Buying ayurveda Herbs in UK

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On 7-Feb-07, at 3:22 AM, ayurveda wrote:

> Re: Byuing ayurveda Herbs in UK

>

> Posted by: "Jane MacRoss" HIGHFIELD (AT) HOTKEY (DOT) NET.AU janemacross

>

> Tue Feb 6, 2007 10:17 pm (PST)

>

> I meant that the Hindu/Ayurvedic name for the plant is not familiar

> to us

> commonly in the west (tho Oz of course is south) and so we need a

> translation to find some of the herbs mentioned - thats all

>

> Jane

>

> "Todd Caldecott"

>

> > i can't say i really get your drift here jane,

 

 

hi jane

 

i am not sure that why we would need to know the sanskrit names of

indian plants in order to use local plants with local names

 

what we need to be able to do is understand the local plants by

applying ayurvedic principles

 

we have to do this because the acharyas didn't say anything about non-

indian plants except those that came to them through trade, for eg.

Smilax chinensis (sarsaparilla), which is from china but has been

used in ayurveda for about 500 years now

 

to ascertain the ayurvedic properties of a non-indian plant requires

that we are first fully educated on all existing knowledge of the plant

 

to do this, there are many excellent resources such as those listed

on my links page (http://www.toddcaldecott.com/links.html), for e.g.,

in western herbal medicine:

 

http://www.henriettesherbal.com/

http://www.bibliomania.com/2/1/66/113/frameset.html

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/mgmh.html

http://www.swsbm.com/homepage/

 

once you have fully researched the plant in question, and by now are

starting feel more confident about your knowledge, you need to take

this to the next step and make it real by experiencing the plant for

your self

 

the following is one technique i recommend for ascertaining the

ayurvedic qualities of non-toxic plants

 

so, find the plant in question, preferably growing in its natural

state, sit down in front of it, acknowledge it, and simply be with it

 

close your eyes, focus on the breath and quiet the heart

 

don't rush to understand anything

 

~ just be ~

 

and when your breath and heart are settled, open your senses to the

plant, and measure the sensory impression by noting the qualitative

aspects of hot/cold, dry/moist, and heavy/light (other gunas can be

included, but these three pairs are easy to understand)

 

look at the plant, observing the shape of the stem, leaves and flower

- closely observe its characteristics until the image of the plant is

embedded in your mind - many people might benefit from trying to

sketch it, drawing out the shape of the stem, leaves and flowers

 

also note the local ecology, the other plants that grow around it,

the soil quality, and the general climate

 

now, asking the plant's forgiveness, take a leaf and chew on it until

it is reduced to a liquid slurry in your mouth and notice the tastes,

the predominant ones and the lesser ones: sweet, sour, salty, bitter,

pungent and astringent

 

this is rasa - taste

 

swallow the herb and return back to your meditation and when your

breath is settled check in with your body to ~feel~ the effects of

the plant

 

is there any effect? what sensations do you experience? if

possible, try to translate these experiences into qualitative aspects

such as hot/cold, dry/moist, and light/heavy

 

this takes of course takes some practice, because we don't normally

classify our sensations in this way, but it is a part of the

necessary training needed ayurveda

 

these impression we call is virya (energy)

 

often times the various qualities (gunas) are listed as something

separate from virya but guna and virya are in fact the same thing -

listing it separately is only meant to give emphasis to the gunas of

hot or cold, but in fact some plants are rather neutral in

temperament and thus the virya is in fact what is described as guna,

e.g. dry, greasy, light, heavy etc.

 

as far as karma, this can easily understood by looking at the

traditional uses - so if a plant is used for insomnia it is

nidrajanana, emmenagogue is artavajanana, antitussive is kasahara etc

etc

 

with regard to its effect on tridosha, this can be understood by

taking your impressions of taste (rasa) + energy (virya) + actions

(karma)

with this you should be able to understand how the plant is likely to

affect vata, pitta or kapha

 

of course, you cannot say with ~absolute~ certainty what the effect

on tridosha is until you then gain some experience by actually using

the plant on patients and talking to other practitioners to learn

from their experiences

 

even with well known indian plants there are disagreements regarding

their attributes in different texts and among different

practitioners, because sometimes substitute species are used, the

plant is grown in a different ecology, or because there is a

different tradition (e.g. north vs south india)

 

but this is a useful exercise to help understand the ayurvedic use of

non-indian plants

 

best...

Caldecott

todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com

www.toddcaldecott.com