We have often heard it said that ‘we are what we eat’. But we are also what we breathe, what we think, what we say, what we see. Herbal remedies are most effective when a holistic and complete approach is taken. Using herbal remedies is an ideal way to co-operate with our own innate healing power.
We are familiar with associating herbal remedies with our health but what about the books we read, the films and television we watch the causes we support? Is the music we listen to good for our health? Are our friends good for us?
Herbal remedies have demonstrated their efficiency as healing agents through the ages; from the Celtic druid priests to the traditional healers of Africa; we find them within the Indian Ayurveda system, and in Chinese medicine; herbal remedies play a very important role in the spiritual healing of the Native North Americans; and we see their constituents being utilised as a source of drugs in ‘allopathic’ medicine.
Pharmacology has its roots in the use of herbal remedies and botanical sources. Until about 50 years ago, nearly all the entries in pharmacopoeias relating to the manufacture of drugs indicated a herbal origin. Today the popularity and use of herbal remedies is growing. More and more people are discovering that this is an effective and comparatively inexpensive form of health care and that herbal remedies are as useful in prevention as they are in cure.
In all holistic medicine and use of herbal remedies individuality and responsibility are crucial factors. There is an emphasis on the uniqueness of the individual and the importance of tailoring treatment to meet each person’s very different needs and circumstances. Holistic healing also rests on therapeutic approaches that are aimed at mobilising a person’s own capacity for self-healing. The person who is ‘ill’ is in fact the healer. Aid can be sought from ‘experts’, but the responsibility for healing and health lies with the person who wants to be well.
The ‘whole’ individual – mind, body, spirit and emotions – in the wider social setting of lifestyles and behaviour is part of a greater whole. Humanity itself exists in the context of the entire planet. All these levels work together in a dynamic, integrated system.