Yarrow: Structure + Flow

Yarrow's reminder that creativity and expression are supported by healthy boundaries and containment.

Continuing on my journey with plant allies, a few weeks ago I brought Yarrow into a breathwork session.

Yarrow and I have had an interesting relationship so far. Earlier in my herbalism training, yarrow came to me in a guided meditation in the form of a very tall woman, decked out in fringed white macramé clothing and dancing to the beat of the drum she was pounding. That image, combined with much of my reading on Yarrow’s uses at the time, led me to recognize Yarrow as a modulating plant. A plant that helped restore an appropriate sense of flow, rhythm, and an ally towards true expression. That being said, I’ve often found yarrow quite.. intense. Often times when I’ve added it to mixes for myself I’ve learned the lesson of “a little goes a long way” - a lesson cinnamon likes to teach me too. For me, it’s felt like an overwhelming rising energy in the body that I’ve struggled to work with in the past. Yarrow in most reports is stimulating, energetically and physiologically.

Yarrow, of course, is famous for it’s use in managing bleeding externally and for modulating the blood interally. It is very often described as a harmonizing herb that energetically gives an example of multiplicity in that it can show up as cooling where needed as well as heating where needed. It helps to improve peripheral circulation, and move energy from the core of the body outwards. For constrictive presentations, this is especially useful. It has an unwinding effect in that sense, especially for the digestive system, circulatory system and of course in this way the soft tissues. It’s also well known as a protective herb, both in medicinal use and spiritual use. It was often carried in amulets in ancient cultures when heading into battle.

Some herbalists describe Yarrow as a heart herb. Many describe it as a herb known for it’s work on boundaries. Physically this is shown in the sense of wound care, it’s support of the skin (our most direct boundary) and linings of the circulator system, heart, and it’s ability to form healthy boundaries around malignant tissues. In many ways, yarrow improves our resiliency both externally and internally.

Energetically, you could assume this is shown again in it’s traditional use as a protective herb. Humans have been utilizing yarrow pretty much as long as we’ve used plants. Some archeology reports show Yarrow being found in European dig sites 60,000 years ago.

“She is a concentrator of energy. She assists other beings in the concentration of minerals and the assimilation of strength.” - Sharol Tilgner

Because yarrow has been working with us medicinally and ceremonially for ages, yarrow is a keeper of ancestral wisdom. It’s been helping us to evolve and adapt to our environments since the dawn of time.

My yarrow infused session was approached with due respect on my end, knowing that yarrow hasn’t ever messed around in my experiences with it prior (and by some accounts it can be psychotropic in high doses, lol).

I made a strong tea of yarrow, which has a colour almost close to translucent lime green. Just sipping the tea brought on a feeling of heightened vibration.

From the get go in my yarrow Breathwork, there was seemingly everything and little going on. At one point I became very aware of feeling contained. As if my body was within a long, well-defined stalk. It seemed I was in fact getting the experience of yarrow embodied. There was a very distinct sense of containment from the outside boundaries of my body with energy flowing in all directions both chaotically and systematically all at once on the inside of that containment.

From the walls of the stalk I seemed to be embodying, I could feel energy flowing down and out a root system starting at my feet and energy rising through my upper body to blossom out my crown.

Yarrow stalks are fairly rigid. They are traditionally used for the I Ching oracle in asian traditions and if you’ve ever touched a yarrow plant you’ll know they don’t bend easily even for their fine appearance.

We so often describe rigidity as restrictive. Yet, the lesson seemed to be here.. what if that rigidity was in fact what allowed the flow of energy into creative channels?

What if what allowed true flow and creativity was in fact appropriate containment and boundaries?

That seemed to be the question, or statement, that yarrow was making.

Containment doesn’t have to be restrictive. Boundaries do not have to be exclusively defensive.

What if what created tension or constriction was in fact a lack of appropriate structure?

I’ve leaned into this perspective a lot through my years as an AT. Stability, physical stability, is so often what is needed to unwind something that’s become bound or painful. Regulation of a system so often requires a consistent anchor, grounding point and scaffolding to allow chaos to flow.

Yarrow offered a beautiful embodied experience of that scaffolding.