Ep 31 - Working with Ayurvedic Herbs for Spring Lymphatic Care: Tulsi, Dandelion & Manjistha

Spring is a powerful time of transition in Ayurveda—a moment when the body begins to release winter’s heaviness and reawaken its natural flow.

In this episode of the Lean on Ayurveda Podcast, recorded on the auspicious beginning of Navaratri and a new lunar cycle, I explore how to support lymphatic health (rasa dhatu) through Ayurvedic herbs—while staying rooted in the understanding that lifestyle always comes first.

You’ll be introduced to three herbs—tulsi, dandelion, and manjistha—each offering a unique pathway to support the body during kapha season, when stagnation, congestion, and heaviness can arise.

Rather than approaching herbs as quick fixes, this episode invites you into a more intentional and relational way of working with plant medicine—as something to build a connection with, rather than simply consume.

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• Why spring is a key time for lymphatic support in Ayurveda
• The role of rasa dhatu (lymphatic tissue) in overall nourishment
• Why lifestyle practices come before herbs
• How to approach herbs as relational, not transactional
• The benefits and qualities of:
  • Tulsi (Holy Basil)
  • Dandelion
  • Manjistha
• How color, taste, and seasonal foods support lymphatic flow
• Why bitter greens and red-pigmented foods are especially beneficial in spring

The 3 Herbs for Springtime Lymphatic Support

🌿 Tulsi (Holy Basil)

A sacred, sattvic herb known for promoting clarity, harmony, and flow.

• Supports the lungs and reduces excess mucus
• Encourages circulation of prana (life force)
• Gently stimulates digestion
• Ideal for light spring congestion

Simple use: tea with honey, or blended with mint for a fresh infusion

🌼 Dandelion

A powerful local and accessible spring herb with cleansing properties.

• Supports liver and lymphatic function
• Helps clear heat, inflammation, and stagnation
• Especially supportive for breast tissue congestion
• Encourages resilience and adaptability

Simple use: tea, pesto, or added to meals as fresh greens

🌺 Manjistha (Rubia cordifolia)

One of Ayurveda’s most renowned herbs for lymphatic movement and blood purification.

• Supports both rasa dhatu (lymph) and rakta dhatu (blood)
• Helps dissolve stagnation and clear inflammation
• Traditionally used for skin, lymph, and reproductive health
• Has adaptogenic qualities and deep cleansing action

⚠️ Best used with guidance, especially for dosage and duration.

A Gentle Reminder

Herbs are supportive—but not essential.

Before reaching for herbal remedies, Ayurveda invites us to focus on:

• Nourishing, seasonal food
• Proper hydration
• Daily movement
• Touch therapies like massage or dry brushing
• Supporting digestive fire (agni)

These are the foundations

Learn more about my work: https://leanonayurveda.com/

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Transcript

New Moon Navaratri And Kapha Season

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi and welcome to the Lenan Ayurvala Podcast. Here we explore how the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda can help us gain a deeper understanding of our body and open the gateway to finally feeling better.

