The Noni Leaf: The All Everything Medicine
Originally published by Kauai Farmacy
Today we feature a recent article from our friends at the Kauai Farmacy, a staple location we always visit when hosting XPT Experiences in Kauai. We’ll be talking about Noni Leaf and how you can discover the many uses for this super-herb, which is readily used by Gabby Reece and Laird Hamilton.
Be sure to check out the Kauai Farmacy online store and enter the promo code XPT10 for 10% off your purchase of any of their amazingly nutritious and medicinal products—including Noni tea!
Discovering the Noni Leaf
It was over a decade ago now that Genna and I began wild-harvesting Noni leaves and crafting tea from this potent all-everything herb. We would go on jungle hikes to waterfalls, white sand beaches and jungle homes to pick the kindest of leaves.
There was one Noni tree in Moloa’a Bay that was so robust, abundant and giving; a dreamy waterfall hike in Kilauea that would allow us to fill backpacks with the darkest of green Noni leaves; and a beautiful zone down by Anini Beach that was always lush with rich, healthy leaves, easy to access on a whim. We soon began making tea with the Noni leaves, and started selling it at the farmers market and in local Kauai health food stores. We had so much fun wild-harvesting and crafting Noni Leaf tea, and were so grateful to be able to use this plant to heal, and provide this beautiful healing medicine to other people.
Drinking Noni Leaf tea became our personal gateway to true plant medicine (Kauai style). As we did then, today we still truly believe it has the potency, abundance and balance to heal the world.
The All-Everything Medicine
I remember our lead gardener repeating over and over again, “if there was one medicine plant you could choose among the 60-70 medicine plants we grow in our healing gardens, it would have to be the Noni.” Noni Leaf stands out above the rest for universal, yet effective medicinal application and usage.
I remember reading somewhere that the Hawaiians made tea out of the Noni Leaf, and also use the leaf as a wrap (or poultice) to provide warm circulation to sore muscles. So initially I began heating the leaves and tucking several raw leaves into my belt buckle to help relieve the debilitating lower back pain I was experiencing at the time. The leaves would provide much-needed circulation while sweating the toxins directly out of my back, as well as guiding me to drink more and more water to hydrate myself.
We also started putting the leaves in a pot and drinking fresh green Noni Leaf tea. It tasted very unusual to us at the time… but wow! This was some potent medicine! By the 3rd or 4th week of drinking the tea, I spent an entire evening personally learning what passing a kidney stone felt like. I didn’t even know I had a kidney stone! Our authentic ignorance was blissful to say the least.
The Truth Serum
As some of you know, we called the Noni Leaf “the truth serum,” because we were learning what honoring and speaking our truth was really all about. The Noni Leaf detoxified the physical acidic blockages that were fostering fear inside us and began expelling the calcified matter out of our system. By drinking this supersized, vibrant, green jungle leaf, we began finding our youth, and with it our truth. It was so empowering to be us, and proved to be our initial step towards living our authentic, uninhibited minds and spirits.
It was really our first lesson in letting go of our previous pattern of just “yes-ing” others. We recognized this was only enabling more and more fear and reinforcing the deep-rooted conditioning we were taught was “normal,” rather than expressing our loving truth.
The Economics
As a self-acclaimed economist, I was amazed at the lack of value attributed to this life-giving leaf. “How could it be,” I thought? Noni Leaf may be the most potent and versatile medicine in the Kauai Jungle (no small statement), yet you could not give it away. From the densest of jungles to the most populated of neighborhoods, wild Noni Trees abounded with big, bold medicinal leaves. So much healing power in this leaf, yet so few people know much about it, and even fewer use the Noni Leaf to heal.
With so many noni uses, I could not help but think of the local economic opportunity to create medicine, jobs and commerce for the island.
The Leaf and Not the Fruit
The fruit of the Noni Tree is held in high esteem for its healing powers. It is, indeed, amazing medicine. We use the raw fruit externally by applying it directly to wounds and injuries. We also ferment it to make a juice for internal ingestion, external soaking and convenient spray application.
But it literally stinks!
Yes, it stinks like rotten blue cheese (no joke). The texture is also gooey and very challenging to work with, to say the least. I remember the days of studying, experiencing and experimenting with all the ways you could use this super-herb—the leaf, the fruit and even the bark, roots and flowers. The medicinal potency, accessibility and efficacy of the leaf was unparalleled. It just seemed too easy to fall in love with the versatility and balance of the mighty Noni Leaf.
What is Noni Good for?
Because of its raw potential and the incredibly few Noni Leaf tea side effects, it’s a broadly applicable for a wide range of health and wellness conditions. Take a look at some of its specific uses and qualities:
Uses
Encourages weight loss
Reduces inflammation
Treats arthritis and gout
Invigorates the blood
Speeds up the healing process of wounds, bruises, sprains, trauma, and injury
Heals internal ulcers
Reduces tumors
Helps prevent and fight cancer
Lowers blood pressure and cholesterol
Remedies coughs, malaria, colds and flu
Treats fever
Reduces headaches and migraines
Improves digestion
Good for skin health
Eliminates Parasites
Useful for Pet Care
Detoxifies the body
Combats excessive sun exposure
Fights fungal and bacterial infections
Qualities
Anti-inflammatory
Anti-fungal
Antimicrobial
Anodyne
Antioxidant
Nutritive
The Noni Leaf is no doubt a super-herb. And, it’s one in abundance throughout the beautiful island of Kauai. Today, as we’ve done for more than a decade, we’re working hard to bring its benefits to people who need them.
