Maintaining Good Health with Bioregional Herbs...
I've found much knowledge about maintaining good health in bioregional rural communities, where herbal treatments and informal "empirical" methods are still popular in many villages.
For example, I remember the goatherd Irmo of Calcata, who, in addition to producing excellent cheese, had a thousand remedies for various metabolic disorders and other ailments, having learned the secrets of "animal medicine" from his goats. Another example is provided by the "lessons" given by the simple-minded Sonia Baldoni, known as the "herb sibyl," who, during walks we organize in Treia, is able to point out dozens of healing plants, along with astrological indications.
Even animals spontaneously heal themselves with natural methods; who hasn't seen cats cure themselves by inducing vomiting with particular herbs? Wild animals are a prime example of how one can stay healthy without ever resorting to medical treatment. Indeed, animals spontaneously "prevent" illnesses with a balanced diet suited to their constitution, and treat any poisoning or dysfunction with plants they instinctively recognize as suitable.
In traditional Indian and Chinese medicine, the basic system is virtually the same as that of animal medicine. Prevention comes first, followed by rebalancing through simple natural methods. Imagine that in ancient times, there were almost no "medicines"; there were only "diets" that detoxified and rebalanced vital functions. This applies to Ayurveda, the oldest known school of medicine in the world, and also to the Chinese elemental system (based on the five elements).
For example, in both India and China, doctors were paid to keep their patients healthy; as soon as they fell ill, payments were stopped, unless a fine was imposed. However, before each consultation, the doctor would assess the patient's astrological characteristics to understand their innate tendencies and thus their propensity for certain types of illness or organic decompensation. First, he would treat with rebalancing recommendations, for example, by focusing attention on certain neglected or deficient elements. In severe cases, he would recommend the intake of basic elemental substances. In even more severe cases, he would intervene with the laying on of hands, massage, pressure on the feet and other parts of the body, acupuncture, etc.
In fact, what we call "illness" is not merely a lack of health but rather an interruption of the state of internal/external balance.
A lack of harmony between internal impulses and the necessary responses to external environmental impulses. We are an indivisible part of the great living organism, the vital whole that characterizes life in all its forms. Therefore, when we are unable to harmonize the internal/external movement, a state of "illness" automatically sets in. At this point, defining it as psychosomatic or organic is completely irrelevant. Illness is truly a state of "adjustment" that finds expression through somatization in the body. When illness appears, it means that one or more of the elemental energetic aspects are unbalanced.
With the current medical system, based on the administration of chemical medications, a solid balance can never be achieved. This is because "forcing" medicines corrects on one side and disrupts on the other, and also creates dependencies and makes spontaneous forms of self-healing impossible. "True medicine is anything that contributes to re-establishing harmony without further alterations," says herbalist Carlo Signorini. Of course, even the simplistic or Ayurvedic doctor or shamanic healer cannot ignore the symptoms of illness, but they act differently from the allopathic doctor; for them, symptoms are a warning, a signal of something deeper.
A good healer, for example, examines the iris, considered the mirror of the soul, feels the pulse, shakes the limbs, reads the lines on the hand, and so on. Therefore, the symptoms manifested cannot deceive him; he knows that the signs always have a deeper root that originates them. In truth, it is the disease itself that contains its own medicine, according to the well-known law of "opposites."
Thus, in bioregionalism, health is maintained with natural healing systems, starting from the knowledge and message of bioregional plants and the psychic manifestations associated with the disease.
Paolo D'Arpini - Italian Bioregional Network
For example, I remember the goatherd Irmo of Calcata, who, in addition to producing excellent cheese, had a thousand remedies for various metabolic disorders and other ailments, having learned the secrets of "animal medicine" from his goats. Another example is provided by the "lessons" given by the simple-minded Sonia Baldoni, known as the "herb sibyl," who, during walks we organize in Treia, is able to point out dozens of healing plants, along with astrological indications.
Even animals spontaneously heal themselves with natural methods; who hasn't seen cats cure themselves by inducing vomiting with particular herbs? Wild animals are a prime example of how one can stay healthy without ever resorting to medical treatment. Indeed, animals spontaneously "prevent" illnesses with a balanced diet suited to their constitution, and treat any poisoning or dysfunction with plants they instinctively recognize as suitable.
In traditional Indian and Chinese medicine, the basic system is virtually the same as that of animal medicine. Prevention comes first, followed by rebalancing through simple natural methods. Imagine that in ancient times, there were almost no "medicines"; there were only "diets" that detoxified and rebalanced vital functions. This applies to Ayurveda, the oldest known school of medicine in the world, and also to the Chinese elemental system (based on the five elements).
For example, in both India and China, doctors were paid to keep their patients healthy; as soon as they fell ill, payments were stopped, unless a fine was imposed. However, before each consultation, the doctor would assess the patient's astrological characteristics to understand their innate tendencies and thus their propensity for certain types of illness or organic decompensation. First, he would treat with rebalancing recommendations, for example, by focusing attention on certain neglected or deficient elements. In severe cases, he would recommend the intake of basic elemental substances. In even more severe cases, he would intervene with the laying on of hands, massage, pressure on the feet and other parts of the body, acupuncture, etc.
In fact, what we call "illness" is not merely a lack of health but rather an interruption of the state of internal/external balance.
A lack of harmony between internal impulses and the necessary responses to external environmental impulses. We are an indivisible part of the great living organism, the vital whole that characterizes life in all its forms. Therefore, when we are unable to harmonize the internal/external movement, a state of "illness" automatically sets in. At this point, defining it as psychosomatic or organic is completely irrelevant. Illness is truly a state of "adjustment" that finds expression through somatization in the body. When illness appears, it means that one or more of the elemental energetic aspects are unbalanced.
With the current medical system, based on the administration of chemical medications, a solid balance can never be achieved. This is because "forcing" medicines corrects on one side and disrupts on the other, and also creates dependencies and makes spontaneous forms of self-healing impossible. "True medicine is anything that contributes to re-establishing harmony without further alterations," says herbalist Carlo Signorini. Of course, even the simplistic or Ayurvedic doctor or shamanic healer cannot ignore the symptoms of illness, but they act differently from the allopathic doctor; for them, symptoms are a warning, a signal of something deeper.
A good healer, for example, examines the iris, considered the mirror of the soul, feels the pulse, shakes the limbs, reads the lines on the hand, and so on. Therefore, the symptoms manifested cannot deceive him; he knows that the signs always have a deeper root that originates them. In truth, it is the disease itself that contains its own medicine, according to the well-known law of "opposites."
Thus, in bioregionalism, health is maintained with natural healing systems, starting from the knowledge and message of bioregional plants and the psychic manifestations associated with the disease.
Paolo D'Arpini - Italian Bioregional Network