Wood Betony

For a thousand years, wood betony has been used as a panacea for everything from wounds to protection from bad magic. Antonius Musa, physician to the emperor Augustus claimed it would cure 47 ailments. Colonial herbalist John Sauer wrote, "there is no illness brought on by cold in which betony cannot be administered effectively.” Wood betony's Latin name Betonica officinalis, formerly Stachys officinalis, speaks to its widespread use as an herbal medicine. The designation of officinalis indicates that it was known as a medicinal plant in former times.

General Properties of Wood Betony

Like many other members of the mint family, wood betony is used as a remedy for the nervous system, having nervine, antispasmodic, and analgesic properties. It can be a helpful pain reliever for headaches, including migraines, back pain, and facial pain (neuralgia). It may also be helpful for traumatic brain injury. It’s often used in nervine formulas to relieve stress, ease pain, and promote sleep.

It also contains a fairly high amount of tannins, so it has been used topically to help heal wounds. Specifically, it may be helpful for bed sores, ulcers, and varicose veins. Because it is mildly bitter it is also used as a digestive tonic. It may help with bloating, heartburn, and gas. It may also help with constipation or diarrhea associated with stress.

The Wood Betony Personality

You can get a better feel of when to use wood betony by looking at the type of person for which it is more specifically indicated. The wood betony person tends to be too caught up in the world of their thoughts. They can't relax because their mind is overactive and they over-analyze everything. They try to solve all their problems intellectually but have difficulty processing their emotions and translating their thoughts into constructive action. That is, they think a lot about their problems but don’t take action to actually solve them.

This leads to mental and physical exhaustion, which causes tension in their bodies leading to headaches, back pain, and other issues associated with tension.

Matthew Wood says that wood betony acts on the solar (celiac) plexus to help a person get in touch with their gut feelings, as in learning to “trust their gut.” It takes guts to take action in the face of what is bothering or stressing them. I think this points to a deeper understanding of how wood betony works.

The Gut-Brain and the Celiac/Solar Plexus

There’s a lot of information coming out about the gut-brain connection. Basically, what the research is showing is that the gut communicates information to the brain, both via the vagus nerve (which regulates parasympathetic nervous system reactions) and also via its independent production of various hormones such as serotonin, which travel from the gut to the brain via the bloodstream.

The celiac plexus is an important junction in the gut-brain connection. It is a bundle of nerves located in the abdominal cavity just above the navel and below the sternum. Traditionally called the solar plexus chakra, or just solar plexus, it is associated with the ability to digest food and also the ability to be centered and transform or process thoughts and emotions into action. In my emotional healing model, this area is where body, mind, and heart (emotions) come together, allowing us to take action in life. A weak solar (celiac) plexus energy means we are constantly reacting to life, rather than being able to make decisions and chart our own courses through life.

With this in mind, it is useful to think of wood betony as a remedy that regulates the vagus nerve and more particularly the celiac plexus of the vagus nerve that regulates digestion and communicates gut reactions to the brain. Having a clear line of communication is important because if we routinely ignore our gut instincts it can get us in a lot of trouble. I think Matthew Wood does a good job explaining it:

“By freeing energy trapped in the head and strengthening the solar [celiac] plexus, wood betony will be of aid to people who ignore their gut feelings and try to intellectualize and rationalize all that goes on around them. We might imagine the person who meets someone and intuitively gets a "bad feeling" from them, but then chides themselves for being "judgmental" and then ends up in some baleful relationship replete with all the qualities foreboded by their initial impression. Wood Betony, I deem, is useful in such situations.”

—The Book of Herbal Wisdom by Matthew Wood

There are several other herbs that positively affect the gut-brain connection which could be used along with wood betony. For example, peppermint not only helps you digest food, it also helps clear brain fog to help you think more clearly. Chamomile helps stimulate digestion while also calming the nervous system in people who are peevish and irritable. Finally, St. John’s wort is another herb that works on both mind and mood as well as digestion, which means it may also help weak gut instincts by toning up the vagus nerve and enteric (gut) nervous system.

Using Wood Betony

So, if you suffer from headaches, nerve pain, and weak digestion because you overthink everything, you might want to try wood betony or some of these other gut-brain herbs. You can take wood betony as part of a formula, make it into an infusion, or take it in tincture form. Drink one to four cups of tea per day or take 10-30 drops 1-4 times per day with a little water.