herbal medicine as a nature-based healing modality

Running head: HERBAL MEDICINE AS A NATURE-BASED HEALING MODALITY

Herbal Medicine as a Nature-Based Healing Modality

Denell B. Nawrocki

California Institute of Integral Studies

November 12, 2015

HERBAL MEDICINE AS A NATURE-BASED HEALING MODALITY

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Introduction

My first memories of exposure to herbal medicine are from my early childhood, when my

Mother would bring fresh springs of mint she picked from her garden and made me tea when I

felt unwell. The beautiful, lush green leaves danced gracefully in my mug as I inhaled the cool

smell of mint in the warm steam. Little did I understand at the time, my Mother was utilizing

knowledge and wisdom human-kind has known for millennia- that the plant kingdom of our

Earth has incredible restorative and healing effects on our human bodies, psyche and spirit. She

knew somehow that by steeping that plant in warm water with the intention to help me feel

better, my symptoms would improve and I would feel better. This piece of knowledge of giving

someone healing medicine based on plants is just the small tip of an extensive herbal panacea

that is available for humans to use on for healing benefits.

In the following pages I will explore herbal medicine as a healing modality and its place

in the history of health care practices. I will look at the requirements one needs in order to

practice herbal medicine, how herbal medicine is situated within the medical field, and the

challenges and successes of herbal medicine integrating into Western biomedicine. I bring in

personal experiences of working with herbal medicine and conclude with final thoughts on the

future of Herbal Medicine as a CAM modality. Through this examination, the healing

capabilities of herbal medicine will be recognized, and a greater awareness of the healing

potential of the plants of Earth will be revealed.

Philosophy of Healing

Herbal medicine is a holistic practice utilizing various flora from around the world, where

diagnostics and prescriptions are based upon the whole individual person which includes body,

mind, and soul, as well as their community. In herbalism, there is an understanding that the


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health and wellness of a single individual has an effect on the wellbeing of the community, and

places attention on finding and treating the root cause of a problem. Only when the root cause

remains unidentified is treatment offered for symptoms only (Micozzi, 2014). Herbs are most

effective on the physical level of a human, yet there is a deeply rooted spiritual aspect to herbal

medicine as well. Many indigenous traditions consider herbal medicine ‘plant-spirit medicine’

and that by working with and ingesting parts of different plants, one would consume the quality

of their ‘spirit’

Above all, herbal medicine is the medicine of nature. It is based upon the characteristics

and archetypal essence of all matter on Earth. The associations and interplay with the various

organ systems and the four seasons and elements of our planet (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Metal,

Wood), tastes and temperatures our body senses experience, temperaments and tendencies

(rising, floating, condensing, sinking) and the concepts of movement/stagnation represent the

basis for most herbal medicine practices from around the world (Mills, 1991).These practices

take into consideration the inherent cyclical aspects of nature and the predictable traits and

sequences that nature follows. These patterns in nature are then applied to whatever symptoms

an individual may present. Mills (1991) explains this idea further stating:

In [herbal] medicine it is also possible to see the living being as a cosmos,

subjected to vagaries of weather and tide, which lead in turn to predisposition to

illness, the illness having identifiable patterns as a result. With the recognition of

these patterns one can look for treatment that emphasizes the return of

homeostatic balance rather than attacks symptoms or external agents.

Herbal medicine treats the human body as though it is a microcosm of Earth and treats the

imbalances of the Earth-body with plants or herbs.

Herbs are another name for parts of plants that have been used in healing remedies.

According to Micozzi (2014), an herb can be any of the following: “an angiosperm (i.e., a


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flowering plant), shrub, tree, moss, lichen, fern, algae, seaweed, or fungus. The herbalist may use

the entire plant or just the flower, fruits, leaves, twigs, bark, roots, rhizomes, seeds, or exudates

(e.g. tapped and purified maple syrup), or a combination of parts.” These parts may be used

fresh, dried, powdered. Herbs can be applied topically or can be taken internally to treat a wide

range of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual symptoms. Whole or chopped herbs can be

used in infusions (steeped as tea) or decoctions (simmered over low heat). Herbs can be also

processed into tinctures, oils, oil infusions, and salves to then be created into various wellness

products for the body.

