from, I have been here for going on 50 years now. I feel more need to speak out about this devastating reality. Yes, this has been hitting home more than ever and is affecting my friends and family more than ever before. Arson has always been an issue. I remember being a child growing up in Sacramento and hearing about these little arson fires. There wasn't really so many wildfires back then, but you'd hear about arson fires almost more than you would the wildfire outbreaks, which they were usually much smaller and get put out sooner. Even carelessness with fire in my opinion, is arson behavior. Winds are winds. They have come and gone forever, but are they changing? Is it getting more windy out? There are the winds blowing stronger than ever before, like other elements are getting stronger. Signs from nature are fucking real. The bottom line is we have less water, especially in cities like Los Angeles because there is less rainfall and more humans. Now when this is not a so happy new year for Los Angeles anymore, beginning after the first week of 2025 came to an end. Who knew what the fuck was happening? Was it just the winds again, those darn Santa Ana winds blending with the dryness of the climate, no rain for eight months straight, or could it be something else like an attack from arsonists, a real act of terrorism with fire instead of bombs? Maybe it's a combination of windy conditions mixed with a very dry land which is ready to catch fire by whomever wants to light it up. According to an article written for the LA Times, ironically, three days before these endless fires begun, California is entering the fourth month of what is typically the rainy season. But in the south land here in California, the landscape is beginning to show signs of drought. The last time Los Angeles recorded rainfall over a 10th of an inch, which is minuscule. Okay? The minuscule part, I just added the threshold that officials typically consider helpful for thirsty plants and the reduction of wildfire risk was May 5th. That's last year. That was eight months ago, over eight months ago. Now, when downtown received just 0.13 inches of rain, that was the most rain that they got in the last over eight months. Now all I know and sadly feel is that we all know that we live in a beautiful world with too many majorly damaged souls that are giving up on life and ready to more because they don't care anymore. They have been mistreated and have lost any hope on the larger scale of the powers that be with more money than you can ever imagine. Then the rest of the 97% of us, there is still denial of climate change happening all around us. And so we must protect ourselves if we want to live a healthy, happy life and breathe the clean air that is our human right. So I'm going to discuss ways that we can strengthen our lungs, heal damage that's already there, and for prevention, which is still always best. This is only the beginning of the new year, the new year, and we all know by now that we are facing more fires and that means breathing more smoke, not just smoke from trees anymore. But in the last five years, the smoke we are breathing is now filled with dozens of synthetic chemicals from all the hundreds of structures and millions of products that are being burned up. For instance, breathing in burnt plastics containing dozens of known carcinogens capable of causing cancer, multiple different types of cancer once they have infiltrated the body like dioxin, dilates, polyaromatic, hydrocarbons, PCBs, vinyl chloride, and BPA, just to name a few, which are all known to have carcinogenic effects. It's like we are now living in a different world of burning up whatever without regulations to protect us. We're at the mercy of whatever fire suddenly breaks out of control as we involuntarily have to also breathe in these carcinogens daily just to stay alive. We don't have a choice. We all have to breathe regardless. So as masks go out of stock, how do we protect ourselves? How do we protect and heal? And yes, the masks of course did go out of stock. My son didn't get one, and he has asthma and luckily he is living in an area of Los Angeles that has less smoke. Let's say he said that it's not that bad there. He's closer to the Venice area or what do I want to say? Culver City? Yeah, the area that's just inland from Venice and Santa and it's not as bad there. Luckily the winds are kind of blowing in the opposite direction or he's just right kind of below it. But I saw some really disturbing news last night. I was looking through my email and someone here from Substack that I've known for a very long time that used to be the mayor of a small town that I raised my kids in. She has a wonderful substack called Foghorn Express, I think. I hope I said that right. Her Nette Sem. I can go ahead and give her a shout out. She has a wonderful, I dunno, maybe she has a podcast, but she has a wonderful substack. You should check her out. And I love the information she puts out there and she put out some information that my son didn't know about and it was pretty scary. And so that's why when I said something about the arson behavior, which now I'm sure everybody knows that information about this, but that was pretty serious because a terrorist attack with fire that could be real in a place like Los Angeles, that's pretty major. And if all hell breaks loose and there's a major disaster like that, how do people get the hell out of there? I mean, where he's at, it's just, yeah, it would be so hard to really escape. And so it scares me as a mother. I don't want to be scared and I just seem to give it up to God and we all need to be praying