| July 20, 2008 |
| 10:00 am | to | 1:00 pm |
Learn how to identify a wide range of common medicinal plants during this leisurely stroll through the Roncesvalles neighborhood and into High Park’s forest, open meadow and waterway habitats. We will begin with a half hour introductory class of plant identification, followed by the walk.
Please wear proper walking shoes. We kindly ask that you leave cell phones off and do not bring dogs as we will be in environmentally sensitive areas. No Faerie pressing books.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Time: 10 am to 1 pm, Cost: $25
Meet at The Herbal Clinic Dispensary
409 Roncesvalles Ave (opposite the Revue Cinema)
Hello and welcome to The Herbal Clinic & Dispensary winter/spring newsletter.
It has been a fantastic year for us here at The Dispensary. We are pleased to report that winter 2007 was our busiest ever. After six wonderful years we are still here and have not wavered in our goal to provide traditional herbal medicine and natural health & skincare products and services to the Roncesvalles Village community. A very big thanks to everyone who has supported us in the past, we look forward to seeing you in 2008!
The practitioners clinics continue to be a very important part of our services and we would like to take time to report on a few changes to our group of excellent community practitioners. Aromatherapist Tania Essig has decided to move on after her time spent at the HC&D. We wish her lots of love and good luck with her new ventures! Thank-you Tania! The clinic has a new practitioner, we would like to welcome Natalia Mironenko who joined us this February. Natalia is a certified Personal Trainer Specialist. She is here one day per week to assist individuals in customizing a proper fitness training program. Please see the practitioners pages on our web site for more information about Natalia and our other practitioners.
Most people are more conscientious about moisturizing their skin during winter’s harsher months. The combination of biting, dry cold out doors and dry artificial heat indoors can certainly take its toll. The following highlights several of the Dispensary’s most popular natural salves and creams which can dramatically moisturize the skin to keep it soft, supple and properly hydrated when you need it the most.
The Dispensary’s own Comfrey Salve
Comfrey herb is considered to be one of our greatest connective tissue healers. It is perfect for moisturizing very dry, cracked skin on the hands and feet. (continued…)
100% pure incense is available in its most natural form. For centuries people have harvested the oleo resins from certain trees and shrubs with the intent of using the fragrant sap for the purpose of healing and for ceremony.
Once you have experienced this traditional method of incense burning there is no turning back. We now stock pure frankincense, myrrh, copal, benzoin and dragons blood resins.
Burning Natural Resin Incense
Natural resins and gums have been used for centuries both for ceremonial purposes and to perfume temples and places of worship. These fragrant resins, including frankincense, myrrh, copal, dragons blood and benzoin, have a calming, purifying effect conducive to meditation and prayer.
How to burn: Place charcoal disk on a heat resistant surface. Set a small amount of resin on the burning disk.
Prices: $4.95 to $6.95. Charcoal burning disks are available.
Massage Therapy has survived the ages as a way to manage and promote healing in a variety of conditions such as muscle tension, headache, acute and chronic pain.
We are hunter’s and foragers by nature. Our world has evolved into a place where we are forced to hold static postures that tighten our bodies. We spend our days using electronic devices that defy our physical capacity to accommodate them. Lack of movement combined with stress inhibits our systems from functioning efficiently and it is no mystery that many problems are related to stress. (continued…)
Exercise should enable you to tone your body and make you feel great about yourself. It should not be seen as a chore or so arduous that it strains your body to the point that it creates physical as well as mental stress. The benefits of exercise are intertwined in a mind- body experience. You should feel energized, as well as mentally rejuvenated after working out. To achieve optimal results, physical fitness should be coupled with a balanced nutrition plan. Making healthy food choices should become part of your lifestyle. What do you believe with regards to working out and ‘dieting’? How will you find the proper balance? (continued…)
Chinese medicine (CM) is an ideal complement to the care of a midwife or doctor. The strength of Chinese medical diagnosis lies in its ability to discern imbalances that arise from a person’s constitutional tendency and lifestyle (e.g. towards heat/cold; dry/damp). The practitioner of Chinese medicine is often able to detect issues before they turn into defined medical conditions that warrant treatment with pharmaceutical drugs. This is useful during pregnancy and postpartum, when it is preferable – as much as possible—to let nature take its course. It also allows us to address conditions such as habitual miscarriage, where there may be no explanation or treatment within Western medicine. (continued…)
Holistic Nutrition…what does it mean? It is nutrition that encompasses our whole being. It involves the body, the mind and the soul. They all intertwine together. In one way or another, they need to be in sync, in order to function optimally. But it all starts at the cellular level. It is what we feed ourselves that would determine how we function on a daily basis. (continued…)
I have noticed lately many people are catching colds. As much as this is not a pleasant experience, it is unavoidable at times, and we have to go through it.
