In Traditional medicine, there is no divide between Mind, Body, and Spirit. There are very clear and specific ways of recognizing how and when the balance of the mind and the emotions might be lost. By seeing the healthy function of the body as inseparable from the cycles of nature and the cosmos, traditional systems are able to highlight the role of environment, diet, lifestyle and constitution in the maintenance of healthy balance. Traditional medicine is first concerned with the initial and underlying causes of an illness, giving specific ways of identifying theses causes and therefore clear solutions to bring back balance.

Traditional therapeutics also offer a way of countering the extremes of suffering whilst focusing on the long term return to balance and wholeness.

We will consider the traditional concepts that underlie the functioning of our nervous and emotional aspects, and how these correspond to current understanding of neurological divergence, difference and health. By looking at a number of specific herbs and case histories we will see how these traditional insights can empower our use of herbs in today’s practice.