Botanical Body Care: Introduction
The beauty, mystery and power of plants have embraced humankind
from the beginning, as plants were here long before we began our walk
on earth. Our partnership with plants is a fundamental relationship
that continues to evolve.
We are far more chemically connected to plants than most of us imagine.
Plants provide the sustenance for our existence and serve as ever-giving allies
whose aid is always there - especially when we listen closely!
Herbal medicine does not use plants to treat symptoms the way prescription
drugs are often used. Plants assist people on many levels at once, so that the
underlying pattern of illness is addressed. Many different plants could treat
the same symptom, yet only a few of them may pose a good match for the
basis of those symptoms. Plant chemistry is intricate: how various chemicals
in plants relate to each other, and how that synergy responds to the chemistry
of our body, is the mystery of plant-people partnership!
Communication between the language of plants and our individual cellular
intelligence can result in effects that aren't always predictable, thus there
can be differences in response among different people using the same herb or
combination of herbs. Matching plants to people takes more than knowledge
of the plant: it also requires intuition and awareness of the subtle vibrations
between the plant and the person. The healing energy of plants is further
increased by the relationship we cultivate as we spend time with plants and
use them for our health and well-being.
In the commercial world, health is often promoted as some ideal state
of physical perfection, but upon examining the natural world, we find the
true meaning of health to be more dynamic. Health is a process of balancing
energy intake to energy output, and that varies from body to body and season
to season. The ebb and flow of energy we take in and energy we release can
Botanical Body Care
result in the experience of excess (accumulation of energy), depletion (loss of
energy), or stagnation (stuck energy). Traditional healing practices around the
world address the root causes of excess, depletion and stagnation in energy
flow, in order to free the body's own healing potential.
Taking energy into our bodies is nourishing, and we nourish ourselves
with much more than just food and drink. We are nourished by the air we
breathe, substances we apply to our skin, images and light through our eyes,
sound through our ears, scents through our nose, and sensation through touch
and temperature, etc. Our energy intake also consists of personal thoughts,
feelings, beliefs, and values. Overall health is influenced by electromagnetic
energy, relationships with those around us and the community and culture
we live in, earth energies, energies of other planetary bodies, and solar and
stellar energies.
Simply becoming aware of what you take in every day and receiving it
consciously, both in food and non-food energies, can be very revealing.
What are you allowing in that negatively affects you? What causes you to
lose energy or triggers an emotional response? What do you put back into
the environment every day, and how do you nourish the world around you?
Do you feel a discrepancy between the two? Are you living in balance with
your environment?
Even the simple difference between thinking or acting one way but feeling
another can result in disharmony that manifests as an imbalance or disease
(a state of dis-ease) in the body. As we fine-tune our awareness to internal
and external cues simultaneously, we can make choices that create well-being
and happiness for ourselves. Eventually, your choices will lead to feeling good
about yourself, feeling at home in your body, and having the energy you need
to meet the joys and challenges of your life.
True wellness requires an openness to change that allows for living vibrantly
with a long-term outlook on preventive care. The journey of cleansing and
balancing your body-mind-spirit, and addressing the intrinsic need for restoring
your healing force and vitality, will renew the relationship you have with
your body. This process of empowerment with the help of nature's allies is
the crux of natural healing.
To address the nature of our body, we must work with it in a co-creative
way. Nature has an intelligence that is not easily measurable, nor obvious
except through experiencing it intimately. To come to the place where we
can work with our body and all life forms around and in us requires that we
listen to our intuition and heed our inner rhythms. Open to the intelligence
of your body and how it 'speaks' to you. Allow yourself to respond to your
body's natural impulses, while observing how your habitual mind counters
those impulses. Spending time outdoors immersed in the natural world will
help your mind settle into the miracle of your own existence.
This book is
meant to inspire you to inhabit your body with reverence, which will further
your connection with the natural world and allow the magic of plants
to open up to you.
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