I’m glad to get into Heart health this month given the climate of the world this past year (and let’s face it… longer than most of us would like to really acknowledge) on race relations and the pandemic. We will collectively focus on The Heart Center for the month of April, opening the Heart, giving herbal advice, and offering true liberation. The most prevalent issue many people face that corresponds to the Heart is Hypertension. For the most part, we’ve only been given information about what provokes episodes in our physical body. But it’s much deeper than that… but it always is, right?

This illness is responsible for strokes, heart attacks, and kidney failure. Approximately 50 million Americans have hypertension, but the disease has its harshest effects on African-Americans: one of three black Americans, and 71% over the age of sixty has it. And for reasons that are not well understood by Western doctors, Blacks don't seem to respond as well to standard drugs as whites do. This is largely due to the genetic predisposition inherent in black Americans. For those suffering from this chronic illness, Yoruba herbal principles offer a natural alternative to conventional drug therapy. High blood pressure stresses the arterial system, increases the workload on the heart, and is often associated with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system and adrenal glands. According to Yoruba medicine, Elegba (sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system) and Ogun (heart, kidneys) divinities govern these two aspects of the body.

Yorubic healers also associate the heart with emotional storms, because it is so intimately connected to the autonomic nervous system. High blood pressure is caused by the interruption of the nervous system and Heart center. Your nervous system is the messenger of the internal Orishas/energy centers, and is the primary negotiator between negative and positive forces in the body. The parasympatheic nervous system also enforces the "Law of being". When one's being, or emotional state is in peace and happiness, there is well being and complete health. On the contrary, when there are negative emotions such as uncontrollable anger, fits of rage, frustration, and the inability to give and receive love in a nurturing way, the negative of energies are dominant which results in increased blood pressure.

In American society, African-Americans can be vulnerable to many negative influences, which contribute to hypertension. They are:

• Unwholesome surroundings

• Negative emotions

• Anger

• Fear

• Contact with racial prejudice

• Psychological stress

• Violence

• Family problems

Many studies by black psychiatrists have demonstrated that black hypertension is the result of the emotional toll of racism, poor socioeconomic conditions, and stress in general. Sadly, the problem can be reduced to self-esteem. Many blacks in American society face daily inferior circumstances. The lower the self-esteem, the greater the stress. Anger is another aspect that is closely linked to self-esteem, which is heightened by racism, or just perceived racism. These are some of the many different kinds of influences that can increase negative energies in the body. This month I will focus on some of the herbs, foods, rituals, and lifestyles that Yoruba medicine prescribes to help regain spiritual composure and physical health. These wellness techniques revolve around liberation of the Heart Energy Center. The idea is to get the Heart center to expand and clear paths, specifically in respect to blockages or interruptions of the flow of vital energy at various points in the body.

Herbs for the Heart

• Eucalyptus

• Alfalfa

• Hawthorn

• Bloodroot

• Parsley,

• Motherwort

• Garlic

• Cayenne

• Hyssop

• Jungle Root

• Black Haw

• Blue Vervain

• Scullcap

• Lady's slipper

• Lily of the Valley

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