With the thousands of different medicinal plants found throughout the world and the

many ways to prepare them, it is a wonder to envision how ancient humans knew what different

plants were helpful and which were harmful. Yet over time humans developed a deep

relationship with their plant allies and created a body of knowledge on the healing potentials of

Earth’s flora. The story of how humans grew in relation with medicinal plants is a vitally

important aspect of herbal medicine.

History

There is little doubt that plants were the first sources of medicine. Even animals have

been observed to use them intuitively to treat severe wounds and maladies, and for more than

simple nourishment. Herbal medicine is one of the oldest forms of medicine practiced by humans

in all of history. Hieroglyphs, drawings, and inscriptions of various plants in medicinal form

have been found in ancient sites around the world. This form of healing stretches back across

time and connects us to our more primitive ways. The history of herbal medicine dates back to

the very beginning of human-kind.


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Plants can be easily accessible to everyone, and among vegetation in any habitat, there

are always some with “established pharmacological or other medicinal effects” (Mills, 1991).

Given the native intelligence of the human species, it is not a coincidence that all but the most

technological of societies utilize a vast array of knowledge about the plants in their vicinity.

Traditionally this knowledge was orally passed down in family-systems through the language of

personal experience, and the symbolism attributed to that experience.

In every rural community of the pre-industrial world there was what was known as the

‘medicine woman’ or ‘wise women’ whom were regarded as specialists in “the art of using

healing plants” (Mills, 1991). These medicine women would provide services for basic health

care for their communities, treating injury and illness with plant medicine, and acted as midwives

for birth and death as well. These women were not considered shamans of the community, who

specialize in treating human sicknesses of an emotional or spiritual nature (Mills, 1991). Instead,

herbal medicine is seen as a craft tradition rooted in a history of personal concoctions,

experiences with the plants themselves, and family lore that treat physical and mental human

ailments.

Although rural herbalism traditions were never formally written down, the tradition

inspired major medical concepts of early human civilization. The importance of plant remedies

can be found in records for every major civilization we have history of. Byzantine, Arab,

Persian, Egyptian and Roman civilizations practiced extensive herbal medicine therapies, as well

as ancient cultures in China and India. There are also records of “surviving traditions in Tibet,

Japan, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, among many others” (Mills, 1991). Over time,

these civilizations traded and exchanged herbal knowledge, and a blending of herbal traditions

emerged. Herbs such as cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and myrrh are all native to Central


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Asia, yet they became essential in the herbal healing traditions of many Western societies as well

(Cantin, 2009). However, what formalized herbal medicine in the far west of the United States as

a useful and valuable means of healing was the blending of European cultures with that of the

indigenous peoples of North America in the early days of colonization.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a large influx of dispossessed European

peoples moved to the ‘New World’ and populated the large tracts of wild-land that encompassed

much of the US during that time. These peoples often lived in remote, far-off regions where the

medicine-practices of the city could not reach. Being of rural-stock themselves, these immigrants

fell back into their old ways of learning about and utilizing many familiar medicinal plants of the

region. This came easily because it is an ecological and medicinal wonder that “the wild flora of

North America, especially around the eastern seaboard, has a great deal in common with Europe”

(Mills, 1991). However, regardless of the knowledge and wisdom these immigrants arrived with,

nothing prepared them for the vast botanical knowledge of the local indigenous population of

‘Indians’ and these people’s willingness to share what they knew. There are countless numbers

of stories of trappers, traders and explorers falling ill or receiving injuries, only to be nursed back

to health by the friendly native tribes. Most often, these tribes successfully used local flora to

heal the distressed individuals and words spread about Indian lore and herbal remedies (Mills,

1991).

White men and women began to seek out and record these herbal remedies, and for the

first time in herbal history, a body of literature developed on the healing practice. One of these

‘white Indian doctors’ was Samuel Thomson (1769-1843), who became so enamored with the

value of herbal remedies versus the more modern, Western ways of healing, that he taught

himself to read and write so as to make a career out of this solely oral tradition (Mills, 1991).


