Empowering full health

Physical Therapists may be known traditionally for their role in rehabilitation; however physical therapists play an important role in prevention, health maintenance, and in the promotion of health, wellness and fitness. Within the health and wellness industry, you may find physical therapists working in personal training studios, gyms, fitness centers, athletic facilities, and in corporate or industrial health centers.

Physical Therapists are movement specialists with an advanced clinical knowledge of the human muscular and skeletal system. Physical therapists diagnose and treat all types of movement problems. They also maintain and promote optimal physical function, wellness, fitness, and quality of life as it relates to movement and health.

There is a movement in physical therapy in general that focuses on prevention rather than treatment. Physical therapists working within the field of health, wellness and fitness have an incredible opportunity to help individuals improve their health, well-being, and quality of life. Providing expert exercise program design along with nutritional and lifestyle guidance can make a huge impact on individuals with existing health concerns and/or people who are just interested in maintaining or improving their current health. Not only will the individual’s health, vitality and quality of life increase but health care costs over the long term will be substantially reduced with preventative care.

Both people with existing injuries or illnesses and those with no health issues at all may choose a physical therapist as their guide to design a weekly exercise regimen and to provide them with helpful tips on lifestyle choices such as nutrition, sleep, and stress reduction. Employers may hire a physical therapist to teach their staff safe lifting techniques or to set up their workstations optimally to improve posture and decrease worksite injuries.

If you are searching for expert guidance for your health, wellness and/or fitness concerns, consider a physical therapist as your practitioner of choice.

Kristine Battey is a licensed physical therapist, a certified athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist (personal trainer) and a holistic lifestyle coach. She owns Divine Health & Fitness and can be reached at (208) 946-7072.

It’s inevitable. Like death and taxes. Back pain.

Second to colds, the most likely reason you’ll visit a healthcare provider will be back pain. Fifty percent of Americans report back pain each year.

Are you in pain right now? Is your movement limited? Are you reducing your activities because of the pain or the fear of the pain? Let’s look at why.

A lot of back pain comes from overexertion. If that’s you, you’re lucky. Your pain will go away once your body recovers from being pushed. And there’s a good chance it won’t return—unless you overdo it again. In time, you’ll be fine.

For pain due to overexertion, traditional remedies work well. Cold compresses can reduce swelling. Warm, moist heat helps muscles that feel tight. Alternating the two can be beneficial. And of course, massage and gentle stretching relax the tightness, and the movement prevents further stiffness. Rest always supports the body in healing, and topical ointments will give you warmth and local pain relief.

Chronic Back Pain

Chronic back pain is a different animal. Pain often occurs without physical exertion; it just shows up. As the frequency and intensity of episodes increase, each incident leaves a tension residue that sets up the next attack of pain. Pain pills and muscles relaxers can help, but many people don’t like their side effects. One thing is clear: just treating the symptom is not enough—particularly when the problem is likely to return.

Prevention and Treatment

The best way to treat chronic back pain is to prevent it. Learn to lift using your legs. Sit on your sits bones. Stop slouching! It will all reduce back strain. Use ergonomic furniture that adjusts to your unique body, instead of forcing your body to adapt to the furniture. Moving helps, too – get up and walk around, take breaks.

And the most critical behavior—the one we never think—about is breathing. I know, you are breathing. The question is how well.

When I taught Mindfulness Stress Reduction courses in Scottsdale, AZ, the principal reason people came to us was back pain. At the time, we were the largest company offering these courses in the country. Most of our students for the 8-week course were referrals from hospital networks or corporate clients.

We taught the students to breath. As easy as it might sound, the first few weeks were tough. Doing very simple relaxation exercises would actually create stress. The students’ old habits prevented them from relaxing and breathing fully. Once they realized how tense they were, they saw and how much they were limiting their breath—even when they believed they were relaxed. With daily homework and coming to the weekly class, their awareness and breathing increased as their stress and pain declined.

What does this mean for you? If these very tense people can dramatically change their stress and pain in 8-weeks, so can you. The first step is to become aware of how you hold your body and your breath. If you are holding one, you are holding the other. As your breath becomes fuller, slower and more relaxed you begin to train your body not to hold stress, but to release it.

