Herbalism is the research, extensive learning and understanding of the medicinal properties of plants, encompassing all parts. In order to reap the different health benefits that each plant species has to offer, each part of the plant (root, stem, bark, leaves) must be learned and studied to truly understand its corresponding healing properties.

Plants have the ability to synthesize a wide variety of chemical compounds that are used to perform important biological functions, and to defend against attack from predators such as insects, fungi and herbivorous mammals. Many of these phytochemicals have beneficial effects on long-term health when consumed by humans, and can be used to effectively treat human diseases. At least 12,000 such compounds have been isolated so far; a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total. Chemical compounds in plants mediate their effects on the human body through processes identical to those already well understood for the chemical compounds in conventional drugs; thus herbal medicines do not differ greatly from conventional drugs in terms of how they work. This enables herbal medicines to be as effective as conventional medicines, but also gives them the same potential to cause harmful side effects.

The use of plants as medicines predates written human history. Ethnobotany (the study of traditional human uses of plants) is recognized as an effective way to discover future medicines. In 2001, researchers identified 122 compounds used in modern medicine, which were derived from "ethnomedical" plant sources; 80% of these have had an ethnomedical use identical or related to the current use of the active elements of the plant. Many of the pharmaceuticals currently available to physicians have a long history of use as herbal remedies, including aspirin, digitalis, quinine, and opium.

The use of herbs to treat disease is almost universal among non-industrialized societies, and is often more affordable than purchasing expensive modern pharmaceuticals. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of the population of some Asian and African countries presently use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. Studies in the United States and Europe have shown that their use is less common in clinical settings, but has become increasingly more in recent years as scientific evidence about the effectiveness of herbal medicine has become more widely available.

The Cradle Of Civilization - Ancient Sumeria

Herbalism can be traced back almost 5,000 years to around 2900 B.C. The land of ancient Sumeria who created clay tablets that listed hundreds of plants used for medicinal purposes. These included myrrh and opium.

Land Of the Pharoahs - Ancient Egypt

The Ebers Papyrus is the earliest know Egyptian medicinal text and also the most important. This early written record, which dates to 1550 B.C. is believed to be transcribed from earlier texts that predate the Ebers Papyrus to around 3400 B.C. This important text contains around 700 medicinal formulas and remedies that use up to 850 plants. These include mandrake, castor bean, aloe, juniper and garlic.

The Near East - Ancient India

Herbal medicine is the foundation of Ayurveda, the system of traditional medicine native to India. This ancient medicinal encyclopedia dates back to 1900 B.C. The earliest herbal records from this time in this region are called the Rig Veda, they are believed to form the basis of Ayurveda. The noted herbalists of this region, Charaka and Sushruta describe 700 medicinal plants in recipes and preparations within the Ayurveda.

The Far East - Ancient China

The Chinese Emperor Shen Nung, whose name translates to divine farmer is credited with writing the first Chinese Herbal, the Pen Tsao. Listed within the sacred herbal text are 365 known medicinal plants, the uses of each and preparations for the potent herbal remedies. These include ephedra, hemp and chaulmoogra. This can be traced to around 2700 B.C., which China was under the Zhou Dynasty rule. Succeeding dynasties augmented and perfected the texts, which are the genesis of the herbal remedies and preparations we know today.

The Mediterranean - Ancient Greece and Rome

The world of the Mediterranean during the 3rd century B.C. and the 1st century B.C. were filled with the writings of the herbalists Diocles, Carystus and Krateuas. Of the few surviving fragments of text from this period historians have noted that a large amount of these herbal texts overlap with Egyptian texts. These herbal writings laid the framework for later western medicine. Dating around 50 A.D. the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides compiled the De Materia Medica, an herbal text that includes over 600 plants and 90 minerals. Another noteworthy herbalist of the 4th century B.C. was Theophrastus. He wrote the Historia Plantarum, which we now know to be the first systematization of the botanical world. The ancient Greeks and Romans advocated and used herbal remedies extensively through this period. Commonly used herbs such as fennel, rosemary and saffron were prevalent of the time. The Romans were also heavily influenced by Greek medicinal practices. Before battle, the Roman army physicians would apply garlic oil to the feet of the soldiers to strengthen their immune system thereby shorten healing times.

The Middle Ages - Central and Northern Europe

Greco-Roman and Middle Eastern texts were translated and transcribed heavily throughout this period by monks that lived and studied in Benedictine Monasteries.

