In today’s fast-paced wellness world, healing can come in many forms: slipping on a smart ring to analyse your sleep data, getting a daily dose of infrared sauna, or submerging yourself into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. But when it comes to picking your ride or die wellness habits, clinical herbalist Rachelle Robinett reckons the most powerful solutions are the simplest, and that we’re skipping a major step by overlooking the powerful nature of plants.

Robinett, a lifelong naturalist who grew up on a farm in the Pacific Northwest, spent years at the forefront of New York’s fashion industry before pivoting into the wellness space, after experiencing first-hand the benefits of adding herbs and tinctures into her daily routine.

She’s the mastermind behind Supernatural, a platform designed to educate readers on the endless use cases for plants, and HRBL, a line of botanically blended gummies you’ll typically find in the bathroom cabinets of Brooklyn’s wellness elite.

In the latest installment of our Fuelled by Form series, we sat down with Robinett to talk about her journey into herbalism, her go-to remedies and the simple habits that keep her balanced.

How did you first discover herbalism and what drew you to it?

Initially, it wasn’t something that I wanted to go into as a career path. I moved to New York to work in fashion, but I was taking lots of different herbs and supplements as my mum worked as a functional nutrition practitioner. She did a lot of early work with some of the founders of functional medicine, like Jeff Bland, so I was exposed to the holistic side of health and wellness from an early age.

Prior to the wellness industry becoming what it is today, I would be deep in chat rooms, bodybuilding forums and weird witchy websites. While studying nutrition, energy healing and fitness I eventually came across the concept of herbalism, and realised it encompasses everything that I’m interested in. It’s the most holistic and natural approach to health and medicine that exists.

Can you tell us a bit more about your brands, Supernatural and HRBL?

I founded supernatural around 10 years ago and it’s taken on many different guises over the years. It began as my private practice and a line of herbal products. We were initially creating tinctures, teas, pulling oils and aromatherapy blends.

Eventually, we expanded into an IRL cafe space in Brooklyn. There, we sold herbal lattes, elixirs and snacks. Everyone who worked at the cafe was a qualified herbalist, so you could chat with an expert while shopping for herbs in bulk. In 2018 I also launched a sister company, HRBL, which sells herbal gummies and is still in operation today.

After the pandemic, I closed the cafe, and moved Supernatural’s operations online. Recently, we’ve doubled down on education – creating content and on-demand classes that help people with common health imbalances I see all the time, like hormones, thyroid metabolism and brain health.

What are the main benefits of getting involved with herbalism?

Any benefit you’re seeking is available, in some form, from the herbal world. Pain relief, stress relief, athletic performance, hormone balance, sleep support, metabolic support…. You name it, there’s a herb for it.

Herbalism is also a way to engage with the natural world on a regular basis. I’m looking at my desk and I have a little stack of tinctures: mullen, artichoke, ginema, dandelion and burdock. All these amazing herbs from nature in the heart of Brooklyn. At its core, herbalism is always in pursuit of balance in our bodies. It’s not, ‘let’s just numb something’ or ‘Let’s, let’s treat a symptom’. It’s asking, ‘how do we write the system in a way that leads it to balance?’

Can you run us through your top three favorite herbs?

Ashwagandha has such a broad range of benefits that are incredibly applicable to modern life. It helps to normalise cortisol levels and improve the function of our HPA axis, which supports stress resilience, recovery, sleep, muscle tone, fitness, fertility, immunity and gut health.

I’m also a very big fan of kava [which is legal in the United States but not in the UK]. I use it primarily as an alternative to alcohol because it’s acutely calming without being sedative or intoxicating.

Lastly, I’d choose nettle. I grew up running through stinging nettle fields, getting stung, and later learning it’s also a form of medicine. Nettle embodies this concept of a pharmacon: both a poison and a cure. While it stings and causes a histamine reaction externally, it acts as an antihistamine internally.

It’s also such a deeply nourishing green, packed with minerals and vitamins. So few of us get enough greens in our diets, especially those nutrient-dense greens that are so dark they’re almost black.

How do you incorporate Form into your busy routine?

I typically have a combination of Form protein and creatine first thing in the morning, right before my workout. My exercise is usually in the morning, so I’ll take it within about 15 minutes before starting.

When I travel, I always bring Form along too. I love the little travel packs; I pre-mix the dry ingredients in a container, then add water at the airport and shake it up.

And if I’m craving something sweet in the afternoon, I’ll have a chocolate or vanilla shake as a little treat.

What wellness rituals help you wind down after a busy day?

Journaling and writing. It’s something I’ve done incessantly and always will. It’s deeply important for my mental health and helps me process everything at the end of the day.

What have you got planned for the future?

Right now, my focus is fully on supporting the launch of my upcoming book, ‘Naturally: The Herbalist’s Guide to Health and Transformation’, for as long as it needs me. After that, I want to continue writing.

As much as I’m an herbalist and naturalist at heart, I’ve always considered myself a writer first, and it’s my dream to write books as my primary role in the world. I’d love to write a memoir next.

So, I’m doubling, even tripling down on that goal, and I hope to continue publishing for the foreseeable future, as well as doing a lot more surfing in between.