AI Summary
5 min readLaura Ash was six weeks old the first time she had pneumonia. She had it again at age two, and a lung condition every year after that. When she was 19, she picked up a used copy of Jean Valnet’s The Practice of Aromatherapy, looked up pneumonia in the glossary, and found lavender. She used it for two weeks, and her lung condition cleared. That experience launched a 26-year career as a clinical herbalist—and it makes her perspective on wildfire season, smoke, and lung support deeply personal.
Ash now lives in Oakland, California, on Ohlone territory, where she gathers passion fruit, fennel, bay leaves, and redwood tips. She is the founder of Land of Verse, director of operations at the Beneficial Plant Research Association, and a former owner of the San Francisco apothecary Scarlet Sage. In this conversation, she lays out a practical, stage-by-stage framework for protecting and supporting the lungs before, during, and after wildfire smoke exposure.
Wildfire season is now—and the nervous system comes first
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:26) **Laura’s Opening and Current Plant Work** - Laura Ash joins from Oakland, CA and shares what she’s gathering: passion fruit, fennel, bay leaves, and redwood tips.
- 2 (04:06) **Her Origin Story: A Lung Condition Leads to Herbalism** - Laura recounts how a lifelong lung condition and a book on aromatherapy set her on the herbal path.
- 3 (07:00) **Her Formal Training and Ancestral Connection** - Laura describes studying at the California School of Herbal Studies with David Hoffman and later at the Ayurvedic Institute.
- 4 (09:27) **Entrepreneurship and Reclaiming Lineage** - Laura shares her career as an entrepreneur, including owning Scarlet Sage, and her current projects focused on ancestral herbal reclamation.
- 5 (12:11) **Wildfire Season: A New Reality** - Laura discusses how wildfire season has changed and the dual stresses of smoke and trauma.
- 6 (15:39) **Nervous System First: Calming Adaptogens** - Laura explains that managing the stress response is the first priority during wildfire season.
- 7 (19:24) **The Four Herbal Categories for Lung Support** - Laura breaks down the four key types of herbs for managing lung strain from smoke: protectors, expectorants, antitussives, and mucolytics/secretagogues.
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Show Notes
In this Herbal Radio episode, we explore how to support your body before, during, and after wildfire season with herbs. Join host Jiling Lin and herbalist Laura Ash as we dive into practical herbal strategies for lung resilience, immune support, and smoke exposure, from everyday kitchen remedies to child-safe protocols and long-term recovery.
Listen in as Laura and Jiling discuss:
- Personal & Clinical Perspectives: Navigating wildfire season through the lens of a clinical herbalist, including common health conditions seen during and after smoke events.
- Before the Smoke: Pre-season prep with kitchen staples and daily herbs to build lung and immune resilience.
- During an Active Fire: Four herbal categories for acute smoke exposure and gentle, safe options for children.
- After the Fire: Long-term herbal strategies for restoring lung health after heavy smoke exposure.
- Meeting the Moment: How plant allies can help us ground and adapt amidst climate uncertainty and societal change.
As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are so honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are an invaluable piece to our podcast. Email us at [email protected] or reach out on Instagram@herbal.radio to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism.
🎥 Watch the video version of this interview here: https://youtu.be/9RowOccMhCA
Learn more about Laura and Jiling below!
🌼 Laura Ash is a clinical herbalist, educator, and entrepreneur who has worked as an herbalist for 26 years. She is founder of Land of Verse and the Herbal Anthropology Project, and Director of Operations at the Beneficial Plant Research Association. Her w
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