The Modern Day Herbalist
Hormones and neurotransmitters are a fundamental means of cellular communication. Their presence is ubiquitous in both plants and animals underlining their evolutionary importance (hence the term ‘ancestral’ hormones). This provides insights into why many plant substances have a role in treating hormonal disorders.
Master of Reproductive Medicine (UNSW) Course Notes 2017
I am a naturopath and a Modern Day Herbalist. I use medicinal plants to make and mix herbal Tonics and Remedies to heal and restore health. Herbal Medicine today is an integration of thousands of years of empirical evidence of the use of herbal medicines across many cultures AND science. Every culture has a rich history of herbal medicine.
What is a Herbalist
Us herbalists may look different from each other, but if you look closer you will see similarities. Perhaps you will sense the earthiness, with a grounded and holistic view to good health and preferring all things natural, and our individual personalities will shine through. We love to investigate, we are curious, we want to get to know our patients. You might visit us in a health food store or an established clinic, and we are usually surrounded by bottles of liquids or jars of herbs, like an Olde World Apothecary. We are all unique in how we practice herbal medicine, as every individual perceives the world differently. We are trained and qualified in the practice of herbalism, including at the university level. We are required to be a member of an Industry National Body that looks after our interests, monitors and regulates our education, training and qualifications, so that we are offered membership by the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) to be a practicing Healthcare Provider and dispense herbal medicine and treatments to our patients.
What is the Traditional Practice of Herbal Medicine?
Herbal medicine has been used and continues to be used across cultures, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda (India), Indigenous Australians, and throughout the Americas. The traditions of Western Herbal Medicine - form the foundations of the principles of herbal practice and the plants that I apply evolved primarily from European traditions, such as Roman, Greek, and English.
Traditionally, a plant was used to heal an ill - stomach pains, an infection, a skin condition, delirium and disorders of the mind with such traditional descriptions as melancholy or insanity. You would visit the village healer and receive the plant as a tea, poultice, tincture or perhaps a smoking ceremony. Traditionally the body was observed in it’s entirety and then the tissue state of the diseased or disordered organ was observed - was it hot/cold, dry/damp, lax/excited. The appropriate medicinal plant/s is then chosen to restore balance to the tissues, the mind, body and spirit.
The Modern Day Herbalist
Modern Day Herbalism has evolved from these principles to incorporate science. A plant and its chemicals are studied by the herbalist, the active constituent identified and the most effective mode of prescription for therapeutic effect determined. The raw material, whether it is the leaf, the flowers or berries, bark, root or even resin, is either prescribed as a tea infusion or made into a liquid tincture - which is alcohol based to ensure that you receive the active ingredients to heal your ills - or infused in an oil and made into a cream or ointment. The technology of modern day herbalism allows us to not only access herbal medicines that are shown to have therapeutic active constituents bioavailable, but that also demonstrate proven beneficial physiological effects by clinical trial. In fact, it is often the traditional use of a plant that will guide researchers and pharmaceutical companies to develop their pharmaceutical medicines, for example the heart medication Digitalis was developed from Foxglove, and Aspirin from Willow Bark.
But, in Modern Day Herbalism the traditions of herbal medicine use and the experience of our teachers and the plants themselves should not be forgotten or disregarded in lieu of applying herbs for their active constituents only for treatment. Nothing can surpass good case taking and observation of the person that has come to be healed. A Modern Day Herbalist will not just be matching a herbal action to a diagnosed ailment. The whole organism, the whole person, is considered to restore balance and allow the body’s own homeostasis mechanisms to establish the person’s wellness.
The Herbal Medicine
There are hundreds of herbal medicines, almost as many as there are plants, and a Modern Day Herbalist in clinic will be using products that they know and trust. It is important to know the source of the plant: is it wildcrafted or cultivated? An endangered plant? Has the plant been correctly identified? Has the correct part of the plant been used? If it is a formulated product are the dosages sufficient to enable therapeutic action to occur? What are the excipients of the product? Is the product safe for that person and are there any pharmaceutical interactions? These are powerful medicines not to be self-prescribed and a Modern Day Herbalist will use trusted suppliers so that the source of the raw material and the presence of active constituents is guaranteed and that there are no adulterations or plant substitutions. Herbalists want to be confident what is in the bottle so that the results we desire for our patients are achieved. Unfortunately, when herbal preparations are purchased off the shelf, consumers may not be getting what they need and therefore not achieve the results they are offer, and then may even consider that herbal medicines don’t work!
The Healing Process
The relationship between a herbalist and their patient is unique. In a consult with a patient we allow the time to get to know the person that you are, your tendencies, your energies, your peculiarities, all that makes you YOU. We believe, as did Hippocrates, that your body has the innate ability to heal itself if given the right environment and if nurtured and nourished. Our modern world can get in the way of healing and health. Driving factors that can shift your health off balance include: stress, gut dysbiosis, nutrient deficient diets, exposure to environmental toxins, and pathogens (viruses and bacteria). Any combination of these triggers can affect any part of your physiology - digestion, immune, mental health, endocrine (hormonal) systems. It is then the herbalists job to develop your unique tonic to give your body a subtle or not so subtle nudge towards healing and balance. In combination with your self-empowering dietary and lifestyle guidelines that suit your needs great health is achieved and can be maintained.
Doing The Work
It’s exciting to be a Modern Day Herbalist. I love the tradition that it beholds, and the benefit to the patient. As a patient you are treated holistically, addressing the causes and the symptoms, and treated as the individual that you are with your very own unique, traditionally and scientifically validated herbal medicine. I wouldn’t have it any other way!
As a naturopath and modern day herbalist I am here to support with herbal medicines and nutrients to alleviate symptoms, and guide with diet and lifestyle recommendations that align with your needs. A naturopath is also trained in nutrition and diet, and other modalities. Both a herbalist and naturopath has had education and training in anatomy and physiology, biochemistry, pathophysiology and pharmacognosy. This extensive training and depth of knowledge is a requirement for us to hang up our shingle and call ourselves healers.
I completed a Masters degree in Reproductive Medicine at UNSW (2017) which covered women’s gynaecological health. As a practitioner that works with women I felt it was important to understand medical procedures and treatments. I found it illuminating as I realised that conventional medicine does not have the answers as to the why of many reproductive symptoms and disappointed as no answers for treatment beyond invasive surgeries or Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) are sought. I was frustrated because in the teaching an emphasis is not placed on non-invasive ways to support women. Modern medicine can provide significant relief and in some cases life saving support to pathologies that have developed. And I have established important relationships with medical practitioners so that we can work as a team to support women’s health.
However, I listen to the woman, and my treatment goal is always to support the woman so that the tissues (the uterus, the ovary, the vagina) and the hormones can self regulate and homeostasis restore for healing. At some point balance must be found and that I believe is the beauty of natural, alternative and complementary medicine.