Herbs As Relationship Not Consumption

Safety Notes And Lifestyle First

Tulsi For Mucus Prana And Clarity

Dandelion For Heat Stagnation And Liver

Manjistha For Deep Lymph Movement

Closing Thoughts And Share Request

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Hello and welcome to episode 31 of the Lean on Ayurveda podcast. My name is Vitote. I am your host, and I'm really excited to record this episode on a very special day. I'm recording this on the 19th of March, which is a pretty big deal for several reasons. First of all, it's a powerful new moon today, and this moon is ending a lunar year cycle and starting a new one. So it's um kind of considered to be like the beginning of the new year in um the Vedic tradition. And on top of that, today marks the beginning of a festival that is very dear to me. Um and this festival, the celebration is called Navaratri, which is the nine nights of the goddess. So it is a celebration of the divine feminine in all of her forms for nine nights in a row. And today we mark the beginning of that. So this morning I went to get some beautiful red tulips for my altar. I um cleaned my altar, I put a beautiful red drape over it. As I learned from my teacher, um it is said that you know the divine feminine uh loves these bright vibrant colors, you know, hues of red and yellow. And as I was just thinking to myself, this is so fitting because when we are in a season that is dominated by kuffa, we do want to energize our senses in in a harmonious way, right? And so um igniting our senses through more vibrant color, through you know, um more vibrant scent, by including a little bit more morning movement that feels a little bit more vibrant to the body, especially during the kuffa hours of the morning, all those things are actually incredibly balancing right now. So, how beautiful that you know, as I wake up in this kaffa season, you know, and after having done my morning hygiene, I will go and sit at my altar. And this is you know one of the first things that I see, and one of the first things that I contemplate contemplate, and how beautiful that my altar is now so vibrant in energy and in vitality, and it's like you know, I'm inviting more of that in. So, anyway, I am happy to be here today to record this episode because it's a special occasion, because it's Navaratri, because it's the beginning of a new lunar cycle, and I am actually in a process myself. I am right now in um the preparatory phase for the spring cleanse, which I am starting with a group of participants tomorrow. So I am in my own very contemplative um process, as I said, which beautifully will coincide with this um revived devotional practice to the divine feminine. So I'm really really excited for um for this time in general and uh for what's to come for the experiences to come. And as you know, whenever we talk about the divine feminine um in in the Vedic tradition um and in Ayurveda, because I'm always trying to link the two, there are of course countless expressions of um how the divine feminine manifests. She has many faces, but one of her forms that I contemplate probably the most often is that form of her which sustains and nourishes, and this ties in with um, you know, my Ayurvedic background and and the way I look at the world and and the way that I interpret it. Um but essentially we can consider um all plants, all animals as being, you know, an expression of her. And this is especially helpful to think of when we want to bring in herbs into the equation, right? If you are contemplating, um, you know, working with herbs to support your body through whatever it is going through, or to support your mind, you know, or to support your heart. Starting to consider um this, you know, plant medicine, and here I mean like literally all plants, um viewing that as a divine gift with whom we are invited to build a relationship rather than simply consume. And this word consume nowadays, I feel it takes on a whole different meaning because now it's no longer like it's no longer even like going to a herbalist, getting your you know, getting your herbs and then coming home and preparing them. Now it's like literally click of a button, deliver to your doorstep in 24 hours, put the powder in your smoothie, and off you go to the gym. So this is kind of a caricature, but I feel like this is what is happening in probably a large majority of households that decide to bring herbs into their life, and um, I'm an advocate for a very different relationship, and so when it comes to my one-on-one clients or you know, participants who sign up for seasonal cleanses with me, I spend quite a bit of time educating around this topic of cultivating a relationship with whatever it is that we are taking into our bodies, whether it's in the form of food, herbal preparations, or drink. And so for this episode, I wanted to share with you excerpts from an audio supplement that I recorded originally for this spring cleanse participants, which is on the topic of herbs that can be used to improve and support lymphatic health during springtime. And here I present three herbs that are somewhat different in nature, um, but I talk about each of them in quite a bit of detail, and so you can kind of already get a feel about you know what we look for in Ayurveda when we are looking at herbal medicine, right, and how to apply it. You'll see that it ends up being a combination of looking at the qualities of a plant, looking at the qualities of what is happening out in nature