Native American Herbalism: Improve Your Health, Wellness & Vitality with Indigenous Healing Practices, Medicinal Plants, Natural Herbs, & Herbalist Remedies

By History Brought alive

Health, Wellness & Natural Healing with Earth's Medicine

 

In the last century, mortality rates have dropped in the developed world. However, as death rates fall, there appears to be a drop in well-being.

 

Conventional medications usually consist of synthetic medicines which can cause various side effects and are often expensive. Herbal medications cost less and are much more gentle on the body. Not only this, but they conform with cultural practices and traditions that stretch back for thousands of years.

 

The Native Americans have perfected the use of plants for health benefits for more than a thousand years. And they aren't only for hippies. All manner of people use herbal medicine from school teachers to billionaire CEOs.

 

In this book you'll not only learn all about Native American Herbalism to Improve Your Health, Wellness & Vitality with Indigenous Healing Practices, Medicinal Plants, Natural Herbs, & Herbalist Remedies.

 

Inside this book you will discover amazing natural remedies, teas, herbs and much more made from plants indigenous to North America.

 

All of this and much more including:

• How Native American Herbalism is different from conventional medicine (myths and facts exposed)
• Discover the most important plants, herbs, flowers, seeds, spices and barks + safety & dosage guidelines
• Infusion of Sage - purify the person, a location, or a part of life
• Harvesting, growing and preservation tips every beginner should know
• Period pain relief - that won't negatively affect your hormones
• Herbs to improve your skin - including Astringent herbs which can improve acne by preventing sebum discharge
• The Rose of the Wild - use this to ward off spiritual entities that might be haunting you or to guide new spirits
• How to get started foraging - practical guidance, sustainable methods & laws for complete beginners

And much, much more

Strengthen your body, mind and spirit with Native American Herbalism.

 

Begin Now with this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: History Brought Alive
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223405238

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Herbalism is the science and art of using the natural healing power of plants to make people better and improve their overall health. They are used in traditional healing, used as the base of pharmaceuticals, and their healing powers have been used since ancient times.

Native Americans have traditional practices that stretch back thousands of years. Their ancient cultures were some of the most sophisticated in the whole world. The natural environment in the Americas was in pristine condition when Europeans arrived because Native American cultures learned how to live sustainably with the Earth. They were able to use the natural environment to provide for all their needs, including medicine. This book contains some valuable insights into the Native American medicinal culture.

Tips about how to grow your herbs.

Discovering the right herbs for your medicines.

How to keep them preserved and usable.

The importance of high-quality herbs when using them for medicinal purposes.

A sizable portion of the book will cover information about searching for plants that you’re going to use in your medicinal preparations. safety information—selecting herbs that are healthy and viable—knowing about the different parts of plants so that you can more accurately identify herbs.

CHAPTER 1

Fundamentals of Native American Herbalism

Herbalism is the use of plant-based therapies to improve your overall health. It focuses mainly on using the medicinal properties of herbs to both boost your health and overcome diseases or ill health. The Native American nations have perfected the use of herbs for health benefits for more than a thousand years. In recent times, the benefits of natural healing have become a more popular subject of study. Many of the verbal traditions about herbal medicine and practices carried down for generations are now written down so that anyone in the world may benefit from them. This chapter will teach you about some of the basics you need to know to become adept at using herbs in your daily life.

What Is a Herb?

A herb is a plant, of course. But, how is a herb different from any one of the other thousands and thousands of plants in the world?

The first differentiating factor between herbs and other plants is that it refers to plants that are green and leafy. When looking at a herb, both its stems and leaves are normally green. The shapes of the leaves, the stems, and the general appearance of a herb can vary quite a lot. Some might have hairy stems and leaves, while others have smooth ones. The texture of the leaves, the flowers, the way the roots look, and many other parts of one herb might look completely different from another. But there’s consistency in the fact that the stems and leaves of a herb are green.

Another quality that separates herbs from other plants is that it’s used for flavor. It can be added to foods to change how they taste. It can be added to drinks to alter their flavor. And it can be mixed in with sauces to enhance their flavors. Herbs are known to be more flavorsome than other plants, thus you will often see them used in a kitchen. Additionally, they are known to have an aromatic scent. When smelled directly or crushed, they exude fragrant smells that are pleasant to the nose.

An herb varies from a vegetable in that a vegetable is used as one of the main parts of a dish. An example of this is spinach. Although spinach is a green and leafy plant, its leaves aren’t used in small quantities to enhance the flavor of a dish. Rather, they are used as one of the main constituents of a meal for nutritional purposes and to make you feel full. A herb like a dill, on the other hand, is used in small amounts to contribute to the flavor of dishes like fish or potato bakes.

