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HERBALISM:
A SIMPLE WAY
Article by herbalist Dave
Hawkins, MH, CNC
Once I was invited to
lecture at an herbal conference and the topic of my talk
was to be on "Herbs And
Alternative Medicine". I did not give this title to the
lecture but gave a lot of thought as to what I might
present because I have some specific thoughts on herbalism
and on what is termed alternative medicine.
Let me begin this article
with some clarification. I believe that the term
“alternative” is not an accurate description of Wholistic
medicine. Alternative denotes in my mind to be "an either
or" and when it comes to medicine this does not fit into
this type of thinking. I use the word integrative to best
describe Wholistic practices because integration
means an acceptance and a working together with different
modalities to provide the best possible solutions
to a person’s imbalances.
I began my lecture with this
clarification and continued to express my opinion that
herbs are not an alternative but have been the first
medicine. When you look back in time, people on this planet
have always relied on plants as their medicines for
millions of years. This has been a trial and error period
over time that has proven many plants to be effective in
treating and preventing disease processes.
Many people are seeking
herbal remedies because they believe them to be more
natural, safer and that they will keep them healthy. This
is all true but one thing I see is that people are looking
at herbalism the same way they look at conventional
medicine, which is heroic in nature.
Pharmaceutical
drugs, which are based on symptomatic relief
don't usually address underlying causative factors. Without
this understanding of what they are doing in their
lifestyle that could be a contributing factor in their
health many folks are missing the opportunity to realize
the full capacity of herbalism.
An example is that in the
marketing of herbs I see herbs like gingko biloba, the
memory herb, black cohosh, the female herb, saw palmetto,
the male herb, valerian root, the sleep herb; you get the
point are being attributed to specific gender and
conditions. This is very simplistic if we look at herbs
just for specific lifestyle imbalances and ignore the
causes of disease process.
My early training helped me
to think of herbs and herbalism as a system that involves
an active participation by the person using them.
The body heals itself and all healing comes
from within has been the premise for me whenever I am
lecturing or consulting with an individual. This is the
foundation of herbal medicine; looking beyond symptoms and
understanding the root cause of the problem.
Another important premise is
to do no harm.
Diet is an
important part of herbalism because as stated
by Hipprocrates, "let your food
be your medicine and your medicine be your food". Today
our current research into plant-based substances is a
growing field. We know plants have healing powers
and that they have an affinity to our bodies. Isolated
compound found in plants don't always perform the way these
compound work when taken in their whole form.
In a recent report
on St John's
Wort the researchers concluded that they
understood the different aspects of the plant constituents
and even went on the postulate how they worked but the end
result that was determined was that the plant worked best
when taken in it's whole form.
Many of you might believe
that a standardized herbal product is better than an herbal
product in another form, tea, capsule, tincture etc. This
is not always the case and since it is a new field I don't
think that research can prove standardized herbal products
always more effective.
My traditional training has
provided me with the basis that the more we disturb a plant
substance the more we potentially disrupt its ability to
work effectively in our body. This also does not mean that
I won't recommend or use a standardized herbal product.
Standardized to what constituents, how much is necessary,
does it have side effects becomes a big question.
One thing about
standardized herbal products is that they do fit into a
clinical model where everything is measured as
to specific dosages at a certain potency related to
specific conditions. This is good for measuring results but
is not always an accurate assessment of an herbs
potential.
I consider the empirical
evidence about specific herbs to be an important factor
when determining how to use a plant for specific purposes.
Many of the herbs
used today have been used for hundreds to thousands of
years. This means that you can use them is the
same manner and they can be effective as long as they are
of high quality, harvested at the right times, and prepared
accordingly.
When studying herbalism
there are some specific principals that need to be learned.
I will give a brief overview
of them. Herbs used to be called simples.
The art of simpling
applies and goes as follow:
·
Use local herbs- local herbs grown
in the environment that we live in all the time and can be
specific to the type of conditions experienced in that
region.
·
Use mild herbs, they
have a more gentle effect on the system and can be taken
freely.
·
Use mild herbs in
larger doses,
due to this
gentleness more might be needed in specific cases.
Of course more complex
condition need to be addressed
differently.
There are three main general
functions of herbs:
·
Eliminating
and detoxifying- ridding the body of toxins.
·
Maintaining- using herbs to counteract symptoms and
allowing the body to heal.
·
Building
and toning- using herbs to strengthen and tone the body.
There are eight
classifications of herbal therapies and
numerous properties that an herb can provide. When making
an assessment of how to use an herb one must look at the
primary, secondary, and tertiary properties. A good
authoritative herbal manual will provide this information.
As you can see herbalism is
involved and has specific methodologies.
I encourage the use of herbs
but I also urge one to go beyond the surface and gain a
true understanding of how to use them.
A good starter herbal manual
would be The Way Of Herbs
by Michael Tierra C.A.N.D.
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