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Thomson wrote and published a widely popular book named New Guide To Health/Botanic

Family Physician in 1823 which initiated a medical ideological movement based on herbal

remedies called Thomsonism and instigated the American Botanical Medical Movement (BMM)

(Rothstein, 2002). These two ideological movements voiced out against Heroic medicine, an

ideology and practice which included “bloodletting, the use of cantharides (or ‘blistering’) on the

skin and the oral intake of a mercury preparation called ‘calomel’” (Libster, 2009). These

practices led to a series of serious side-effects, ultimately making the patient worse than they

were. For example, some of the most visible “adverse effects of the use of calomel were

excessive salivation, soreness and swelling of the guns and tongue, ulcers, a metallic order, and

rotting jaw bones” (Libster, 2009). In direct contradiction to Heroic medicine, Thomsonisn

philosophy was a based upon “the study of patients, not books- experience, not reading” and

developed herbal medical treatments based upon the needs of the patient and what he learned

through observing the local tribes (Rothstein, 2002). His methods, along with others developed

by the BMM were centered on nature cures, which were gentler and caused fewer adverse effects

than heroic medicine. The popularity of the BMM was demonstrated by the number of followers

of the movement. They sought out herbs to heal even though some of the remedies were not

particularly pleasant: bitter tastes, purging-agents, and strange-smelling concoctions were

administered to willing patients. All in all, belief in the importance of being one’s own doctor

and the potential of the nature cure helped steer the individuals of all socio-economic classes to

botanical medicine, and the movement continued to flourish until the end of the nineteenth

century (Libster, 2009).

Thomson’s methodology and the Botanical Medical Movement eventually led to the

inspiration of both eclecticism (an approach to medicine drawing upon many different theories


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and schools of thought) and physiomedicalism- a 19th

century system of herbal medicine (Mills,

1991). The rise in medical herbalism coincided with the emergence of manipulative therapies,

such as osteopathy and chiropractic, and the combination represented a new wave of health care

emerging in the United States. Thomson’s successors, such as Wooster Beach of the eclectic

school, and physiomedical theorist W. H. Cook, continued to research the detailed effects of

herbal remedies and their scientific implications. Contemporary ideologies of human health arose

within this body of research, such as ‘homeostasis, the necessity of keeping body fluids alkaline,

remedies to aid in autonomic nervous-system support (Mills, 1991). At the turns of the twentieth

century, these schools of thought and practice were unfortunately never formally adopted by the

newly established American Medical System. They eventually disappeared from modern

American medicine practice (Mills, 1991).

Physiomedicalism, with its Thomsonian roots, only survived due in part to the individuals

whom brought it to Britain, where it was well-received and adopted by people of newly-formed

industrial cities. Thousands of people from the country populated the growing cities, and wanted

to have access to the traditional folk remedies they were accustomed to. Urban herbalists whom

set up shop in the crowded streets of Britain administered herbal medicine to the urbanized

individuals. This trend in herbalism continued in Britain well the 1970s. Training for herbalists

in Britain was based on physiomedical principles and almost half of the remedies taught were

from America. Without this “fortunate reverse colonialism the whole Thomsonian experiment

might have been buried in the specialist history books” but now the legacy lives on in the

herbalist training done in Britain (Mills, 1991).

Herbalism was widely forgotten in the United States by the turn of the twentieth century.

With the rise of the AMA, antibiotics, and allopathic procedures, herbalism fell into the


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background and reemerged as an oral tradition in the rural areas of the United Stated. However,

in the last decade, herbal products have gained increasing popularity, and are now used by

approximately 20% of the population of the U.S. (Bent, 2008). Nowadays these dietary herbal

supplements are complex mixtures of organic chemicals that come from any raw or processed

parts of plants. The classification of ‘dietary supplement’ allows manufacturers to produce, sell,

and market herbs without demonstrating safety and efficacy, unlike their pharmaceutical

counterparts (Bent, 2008). Sadly, what was once a land-based medicine has turned into a money-

making manufacturing process, stripping previous processes of gleaning knowledge through

experience and personal interaction with the plant, to a one-size-fits-all supplement anyone can

have. The role of the professional herbalist was lost in the mechanization of the medicine, yet

there are many schools of thought still supporting the practice of herbal medicine as a therapy.

