Herbal Medicine

According to ancient Chinese and Egyptian records herbs for medicinal purpose date back at least 5,000 years. Herbs have been used to heal illness, regain harmony with nature, promote life force and strengthen the body. The qualities of herbs can assist us to bring about lost balance and healing. Chinese & Western herbology has long used substances not only from the plant kingdom, but also from the mineral and animal kingdoms to bring about the desired effect. 

To understand Herbal Medicine, the kingdoms primary qualities need to be examined. In Western and especially in Chinese medicine, the taste, the atmospheric energy and the meridian pathways entered are of major importance. The taste of the herb also plays a major role in bringing desired outcome. The taste indicates an action that the herb, the mineral or animal kingdom carries. An understanding of nature and the poetic movement of life in motion allow us to see how this theory forms the basic foundation of health in relationship to the world we live in.

Many plants synthesize substances that are useful to the maintenance of health in humans and other animals. These include aromaticsubstances, most of which are phenols or their oxygen-substituted derivatives such as tannins. Many are secondary metabolites, of which at least 12,000 have been isolated — a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total. In many cases, these substances (particularly the alkaloids) serve as plant defense mechanisms against predation by microorganisms, insects, and herbivores. Many of the herbs and spices used by humans to season food yield useful medicinal compounds.

 

 

 

E-mail: amalia@amalia-associates.ca