Black Cohosh, East and West: Part 2
See Part 1 here. Black cohosh has long been used throughout the world, but today its many uses have been mostly forgotten in the face of its powerful effects on menopause. Here are many more of its tr …
DetailsSee Part 1 here. Black cohosh has long been used throughout the world, but today its many uses have been mostly forgotten in the face of its powerful effects on menopause. Here are many more of its tr …
DetailsIn desperation, a family with strong ‘old world’ roots brought to my office their beloved father, a humble Italian man who was diagnosed at Stanford hospital with late stage pancreatic cancer. He only …
DetailsWhen you hear of the herb black cohosh, what do you think it treats? Today most people say, “Menopause,” as it has been shown to stop hot flashes. However, this herb does far more than that and is a p …
DetailsHi! My name is Morning. I have lived in various places around the U.S., as well as elsewhere in the world. I have loved and enjoyed the people I have known, < and the richness of being able to experie ...
DetailsCan 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 …
DetailsSweet flag (Acorus calamus; A. americanus) has been one of those on-again/off-again herbs where it’s safe to use it, then it’s not, and then it is again. Well good news for North Americans – its nativ …
DetailsPrior to studying herbs, my background was in graphic design, having my own business and eventually working with a major state-wide and local newspapers and full service ad agencies. I moved from the …
DetailsMention “noni” (Morinda citrifolia) to anyone who has tasted the fermented fruit, and the conversation is over. Some people would rather die than have to ingest fermented — a polite word for ‘rotten …
DetailsI’ve been in the nutritional consulting field for the past 8 years. Prior to that I was a full time yoga instructor. I am the founder of www.MetabolicHealing.com, where I’ve authored around 300 resear …
DetailsThere’s another great Western substitute for a Chinese herb: Calendula officinalis can stand in for safflower (hong hua, Carthamus tinctorius). The two are flowers, one being deep gold to orange in co …
DetailsEast 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 …
DetailsAfter writing about the various types of citrus and their uses I thought about using other fruits as medicine. My mind turned to quince, since our wild lemon tree looks very similar to it. However, qu …
Details“What do you want to be when you grow up?” There were too many answers. Now, I’m lucky enough to be able to say I’ve ‘been’ quite a few things. I’ve been a nanny, a bartender, a preschool teacher, an …
DetailsA 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 …
DetailsMost of us love some form of citrus – oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons, limes and more – yet did you know that some parts of these delicious fruits are actually quite medicinal? Interestingly, …
DetailsI’ve moved from East to West over the course of my life. I was born in Boston. My parents were involved in the home birth movement, and natural food co-ops. We followed my father’s career first to Chi …
DetailsMy 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 …
DetailsToo often we find Western herbs pigeon-holed into convenient commercialized boxes. While this expands people’s interest in natural healing, it also limits herbs to one particular application such as e …
DetailsFinding myself in the place I am now, I feel so much gratitude to witness my life filling with herbs- building my apothecary, building my understanding, having a homestead to invite medicine plants to …
DetailsGluten 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 …
DetailsIt’s that season of the year again and so time to share some of my favorite herbs and therapies. The following I’ve found extremely useful over the last year. Some are herbs, others formulas, while st …
DetailsI am not sure where my love of plants came from, but there is a familial connection. My mother was an avid gardener and I grew up in a home with hundreds of plants. My uncle is an amateur botanist. I …
DetailsContinuing the discussion of berberine-containing plants as Chinese-Western substitutes for each other, we first looked at using goldenseal in place of the Chinese herb, coptis (or vice versa if you c …
DetailsIn 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 …
DetailsIn my investigation of finding western substitutes for Chinese herbs, I now turn to herbs that contain the alkaloid berberine, a chemical constituent found in many plants including goldenseal, goldthr …
DetailsI grew up in the wide-open spaces of rural Indiana, where my favorite early memories include gathering morel mushrooms with my family and exploring oak and hickory woodlands in timeless summer days. …
DetailsWhat is the Medicine Making & Meridian Therapy Track About? This track is a hands-on experiential series of classes that emphasizes medicine making and preparations along with body therapies, tool …
DetailsLike garlic, cayenne pepper (Capsicum annum) is one of those rude, crude herbs that has staunch friends and enemies. Regarded as a virtual panacea by many, others find themselves irritated and annoyed …
DetailsWhile I don’t think it is appropriate for any herbalist or alternative practitioner to claim to be an expert in treating such an obviously dangerous disease as Ebola, it might be of interest to know t …
DetailsFor quite a while, I’ve been curious about Western alternatives to Chinese herbs. I’m particularly interested in creating effective alternative formulas to traditional Chinese ones (to know why, read …
DetailsThere are moments to me that it seems strange I ended up on the path of herbalism. I was in the construction/building industry and I was loving it. My husband and I owned a construction business and d …
DetailsWhile many people may think that taste and flavor are the same, they are actually different. Here’s why: Taste refers to the senses in the mouth and has to do with how the tongue and mouth interact wi …
DetailsIn my search for western substitutions for Chinese herbs, it’s hard to ignore the easy ones. Since we’re at the end of the Spleen time of the Spleen time of year – deficient Spleen symptoms being poor …
