Chinese Herbs

Traditional Chinese herbology is one of the oldest, empirically proven healing traditions surviving today. It represents a highly organized and consistent medical system that is becoming more accessible to modern society. Along side acupuncture it is one of the more important modalities utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Each herbal medicine prescription is a combination of 2-15 herbs and is tailored to the individual patient.

Herbal preparations may be recommended to you based on the traditional diagnostic pattern that emerges during your evaluation. As with acupuncture your diagnosis is derived from a review of reported history, radial pulse and tongue evaluation. These formulas can be provided to you in the raw form (to be prepared as a tea), granules and pills. Syrups and plasters are occasionally prescribed.

Your herbal formula is designed by using one or two main ingredients that target the primary illness. Other ingredients are then added to adjust the formula to suit your metabolic conditions. As with acupuncture, your herbal preparation aims to balance yin (cooling, nourishing) and yang (warming, active), build deficiencies, clear stagnation and correct the flow of qi. Unlike western medications, the balance and interaction of all the ingredients are more important than the effect of individual ingredients.

Chinese herbology incorporates ingredients from all parts of plants (leaf, stem, flower, root) but also ingredients from animals and minerals. The use of parts of endangered animals has created much controversy and resulted in a black market of poachers who hunt restricted animals such as the rhinoceros. In respect for the protection of species from extinction, Lotus Healing Arts does not use any ingredients of this nature.