Wildcrafting in the Sierra Wilderness
Michael Tierra in the Sierra, August 2012…”I’m gathering pulsatilla which is all around me. There are also stands of mule’s ears (Wyethia species) at my feet and scattered around is California os …
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Wild Cherry, One of the Great North American Herbs
Wild cherry bark (Prunus serotina, P. virginiana) also known as choke cherry, is one of several herbal remedies that contain amygdalin, also called prunasin, a toxic glycoside found in the seeds of ma …
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Why Herbs Aren’t Regulated the Same Way Drugs Are
In its February-April 2012 issue, HerbalGram, one of the most reputable and distinguished journals in the world on all things herbal, published a definitive article: “The Regulated Dietary Supplement …
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White Rice vs. Brown Rice: Which Is Best?
Despite the overwhelming evidence of the added health benefits of fiber, vitamins and minerals of whole grains, most traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic doctors recommend eating white rather than whole …
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Where Music and Herbalism Meet: Notes on “Arcana”
“Northwest Passage” The amazing music of composer, Alex Shapiro Featuring the world premiere of ARCANA: SUITE FOR PIANO commissioned by and dedicated to and performed by Michael Tierra, pianist. Peac …
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When Does “Health-Conscious” Become “Health-Obsessed”?
My first Chinese herb teacher Foon Lee Wong once cryptically remarked: “It’s not good to be too healthy.” Since then I’ve often thought of native peoples throughout the world described by early explor …
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What’s a Tonic?
“Tonic” in TCM specifically refers to herbs that: increase Qi, usually through enhanced absorption and mitochondrial replication nourish Blood, usually by regulating red and white blood cell re …
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What You See Is What You Eat: Portion Control
As I mentioned in last week’s blog, exercise and wise dieting principles aren’t enough to help you reach your optimal weight. Portion control is essential. Just how important is portion control? In on …
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Welcome to our brand new home on the Web!
Behold, our new website! Many of you — especially my own students — will notice that it looks considerably different. Our goal has been to give it the emphasis, look and feel befitting one of the f …
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Weight Loss Plateaus and Exercise
A close member of my family recently went on a weight loss diet and happily dropped 25 pounds within two or three months. Suddenly encouragement changed to despair as she found that try as hard as she …
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Walnuts: For Back Pain, Stress, High Cholesterol, Weight Loss, Longevity and Fish!
I always think it’s a good idea to learn to derive your special nutrients from foods rather than pills and nutritional supplements. Certain foods, like garlic and onions for example, are so potent tha …
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Untangling Yin Deficiency with Heat
As we continue this blog series on Yin Deficiency (with Heat), I want to make clear that the description of Heat hereby discussed is confined to the organic pattern of Heat and not the description of …
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Universal health care for the United States?
Have you noticed the lack of health care in your area? I have, in Santa Cruz. So many GPs have retired because of the astronomical price of liability insurance they must pay to stay in practice, along …
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UK set for herbal regulation? Say it ain’t so!
