Core Body Systems
Herbal heritage contains a wealth of knowledge about the actions and uses of plants for human health. For centuries people have used plants to improve their physical and emotional states and they’ve carefully recorded and shared their successes. In my experience, categorizing plants by their actions is the most effective way to think about using them and to create formulas with them. Further organizing these actions by body systems makes the abundance of herbal options more easily understandable and user-friendly.
Here, we will look at three primary body systems: the digestive, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems. A complete look at every ailment possible in these systems is beyond the scope of this book, but we will create an overview of how the anatomy works and how a wide range of herbs affects that anatomy. After reviewing how each body system works and the problems most commonly associated with it, we will explore how herbal medicine can play a part in the healing of that system and specifically how to combine herbs into effective herbal formulas. Refer to the glossaries at the end of the book for more details about herbs mentioned here, as well as for suggestions about tonics for each body system.