Clinical Herbalism and Therapeutics

Have you ever been too afraid to start practicing as an herbalist out of fear of making a mistake? Most of us are kind, empathic people who care a lot about the people we serve. We’re into plant medicine and the healing arts because we care so deeply and want to make a positive impact in people’s lives and in this world. So, one of the most terrifying things about actually helping people is… what if it backfires and we end up making that person worse!!! What if the herb we gave them makes them have an adverse reaction or increases their symptoms or simply doesn’t work. Then what?

In part 1 of this 2 part lecture, I discuss some of the primary correspondences between the 4 Elements of Nature and the human body.

If you are studying Western herbalism, it’s helpful to understand your plants in terms of their medicinal actions, their energetics, their organ system affinities, and so on. So where do you start? How do you figure that stuff out?

As Ayurveda has become popular, interest in eating according to your constitutional type has grown. Over the last few years we’ve seen this dynamic of