This Dec. 1, 2009, article at the BBC website entitled “Prince Charles: ‘Herbal medicine must be regulated'” points to a potential crisis for the practice of herbal medicine in the UK. Under threat of …
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Two Acupoints for the Price of One: GB 20 and Krikatika Marma for Allergies, Headache and More
Acupressure applied to Gall Bladder 20. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there are 361 charted acupuncture points on the body. Acupuncturists generally recognize any active point on th …
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Triphala, Honey, and Castor Oil for Healthy Eyes
During the 1970s on one of my trips to Bangalore in southern India, I made it a point to seek teachers, schools and hospitals that were exponents of Ayurvedic medicine, which at that time was still ba …
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Triphala for Ulcerative Colitis: A Case Study
Ulcerative colitis affects approximately 100 out of 100,000 people in the United States. Genetic disposition and food sensitivities are common causes. The disease can lead to colon cancer and related …
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Triphala and Ghee for Dry Eyes and Other Eye Problems
Triphala consists of three phytonutrient-rich fruits Emblica officinalis (Amla, or Amalaki) also known as Phyllanthus emblica; Terminalia bellerica (Vibhitaki); and Terminalia chebula (Haritaki). Each of these eliminates all types of excess from the body. Amla clears the liver, Vibhitaki the excess of mucus, lymph, fluids, including excess cholesterol, and Haritaki treats the nervous system. All three fruits…
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Triphala and Elderberry for IBS
The three fruits of Triphala. My clinical experience using the Ayurvedic formula Triphala is extensive, based on literally thousands of cases over the course or 25 years. It is only within the last th …
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Treating Gum Disease with Astringent Herbs
Unfortunately, too many people think about their teeth only in crisis stage. A common pre-crisis symptom is receding gums. This is a widespread condition when the gums pull away from the teeth, forming gaps and eventually exposing the bone structures that support the teeth. Over time, this will lead to the formation of pockets of…
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Treating Chronic, Complicated Conditions with Li Dong Yuan’s Pi Wei Lun
Chinese medicine divides diseases into two broad categories: 1. Diseases of “external contraction” (Wei Guan), which are relatively simple conditions that are acute in nature. 2. Diseases of “internal …
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Treating Arthritis, Lower Back and Joint Pains
Arthritis, joint and back pain is so prevalent throughout the world that there really is no point to describe how many sufferers there are. It is safe to say that if you are around the age of 55 or ol …
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Traditional Herbal and Western Conventional Medical Treatment Options for Hypertension
If you suffer from hypertension, several avenues of treatment are available to you. How do you choose what is best for your unique condition? In this blog, I’ll explore the approaches to hypertension …
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Tonic Herb Master Ron Teeguarden Visits East West Seminar
by Beverly Jennings, RH (AHG), MT, East West School of Planetary Herbology Graduate East West students were fortunate to have the opportunity to spend an entire day with renowned herbalist Ron Teeguar …
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Tinnitus Treatments by East West Teacher Holly Hutton
What’s that sound? Why won’t it go away? Tinnitus, commonly known as “ringing in the ears” and the perception of sound where no external source of sound is present, is a surprisingly common affliction …
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The Three Levels of Healing
In my previous blog on treating H. pylori-induced stomach inflammation with herbs, I touch briefly on a fundamental difference between conventional and complementary medicine: namely, that conventiona …
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The Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease: Part 3
Thus far in this series we have described two other powerful herbs for coronary heart disease: hawthorn from the Western herbal tradition, and dan shen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) from the Chinese herbal tr …
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The Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease: Part 2
Sage Advice For the treatment of Coronary Heart Disease It’s not too often that a representative of a pharmaceutical company will call an herbalist asking what herb might be worth researching for a p …
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The Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease with Herbs: Part 1
It’s no secret that cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the #1 killer in the United States. Estimates are that 81,100,000 people in the United States have one or more forms of CVD (approximately one …
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The Mighty Ashwagandha, Superior Aphrodisiac and Male Fertility Tonic
Ashwagandha root (Withania somnifera) is considered a most important herb in Ayurvedic medicine. Its ability to serve as a tonic and adaptogen in many of the same ways as Panax ginseng is used in Trad …
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The Low-FODMAP Elimination Diet
My last two blog posts attempted to answer two questions: 1. Is it really necessary for all or even the majority of the 18 million people who are eliminating all wheat and gluten from their diet to do …
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The Concept of “Heat” in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Heat is an extremely common condition in Traditional Chinese Medical Diagnosis. In Ayurveda Heat can be described as pitta and there are two broad classifications: Pitta prakriti describes a constitut …
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The Botanic Gardens of Kauai and Humankind’s Infatuation with Plants
Lesley and I recently returned from a relaxing vacation on Kauai. Granted, it’s not a large island, but by pure coincidence we often seemed to find ourselves situated in places that were especially su …
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The Art of Herbal Formulary
In the marketplace, it is often more difficult to sell the general public on an herbal formula as opposed to a single herb. This is understandable, because people are usually driven to single herbs wh …
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The Age of the Piano Recital is Not Dead!
