Herbal Musings — learn RSS

Becoming an herbalist is more than just undertaking an online course. It becomes a way you see the world, and a practice. Here are some tips for beginning your journey into herbalism.

In the current world we live in, it’s becoming increasingly harder to focus and complete tasks. Our neurotransmitter systems have been hijacked & desensitised by quick and cheap dopamine sources which means showing up to the hard tasks with delayed rewards (aka accounting & tax, creating e-books, writing a novel, finishing uni, producing an album of music etc.) is getting harder and harder. We have become hardwired for the instant.

Your health is a relationship with your body and whole being. It need not be a relationship dominated by the doing of actions like taking herbs, getting massages and going to see therapists, it involves first and foremost LISTENING. Listening to your body’s likes and dislikes of food, listening to what’s underneath your cravings for sugar or coffee or alcohol, listening to when you need rest and when you need exercise and when you needs to sing in the shower at the top of your lungs!

This guiding principle reminds the practitioner of their role to educate the patient to take responsibility for their own health. The doctor-patient relationship acts to enable the patient to heal themselves. Listening, understanding, and communicating are therefore key aspects of a doctor/practitioner’s job criteria. It’s not about what you know, it’s about transmitting that to your client so they can nurture and protect their own health.

This is a really important principle, which modern medicine is sadly failing at with dangerous repercussions. We must understand that a symptom is merely a flag getting your attention, and it generally isn’t the origin of the environment causing the issue. As a therapist it is your role to educate your client about this and to look beyond the symptoms to the underlying root causes. A holistic treatment will address both what’s presenting and what is underneath.