Acknowledgements

The main sources of information for this site are our independent research including product reviews, product website information, product testing. We are especially indebted to our medical associates in the US, China, and Thailand for allowing us to work with them. We have had rare access to their time honored medical herbal texts and for their help in translation and augmentation of related information.

We have as such come to a fuller understanding of the power of medicinal plants and the importance of quality in any natural remedy.

After spending more than 5 years in Asia, interacting and reviewing scientific data with medical doctors in China and Thailand we were able to accumulate a great deal of information regarding the world of natural healing. We could not have properly put this site together without actually being there to immerse ourselves in the culture.

As a result of the complexities of local dialects, lack of formalized instruction, and the aura of secrecy which surrounds the tradition, rural herbal knowledge is very difficult to collect, and even more challenging to study comprehensively. True to their secretive tradition, the herbal masters are not likely to give direct answers to theoretical questions and will at times intentionally mislead anthropologists looking to study their healing systems.

While this may be frustrating to the modern scientific nature of the western world, it is critical to understand that some of the most important practices in the rural tradition are difficult to explain verbally. The body is treated as a whole verse an independent symptom.

Indeed, many of these traditional healers are proper shamans and utilize such techniques, with great effectiveness, such incarnations, exorcisms, amulet charms, and herbal formulas. The level of success in actually healing infectious diseases was awe inspiring and humbling.

From 1895 – 1907, Wat Pho’s Traditional School of Medicine published several important herbal manuals to disseminate this valuable information throughout Thailand. These texts are a summary of the ancient traditional lore preserved at Wat Pho are are a useful tool and bounty of medical information. Further, these texts provide the basic curriculum for the school of traditional medicine that still exists to this day on the temple grounds.

Unfortunately, the texts remain in Thai language and remain relatively inaccessible Westerners and foreigners alike. However, thanks to interpretations provided, we are able to identify and discuss many of these theories which we witnessed to be incredibly effective.