Been to a piano recital lately? Thanks to the dedication of the impresarios at the UCSC Arts and Lecture Series and the indefatigable John Orlando of Cabrillo College’s Distinguished Artists Concert …
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The “Bitter Brew” Vindicated by Science
Before there was any understanding of biochemical constituents, traditional herbal healing systems relied on flavors as indicators of medicinal properties. (Determining the properties and quality of a …
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TCM and Western Clinical Tongue Diagnosis
When was the last time you visited a doctor and the first thing asked of you was to show your tongue? Western medical practice of tongue diagnosis as part of a routine clinical examination seems, like many Western clinical practices, to have become a relic of the not-too-distant past. Instead, it survives as a standard…
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Swine Flu: Media hype and a boon to the pharmaceutical industry
Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Flu? I know many of us are concerned about Swine Flu, and as I write this even the World Health Organization has declared a Level 5 outbreak; just one step away from Level …
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Swine Flu Vaccinations and Antiviral Drugs: A Matter of Faith
There is mounting fear — and perhaps even hysteria — around the H1N1 virus as we usher in the fall and winter, which are the typical flu seasons. … … As I try to make sense of the plethora …
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Sugarless Herbal Cranberry Relish
The winter holiday season is fast approaching with all foods we all look forward each year. As an herbalist, I like to create new delectables that are not only delicious but super healthy as well. Recently a neighbor dropped by a half pound of fresh organic cranberries along with a sample of his homemade cranberry…
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Studies substantiating the energetic properties of herbs based on flavors and organ meridians
Can the claims of traditional herbal medicine be substantiated scientifically? Because trials are expensive and because there is no profit in sight for researching and bringing to market anything that …
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Springtime Colds, Flu and/or Allergies
In the springtime, when birds do sing, tree pollen flings, eyes itch, noses clog, throats do hack ‘” hey ding a ding, a ding: Sweet lovers love the spring. … …
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Sow Some Wild Oats this Valentine’s Day
For a good ‘romp in the hay’ this Valentine’s Day, be sure the hay is oat straw! Wild oat straw and its seeds foster the right balance of relaxation and enhanced libido for both men and women. Sowing …
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Some Useful Ideas and Tips for Weight Loss
The word is finally getting out. Approximately one third of Americans are overweight. As a result, they suffer from a number of metabolic diseases such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease and diabete …
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So Much More than “Swamp Water”: Liu Wei Di Huang Wan
My acupuncture teacher, Dr. Miriam Lee, said she never studied herbs but she had a very busy practice in San Jose, treating up to 100 patients a day with acupuncture. In those days, acupuncture was not a legal profession. She was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. Through her heroic efforts and with the…
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Simple Steps to Health and Happiness
To feel healthy, strong, vibrant, and vital each day sets the stage for all the other virtues, hope and interest. We will all eventually pass away sooner or later, but we owe it to ourselves to feel a …
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Shen Qu: An Extraordinary Digestive Aid
Shenqu, called by various names “massa fermentata,” “Chinese yogurt,” and mysterious ferment,” was first recorded in the Yaoxing Bencao (ca. 600 ACE.). It is one of the best botanical aids for digestion and is commonly used as a single or included in Chinese a large number of digestion formulas. It evolved from a process of…
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Salmonella in Spices and the Herbal Treatment of Food Poisoning
The FDA’s recent report on “Pathogens and Filth in Spices” finding salmonella in imported spices, especially from India and Mexico, has raised questions of how to prevent or treat food poisoning gener …
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Salmonella contamination of kratom
Recently the CDC announced that some 40 cases of salmonella associated with individuals who took certain batches of kratom. I’ve checked many of the sources I buy kratom from and they have suspended sales while testing goes on. Some suppliers reported to the CDC the sources of kratom with salmonella contamination. As a result, vendors…
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Saffron: An Herb Worth Its Weight in Gold, Part 2 of 2
After traveling to places in Arabia where saffron and other herbs and spices were sold and used, I attended a webinar of a Traditional Chinese Medical doctor from Taiwan, Dr. Chien-Fu Liao. Dr. Liao claims to use thousands of dollars a year worth of saffron in his medical practice. Scientific research and traditional usage…
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Saffron: An Herb Worth Its Weight in Gold, Part 1 of 2
Recently Lesley and I toured Jerusalem and various parts of Arabia featured in the Bible. One of our stops was the country of Oman, where the best quality frankincense grows and has been exported since ancient times along with other desert botanicals myrrh and saffron. A pound of saffron, which in Arabia is sold as…