during the season, and what is happening inside our body tissues, right? So this is um how we can determine whether a plant will be helpful and supportive, or whether it will create more of what we are currently experiencing, which could be desirable or not, depending on your circumstance. Before we really get into the herbs, let me just um leave a disclaimer here that this is not medical advice, this is for your educational purposes only. And um, I also want to really invite you in case you are taking any prescription medication such as blood thinners or thyroid medication, um, if you are planning to start working with herbs, if you feel um, you know, if you feel the call, um it's first of all really helpful to get guidance on it, personalized guidance, and second of all, always consult with your doctor regarding the medications because certain herbs can modify the way that our body metabolizes things, right? And that sometimes can interfere with the effectiveness of the medication. So just to be on the safe side, always get your doctors okay before stepping into this adventure. And one more thing that I feel needs to be said, especially when we're talking about herbs in the Ayurvedic context. Herbs are nice to have, okay, they're not um a prerequisite for you to experience the benefits of lifestyle medicine that is Ayurveda. Okay, so if today we're we'll be discussing how certain herbs might support lymphatic flow in the body, okay, know that it is not mandatory for you to take any of them, right? Um you can simply focus on life the lifestyle piece first. It's actually more important to focus on the lifestyle piece first that supports lymphatic flow, uh, such as moving your body in an appropriate way, massaging your body or dry brushing your body, right? Because that boosts the flow of lymph, hydrating your body, right? Because our asa datu is essentially you know essentially a nutritive fluid, right? It is the water element, so we need to be adding to it, we need to be hydrating it properly, right? And when it comes to you know, food as medicine, regarding our food as medicine, um what is really supportive for our lymphatic tissue and its proper flow and movement are foods that have color pigments, okay, as well as foods that are bitter greens, what we call bitter greens, which are now more abundant seasonally in the spring, right? But coming back to these red um fruits and vegetables that um has have the property of staining stuff, right? So especially beets, um pomegranate, um berries, right, that are like bright red in color. All of these are said to support um the health of our lymphatic tissue, right? And you will see when I will be talking about especially one of the herbs that I will be uh presenting to you today, um, it will be red in color. So things that look red, like have this bright vibrant color, um, as well as um all sorts of little greens that are coming up and that are available uh seasonally um right now in farmers markets, right? Little shoots, um arugula, wild garlic. So all of these you don't even need to like know the exact names, just like I encourage you to just go to your local farmers market or your local eco shop and see what is on offer in the green section, right? Now you should be having the best selection of the year, right? And that is naturally what is the most supportive for our bodies um at this time, okay. So uh before we move on to the herbs, I really want to anchor this um idea that lifestyle comes first. Herbs are nice to have, okay, but um we can't expect them to do the heavy lifting. Okay, so now that we got that out of our way, I wanted to present three herbs for you today. And the idea here is not to provide you with like an exhaustive list of you know herbs that are good for the lymphatic system, because ultimately I feel like you know, um the more choice we have, sometimes it just becomes paralyzing. Um, so I've selected three, they're um a little bit different. Each one is a little bit different, it will have a different nuance, um, a different affinity. And um maybe you can just listen to this information as you know, um as a gateway to getting to know these three different herbs. So the very first herb I would like to talk about today is Tulsi, also known as holy basil. And I would like to start by sharing a story about Tulsi, because Tulsi being one of the most sacred plants in this tradition, in the tradition of Ayurveda, and um you know as it pertains to Hinduism as well, um, there are lots and lots of stories that are told about Tulsi and about um you know its personification, which shows some which showcases some of the qualities of the plant. Um, but today I wanted to share with you one of those stories um which talks about how Tulsi was born. So once there was a princess named Vrinda. She was very kind, pure hearted, and she was so devoted to her husband. Her husband's name was Jalandar, and he was a powerful demon king, and she had this unwavering faith in him and became his greatest protection. And this fueled his rise in power. So his wife's unwavering devotion became the source of his power. And in time, gods realized that he had to be stopped because he was very demonic and he was getting his way. Um so gods realized that they needed to interfere before he caused any more harm. And the only way to defeat him, they knew, was to break his wife's Vrinda's devotion. So at one time, as Janandar fought in battle, Lord Vishnu, who is known to be the principal of sustenance in the