The use of herbs, roots, barks and berries in the treatment of wounds, injuries and illness goes back to the most primitive of times. When the first civilizations began to evolve, herbal lore was well established. It had been passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth and practical teaching.

Plants are still today, the major source of medicine for most of the world’s population. Up to three quarters of medicines taken around the world today will be herbal remedies. The people taking them will usually be following approaches to their illnesses that are older than civilization itself.

Ancient Wisdom

Our ancestors from all cultures used Herbal Medicine when treating disease. In spite of the diverse cultural and historical differences there are clear themes that recur repeatedly whenever the use of plants as medicines is explained.

So far western medical science has largely ignored this vast collective tradition and pool of knowledge. This is an astonishing oversight and there may now be a feeling that it has gone far enough, perhaps too far.

In medicine it is possible to see the living being as a cosmos, subjected to the vagaries of weather and tides, which lead in turn to predisposition to illness, the illness having identifiable patterns as a result. With the recognition of these patterns one can look for treatment that emphasizes the return to homoeostatic balance rather than attack symptoms and external agents.

This means seeing illness as more ‘soil’ than ‘seed’, more predisposition than pathogen. These are the underlying, often unwritten assumptions of the ancient ways of medicine, of every healing tradition the world over, whether American Indian, early European, Islamic Middle Eastern or Ayurvedic medicine of the Indian subcontinent or that of the Chinese and Japanese systems. These even comply with the medicinal practices of the wandering hunter nomads and pastoralists of Africa.

The Herbal Formula

The herbal formula is usually made up with 4 - 18 different herbs, depending on the therapeutic action the herbalist is creating. All formula's are balanced, with some herbs for eliminating any internal excesses if they exist, while some will be for tonifying any existing deficiencies. The herbs are combined together, each lending the other strength.

The reaction to a herbal formula is generally positive with acute symptoms disappearing more rapidly than chronic disorders. One to two weeks of a herbal formula is usually recommended for acute symptoms like colds and ‘flu’s. One month for each year of imbalance in treating chronic disorders.

Herbal medicine works by reinforcing the internal functions of our bodies which in turn eliminate the pathogens or adverse symptoms. Adverse side effects are minimal if any. Those that may be experienced are temporary.

Herbal medicine is experiencing a renaissance. Modern research is proving through laboratory tests the truths that herbalists have known for centuries. Currently, well over 100 herbs have been tested and their curative properties have been confirmed by western science. Herbal Medicine, once again, is asserting itself as one of the essential spokes of the wheel in creating a holistic model for our health and survival.

If you are interested in addressing an illness with herbs, please visit one of our clinics or do an online consultation here