Whidbey Headache Soother herbal nap pillow

People have leaned on local plants, flowers, and herbs to help with sleep and dreaming and aches and pains for generations. Now it's our generation's turn to remember this and to deepen our relationship with local plants. Our Whidbey Headache Soother herbal nap pillow holds the wisdom of many of our ancestors and many beloved wise women and herbalists. The plants within were curated by Lori to help soothe tension and stress headaches, eyestrain headaches, and headaches brought on by dehydration, hangovers, being busy and forgetting to eat, and other "I should have taken MUCH better care of my body today!" type headaches that we get in our family. We don't get migraines in our family, so we didn't formulate these for migraines, although some of the plants within are thought by some to help with migraines.

This year our intern Emily helped garble the plants and fill the pillows! And Rihanna of local Feather & Fox in Langley dyed the fabrics and created the bags for us. Community magic and love across at several generations of women in these herbal pillows! Try out a headache soother pillow, let go of your worries for a moment and lean on local plants and women for a moment--just see what happens! For those who visit our herbal studio, we refill these bags for half price when you feel like the plants within have run out of magic and when we have all the dried plants--which we grow, gather, and dry ourselves--in stock.

To use: Keep the herbal headache soother pillow near your bed or favorite nap spot. When you feel a headache coming on, squeeze it near your face and inhale the scent deeply, ideally just before you lay down to relax, rest, and/or take a nap. Or you can tuck the herbal pillow into your pillowcase or under your pillow, shut your eyes, and breathe deeply a few times until you drift off to sleep. Most people notice within one or two uses if the headache soother pillow helps them. It's up to you when and how frequently to use your herbal pillow. Some of us are so sensitive to plants that a simple squeeze and sniff plus time to rest is more than enough. For others, spending more time with the plants/pillow is important. Tip: If you don't have the time or opportunity to rest or nap with this pillow to help your headache, such as when you're working, consider trying our Headache Soother salve instead. 

All of our herbal sleep & dream pillows use only our own dried plants themselves, and not essential oils or fragrances, so they're gentle. The sleep pillows can be squeezed to reactivate the plant and flower scents, as needed, and they should last for a year, or possibly many more, depending on your climate and frequency of use. We make them seasonally--every fall--and when they're gone they're gone until we harvest again the following summer. The cotton bags can also be unzipped and opened to add your own local dried herbs, plants, and flowers, as needed. If there are other plants that you consider or suspect will support your sleep or headache relief, you could add some of your own dried plants too. If you add plants at any point, make sure they've been grown well away from human-sprayed poisons, dried thoroughly, picked through closely to remove bugs and other unwanted plants and nature bits, and talk to a few local wise women or herbalists before tucking different plants in. 

Herbal sleep & dream pillows work really well for some people, they can work too well for some people (making dreams vivid and waking you up, for example--if that's the case, move the pillow farther away from you), and they don't work for some people. If the pillow doesn't work for you as a headache soother pillow, don't fear, there are other uses for it: tuck it into a dresser drawer as a sachet or set it on a shelf in the laundry room or mud room to add subtle scent to the space, for example. Or give it to a family member or friend. Keep out of reach of children and pets.

Whidbey Headache Soother nap pillow ingredients (and some of their traditional uses): Whidbey-grown hops (tension headache and deep sleep support), lavender (relaxation support and headache support, including migraines), lemon balm (support for lowering anxiety, decreasing stress, insomnia support), feverfew (support for headaches, including migraines), yarrow (support for headaches, including migraines), with small pinches of peppermint (tension headache support), catnip (support for restful sleep and warding off bad dreams), honeysuckle flowers (cooling, uplifting presence, relaxation support, sinus pressure relief support), and lemon verbena (insomnia support plus a presence that tends to make most people just feel better--more content, relaxed and happy). All grown here at Ritual Mischief, except some of the lavender came from our lovely friends at Whidbey Herbal this year too.

Important warnings: 

- For adults only. Keep these pillows away from pets and young children. Contents can be a choking hazard and pillows are made to be unzipped by adults. Although many of us sucked on the tips of honeysuckle flowers as kids, honeysuckle flowers are considered to be toxic if eaten in large quantities. There is only a pinch (2-3) of these flowers in each pillow.

- If headache pain isn't temporary and persists, visit your medical professional precious person. Some headaches are indicators of larger issues! Trust your intuition. For us the plants within these herbal pillows help with trusting our intuition. Lean on them for that too.

- If you are pregnant, check with your primary health care provider and ideally also your local herbalist who is experienced with pregnancy before using this pillow. Herbalists who are experienced with herbs and pregnancy--who have hung on to traditional plant wisdom across generations--are worth their weight in gold, especially when you're pregnant.

- Stop using the sleep pillow if your body is not happy with the plants within it. Plants are living beings. Although the plants within are generally considered gentle and safe for adults, we don't all get along with the same living beings. And if you know that you're allergic to one or more of the plants in this sleep pillow, don't use it.

Packaging and weight: The cotton zipper bag is reusable and was made locally in Langley, WA. When initially filled, the size is roughly 4 inches high by 5 inches wide by 1.5 inches deep. Weight of the sleep pillows filled with our herbs and plants is always at least 1 oz. 

Medical Disclaimer: The information on this page is for general reference for further exploration and study. It is not intended as a replacement for professional medical advice. To make well-informed decisions for yourself, seek the guidance of your qualified health professional, such your medical doctor, nurse practitioner, naturopathic physician, and/or clinical herbalist with questions regarding your medical conditions, dosage information, and possible interactions with prescription drugs. This is especially important if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking prescription drugs, have a chronic disease or any chronic concern, have allergies, or if you are considering using products with children. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. See the Medical Disclaimer page of this website for more information.