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Richo Cech, Plant Whisperer and Author of “The Medicinal Herb Grower”
[caption id="attachment_3717" align="alignnone" width=""]richo cech[/caption]Above: Richo Cech in Zanzibar Just as a horse whisperer understands the particular needs and psychology of horses, a plant …
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Remembering Victoria Fortner: Herbalist, Healer, Friend
Victoria Fortner, herbalist and artist, was a beloved elder and member of the American Herbalists Guild. She passed away nearly four years ago from cancer in Potosi, Missouri, where she lived and work …
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Rediscovering Boneset for Influenza
In the midst of the current pandemic, I’m surprised how little mention there is of boneset, once considered the number one remedy for influenza and deemed a ‘miracle life-saving herb’ during the 1918-19 Spanish influenza responsible for the deaths of 675,000 Americans and ranging from 21 million to 100 million worldwide. Other than the general…
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Protection for You and Yours: A Holiday Gift Idea
Every December we try to offer some possibilities for gifts you can make or buy to enhance your holidays. It’s our version of Oprah’s “favorite things.” This year I’m suggesting two things that may be a gift to yourself, your family or your friends: protection from all airborne pathogens and allergens, including the covid-19 virus.…
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Protect yourself from the holiday blues with an herbal talisman
A wise sage once told me “where there is great light, there is great darkness.” For many, this is especially true during the festive holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year”s. This is a time …
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Preventing and Treating Seasonal Allergies with Neti, Triphala and Honey
According to a medical researcher on the Dr. Oz show, because of the early Spring and prolonged proliferation of windborne pollens, 2012 is supposed to be on track for being one of the worst allergy s …
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Pressed for Time: Piano and Plants in Fort Worth, Texas
Pianos… I’m in Fort Worth right now, at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. As a classical pianist, the opportunity to attend the Van Cliburn is akin to being able to attend a Super Bow …
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Premio 10: The Most Useful Healing Tool I Discovered in 2013
It’s hard to believe that only about 25 years ago computers became the thing and I and a few of my friends purchased our first new Eagle computer. At the time it seemed state-of-the-art but alas, Eagl …
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Pomegranate compounds inhibit breast cancer
The pomegranate (Punica granitum), highly touted these days as an antioxidant-rich superfruit, has an ancient metaphysical and culinary history. In fact, the image of the celebrated pomegranate was ca …
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Perspectives on Devil’s Claw from a South African Herbalist
The African continent is a treasure trove of medicinal herbs. Recently Lesley and I visited South Africa first as tourists, to experience the vast Kruger National Game Reserve where we had an opportunity to go on several safaris to see the abundance of wild animals including “the big five”: lions, elephants, rhinoceroses, leopards, and the…
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Perceived Gluten Sensitivity and Traditional Herbal Approaches
Gluten sensitivity and the TCM Spleen The unique concept of the ‘Spleen’ in TCM encompasses far more than the standard Western physiological organ. The TCM Spleen is a Yin organ whose function is desc …
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Panax Ginseng: The World’s Greatest Tonic Herb
The entire class of tonics in Chinese medicine is defined as herbs that “make things normal.” They are regarded as food grade, meaning they can be taken regularly as part of a super food diet, with or …
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Oregano: An herbal treatment for MRSA?
Have you seen those PSAs for MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) that have made their way onto primetime television lately?… … ‘Staph’ infections are among the most common typ …
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Onion Poultice for Deep-Seated Coughs
Have you ever had one of those lingering, deep-seated coughs (often the last hanger-on symptom after a cold or flu) that just continually and gradually wears down your reserves of strength? …
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Oatmeal Qi Tonic Porridge
A selection of Chinese tonic herbs The Importance of Qi in the Body Qi means “life energy.” The source of Qi in the body is food, air and water. The process of transforming and assimilating food, air and water, into Qi is, according to TCM theory, governed by the TCM-Spleen. Because the source of…
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Nutmeg: for Insomnia, Anxiety and Better Intimacy
Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), a common kitchen spice with a warming, spicy energy, is used to add flavor to desserts and hot drinks. Called jaiphala in Ayurveda and rou dou kou in TCM, nutmeg is a well-known remedy for diarrhea in both these herbal systems, but lesser known is its usefulness in cases of insomnia. In…
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Not All Sugar Is Bad: Glucose for Your Brain, Nerves, Heart and Muscles
Could you ever imagine yourself as being ‘sugar deprived?’ Do you find yourself unable to sleep soundly throughout the night, getting up frequently to urinate, feeling exhausted the next day with fre …
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Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity — Fact or Fiction?