Although herbalism has become packaged and commodified in the last few decades,

there has been a resurgence of traditional herbal practice in the United States. The American

Herbalist Guild is an association of Herbal Practitioners founded in 1989 that represent the

“goals and voices of herbalists specializing in the medicinal use of plants. [Their] primary goal is

to promote a high level of professionalism and education in the study and practice of therapeutic

herbalism” (2013). This new resource provides directories of professional herbalists and schools,

professional trainings, the Journal of the American Herbalist Guild, and educational resources.

Within the guild, a list of over 50 different schools on Vital Herbalism, Phytotherapy, Herbal

Studies and Herbal Medicine is available, a testament to the rise in interest of medical herbalism.

Current requirements for practice

It is an interesting concept to think about the ‘requirements for practice’ for herbalists,

considering traditional folk medicine knowledge was practiced and orally passed down for


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centuries. Today, the title Herbalist has a shifting meaning, yet it originally meant “one versed in

the knowledge of herbs and plants” and one who knows how to utilize them in medical situations

(Micozzi, 2011). However, there are a variety of herbal practitioners available today and they

include: professional herbalists, lay herbalist, and plant gatherer/plant grower/medicine maker.

Professional herbalists undergo formalized trainings and/or a long apprenticeship in

plant and medicinal studies (Micozzi, 2011). Plant and spiritual healing studies can be

undertaken as well to accompany clinical applications. Formal training includes developing

familiarity and relationship with specific plants which “involves their identification, harvesting

criteria, preparation, storage, therapeutic indication, contraindications, and dosing” (Micozzi,

2014). Professional herbalists have a familiarity with each medicinal plant and formula, which

permits the herbalist to design a precise formula for each patient, unlike a Western doctor’s use

of one-size-fits-all pharmaceuticals. Professional herbalists spent dedicated time in learning

many different herbs through formal education so as to administer to most effective remedy for

each individual patient. The breadth of knowledge to be skilled in such diagnosis is testament to

the amount of dedication a professional herbalist has for their craft. Each cultural system and

medical system has different types of herbal practitioners, and there are various types of

professional herbalists whom have mastered the use of plants as healing aids. Distinct

professional herbalists include trained medical herbalists, clinical herbalists, licensed

Naturopathic doctors, licensed acupuncturists trained in Chinese herbal medicine, licensed

Aryuvedic doctors, Native American herbalists and shamans, Latin American curanderas, and

other lineages of culturally recognized professional herbalists (Micozzi, 2014).

Unlike a professional herbalist, a lay herbalist has a broad knowledge of useful plants for

health problems, but do not undergo comprehensive training in medical or spiritual diagnosis and


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management (Micozzi, 2014). Lay herbalists are able to evaluate medical plant quality, strength,

uses, and proper doses (Micozzi, 2014). They are normally local healers and vendors, and

practice herbal medicine as a means to support their community. Lay herbalists may continue the

work as a family tradition and are sensitive to the needs and desire of the herbal marketplace.

Plant gatherers, plant growers and medicine makers may consider themselves herbalists,

but like lay herbalists, they have no formal medical training to treat and diagnose with herbs.

These individuals are as pharmacists are to physicians: they collect, harvest, cultivate, process

and store the herbs, whereas the clinical herbalist prescribes them (Micozzi, 2011). These

individuals know the plants in a different capacity than clinical herbalists. They know where

wild-plants grow and in what ecosystem, how to properly and ethically harvest the plants, what

the proper preparations are to receive the maximum healing benefits, and how to store the plants

so they remain potent. In some systems, “preparing and handling the medicines is considered a

spiritual privilege and responsibility” and are reserved specifically for the plant gatherers and

growers. However, just because someone is a plant grower does not mean they are not herbalists.

There are practicing herbalists who grow and collect their own raw plant materials as well.

