Adaptogens in Medical Herbalism

Elite Herbs and Natural Compounds for Mastering Stress, Aging, and Chronic Disease

Donald R. Yance

• Publisher: Healing Arts Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781620551318
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Alternative & Complementary Medicine

A scientifically based herbal and nutritional program to master stress, improve energy, prevent degenerative disease, and age gracefully • Explains how adaptogenic herbs work at the cellular level to enhance energy production and subdue the pro-inflammatory state behind degenerative disease • Explores the author's custom adaptogenic blends for the immune system, cardiovascular health, thyroid function, brain health, and cancer treatment support • Provides more than 60 monographs on herbs and nutritional compounds based on more than 25 years of clinical practice with thousands of patients Weaving together the ancient wisdom of herbalism and the most up-to-date scientific research on cancer, aging, and nutrition, renowned medical herbalist and clinical nutritionist Donald Yance reveals how to master stress, improve energy levels, prevent degenerative disease, and age gracefully with the elite herbs known as adaptogens. Yance's holistic approach, called the Eclectic Triphasic Medical System (ETMS), is based on extensive scientific research, more than 25 years of clinical practice, and excellent results with thousands of patients. It centers on four interconnected groups of health tools: botanical formulations, nutritional supplements, diet, and lifestyle. Defining three categories for adaptogenic herbs, he explains how formulations should combine herbs from each category to create a synergistic effect. He provides more than 60 monographs on herbs and nutritional compounds as well as custom combinations to revitalize the immune system, build cardiovascular health, protect brain function, manage weight, and support cancer treatment. He explains the interplay of endocrine health, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, thyroid function, and stress in the aging process and reveals how adaptogenic treatment begins at the cellular level with the mitochondria--the microscopic energy producers present in every living cell. Emphasizing spirituality, exercise, and diet in addition to herbal treatments and nutritional supplements, Yance's complete lifestyle program explores how to enhance energy production in the body and subdue the proinflammatory state that lays the groundwork for nearly every degenerative disease, taking you from merely surviving to thriving.

Part One

ADAPTOGENS

Keys to Optimal Health

1

MY HEALING PHILOSOPHY

A human being is part of the whole. . . . He experiences himself as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons close to us. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all humanity and the whole of nature in its beauty.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Judging from the innumerable over-the-counter and prescription drugs promoted by modern conventional medicine, one of the primary premises of this system is to provide “better living through chemistry”; this, in theory, is supposed to allow us to live longer, play harder, and suffer less. But the rising incidences of the diseases of civilization, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, multiple chemical sensitivities, obesity, and various autoimmune diseases, exposes the hollowness of this promise. The current widely accepted allopathic medical model views the person as being separate from his or her environment and fails to recognize the dynamic interplay between the two. Most disease processes are clinically viewed in terms of a single cause-and-effect model, such as the idea that elevated cholesterol causes heart disease. Many of us have recognized the limitations of such reductionist thinking and understand that health, disease, and life itself must be studied in totality, by exploring both the internal and external causes and manifestation of illness. In this approach, we choose treatments that support the innate healing capacity of the person rather than simply blunting symptoms or trying to change the results of blood tests.

I believe it is essential that the foundation of any system of health should be the study of optimal health. The disease-based focus of conventional Western medicine severely limits its ability to distinguish between pathology and the normal defensive mechanisms of the body. For example, when we get the flu, conventional medicine views the onset of fever and achiness as an enemy, when in fact these symptoms are signs of the healing responses of our innate vital life force as it reacts to a pathogen. The achiness results from the production of an immune cytokine called interferon, while fever is created by another cytokine called interleukin-1. Rather than suppressing these and other innate healing responses with drugs, traditional natural medicine works in harmony with the body to promote healing and recovery.

In many situations, conventional treatments can play an important role in the treatment of disease or injury. However, conventional medicine typically does very little to address the prevention of disease or to promote a state of optimal health, nor does it successfully treat subclinical or chronic diseases. For these concepts and approaches to health, we turn to modalities that have been traditionally used for healing by all cultures since the beginning of human existence: healing foods, herbs, music, prayer, touch, water, and, most importantly, love. The wisdom of the ancient healing systems need not be replaced by modern conventional medicine. Instead, modern conventional medicine needs to find its place within the poetic wholistic framework of traditional healing.