In keeping with letting go, I suggest to my clients that they do not do “back strengthening” exercises. I have not seen a back that was muscularly weak; I see many that are structurally weak. Our bigger back muscles are not meant to be posture muscles, they are designed to move us, not hold us. The constant holding makes them tighter. Rather than getting stronger form sit-ups or back extensions, practice breathing and stretching.

My next article will build on this one and begin to explore how Rolfing turns around chronic back pain.

Owen Marcus as Sandpoint’s local Rolfer (www.align.org) focuses on turning around chronic conditions.

Why do we need it? Why do we want it? Because everything is better when you’re relaxed. Stress is considered a major contributing factor in 95% of all illnesses and health complaints. Stress affects every cell, organ, gland, muscle and body part, as well as your emotions, mind and spirit so your life is improved profoundly by relaxation. Productivity, creativity, joy, sex, thinking, sleeping, digestion, hormone production, immune system, circulation, love, communication and even spiritual peace are all touched and transformed by relaxation.

How do we relax?

A good cry and laughing jiggle us up loosening the tension, shaking up the stagnation, which changes our vibrations- speeds them up or slows them down as needed. That’s why dancing, singing, a brisk walk, a run, sports, yoga, also help us feel better and more relaxed. These activities change our vibration rate. Your body is always seeking balance and the state of homeostasis. It knows what the correct vibration rate is. The body will pick up what it needs and let go what it does not in order to correct the vibration rate.

Unfortunately, we often feel we do not have the time, energy or fitness for many of the healthier answers to changing vibration rates and finding relaxation. We turn to alcohol, food, lounging, vacuous TV watching and so on to restore our balance. We all know true wellness is not found like this but it is easy and enjoyable on many sensual levels.

“Just put your feet up”

As a Reflexologist I tell my stressed out or burnt out clients “Put your feet up and get happy, get healthy and get relaxed”. It’s a simple and blissful way to find profound, healing relaxation. It combines the much needed change in vibration rate with an activity that is easy, enjoyable and healthy!

Reflexology has mapped the entire body on the feet. The left foot is the left side of the body, the right foot the right side. The head, chest, abdomen, intestines, pelvis and every organ, gland and body part in those areas all have a reflex in the feet.

The Reflexologist, by applying pressure on these reflexes (using thumb or forefinger), promotes a balancing response in the body. Like a domino effect, energy is stimulated to flow through pathways to all body parts. The necessary energy is taken or given up to restore the correct vibration rate. This induces deep relaxation throughout the body, mind and spirit- automatically and effortlessly- which is always beneficial to any health complaint.

Penny Waters, Reflexologist, Herbalist, can be reached at: 208 597 4343 or penny@cureforthecommonspa.com

Kitchen Skin is the art of creating beneficial products for your skin right in your own kitchen using, for the most part, everyday ingredients in your kitchen. You may need to purchase a couple of specialty items such as glycerin, beeswax or a special herb but they should be readily available at your local health food store/herbal supplier/pharmacy. In a previous article I provided home recipes for cleansers, toners and masks for various skin needs. In this article are recipes for a family moisturizer and herbal baths for pleasurable and therapeutic body skin care.

This is a moisturizer that all the family can use:

Light Rose Moisture Cream

(for all skin types)

1 tsp beeswax

1 tsp lanolin

1 tbsp almond oil

½ tsp wheat germ oil

1/8 tsp borax

3 tbsp rosewater, warmed

6 drops essential oil of rose or rose geranium

Melt the beeswax and lanolin together, stirring constantly.

Warm the oils gently and gradually beat them into the waxes. Dissolve the borax in the rosewater and slowly add to the oil and wax mixture, beating constantly until cool.

Stir in the rose oil as the mixture begins to thicken. Spoon into sterile jar and label.

For use on the face.

Herbs in the Bath

A cleansing, soothing bath can be achieved by the addition of dried herbs, herbs as essential oils or teas.

Although it’s a romantic idea to sprinkle scented leaves and flowers directly onto the water, it’s not advisable. You will emerge from such a bath like a creature from a swamp, with plant bits clinging to every part of your body! Instead, place herbs in a tea infuser and put into your bath as it is filling up or hang tea bags over the faucet as the water is running. Or, make a tea in advance and then pour the tea into your bath water. Several drops (5-10) of an essential oil allows you to lie in an envelope of fragrance and feel their beneficial power.

