Natural Health: Getting started with Herbalism

Hello again everyone! In this article I hope to share with you a few of the basics of how to get started with herbalism, some of the benefits this interesting field can offer, and some great tips on how to apply traditional holistic practices to your daily life.

There are many reasons someone might be interested in learning about herbalism. Perhaps you lead a stressful life and want a natural way to wind down at the end of the day and relax; maybe you want to learn about less invasive ways to relieve some kind of pain you're experiencing, or possibly even how to cure diseases with those wonderful things we see around us every day: plants!

Whatever the case, I'm going to show you a few of the most common medicinal herbs and their uses, how to apply them, and where to obtain them in this first of many articles on the subject.

Before searching out whatever herb you may be interested in learning more about, let's start with a few of the basics.

Different Uses of Herbs

For thousands of years, from poppies to mullein, herbs have been used for many different purposes, and continue to be to this very day. Most modern medicine we have is based on chemicals derived from plants, synthetically altered, or extracted and concentrated. Herbalists, however, use plants in an unsynthesyzed form for nearly any application a pill could be used for today, such as....

• Pain relief
• Energy
• Relaxation
• Mood-alteration
• Medical application (Curing a cold or other sickness)
• And much more...the list could go on forever!

Whether you have an application in mind or just a general interest in Herbalism itself, read on!

Administration: How to Prepare Herbs

• General Consumption

The most basic form of administration. The herb in question is consumed whole with no modification to its form whatsoever.

• Smoking

The herb(s) in question are ground down, such as with a mortar and pestle, and packed into a pipe or cigarette form. Combustion with fire disintegrates the solid matter and the reactive chemicals inside are inhaled, causing absorption through the lungs. This method is very effective but can be detrimental to your health. Don't smoke anything if you don't know it's safe for smoking; some herbs can damage your lungs and throat very badly. It is the quickest method of administration.

• Chewing, Sub-lingual

The herb(s) are helf in the lip ore between the teeth and broken down by saliva, causing absorption through the mouth and lip, as well as swallowing. Teas and other herbs, such as the Calamus root, are best administered this way.

Examples of Herbs: What can I use?

So now that you know a few of the available methods of administration, what can you actually DO? Here are a few different herbs you may finduseful in your daily life to get you started.

• Wild Mullein - GREAT for nasal decongestion

I have a BIG jar of this on my desk. It's wonderful. Grinding down the leaves with a mortar and pestle and then packing it into a pipe is the usual way to administer Wild Mullein for the use of nasal decongestion, and it's one of the most effective things you could possibly do. Say goodbye to cold medication! This will also help a cough.

• Valerian Root - Relaxation

You can either buy valerian and administer it sublingually, or buy the pre-packaged capsules. Either way, the capsules are pre-ground and taken orally. It is a great relaxer, from my and many others' own personal experience. This is the herb that the drug Valium is actually derived from.

• Hops - Relaxation

Hops, as a lot of you probably know, is one of the base ingredients of alcoholic drinks - mainly beer. It has wonderful relaxant properties and can take the edge off an otherwise stressful day quite quickly. Can be taken orally, sublingually (least effective), or smoked.

• Calamus Root - Energy

Here's one you don't hear much about. Calamus is often used for extra energy, and chewed or made as a tea. I've used it multiple times and it works wonders for mental clarity.

In future articles on Herbalism I'll go in-depth on each unique herb, its chemistry and effects, methods of administration, and history. I hope you all enjoyed this article and get into herbalism! It's a wonderful and very interesting field that's definitely changed my life for the better.

Please take some time to look at the book below - it's been a great source of information for me on my quest for Herbal knowledge, and I think you'll enjoy it!

Thank you for taking the time to read my article, and I hope to see you all again soon!

In good health,

Alex C.