The Respiratory System
The breath of life becomes the cause of death to one who lives within a shell.
Alice Bailey
The air we breathe is spiritual ecology in action. When we draw in the breath of life, we share that air with all other human beings, all life on our planet. It is through respiration that our oneness with the trees becomes a manifest fact, and our communion with the oceans has immediate impact. Through the circulation of the gases and energy of the atmosphere, the reality of the planetary whole reveals itself, with implications for all human life. This vision underlies holistic healing as much as it does ecology—the science of the whole. From the perspective of spiritual ecology we can repeat the question of the mystics: “Who is breathing?”
Every minute, usually unconsciously, we breathe in and out between ten and fifteen times. We move enough air to and fro every day to blow up several thousand balloons. In this way the body can extract the oxygen it needs from the air and discharge waste carbon dioxide from the blood.
Whilst only one-fifth of the air is oxygen, this is the part our body needs for our survival, as oxygen is needed by every cell in the body to release the energy that is locked in food reserves. Many cells can survive for a period of time without oxygen, others need a constant supply. Brain cells die—and cannot be replaced—if they lack oxygen for more than a few minutes.
Supplying the cells of the body with oxygen is the responsibility of the respiratory and circulatory systems. This process is controlled by the brain via the medulla oblongata in the brain stem, where messages concerning blood composition are integrated with other information, thus regulating the appropriate breathing rhythm.
The ebb and flow of the breath draws into the being life-energy. Thus if there are respiratory disturbances which inhibit gas exchange, they can lead to a lowering of the body’s vitality, an increase in metabolic disorders, and degeneration of tissue.
The anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system is a complex and beautiful embodiment of integration and wholeness.
Prevention of respiratory disease
We are not only what we eat, but also what we breathe. Any problem with breathing will not only affect other organs and systems, but may well cause disease in these systems. However, as the body is a whole, the reverse is also true. When the lungs need to be treated, we also have to look at the circulatory system; much of what has been said about the heart and the circulation is relevant to the lungs. We should also look at the condition of the digestive system and especially of the organs of elimination, as the lungs share the role of removing waste with the bowels, the kidneys and the skin. If a problem develops in any of these systems, the body compensates by increasing the load on the others. There are limits to the amount of waste the lungs can put up with if, for instance, the bowels are clogged.
Most pathological changes in tissues can be prevented if the environmental milieu of the cells is constantly rich in oxygen. The amount of oxygen the circulation supplies to the tissue is largely controlled by respiration.
From all this it is apparent that the best preventative measures for this system are regular exercise and good breathing. While we take breathing for granted, conscious and proper breathing is regarded, even in orthodox medical circles, as invaluable. The central role of the breath in many spiritual paths should perhaps give us a clue here.
As with all disease, the best prophylactic is right lifestyle. Diet, exercise and quality of life all have a profound influence on the health of the lungs.
To ensure healthy lungs, the inner environment must be in harmony, and so also must be the outer environment. If the air we breathe is polluted it will disrupt the ecology of the lungs just as it disrupts the ecology of any forest. Air contaminated with chemicals and particles, gases and smoke, should be avoided. Which brings us to tobacco. Smoking puts a wall of tar and ash between the individual and the world so that a free ecological flow cannot take place in the lungs. This can lead to an impressive host of problems, from bronchitis to cancer, without taking into account all the effects of a diminished oxygen supply to the rest of the body. If we are to heal our selves and our world, here is a good place to start. Eating a whole food diet and living in the country pales a bit when faced with twenty cigarettes a day!
There are other specific dangers which can be recognised and avoided. In the case of infections, the simplest answer is to just avoid contact with it. However, as this is often socially impossible, we need to maintain our natural defences at their peak. A word is in place here about the questionable use of immunisation. The body, if given the chance, is capable of great feats of self-defence, as long as we provide a balanced, vitamin-rich diet in combination with a life style that is healthy in thought and feeling as much as in action. In this context it is vital to curb the misuse of antibiotics. While these drugs, used at the right time in the right way, can save lives, they can also reduce the innate defence systems of the body to impotence. In addition to the reduction of our defence, they also in the long run create—in an evolutionary sense—highly resistant bacteria, so that problems become more and more difficult to be treated. Over the last thirty years doctors have had to watch alarming developments in this direction. With correct life style and the use of herbal remedies when needed, antibiotics can often be avoided.
