Native Healers. Anita Ralph
and concepts are implemented alongside conventional medical diagnosis to analyse the individual's health, and in the application of herbal therapy. This deeper analysis of the patient and their symptoms, beyond the conventional diagnosis, ensures that herbal treatment remains person-centred.15 The plant medicines applied in this way have the capacity to act within us to restore specific tissues of the body and also therefore the function of our own bodies.
Definition—Medicine:
•The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery).
•A drug or other (non-surgical) preparation for the treatment or prevention of disease.
•A spell, charm or fetish believed to have healing, protective or other power.
—Oxford English Dictionary
Throughout this book, we shall revisit these core principles and concepts and develop the themes of this ecological view of health and of the plants themselves.
Core foundational principles of herbal practice
•That wellness and illness are made up of a mosaic of factors, and time is needed to discover and respond to these in an individualised way.
•Symptoms and not just the diagnosis are seen as important.
•The consultation is conducted in a fundamentally positive setting.
•Lifestyle, diet and psychological wellbeing are recognised as significant in disease causation and treatment outcome. The herbalist is therefore acting as a health guide not just as a prescriber of plants as medicine.
•Humans have an innate vitality or resilience that can be negatively or positively impacted.
•Herbalists assess the individual using pattern recognition16 and a persistent theme within all traditions of herbal medicine is the assessment of a person's unique ‘constitution’.
•Our physiological functions act as an interconnected whole, and so the practice of herbalism is more like that of the science of ecology—the study of complex interconnected systems.17
•Some areas of human function are so fundamental as to be pillars of wellbeing. These ‘health drivers’ are good digestive function, restorative sleep, regular relaxation, and the promotion of circulation and tissue health. Improvement in these areas will positively impact other essential physiological functions such as the hormonal system, the immune system or the skin, and will act on the trophic state of tissues and organs.
•Restoring resilience or ‘bounce-back’ can be a result of correcting the pillars of health with diet and herbal medicine. In addition, herbalists recognise the concept of herbal tonics and adaptogens (a natural substance considered to help the body adapt to stress). Some herbs are considered to have tonic effects to the circulatory, or immune system, or the musculoskeletal system, for example, and others more broadly to our vitality and adaptive potential.
A summary of the core principles of the practical application of herbal medicines
To relieve suffering by addressing the following fundamentals of health:
•Positively influence digestive health (tissues, secretions, organs, microbiome)
•Assess and enhance elimination of metabolic waste products (at the tissue level, and via the organs of excretion)
•Assess and restore circulation (central and peripheral)
•Consider all aspects of the nervous system, its health and function
•Application of trophic herbs where needed
•Support adaptive potential with adaptogens
•Apply vulnerary and healing plants wherever needed18
The framework of the book
We will take a deeper look into the plants themselves and the compounds associated with them in Chapter 2. This book then dives into the study of our physical body and its interconnectedness. We have attempted to draw attention here to some of the fundamental differences between conventional and herbal medicine. Join us after this for an exploration of 15 key medicinal plants from the Western tradition (Chapters 4, 6 and 8). See how practical and helpful these herbal allies are, and observe how they have been examined in modern times to increase our understanding of how they can uniquely help us. We have included recipes and self-help measures so that you can experience each of these fantastic plants in a practical way. Herbal medicine, specifically the utilisation of whole plants such as bramble, nettle and oats, is often described as occupying the grey area between food and medicine. In Chapter 5 we will look more closely at this from the perspective of food, and how we can use the foods we eat to keep us healthy. Most of us will experience some form of health complaint at some time. Chapters 7, 9, 10 and 11 examine some of the commonest health issues that people might see their doctor for, and considers the herbalists’ perspective. This is illustrated throughout with case histories from our own practices. We consider research, safety and the role of herbal medicine in our modern technological (anthropocene) world. Finally we will draw together the key points from the book in Chapter 12, which sum-marises our thoughts and experiences, and our hopes for the future of this vibrant and supportive form of medicine.
But first, we would like to outline some key concepts from within herbal medicine about our plant allies. Once we start to look at anything in detail, we can all too easily lose the phenomenon as its true whole. We hope to retain that wholeness despite the analysis within this book.
Key concepts about medicinal plants
•Plants typically used in herbal medicine practice have multiple compounds that are of benefit to the plant, but also to human health, resilience and function.
•Plant constituents often demonstrate synergy, that is their interactions with each other produce therapeutic results beyond the merely additive.
•Co-evolution with many edible and medicinal plants has altered our genetics allowing us to tolerate medicinal plants to a greater degree than would be otherwise expected of mono-chemical drugs.
•Plants and humans have their own microbiome, or mini-ecosystem of commensal microorganisms.19
Definition—Microbiome: The microorganisms in a particular environment (including the body or a part of the body).
—Oxford English Dictionary Online
Plants can positively impact a depleted human microbiome directly and also indirectly by having active compounds that correct gut function. It stands to reason then why care of our wider ecosystem is so important for everyone's health.
Synergy
Medicinal plants have many well-researched individual therapeutic compounds. These are considered to (and have often been shown to) act synergistically.20 The use of whole plants with their multiple compounds, and multiple herb prescriptions, can result in