The scope of herbal medicine ranges from mild-acting plant medicines such as chamomile and peppermint, to very potent ones such as foxglove (from which the drug digitalis is derived). In between these two poles lies a wide spectrum of plant medicine with significant medical applications. One need only go to the United States Pharacopoeia to see the central role that plant medicine has played in American medicine.
Plant medicine does not just improve symptoms; it approaches healing the whole of the body - as opposed to Western medicine, which may just approach the symptom.
There are many plant medicines that are available to us that have a lot of stigma around them that I hope, in the future, our medical community can look at, because I would absolutely go to those alternatives first before I went back to Western medicine.
One reason we would use plant medicine: to be able to take care of the body as a whole. Another reason is that it is accessible, approachable, and requires few invasive methods.
Often, people take herbal medicines for a physical response, but what they find is that the body also responds in an emotional way to the plant medicine that they're taking.
Plant medicines work beyond the physical response; sometimes, it's your spirit or emotion that needs healing, and plant medicines can address that also.
If you or I want to be healthy (whether it's our digestion, our reproduction, our skin, or anything) we have to assume greater responsibility for our wellness. One of the best ways to do that is to be familiar with and to use on a regular basis, plant medicines.