These places of worship and solitude offered a safe haven for ancient texts that otherwise would have been either been destroyed of forgotten. Many herbal texts from the Ancient Greco - Roman world to survive were transcribed by hand by the monks. This propelled the monasteries into becoming the local centers of medical knowledge of the time. Most monasteries cultivated herbal gardens and the nobility of provinces would consult these herbalist monks for treatment of common disorders. Simultaneously folk medicine amongst common villagers of these provinces continued to flourish. There were numerous wandering herbalists that came to be known as "wise-women" and " wise-men", that would prescribe their concoctions of herbals often along with spells, enchantments, divination and advice. These "wise-women" and " wise-men", would later come under persecution and the target of witchcraft hysteria in the Late Middle Ages. Hildegard of Bingen was a 12th century German Benedictine nun who wrote the Causae et Curae. (Causes and Cures). The texts medicinal herbal remedies include such herbs as aloe, bindweed, fennel and sage just to name a few.

The Late Middle Ages - The Middle East

Simultaneously around the 9th century, the Islamic world of the Middle East began to see medical schools or hospitals known as Bimaristan. These schools of medicine were by far more advanced than their European counterparts. Greco-Roman medicine was widely venerated throughout most of the Middle East as opposed to being restricted to the confines of the Benedictine monasteries of Europe. This proliferation of medicinal knowledge was propagated by the abundant transcribing of Greco-Roman texts into Arabic. Tens of thousands of texts were translated and transcribed during the period of around the 9th century to the 13th century leading to a highly evolved medieval knowledge of herbalist medicine outside of the far east countries like China and Korea.

These well-versed herbalists would travel to the far east, as the Arab world was a divergent trading center and culturally diverse at that time. The herbalists would bring back texts from China and India to study further and broaden their knowledge of herbalism. The physicians of the Arab world would also have access to the plants of the far east through the vast trading network that ran between the Muslim world and China. One of the cities most important to the study and thriving of herbalism in this region was Baghdad. The physician al-Dinawari had a deep understanding of botanicals and herbs, detailing in his texts more than 630 herbal uses from known plants. In the 13th century, Ibn al-Baitar detailed the uses of over 1,400 various plants, 300 of which were of his own discovery.

The Renaissance - The Re-Awakening of Europe

Between the 12th and 13th centuries, Europe say the re-emergence of herbalism in the different social levels and classes. This was greatly due to the fact that the corrected and translated works of the ancient Greco-Roman texts began to travel back to Europe via the increasing influx of herbs and other trade goods from the Middle East. One of the most venerated works of this time to be translated and copied into multiple Latin Languages was the Canon by Avicenna. The text, which is divided into five volumes, clearly presents the summary of all medical knowledge of that time. It explains the causes of health and disease as well as herbal remedies for many known illnesses.

Through this and many other Arabic texts the European provinces saw steady but slow a re-awakening of herbalism through the renaissance and upwards into the baroque and classical eras. Medical institutions of the period and their strong emphasis on Pharmacologic medicine and practice would continue to suppress the true nature of herbalism, thus oppressing dedicated herbalists throughout this time in Europe up until the late 18th century.

The 19th Century - North America, the Modern Era and Beyond

Starting around the late 18th century, a movement that is rooted in North America that came to be known as "Eclectic Medicine" began to form. The term was coined by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1784-1841), an American physician and botanist who while living among the Native-Americans noticed that their use of plants as medicinal remedies. Rafinesque is responsible for studying and publishing over 6,700 binomial names of plants. "Thomsonian Medicine" which was started by Samuel Thomson (1769-1843), is the earliest movement in North America's history to fully embrace and expand herbalism on a national scale. Thomson was born in New Hampshire and learned and studied the plants that fascinated him growing up as a boy in the countryside. Learning from a local herbalist woman, Thomson gathered and sampled the local plants in this local wilderness.

The flower Lobelia, which he discovered on one of his plant gatherings, would later become a powerful remedy in his future system of medicine. As a boy he would trick friends into ingesting the flower causing them to vomit due to its emetic properties. When he was in his late teens he labored on his family farm and severely injured his leg in a wood chopping accident. Despite a local doctors efforts his injury worsened. He took it upon himself to treat himself with comfey root and turpentine plaster and make a complete recovery after some weeks. Thomson later married and started his family later starting the Thomsonian Medicine Movement in North America. This movement would affect nearly 1 million people across the nation. The dangerous and life threatening methods of traditional medicine of the day such as bloodletting was appalling to people because of its ineffectiveness and gruesomeness. Thomson's holistic herbal methods appealed to people because they themselves could administer their own treatment. The book "New Guide to Health" was written and published by Thomson in 1822. He also sold patents for his remedies to families. The new movement of "Eclectic Medicine" eventually supplanted Thomsonian Medicine and the herbalism movement in America would be met with vehement opposition from the emerging pharmacological side of medicine. This would prove to be the beginning of the Big Pharma era of synthetic medicine and its rapid rise to prominence in North America and the west, eventually spreading into the east as well.

