Author Archives: Catherine

Do You Have A “Bug” Lurking Deep In Your Body?

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My herb teacher was ecstatic, “You just made a Gu Syndrome formula!” I had never heard of Gu Syndrome, so I was in for an education that day.

It was my third year of Oriental medical school and the beginning of my second year in student clinic. My patient had Epstein Barr Syndrome and had experienced brief periods of remission followed by low energy and body pain. I had enough education to figure out that Epstein Barr was a virus, and viruses must be expelled from the body according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The tricky part is that

This formula contains loads of essential oils that push pathogens to the exterior!
Chinese vitex pushes pathogens to the exterior and poria seen above help to resolve accumulating Dampness

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Making Natural Herbal Vaginal Dryness Cream

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During my years practicing acupuncture at a hormonal health clinic, I often found myself instructing women on how to make vaginal cream for chronic dryness or flora imbalances leading to the overproduction of yeast or candida.

vaginal-cream

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Chinese Herbs for Pain, Trauma & Sports Injuries

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The history of treating injuries with acupuncture and herbal therapy is centuries old and time-tested by martial artists and Chinese warriors. The theories and practices are practical and quite easy to comprehend.

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Ice constricts the flow of blood and lymph fluid and slows down swelling; the thinking behind the RICE treatment was that it would lessen tissue damage. However, a study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that the practice of icing delayed the recovery of muscle damage and should not be the first choice of treatment for traumatic and sports injuries. Continue reading →

Herbs for Excessive Sweat & Body Odor

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We are making non-talc herbal body powders today that combat excessive sweat and body odor. We start of with astringing herbs such as organic sage leaf and lotus leaf and combine them with herbs that combat dampness such as job’s tear as seen below.

After grinding the herbs to a fine powder, we mix them with organic arrowroot powder and organic cornstarch to make a silky-smooth body powder.

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Making Four Flowers Facial Toner

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I wanted to make a gentle skin toner that was astringent but not drying to the skin; there is quite a distinction as it turns out.

Calendula flowers growing at my herb farm
Calendula flowers before drying
Dried flowers before preparation of toner

Astringent herbs help to tighten pores and tone skin which is something we all want. But most toners contain high concentrations of alcohol which is quite drying to the skin. I opted to use Vitamin C and lower concentrations of alcohol to preserve the toner. Then I added demulcent herbs such as comfrey root to add an emollient quality to our Four Flower Toner.

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Making Natural Herbal Burn Remedy

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Our burn remedies contain a famous ancient Chinese herbal medicine for burns called Zi Cao Gen, or Purple Herb Root, along with other cooling herbs and pure essential oils of lavender. You can see that the root at the top right is truly a dark purple color, and the salve is a beautiful hue of red as a result.

Dark red burn salve.
Our special herb blend for burns.

 

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Spleen Qi Deficiency – How long to reverse?

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Customer Asks:

I have recently ordered your middle way herbal blend for spleen qi deficiency. Spleen qi def. and stomach problems tend to be two of the biggest issues that my acupuncturist has been working on. I am now traveling and unable to get care from my acupuncturist as much as I would like and was hoping that by ordering your herbal blend that it could help keep me on track. Do you know of any signs that I should be aware of to show that I am making progress on the middle way blend and how long should it take to see some results in the sluggishness, heavy limb feeling that comes with the spleen qi def?

Sounds like you have developed some Internal Dampness due to your Spleen imbalance; obviously, you would notice a lessening of the symptoms you have mentioned, but if it has developed this far, it is going to take many months. It is not like taking echinacea to get over a cold, as you are rebuilding organ health.

Best Regards,
Catherine

Wind Cold Damp Invasion Chinese Medicine

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A Website Visitor Asks:

inever had any type of sinus problems, live in new york and went to visit someone in the mountains, the air was colder and i felt something in the air get in my body and from then on i have been severly congested,  cannot sleep at night, constantly blowing nose, mucous is white, no tinges of yellow or green, had some coughing not much, but when i did cough it was deep and some mucous came very minute amount of a yellow and green tinge looked up the causes for this and found stagnant yang qi, wind and dampness etc.

what can be reccommended,  i am into acupunture and chinese herbs, tried the traditional but perhaps i will get some acupunture.  what herbs can you reccommend, i need both nasal passages clear, it is either one or the other that is clear and it shifts from one nasal passage to another,  thanks

Sounds like a Wind-Cold-Dampness Invasion; I would suggest that you consider a warm soup of broth with green onions and ginger. Pick up some mullein tea bags at your local health food store for the congestion. You could also dilute some cinnamon, lavender, and thyme essential oil in olive oil and add it to your bath (5% EO).

Hypothyroidism, Thyroid Removal and Chinese Medicine

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A Website Visitor Asks:

Can Kidney Yang Tonic help with  hypothyroidism, after the thyroid has been removed?

That is an interesting question. In Chinese medicine, the “Kidney” is an energetic organ system relating to various functions, and the energetic channel that acupuncturists utilize and is also part of the system. Hypothyroidism is typically related to the Kidney Yang Deficiency in TCM, and if you have indications of Kidney Deficiency, than the tonics will be of benefit. Note that one indication, such as hypothyroidism, is not enough to make a diagnosis of Kidney Deficiency; you would have several that begin to form a pattern. Take care when utilizing a Kidney Yang tonic such as our Ancestor Treasure formula. What we typically do in clinic in this situation is utilize Yin Valley and Ancestor Treasurer formulas together. Please peruse the Yin/Yang article to understand how to balance Yin and Yang in the body, and why it is important.