for our loved ones and for our state and our country and the world and everything. So I really believe in collective consciousness and the more of us that pray and put out positive energy that it will change the consciousness of humanity and the world. But it was just in regards to that anybody and everybody out there that doesn't give a fuck is lighting up LA and there's just people being caught lighting fires in different neighborhoods and one of the neighborhoods looked like my son's neighborhood. And in fact, it ended up being really close to his neighborhood and people are like, they'll see someone and they're lighting a fricking fire. People think this is just like people have gone nuts. I'm telling you, there's a lot of crazy people out there and yeah, so sorry, I get really fired up because my son's right there and just in the midst of this and it's, yeah, so this is real. This is some real intense stuff, but how do we protect ourself back to that? So we all have to breathe regardless. Okay, so there's masks going out of stock. How do we protect and heal? We all came here with different strengths and weaknesses. Some of us arrived without the strongest of lungs. All three of my children came into this world with their dad's lung genes, let's say, as they all have suffered asthma, which their dad also had. Asthma seems to get better as you age for some thank goodness. I always thought I had amazing lungs, especially coming from a home where my dad chain smoked around me without a care. I actually think he thought it was good for me. I'm not even joking. I used to smoke as a teenager, a little bit tobacco and then clove cigarettes, and then I quit by the time I was in my twenties when I was starting to get pregnant and have kids. Of course I wasn't going to smoke anymore. And then I became really super health conscious. I also quit and let's say hardly ever smoke cannabis anymore since I became aware of having a lung condition about 10 years ago called pleurisy. Pleurisy is a condition that causes inflammation and swelling around the lining of the lungs when irritated by things like mold and smoke. The first time I felt my lungs hurt from smoke was during the Sonoma Napa County fires around 2017 to 18. I had felt this pain more like an ache before in Maui due to black mold exposure and then again in 2018 in homes with black mold toxicity. It's not a great feeling when you can't even breathe normally and have pain in your chest. I remember all too vividly when my own children had trouble breathing deeply when their little lungs would become inflamed by any toxic or foreign matter, I would always be massaging topical herbal chest rubs over their lungs and in between their scapulas on the upper back, making medicinal lung opening teas with mullen campaign horehound and osha, which are extremely bitter, but I was just desperate as a mother to keep them well and make them better, as well as using essential oils of eucalyptus, peppermint, and thyme to help them breathe better in vaporizers and baths. Lobelia was and is a for asthma, but use it with caution. I'm sure so many folks out there are feeling not just the emotional devastation of their homes and community burning to the ground, but also struggling with physical pain from involuntarily having to breathe in toxic dust particles. Here I'm going to go over a few products that hopefully you can order online, find it an herb shop, or a local natural food store. I have found that Wish Garden makes a wonderful tincture for healing. My pleurisy called Deep Lung. It's used for bronchial support. It contains Ella campaign, Angelica, Yerba Yarro, Mullin, Hawthorne, Yerba Mansa, garlic, and osha. Now, I just want to say that OSHA is an endangered species, so the one that they're using I'm sure is sustainable. This company is pretty conscious, but it's harder to find now these days anyway, but if you do find it, just make sure it's a sustainable source and that it's grown in a safe organic environment and not wild harvested because it's endangered. My favorite herbs in this formula is what I'm going to talk about. Mullin Mullin is widely used to help treat respiratory conditions like asthma and bronchitis. It acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and has great expectorant properties. People smoke Mullin. The indigenous cultures have smoked it for probably ever. It's gross wild. It is very abundant. It grows really prevalently up here in NorCal in certain areas, and it's a beautiful plant. It has these long furry leaves and this big cone flower that comes up in the middle of it that has these little yellow flowers that cover it. And so it's the leaves and the flowers that are used. It's the top part of the plant, and you can make a tea. You can crush it up and smoke it when it's dried. It's amazing for the lungs. Ella campaign is used traditionally for expectation. It's an amazing expectorant and soothes the respiratory tract. After repeated irritation, it is considered a lung remedy by some Native American users and was used similarly by the ancient Greeks and Romans. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is used as a tonic for the entire chest. Yaro is an amazing herb for environmental protection from pollution. I used to mix yaro with elder flowers and peppermint yaro. You can use also the flour and the leaf, mostly the flowers used and it's a great tonic for prevention in the cold and flu season. Whenever something was coming on, you can even add the tea to a bath. Works great. It's the best known herb for breaking up a fever, and it's also great for reducing heavy bleeding and skin irritations. I just want to throw that in there because there's so many uses of yaro and it also grows prevalently in California and many other areas as well. Yba is a distinctive shrub native to the chaparral in woodlands of California, Oregon, and Arizona, known for its aromatic leaves and resilience. It is a great lung support herb helping to open up the lungs and clear out mucus easing ingestion. It's used for mucus membrane health because of the flavonoids it contains in the plant that soothe and strengthen irritated mucus membranes. Plantain is another indigenous little plant that grows everywhere. You see it a lot when you're on trails and it's kind of growing along the sides of the trail and it doesn't get super tall. It has these long narrow leaves and then this one little flower that comes up in the middle that has the little furry seeds at the top, and that's where the cilium comes from. You've heard of cilium fiber or cilium husk that comes from the plantain plant and the plantain herb has been used throughout Europe and North America to support a healthy immune response, strong lungs, and to clear the respiratory system naturally, it contains a alage and has moist cooling properties that are inherent to its ability to support mucus membrane health by soothing irritated tissues. So another thing I want to mention about plantain that I learned a long time ago is that it's a natural bandaid. If you're in the wild and you find, say if you cut yourself and you're out in the wild and you know that there's plantain around, you can get one of the leaves, of course a clean one and wrap it around the cut as a bandaid, and it acts as a tic and will help to control the bleeding as well as support the soothing, the irritated tissues marshmallow, which is different than the marshmallows that you may eat or burn on a campfire. Marshmallow is an actual plant, and the root is very helpful for respiratory ailments, including throat irritation and swelling of the lymph nodes. Studies have shown that herbal cough syrups and drops containing marshmallow root. May we leave respiratory conditions associated with This is another herb with mucilage coating the surface of the esophagus and providing soothing effect. Marshmallow root most definitely would significantly reduce the inflammation of the airways because of its remarkable soothing muis properties. And then the last herb is called yerba, and that's an herb that they put in this remedy that I love. The deep lung. Oh, I should put a link for deep lung in here too at the end. Yerba mana is a new herb to me. I didn't use it a lot in my younger years, but I've used it in combinations that I've bought. And because I love the deep lung remedy, I think it's very useful. It's native to the southwest and known for centuries as the secret weapon of the Native American tribes like the Zuni and Navajo. It's one of the only two Native American plants to catch the attention of modern researchers for its medicinal potential. Traditionally, it was hailed for its ability to tackle stagnation in the body. So that's when your body system slow down like you've heard. If you have stagnant chi in the body, that's when you want to get acupuncture. And the acupuncture, it helps to move the stagnation and open up the channels in the body so it promotes healthy lung function and clears the airways. So it helps with stagnation in those areas. And it says it helps with much needed relief by soothing inflammation throughout the body. The magic lies in its tannins and flavonoids, which work to soothe inflamed tissues. Yerba Mansa is a detox queen, soaking up harmful contaminants while nurturing healthy, vibrant soil. By supporting this species and wetland conservation, we help protect this vital plant and the biodiversity it champions. So let's keep your beman thriving and the planet will thank us for it. If you or someone in particular is having trouble breathing, I'm linking more information here on foods that you should avoid and why. And also remember this, to eat more plant foods containing high amounts of polyphenols. Polyphenols are the powerful plant compounds that our body needs. They have numerous health benefits that may offer protection from the development of cancers, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes. Basically, these natural plant compounds are what keep us healthy when we consume them. So I'm going to be putting a link if you want to get nerded out on some scientific data on polyphenols. And some of the highest content in foods of them are berries, cacao, which is dark chocolate herbs and spices like cloves, turmeric, peppermint, and star anus. And remember, also always try and choose organically groan. So then you're avoiding more added toxic chemicals by choice. Sometimes we don't have a choice, right? Like the air we breathe, for instance, what we're talking about here. But by choosing organically grown and then rinsing your fruits and vegetables off before consuming, you're taking off some of the toxins and not putting them in your body. So I'm going to be linking some references here. And I just want to thank you so much for being here and prayers and love go out to the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, to our California state, to everybody in our country and everybody around the world, we're in some very transformative times and there is a lot of goodness happening. And let's just tap into that and that frequency and raise up the vibration and get through this together. Thank you. And if you could please give me a five star review, I'd greatly appreciate it. Please be well, and if you have any questions, let me know.