Herbs function independently or together with acupuncture to treat a wide variety of health conditions by targeting both the acute symptom and constitutional patterns simultaneously. Therefore it is quite effective for deep healing in both acute and chronic conditions.

The herbs used follow the highest Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) worldwide standards in quality selection, proper identification, and processing; and are free from impurities and adulterations. Formulas of approximately 4-15 herbs are prescribed based on Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) pattern diagnosis. Herbal medicines are usually taken daily and are administered by:

Tea. Traditional water decoction method is used by boiling and reducing the herbs to extract the medicinal properties and drunk as a tea.

Powdered granules. Just add hot water.

Tablet or capsule

Tincture. Generally alcohol based; few available in glycerin.

External plaster, poultice, liniment or soak.

For all forms, be sure to follow instructions.

Classical herbal formulas are often customized for individual treatment. Their effects, based on thousands of years of experience and refinement, include the following treatment principals (with some examples):

Regulate and Nourish the Blood (think PMS/menstrual symptoms)

Move Qi and Blood Stagnation (think pain)

Tonify Qi (think fatigue)

Warm the Interior (think arthritis that's worse in winter)

Calm the Spirit (think anxiety/stress/depression)

Clear Wind Cold/Heat (think colds and flu)

Resolve Dampness (think stuffy nose/sinuses, or edema)

Transform Phlegm and Stop Cough

Relieve Food Stagnation

History of Chinese Herbal Medicine

Chinese herbal medicine has ancient roots. Archeological evidence from ancient tombs shows people in China used herbs 5000 years ago and the earliest surviving written record dates from the first century of the Common Era (CE).

Chinese herbal medicine has the oldest continuous written history of any medical system on Earth. The "Shen Nong Ben Cao" (the Divine Farmer's Materia Medica) was the first known Chinese herbal encyclopedia, dating from about 2700 BC, listed 365 medicinal plants and their uses - including ma huang, the shrub that introduced the drug ephedrine to modern medicine. The original text didn’t survive to modern times, but in the first century CE and again in 220 CE, physicians further organized and complied it into the text that is still the archetype of classical herbology.

The "Shang Han Za Bing Lun" (Treatise on Cold Diseases) was written by Zhang Zongjing at the end of the Han Dynasty and during a cholera epidemic around 206 CE in northern China. It is the first text in human history to systematically chart the progression of healing with prescribed herbal formulas, syndrome differentiation and the use of pulse diagnosis. Because it was written during a time of prolonged warfare during a period known as the Three Kingdoms, it was nearly lost soon after it was published.

Wang Shuhe dedicated many years to the recovery of the Shang Han Za Bing Lun. He recompiled and organized the original text in a logical order to further the understanding of the science within the text. About twenty percent of Chinese herbal prescriptions used today are based from these classics; which utilize pulse diagnosis and pattern differentiation to determine the correct herbal formulation and associated acupuncture treatment. Additionally, Wang Shuhe wrote the "Mai Jing" (the Pulse Classic) and was an expert in dietary therapy.

Formulas are prescribed in a variety of ways: tea, pills, liquid extract, powdered granules, and external plasters. The most traditional form is a tea brewed by decoction: boiling and reducing herbs in water to extract the medicinal components.

About 1800 herbs in the Chinese pharmacopoeia have been carefully studied and categorized, with about 500 used commonly. Classified by temperature, taste, function, dynamic direction, and organ/meridian relationship, herbs are chosen according to a hierarchy to determine the primary, secondary, tertiary functions and goals of the herbal brew. In creating herbal formulas, the practitioner tailors each treatment to a person’s individual conditions. Thus treatment evolves as the patient’s health does.

Like all medicines, herbal formulation is a science, skill, and art.

Modern History of Chinese Herbal Medicine

The first modern Chinese traditional medicine hospital opened in the 1950s. Since then, Chinese scholars have used modern scientific research methods to study and document their ancient healing arts.

Chinese herbal medicine continues to develop. Modern physicians rely on Chinese herbs to treat an array of clinical conditions ranging from headaches, allergies, colds and flu, digestive disorders, gynecological and dermatological conditions, trauma, as well as chronic diseases such as Parkinson's, hepatitis, cancer, HIV, and AIDS. Whereas conventional medicine uses drug therapy to treat pain and disease, Chinese medicine employs classical and modern herbal formulas to address both internal and external health conditions.