50 Healing Herbs You Can Grow in Your Own Garden

This post was sent to me from the The Pharm Tech Blog and highlights some herbs that you could use to help your own health.

“Modern medicine certainly works wonders, but there’s something to be said for alternative medicine. Herbs and plants have been used to cure ailments for centuries. These 50 miracle plants may look like weeds, but they are plants you’ll want to keep around if you prefer alternative medicinal sources.

1.Ginseng – This wonder working plant come in two forms American ginseng and Chinese ginseng. Chinese ginseng is used to improve circulation, while its American counterpart reduces fever and respiratory tract disorders. Ginseng is also used to increase energy through supplements or powders. This perennial plant grows best in cool climates.

 2.Dong quai – This simple herb can help with high blood pressure, allergies, and even menopause. The herb grows best in summer or autumn, and is best grown in trays.

3.Wild Yam Roots – These yams make for a great natural treatment of nausea, rheumatoid arthritis, and menstrual cramps. Natively from China, these roots grow best in temperate climates.

4.Eyebright – Like you might guess from the name, eyebright is often used to soothe eye irritation, as well as allergies and sinus infections. Growing eyebright is challenging but rewarding, as you’ll require simultaneous grass-planting to deal with the parasitic eyebright.

5.Ginger – This Greek-favored cure helps with migraines, motion sickness, and even blood clots. If you plan on growing this health favorite, it needs plenty of indirect sunlight and water, and hates the frost.”

Read more at: http://www.pharmacy-technician-certification.com/?page_id=81

Write on Yoga

A fantastic blog and article on Chronic pain and Yoga:

“You are not the sum total of your pain or injury. You are not your shoulder; you are not your knee, or just your hip or your neck. Even though when we have pain it does feel as though there is not a spot that is not without hurting.    

Doing Yoga can be a very therapeutic practice and usually will relieve the muscle areas surrounding and protecting the injury.  When those areas are released the injury is localized and healing is on the way.  ”

 

http://writeon-yoga.com/articles/?p=100

A Merry Christmas Wish

I wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

I’m taking a break from bloging but will be back with posts next year.

Shiatsu-do and the Makka-hos by Meridee Pierson (2007) part 7

Tracy Footitt, Shiatsu

 Masunaga suggests from his work that when the Makko-Ho stretches are done regularly they stimulate all the meridians in the body thereby affecting the complete body reducing stagnation and free flow of Ki. He developed a whole range of additional Zen imagery exercises and it would be interesting to explore these further.  

CONCLUSION

Although the numbers involved in this dissertation was limited there appears to be an improvement in a variety of different symptoms. I think that the Makko-Hos can be used to improve health and wellbeing and will be recommending them in certain situations to my clients to improve their health.

It would be interesting to do further work with the Makko-Hos in a larger scale project over a longer period of time and to evaluate the benefit of doing assisted Makko-Hos, which I did with a number of my clients.

On a personal level I have been doing them regularly for the past six months and have noticed a significant difference in my flexibility and wellbeing.

I am grateful to all those clients and colleagues who have completed the Makko-Hos and helped me with this dissertation.

In the East the body is regarded as a microcosm of the universe and by being in tune with the cosmic flow of energy we can gain health, peace of mind and spiritual strength. Eastern traditions teach us that when our energy flow is strong and healthy we can realize our true potential.

The Makko-Hos work directly with the energy of the body on physical, emotional and mental aspects of our being often creating an improvement in several dimensions at a time.

Correctly chosen exercise benefits not only the physical body but also the mind and emotions. The bending and stretching of the body, neck, head, arms and legs in certain ways affects the energy flow along the meridians, releasing stagnation and improving the flow of Ki.  

Those who stretch regularly recognize its value in enhancing mood, clearing the mind and in promoting harmony, health and well-being. When stretching is added to the common sense approach to diet and sleep, the body is able to find its own natural balance and harmony – the key for radiant health and the foundation of preventive health care.

Meridee is a Shiatsu Practitioner based in East Leake, England. You can find her contact details on the Shiatsu Society website, alternatively I will happily pass details on to her from my own email address given on the ‘About’ page.

  You can see a Shiatsu Practitioner doing a Makka-ho stretch with one of her clients on Rias (Ria is based in London, UK) website:

http://www.motherhand-shiatsu.com/testimonials.htm  

BBCi wipes out complementary medicine!‏

Disappointing news about the BBC website which provided an objective, informative source of information on Complementary / alternative therapies.

Here’s an email I received in relation to it;

“You may not be aware that last week the controllers of BBCHealth (www.bbc.co.uk/health) , the health section on one of the most accessed websites in the world, decided to remove all coverage of complementary medicine!
 
They used to have substantial coverage with over 40 pages on this subject covering all the major therapies, their pros and cons, evidence for their effectiveness, how to find a qualified practitioner, etc.
 
However the site has in recent months been targeted by the self-appointed ‘Quackbusters’,  (scientists and medics vehemently opposed to complementary therapies such as Prof David Colquhon et al) who sent a deluge of letters and emails claiming that complementary therapies such as homeopathy and cranial osteopathy were ‘unscientific’ and should be removed. As a result large chunks of this part of the site were simply removed overnight and now, following recent cutbacks, it was decided that, rather than update this part of the site, it should simply be removed altogether!
 
It may seem incredible that a public service site this prominent can deem complementary medicine so insignificant that it no longer warrants any coverage other than the odd news story. This is despite the fact that complementary medicine is used favourably by a significant proportion of the population (recent surveys have estimated that around 1 in 5 Britons use it at some point or other) and that increasing numbers of people are now seeking to train in these therapies.
 
However,  as the ‘quack busters’ become more organised and active, evidence of the backlash against complementary medicine is appearing all over the place – such as the removal of NHS Trust funding for homeopathy,  the threatened closure of the homeopathic hospitals, many negative news stories in the press and so on.  Rather than taking a reasoned view and considering the evidence from good research studies on complementary medicine these individuals seem simply hell bent on trying to ’stamp out’ complementary medicine in any way possible. The BBCi removal of complementary medicine coverage (which has been in place for almost 15 years!) is one example.
 
If you care about complementary medicine and believe information pages on it should be returned to BBCi, please, please take just a minute to express your views using their online comment form at: 
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/ 
 
to make your view known. As a public service company they have to listen to your views so your email will make a difference. Apparently for all the many letters and emails that they received that were against complementary medicine they only received a handful in support. Therefore if you are in support please let them know so they may revise their thinking on this subject.
 
Please act as soon as possible and pass on these details to anyone else you know who may also be willing to write in support of complementary medicine.
 
Thank you!”