Ancient Herbalism: How Healing Formulas Are Constructed

One of the things that's very unique to traditional Chinese medicine is the sophisticated use of herbs like cinnamon bark combined with 5, 10, or even 15 other herbs that all work together or even offset one another to treat an acute or a chronic disease. Now in this video, I thought I would share a bit about the formula science that exists in Chinese medicine. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hein, doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and before we jump into this video, there are two very important links right below. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, and the second is for a free guide, which is four daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. Many people are familiar with herbs and spices in general on a daily basis, right? Like ginger. Ginger is commonly used all over the world for cooking, and it's just a general culinary spice. And even maybe if you're getting a little nauseous, your mom will say, cook up some strong ginger tea and then drink that. But just these little anecdotes pale in comparison to the sophistication of the formulas that exist within Chinese medicine. Consider the fact that 2,000 years ago almost, a book called the Shang Han Lun was describing the sophisticated use of 200 some odd formulas ranging from acute panic attacks to severe flus and viral epidemics all the way to chronic diseases. And those formulas still work to this day. I still use them day in, day out clinically in my practice, and they work just as predictably as any other medication. The fact that those exist almost 2,000 years later is staggering, and it points to really how long this ancestral record of Chinese medical knowledge must have been passed down. I mean, for formulas to be in that sophisticated of a layout with that clear of a clinical pattern a few hundred years after Christ, very likely they'd been developed thousands, maybe even longer before the time they were actually written down and put into texts. But before then, they were just passed down through the oral transmission. So the formula science in Chinese medicine is very distinct and very unique. It's not something that you commonly see in the modern world, even among herbalists, only because there are a few different ways that Chinese medicine uses formulas versus, let's say, traditional Western herbalism. You know, to compare versus many kinds of Western herbs that I see other natural medicine or functional doctors provide, very often herbs in that sense are provided in a more biochemical way, as in, this herb is a sedative, you know, like the classic sleep or anxiety blends with passion flower, valerian, and magnesium. Very often are in the, okay, this herb is a sedative, magnesium can help with anxiety, et cetera, et cetera. And there seems to be not quite as much of a focus on the alchemical stability of the formula. So let me explain. When we use an herb like cinnamon twig, right, this is cinnamon bark, rouguet, or cinnamon twig. When we use these, they're not just used as single herbs. I mean, one of the smallest formulas in that ancient text I just discovered, a formula called gui zhi gan cao tang is cinnamon twig, a very high dose of it, 12 grams, and zhi gan cao, honey fried licorice. Now, this formula is basically used for acute panic attacks and acute anxiety, right? So it describes the person coming in, and the patient pushes their hands over their heart as if they feel like they're about to die. And you're taking 12 grams of this prepared cinnamon twig, and I think about six of the honey fried licorice, drinking it all in one serving. That is just two herbs. But that text by itself is very minimalist in the number of herbs it uses in the formulas. On average, between, let's say, four to eight would be an average number. But these herbs have synergistic effects. For example, using honey fried licorice will temper some of the spiciness and some of the stimulant qualities in the cinnamon twig. Or if you're using a formula that's very drying, like in another video we discussed using bai ju for people who have a lot of bloating and a lot of abdominal fullness, fluid retention. Well, bai ju, if you taste it, it immediately dries out your tongue. It sucks the moisture off your tongue. And when you prepare it as a traditional decoction, this bai ju, you can feel the dryness on your tongue. It immediately dries out your mouth. So bai ju is very dry. And if you just use bai ju in fuling, then you're going to be causing a lot of drying sort of effects. But now if you add in honey fried licorice, right, this has a little bit of a moistening quality to it. And it's a yin generating herb, right? So in the same vein, one of the formulas we're going to discuss here, gui ju tong is one of the famous formulas of Chinese medicine. Two of the herbs that we have that are synergistic pairs are gui ju, the cinnamon twig, and the other one is bai shao, which is peony. So this is bai shao. And these are very commonly paired together in varying ratios. And I want to discuss why to give a little lesson on alchemical stability. So let me give you an example of how sophisticated this formula science is. So you may have, let's say, four or five herbs in a formula. But one base formula is just called gui ju tong, right? Cinnamon twig decoction. Now cinnamon twig decoction most commonly used for let's just say an acute cold. There's a massive generalization, but just for layman's purposes, acute cold. Now there's a formula where you have that same formula and all you do is remove this herb. You still have the other herbs and it's called gui ju qu shao yao tang. Gui ju minus bai shao. And what this herb is, this new formula for minus one herb is for palpitations, heart rate variability, tachycardia, anxiety, and panic attacks. By removing one herb, you can create a more interior effect to work on the heart directly. Gui ju by itself can already regulate heart rhythm, stop chest pain, things like that. But gui ju qu shao yao tang, removing shao yao, but just one herb will then produce a different formula that has a different emphasis and focus. Just unbelievable. Now on the other side, there's a formula called gui ju jia shao yao tang, where instead of removing the bai shao, you double the dosage. Now gui ju jia shao yao tang, now you have twice as much of this herb bai shao. And what it's used for typically is for abdominal fullness. Often a formula for abdominal fullness, bloating, can be used for dry skin, all kinds of purposes. And a very similar formula is called shao jian zhong tang, regulate the middle, minor build the middle decoction. And that's used for when people are having like night sweats and thirst and heat in the palms of the hands of the feet and light fragmented sleep. So you can have standard dose of this one herb, remove the herb or double the herb, all looks like the same general formula, totally different effects. So there's a very unique alchemy to Chinese formulas that I've not seen elsewhere in the world of herbalism. And maybe it exists, but I've certainly never been humbled like I have with these ancient formulas. And the fact that they still work 2000 years later is the greatest testament that these are the tried and true formulas of a really, really ancient medicine. So that's a relatively long winded look at one formula and how Chinese formulas are worked and designed to work synergistically for a maximal effect. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. See you later. Check out the downloads below this video and I'll see you soon.