manifestation, or otherwise known as the great preserver of cosmic order, he took on the form of Jalandar and appeared before Vrinda. And believing that she was seeing her husband, that he returned home early, she greeted him lovingly. And unknowingly, she broke her vow of devotion. And when she realized that she had broken her vow, in that moment Jalandar lost his divine protection and he was killed in battle. So this was unfortunate for Vrinda, but balance was restored in the world. And when Vishnu revealed his true form, Vrinda was so devastated that she was she was so overcome with grief and fury that she set herself on fire. And from her ashes a plant emerged. And Vishnu was really touched by her sacrifice, and he called this plant Tulsi and declared it to be his most beloved offering. So this is one of the stories of about the birth of Tulsi. And so in Ayurveda, um Tulsi or Holy Basil is considered to be a purely sattvic herb. So sattvik means that it carries the energy of harmony. Um, it carries the energy of devotion. And in terms of how it affects the body, and the reason why Tulsi can be a really interesting herb to look at, especially at springtime, is because it removes access kaffa from lungs and nasal passages, right? So it works. One of the things it does, it works at the level of mucus, and mucus is what? Mucus is a waste product of rasa dato of our lymphatic fluid, so it helps to cleanse that, it increases prana, so it means that it increases life force and circulation, it has digestive benefits, and um some of the ways in which we can um incorporate Tulsi into our um diet is either simply um having it with some honey, so making a tea out of it. For example, I have Tulsi powder. So if you have Tulsi in powdered form, that's something that you can do. Um simply brewing it with some honey. I also like to add some um mint, you could add fresh mint uh if you have some, or dried mint as well. It works really well with the taste, I find. Umsi also has this very fresh and leafy taste, but combined with mint, I find that it's sweeter. Um, so you can do that, or another way of incorporating it into your hot beverages is in having Tulsi chai. So if you are experiencing just a little bit of um you know springtime congestion, and if this um idea of sattva, of harmony and devotion is really alive for you right now, and these are the qualities that you really would want to cultivate in this moment, this could be um a really nice herb to play with. Okay, the second herb that I wanted to bring up today is dandelion. I had only recently um realized that this word is actually coming from the French word dent de lion, so the lion's tooth, which um is referring to the shape of the leaves. Um so dandelion is great for supporting the health of rasa dato if we feel stagnation and if we're prone to anger and inflammation. So, in other words, if you feel that there might be stagnation happening in your body, while at the same time your liver might be bearing uh a load, whether because you've you feel that you had a quite a heavy diet over the winter, eating like lots of meats and and just heavy foods in general, um or if you feel like there is um you know a lot of fire in you, and um if it's expressing in ways um such as you know for very fiery emotions, or if it's expressing through inflammation, um that could be a very interesting herb um to look at. And one interesting thing that is mentioned about Dandelion um in the Yoga of Herbs, which is a book by one of my Ayurveda teachers, David Frolli, um, which he co-wrote with Dr. Lad, um, is that um this this is a great herb to incorporate if we have stagnation in the breast tissue. So if you are um experiencing um, you know, the sensation of heavier breasts or tender breast tissue, some pain um in your breast tissue, especially before your periods, um this could be an interesting one to uh to explore. And the parts that I used of this herb are either the root or the herb, and you could use either. For example, um I have tasted dandelion tea, which is a caffeine-free alternative to coffee, um, and it actually tastes really quite nice, it's it's quite bitter in taste, and um this is what acts as this blood and lymph cleansing and regulating agent, right? This bitter taste, and another super simple way to use this uh herb, which is really widely available, so you know, either the root part or if you want to use the herb part, what you can do is you can make um a pesto out of it, um, or simply you know, cut it up, chop it up, and um sprinkle it on sprinkle it on your kicheri the way you would another herb like basil, for example, or parsley, or you can cook it into your one-pot meal. So there you can get really creative with it. Um I personally really am a big fan of springtime green pestos, which I um love making out of wild garlic leaves, for example, which is something that grows everywhere around where I live, around um this time of year, maybe a little bit later, like maybe end of March, April. So um I really value, you know, herbs that are local, that are known to our DNA, and that we can get uh and we can source from closer to home. Um, so if there is an alternative between you know working with a local herb or working with an exotic herb, I would always root for the local herb. And one more thing I wanted to say about um dandelion is dandelion is a survivor, it thrives despite circumstances, right? Because it loosens up compacted earth and grows deep roots that really rejuvenate the soil, and