When chemistry had advanced to the point where scientists could extract single active ingredients and synthesize these ingredients, the herbal medicines of the day were replaced by reproducible drugs. The French word for herb, "drougue", became the name for the chemical synthetic version of herbs - drug. Although only containing one synthesized active herbal ingredient, these reproducible compounds lack the multilevel efficacy that their natural herbal counterparts are abundant in.

Since early adopters of herbal and holisitc medicine in the 19th century were shunned by orthodox medicine. The view that chemotherapy or chemical orthodox medicine was superior became an accepted view due to such diseases as syphilis that spread throughout the world. The chemicals used to treat such diseases were dangerous. This orthodox medicine system experimented with such chemical compounds as arsenic, copper, sulfate, iron, mercury and sulfur. These early primitive drugs led to the rise and dominance of what we know today as Pharmacology and pharmaceuticals. Popular pharmaceuticals such opium, digitalis, quinine and aspirin started as herbal remedies before being reproduced and single active ingredient isolate formulations by the pharmacological companies in the first half of the 20th century. Over 7,000 medicinal compounds in the modern pharmacopoeia are derived from plants.

Simultaneously the herbalists from the latter half of the 19th century to the early 20th century studied mostly from TCM sources and the later Eclectic practitioners such as Harvey Wickes Felter. His published work - Eclectic Materia Medica was one of the last stands against the onslaught of oppressive standard practice medicine system and the burgeoning American Medical Association.

The later era of herbalism as we know it today emerged slowly throughout the late 1970's to 80's. This is where we truly saw a renaissance of old world herbalist truth come to light as the global markets began to connect with one another thus affecting the change in how many viewed orthodox medicine and its limitations. The burgeoning organic and holistic health markets and retailers offering a multitude of natural, unadulterated products along with vitamins and herbs.

The comprehensive knowledge of herbs we hold today is a result of this change in the outlook on orthodox medicine. The orthodox system that once held herbalism in oppression and isolation is now itself under scrutiny. More and more health conscience people are searching for remedies to help illnesses that herbalists from Ancient Sumeria through Ancient China and throughout the Mediterranean of the Greco-Roman era found herbal preparations thousands of years ago.

The prevalence of Herbalism in today's multi-cultural society is spread out through different disciplines and movements such as

Naturopathy

Holistic Medicine

Nutritional Medicine

Acupuncture

Massage Therapy

Aromatherapy

Naturopathy

With its origins stemming from the early part of the 19th century, Naturopathy combines traditional practices and ancient ones that are grounded in herbal medicine.

Philosophically at its core, this system of medicine embodies and emphasizes the healing power of nature. Primary to naturopathic physicians beliefs are healing through the body's innate ability to maintain and restore health. The preference to treat illness with natural and least invasive methods form the basis of Naturopathy. Another core belief is treating the body and mind or spirit as a whole. This core belief has its origins in Traditional Chinese Medicine with the correlation of Qi and how the mind and body are balanced together.

Holistic Medicine

This form of medicine gained momentum in the latter half of the 20th century with roots laid down by other cultural movements of the 1960's onwards. The generally unfavorable view of orthodox medicine during this time amongst counterculture groups that western medicine was a disabling, iatrogenic and insidious instrument of social control. The disenchantment of orthodox medicine led to a renaissance for CAM (Complimentary or Alternative Medicine). Therapeutic salvation from the over saturated synthetic pharmaceutical remedies of the day were met with openness and eager reception. The use of natural, safe remedies and an active role for the patient to manage their own recovery and their own well-being was heralded amongst opponents of orthodox medicine. This included a mixture of TCM and North American - Native Indigenous people's medicinal preparations.

Nutritional Medicine

Dating back to the 18th century, a French chemist named Lavoisier discovered that there was a link between ones metabolism and the process of breathing. During the early 20th century, diseases common at the time were linked to certain diets. In 1912 the substance vitamin B12 prevented some of these diseases and was named "Vitamine". Later on the scientific community concluded that certain diseases were caused by the lack of specific nutrients such as vitaminB1, vitamin D, vitamin C and vitamin B3. Recommended Dietary Allowances were then set by the National Research Council to advise how much of a nutrient one needs to maximize health and lower the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and other degenerative diseases.