DetailsI’ve always had a love for natural healing. Growing up, my mom had beautiful gardens and made simple remedies at home. When I became a mother myself, I wanted to be able to do the same things for my f …
DetailsMany people in the West eschew herbs from other countries because they only want to use western herbs. While local herbs are the easiest and most convenient choice, they’re not necessarily the best an …
DetailsMy great and late father, Paul, was a plant freak in his own right and gave to me my love of the natural and spiritual worlds. My mother tells me that I was conceived at Wind Cave National park in the …
DetailsEver wonder why you never hear mention of certain well-known herbs in the higher echelons of herbal medicine? Garlic is one such unsung herb. I once asked my prominent TCM and Ayurvedic herbalist coho …
DetailsRecently, Michael and I taught in England, and as we generally do when teaching there we also traveled to other countries. And of course we just had to investigate the herbal scene wherever we went, t …
Details“Be it ordained established and enacted by authority of this present parliament, that at all time from henceforth, it shall be lawful to every person being the King’s subject, having knowledge and exp …
DetailsAs a kid, I loved to play in the woods adjoining my suburban neighborhood. It was the home of a grandmother oak tree, in which my best friend and I built a two-story tree house. We would fantasize abo …
DetailsAnyone who knows me knows that I believe the traditional Ayurvedic formula called Triphala is the greatest single herbal formula the world has ever known. That’s quite a statement, coming from an herb …
DetailsWild 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 …
DetailsWith an overly stuffed plateful of responsibilities sandwiched between a week-long seminar of East West students and a month-long trip for which to prepare, I had no business reading a book. But when …
DetailsMy direct experience with herbs as medicine only began a few years ago. Even so, I believe that they were always there running a parallel path with me and, like little brain synapses, connections wer …
DetailsAlong with its typical purposes in Western herbalism, the Chinese use dandelion as a cold, anti-toxic herb to drain downward and disperse energy (Qi) stagnation and clumping. They’ve traditionally emp …
DetailsThe 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 …
DetailsI first learned about dandelion by reading Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury many decades ago, a book not really about dandelions but so fully infused with the spirit of summer that it may as well have b …
DetailsBesides the ancient traditions of Traditional Chinese Medicine based on the Huangdi Neijing and the Nan Jing, there have been subsequent important schools of thought based on the practice of great mas …
DetailsI’ve felt a connection with plants for as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until my first move to the Southwest that I began to integrate them into daily life. There I discovered how the native …
DetailsChinese 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 …
DetailsSo many of us are removed from our herbs these days since we generally choose faster methods of consumption such as pills, capsules, tablets, powdered extracts, and tinctures since they fit our busy l …
DetailsCannabis is considered under Federal law as a class I Controlled Substance, although in many states it is legal under medical marijuana laws. This monograph will concentrate on cannabis’s topical ef …
DetailsIn the late 1980s, I attended the first International Congress of Healing in India and met Sai Baba. He spoke to a group of us about helping people heal and of all the things he said a practitioner co …
DetailsI love sharing the wonders of wild edible and medicinal plants, and I am fortunate to make a living doing that. I’m the author of the book, “Dandelion Hunter: Foraging the Urban Wilderness,” which Pub …
DetailsSteven Horne is one of the leaders the herbal renaissance which began with only a few of us during the mid 20th century. He has had a distinguished career and powerful impact on the course of herbal m …
DetailsTo 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 …
DetailsIt’s only fitting that every photo I’ve found of myself lately includes my daughter – my studies at East West coincided very much with my transformation into a mother. I decided when I was pregnant th …
DetailsThere’s a fabulous kidney tonic that I want to tell you about if you don’t already know it – shilajit. Sometimes spelled silajit, shilajeeta, or shilajeet, it is also called ashmaja, black bitumen E, …
DetailsWe are pleased to welcome to the East West family Áine Amanita Rose McCormack, born to East West graduate Anne de Courtenay and her husband, the musician Martin McCormack. Áine came into the world on …
DetailsI’m not sure when the use of poppy for the relief of pain was made illegal for herbalists, but it certainly is. In fact, in California one can be cited and made to uproot and discard any poppy plants …
DetailsMy love of the natural world was instilled early by growing up in the beautiful and challenging environment of outback Australia. Being surrounded by people who were keen observers of plants, animals …
DetailsThere are many herbal approaches to supporting Shen depending on the imbalance affecting it: Nourish the Shen through Heart Qi, Blood, or Yin tonics: fu shen, zizyphus, biota, asparagus root, reishi …
DetailsDo you love life? Do you enjoy people? Are you enthusiastic about what you do? Do you wake up excited for your new day? Do your eyes sparkle? Are you playful? Then you’ve got Shen. If you currently do …
DetailsIt’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 …
DetailsMy first exposure to herbs was soon after moving to Montana at age 12 when my mother came down with pneumonia. She took echinacea as part of her healing process, and so my young curiosity was struck. …
DetailsHERBS – FOUR FAVORITES! While I’ve had many favorite herbs over the years with which I’ve experienced many wonderful healings, these four are my current favorites. Teasel (Dipsacus) I’ve long used …