In order to be a professional medical herbalist, one must undergo extensive training,

education, and practice. As stated in the section on the history of herbalism, there are numerous

herbal-study schools specializing in lay herbalism and traditional wild-crafting (the process of

foraging and creating medicine from plants found in nature). In the San Francisco Bay Area

alone, the number of rising lay herbalists is growing, with more and more individuals being

drawn to creating and using herbal remedies created by non-professionals. This is not to say that

medical herbalism is obsolete, but the truth of the matter is that as herbalism popularity continues

to grow, more and more individuals have taken the old-route of learning through oral-tradition


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and are now making and selling their own herbal remedies. A quick search for ‘herbal remedies’

on the personal entrepreneur sale-platform Etsy.com gives testament to the growing number of

lay herbalists in the United States.

How it is situated within the medical field

There is an ever-increasing interest and demand for herbal products as adverse side-

effects of long-term use of pharmaceutical emerge. Many individuals are opting for herbal

remedies to treat their condition. Due to this increase in demand, the U.S. governments are has

interceded with legislation to mediate herbal prescriptions. Most herbal products sold in stores

are regulated as ‘dietary supplements’ to help stave off potential lawsuits from misdiagnosis or

dose disproportions. In 1994, the U.S. Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA)

set guidelines with “regard to quality, labeling, packaging, and marketing” of herbal supplements

(www.fda.gov). The DSHEA allows manufactures of packaged herbal supplements to make what

are called “structure and function claims” but no therapeutic or prevention claim. For example, a

label can claim St. John’s wort “optimizes mood” but cannot claim it is a “natural

antidepressant” because the latter is a therapeutic claim (Micozzi, 2014). This act sparked a surge

of interest in herbal products and an increase in demand for such products. Other regulatory

legislation of the DSHEA includes:

Criminal action for the sale of toxic or unsanitary products, ban on the sale of

products making false claims, the seizure of products that pose an unreasonable

risk of illness and injury, sue companies claim their products to cure or treats

diseases, stop sale of an entire class of products if the pose an imminent health

risk, and stop products from being marketed if the FDA does not receive

sufficient safety data in advance (Micozzi, 2014).

These statutory regulations are for both finished dietary supplement products and dietary

ingredients. According to the FDA website on Dietary Supplements, the DSHEA was created

with a main focus of “ensuring the safety and accurate labeling of dietary supplements” (2015).


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Considering how many lay herbalists are creating product and selling them on the market, it is

highly important for such medicines to be evaluated and reviewed when used for clinical

purpose. Quality and safety are of the upmost importance for the herbal supplements prescribed

by medical herbalists.

Challenges and successes with integration into biomedicine

As a rule, herbal medicine is safer than conventional medicine because they are more

dilute and the side effects tend to be less severe. However, although herbs are natural parts of

plants, such as the flowers, stems, seeds, or roots, they are not all safe. In some cases an herb

may be toxic to a human, and many plants have poisonous effects. Other plants may be edible at

some points in their growth cycle, but become toxic at other stages. (Kamahi & Zampieron,

1999). Some plants are highly poisonous and produce highly uncomfortable effects- even death.

And yet, even some of these plants can be prepared in a certain way to make them useful in

medicinal application. For example, “the shoots of young poke root plants are safe to eat only if

boiled three times” but are considered highly toxic else wise (Kamahi & Zampieron, 1999). It is

important for individuals practicing herbal medicine to know when and how to use specific herb,

and have a responsibility to educate the patient about the herb they prescribe. Without the proper

protocol and instructions, herbs prescribed with the intention of healing can worsen a condition.

Allergies are also common with certain plants. It is claimed that nearly every substance

we come into contact with is a potential allergen for someone (Kamahi & Zampieron, 1999).

Herbs are no exception. A really good herbalist will potentially know 1,000 to 2,000 plant

species with medicinal application. This is only a small fragment of the 300,000 higher plant

species that are all chemically distinct (Duke, 1997). It becomes nearly impossible for an


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herbalist to be able to assess a client for distinct allergies, and sometimes mistakes are made. But

this is not unlike other physicians and pharmacists who also make occasional mistakes.

