Alternative medicines for well being?!

Alternative medicines for well being?

I know the question seem broad, but if there's really a "cure" for being well, it would be breaking news on CNN. But anyway, I do take multi-vitamins, fish oil/flax seed oil, and I do exercise. Maybe it's just life that's bringing me down or the negative people around me. Who knows. But any "new" things out there that I can take or do to become "well"?

I don't know of anything "new", but as an herbalist for 24 years and an licensed acupuncturist, I have been a big proponant of Tonic Herbs. They are actually a very ancient remedy. They have helped my patient's overall "wellness" more than anything else.

In Chinese medicine there is a classification of herbs, called tonics. These tonic herbs are superfoods that strengthen the body and promote a long, healthy, vibrant life. They can be taken over a long period of time without any side effects, and support the Three Treasures (Shen, Qi, and Jing).

One of the first Chinese manuals on pharmacology, The Devine Farmers Materia Medica was written by The Taoist master, alchemist and pharmacologist Tao Hongjing who was born in 456. He was also credited with the development of early grain cultivation and practiced under the imperial patronage of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty.

Tao Hongjing artfully divided herbs into three categories; the first were the Superior herbs, or immortal herbs (what we now call Tonic herbs), that were used over a long period of time to strengthen the body and to prevent disease and deterioration. The second were medicinal, or general herbs, used to correct imbalance in the body and to rectify disease patterns. The third classification were inferior, or toxic herbs that had very strong actions on the body and could only be used for short periods.

There are only a handful of Western herbs that can truly be classified as Tonic herbs. Most Western herbs, like Echinacea and goldenseal, are general herbs that are used to correct imbalances in the body. In Chinese herbalism, there is a plethora of Tonic herbs that have been used as Superior herbs for thousands of years. They have an incredible empirical track record of helping to prevent coronary disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, liver disease, digestive disorders and so on. These are the same chronic health issues that Western medicine has not been able to address adequately and that many of us struggle with as we age. We must often resort to pharmaceutical medications that, at best, only slow the progression of these diseases, and at worst, create new, serious medical complications.

Here are some of my favorite Tonic Herbs:
Gynostemma pentaphyllum- jiao gu lan
Polygonum multiflorum-he shou wu
Ganoderma lucidum-ling zhi-Reishi Mushroom