For true relaxation, which is balance, you may choose a calming or a stimulating bath:

For a calming bath the following herbs are good. Use teabag, in a tea diffuser or essential oil:

Chamomile

Lavender

If you infuse (let sit) 2 oz of dried or 4 oz of fresh herb in milk (not skim) for 2 hours, strain and add to bath you will soften and freshen your skin at the same time.

A stimulating bath can be very balancing for exhaustion, worry, and a sluggish system. Try the following:

Mint

Lemon Balm

Sage

Thyme (antiseptic properties)

Basil (helps clear the head of congestion and confusion)

Rosemary (helps improve memory)

To soothe itchiness, aching muscles try the following:

Bring 2 ½ cups of apple cider vinegar and a handful of fresh bath herbs to the boil, then infuse overnight. Strain and bottle. Add a cupful of this mixture to your bath for its beneficial effects.

Penny Waters

Master Herbalist

can be reached at: 208 597 4343 or sunpen54@yahoo.com

There are many items in your kitchen- in the fridge or sitting on shelves or in cupboards- that are capable of helping your family feel better and heal faster from common complaints such as colds and flu. In ‘olden times’ they were commonly used by moms and ‘plain folk’ to help with everyday complaints and disorders. You, too, can create your own herbal pharmacy for your family. These helpful items are the herbs, spices and vegetables commonly found in most kitchens today. The art of using them to create helpful remedies for family life I call ‘Kitchen Herbology’.

Here are some remedy recipes for you to try. Making them now will ensure you will have them when you need them and for the season of colds.

Tincture: Cold and Sinus Remedy

1 oz each:

Cayenne pepper

Ginger root (sliced but peeling is not necessary)

Fresh garlic (peeled and sliced )

Yellow onion (peeled and sliced)

Horseradish (fresh root sliced or from a jar- as pure as possible- not creamed)

One whole lemon sliced with some of its ‘zest’.

Combine all of the above in a large jar that has a lid. Add enough apple cider vinegar to completely cover everything and to fill the jar. No other type of vinegar is suitable. Shake at least once a day for two weeks. Strain and keep in the refrigerator.

It makes the best sore throat gargle. You can swallow 1-2 Tbsp or add 1-2 Tbsp to a pure juice or add hot water to make a tea. Take every 4 hours for the first 2 days of a cold, flu, sinus congestion, allergies. (Don’t wake yourself up in the night to take it. Sleep is too important to the healing process.) Taper off to every 6-8 hours over the next few days as you start to feel better. This remedy will promote perspiration, bowel movements, urination, mucous elimination. My clients also report they love it as a salad dressing!

Tea: Digestive Tonic

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp peppermint

¼ tsp fennel seeds

¼ tsp ginger (fresh will be a little tastier and effective)

Place all of the above in a small saucepan. Add 1 cup water. Slowly bring to a boil and simmer very gently for 5-10 min. If it continues to boil, turn off heat and let steep for 10 min. Strain and drink. This is an excellent remedy for indigestion, gas, intestinal discomfort and congestion. Often one cup is all you need for relief.

Juicing: Carrot, Beet and Celery

Put through a juicer 4 carrots, 1 beet and 2 stalks of celery. Prepare them as recommended for your juicer. Drink no more than ½- 1 cup of a juiced drink at one time. They are very condensed and power-packed. Have no more than 3 cups in one day. This combination has multiple health benefits. Altogether they cleanse blood, lymph, liver and gall bladder: support the brain and nervous system; flush the kidneys; remedy constipation; ease ‘growing pains’, support teeth and bone growth.

Add 1 grapefruit for colds and sinus problems.

Just a side note. For centuries the English called vegetables ‘herbs’.

As with any natural healing method, common sense and care must be a part of utilizing these kitchen remedies. When there is high fever, pain, profuse bleeding, difficulty in breathing, disorientation, always seek medical help immediately. These remedies are not intended to replace medicine for serious illnesses. Children under 12 always have half the dosage of an adult. Very young children could have very small amounts added to their regular juice. In all cases, adult supervision is assumed.

