Medicine Around the World
09/13/2018
On a visit to the Peace Pagoda in Leverett Massachusetts last fall, I found this tree dedicated by Jake Swamp (Tree of Peace Society) in 1985. My friend, Dr Laurie Dohmen and I were on our way to Kripalu School of Ayurveda where this past year we attended three 10 day modules of a course in Foundations of Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Herbology. We had the honor of being the first veterinarians in the Kripalu course! Our fellow classmates went on to become Certified Ayurvedic Health Councilors and Laurie and I have gone on to continue our exploration of Ayurvedic Medicine and its herbs to help our animal patients and our veterinary herbal students.
One lecture that we have enjoyed putting together for our herbal course is an overview of various cultural approaches to herbal medicine including Western (coming from the Greek origins of our modern day medicine), Ayurvedic Medicine from India and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Even though I am a Western herbalist, some of my favorite herbs come from Indian and Chinese traditions. Ashwagandha (Withania somnifora) and Astragalus (astragalus membranaceous) are two that I use everyday.
After taking these courses in Ayurvedic medicine, we are better able to read Ayurvedic herbal descriptions (material medica) and have a deeper understanding of the skills used by our medical predecessors before we had so many technological diagnostic tools. It is amazing what they could do using well developed powers of observation. I appreciate the contributions of these ancestors as well as the modern tools and medicines we have today which combine into Integrative Medicine bringing the best of all worlds together.
If you are interested in scheduling an herbal medicine consultation, please contact me!