TRADITIONAL HEALING

As recognized by the World Health Organization, traditional healing systems around the world have successfully used plant medicines to maintain and restore health for thousands of years. These systems, such as traditional Chinese medicine, view the human organism as evolving and self-organizing. They consider the interaction of matter and energy within a person in terms of the relationship to everything around that person as being integral to understanding health and illness.

The idea that energetic relationships within the body give rise to adaptation and healing, such as the vis medicatrix naturae (the healing power of nature), is also a key principle of naturopathic and herbal medicine traditions. Vital to an understanding of healing is an exploration of aspects of energy utilization, including the impact of belief systems, lifestyle choices, sexuality, and spirituality. energetic relationships are important and relevant, yet because they cannot be methodically analyzed and explained on a biological or physiological level, they are misconstrued and largely ignored in Western medicine. The language and approach of traditional healing systems is better suited to exploring and understanding these concepts and interrelationships, which are essential for creating and maintaining optimal health, a state of being that is reflective not merely of the individual, but of the entire community, on up to the global scale to include all of life.

Over the years, I have drawn on the rich and practical information found in traditional medicines to form the foundation of my healing philosophy and approach to health. I consider myself an eclectic clinical herbal practitioner. My spirit and roots are in the American herbal traditions of the eclectic and Physiomedical movements, interwoven with concepts from traditional Chinese medicine, along with certain spiritual traditions, primarily Eastern Christian spirituality and Franciscanism, a Christian movement started by St. Francis of Assisi, and finally the influence of music, especially jazz and spiritual music, and specifically the music of John Coltrane. The philosophy and modalities of these healing traditions continually inspire my work. Since these systems of healing address the whole person, I use the spelling wholistic, rather than the currently accepted holistic, to embody this concept.

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

In the paradigm of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), vital energy, or qi (sometimes spelled chi and pronounced “chee”), animates us as it moves through us. Qi is considered a tangible substance. Practitioners perceive and describe qualities of qi, differentiate between types of qi and their respective functions, describe where and how qi is formed, and explain how it travels through the body in specific pathways to keep us vibrant and healthy.

TCM regards harmony and balance to be essential qualities of good health and utilizes the ancient Taoist concept of yin and yang to understand and diagnose disease and to facilitate healing. The concept of yin and yang is a way to view relationships or opposing forces; it is not a stagnant thing. Most Westerners are familiar with the concept of yin and yang, the feminine and masculine forces, but may think of these two universal forces as opposites. The Chinese perspective of balance is radically different; it regards yin and yang not as static opposing forces, but rather as a constantly fluctuating dynamic. This is perfectly illustrated by the familiar ideogram that symbolizes yin and yang, which depicts the sunny (yang) and shady (yin) sides of a hill. Throughout the course of a day, as the angle of the sun changes, the yang side of the hill becomes yin, while the yin side transforms into yang. The characteristics of yin are substantial, cool, and moist, while the characteristics of yang are ephemeral, warm, mobile, and dry. In terms of homeostasis, yin belongs to all those physiological aspects that are inward, cooling, receptive, feminine, anabolic, and maintaining, while yang is warming, aggressive, transforming, and yet protective. Yin and yang is a way of understanding energetic relationships within the body such as the relationship between anabolic processes and catabolic processes, antioxidation and oxidation, and a multitude of other biological and physiological processes.

The ancient wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine explains that both yin and yang are essential for life. There is a continual dance between these two seemingly opposing forces, which creates the dynamic tension that gives rise to life. The concept of yin and yang can be applied to all of creation and includes not only physical but also energetic and emotional qualities. According to this philosophy a person who is yin is more introverted and quiet, while a yang person will be extroverted and possibly boisterous. However, because yin and yang exist on a continuum and are relative terms, a person can be yin compared to one friend and yang compared to another. In the body, there are yin and yang functions, energetic systems, and organ systems. The essence of TCM is that harmony and balance must exist between yin and yang for health to flourish.

