Holistic Healing

What do you think of when you hear "Herbal Medicine"?

Some people think of it as a natural alternative to today's conventional medicine, that there is an herb out there that you take for a certain symptom or ailment. You start to feel sick, you take echinacea. You feel nauseous you take ginger. This is actually how herbal medicine is done/explained in many health food stores, pharmacies, internet, etc.

Actually, true herbalism is not about treating a symptom or condition. It is more about treating the person as a whole. As one of my teacher's cleverly put it, if someone comes in complaining about their elbow, it is not just their elbow that comes through the door; the elbow is attached to a person.

And so if you were to ever have an herbal comsultation, you would not just be talking about the headaches you get when you eat a certain food or the constipation you've been experiencing on and off throughout your life. You would be asked questions about your diet, your exercise, your social interaction, how you feel during certain parts of the day or after eating certain foods, what you do for a living and whether you enjoy it or not...all aspects of your life. Because, in reality, they are all related.

Imagine that you have a job that you hate. You have to work because you need to pay your rent and/or bills and so you are stuck in this place (sound familiar to some?). Outwardly, you feel tense, anxious, annoyed, angry, etc. Your boss comes and says or does something to durther annoy you, your heart starts racing and you feel like you want to kill him/her. What's happening inside your body is all sorts of biological responses that one would experience in most/all stressful situations. Short term, this is great. When it happens every day, every week, for months to years, it is not great.

Your body will send all sorts of signals to and from your brain about how to cope. Maybe you go and buy your favorite bar of chocolate and have a nice sit down with it. Mmmm, yeah that's just what you need.

Of course, there is no herb that will make your boss a friendlier or easier-to-deal-with person. There is no herb that can get you a job that you love and/or lots of money so you don't have to work. But, there are herbs that will help your body better in its reactions to that stress, to calm the hormones and you. There are herbs that will help ease your stomach when it feels all anxious and in knots. There might also be herbs that help calm those cravings or help you sleep easier.

In addition to herbs, there might also be lifestyle suggestions. Take 5 long breaths each time you feel like strangling someone. Tell your boss that you need to get some fresh air and go outside for 5 minutes to meditate or get some sunshine/air. Call a friend and vent. Sit and enjoy one piece of chocolate and really savor it, instead of ravenously eating the whole bar.

It's a holistic way of looking at and "treating" (that's illegal to say, actually) a person. An herbalist helps support you in all aspects of life and helps you see how all aspects of life influence your health. Certain people in your life might be more encouraging for a healthier lifestyle while other people might be the people, although you love being with them, have also "helped" you gain 10 pounds. Some things you eat make you feel wonderful and alive and others cause you to feel heavy and lethargic. Some exercises are fun for you while others...you'd rather poke yourself in the eye with a fork than do (but you do them anyway because it's "good for you").

Spiritual, Dietary, exercise (or "movement") and social aspects of life are the four things that make up the bio-psycho-social model which we are learning about and how to assess ourselves, our clients, and those around us so that we may be able to make suggestions and recommendations for our better well-being.