To be on the safe side and in accordance with professional practice I recommend you consult your medical practitioner for confirmation that these remedies are right for you and your family.

Penny Waters

Master Herbalist

Sandpoint

Can be reached at: 208 597 4343 or at sunpen54@yahoo.com

People make the decision to exercise for a variety of reasons including weight loss, health factors, sports training and participation, injury rehabilitation, and many times just for fun. For some people, exercise just comes easy and is a natural part of their daily life. These people can’t imagine their lives without exercising as it gives them energy, vitality, increased self esteem, and overall just makes them feel great. For other people, exercising is not so easy or natural and is considered a chore or something they wouldn’t normally choose to do.

The benefits of exercise are truly extraordinary. If you are someone who has a tough time motivating yourself to exercise, you might be surprised to know that just thirty minutes of modest, regular physical activity such as brisk walking most days of the week provides the following benefits:

• Increases heart strength thus reducing the risk of coronary heart disease
• Burns calories and helps to control weight. Exercise is essential for keeping off lost weight.
• Decreases inflammatory markers in your body
• Helps to relieve the pain of arthritis
• Controls blood sugar thus managing or preventing diabetes
• Improves circulation which has many beneficial health effects
• Decreases blood pressure
• Increases your cognitive ability including improved concentration and alertness
• Exercising before or after a meal decreases the levels of potentially harmful triglycerides in your body
• Decreases your risk for metabolic syndrome
• Decreases levels of bad “LDL” cholesterol and increases levels of good “HDL” cholesterol
• Boosts the immune system
• Reduces, controls, and prevents back pain
• Lowers your risk for upper respiratory infections
• Lowers your risk of dying prematurely
• Makes you stronger and more flexible
• Increases bone strength- particularly weight bearing exercise
• Increases your levels of endorphins (brain chemicals that improve your sense of well-being) thus decreasing depression, anxiety and improving mood
• Reduces the frailty of old age and reduces falls among older adults
• Helps prevent cataracts and age-related macular degeneration
• Exercise is associated with fewer doctor visits, hospitalizations and medications

Exercise can prevent and/or improve the following diseases and conditions:

Coronary artery disease, heart disease, stroke, colon cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, type II diabetes, depression, dementia, cataracts and macular degeneration, chronic lung disease, arthritis, disability, balance and vestibular impairments, multiple orthopedic injuries and neurological conditions.

If you are already exercising on a regular basis, congratulations! Look at all the nice things you are doing for your body and your life long health. If you are not currently exercising, try starting with a ten minute walk. Any exercise is better than no exercise. Also, remember that exercise is cumulative. Breaking exercise up throughout your day is an excellent way to fit it into a busy schedule. Try a ten minute walk before or to work, ten minutes walking after lunch to improve digestion and increase your energy for the afternoon, and ten minutes later in the day. You will thank yourself now and far into your future.

Kristine Battey is a licensed physical therapist, a certified athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist (personal trainer) and a holistic lifestyle coach. She owns Divine Health & Fitness, www.divinehf.com, and can be reached at (208) 946-7072.

Penny Waters is continuing her information on Kitchen Skin, making use of items right in our own kitchens that improve our skin and well being.

Kitchen Skin

Take a mashed avocado, lemon juice and cucumbers and create a great summer recipe- not for the table, but for your skin! For centuries, people have passed on the secrets of everyday kitchen ingredients for making beautifying and restoring concoctions for the skin and they are just as helpful today.

To freshen the skin and reduce fine lines try the following exfoliant that can be used on the face or body:
Baking Soda Exfoliant:
3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp water
Juice of 1 orange or 1 drop of an essential oil .*
Mix ingredients to form a paste. Apply in a gentle, circular motion. Rinse. Follow with a moisturizer.
* The choice of essential oil can also be very supportive of your skin care needs. i.e. Sage for oily skin; lavender for all skin; thyme is antiseptic; rose is softening and refining; lemon restores the natural acid balance.