In my 40 years of involvement as an herbalist in the natural health movement, I’ve seen a panoply of questionable diets, wonder-cures and pseudo-diseases (what herbalist, David Winston calls “disease …
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New York Attorney’s Botched Attempt to Regulate the Herbal Industry
A much-touted recent investigation by the New York State Attorney general’s office claimed national store brand herbal supplements sold at GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart in fact did not contain th …
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New Year’s Resolution: don’t just lose weight, get healthy
It’s the new year and guess what’s on (almost) everyone’s minds: Losing weight and dropping some of the pounds they put on, especially during the holiday season…. … Of course, there are a nu …
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My Favorite (Herbal) Things for Holiday Giving
With the holidays and the season for gift-giving upon us, I thought I’d put together an Oprah-style list of “My Favorite (Herbal) Things” for all you generous hearts out there. Here goes: ESSENTIALS F …
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Mung Bean for Hypertension
Mung Bean for Hypertension Hypertension is a major risk indicator for heart attack and stroke. In the United States, approximately 75 million people (29%) have high blood pressure which is a staggering 1 in every 3 adults. About 42.7 million visits to physician offices are for primary essential hypertension. Blood pressure is measured with a…
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Moxibustion and Stomach 36
Moxibustion, commonly called “moxa,” is one of the methods used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) where the downy fluff of the leaves of Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort) is burned directly on or near …
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Moxa for Menstrual Irregularities, Infertility and Insomnia
Menstrual Irregularities and Infertility Conception Vessel 4, called guan yuan or “origin pass”is located approximately two inches above the top of the pubic bone on a straight center line down from t …
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Moxa for Back Pain, Colds and Flu
Last time, I talked about moxibustion and its uses on the acupuncture point Stomach 36. There are several other uses and locations for moxa, which I will discuss in this and subsequent blogs. Best of …
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Miriam Lee (1926-2009): the mother of North American Acupuncture
“This is the way the world ends …This is the way the world ends …This is the way the world ends …Not with a bang, but a whimper” – T.S. Eliot, 1888 – 1965, from The Hollow Men Miriam Le …
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Michael Moore, 1941-2009
Michael Moore, the great Southwestern herbalist of North America, left his earthly dwelling for other realms on Friday, Feb. 20, 2009. Michael leaves us a rich legacy of herbal knowledge and wisdom, t …
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Maral Root: A Lesser Known Adaptogen from Russia
“Adaptogen” is a term coined by Russian professor of medicine and physiological medicine Dr. Israel I. Brekhman and colleagues to describe herbs that have the potential to increase the body’s ability …
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Mahanayaran Oil for Pain and Injury
Are you ready to hear about a medicinal named after a supreme god? Because of its rejuvenative healing properties Mahanarayana tailam (oil) is honored with the name of the revered Hindu deity Narayana, another name for Vishnu, the god of preservation. The Sanskrit prefix “maha” (meaning “great”) denotes the highest respect for the Ayurvedic oil…
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Loquat: The Cough Killer
Loquat leaf (Eriobotrya japonica et spp.), is named pi pa ye in the traditional Chinese materia medica. The name of the loquat fruit, pi pa, references its resemblance to a miniature Chinese lute by the same name. The Latin Eriobotrya is less poetic and means “bunches” referring to the fruits growing in clusters. Even less…
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Looking back … and forward, at Natural Products Expo East
In 2008, Planetary Formulas (now renamed “Planetary Herbals” to account for many of the single herbs that have been incorporated into the line) turned 25 years old. In honor of this occasion, Lesley a …
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Lemongrass: An Overlooked Medicinal Herb
There are so many reasons that otherwise great botanicals are overlooked for their therapeutic uses. One example is echinacea, arguably one of the most popular medicinal herbs in the Western world. As a treatment for bacterial infections, arthritis, neuralgia, and rattlesnake bites, echinacea arrived on the market as Meyers Blood Purifier around 1890 and was…
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Lemon Balm: For More Than Just Depression