Herbs for the respiratory system
All aspects of the respiratory system can benefit from appropriate herbal remedies. Herbs can aid the activity of the mucous membranes and ensure that gas exchange through these membranes can occur; they can activate the secretion of lung tissue so that the air is sufficiently moistened and the membranes protected; they can augment neurological responses regulating the breath; they can tone up the circulation and ensure that blood bathes the tissues properly, and help by stimulating the whole of the glandular and excretory processes to ensure a clean and harmonious inner environment.
As we view the respiratory system in the context of the whole, it is evident that to truly heal any condition focused in that area we have to look at and be prepared to treat the whole of the body. Nature has been bountiful in the range of actions of the ‘pectoral’ herbs available to us, thus giving us the possibility of working within a wide context.
Whilst it is inadvisable to classify herbs strictly by their actions, it may be of value to lay some broad guidelines. We will look at respiratory stimulants, respiratory relaxants, amphoteric remedies and respiratory demulcents.
Cowslip
Respiratory stimulants
Herbs in this category act as stimulants to the nerves and muscles of the respiratory system by triggering a neurological reflex via the sensory endings in the digestive system. This causes ‘expectoration’. Expectorants encourage the loosening and subsequent expulsion of mucus from the respiratory system. Plants that fit into this category include Bittersweet, Cowslip, Daisy, Senega, Soapwort, Squill and Thuja.
Respiratory relaxants
The primary action of these plants is to relax the tissue of the lungs, which will be most useful in any problem connected with tension and over-activity. In a seemingly paradoxical way the easing of tension promotes the flow of mucus and thus allows expectoration to occur. Many plants can be included in this group, but Angelica, Aniseed, Coltsfoot, Elecampane, Ephedra, Flaxseed, Grindelia, Hyssop, Plantain, Pill-bearing Spurge, Sundew, Thyme, Wild Cherry Bark and Wild Lettuce are representatives.
Amphoteric remedies
The concept of amphotericity is of great value when we deal with the apparently contradictory actions of many plants. The term is borrowed from chemistry where it is used to describe a substance that is capable of acting as either an acid or an alkali. Amphoterics, which are normalisers, change and adapt their action, depending on the conditions. That such a concept should find a place in herbal medicine might at first seem odd. In orthodox medicine a remedy is expected to have a clearly definable effect, which should be related to the dosage and easily controlled. If we see the body as essentially mechanical, this makes sense. However, in a holistic view it must be remembered that the body is seen as an integrated, synergistic whole, and that the work of the healer is to augment and aid the vital recuperative processes naturally at work. Thus we find that the amphoteric herbs work in a way that suits the systems at a particular time, using the body’s wisdom to do that which is appropriate.
The best respiratory amphoterics are Blood Root, Lobelia, Mullein, Pleurisy Root and White Horehound.
Demulcents
Demulcents soothe, relieve and soften irritated or inflamed mucous membranes, as their mucilaginous, slippery characteristics enable them to coat, protect and lubricate the membranes and other tissue surfaces. Under their protective help, healing can take place.
Many of the already mentioned herbs are demulcents, the most valuable ones for the lungs being Comfrey Root, Coltsfoot, Flaxseed, Liquorice, Lungwort Moss, Marshmallow Leaf and Mullein.
Patterns of disease of the respiratory system
In practice, the various respiratory diseases and syndromes that have been labelled with a name can be viewed as the manifestation of two sorts of respiratory defect: congestion or spasm. Congestion is brought about by an overburdening of the lungs with mucus, either excessive production or inadequate excretion of it, which in time leads to degenerative effects. Spasms of the bronchial muscles constitute the other group of respiratory problems and can be caused by a number of factors.
Whilst some conditions do not fit into either category (such as lung cancer), they provide a useful frame for a holistic treatment of the lungs.
Congestion
Orthodox medicine often considers infection by bacteria or viruses to be the cause of a congestive state of the lungs, the ears, nose or throat. It may be more appropriate, however, to regard the infection as the result of a congested condition of the lung tissue. Organisms can only thrive within the body if the ‘soil’ is right. In the case of the lungs, congestion provides the right soil for infection, but this is not a healthy and normal state of affairs. Removing only the infection does nothing for the underlying problem; instead the congestion has also to be treated to prevent a recurrence of the symptoms.
One factor that is most often related to congestion is the mucus content of the diet. If the body’s need for mucus-forming foods is exceeded, it will get rid of it by increasing secretion, for instance into the lungs.
Raspberry
If this natural cleansing process is inhibited by antibiotics the seeds are sown for chronic and perhaps degenerative diseases as the result of congestion.
