When looking for a remedy to help you get a better nights sleep, think of Avena Sativa. And when you think of Avena, think of calming. Avena is from the Oat-Straw plant; just as the horses or cows, in the barn, love to nestle and lie in the fresh bedding of Oat Straw: so is this remedy a comfort to the nervous system of the over-exhausted body.
I like to tell the story of when I was a little girl cleaning calf barns.
My dad would announce that it was time to clean calf pens and I would get excited and then almost start to cry!
It was such hard work for us little kids. My brother, two years younger was usually my work partner (you know at eleven, a partner was a good choice on the parents part, to give the needed support with a “buddy” or partner in crime so to speak)
Anyway, in the early 70’s, the only help that we could hope for to clean calf pens was a good solid pitch fork that didn’t have bent tines!
We usually took turns whacking away at the very stinky manure floor that had once been nice clean straw but was now a matted mess of three-week-old, very wet and heavy manure.
My brother would chip away for a while, then I’d take my turn…funny how the one watching would be so full of advice?
Once you finally got a corner loose, the rest would give up it’s place on the cement floor much more easily, and then the job would finally come to an end.
Whew! Three hours later; after much sweat and the horrible fear that you’d never get done, finally comes to an end…and then the fun part!
We now were able to bed everything down with new bright, fresh, Oat Straw!
Oh, what a glorious finish! We’d break all the bales and then walk around the pen fluffing up the beautiful fresh smelling bales of straw; then just before we’d let the calves back in, we’d have to lay down and enjoy the fruit of our labor!
That is the feeling that Oat Straw brings to man as well as animals. It has a natural sedative effect that invokes rest and relaxation. And according to my story above, maybe even a sense of satisfaction in the fact that God has given us this wonderful, healing element to clam and relax the nerves after a hard day’s work!
I absolutely love this remedy. I have it on my night stand and I use it whenever I wake and can’t get back to sleep or when I just feel antsy.
Avena is great for:
Chronic insomnia: Calms nerves to help sleep.
Use for Sleep & Anxiety. Chronic Insomnia: Sleeplessness after worry, mental exertion, after influenza, from weakness. Aggravated by exhaustion, alcohol. “I’m too tired to sleep!”
Potency: 3x take as often as one likes.
Antidotes: None listed
The next time you are looking for a remedy to help with insomnia or to help calm your nerves to get a better nights sleep, give Avena a try!
God bless you and yours,
Sue Meyer, ND CCH
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