Losar – Celebrating the Dawning of the Tibetan Year of the Male Water Dragon

At Losar we generally hang new prayer flags

As I write this it is the Tibetan New Year tomorrow.  Losar is a time to renew one’s resolve to practice virtue and generosity over the year ahead, as well as an excuse to have a family get together.

Momo making and eating is a big part of this for us, although in the Lhasa area it is considered better to eat momos on the second, rather than the first day of the New Year.  Apparently the closed dough could signify shutting off one’s good luck for the year ahead.  I was taught how to make momos by someone from the Amdo area so we have always eaten them at Losar as well as often throughout the year.

I have to admit that I have never been able to make the beautifully neat ‘professional’ momos that my instructor Dakpa showed me years ago at Samye Ling Tibetan Centre.  Although slightly more rough and ready looking, mine are still delicious (if I say so myself)!

In our house we usually make spinach and cheese momos, but a more traditional filling is mutton or beef.  If I am making momos with a filling that I am less familiar with I generally refer to Tsering Wangmo and Zara Houshmand’s excellent book ‘The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook’.  It has detailed instructions for making them as well as other delicious Tibetan recipes.

The whole family lend a hand at stuffing the momos once the dough and the filling are prepared so they contain much love and laughter as well as delicious ingredients!

Crescent momos ready for steaming with the Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook for reference!.

Here is my recipe for spinach and cheese momos, adapted from ‘The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook’.  I use spelt flour but you can use ordinary flour if you prefer.  If you are using gluten free flour you will need to ensure that you have enough xanthan gum to get a workable dough which will stay together when stuffed and steamed.

First make the dough.  Two and a half cups spelt flour (I use white spelt flour for this) and three quarters of a cup of water makes enough dough to serve four people. Make double quantities if you want extra to freeze.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and mix the water in gradually so that you get a smooth dough.  Add extra water as needed depending on the flour that you are using. Knead the dough well, it should be moist and a little shiny – not sticky. Leave it covered to rest while you make the filling.

Second make the filling. 

Ingredients (enough for four people, again make double if you want extra momos for freezing)

1lb fresh spinach

1/4 cup oil

1.5 onions chopped

3/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 inches fresh ginger, finely chopped

6 spring onions, chopped

1lb feta cheese chopped

Chop the raw spinach finely. Fry the onions in the oil until transparent and add the spices. Fry briefly before adding the spinach and the chopped spring onions, mix lightly until the spinach is just wilting and then remove from the heat. Stir in the cheese.

Third fill the momos and steam them.

Knead the dough and when it is nicely elastic roll it into a long cylinder on a floured table. The cylinder should be about 1″ in diameter. Break of balls of dough about 1″ in diameter to make each momo.

Make a nice ball of dough by rolling it in your hands and then press your thumb into the centre and then flatten the sphere into a disc leaving the middle bit slightly thicker than the edges.  You can do this by working it with your thumbs or you can use a rolling pin. See what works best for you.  Place a tablespoon of filling in the centre of the disc and close up the momo. You will find that the dough stretches to accommodate the filling. You don’t need to moisten the edges to seal them, just pinch them closed.

I tend to make crescent shaped momos as they seem easier, but there are different shapes that you can choose and essential if you are making more than one type of filling.  The main thing is to make sure they are well sealed so that the contents stay inside when being steamed.

Place the filled momos into a steamer which has been lightly oiled to prevent them sticking.  Try to avoid them touching too much as they will stick to each other.  Spinach and cheese momos only need to be steamed for 4 minutes.  You know that they are done when the dough is no longer sticky.  Just prod one with your finger and you will see what I mean.

If you make a double batch you can freeze some for another meal.  To cook just place the frozen momos in a steamer and steam for around 12 minutes.  Any left over cooked momos can be eaten cold as part of a packed lunch the next day.

Momos are traditionally eaten with a nice hot chilli sauce, and we serve ours with a big green salad too – although I am not sure this is a very authentic accompaniment!

Losar Tashi Delek to all!

To find out more about Myrobalan Clinic please visit www.myrobalanclinic.com

Rose Petal Honey

Rose petal honey in production

I posted a photo of my rose petal honey as a perfect Valentine’s Day gift and since then people have been asking me how to make it.  It is very easy really so read on….

Firstly it should be made with freshly gathered rose petals. You need a sunny day. This is because the petals need to be perfectly dry, but also the process of making the rose petal honey requires sunlight.

Choose Rosa rugosa or an old fashioned strongly scented variety. If you are not using your own roses make sure they have not been sprayed with chemicals.  I use a mixture of Rosa rugosa and vintage roses which I have growing here in my garden.  The pony who is head of fertility management her at Myrobalan Clinic supplies the roses with plenty of organic matter and they reward me each summer by providing enough blooms for me to harvest for medicines as well as plenty for me to enjoy too.

