Helping you understand your health choices and working with you to find your balance through herbs, nutrition, lifestyle, and connection
Why Choose an Herbalist? That answer will be as unique as you are - perhaps because plant medicine resonates with you, perhaps conventional methods aren’t offering you enough, maybe you are tired of being treated like a number in the system, or you want to have a guide as you seek your own path to better health. Let’s define what an herbalist IS and ISN’T. Some think of an herbalist as a ol’ time granny woman that was a bit dirty, old fashioned and ignorant. Or maybe the quack traveling so-called doctors with a miracle cure that was not so miracle-ish. Most consider it a thing of the past, or replaced by a new modern version as a health food store clerk or an infomercial. In fact, qualified, capable, and passionate herbalists do exist today. And it is a growing field. Who knew, right?? There are schools, organizations, and professionals all around the US and world. An herbalist can be any one or combination of the following:
*medicinal plant grower or wildcrafter
*plant medicine maker
*family or community healer
*medical herbalist
*folk herbalist
*Traditional healer: Native healer (Cherokee, Creek, etc), Ayurvedic (from India) or Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner
*Naturopathic Doctor (ND) or holistic Medical Doctor (MD)
*Scientist / Researcher
If you are looking for a someone to help you with your health issues, you will most likely be working with a medical/community/folk herbalist, ND (or holistic MD), or traditional healer. Each will use the different tools in their bag to collect a complete health history and work with you as a whole being, and not just a disease. Through food and medicinal herbs, working toward complete healing and balance is typically sought as opposed to simply covering symptoms. Your health story is uniquely yours. Similarities and patterns often exist, but there are many different variables that make many, many different outputs. It often takes an in-depth and wide scope to be able to see the full picture to identify the root of an issue. Your herbalist is your detective, working with you to sort through your story and offer options for you to choose from that will alter the path of your story. How is this different from a medical doctor? In several different ways - time, scope, diagnosis, medicine, and philosophy. One of the things you will notice the most is the amount of time your herbalist will spend with you as compared to most medical practitioners. It is not uncommon for a full intake with a new client to take an herbalist 1-2 hours. This is time with you, and dedicated to you and your health history. Having this much time allows the herbalist to gather enough information to recognize patterns, strengths, and weaknesses. The scope your herbalist will encompass includes your health, nutrition, lifestyle, and passions - much broader than simply relying on testing and the numbers to diagnose a single and isolated disease. Your herbalist (unless a ND or MD) will not diagnose. This is where medical practitioner tests can be useful. Your herbalist can work with the diagnosis you have been given to offer tools that will assist your being as a whole. And some things herbs can’t do - it is important to recognize that AND to have an herbalist who recognizes that fact. But there are many things herbs CAN do and do better. Plant medicine is the oldest form of medicine, and our bodies recognize plant constituents easily and readily. The combination of constituents in each plant is often more useful than isolating the ‘active ingredient’. Whole plant medicine and traditional preparations have the benefit of less side effects as compared to isolated pharmaceuticals along with a proven record of use for up to 2,000 years (TCM) and 5,000 years (Ayurveda). Modern medicines are composed of mostly synthetic compounds. In 1987, 85% of pharmaceuticals were derived from plants. Today, that number is only 15%. Side effects from these pharmaceuticals are mild to death - and conveniently advertised in the commercial for the new drug! Plant medicine is not a one-pill miracle cure and often takes time for full results. However, the results are at a deeper and longer lasting level and without the ill-effects from harsh chemicals. The philosophy is the most important difference, though. Herbalists see you as a whole, not just a part, a number, or single disease. Modern medicine sees imbalance as a single point to strike aggressively with surgery or strong chemicals that are difficult for the body to process. Herbalists will find your unique path, which may be different than another person with the same presentation of symptoms. This allows for a deeper level of healing to occur on a larger scale throughout your being. Why choose an herbalist when you could research on your own? The internet has more than a few sites of herbal information. Starting on your own, it is impossible to sort the quality of the information - from the inaccurate to the sensationalized to the spot-on. Your herbalist has spent years learning and training with reputable sources, schools, and teachers. In addition to their sound advice, they will encourage you to research on qualified sites and books, and decide for yourself as they provide proven, safe, and reliable options, information, and guidance. Scope and being able to see the full picture is often the most difficult when we look at ourselves. Your herbalist can help here through your complete health history and their methods of analysis. You will gain skills simply by working with an herbalist - knowing how to take a tincture and even make a therapeutic tea and more. Choosing to work with an herbalist will be for some a new path, unknown and with strange new lingo and tools. It can be unnerving at first, but the genuine connection your herbalist strives to make with you and your unique health journey will help you feel at ease and supported as you move toward your best health. Read more at the American Herbalists Guild website:
http://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/herbal-medicine-fundamentals
