The reason I bring this up at all is because in terms of natural healing I often hear a person saying something like, "I don't want ______ (fill in the blank) surgery, drugs, radiation, chemo, an anti-depressant, and yet they actually still trust in the medical approach of fixing and curing, slashing and burning, and take the same mind-set and just stick it on top of using herbs instead of drugs. This is healing as warfare and its currency is fear no matter what substances we are taking. Its language is militaristic, and it comes out of the belief that healing is about controlling nature and gaining power-over your body rather than entering into partnership with it for your ongoing healing. The result is that we, and the medical system, go to war against our bodies in the name of healing. This approach is transferable to any healing modality. It isn't what you do, but the spirit in which you do it, that generates true change, and in my experience, true healing.
One misperception I'd like to clear up is that conventional western medicine is not traditional medicine. It is modern. The word traditional means something. 'Traditional' medicine means medicine that has withstood the test of time. It is old, even ancient. Herbalism, in its many forms around the world (western, Chinese, Ayurvedic, indigenous, etc) is truly traditional medicine. It is time-tested. We have evolved with plants. In fact, they are our elders. Our bodies recognize the healing nutrients (I call them gifts) in plants and they are bio-assimilable, meaning they match the cellular receptors in our bodies beautifully, and thus we are able to make the most out of the healing gifts (vitamins, minerals, chlorophyll, antioxidants, etc.) that plants offer to us.
MAB: Wow, thanks , Robin for reframing the terms "traditional" and "modern" within the larger scope of things, that really makes sense! I guess it's safe to say that the shortcomings of allopathic medicine have inspired many to look elsewhere for illness intervention.
RRB: Right!
And what we have, here and now, and what I bring out throughout the Gift of
Healing Herbs, is an opportunity to change how we look at and think about what the
process of healing actually asks of us, and perhaps more compellingly, what it offers
us. The time is ripe, culturally, to examine our deeply held and taught beliefs
about our bodies and about what healing is.
MAB: Yes, all the current issues with the cost of health insurance really encourages each one of us to take much more responsibility for our own health.
RRB: Essentially modern medicine teaches that your body is like a machine that will break down and need replacement parts and also that it is designed to fall apart without medical and pharmaceutical interventions on a regular basis.
MAB: That's the problem with the Cartesian perspective!
RRB: When we
look more closely what we see is that our bodies are brilliantly designed and
oriented to adapt to changing conditions and to heal themselves.
I'd say one of
the primary differences between conventional medicine and natural healing is
the first inspires disconnection from one's own body and distrust in its healing
processes, and the latter invites deeper awareness, connection and self-love as
part of the path of healing. This is true whether we are talking about the
common cold or the increasingly common scourge of cancer.
Grandmother Hawthorn tree spotted during an October 'weed walk' in Central Park. Hawthorns are associated with faeries, Halloween, (Samhain). Rich in Vitamins C & E, flowers, leaves and berries strengthen the heart and cardiovascular system.
(Image by used with permission of Robin Rose Bennett) Details DMCA
An herbal approach often
looks to find out what body system (digestive, respiratory, etc) needs help to
function optimally, and then supports it in doing so with appropriate herbs and
foods. It also looks at the person's life and circumstances, realizing that
illness occurs in a social and cultural environment as well as in a uniquely
personal context. And these things matter. They are not simply extraneous
circumstances. Illness offers us an opportunity to heal other areas of our
lives. There is gold to be mined out of difficult situations, but you have to acknowledge
it is hidden there and often we need help to know where and how to dig for that
gold.
MAB: Yes, I love that way of looking at things, and I find it true in health and all other aspects of life, too.
RRB: Think of
the gold within illness as your body's wisdom calling on you to live in ever
more harmony with who you truly are. Whether you are healing a chronic condition
like arthritis, or something acute, like a viral infection, that is what true
healing really is. We often hear someone say something like, "That brush with
death was the best thing that ever happened to me. It goaded me to finally ____
(fill in the blank) move, get married or file for divorce, or write the book
I'd been dying to for years. I don't think "dying to" is always just a
metaphor.
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