Registration, tea/coffee 9:00am

 

9:30am-5:30pm:

 

Organ-specific Materia Medica and drop-dosing

 

"Botanical materia medica is my strongest point," says Matthew.  "We want to understand the 'genius' of the plant, the essential nature and actions that it has throughout the organism, on both the physical and psychological levels."  

 

This goes beyond pharmacology and in this class we will concentrate on tastes, local organ affinities, energetics, and specific indications to understand the full portrait of the plant.  Of course, these all reflect pharmacology, so we will not be ignoring that completely, but separate constituents do not a whole make.  The herbs we will cover will be commonly used Western herbs readily available in Australia. 

 

In taking a case it is best to determine, (1) tissue states, (2) organ location, and (3) specific indication.  This is the age old method – See The Key to Galen’s Method of Physick,1652, by Nicholas Culpeper.  Plants have powerful organ-affinities and act on functional spheres of activity associated with organs and systems.  Oganizing one’s knowledge of plants according to their organ-affinity is a good memory device that prepares one very well for sitting down and taking a case history.  A look at herbs through the lens of tradition, history, energetics, clinical experience (personal and historical), and pharmacology.  

 

During this workshop we will review how to take a comprehensive, holistic case history.  Determine (1) the energetics or tissue states, (2) the location in the tissue, organ, or system, and (3) specific indication.  This is the age old method – See The Key to Galen’s Method of Physick, 1652, by Nicholas Culpeper.   

 

Energetics reflect pharmacology and common sense.  Cooling remedies are include fruits and watery plants that we naturally take to cool off in hot weather.  This includes flavonal glycosides (rose hips, hawthorn, elderberry), cyanogenic glycosides (peach leaf, wild cherry bark), citral volative oils (lemons, limes, lemon balm), cooling faux fruits (rhubarb, curly dock root, watermelon), and stimulants that open the capillaries (yarrow, lavender, echinacea).  Warming medicines are almost entirely those rich in volatile oils, hence pungent in taste (rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, zatar, cabbage, shepherds’ purse, arnica, goldenrod, gravel root, etc.)  And so with the other categories: damp stagnation (treated by alteratives, mostly bitters), dry (treated with moistening agents, mucilages, emollients, sweet tonics, carminatives, dietary oils, foods), tension (acrid relaxants) and relaxation (astringents).  A knowledge of taste acts as an “personal repertory,” an index for selecting plants that are suited to different imbalances.    

 

Plants also have organ-affinities.  We have remedies for the heart and circulation (hawthorn, cayenne, rosemary, yarrow, wild cherry bark, angelica), liver and gallbladder (iris, dandelion, burdock, curly dock, celandine), mucosa and lungs (marshmallow, slippery elm, comfrey, anise seed, star anise, goldenrod, elecampane, white hoarhound, coltsfoot, mullein), upper and lower GI (numerous), kidneys (nettles, goldenrod, gravel root, pipsissewa, watermelon).  Organizing one’s knowledge of plants according to their organ-affinity is a good memory device that prepares one very well for sitting down and taking a case history.   

 

Specific indications indicate specific herbs and specific pathology.  For instance, hawthorn has red on the checky parts of the palms, showing capillary engorgement, wild cherry bark has the same plus a yellowish complexion (valuable in hot climates), yarrow has red and blue color on tongue and skin showing heat and blood stagnation.  All show capillary fullness, which generates heat.  

 

How do herbs work in small doses?  There are general principles of pharmacology that explain broad behavior of poisons, drugs, herbs, and foods in large and small doses: the regulatory effect, reverse effect, and rebound effect.  Various hormones, essential fatty acids, salts and minerals have a positive regulatory effect in small doses but a poisonous effect in large ones.  The reverse effect shows opposite reactions in large and small doses.  This produces immunity (a small dose confers immunity against a large dose) but it has not been shown to cure conditions. It was formerly thought that homeopathy worked according to this method, but it is now recognized that it works according to the rebound effect.  A stressor or poison causes an initial set of symptoms as item enters the system and damages self-regulation.  Then, as the body throws off the influence and re-establishes self-regulation, an opposite set of symptoms is produced.  These are called the primary and secondary symptoms in homeopathy.  

 

Conventional drugs work by maintaining the primary symptom to suppress an unwanted symptom.  This is also how an addictive substance works: it maintains the primary symptom as long as it is taken; when it is discontinued opposing symptoms occur.  The secondary metabolites in nontoxic herbs are not strong enough to force a permanent primary symptom; instead they work by producing a mild primary and secondary response.  Thus, herbs cure gently and also can normalize between two opposite states.  Some herbs work by the regulatory effect, but most by therebound effect.

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All participants will receive notebook, pen for note-taking and other bonus items in their delegate bag. Door prizes, tastings and much more.

Access to MP3 OR MP4 recording TBA

 

Delicious and healthy morning and afternoon teas and lunch provided at this 1-day workshop. 

 

FULL TIME STUDENTS PAY EARLY BIRD RATES!

 

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(NHAA 2 CPE points per hour

ANTA 1 CPE point per hour

ATMS 1 CPE point per 2 hours)