If you have been on any of my plant walks or attended any of my workshops, you know that I can get a little prickly with the question “What is this plant good for?”. I know that it’s totally a thing to say that there aren’t any stupid questions- and while that is true- there are questions and then there are better questions. I want to ask better questions than “what is it good for?”
One of the ways that we can go beyond generalizations like ‘elderberry is good for the flu’, ‘ginger is good for the stomach’ or ‘yarrow is good for wounds’ is by using a system of energetics in talking about plants and the body.
In this case, the term ‘energetics’ doesn’t really refer to the ‘energy’ of a plant in a new age way- like the vibe of a plant. To be fair, they absolutely could overlap, but in this case the term ‘energetics’ means a qualitative system of categorizing herbs and the body. There have been numerous systems that do just that over time and space. Traditional Chinese Medicine has a system of energetics built into the framework of understanding, as does Ayurveda with the tridoshic system.
The system that I learned in my herbal education is the framework of Traditional Western Herbalism. In this system, to my current understanding and practice, herbal energetics encompasses a number of categories. Thomas Easley says in his book The Modern Herbal Dispensatory, “Herbs can be divided into broad energetic categories based on their taste, constituents, and basic effects on the body. Learning these basic categories is like learning the alphabet or musical notes: They form the basis for understanding the language of herbalism. Just as musical notes are arranged together to create an infinite array of music, the energetic properties of herbs blend together to create thousands of unique herbal profiles. “
The thing is, this can’t really be learned simply through books and intellectual learning- it by nature must be learned experientially. This is why tea tasting is so fundamental to the curriculum in most herb schools, and why learning to tune in to the body is crucial. This system of energetics is taking a sip of mint tea and closing your eyes to feel into your body. Where do you feel the tea in your body? Is it centralized in one area? Does it feel upward or downward moving? Inward or outward?
I learned and am most familiar with the concept of the 6 tissue states of physiomedicalism, which has roots in the 4 elements and 4 qualities of the Greek system (hot/cold, damp/dry). These 6 tissue states are as follows:
Hot/Excitation/Irritation-red, tender, swollen, rapid pulse, overactivity and overstimulation of the body.
Cold/Depression- lack of activity in the tissues- could be blood flow, nerve response, slow digestion/sluggish gastric emptying, fatigue, blue/purple tissues, stagnation
Dry/Atrophy- when lack of fluid or lubrication in the body creates a lack of movement in the cells. This ultimately affects how the cells can both receive nutrition and eliminate waste products.
Damp/Stagnation- This is when there is a buildup of fluid in the body that isn’t able to be excreted for whatever reason and leads to an accumulation of waste in the tissues,
Damp/Relaxation- Situations where the tissues of the body are too relaxed and too open, resulting in loss of fluid in the body. This can mean anything from menstrual blood to urination to perspiration to saliva. There are usually other specific indications of this tissue state as well.
Constriction/Wind/Tension- This generally refers to tight muscles, but also emotional/psychological tension as well as conditions that are in flux between two states- think alternating constipation or diarrhea. Or fevers and chills.
When we can begin to recognize these states in the body, we can then use them as a framework to understand what categories of herbs would be most helpful in this situation. And this too, is where that experiential understanding of the herbs comes in.
For example, heat/excitation as a tissue state generally needs cooling herbs to balance. Sour tasting herbs are cooling in nature. Think roselle hibiscus, lemongrass, lemon balm. Funnily enough, these are herbs that are generally grow and are used in the summertime when it is hottest.
Cold/Depression needs warming herbs to balance. Those would be pungent in taste. Garlic, onion, hot pepper. Fire cider, anyone?
Dry/Atrophy needs moistening and sometimes nourishing. Your moistening herbs would be those that are mucilaginous in nature- all of your mallow family plants (marshmallow, hibiscus, okra) fit nicely into that category. Nourishing or building herbs tend to be sweet- licorice, shatavari, even inulin rich roots like burdock and dandelion.
Damp/Stagnation- this tissue state needs clearing of the tissues to happen. This is best achieved with bitter flavors. Some examples of bitter herbs would be artichoke, mahonia species, vervain and dandelion leaf.
Damp/Relaxation means that the tissues need tonification or tightening. This is where astringent herbs would come into play. Truthfully MOST herbs are at least a little astringent/drying but some good examples of specifically astringent herbs are green and black tea, oak, and witch hazel. Rose and other rose family plants are astringent as well (think blackberry root for diarrhea)
Tension tends to need relaxing, and the acrid tasting alkaloidal bitters are indicated here. Think lobelia, vervain and black cohosh. Also, in general antispasmodic and nervine herbs can be particularly valuable here.
To bring this back around to the practice of our everyday home herbalism, we can use this framework to assess the specific nature of what we have going on in our bodies and those of our family. For example, instead of saying, “I have a cold. What herbs are good for that?”, we could say ok, I have a cold. Specifically, I have a cough that feels dry and a sore throat. The sore throat might indicate heat/excitation which could mean that sour herbs would be cooling and balancing in this case. The dry cough would mean that moistening herbs would be most appropriate. How about a lemongrass and marshmallow tea in this case? We aren’t so much treating the cold itself as we are the tissue states leading to specific symptoms. This is a more immediately helpful approach when to say something like “a cold” is incredibly non-specific. The common cold is usually due to one of the many rhinovirus variants that run through the human population all the time, but also is sometimes due to something else entirely- strep throat, allergies, the flu. Who knows? We just attribute a certain set of symptoms (cough, fatigue, sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, etc.) to the common cold, but we can do much more to help alleviate symptoms when we get more specific about our experience.
I hope this has been a helpful introduction to the idea of herbal energetics, as well as how we can begin to use it in practice. I’d love to hear any questions you might have!