DetailsThank you for visiting East West School of Herbology, home of world-renowned herbalists Michael and Lesley Tierra. No doubt you are here because you did a search on a particular topic that we used to …
DetailsNumen: The Nature of Plants A film about the healing power of plants http://www.numenfilm.com This is the most beautiful film yet produced on what we herbalists are all about. It runs 75 minutes long …
DetailsI decided it was high time again to introduce you to a few of my favorite things (I can’t believe it’s been five years since the last time I did this!). As I tend to focus on healing and not just herb …
DetailsI was born and raised in Hong Kong. I went to college in Australia and lived there for eight years, earning my bachelor’s degree in computer science and an MBA. My career has been in I.T. thus far des …
DetailsThe holidays are fast approaching and before you know it, you might need to start cooking up a storm. But what if you’re tired of the same old recipes or you want to try something new? Look no further …
DetailsI recently gave a free in-depth introductory webinar on pulse diagnosis. We have since published it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6WTq0GhnyQ Pulse diagnosis is a signature diagnostic me …
DetailsI was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, and it was traveling abroad that really enlightened my life path and purpose. Six years ago I fulfilled a dream of traveling through India and this is where …
DetailsThe products and claims made about specific products on or through this Site have not been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration and are not approved to diagnose, treat, cure or …
DetailsI am a clinical herbalist and holistic health consultant and have been part of the Goldthread team for the past four years. I started as a student of William Siff’s and transitioned to Goldthread’s op …
DetailsI spent my early years in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. When I was 5, my family settled in State College, PA. That was a magical and formative place and time for me-we had a sandbox my dad made …
DetailsWhen I first learned about herbs in the late ’70s, they were usually taken as capsules, with food, or smoked! As I began to study Chinese herbs I learned that they were typically prepared as teas. The …
DetailsA 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 …
DetailsIn my last blog post we explored patterns of disharmony for the Spleen, which are so prevalent at this time of year. Here, I’ll discuss remedies for those patterns. SPLEEN DIET There are many great tr …
DetailsWe are at the end of the Spleen/Stomach “time of year” – actually the Spleen/Spleen time – meaning that digestive and metabolic issues can be especially strained now. Every organ system “rules” about …
DetailsThe 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 …
DetailsIn Part I of this series I began the discussion about using of herbs to care for the caregiver. As a reminder, many herbs support your body-mind complex to assist in stressful times. They can increase …
DetailsNow that you know how to be and find a hospital advocate, what about the advocate herself? How does she get her much-needed support? Being a caregiver can be a staggering job and consume your mental, …
Details“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 …
DetailsI was lucky to grow up in a beautiful area just outside Copenhagen, near the sea and close to forests and parks. It feels like my interest in herbs and natural medicine have been with me my whole life …
DetailsMany years ago, Montana resident Thomas J. Elpel dropped off a manuscript entitled Botany in a Day at my office. Over the years many people have submitted manuscript copies of their book to me in the …
DetailsIn Part I we discussed the essential need for having or being an advocate when you or a loved one is in the hospital. An advocate can operate long distance via phone, but in person is best and may eve …
DetailsI hope this never happens to you, but it’s usually inevitable that one day either you or a loved one may end up in the hospital. This is most typical when caring for elderly parents, as happened to me …
DetailsEven though I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and appreciate urban centers, I developed a deep respect for the natural world. This inspiration can be attributed mostly to spending time on m …
DetailsIn Part I we learned about the many signs and symptoms of Food Stagnation. In this segment we’ll cover how to treat and prevent it. Therapies for Food Stagnation Diet Therapy Foods to Eat: Adequate am …
DetailsI think climate change is affecting my garden in Ben Lomond, California (a section of which shown at right). It is situated along a narrow strip in the Santa Cruz Mountains which lie some 2,500 feet a …
DetailsMenstrual 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 …
DetailsWe made it! We got through Qi, Blood, Cold and Damp stagnations, and now we are on the fifth and last one: Food Stagnation. This one is perhaps the easiest to understand and relate to because certainl …
DetailsI was born and raised in Olympia Washington, and lived in Seattle until 2009. I currently live in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with my husband, his two boys and our golden retriever. I …
DetailsIn Part I we learned about the many signs and symptoms of Damp Stagnation and its far reaching affects on health. In this segment we’ll cover how to treat and prevent Damp Stagnation and Phlegm. Of co …
DetailsLast 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 …
DetailsWhether you’ve had April showers or are experiencing May ones, rain is a great metaphor for Dampness in the body. Just as rain collects and congests traffic (Qi or Blood stagnation) it can also flood …
DetailsI was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. I have an amazing family –my husband, 3 children and a dog. I am lucky to be so blessed with all their love and support because without them the East West Sch …
DetailsMoxibustion, 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 …
DetailsIn Part I we learned about the many signs and symptoms of Cold Stagnation and its effects on physical and mental health. In this segment we’ll cover how to treat and prevent Cold Stagnation. You may b …
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