Besides the risks concerning toxicity and potential allergies, herbal medicine has become

popular in recent years. Herbal medicines serve as therapeutic alternatives, safer choices, and on

occasion, as the only effective treatment. For example, herbs are being used in dermatology to

treat varicose veins, inflammation, and acne with great success (Dattner, 2003). It is also well

known throughout the field of oncology that many cancer patients supplement with herbal

medicine during conventional treatment to treat nausea, mood, and appetite (Richardson,

Sanders, et al; 2000). Herbal medicine is being utilized outside of the sphere of dietary

supplements and in their raw form for treatments such as those mentioned above. The beauty of

integrating natural healing remedies into the world of Western biomedicine is changing the face

of health care and giving patients options for medication.

My Experience with Herbal Medicine

I have worked with herbal medicine for the past two years and have had very exciting

results. There is a wonderful apothecary in my local area called Rosemary’s Garden, an over-the-

counter herbal pharmacy and store, where an individual can go and get free advice from trained

herbalists and purchase the prescribed medicine at a reasonable price. It’s a heartwarming feeling

to be able to enter into a shop, have an open discussion with a trained and certified herbalist-

who work in the shop- and get ideas for treatments and remedies at the same location they are

purchased. I have overheard conversations occur over the raw-herb measurement table

concerning such conditions as depression, cancer, IBS and anxiety. Many patrons of the store

tend to add their opinions into the conversations because many of them are lay-herbalists as well.

Rosemary’s Garden is a hub of herbal medicine practitioners, of whom some trained and


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certified professional herbalists, and others self-taught lay herbalist. There is definitely a sense of

community-supported healing for those who wish for advice and help.

I have the experience of receiving tailored herbal remedies by a certified herbal medicine

practitioner and Doctor of Indigenous medicine named Phyllis Bala. I have suffered from eczema

for most of my life and for a large portion of the time have resorted to used topical cortisol

creams to help with the inflammation and itchy sensations. Yet, just as with every topical

pharmaceutical ointment, the cortisone cream only treated the immediate symptoms and the

eczema always returned. I went to Phyllis when I felt disempowered with the care I received for

the eczema. Before creating a remedy for me, Phyllis asked questions about my recent life

experience, diet, elimination and personal spiritual practices. When I finished with my story,

Phyllis went to her apothecary and gave me a mix of various tinctures, raw herbs and herbal

juices to take, along with a protocol I was to follow. There were specific instructions as to how to

prepare the herbs and with what sort of tools. Timing was paramount and I was to consume the

medicine quickly after preparation. I remember thinking there was a lot to remember, but Phyllis

assured me that the protocol she was giving me would help with the eczema for good. For the

next several weeks I complied with the protocol. It was somewhat tedious preparing and

remembering to prepare the herbs, yet lo and behold my skin began to clear and my body-system

healed itself of eczema. Personally working with the plants was an incredible empowering

experience and sold me on the power of herbal medicine.

Inspired by my experience with Phyllis, I now wild-harvest and create my own herbal

medicines as a hobby. I guess you could say I am a “lay herbalist”, although I am not interested

in selling the remedies for money. I tend to gift them to my family and friends to support their

health and wellness, and I only work with plants that I know be to non-toxic. Searching for and


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discovering wild medicinal plants feels like a treasure hunt. Whenever I go out and forage, I

experience a deep sense of connection to the millions of medicine men and women who came

before me. Making medicine from the land surrounding my home has formed a deep connection

between me and my place and I believe has helped me remain flu-free for several years now.

Conclusion

The practice of using plants found in nature to help humans heal is neither unknown nor

uncommon in human-history, yet the practice of herbal medicine is still finding its place among

contemporary biomedicine practices. A merge of nature and manufactured medicine is rising and

plants which were at one time inaccessible to certain populations are now found on the shelf of a

local drug store. However, how will the technological evolution of herbal medicine affect the

natural cyclical processes it is based upon? At this time, no answer can be given, yet one can

only have hope that lands that are home to these medicinal plants will be protected and the

harvesting process remain in integrity with the balance of nature and natural life. I will continue

in the way of my Mother and will turn to the plants I have come to know and love to help me

stay well and feel good. It is through this continued practice such as this that herbalism will

flourish and help bring Earth-based medicine back to our health system.


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herbal medicine as a nature-based healing modality

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