Granules over Raw Herbs

 Hello and welcome to my podcasts,

 “Ancient Wisdom, Modern Health: Reach the Balance Within,”

 This is where we get to explore the ancient practice of Classical East Asian Medicine and its applicability to modern day health issues.

 I am you host, Dr Ian and I am a Doctor of CM with degrees in Human Biology and CM as well as a postgraduate Diploma in Classical East Asian Medicine.

 I have been treating people in Regional Australia with East Asian Medicine for over 20 years, and I have helped them to see their symptoms in a new way, through the lens that is CEAM, with its; warm, rich, insightful, functional and practical ways, with its use of life style, diet combined with herbal medicine, and acupuncture, so as enable you to ‘Reach the Balance within.’ 

 I assume that if you have found me here, then you are someone who is looking for answers to your health issues that make sense. 

 That gives you an understanding, a clarity, and allows you to have control of your health problems and provides practical solutions that can make you you own health champion. 

 I also understand that you are someone who is looking for some Ancient Wisdom to give an understanding of your modern health issues and that can show how to Reach the Balance within. 

 CEAM can provide that different lens with which to see the issues of;

Women’s Health, 

Menopause, 

Dietary Issues, 

Stress, 

sleep issues, 

seasonal awareness, 

Mens Health, or 

pain management.

Through this lens you can achieve the Balance Within.

 So, please come join with me now as we journey through the ancient wisdom that is Classical East Asian Medicine and discover how it can have a positive impact on your modern life and bring your health back to Balance. Lets explore that Ancient Wisdom and Reach the Balance Within together! 

Disclamer

•  It is important however, for you to understand that the information covered in these podcasts is not to be taken or used for diagnostic purposes. It is for general information only and as a general guide. If these podcasts raise health issue that are of concern to you, then you need to have a full and proper consult with your appropriate health care professional.

 If you would like to become a member of the Sagire Health Balance community, please go to my website, sagire.com.au and click on the “join here” button and follow the prompts. 

 Inside you will get access to all the past podcasts with a full transcript, and all the workbooks, worksheets, Diaries, Recipes, meditation guides, or any further readings mentioned in the podcasts.  You can also access relevant research papers, and the online community. This is where I will also be answering any questions you might have that aren’t covered in the podcasts, and also be keeping you up to date with what is in the pipeline for future podcasts.

> Hello and welcome back to the Sagire Health podcast — today I want to share something close to my heart — how we, as modern practitioners of a deeply ancient medicine, can stay rooted in the classics while adapting with grace to the real-world context of a rural clinic.

>

> I’ll be talking about why I use **granules** in my practice — not as a compromise, but as a conscious, considered choice. We’ll explore classical principles, raw herb realities, and how choosing granules can actually bring *more* integrity to the medicine when space, time, and patient lives are taken into account.

>

> Whether you’re a patient, a fellow herbalist, or just curious about how Classical Medicine continues to thrive in modern Australia — this episode is for you.

>

> Let’s dive in.

Let me start with where i get my inspiration from.

Well to start with I practice “Classical East Asian Medicine”, which is a bit different from TCM in that we use some old texts almost exclusively, as our basis from which to reference our choice of formula. Now these texts are also used by TCM, but they will also use many others that have come after.

So why use these texts and not more modern ones? The answer to that needs a little bit of history. The texts to which I refer all the time where written at a time in history that was beset by pandemics, and virulent diseases that in fact accounted for 6 -7 deaths out of 10 illnesses. As a result of this the author, Zhang Zhong-Jing, set about compiling a comprehensive text on how to diagnose correctly and then select the correct formula so as to bring about a full recovery. Over the last 2000 years or there about, these formulas have been shown to continue to be most effective and when combined with the appropriate diagnosis capable of treating a health problem from a recently contracted cold through to chronic conditions.

Now, these texts not only tell us what to look for, how to diagnose, and then what herbs to put together into the correct formula, but they also explain how to produce the finished product. What I mean here, is how to prepare the individual herbs and also how to combine them into a balance, targeted, and effective treatment. Now that might be a poultice, a powder, a pill, or as many have experienced a decoction, or a tea.

So that is why these texts are ‘the reference’ material for us, and we don’t think that there is a need to change from what has worked for so long and continues to work.

OK, so that is why we use the texts, but how dose that have anything to do with why I use granules and not raw herbs. Particularly as when these books were written there was no granules, just the raw ingredient, which could be fried, baked, steeped in wine, ground into a powder or simple boiled. 

In the modern world in which I operate, time is poor, people are wanting a simple ‘fix’ to their health issues. So despite the fact that I love raw herbs, it becomes an issue of practicalities. Raw herbs in my small rural practice have a few issues.

1. Storage become a problem; as raw herbs are bulky, and require constant checking for being free from pests, past their prime, in a small turn over practice the biggest issue.
2. The patients ability to take a bag of raw herbs home and prepare them correctly in order to make the formula so that it doesn’t loose any effectiveness, this could take quite some time twice each day and then there is the smell and cost of a pot; as quite often the cooking pot is stained a lot.

So this raises the point of, if the solution is more a problem than the complaint, then it why do it?

So let me say again, as a practitioner I love and think raw herbs are just wonderful, but as a practical man and one that wants to provide the best solution to his patients, I decided to use Granules as my herbs.

Next question, what are granules?

Granules are herbs that have been treated by a process of being decocted, then spray-dried as extracts, they are often pre-processed to remove any toxicity so as to make them safe.

This leads to the importance of a reputable supplier, and my supplier is one that has some of the highest standards in Australia, if the highest.

So, granules preserve the *spirit* of the formula and eliminate the hassle of raw herbs — and I still match the pattern and pulse with the symptoms to reach an accurate diagnosis in line with the classical framework.

So, another question that comes up is, how does granules not go against the classics then. Well one of the many things over looked about Classical East Asian Medicine is that it has always been able to change and adapt to suit the environment that is current, in fact this is a fundamental tenant of the medical system, work within the changing environment to maintain once health. In this case that health is the health of the medical system.

So, the way I see things is, that by choosing granules I am *meeting your patients where they are,* while staying faithful to the heart of the medicine; and this means that CEAM is living medicine — and living means evolving.