Once you have your rose petals you need to sort through them

I just take the petals off the flowers, and then dead head afterwards. I find it easier than picking the flowers and then removing the petals, but everyone will have their own preferred method.  Once you have picked the petals sort through to remove any faded or discoloured ones and make sure that any little creatures are removed safely to an alternative haven.

Take honey, preferably set honey, and scoop it out of the jars into a temporary container. Now proceed to refill the jars like a lasagne, using a layer of honey and then a layer of petals until the jar is full and you finish with a layer of petals.

Place the lid on the jar but don’t screw it completely tight yet.  Leave the jars in a sunny place for two or three hours and then bring them inside, screwing the lids on properly and labelling the honey.  It will be ready to eat in about four weeks.

When you open the jar you will find that the rose petals have risen to the top and they can be removed before serving if you prefer, but you can also just stir them in.

Rose petal honey needs to be made on a sunny day

Rose petals are traditionally used as a calming nervine and old sources refer to their effect on the heart – making it glad.  I find that rose is very good for the heart especially in cases where patients find it hard to move on after a life changing incident in their lives.

Rose petal honey has a delicate fragrance and is delicious spread onto toast or rice cakes. Why not gladden your heart a little each morning?

To find out more about Myrobalan Clinic please visit www.myrobalanclinic.com

Can Illness Be a Positive Experience?

No one wants to be ill. Illness causes us suffering and cramps our style. It is so easy to resent our body for succumbing and to think negative thoughts about it. All we want to do is to recover, preferably in the shortest possible time with the minimum of effort.  If only there was a magic pill….

An instant fix might seem very attractive, especially if we believe that the illness has been caused entirely by a random dose of bad luck.  But, if we are honest, in many cases we would have to admit that our lifestyle and diet may have had something to do with it.  Did we get ill because we worked too hard and got too stressed? Did we forget to eat a balanced diet? Did we rely on caffeine to get us through an assignment when we should have been keeping properly hydrated?

That kind of self analysis may be all very well for minor acute conditions like coughs, colds and ear infections but what about the more serious stuff? How can I claim that these can be positive? Well there are undoubtedly heartbreaking conditions which strike without apparent rhyme or reason, affecting those who have led an exemplary lifestyle or who have not even had the chance to lead any lifestyle at all.  Of course to find the positive in these is extremely hard to say the least.  What I am talking about is the less controversial stuff, the stuff that inconveniences us, shakes us up, but doesn’t tear our soul apart and threaten everything that we have in life.

We don’t want to beat ourselves up about getting ill. As a herbalist I am not going to say to my patients ‘You are ill, it must be all your fault’.  This would be a guaranteed way of reducing my patient list!  Yet it is not right that I should encourage people to just take a pill or drink some tincture and then carry on just as before, only to get ill once again.  The cynically inclined could say that this would be better for business, but I would rather my patients learn to safeguard their health so they can stay truly well.

What then if we can see illness as a learning experience?  To see symptoms and suffering as our body’s plea for help.  To see that illness is our body’s way of letting us know that it is out of balance.  To understand that if we ignore it for long enough our body will have a full blown tantrum. Believe me if you can possibly avoid it then you don’t want to experience your body having a full blown tantrum!

To accept the positive in illness would involve a sea change in our attitude to it. We need to take responsibility for our own health and to take a more active role in our treatment.  It doesn’t mean that we have to become obsessive hypochondriacs or medical experts, but it does mean that we have to start listening to the language of our symptoms and understand what they are telling us. After all, each one of us is the expert in our own body, or we should be.

Helping people to decode signs and symptoms is a large part of my job here at the clinic. I spend plenty of time with my patients so I can understand the underlying reason for their health condition. I need to understand what is happening and why it has happened.  This is not always easy. There can be a puzzling maze of shifting symptoms and apparently unrelated events. But in the end, even in the most complex case, the root cause is there, waiting to be found …. if you look hard enough.

Once this underlying root cause has been found it can take time to start to address it. It is not easy to change one’s lifestyle and diet overnight, and a dramatic change is not always very sustainable. So the herbs are there to help and support. A carefully blended prescription will ease suffering and improve vital energy whilst beginning to tackle the underlying issue. With less suffering and more energy there is the motivation to start to take on board lifestyle and dietary changes.  Together we can look at ways to build sustainable health instead of glossing over the symptoms.

Sustainable health, vibrant energy, more joy – it sounds great doesn’t it!  To enjoy these we need to find and maintain a healthful balance. So, if we accept that regaining balance is a helpful thing, then maybe we need bouts of illness as a spur to make us sit up and take notice.  Illness becomes a positive nudge in the right direction.