um it's kind of what it does to our bodies, it thrives, it teaches us to thrive regardless of our circumstances. Um and um and that can be such a beautiful reminder sometimes, you know, to not let our pain or our um you know our wounds define us, but rather draw lessons and purpose from them. Um so if this sounds like um a lesson that you want to connect with, um this could be your herb. Alright, and the last herb that I wanted to present to you today is called mangista. So it's spelled M-A-N-J-I-S-T-H A. And the uh Latin name for it is rubia cardifolia, so it's important to um, especially if you're sourcing herbs that um you know you might be using for the first time or that are a bit lesser known, it's sometimes really important to check the um Latin name because sometimes common names can um you know be assigned to herbs that have similar properties but might not be um what you're looking for. So to avoid confusion, rubia cardifolia and mangista is um a red-colored root. So um we we will have seen um that you know to support our lymph, to support their lymphatic health, what really helps is having incorporating into our diet uh you know all these bitter greens, but also foods that have bright vibrant pigmentation, right? So we saw things like beets, um you know, turmeric, um certain berries that are for example blueberries, foods that have the power to dye something a different color, right? So it's that um red ping pigmentation that is really the active ingredient here, and in Agravada, manjishta is considered to be one of the top herbs for improving lymphatic flow. Okay, so it really works at the level of dissolving any obstructions, any you know, if there is any stagnation in the way, it gets it moving, and it works at the level of plasma and as blood as well. So rasa datu and rakta datu. And um this is especially useful if there is like inflammation in the blood again. Um if there is any um stagnation in the female reproductive tissue, okay. Um because what it does, it cools down when there's too much heat, it moves things and it detoxifies, right? So it moves the limb, moves the lymph, helps it drain the waste from the body, and regulates the immune system. In the original audio that was destined for the sprain cleans participants, I included a section on usage and dosage of this herb because I have personal contact with each of the participants and so there is some follow-up. However, since this podcast is public, when it comes to usage and dosage, especially of herbs that are not um commonly used, I would really encourage you to get personalized guidance just to make sure that you are in fact supporting your body in the best way possible. Mangista also it is said that it has um what is called herbal intelligence, so it has some adaptogenic properties, it means that it will give your body what it needs, right? So the herb adapts itself and creates an effect that is the most beneficial for your physiology in the moment. So this is what um adaptogenic herbs do, like ashwagandha and like tilsi as well, is said to be an adaptogen. So if you wanted to give this herb a try, um if you, for instance, feel like there's quite a bit of stagnation in your body, and um your body might need that extra kick that is a little bit stronger, this can be an interesting one. Just make sure you don't overdo it so it's not a herb that you would be taking for a long time, right? You could take it for a limited amount of time and then pause, as well as um you know mixing it with other herbs in case you do have um manjista in powdered form, or you are um getting it in supplement form that comes in a formula with other herbs, that makes it safer to use it for a little bit longer. Okay, so um usually the more herbs there are in a formulation, the safer it is to extend uh its use because the effects will be milder, right? Which is always a good thing, mostly always a good thing. If you are curious about this herb in particular, before you buy it, I really really recommend that you check out the resources provided by Dr. John Duyard. So I will he has done some extensive article writing about this herb, um, and he even has some YouTube videos about it from the Ayurveda perspective and from the science perspective, and he has been working with this herb for 30 years successfully. So um I would really recommend that you check out the resources that he has in order to uh learn more about it. So that is it for me today. I hope you um found some inspiration in this. Maybe there's a herb that you feel um you know you would like to connect with. Let me know what it is, um, or maybe it's a different herb that you've had your eyes on for um for the springtime. So let me know. Um, and I'm very curious to see what you will take on board. I myself will be working with Tulsi as I did last year. Um, I feel like um, you know, my journey with Tulsi is not yet complete. So I look forward to working with her for one more season. Thank you for sticking with me all the way to the end of the episode. I appreciate your presence. If you found value in this episode, I invite you to share it with a friend, to leave a rating or a review, as these small actions that take just a few seconds of your time really help support the show and my work in general. I'm wishing you a beautiful start to this new lunar year and a blessed Navaratri if you celebrate.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

I look forward to reconnecting with you in a couple of weeks.

unknown 39:01

Bye.