Therefore, in any respiratory condition where there is excessive mucus, it is essential that a diet low in mucus-forming foods be embarked upon. Whenever there is a build-up of catarrh such as sinus congestion, a diet that limits the intake of food that feeds the catarrh-forming metabolic paths would help. Even in normal conditions, some people think that accumulations of catarrh, or mucus, are sites in which metabolic waste and toxic material build up, which may eventually overload the body and lead to degenerative disease. There is nothing inherently wrong with mucus; it is a natural body carbohydrate acting as a lubricant and a waste disposal medium. It is only the excess that we need to watch, and the dietary sources of mucus which are:
—Dairy products, including goat’s milk and yoghurt
—Eggs
—Grains, especially gluten-rich ones such as wheat, oats, rye and barley
—Sugar
—Potatoes and other starchy root vegetables like swedes and turnips.
Replace these foods with fresh fruit and juices when following a mucus-free diet.
Coughs
Coughs can be treated herbally in many ways and every herbalist will have a favourite herb or mixture. Coltsfoot is by far the best standard remedy to have available. Sometimes a combination can be more effective. A basic one with a quite pleasant taste can be made from equal parts of
Coltsfoot
Mullein
Liquorice 
Potters New Cyclopaedia contains a mixture of flowers that is not only effective but looks and tastes exquisite.
Potter’s Pectoral No. 1:
Marshmallow Flowers
Mallow Flowers
Coltsfoot Flowers
Violet Flowers
Mullein Flowers
Red Poppy Flowers
are combined in equal parts and made into an infusion.
Both of the above mixtures can be taken up to every three hours, although three times a day would be best.
Another highly effective remedy is White Horehound, but because of its unpleasant taste it needs to be well masked by combining it with Liquorice or Aniseed. This herb was the original constituent of cough candy—an infusion of White Horehound plus sugar, lots of it.
If the cough is causing any pressure on a weak heart, it might be useful to add Motherwort to the tea. This will help cardiac activity without forcing the heart.
A dry, irritable cough would benefit from respiratory relaxants and demulcents. Wild Lettuce and Coltsfoot are useful here. Sometimes such coughs can be nervous in origin, in which case it is more advisable to use nervine relaxants.
Bronchitis
Bronchitis is an infection of the bronchi, the tube that takes air to the lungs. It may describe any mild pulmonary infection, but, as already said, these fine details and differentiations are not crucial when using herbal medicine. The best herbs to use are pectorals that combine expectorant action to clear the sputum with demulcent properties to soothe the inflamed tissue. The best ones include Aniseed, Angelica Root, Blood Root, Coltsfoot, Comfrey Root, Elecampane Root, Flaxseed, Hyssop, Lobelia, Lungwort, Mouse Ear, Mullein, Senega, Thyme, and White Horehound. Consult the Herbal section for more details on each of these, in order to choose the most appropriate herb or combination for your own case.
Anti-microbial herbs are also indicated to fight against any infection. Perhaps the most important one amongst the many available is Garlic, which may be taken in any form, either raw or as Garlic oil in capsules. The antiseptic oil in Garlic is excreted through the lungs and so directly affects any bacteria there. If garlic is rubbed into the feet it can still be smelt on the breath. There is now a new Japanese variety of Garlic which has the properties without the smell! It is available as KYLORIC capsules. Other good anti-microbials for bronchitis are Echinacea, Eucalyptus and Thyme. The antiseptic volatile oils contained in Eucalyptus and Thyme can also be of value in the form of inhalations or baths. For a healing bath in bronchitis and other respiratory infections, take equal parts of Eucalyptus and Thyme leaves to make a total of four or five tablespoonfuls. Pour a litre (2 pints) of boiling water over the mixture and let it stand for thirty minutes. Strain and add the liquid to the bath water. Bath at 38°C (100°F) for about 15 minutes.
In addition to the above it might be helpful to aid the lymphatic system, especially if there are swollen glands. As it would be beneficial to stimulate elimination as well, Cleavers and Poke Root can be recommended.
Pleurisy
When an infection has given rise to pleurisy or developed into pneumonia, the most important thing is to treat the person for fever, thus helping the whole body and specifically the chest. To this end diaphoretics are invaluable, usually combined with respiratory demulcents. Boneset, Cayenne, Comfrey Root, Hyssop, Garlic, Pleurisy Root and Mullein will be found especially useful. Choose the appropriate ones, depending on the condition of the whole body and combine them into an infusion.
