Howard G Charing, and Peter Cloudsley join Amazonian Shamans, Javier Arevalo and Artidoro in discussions about the medicinal & spirit healing plants and their use.

Rosa Sisa

These are a kind of Marigold, and they are used in baths particularly for children with mal aire. This malady occurs when a family member dies and leaves the child unhappy and sleepless. The spirit of the dead grandfather - or whoever it was - lingers and makes the child sick. The spirit is sad to go and stays in the house after the person is buried and it tries to caress and comfort people in the family. This makes them ill. Rosa Sisa also controls vomiting in general, as well as being used in floral baths for good luck.

Typically an envious neighbour will grab a handful of earth from the cemetery and throw it into your house to spread boredom and heavy feelings. Again, when something is wrong in the house - people are bored or agitated - you get a bucket of water and add crushed Rosa Sisa flowers and Camalonga and wash the floors of the house with a brush to cleanse it.

Alternatively you could have the flowers in a vase in the house for the same purpose. Many people grow them either side of the front door of their house to absorb the negativity of people who look in enviously to see what possessions they have. The flowers go black but later they recuperate themselves. Marigolds can also be used for making wishes, blowing with the wish in mind - like we do with a dandelion - because it is yellow, the colour of the sun.

Manchare or susto (fright) are maladies commonly suffered by children, and treated with Camalonga a tree which grows wild in the forest, but many people grow it in flower pots in the city. It smells like onions and garlic and can be macerated in alcohol to be rubbed onto the person. In cases requiring soul retrieval a prayer or chant would be used at the same time.

Typically a child gets Manchare when playing in the trees and jump down to the ground and receive a much bigger bump than they expected. In this case the Rosa Sisa is tied into a bunch with a white ribbon and brushed all over the body from the head down. This is because the spirit returns through the crown of the head. A little prayer is said to invoke the spirit back, using the name of the child. It can be used in emplasts for fevers too.

Huairacaspi

It comes in two varieties, a high tree with a thick trunk and a small slim tree with little leaves. It is the same tree as tornillo which is good timber. The branch can be bent double without breaking, and is good for doing yoga and for flexibility in general.

It is good for prolepses, chronic diarrhoea, hepatitis, arthritis, broken bones, and cold in the body. As a teacher plant it is good for disorientation, and sense of being lost. After drinking you need to take a shower as it makes you sweat out all the toxins.

Ushcaquiro

This plant is very little known and used. Like chuchahuasi, it is good after operations, mothers caring for their babies, vaginal discharge, cancer, cold. It is prepared in water or alcohol. Painkiller. Ushcaquiro, Huairacaspi and Chiricsanango together make a good treatment for arthritis.

Guayusa

Has a female spirit and makes you dream of beautiful things and takes the laziness out of you.

Albaca

This is good to have in the house, it works better than an aerosol spray for fresh air because the flowers burst into flower with a perfume. Also good for floral baths to make you smell good so you attract lots of friends. Also if you have a row with a friend, they will come back to you. In cases of gastritis, appendix or gale-bladder problems you can take it as a tea. Even when dry is still smells.

Shimi Pampana

Is a root like a potato and a constituent of Pusanga. It comes in male (white) and female (red) forms and tastes like yucca. It is very good for people with excessive anger. You grate it to get the juice, and put it in soup, coffee or whatever and sometimes it is put secretly into a persons drink to calm them down, especially when there is a lot of arguing in the family. You can bathe in it too. The dry powder obtained from drying the root, is good for sun burn, common in summer when the river is low and people go to the beautiful beaches to swim. It takes out the impurities of the skin without desiccating it.

Howard G. Charing, is an accomplished international workshop leader on shamanism. He has worked some of the most respected and extraordinary shamans & healers in the Andes, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Philippines. He organises specialist retreats to the Amazon Rainforest at the dedicated centre located in the Mishana nature reserve. He is the author of the best selling book, Plant Spirit Shamanism (Destiny Books USA), and has published numerous articles about plant medicines. He was baptised into the Shipibo tribe of the Upper Amazon, and initiated into the lineage of the shamans of the Rio Napo. Howard is also an artist who's paintings have featured in major exhibitions in London and elsewhere. His artwork has also been featured on book covers.

His website: http://www.shamanism.co.uk email contact: eagleswing@shamanism.co.uk

¶ 6:01 PM 0 comments

Low back pain is a common disorder affecting millions of individuals annually. It is a common musculoskeletal disorder that affects the lumbar segment of the spine, which is the lowest part of the back just above your buttocks. It is one of the most common causes of missing work, and can affect anyone of any age, race, or sex. It is one of the top 10 reasons patients seek care from a doctor.

Low back pain is typically classified as either acute or chronic. Low back pain is often accompanied by stiffness and difficulty with normal movement, muscle spasms, and pain that becomes worse with any type of straining. If it is particularly bad it may cause pain down the back of your leg, which is called sciatica.

Chronic Back Pain

Chronic low-back pain is a very common problem for which there is currently no universally effective treatment. Chronic back pain is generally defined as pain that persists for more than three months. Chronic pain is much less common than acute pain. It usually has an insidious onset, occurring over a long period of time. It can also occur in people whose work involves heavy lifting, bending, and long periods of standing on a daily basis. It also may originate from an injury, disease or stresses on different structures of the body such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, degeneration of the discs between the vertebrae, or a spinal disc herniation, a vertebral fracture (caused by osteoporosis), or rarely, a tumor (including cancer) or infection. Chronic low back pain can be shooting, stabbing or localised in nature. It can also be referred from another part of the body.

Acute Back Pain

Acute pain is the most common type of back pain. Acute back pain is short term, generally lasting from a few days to a few weeks. Acute pain comes on quickly and often leaves just as quickly. The commonest reasons for acute lower back pain are damaged muscles, ligaments and tendons in the lower back. Acute back pain can also be caused by kidney stones, pelvic inflammation and even some bowel conditions like constipation, inflammatory bowel disease or diverticulitis may have some back pain associated with it. These are much less common.

Back Pain Symptoms

Symptoms of low back pain depend upon the cause of the pain. Damage to muscles and ligaments causes pain, back muscle spasm, pain on walking, difficulty twisting, stiffness and sometimes pain worse on one side rather than the other. Pain caused by nerve irritation often also causes sciatica. Sciatica is pain down the leg or legs caused by irritation to the sciatic nerve in your back. It is often caused by disc problems, arthritis and severe muscle damage and spasm.

Treatment

Treatment for back pain generally depends on what kind of pain you experience: acute or chronic. Treatment options range from basic rest but only for 24 hours, ice or heat and gradually resuming activity to medication, exercise, physical therapy and acupuncture. Using trans-cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS ) with both acute and chronic pain can speed recovery and reduce pain. Acupuncture like TENS is excellent for treating muscle spasms and the trigger points often found in back muscles.

Treatments for chronic back pain can vary greatly depending on the type and source of the pain. Many sufferers find TENS a great help in reducing symptoms. If the problems persist an operation is often required to relieve the pressure on the disc and reduce nerve irritation.

Exercises

Having used TENS to reduce pain exercises that increase balance and strength can decrease your risk of further back pain. Exercises such as Tai Chi, yoga or any weight-bearing exercise that challenges your balance are good ones to try. String back and abdominal muscles can lessen pain. Exercises to reduce low back pain are not complicated and can be done at home without any special equipment.

Andy Duncan is a doctor and freelance medical writer. For more information on pain and TENS machines please visit www.pain-rehab.co.uk

¶ 5:23 AM 0 comments