Herbal Practitioners & Our Master Herbalist
Our Herbalists & Herbal Practitioners use pure, high potency natural whole herbs as traditional herbal medicines combined with nutrition to heal your body.
Since ancient times, herbalists have used herbal medicines from whole plants & carefully selected plant extracts to successfully address a symptom or illness.
Those herbalists that over time became proficient at identifying and applying the power of plants were sometimes referred to as the medicine man, now master herbalists or simply herbalists. Our Master Herbalist applies herbal therapy through natural whole plant sourced herbs as traditional natural medicines and herbal medicines combined with nutrition.
International Master Herbalists
Around the world, a Master Herbalist may also refer to the use of herbs as medicinal Botany (a neologism by Dr.K.Seshagirirao, University of Hyderabad, India), medical herbalism, herbal medicine, Herbology, botanical medicine and phytotherapy.
Herbology using herbal medicines is a widespread and traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts.
Herbal medicines & the healing properties of whole plants
People in all continents have long used hundreds of indigenous plants as herbal therapies for the treatment of various ailments dating back to prehistory. There is evidence that suggests Neanderthals living 60,000 years ago in present-day Iraq used plants for medicinal purpose, and they remain in use today.
The first generally accepted use of plants as herbal therapies or healing agents was depicted in the cave paintings discovered in the Lascaux caves in France, which have been radiocarbon dated to between 13,000 - 25,000 BC.
In the early tribal communities, and over time, with trial, error and human observation, a small base of knowledge would have been acquired by key people (the first master herbalists) . As this knowledge base expanded over many generations, the specialized role of the master herbalist emerged in varying manners and name across a wide diversity of cultures and continents.
Use of whole plant herbs to address disease
The use of herbs to treat disease is almost universal among non-industrialized societies. A number of traditions came to dominate the practice of herbal medicine by master herbalists in the Western world at the end of the twentieth century:
- The Western, based on Greek and Roman sources
- The Ayurvedic from India
- Chinese herbal medicine from China
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of the world population, presently use herbal medicines for some aspect of primary health care.
Herbal therapy and the herbalist in traditional medicine vs. pharmaceuticals
Herbal medicine is a major component in all traditional medicine systems and a common element in Ayurvedic, homeopathic, naturopathic, traditional Chinese medicine, and Native American Indian medicine. In all cases, master herbalists would and do carry forward the learning's of countless generations past.
There are almost 12,000 specific plants identified for their medicinal qualities and they represent about 10% of the planets plant population.
The modern pharmaceutical approach in utilizing plants is to isolate and extract the single active element from the plant with the object of synthesizing it chemically. This tends to introduce solutions that suppresses symptoms vs. healing. The drugs are typically a compound chemical substance, that may introduce toxicity the body is unable to process and in many cases can not eliminate leading to complications, typically referred to as side-effects.
Herbalists use of herbal remedies remain common outside North America
In Germany, the term apothecary (Apotheke) is still used and next to prescription drugs one can order essential oils, herbal extracts, or herbal teas. Outside North America, herbs are typically seen as a preferred treatment over the unnecessary overuse of industrialized production of chemical medication. 5000 years of successful herbal use is found in traditional Chinese medicine.
Our Master Herbalist Practitioner
As a herbalist, Diane McLaren has studied and used herbal therapies as natural medicines and herb based nutritional supplements extensively since the 1980's.
She continues to study herbal therapies & nutritional health applications and successfully uses them in her nutritional counselling and wellness practice.
Diane has studied under the guidance of many of the worlds top master herbalists including Steven Horne and spent time with the world famous Dr. Ho at his home in China.
Learn more about Diane McLaren CCIr, ROHP, RNCP ...
Healthy You Naturally
Natural Health & Wellness Centres
- South Clinic
1834 Lakeshore Rd. West, #6
Mississauga Ontario L5J 1J7
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2760 Derry Rd. West, #7
Mississauga ON L5N 3N5
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