Herbal Therapies

Mother nature’s Medicine Cabinet –

In this world of advanced technology, I am often amazed that we can still look to Mother Earth’s goodness for answers in our quest for improved health and personal healing.

Also, I am encouraged that nature continues to be an enduring force of recovery and renewal in these modern times.

Herbal treatments are an important and valued aspect of Mother Nature’s medicine cabinet, and guess what?

There are herb-based options for everything from colds and sinus problems to social anxiety …

Herbal remedies: what’s not to like? –

Don’t like herb tea? Sometimes people who are unfamiliar with herbal teas avoid them because these teas generally lack the consistency of black tea or coffee (beverages to which they are accustomed.)

But you should know that herb teas can be strong even when they appear to be watery.

And it is also common to brew herb tea bags twice to get the most out of each treatment. (I recommend brewing twice.)

To “brew” a tea bag you simply pour hot water over the tea bag and drink the tea, then repeat the whole process a second time.

I have also heard that some people don’t like the taste of herb tea in general. But when you drink it to improve your health, you find that it is possible to adjust to many different tastes …

Being an herb tea enthusiast, I promise the different tastes are easy to get used to and you may even enjoy this interesting aspect of the herbal tea experience!

And for the few teas that may seem overly bitter, you can just add a bit of Stevia.

You know, Sometimes I hear people complaining about Stevia having an aftertaste. But you must realize that Stevia is a highly valued, seriously healthy sweetener (look for Original pure or Organic Stevia.)

And when you think of Stevia in a health conscious way, you’ll often find that any noticeable aftertaste soon becomes unimportant.

I should mention that even the old fashioned artificial sweetener, saccharine — as in saccharine pellets — had an aftertaste.

In fact, when I was growing up, I can’t remember a holiday when my mother did not pull out those saccharine pellets to sweeten the traditional glass of iced tea.

And then there was that Thanksgiving when some silly person made a recording of my baby voice yelling out the words, “More tea!” (sounded like “Mo tea!”)

You can be sure that there were saccharine pellets present … busy being crushed with a long tea spoon.

How I got into herbals –

I count myself lucky that the herbal medicine industry has grown and developed, now offering many effective treatments in the form of prepackaged herbal teas and supplements.

I say “Count myself lucky” because when I first became involved with herbal medicine there were fewer treatment options available.

At the time, getting into Earth-centered and herbal healing seemed a natural development for me, seeing that I had accidentally relocated to herb central.

It turned out that when I took a conveniently located apartment, I became part of an earthy-artsy, creative community, centered around an expansive natural food store that exuded an air of mystery.

The store somehow smelled like both old timey American baked goods and an international market at the same time, but the store had another unique aspect.  

A couple of aisles away from the high-quality tofu and awesome home-made baked products (you can always tell I bake,) there was an aisle chock full of dried herbs and tinctures.

Herbalists flocked to this aisle from miles around, and they would meet there, chattering about herbs for this and that …

Living across from this large natural food store put me in the heart of a group of laid back, free-spirited creatives from varied backgrounds who revered Mother Earth’s goodness, went barefoot everywhere, and bought their tie dyes local.

Even with a bookstore and a crystal shop that sold beautiful, unique healing crystals, the center of the community was definitely that Earth-centered natural food store.

I learned a lot about using herbs from my friends in the community, and they also helped me to master traditional methods of herbal medicine preparation.

Prepackaged herbal remedies were rare, so I learned how to use a mortar and pestle to grind up dried herbs and to put the resulting powder into clear capsules.

Teas were made by steeping dried herbs with metal tea strainers or reusable cotton tea bags.

A few years later, I took classes in herbal medicine and acupressure, and my knowledge of herbalism grew.

Plus, I gained a greater understanding for natural modes of health and healing … the how and why of Earth-centered therapies.

Herbals in the modern world –

Recently I was thinking how amazing it is that high quality herbal medicine products have become so easy to access. But at the same time, true awareness about the nuts and bolts of herbal medicine seems more distant and shadowy.

In fact, as more and more companies jump on the herbal products band wagon, it seems like fewer and fewer people have a good understanding of herbal treatments and what to expect when they use them.

This may be due to advancements in technology, taking us away from Earth-centered thinking. Or it may simply be that there are fewer people preparing their own herbal treatments by hand …

Now I want to explain some of the ways herbals are used to encourage a resilient state of health.

How are herbal treatments used medicinally? –

You may note that herbal therapies are sometimes used on a daily basis to help control a particular health condition, such as those used for skin ailments.

But there are also herbals used in a preventative way, often taking the tea, pill or capsule seasonally, to prevent conditions that tend to occur during a particular season of the year … such as allergies in the spring, for instance.

Also, some herbal treatments work fast and can be used the day of or the day before the desired effect is needed …

Another aspect of herbal therapies is that they are often very affordable, which is especially true for herbal teas.

In fact, you can even learn to identify and harvest herbs growing wild in your local area.

And there is often a locally-based “herb walk” available that can teach you which herbs grow naturally nearby.

Herb-think –

If an herbal-combination remedy seems over-priced, you can do what herb-centered people do and inspect the ingredients list …

Then do some research and choose several prominent herbs from the list to buy individually: this can cut your costs considerably.  

Also, there are times when traditional chemical medicines work by methods that are different from those used by herbal remedies, and sometimes that difference is misunderstood.

For instance, when herbal sinus and allergy treatments work by causing nasal passages to drain – a natural, clearing process — some think they are getting sicker because of the increased postnasal drip.

But when herbals cause a natural exit of fluids down and out of the body, it’s a healing process that may cause some temporary discomfort …

But do keep in mind that healing by natural processes supports immunity in the long run.

And if a bit of extra time is needed to heal naturally, this may be an understandable tradeoff for an affordable and immunity-supporting alternative to chemical treatments.

Researching herbal therapies –

Even though many consumers find herbal remedies to be valuable and helpful, there are still very few scientific studies supporting the use herbal therapies.

This is mostly because research into herbal treatments has often lacked funding.

In fact, due to this lack of attention from the sciences, the value of herbals is often established outside of the scientific arena.

You will find that information about herbal therapies is often based on historical records regarding the use of the herb, as well as reported knowledge and experiences from the earth-centered community at large.

So the study of herbal therapies is more socially and community based than is the study of traditional chemical treatments, whose value is often determined in a laboratory.

Still, both of these modes of investigation are considered valid research.

Here’s what’s happening … I’m preparing some articles about herbal treatments that work for me, including herbs for the sinuses, the skin, water retention and mental focus.

And this is an important project because as I said, herbal treatments are an important and valued aspect of Mother Nature’s medicine cabinet, encouraging us to maintain an Earth-centered attitude toward health, healing, and sustainable immunity.

This article was written by Vanna Silverwood, medical writer and outspoken advocate for natural medicine: see more at: Simplynaturalmedicine.com Encouraging stability, helping you clarify your health goals … we are always “Natural by nature!“