For oily skin, try this mask once or twice a week:
Avocado Mask
1 egg white
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ avocado mashed
Mix all in a blender. Wash your face and neck thoroughly. Apply mask to those areas. Remove with tepid water and a face cloth after 20 min. Apply moisturizer.

This is a very simple recipe for a cleanser:
Buttermilk And Fennel Cleansing Milk
(for oily skin)
½ cup buttermilk
2 tbsp fennel seed, crushed
Gently heat the milk and crushed seed together in a double boiler for 30 min. Leave to stand and infuse for a further 2 hours. Strain, bottle, refrigerate and use within 1 week.

Have fun and enjoy these timeless recipes for healthy and beautiful skin.

If there is any concern about allergies you can test your creations by applying them to the inside of your lower arm and waiting 24 hrs to see if a rash, redness, itch or sensitivity occur. Remember, too, that sunscreen should always be worn if you are out in the sun for 30 minutes or more at one time. That’s the best protection against harming, drying, and aging your skin.

Penny Waters
Reflexology, Herbs, Natural Skincare
Sandpoint
Can be reached at: 208 597 4343 or sunpen54@yahoo.com

Each time you sit down to a meal, you are making life and death decisions. The effect of the food you eat on your body is making the difference between developing chronic disease or living a vigorous extended life. Food is our bodies’ fuel and is used for everything that our body is capable of.

Humans are originally (and still biologically) a hunter-gatherer type of species. We originally hunted animals and gathered fruits, vegetables, nuts etc. This is the natural way that our bodies have been nourished for thousands of centuries. Hunter-gatherers ate whole foods- foods that are in their pure, whole form the way they are found in nature.

It has only been in the last 100 years that our farming and food preservation and creation methods have become industrialized. During that time 10,000 chemicals and non-foods have been added to our food supply. Our crops have been doused in chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides. Animals are being grown and raised in unnatural settings and fed food they don’t naturally eat such as corn and soy. Animals are given medicines and antibiotics to keep them “healthy” for human consumption. Food is being engineered, processed, and genetically modified. When we eat any of this un-natural, foreign food, we are eating substances that require detoxification by our liver. These foreign substances enter our bloodstream causing our immune system to fight the invaders. This can lead to chronic fatigue and many other disease processes related to inefficient body function. A good rule of thumb is if the food wasn’t here 100 years ago- don’t eat it!

The next time you go to the grocery store, walk up and down the aisles and think about what your great grandmother or even your great, great grandmother would have been able to buy. She certainly wouldn’t have seen the rows and rows of packaged, processed foods. She would have found whole foods as they are found in nature. Whole foods contain flavor and ingredients as nature intended. They are free of artificial flavors and colors as well as added chemicals that are used to increase the shelf life of processed foods. Since whole foods have been minimally processed, they provide more natural ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A good example of a whole food is an apple in its pure state. It can then become processed and turned into apple juice with added high fructose corn syrup, apple sauce with preservatives, more processed into apple pie filling in a can, and then unrecognizable at all in the form of apple candy. The healthy choice is to just buy the apple and then eat it as is or prepare it the way you want to.

The quality of the food we are eating is just as important as what we are eating. More and more scientific studies are confirming that organic food or food raised on organic principles is more nutrient dense. Organic food has not been treated with pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, or synthetic fertilizers some of which have been proven to cause cancer, Parkinson’s disease, miscarriages, and birth defects. Organic food is also not genetically modified and animals that are organically raised have not been given antibiotics or growth hormones.

Besides the fact that organic food is more nutritious, it tastes better! We are lucky to have a farmer’s market in town that can supply us with local, fresh produce. Not all farmers can afford the expense and time involved in organic certification. Talk to your grower and find out if they farm through organic methods. If so, this is the best place at this time of year to get the highest quality fruits and vegetables. We also have a number of farmers in the area who raise their animals organically with access to pasture and grass and who don’t treat their animals with antibiotics or growth hormones. For more information please contact Kristine Battey, (208) 946-7072.

Kristine Battey is a licensed physical therapist, a certified athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist (personal trainer) and a holistic lifestyle coach. She owns Divine Health & Fitness, www.divinehf.com, and can be reached at (208) 946-7072.

