By Sarah Moore
While Western Herbalists are predominantly concerned with extracting the active minerals and vitamins of an herb for its chemically medicinal usages, Ayurvedic Herbalists recognize herbs as a product of Mother Nature who has infused specific energetics going beyond the scope of chemical composition.
(Image: Curry Leaves)
Although Western Naturopathic Doctors receive special training in clinical herbalism, Western Physicians educated in Allopathic Medicine are generally not trained in the medicinal use of herbs. It is required of Ayurvedic Herbalists to be Ayurvedic Practitioners.
Ayurvedic herbalists and practitioners residing in the West don’t typically grow Ayurvedic herbs, because it’s not a tropical or temperate climate. It is not the appropriate environment for the herb to grow in a way that will offer its entire efficacy: its chemical and non-chemical energetics, Mother Nature’s essence. These practitioners may use powdered herbs rather than fresh for this reason. It is understood that Western herbalists should be able to cultivate herbs, be a gardener, have knowledge of anatomy and holistic pathology, and be able to create formulations and suggest herbs for clients’ ailments.
Ayurvedic Herbalists are also required to be gardeners, knowledgeable of anatomy and create formulations and recommendations, but unlike Ayurvedic Herbalists Western Herbalists plant and garden desired herbs in man-made, climate-controlled environments needed for these herbs to grow, irrespective of geographical location.
Western Herbalists are concerned mainly with the amount of inherent compound within an herb and how much can be yielded from it—there is more focus on quantity than quality. In other words, there is less focus on the preparation of the herb and using the whole herb (as much as possible and appropriate), such as with Ayurvedic Herbalism, and more focus on removing contaminants and extracting only the desired active compounds as much as possible. There is so much focus on the extraction (or harvest) of the herbs that they are sometimes plucked immaturely, at a wrong time of day, or by someone null of intent, love, compassion and respect for the medicinal essence of the herb.
While Western Herbalists are restricted to plants, Ayurvedic Herbalists are not. In Ayurveda, there is a word for all organic and inorganic substances: dravya. Dravya includes plants, herbs, leaves, spices, rocks, crystals, gems, resins, minerals, and animal-based products such as feathers, shells, coral, honey and milk. All dravya is therapeutic. Even water has different essences and therapeutic qualities—lake water has different qualities than mountain water.
Ayurvedic Herbalists even use herbs and metals—such as mercury—that are restricted by the FDA. Ayurveda uses different purification methods called sodhana in order to extract the therapeutic qualities from a poisonous or toxic dravya; such practices include burning or cooking. All dravya has qualities (gunas), actions (karma) and a psycho-physiological constitution (dosha), while Mother Nature gives its healing quality and essence. Each level of seeding, growing and harvesting affects the prana (life force), taste (rasa), gunas, karma, and dosha of the dravya. In Ayurveda, the herb should be full of prana and rasa.
Ayurvedic Herbalism also takes into regard the quality (guna) of the liquid component being used to process an herbal concoction, while Western Herbalists typically do not consider this. For instance, in Ayurveda vinegar has a heating quality, because of this we do not want to offer a formulation with vinegar to a client with current similar qualities, that is someone with a Pitta vikruti (current constitution), such as a woman in pre-menopause or a balanced person with a Pitta prakruti (original constitution) because it will increase their Pitta, and possibly ignite Pitta disease.
In terms of medicinal aim, Ayurvedic herbalism treats the disease, while Western herbalism is mostly focused on treating the symptoms. Ayurvedic Herbalism aims to work on the entire body, rather than focusing mainly on pathogenic organisms, as is the focus in Western Herbalism.
Ayurvedic herbs are also given to healthy, balanced individuals, whereas in Western Herbalism, aside from vitamins and mineral supplements, all other herbs are used for treating symptoms and diseases. Lastly, while most Western herbal combinations or formulations contain at most two or three herbs limiting their scope of treatment, an Ayurvedic Herbal formulation can contain a combination of up to 40 to 50 herbs allowing for a wider range of combined herbal action, bringing the individual to a more total body balance. In Ayurveda an individual is a universe made of a body, mind and soul, where all parts are involved in its fine balance; if one part is imbalanced eventually other parts become imbalanced. Ayurvedic Herbalism offers an all-encompassing approach to the treatment of the body, mind and soul.