STEPHANIA TETRANDRA
Han Fang Ji STEPHANIA ROOT
Like Wu Jia Pi, this herb dispels Wind Dampness from the muscles, joints, and bones. Whereas Wu Jia Pi is a Warm herb, however, Han Fang Ji is Cold. Wind Damp causes rheumatic and arthritic ailments.
HOW TO USE
As a Cold herb, Han Fang Ji treats hot, painful swollen joints, such as in an acute attack of rheumatoid arthritis. It has an analgesic (pain-relieving) and anti-inflammatory effect. It is very good in treating edema, especially of the lower body and legs, gurgling or ascites in the abdomen. It may also treat acute edema of the upper body (water on the lung).
PROPERTIES Bitter, Acrid, Cold
CHANNELS Bladder, Spleen, Kidney
FUNCTIONS AND USES
Expels Wind Dampness and alleviates pain: use for Wind-Damp-Heat in the channels, causing painful hot joints.
Promotes urination; very effective at reducing edema—use Han Fang Ji whenever Damp collects.
CAUTION
Caution should be exercised in cases of severe diarrhea or Heat excess.
ZIZIPHUS SPINOSA
Suan Zao Ren SOUR JUJUBE SEED
This herb nourishes the Heart and calms the Spirit, which is said to reside in the Heart. Laboratory tests have proved that Suan Zao Ren has a sedative effect. It is used to treat emotional problems.
HOW TO USE
Suan Zao Ren is one of the main herbs used for calming the Heart by nourishing the Blood, treating symptoms such as irritability, insomnia, palpitations, and anxiety. It is also very good for both spontaneous and night sweating, and is used both in menopausal syndromes and withdrawal from addictive drugs, as well as many kinds of emotional problems.
PROPERTIES Sweet, Sour, Neutral
CHANNELS Liver, Gall Bladder, Heart, Spleen
FUNCTIONS AND USES
Nourishes the Heart yin and the Liver Blood, and calms the Spirit.
Prevents occurrence of abnormal sweating.
CAUTION
Use with caution in cases of Yin Deficiency, as it is very drying.
TRADITIONAL HOME AND FOLK REMEDIES
EVERY CULTURE, ACROSS THE CENTURIES, has had its own understanding and ways of healing. Local plants, customs, and beliefs determined the form it took, which varied not only across countries but also between villages. Even today, away from the convenience of conventional physicians, local communities around the world practice their own form of medicinal healing using plants, age-old wisdom, and an instinctive and learned knowledge of their bodies as the tools.
A RETURN TO OLD WAYS
With the advent of technology and the growing dependence upon the miracles of modern medicine, most of us have lost the art of looking after ourselves. We have become dependent upon physicians, prescription drugs, store-bought preparations, and, through that, have lost an understanding of our bodies and how they work. Somewhere along the line we have put not only our faith but our independence in the hands of others. When we have a cold, a rash, even painful joints, we go straight to the medicine cabinet, or call to arrange an appointment at the doctor’s office. The use of natural preparations, and the number of people addressing minor complaints in their own homes, hit an all-time low over the past decades, and only now are we experiencing a renaissance of natural healing and home remedies, as it becomes clear that conventional medicine, for all its wonders, is not the answer to everything.
Busy Western physicians have little time to spend diagnosing their patients, and our Western approach to pathology and anatomy is based on the theory that we are all the same. Individual personalities, lifestyles, emotions, spirituality, and indeed physical bodies are not taken into consideration for most conventional treatment, but we have now learned that it is the complex combination of these very things that can make us sick or well. Treatment, therefore, needs to examine a wider picture.
In the past, many of us had the knowledge and the wherewithal to treat ourselves, using foodstuffs in our larders and plants growing in our yards and fields. There would have been a village healer or physician who could be called upon in times of emergency, but for day-today and common ailments, treatment was undertaken at home. While our understanding of biochemistry could not match that of a modern physician, our knowledge of how plants and various substances work in our bodies, and, indeed, how our bodies respond in various situations, and to different treatments, was much more profound. Women instinctively treated their children and their families—recognizing a bad temper as the onset of illness, perhaps, and being capable of addressing the cause of an illness according to a more general knowledge of our holistic being.
Today, most drugs on the market tend to deal with symptoms, rather than the root cause of an illness. Conditions and symptoms such as asthma, eczema, ME (CFS), headaches, and menstrual problems are controlled rather than cured. We take a tablet to ease the pain of a headache, but we do not stop and consider why we have a headache. In the past, we had a much greater general understanding of the causes and effects of illness, and a much more instinctive approach to treatment. Folk medicine and home remedies kept the majority of people healthy and it is that tradition to which many people are increasingly returning today.
CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE AND THE FOLK TRADITION
Physicians’ offices are overwhelmed by the constant needs and demands of people suffering from minor illnesses. Conventional medicine has its place, and no one can deny that it has extended our lifespans and improved our chances of surviving serious illnesses. But it has its own drawbacks, one of the first and foremost being our dependence upon it. The majority of us are not able to listen to our bodies, and to take responsibility for our own health, in our own environment. Even conventional physicians welcome simple remedies to deal with the recurrent hazards of everyday life—coughs and colds, sore throats, cuts, bruises, skin infections, and many others—because it takes the pressure off medical systems and allows them to spend more time with more serious cases.
In the past, when conventional medicine did not have as much to offer and people could not afford to visit a physician, there was a commonsense approach to minor ailments. Indeed, many of the same remedies used have been adopted and adapted by conventional Western medicine. The popularity of these remedies is, quite simply, due to the fact that they are effective. They do, on many occasions, work better or at least as well as some of the pharmaceuticals of the modern age, and treatment is less likely to be complicated by side-effects. Their wider use means that we are less dependent upon conventional medical expertise and more self-confident. The power shifts from the physician back to the patient, which is both time- and cost-effective for everyone, and gives us a stake in our own health. Once learned, folk and home remedies can be used again and again.
PREVENTING ILLNESS
Natural medicine in the home is more than just first aid for common and minor ailments. It can be preventive, using some of the most common items in the larder—onions, garlic, thyme, mint, sage, chamomile—to protect against many illnesses. Modern research—particularly over the last three decades—is now justifying the use of plants and household items, things that have been used for