Have you ever wondered why we catch colds in the first place?
The reality is that common colds are caused by viruses that are around us all the time. They are always present. Our body’s own defense mechanism keeps fighting them on a daily basis and for the most part we do Ok. The stronger our defense mechanism is the healthier we are. What happens when we get sick is, our state of well being or equilibrium is altered, our defense mechanism is weakened and the virus takes over and starts thriving in our body. We get sick and show symptoms of this dis-ease. (continued…)
Besides exercise and healthy food, losing weight involves a healthy mental attitude, stress management, lifestyle and behaviour modification. Your natural health practitioner can help you identify obstacles to weight loss, provide counselling to improve your relationship with food and prescribe key nutrients to make weight loss easier. A naturopath can rule out and treat any underlying reasons that can cause weight gain, such as an under active thyroid, increased cortisol levels due to excess stress, mineral deficiencies which can cause cravings, and toxicity that can make weight loss more difficult. (continued…)
Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by limited social interaction, communication impairments, repetitive behaviours and/or limited focus of activities or interests (1). Autism is actually a spectrum of conditions that includes the classical presentation as well as Asperger’s syndrome and Rett syndrome. The incidence has been estimated to be from three to six out of every 1000 children; where males are affected four times more than females. A typical presentation is that of healthy normal children developing as expected until the ages of two or three, who then begin to show signs of developmental regression (2). (continued…)
Thinking about having a baby? Traditional Chinese Medicine can help you
de-stress, feel serene, and help you prepare your body and mind for conception.
If you’re like most of us, your life is not only busy and full, it has its fair share of ongoing stressful situations. Because stress literally keeps our bodies in an extended fight-or-flight mode, everyday challenges can deplete and eventually exhaust our stress response systems.
If you’re a woman thinking of having a baby, you may find it more difficult to get pregnant if your cortisol levels are high and your stress response systems are working overtime; a body that feels itself under threat or in survival mode is more likely to think “now is not a good time to conceive!” (continued…)
Hawthorn berries are nature’s gift for the heart. These wondrous little fruits keep the heart healthy and help prevent coronary disease. Hawthorn is indicated if there is any loss of cardiac function, mild arhythmias and any degeneration of the heart or vascular system. The berries enhance the hearts activity; strengthening the force of the hearts contraction. Hawthorn is perfect nutrition for the myocardial muscles. Adding Hawthorn into your diet will help ensure a happy and healthy heart. (continued…)
There are many life lessons we can receive from parenting, and compassion is possibly one of the most prominent ones. From the moment our children are born we are required, frequently in a self-sacrificing way, to care for all their needs. We may not always feel the surges of love and joy which help motivate our actions but we still persevere. I often recall feeling anger and resentment throughout a particularly trying day only to feel the love, caring – and guilt as I put my children to bed at night. Parental guilt may be unavoidable at times but by focusing on our love as the motivation to continue “doing the best we can”, compassion will surface again. (continued…)
Winter Solstice Tea Blend
Enjoy the smooth taste of real Belgian chocolate and refreshing mint in this delicious winter tea blend. Each tea bag contains Rooibos leaf, Peppermint, Calendula flowers and Cocoa. Only $ 9.95
Winter Night Tea
This soothing and tasty blend of pure herbs makes the perfect comfort cup on cold winter nights. Add honey and lemon to taste. Each teabag contains Hibiscus, Cardamon, Chamomile, Alfalfa, Damiana, Sarsaparilla, Licorice and Lemon grass. Only 9.95
