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| Tonic Herbs : Supplemental therapy - Page 4
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Vital Energy tonics:
- Ashwagandha
- Astragalus
- Atractylodes
- American Ginseng
- Bee Pollen
- Codonopsis
- Eclipta
- Elecampane
- Fo-ti ( Ho Shou Wu)
- Honey
- Jujubee dates
- Licorice root
- Panax ginseng
- Poria
- Royal jelly
I usually have the clients take tonic herbs with food when possible. Often times I have them cook roots and pieces of the herbs right in the soups and stews or I may even ask them to decoct certain ones in organic milk which also acts as a tonic or building agent. Most often, however, I have the clients take the herbs in the form of a powdered blend - one half teaspoon with meals three times a day. I also mix the powdered tonic herbs with molasses or honey and add other nutritive foods to them such as ground sesame seeds for calcium and to moisten the intestines, or walnuts to warm the kidneys or chopped figs to nourish the blood and soften the stool. I have a grinder in which I grind cut and sifted herbs to a powder or if the herb is very hard or sticky, I have my herbal company grind them for me. Fresh ground herbs can have a shelf life of 6 months or more if stored in glass jars and kept out of light. Storing them in the refrigerator may be helpful as well.
I never use tonic herbs in tincture form when I am in the process of rebuilding someone. I feel that the whole herb taken in food or in powder will better nourish the person. This is the more traditional way to use tonic herbs and there are many references to explain this in both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine.
According to Ayurvedic medicine the food and herbs which have the elements of earth and water - that which builds and moistens - are considered to be deeply nourishing and supplementing to the system. Many of the tonic herbs in the categories listed above, have an abundance of earth/water elements in them.
The earth/ water elements are considered to be somewhat sweet in taste. Sweet does not mean the taste of candy, but "that which the body recognizes as builiding of tissue and vitality" - which are proteins, eggs, meat, seeds, nuts, beans, tempeh, and the tonic herbs taken in conjunction with the building foods such as astragalus, ginseng and codonopsis. Sweet taste means that the body feels loved and when we eat a truly nourishing meal our cells have "spasms of delight" in being taken care of. The sweet tonic herbs are also commonly used to raise one's tolerance to stress and pain and improve the general adaptive response to stress.
As stated above, it is best to give a person tonic herbs in conjunction with substances that have building qualities as well. Thus, mixing the herbs with molasses, or decocting the herbs in milk, reinforces the nourishing qualities - more earth /water is added to the person's tissues.
Alcoholic extracts have mostly fire, air, and water qualities. In other words, alcohol is warming, moves energy and is only slightly moistening to the system. In Chinese medicine alcohol - made as a fermented drink (wine) with a low alcohol level ( not tinctures) was used to move the blood and to break up blockages in the system. Using tinctures for building does not make sense when thought out in the context of the engergetic principles. If a person needed protein to rebuild their tissues, you wouldn't give them an alcoholic extract of meat, let's say. The same with the tonic/supplementing herbs - the person needs the whole herb or the herb cooked with the nourishing foods to be truly effective. This, I feel, is an important concept for the Western herbalist to grasp.
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