I love exploring plant medicines and therapeutic agents from medicinal practices all over the world. It’s always been a passion of mine. For the last decade I have spent so much time and energy on trying out these individual plants and medicines for immunity, gut health, energy, sleep and so much more.
The beauty of each of these medicinal practices is that each of them bring value to the table based on hundreds or even thousands of years of experience treating patients. These medicinal practices from all over the world are more proven, more concrete, and safer than modern allopathic practices.
We believe that we can learn from these ancient medicinal practices and apply them to our lives as we see fit. Personally, I would rather work with nature and the medicine we know works than to take a synthesized version of that which has a laundry list of side effects.
Here are the plant medicines from all over the world that have interested me most over the years.
Amazonian Medicine
Amazonian medicine has now become widely known, but not 17 or 18 years ago when I first started taking herbage from the amazon. My mom struggled with different health conditions including cancer while I was just a teenager and Amazonian medicine was truly her saving grace. This garnered my attention in it.
We see shamans and medicine men administering ayahuasca from the amazon but there is so much more than that. Ayahuasca is an intense experience that involves a mixture of a few plants from the amazon to make an earthy drink that is very strong. Medicinal, therapeutic and detoxifying. It is however illegal in the United States, but that doesn’t stop many people from using in the US each year.
Beyond the folklore of ayahuasca there are said to be 30,000 medicinal plants in the Amazon rainforest alone. In fact, it has been said that there is a medicinal plant in the Amazon for every medical disease, condition or ailment known to man. It’s not surprising to me at all.
The amazon is quite literally the most biodiverse rainforest on planet earth and the environment is dense with plants, vines, trees, the amazon river and more. This humid environment near the equator and sun creates an environment where plants have to fight for survival.
They develop antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal and antiparasitic properties simply by being in that environment.
There are roots like Suma that come from the amazon which are adaptogens for the body. Great for boosting testosterone in men and estrogen in women. Read more about Suma here.
There is a sap native to the amazon known as sangre de grado which is the richest proanthocyanidin source in the world. 90% of this tree sap is proanthocyanidin antioxidant. It also scores as the highest rated ORAC antioxidant in the world. Coming in with an ORAC score of over 3 million. Second place to that? Clove, at 300,000. 10x behind!
Yet another is Una De Gato (Cat’s claw in English) which is beneficial for the immune system, heart health, and so much more.
Ayurvedic Medicine
Ayurvedic medicine hails from India and has been practiced for over 5,000 years. That’s impressive. There are certain principles in Ayurveda that are valuable and worth learning that I like to share with anyone who is open to hearing.
In Ayurveda they believe that each taste has a distinct benefit to the body. Those tastes are as follows:
- Sweet taste.
- Sour taste.
- Salty taste.
- Spicy (pungent taste)
- Bitter taste.
- Astringent taste.
Each of these tastes has a different benefit to different parts of the body. Bitter benefits the liver, spicy benefits the circulation. So on and so forth. Each of these different tastes are tied into what are known as the doshas.
The 3 Doshas Are:
1. Vata
2. Pita
3. Kapha
These doshas take into account the elements of air, fire, water, earth and space. Each food group with it’s unique flavor helps to balance and harmonize these elements in our being. Very fascinating perspective on diet, nutrition and the calories that we need to live and heal.
Neem is one of my favorite therapeutic plants from Ayurveda as it has been called the Immune systems “first line of defense” because of what it does in the body. It supports the body in it’s natural ability to produce macrophages and cytokines which are immune cells that respond to infection sites. These immune cells travel through the lymphatic system and circulation to ensure the infection is dealt with early on before it comes a major issue.
Chinese Medicine
There are actually different forms of Chinese medicine. TCM is known as traditional Chinese medicine and is the most widespread and talked about. TCM has several key principles worth noting.
1. Your body is integrated with the whole: The body does not work against itself, it works with itself. The body needs to be looked at as a whole so that it can be treated as a whole. Everything connects and we must respect this integrity of this.
2. Prevention is the best cure: The body can prevent so much negative by simply supporting it nutritionally and therapeutically. By living a healthy lifestyle we won’t get to a place where we need to treat things that aren’t working so well in our body.
3. You Were Born To Naturally Heal: The body has self-healing and self-repairing mechanisms built in. We are apart of this macrocosm with our microcosm. The more we connect to and believe that the better we can heal ourselves. This ties strongly into belief and the placebo effect. What we believe does influence our biology.
4. Nature is a Part Of Your Healing: Nature is a part of your healing journey. Understanding geographically where you live, the season (spring, summer, fall, winter) you’re in, the timing of foods and nutrients all play a role in your health and healing. Cycle up with nature because nature has your back!
My favorite symbol from Chinese medicine is the yin yang symbol. This symbol exemplifies the connection of feminine and masculine energy. Of dry and wet, hot and cold. The connection and harmony of energy is what allows us to heal. Finding that harmony and balance is a technique that Ayurveda is strongly connected to as well.
Native Medicine
Native medicine was practiced by the natives living in the United States before European settlers arrived. There were over 500 nations that practiced native medicine. Once again, a recurring theme here is that Native medicine shared the idea that man is a part of nature and health in the human body is a matter of balancing with that. Makes sense right? The question is, how many medicinal practices from all over the world need to share this truth with us before we wake up to it as truth as a society?
Native American medicine addresses the mind, body, spirit, emotions as well as lifestyle. Everything is taken into account when treating a patient.
Cedarwood essential oil is one of my favorite Native American remedies as it benefits the respiratory system, is anti-inflammatory, reduces hair loss and smells absolutely amazing!
Radiate Immunity is a liquid capsule supplement that is now available. It brings together the best practices of Ayurvedic, Amazonian, Chinese & Native American Medicine into one delicious (yes, delicious) pill! You can learn more at RadiateImmunity.com. Use the discount code ‘gratitude’ for 10% off your order!