The relationship between food and a healthy body is important on many levels. The health of the individual's body affects the health of the mind and spirit. These factors have to be in balance with one another. If one is out of balance the remaining are as well.

Physical Medicine - Acupuncture

With its origins in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) this system of healing dates to around 1600 B.C. The essential core of the doctrine is the notion that Qi (pronounced chee), which translates as " life force" or "life energy" flows through energy pathways called meridians in the body. Each meridian corresponds to one organ or one group of organs that governs particular bodily functions. Balance is key to understanding how Qi operates and flows. If ones physical health is in poor state because of disease or a specific ailment, their Qi is out of balance. This also corresponds to the TCM belief in yin and Yang, which are complimentary opposites. Every living being in nature (humanity, animals, plants) is composed of both yin and yang. An imbalanced Qi, can be restored using acupuncture by inserting needles at designated, mapped out points along the meridians of the body. These designated points are places where the energy pathway is close to the surface of the skin.

Acupuncture came to the west in early 1970s mainly due to President Nixon's visit to China. A reporter who was traveling with the president underwent an emergency appendectomy while on this trip. The post-pain relief procedure he received was acupuncture. Upon returning to the U.S. he wrote about his experience in the New York Times and which garnered attention for acupuncture on a massive scale in the U.S.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) formally recognizes acupuncture as a mainstream medicine healing option with a statement documenting the procedure' s safety and efficacy for treating a range of health conditions. While awareness of acupuncture is growing, many conventional physicians are still unfamiliar with both the theory and practice of acupuncture.

Acupuncture has been used successfully in the treatment of conditions ranging from musculoskeletal problems (back pain, neck pain, and others) to nausea, migraine headache, anxiety, and insomnia.

Physical Medicine - Massage Therapy

Dating back around 4,000 years in China, this hands on treatment is used to manipulate different muscles and soft tissue of the body to improve health and well-being. Varieties of massage such as gentle stroking or kneading of soft tissue and muscle are employed to help relieve muscle tension, reduce stress and evoke feelings of calmness. Although massage affects the body as a whole, it particularly influences the activity of the musculoskeletal, circulatory, lymphatic and nervous systems. Massage is at its core a healing therapy that has been practiced for centuries around the globe.

Swedish massage, which is a contemporary of TCM massage dates back to the mid 19th century. By the end of the 19th century a significant number of U.S. doctors were practicing this manual technique, and the nation's first massage therapy clinic had opened its doors to the public. The heavily pharmacological dependent orthodox system of medicine that gained dominance during the 20th century overshadowed massage in the U.S. but by the 1970s both the public and the orthodox system of medicine began to see the resurgence of alternative medicine, including mind-body therapies such as massage. The growing numbers of massage therapists today are helping to alleviate and reduce stress while simultaneously working to heal the body using ancient techniques developed in the east.

Physical Medicine - Aroma Therapy

Around 6,000 years ago the first known account of aromatherapy was in China. The ancient Egyptians, Indians, Greeks and Romans also used these essential oils for a multitude of purposes such as spiritual ceremonies, therapeutic healing, hygienic and ritualistic cleansing.

Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils from plants for healing. Whether inhaled or applied on the skin, essential oils are gaining new attention as an alternative treatment for infections, stress, and other health problems.

A French chemist named René-Maurice Gattefossé discovered the healing properties of lavender oil when he applied it to a burn on his hand caused by an explosion in his laboratory. He then started to analyze the chemical properties of essential oils and how they were used to treat burns, skin infections, gangrene, and wounds in soldiers during World War I. In 1928, Gattefossé founded the science of aromatherapy. By the 1950s massage therapists, beauticians, nurses, physiotherapists, doctors, and other health care providers began using aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy did not become popular in the United States until the 1980s. Today, many lotions, candles, and beauty products are sold as "aromatherapy." However, many of these products contain synthetic fragrances that do not have the same properties as essential oils.

Herbal medicine is a holistic approach in its perception of disease as an imbalance or disharmony of the whole. Disease is not seen as an entity to be confronted, attacked, or eradicated. Instead, herbalists seek to resolve underlying imbalances, thereby resolving the disease itself. Traditional Chinese Medicine sees disease as a disharmony between the two universal forces of yin and yang. Chinese herbs are described in terms of their yin or yang nature or the corresponding categories of hot and cold. In this system, ginger is hot, while rhubarb root is cold. Chinese herbalists still follow the advice given in The Yellow Emperor's Textbook (Nei Jing). Compiled about the first century B.C., it says, "hot diseases must be cooled, while cold diseases must be warmed".

