This is one of the best and most fast acting natural anxiety remedies, that you can buy OTC, (or well at least in some countries/states), it's available online on amazon.com and e-bay and there are other smaller vendors. You can also wildcraft it if you live in an area where it grows, but since it is mainly propagated and farmed its probably better to just buy some, the part used to make Kava Kava is the root.

In California and New York there are "Kava Bars" where you can go and drink Kava Kava and relax, I can highly recommend paying a visit to one of those fine local establishments.

Name: Kava Kava or Kava
Latin name: Piper Methysticum
Family: Piperaceae (Pepper family)

Kava is and has been traditionally consumed throughout the Pacific Ocean cultures. Where it still has strong cultural significance, Kava Kava is often consumed before important meetings in a ritual fashion. Not always but often followed by music and dancing.

Image source: Forest & Kim Starr [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I have used Kava Kava both for anxiety and for relaxation.

And I can attest to its effect, I would say this is one of the best natural and legal anxiety remedies you can obtain. I think it's a great alternative to alcohol for a relaxing evening with friends or family.

The root often comes as a powder and there are many different qualities and just like wine, there are qualities grown in certain regions that are considered superior or "nobel".

So if you decide to try Kava Kava try to obtain a high-quality strain of Kava Kava, you would have to do some research online, but I would recommend the smaller vendors selling "nobel" Kava Kava root in pure powder form.

I tried the capsules and pills with Kava Kava but they are sadly not always of high standard.

How to prepare it?
There are different ways, I personally like to make a strong tea from the powder.

How does it work?

The root has sedative, anesthetic, & euphoriant properties. This is because it contains kavalactones. Kava Kava contains at least eighteen Kavalactones, and they are active in different ways, one of these Kavalactones is Yangonin, Yangonin posses binding affinity to the cannabinoid receptor CB1. Another Kavalactone is Kavain, "In 2016 kavain was shown to bind at the α4β2δ GABAA receptor and potentiate GABA efficacy."
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4917254/

Precautions:
Don't use Kava-Kava and operate heavy machinery, don't drink Kava Kava and drive, avoid it if your pregnant and remember that this is a drink for adults. Also avoid any of the parts of the plant growing above ground, the leaves contain "Pipermethystine", Pipermethystine is dangerous (a toxic alkaloid) and it can cause liver damage.
If wildcrafting use a field guide, Im not responsible if you confuse plants, also before ordering just double check if it's legal in your country, it should be perfectly legal in most civilized countries, but always double check, I know a few countries can be very strict.

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