HEALTH CONSULTATIONS

Why try an Herbal Health Consultation?

Herbs have been used for healing purposes for as long as humans have existed. We have evolved with plants, so our bodies know how to use the properties of herbs to, in effect, heal ourselves.

"Nature, time and patience are the three great physicians."

- Proverbs

The unique, natural chemistries found in whole plant products have a synergistic effect when used as medicine. Instead of overpowering our systems the way most allopathic medicines do, herbs work with our body, supporting and complementing our innate healing process already at work.

"What is dangerous about tranquilizers is that whatever peace of mind they bring is a packaged peace of mind. Where you buy a pill and buy peace with it, you get conditioned to cheap solutions instead of deep ones."

- Max Lerner

Herbs are at their best when used for prevention, although they can be used appropriately for any stage of a disease, whether chronic or acute. Herbs can complement many standard Western treatments, reducing the need for more radical therapies or lowering the amount of medication necessary. Under the hands of a skilled herbalist, the use of herbal analogs can often replace more problematic pharmacological preparations, allowing the patient to avoid unpleasant side effects.

Whole herbs when properly prepared and dispensed are not drugs, they do not have side effects. What they do have are a collection of healing properties, some more pronounced than others, that amount to a specific profile that is unique to each particular plant and that when properly matched to a person's symptoms, can support their own individual healing process.

"We firmly believe that therapy is education rather than healing; that it is growth rather than treatment."

- Arnold Lazarus

When people get sick (and we all do, how else would our bodies know how to stay in balance if we didn't lose it occasionally? It was Thoreau who said: "'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes."), most traditional herbalists see patients as having their own kind of disease that will respond to an herbal treatment tailored to their particular signs and symptoms.

While Western medicine can address some of a patient's unique health issues, ultimately, at least where infectious diseases are concerned, doctors take the view that there is "one disease that can afflict many people." This isn't a wrong view, just incomplete, from the herbalist's perspective.

"It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has."

- William Osier

There may indeed be one particular germ that is infecting many individuals, but each infected person is going to have their own particular pattern of suffering and, hopefully, of recovery. The wise use of herbs, either singly or in combination, can often be matched to a person's particular constitution and constellation of symptoms much more successfully than almost any drug.

This is not to say that there aren't times when Western medicine is totally appropriate. A good herbalist is free of dogma and will agree that any practical means necessary should be used to promote health and healing. However, since herbal treatments are complementary to most other forms of healing, they almost always bring notable benefits to the user.

"God heals, and the doctor takes the fees."

- Benjamin Franklin

The fact that herbs are natural, inexpensive, easy to acquire, and can even be grown and processed by the patient themselves in some cases, only serves to make them that much more attractive.

Finally, it should be noted that while much of what heals comes from the nutritive properties of the herbs, and that overall, most herbs are very safe, one should never use an herb medicinally unless totally familiar with its effects. Herbs can be toxic, some herbs can be inappropriate for children, during pregnancy, and can increase or even counteract the effect of medications a person may already be taking. It's always a wise idea to discuss using an herb with a knowledgeable herbalist first before trying it.

"Medicus curat, natura sanat" Translation: "The doctor cures, nature heals."

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