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Also Known As:
Natural Medicines
Naturopathic Medicines
Homeopathic Medicines

Western Herbology medicine involves using plants and plant material to create medicines to help prevent or treat various illnesses. These materials may use some all parts of a plant, such as flowers, roots, fruits, leaves, and bark.

For over half a century, Belgium, German and other European manufacturers have been renowned for their exceptional homeopathic pharmacopeia products utilized in supporting immune, lymphatic and endocrine systems to properly process and eliminate toxins from the body. Biotherapies include Homeopathy, Gemmo Therapy macertes, PhytoGen Therapy, Tissue Salts, OligoTherapy, Flower Essences and Essential oils taken internally. There are elements of TCM herbology adopted by Western Herbology which also respects the natural healing processes in the body instead of just taking away the symptoms.

Chinese Herbology medicine is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory and is one of the more important modalities utilized in TCM. Ingredients incorporates parts of plants; the leaf, stem, flower, root and also ingredients from minerals. Formula remedies are created or standard formulas are prescribed by the TCM doctor or herbalists to included ingredients to both target the illness and take into consideration the patients yin/yang conditions, or ingredients are needed to cancel out toxicity or side-effects and some herbs require the use of other ingredients as a catalyst.

Unlike western pharmaceutical medicines, the balance and interaction of all the ingredients are considered more important than the individual effect of individual ingredients. A key to success in TCM is the treatment of each patient as an individual.

Chinese herbs have been used for centuries. The Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic, a 2000-year old medical Chinese book considered today as the oldest book on oriental herbal medicine. Chinese physicians classify TCM herbs as:

  • The Four Natures
  • The Five Tastes
  • The Meridians

The Four Natures pertain to the degree of yin and yang, ranging from cold (extreme yin), cool, neutral to warm and hot (extreme yang). The patient’s internal balance of yin and yang is taken into account when the herbs are selected. For example, medicinal herbs of hot yang nature are used when the person is suffering from internal cold that requires to be purged, or when the patient has a general cold constituency. Sometimes an ingredient is added to offset the extreme effect of another ingredient.

The Five Tastes pertain to pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty tastes, each which have their functions and characteristics. For example, pungent herbs are used to generate sweat and to direct and vitalize Qi and the blood. Sweet-tasting herbs often tonify or harmonized bodily systems. Some sweet-tasting herbs also exhibit a bland taste which helps drain dampness through diuresis. Sour taste most often is astringent or consolidates, while bitter taste dispels heat, purges the bowels and gets rid of dampness by drying them out. Salty tastes soften hard masses as well as purge and open the bowels.

The Meridians refer to which organs the herb acts upon. For example, menthol is pungent, cool and is linked with the lungs and the liver. Since the lungs are the organ which protects the body from invasion from cold and influenza, menthol can help purge coldness in the lungs and invading heat toxins caused by hot wind.

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