The renowned 16th century English herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper, described the use of lemon balm for depression by quoting Serapio who said the herb “caus(es) the mind and heart to become merry, and reviveth the heart, faintings and swoonings of such who are overtaken by sleep, and driveth away all troublesome cares and thoughts out of…
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Lemon balm and other mints for the treatment of herpes
It is well known that oils of aromatic herbs which include all the mints, lemon balm and sage serve the function of putting up a protective barrier to plants against infective agents such as bacteria …
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Kudzu found effective for relief of cluster headaches
If you or someone you know is one of the unfortunate 0.1% of the population who suffers from cluster headaches, take heart:an herb commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and in Asian cooking ma …
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Kratom: Uses, Dosage, Administration, and Contraindications
Kratom leaves See Part 1 of my series on kratom here. I work at a local free clinic alongside other students and colleagues dispensing healing advice, free herbs and acupuncture. One of our regula …
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Kratom: The Herbal Pain-Relieving Answer to the Opioid Epidemic?
Mitragyna speciosa by Uomo vitruviano As of the beginning of August 2017, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published notice of the state of the opioid epidemic in America. They estimated that …
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Korean Hand Therapy
Korean Hand Therapy (KHT) was discovered by Tai Woo Yoo, OMD, PhD, a South Korean acupuncturist, in 1971, when he found himself unable to sleep with a headache that would not go away. Using a ballpoint pen, he poked an area at the tip of his middle finger which he believed corresponded to the area…
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Know Your Ferment Metabolites
Nancy Angelini, the author of the article, “What Exactly Are Ferment Metabolites?” which I’m featuring in this blog post, is the head East Coast educator for Planetary Herbals and Source Naturals supp …
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It Doesn’t Have to Taste Bad!: Administering Herbal Medicines to Children by Michael Tierra
Your child is sick and you’d like to try administering herbs rather than drugs. The reason is obvious: you correctly ascribe to the notion that most medicinal herbs are safer and have less potential s …
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Is He Shou Wu Safe?
The root of he shou wu (Polygonum multiflorum), also known as “fleece flower,” has been popularly in use for centuries as a rejuvenative longevity tonic as well as for lowering cholesterol, swollen glands, abscesses, non-healing sores, ulcerations, malaria, and constipation. In recent months, however, there have been a number of reports, mostly coming out of…
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Introducing: the East West Free Herbal Clinic
East West Free Clinic herbalists Maureen Flash, Erin Massengale, Michael McEvoy, Beverly Jennings. I have always had the desire to be of service to the poor and indigent in our community, but was nev …
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Intranasal Calamus Oil: Effective Treatment for Down Syndrome and Autism
I have been treating a young man with Down Syndrome mostly with acupuncture over the course of years. His mother has him in a home with other people with Down Syndrome. As with many of these people, h …
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Influenza Revisited
Here it is again – another influenza epidemic claimed to be the biggest in 10 years. We’re bombarded by the usual display of public health officials including TV doctor-personality Dr. Oz all dutifull …
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In Search of the True Mediterranean Diet
Corfu Bay: Practically every square yard of arable land is covered with olive trees or grapevines As someone who’s worked in the health field for most of my life, I get to hear about all sorts of f …
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I Tried Everything for Shingles. Here’s What Worked.
For the last 3 1/2 weeks, I’ve been suffering from shingles and postherpetic neuralgia. It is a terrible condition. There seem to be many cures and treatments for it that are either questionable, or in the case of Western medicine, have a potential for adverse side effects. Most people suffer from post-herpetic pain that can…
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Huckleberry Fruit and Leaf for Diabetes
Many years ago, while visiting Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I happened upon a local herb shop. While perusing jars of dry herbs, I noticed one that contained huckleberry leaves. In most parts of the country, bulk huckleberry leaves are hardly known well enough to claim any of the limited space in an average herb store. The…
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