In addition to this internal help, pleurisy is a condition where a poultice or a compress is called for. A poultice made from Flaxseed is excellent in chest complaints:
Take a handful of Flaxseed and stir thoroughly with boiling water, until it reaches the consistency of thick paste. Spread the paste about 1 centimetre (1/2 inch) thick on linen, leaving the sides of the linen free from Flaxseed and avoiding lumps forming. Apply it as hot as possible, covering the whole chest, and leave it on for two hours. Renew it some hours later or the next day. After removing the poultice, sponge the area with warm water, then dry well. To increase its power, sprinkle some Mustard powder on the poultice, but do not use Mustard for young children or those with sensitive skin.
Alternatively, a compress using an infusion of Cayenne may be of value. See section on Preparation of Herbs.
Whooping cough
As this condition can lead to unfortunate complications and to a constitutional weakness in later life, it should be treated thoroughly. The herbs Sundew (it may make the urine darker than usual) and Mouse Ear can be regarded as specific remedies and should be included in a mixture:
Mouse Ear | 2 parts |
Sundew | 1 part |
Coltsfoot | 1 part |
Thyme | 1 part |
White Horehound | 1 part |
This should be drunk three times a day.
The mixture may be flavoured with Aniseed or Liquorice. If vomiting is accompanying the coughing attacks, it is best to give the drink after a spasm to ensure that it stays down. A Flaxseed poultice may be helpful.
In cases of more serious or chronic respiratory conditions—such as emphysema or bronchiectasis—herbal therapy can play a major part in the treatment. Particularly remedies that clear sputum—like Elecampane or Comfrey Root—should be considered. The herbs recommended for asthma will be useful to regain tissue tone, but above all there is the need for breathing exercises.
Spasm
Besides congestion, the other important kind of respiratory problem is characterised by spasms of the bronchial tube and the most common ‘disease’ showing this pattern is asthma. The spasms are not the cause of the problem, they are always the result of complex bodily processes—the tip of an iceberg—and treatment has to consider the condition of the whole body.
Asthma
Asthma can stem from a combination of causes. There is often an allergic component that triggers asthmatic attacks. In some cases the cause is purely genetic whilst in others it may be an aquired reaction due to exposure to an irritant. The state of the nervous tone of the body can also lead to bronchial spasms. In predisposed people, tension, anxiety, hyperactivity or exhaustion can cause so much stress that an asthma attack is triggered off. Similarly, spasms or difficulty in breathing could be caused by osteopathic problems that happen to affect the spot where the thoracic nerve comes out of the spine.
The body is usually able to compensate for and balance a lot of influences, but our life style, diet, posture and attitude to life are all powerful contributing factors and have to be taken into account in a treatment.
Asthma will respond well to herbal treatment, but it is impossible to give a prescription that is appropriate in all cases as the various factors involved must be identified and the remedies chosen accordingly. Herbs that help reduce spasm and ease breathing include Grindelia, Lobelia, Mouse Ear, Pill Bearing Spurge, Sundew and Wild Cherry.
If there is production of sputum—which of course must be got rid of—expectorants like Aniseed, Blood Root, Coltsfood, Comfrey Root, Liquorice and Senega will help.
Where there is an allergic component, it is good to remember the use of the Chinese herb Ephedra.
If the attacks tax the strength of the heart—which they often do—Motherwort will be invaluable with its gentle strengthening action.
If any hypertension is involved, Hawthorn and Lime Blossom will be useful. Anxiety and tension are best treated with Hops, Skullcap or Valerian.
Occasionally one finds that asthma will respond well to the use of nervines alone, as fear is one of the most potent triggers for an asthma attack. It can even be fear of the attack itself. As such, anything that will augment the person’s inner strength and self-image is called for. The nervines will help this process, but a psychotherapeutic approach can be invaluable in addition. Relaxation techniques can help, and some are described in the section on Relaxation in the Nervous System chapter.
A word about dairy products: in many cases of childhood asthma and eczema, milk has been shown to be a trigger for allergic reactions. Such causes may lie at the heart of many adult problems as well. It is vital that our children are breast-fed for as long as possible. When they are weaned, they should not be put on a diet of cow’s milk with its various additions. Instead, dairy products should be kept from the diet, as well as over-refined foods, especially sugar. Red meat is inadvisable. The milk and cheese from goats cause none of the problems that cow’s milk does and can be used as a substitute.