Last year I was blessed to be invited to Tasmania, Australia to teach healing classes and to offer private sessions. During that quiet retreat time half way around the world I entered into a process of deep reflection and received some wonderful insights about the art of forgiveness. They have truly blessed my life, and I would like to share them with you.

Many people look at forgiveness as the most selfless act one can do for another human being. From my view point it is totally for the benefit of the giver! When we hold on to resentment, anger, sadness, fear, or hatred it can literally weigh us down with negativity. We are unable to truly move forward into the future with peace and clarity of direction. Sometimes our physical health suffers as well, leaving us in chronic pain and discomfort. Then all of our actions seem to have a dark cloud over them. That is because our bodies, minds, and spirits are blocked by unresolved traumas from the past. The act of forgiveness releases those old thought patterns and emotions and clears the way for self healing and restoration.

So why do people hang on to these negative emotions? One reason is that they might feel they are right in the conflict, and therefore justified in their emotional reactions. Another reason is that they could feel that if they let go of the negativity they will somehow let go of the memory of the incident, and no one will know the wrong that was done to them. Or maybe they feel a sense of empowerment by keeping those negative reactions alive as the result of an apparently powerless situation. Whatever the case, those negative emotions only continue to harm the person thinking them. The other people involved probably have moved on with their lives, and don’t give it a second thought! Just remember, when you forgive another you will never forget the incident, but you will dramatically release your emotional attachment to it. It is like saying, “Okay, it happened. I will never forget. But I set myself free of this unbearable emotional burden I have been carrying around, so I can get on with my life.”

When you forgive, you set yourself free.

Many times people want to forgive but their minds hold them into unrelenting negative patterns. Forgiveness takes a change of action, and takes practice. I suggest you try writing a “poison pen letter” to those who have wronged you. You will never mail it to them, but it will be used as a process to let go of your emotional attachment surrounding the situation. Sit down with a pen and paper and write down all of your feelings that you have about the incident and the people involved. Let go of all stops. Use expletives if needed! The idea is to let loose of all the feelings that you have been holding on to and get them out. No one but you is going to see this letter, and you will probably feel whole a lot better afterwards. When you have finished writing and feel released, take the letter, tear it up and throw it away. Imagine all of those negative feelings dissolving, until you are free of them. This process may take a few times, but each act of release will be rewarded with greater insight into the situation, and finally, and act of forgiveness itself.

The more you release those negative emotions, the more you will know when it is time to forgive and let go. I suggest setting aside a quiet space for yourself to consciously begin the forgiveness process. Make sure you have no distractions, such as children, pets, or phone calls. Sit down and close your eyes. Take deep breaths and relax. Keep your feet flat on the ground. Imagine breathing in light through your nostrils, and breathing out all negativity through your mouth. Continue to do so for several breaths, and then just breathe normally through your nose. When you are ready, imagine calling to you the person or persons that have hurt you. Then look into their eyes, one by one. With your heart leading the way, tell them your feelings and that you forgive them and set them free. Imagine them turning around, and walking away towards the Light.

The next step in the forgiveness process is to call to you the person or persons that you have knowingly hurt or betrayed through your actions. Again, with your heart leading the way, look into their eyes one at a time and tell them that you are truly sorry and ask for forgiveness. Then let them go into the Light too. Keep doing this process until no one else comes to mind.

The last step in the process, and the most important, is to forgive yourself for any past actions. Sit with this for a while until you feel fully renewed. Then slowly open your eyes, and realize you are free to begin a new life without any emotional strings tying you down. Repeat this process as much as necessary.

As you become more adept at the Art of Forgiveness, you will notice that situations may arise that you can forgive right away. You will be able to release your anger, hatred, fears, resentments, or dissatisfactions much sooner that before. You may feel happier in your life, and ready to try new, creative endeavors. Old worries may seem to vanish, being replaced by more peace in your life. Remember, the more you practice forgiveness the easier it becomes. And good luck with your journey.

Ilani Kopiecki, BA, CMT & IET is a CranioSacral Therapist and Therapeutic Massage Practitioner here in Sandpoint. She maintains her practice at Stepping Stones Wellness Center.

