Herbs
Using Herbs That Clear Heat To Calm The Spirit
For many years I’ve used cool and cold herbs and formulas to treat patients with anxiety, agitation and insomnia. A recent discussion online about the terms we use to describe anxiety and vexation led me to revisit this piece I wrote in 2013. It’s long been an academic and clinical preoccupation of mine. I was…
Read MoreShort PDF on using Chinese herbs to treat fractures
Yesterday I had the privilege of being a featured speaker and the first annual Sports Acupuncture Alliance. The topics I covered included the treatment of neck and shoulder pain, sciatica and piriformis syndrome. I had worked on my handout for months and the topic evolved. One section that I omitted was the treatment of fractures.…
Read MoreForsythia: the Harbinger of Spring!
It’s April in Philadelphia and we are in that glorious moment where everything is popping up yellow. Daffodils are everywhere and forsythia is reaching skyward. In Chinese medicine, Lián Qiào, Forsythiae Fructus连翘 is used as a heat clearing medicinal. The name translates as lián “wagon” and qiào “ a kind of ancient cart. This refers…
Read MorePhoto Album: Warm Herbs that Release the Exterior
Enjoy these photos and use them to study your visual herb identification. Ma Huang, Cong Bai and Sheng Jiang are not included in this collection. Gui Zhi enters the Heart, Lung, and Urinary Bladder channels. Gui Zhi is Acrid, Sweet, and Warm. …
Read MoreUsing Heat Clearing Herbs to Calm the Spirit
Cara O. Frank, L.OM. Dipl. OM. Introduction: Chinese medicine has always understood and treated the body and the spirit on a continuum. Throughout history, references to emotional experiences are often (but not always) described in terms of their physical symptoms. The impact that heat-clearing herbs and formulas have on the spirit is often underestimated. The…
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