This is such an interesting and unusual flower.  It’s thick velvety fanlike petals look out of place when you see it in a garden, as if it’s thick velvet exterior should be upholstering a chair in your living instead.  This one is growing in the side garden between me and my neighbor’s house, sprinkling the …

Herbal baths are used to calm and soothe and even to restore pieces of oneself that may have withdrawn from the conscious mind and thought processes because of trauma, pain, or shock (due to an accident, the death of a loved one, abuse, etc.).  I find it is a great way to directly and personally …

  February 4th, Monday marked the first day of Spring by the lunar calendar.  This is the official Chinese New Year.  February 10th marks the first day of Spring according to the solar calendar (the calendar we use in the West).  This is a difference of measuring the Earth’s journey around the Sun versus the …

  Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH and Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. Chinese medicine can make a tremendous contribution in promoting fertility for both men and women. On the March 26th episode of Holistic Healing with Herbs and Chinese Medicine, we discussed why Chinese medicine is so effective at treating male and female infertility.  Chinese medicine …

  I was excited to recently read an article about the Singapore Zoo and how they use Chinese medicine for their residents. Click here to see the story.  At the zoo, veterinarians integrate conventional veterinary medicine with Chinese medicine, using both acupuncture and herbs to treat a variety of issues, like constipation (for an orangutan), …

  by  Andres Vergara, L.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH On the January 29, 2013’s edition of Holistic Healing with Herbs and Chinese Medicine, we discuss the common cold, asthma, and allergies.  We presented the causes of these conditions from a Chinese medical perspective, as well as how they can be treated and prevented …

Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH and Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. Herbs and plants are an amazing natural resource, the health and abundance of which is crucial to the practice of herbal medicine.  As herbalists, one of the things we both love about what we do is working directly with plants, whether it is putting herbs …

The first live broadcast of the internet radio show, Holistic Healing with Herbs and Chinese Medicine, will air on Tuesday, January 15th, from 7:00 PM- 8:00 PM EST. Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH and Andres Vergara, M.Ac., L.Ac., are the co-hosts for the show which airs on Voice America’s Health and Wellness Channel.  In the …

    Andres Vergara, M.Ac., L.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH In Chinese medicine and Taoist traditions, there is a rich and nuanced understanding of how herbs can be used to prevent disease and promote radiant health, in much the same way we might use vitamins in the west.  These herbs are referred to …

  Herbal medicine is one of the oldest forms of healing.  In fact, herbs are often called the “people’s medicine” because they offer a convenient and affordable source of medicine, and in some parts of the world, may be the only medicines available to people.  With the growing use of and interest in natural alternatives …

I recently decided to stop eating sugar.  I had stopped eating refined, processed sugar but my last hold out was gummy worms that were sweetened with organic fruit juices and evaporated cane juice.  I have comforted myself with the fact that it isn’t refined sugar, that these were actually healthy treats.  In my defense, they …

  I love the town where I live.  In my yard and in yards and grassy areas throughout the town, including the municipal park, there are the most luscious and vast array of medicinal plants.  There is wild violet, dandelion, chickweed, privet, red clover, yellow dock, and plantain to mention a few I encounter regularly.  …

This is a picture of my very favorite flower, peony.  Not only is she remarkably beautiful, but she has amazing healing properties as well which is why I am writing about her.  She has been my favorite flower since I was child, with several large bushes growing right outside my bedroom window.  Her blooming cycle …

  Poke root and I have been well acquainted with each other for almost my entire life.  We met quite unexpectedly for the first time when I was 2 years old.  I was playing outside with my older sister and a couple of family friends who were slightly older than my sister (all older than …

Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH On February 26th on Holistic Healing with Herbs and Chinese Medicine, we interviewed Lesley Tierra about her new book, Metaphor-Phosis (click here to here a replay of the show).  We wanted to provide some more details about how you can order a copy of book …

Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac., Michele Collins RH (AHG) MPH While I was in Colombia in 2010, my aunt told me about a Colombian Shaman from the Amazon rainforests who was a powerful healer and had great knowledge of Amazonian plants. She said he lived in Bogota and that he was teaching and providing treatments.  His …

Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. and Michele Collins, Rh (AHG), MPH   Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are highly effective treatments for the relief of any and all types of pain. Pain and debilitating chronic pain transcend the simple sensation of hurt. Chronic pain can limit one’s activities and deeply affect one’s mood.  Using Chinese medicine, which …

Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH Nature is so extraordinarily abundant, and Spring is one of the best times of year to revel (yes, revel!) in that. I am very grateful that my lawn has not seen pesticides or chemicals definitely by me and my husband and most wonderfully not by the previous owner. Right now, …

  The mimosa trees have blossomed, almost as if overnight, and are laden with those beautiful, pink fragrant blooms. Mimosa is a tree that always fills me with such joy. It is truly a magnificent tree that blooms in June, with sprays of deep pink that expand out from a base of white tendrils.  Her …

      Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH The food we eat is important not only as a fuel for our physical bodies, but it is also an important resource that can enhance our health and well being.  Traditional healing systems such as Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine classify food according …

I have always wanted to pursue work that could help people live their lives as healthily and sustainably as possible.  Initially, it seemed the best way to do this was to help people transform their external environment, literally their communities and workplaces to support them in their quest for health and balance.  I started out …

http://   Andres Vergara, M.Ac., L.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH Thank you to everyone who tuned in Holistic Healing with Herbs and Chinese Medicine on Tuesday, March 5th for our interview with Susan Leopold, the executive director of United Plant Savers, an excellent organization whose mission is to protect native medicinal plants and …

I wanted to add a quick update for those who want to make white peony tea.  It is the root that is used to make the tea (one of the joys of making a flower essence is you get to enjoy the plant without using the root).  Here is one company online, Mountain Rose Herbs …

Peony’s healing properties have touched my life in very specific ways. I want to share a personal story of how I experienced her healing qualities on an emotional and spiritual level.  A few years ago, there was a big patch of woods near my house that was my sanctuary, big enough so that when I …

by Andres Vergara, L.Ac, M.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH Chinese medicine is a broad umbrella term that refers to many different modalities which use similar diagnostic theories and understandings to address a wide variety of conditions, most notably acupuncture and herbs.  In the January 22nd internet radio show episode titled Into to Chinese …

Michele Vergara, RH (AHG, Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac.   Each season the natural world gives us important clues as to what is happening within our bodies and how to best adjust to the changing weather.  Traditional healing systems, such as traditional Chinese medicine, provide a structure to help us discern what foods and lifestyle choices …

by Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH   Qi gong is the living and breathing dance of Chinese medicine that everyone can learn and practice. It is a spiritual science that uses sound, slow movements, and meditation to potentiate subtle health processes in our body which ultimately lead to greater and …

by Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH and Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. On January 22nd’s internet radio show, Combining Science and Chinese Medicine for Sustainable Weight Loss, we (Andres and Michele) talked about the role the spleen and kidneys play in metabolism in Chinese medicine.   Keep in mind, though, that we are not referring to the …

  One of the things that I most love about Qi Gong and Taoist philosophy is the underlying belief that my intelligence, any single person’s intelligence is stored in the physical body, in 5 key organs to be precise. This immediately takes me out of my head and forces me to focus on what is …

  by Michele Collins I love both dusk and dawn.  It is the time in the day’s cycle  when yin and yang are finding their balance point.  It is also my favorite time of day to meditate and do qi gong.  I feel a sense of stillness, both internally and externally, as if my inner …

  In this blog, I have been writing about individual herbs and the ways they help the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual body heal. There are several different ways that I learn about individual plants and their healing properties. One of the first things I do is I read all I can find from …

Last year, in 2011 I spent 6 months living and studying Chinese herbal medicine in Chengdu, China.  While there, I was fully planning to blog about my experience.  Unfortunately that never happened.  My computer crashed, the internet was vey slow – all reasons that I didn’t do this.  In reality I was too busy being …

Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. and Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH Herbs can work on many levels in the body, one of which is the physical.  However what many people may not be aware of is that you can use herbs to support your emotional health, your mental health, and your spiritual health. In several previous …

  http:// Map from PlanetWare.com   Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH and Andres Vergara, L.Ac., M.Ac. China’s Sichuan province is an area widely known for its spicy foods.  More important for herbalists is that Sichuan province is also well regarded for the quality and variety of herbs that are grown there. Over 4300 herb varieties …