Herbs work. They are distinct from other plants in that they have constituents and properties that do nothing for the plant itself but have remarkable healing benefits for humans. They are plants that assist the body in its return to wellness, affecting every cell, organ, gland and body part. Whether we need help with tension, congestion or inflammation or more specific healing needs there are herbs to help relieve our dis-eases and restore balance. Herbs are a gift from Creation. Their power, their perfection, provided so abundantly just for us, has inspired herbalists for centuries to feel blessed and grateful, almost to the point of worship.

Perhaps you ‘tried herbs’ and ‘they didn’t work.” There are reasons for this experience. Herbs are not like pills. Modern medicine isolates specific, active components and intensifies them into power-packed pills that target a specific area or condition. This can mean fast, effective results on the target but side effects from their swift and aggressive nature. Quite often a beneficial effect in one area leads to a detrimental effect in another. Herbs, on the other hand, are complex and holistic in their make up, just like us. Certainly, they enter our bodies armed with a full range of components to target the area in need of healing. However, these herbal warriors also support other organs and body parts that are linked to the ailing area. Their effect is broader and with much more sensitive and intelligent understanding of our complex physiology. They work more slowly since they are covering much more territory but their effect is far-reaching and profound. One remarkable herb is very stimulating to kidney function making it a powerful diuretic, comparable to at least one medical drug. Drugs that are diuretic cause the loss of vital potassium from the body which aggravates any cardio-vascular problem. This herb, however, is one of the best natural sources of potassium! It is an ideally balanced diuretic that may be used whenever needed, even when there is water retention due to heart problems. What is this wonderful herbal warrior that is such an inspiring example of the perfection to be found in the Plant Kingdom? It is dandelion. (Taraxacum officinale). Yes, that dandelion. That invasive yellow flower that waves to us from all over our front lawn. Herbs are often relegated to the status of weeds because they grow prolifically and easily, invading gardens, lawns and vegetable patches crowding out more desirable plants. It’s with a heavy heart that I uproot countless red clover plants (Trifolium pratense) in my wildly weedy back yard each year. It is an excellent blood cleanser and nerve tonic, helpful for bronchitis and eczema. However, it will cover my lawn and house eventually if I do not keep it in check. Harvesting, drying and storing an herb like this requires time, effort and space that I don’t have. So, I praise it as I pull it and give thanks for the bounty in nature, knowing there are plenty more plants growing in organic and wild-crafter gardens who supply me with my ready-dried variety.

Another reason you may be saying you ‘tried herbs’ and ‘they didn’t work’ is that you may have misunderstood the nature of your complaint and wrongly decided on the herb you needed. Sinusitis often requires herbs for intestinal cleansing, for example. Did you know which part of the herb to take? How to prepare it? How much to take, how often and for how long? Which herbs combine best for your specific needs? Are you supporting a linked area for best effect? Do you know contraindications? This is the knowledge that distinguishes general understanding from proficient use and results-oriented ability.

Herbalists are trained extensively in physiology and anatomy in order to understand the complex inter-connected nature of our bodies, minds and spirits. They study the ‘specific’ choice of herb for various conditions. Contraindications are also studied.Herbalists often use a second modality in order to understand the health and ill-health of their clients more thoroughly. I use reflexology.

Herbalists are not medical doctors so we do not practice medicine. We offer natural healing principles and support them with herbs. We don’t diagnose. Our work is to match the properties of an herb to the conditions being experienced in the body in order to assist the natural healing ability of the body to restore wellness. Rarely is there no herb available to support the return to wellness when the choice, strength, method, amount and usage are thoughtfully recommended by a professional. Clients are always asked to check with their medical provider before starting on a natural healing program with herbs.

Herbs can be taken as teas or tinctures. They can be applied externally as an ointment, liniment, compress or poultice. They can be inhaled or absorbed as an essential oil. Each method has its particular benefit for body, mind and spirit but herbs, in any fashion, are helpful to us and our health and well-being. Herbs work!

Oregon Grape (Berberis aquifolium)
A tonic to all glands; stimulates the action of the liver and is one of the best blood cleansers. Found locally and in abundance.

Penny Waters
Master Herbalist, Reflexologist
Your RELAXATION DESTINATION
Sandpoint
Can be reached at: 208 597 4343 or sunpen54@yahoo.com