Ayurvedic medicine similarly categorizes herbs according to their temperature. It is like the Chinese system also in that it teaches that the taste of an herb (bitter, salty, sweet, sour, acrid, or pungent and astringent) is not incidental but is indicative of its properties. In addition, this is a variation on the theme of the Doctrine of Signatures, which played an important role in western herbal medicine. Ayurvedic medicine teaches that herbs can strike a balance between the three primary humours, vata (air or wind), pitta (fire or bile), and kapha (water or phlegm). The due proportion of each constitutes health. These same principles characterize the western herbal tradition, which likewise defined its herbs according to temperature and humoral criteria. Modern herbalists similarly seek to restore balance and harmony within the body. Some follow the ideas developed in the U.S. in the last century by physiomedical herbal practitioners, who saw the need to correct in disease over-relaxed or over-contracted tissues or organs, using herbs which are astringent, relaxing, or stimulating as needed.

All herbalists believe that the concept of the innate wisdom of body, mind, and spirit is of primary importance. Natural healing is founded on the principle that the human organism possesses the inherent ability to protect, regulate, adjust, and heal itself. This innate wisdom is often termed the vital force. The ability to maintain a steady internal state, despite the onslaught of powerful external influences, which threaten to upset our equilibrium, is known as homeostasis.

Herbalists seek to identify in which respect the vital force has been breached or compromised. Such as assessment, which makes use of diagnostic techniques, equipment, and clinical tests common to allopathic doctors, plus careful questioning about the patient's past medical history, diet, and lifestyle, may lead the herbalist to the conclusion in one particular case that it is the nervous system which requires support while in another that it is the circulatory or immune system that needs support.

Only by taking a full case history, which includes a careful observation and assessment of all aspects of the person, can the picture become clear. The herbalist interprets the symptoms as a manifestation of the efforts of the vital force to return the body to health and so seeks to aid rather than suppress these attempts by the vital force to heal the body. The gentle, harmonizing effect of herbal medicines, which provide necessary trace elements, vitamins, and medicinal substances, are a direct means to this end.

Herbal Practitioners in our time have been progressively cultivating and growing a holistic and homeopathic medical community so that we can achieve a balance of mind, spirit and body. Without these integral components being balanced, sickness, disease and decay are more likely to overcome us and destroy us. Herbalists have been around since the earliest known cultures of the world. The evidence of their healing knowledge still resonates within the herb masters of today. The key to understanding our long-term and balanced health lies with them and there wisdom.

D.S.H.E.A

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 - Which was passed by the 103rd session of Congress is a guideline for the herbal supplement industry and the holistic and well-being consumer. This important bill spells out regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of dietary supplements (which encompasses most herbal products available in the U.S.) In this bill, a dietary supplement is defined as " a product (other than tobacco) intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one of more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any ingredient noted in clause (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E)". Now this is quite complicated when viewed in the context of herbal medicine. The general labeling of all herbal products as "Dietary Supplements" is misleading as well as false information. As you may know, not all herbal products are intended to be used for what society in general views as " Dietary". This clever umbrella branding of herbal products fundamentally changed the public's perception of herbal and holistic products on sociological and psychological levels forever. To say for example, American Ginseng and Chinese Ash both hold the same beneficial properties is absurd. While one is effective in helping to boost cognitive function as well as known to alleviate diabetic symptoms, the other has been known to help alleviate nasal pressure, stimulate appetite, improve nutrient absorption amongst a multitude of other benefits. These benefits are self-evident truths that have been known throughout the world's multi-ethnic civilizations for centuries. The notion that these benefits are speculatory or unproven because of "lack of sufficient scientific data" is absurd. The very existence of written accounts and preparations of herbal remedies dating back to Ancient Sumeria and Ancient China disprove this blatantly false contrivance promulgated by the orthodox allopathic regime that governs the health of the people in the U.S.

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) defines dietary supplements as food and not drugs. This is critical to maintaining access to high quality, natural food-supplements. A natural product, by definition, may not be patent-protected. Without the promise of the economic reward that follows successfully patenting a product, it is impossible to weather the new-drug approval process, which can literally cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Thus, if supplements were categorized as drugs and required to go through the new-drug approval process, we would see most of our herbal supplements disappear.