Herbs vary from spices too, even though they’re both used in small amounts to flavor dishes. Spices come from plants or parts of plants that aren’t green and leafy. Examples of this are the bark, seeds, twigs, berries, and roots. An example of this is cinnamon, which is made from bark. By throwing it into a curry or adding it to a sweet dish, you can alter the flavor of what you’re making completely. But it doesn’t come from a leafy green plant with green stems.

One last quality of a herb that can separate it from other plants is that it can have medicinal effects. The next section will explain how this occurs.

What Is Herbal Medicine?

Herbal medicine is the use of herbal plants for healing purposes. These medicines come in various forms. This includes tinctures, dried and crushed herb powders, and herbal teas. Herbs contain various compounds that have effects on the body and its parts. Some herbs, for example, can increase your heart rate while others slow it down. By ingesting the suggested or prescribed herbs, your body will function to overcome undesirable conditions. Many of these herbs will bring about long-term changes in your body’s health when consistently consumed as directed.

Herbs aren’t just pseudo-healing as many doctors and practitioners of traditional commercial medicine make it out to be. Modern pharmacology is largely based on herbs and the compounds found in them. While these compounds might have been isolated by the pharmacological industry to the exclusion of other compounds in a given herbal plant, they are still validly gotten into the body for healing purposes when the herb itself is ingested. The modern medical and pharmacological industries would be nowhere near as effective as they currently are but for the contribution of herbs.

Herbal medicine is a holistic approach to healthcare. While the commercial medical industry normally approaches patient healthcare by focusing on handling symptoms that are present, a herbal medicine practitioner takes inventory of the whole person. Diagnosis by herbal medicine professionals takes symptoms into account, but also adds other aspects of the patient’s body and mind into account. In this way, the professional gets a full picture of the patient’s health, allowing them to improve the patient’s overall condition.

There are different herbal medicine traditions in different parts of the world. There is Chinese herbalism that focuses on restoring the patient’s qi energy to optimal levels. Qi is the life force that’s believed to circulate through the patient. Chinese herbalism also focuses on bringing balance to the yin and the yang in the body. The yin and yang are said to be the lower and upper parts of the body and the various forces that can affect the body when they’re unbalanced. By bringing the two forces into balance, it is believed that any diseases in the body will cease to affect the patient. In other words, Chinese herbal medicine seeks to balance the qi and the forces of yin and yang within the body.

Western herbalism focuses more on the effects different herbs have on systems within the patient’s body. It matches diseases and symptoms with a herb that’s shown itself to have counteracting effects. It looks at the whole body and notes any system or parts of the body that aren’t functioning at normal levels. A range of herbs is prescribed to remedy all body parts and systems not functioning to the required level or that are over-functioning. While this systematic approach focuses on specific symptoms and conditions, the whole patient is still taken into account by taking note of all symptomatic areas.

Unani Tibb is another example of a herbal medicine tradition prescribed to a large population of the world. It refers to the natural healing of Greek origin that’s practiced in India, the Middle East, and a few other countries in the region. A balance is sought between the four main liquids and qualities in the body because imbalances are believed to cause diseases. Means such as healthy eating, clean water, and the use of specific herbs are pursued to improve the health of the patient.

These various herbal medicine traditions are systems used to predictably heal patients with various herbs. There are differences between each tradition, but there are also similarities between each tradition that ties herbalism into a single overall field. Native American herbalism links in with other herbal healing traditions from around the world in that it guides how to use herbs to improve the health of the body. It’s most similar to Western herbalism because it uses the healing properties of herbs to handle specific symptoms and conditions that are observed. However, there are many legends, religious beliefs, and spiritual elements incorporated into its practice.

In the next section, there will be a description of some of the main differences between conventional medicine and herbal medicine.

How Is Herbal Medicine Different From Conventional Medicine?

Conventional medicine is the medicine you’re prescribed when you visit a doctor that’s part of the medical association of your state, country, or region. They would have completed a degree and residency covering the use of conventional surgery, medical, and pharmacology practices. Practitioners of conventional medicine normally have very little experience with herbs and plants in a medicinal context. They’re used to using processed medications that have been produced by pharmaceutical companies. The three main differences between conventional medicine and herbal medicine are diagnosis methods, the use of the whole plant, and the way that herbs are combined.

Diagnosis under herbal medicine is holistic and looks to find root causes for conditions a patient is experiencing. The herbal medicine practitioner will hear what the main complaints of the patient are and determine if they find any signs of a common underlying condition. Herbs will be prescribed for