From a Western perspective, we can consider the autonomic nervous system, which functions largely below the level of consciousness and governs all our visceral functions, in terms of yin and yang. This subsystem of the peripheral nervous system has two main branches: the sympathetic (yang-like) system, which promotes a “fight-or-flight” response and corresponds with arousal and energy generation; and the parasympathetic (yin-like) system, which promotes a “rest-and-digest” response and the calming of the nerves as they return to regular function. Both of these branches work antagonistically, yet they also work in harmony with the greater needs of the organism. Chronic dominance of either aspect of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system, creates an imbalance that contributes to the development of chronic disease and age-related decline. A simple illustration of this concept is to think of energy as a two-way street. energy expenditure, the movement of energy outward, allows us to “do,” to be active, while the movement of energy inward nourishes us and allows us to “be.” Whenever energy moves outward, it requires a process of catabolism (breaking down) to meet the need; when energy is not going outward it goes inward in an anabolic (building up) process, which also fuels the processes of detoxification and revitalization.

Another foundational TCM strategy that I have integrated into my practice is known as Fu Zheng therapy. Fu Zheng literally means “to normalize the center and support the righteous qi.”¹ Zheng refers to Zheng Qi, or the upright, correct qi of the body, which is in charge of maintaining balance and harmony. It could be said that the Zheng Qi supports homeostasis in the body.² Fu Zheng is the primary adjunctive therapy used in China for treating cancer patients undergoing conventional therapies. Herbs utilized in Fu Zheng therapy include a variety of adaptogens, such as cordyceps (Cordyceps sinensis), ginseng (Panax ginseng), reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), and schisandra (Schisandra chinensis). All these herbs enhance vitality, essence, and immune function; support digestive function; and assist in building healthy blood during and after cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. In one study in which Fu Zheng herbal therapy was used as an adjuvant to radiation treatment for pharyngeal cancer, the five-year survival rate was twice as high (53 percent) for the group receiving Fu Zheng therapy as compared to the group not receiving Fu Zheng herbs (24 percent).³

In conventional allopathic Western medicine, the definition of health is the absence of symptoms. The cause of illness is thought to be a malady that occurs at the organ, tissue, cellular, or molecular level. Allopathic medical diagnosis can essentially be distilled to the terms functional and dysfunctional. Western medicine is based on scientific analysis, and any unknowns are regarded merely as something that science hasn’t yet figured out how to “fix.” Science, to the Western mind, is believed to hold the truth to our existence, and technology is all too often confused with God.

In contrast, in Eastern thinking, true health is found in the balance of spirit, body, and mind. Disease or illness is believed to be caused by an imbalance in the body’s qi, or life force, which results in dysfunction of the entire system. Various irritants, both indigenous (including diet and emotions) and exogenous (including pathogens and environmental conditions), can bring about this imbalance. Healing occurs when the irritants are removed and harmony is restored.

In Eastern medicine, the organs of the body are regarded less in their specific functional roles and more in terms of being interconnected. Whereas in Western medicine disease is “attacked,” through powerful drugs, surgery, or radiation, in Eastern medicine the emphasis is on restoring balance through a more wholistic approach that addresses diet, lifestyle, spiritual practices, and supportive therapies, including herbal tonics.

Herbal medicine has played a central role in Eastern medicine for thousands of years and is still a primary method of health care used by more than 80 percent of the world’s population. Whereas pharmaceutical drugs may be effective at performing a specific function—to block or replace something—herbs, and specifically adaptogen formulations, help improve recognition, response, and revitalization. I refer to these as “the three Rs.” In ...

Table of contents

• Cover Image
• Title Page
• Epigraph
• Acknowledgments and Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword by Dwight L. McKee
• Introduction
• Part One: Adaptogens
• Part Two: The Monographs
• Appendix. The Eclectic Triphasic Medical System (ETMS)
• Footnotes
• Endnotes
• Index
• About the Author
• About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
• Copyright & Permissions