So let’s make friends with our body! Let’s not blame it when we get ill. Let’s try to see illness as an opportunity to get back onto track, to re-adjust our course a little so that we can safeguard optimal energy and health.  We don’t want to waste time feeling tired and below par. Today is the first day of the rest of our life.  Let’s live it!

To find out more about Myrobalan Clinic please visit www.myrobalanclinic.com

The Humours in Tibetan Medicine

Samye Ling Tibetan Centre

I count myself very privileged to have studied Tibetan Medicine with the late Khenpo Truro Tsenum over a five year period at the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre in Scotland.  Although I later qualified in Western herbal medicine, Tibetan medicine has remained my core discipline and a hugely influential part of my practice.

I love the fact that Tibetan medicine considers the elemental basis of both a health problem and the herbs which will be used to cure it.  Every person has their own balance of the three humours rlung (air), tripa (fire) and péken (water/earth) in varying proportions. Lifestyle factors which throw the humours out of balance create ill health and treatment with herbs of opposing qualities will bring a person back into balance.

People with a predominance of one or another of the humours will display characteristic traits that give their constitutions away.

Rlung is the movement principle in the body and mind, dominated by the air element.  It is associated with hyper function and dryness in the body.  The rlung person finds it hard to focus on one specific project, often having several on the go at once.  They find it difficult to pace themselves, throwing themselves heart and soul into a new project only to become too exhausted and burnt out to see it through to the end.  A rlung dominant patient will respond much better to treatment if they have the support of a loving partner or supportive friends. Rlung people need people.

Since rlung is aggravated by a diet high in raw foods I see many people who wonder why they have become anxious when they try to increase the amount of salads and raw fruits in their diet.  Rlung people need nutritious foods containing plenty of essential fatty acids in order to cultivate emotional stability.  Another thing which is very difficult for rlung people is lack of stability, so moving house or jobs can be especially stressful for them.  Lack of sleep aggravates things further and their health can spiral quickly out of control.  If anxiety has struck then the situation can be helped with calming and earthing herbs such as Valeriana officinalis (valerian) and Avena sativa (oats) but in the long term the patient needs to watch their diet and lifestyle carefully to achieve sustainable balance.

Tripa is the heat principle in the body, dominated by the element of fire. Tripa people are focused and ambitious, they get things done. They can be competitive and too much competition can push their health off balance.  They are often drawn to competitive sports but they would really be better off doing Tai Chi.  If things don’t go their way, tripa people can be easily irritated, in line with their tendency to stagnation in the liver.

I once had a patient who described himself as ‘Mr Angry’.  His constitution was pure tripa and he aggravated it by drinking plenty of beer and coffee and being quite competitive.  He was just as distressed by his angry outbursts as he was by his lack of energy and his blood sugar imbalances.  Lifestyle changes in conjunction with bitter liver herbs such as Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) and Peumus boldo (boldo) made ‘Mr Angry’ disappear and he became ‘Mr Niceguy’.  His wife rang me to express her heartfelt gratitude!

Péken is all about stability and structure. A person with a predominant péken humour will  be steady going and not easily flustered.  On the downside they can find it hard to get motivated and may be inclined to be quite sedentary. This aggravates their tendency to put on weight more easily than the other humoral types.

Péken people need to get moving, both internally and externally.  Their circulation is often sluggish so they respond well to circulatory stimulants, especially the warming ones.  If you treat a péken person with herbs to help warm and stimulate their system their energy levels tend to increase quite quickly and they start to become more motivated.  I suppose I should not have been at all surprised when a péken type patient in her mid 60’s decided to try motor racing after a lifetime of not getting round to it.

It is of course rare to come across people who have one humour so strongly dominant.  Most of us display a mixture of different humoral traits which ebb and flow according to our lifestyle and circumstances.  We need to get to know the humours, make friends with them and notice when they are moving out of balance.

Good health is all about maintaining balance.  If we understand the different humours and their elemental basis we can intuitively counteract imbalances by making appropriate changes to our diet and lifestyle as well as taking herbs when we need to.

For more information about Myrobalan Clinic visit www.myrobalanclinic.com 

Time to Piece Together the Jigsaw

To achieve true healing it is essential that there is sufficient time to piece together a patient’s personal jigsaw.  In the West this should ideally be the job of the primary care provider, but with large practices, increasing administrative burdens and reduced consultation times this is becoming extremely difficult.  Average general practitioner appointment times are 8-10 minutes and although longer appointments can be requested a patient may not always have the confidence to ask for this.  It is not surprising then that there is very little opportunity for the practitioner to consider the whole picture.

I think we would all agree that it takes time for a practitioner and patient to build a relationship and it takes time for the practitioner to understand the case.  In my practice, and other holistic practices, time is allowed for the patient to feel comfortable, and to reveal their story in their own words.  In a first consultation I set aside a space of two hours.  Sometimes even more time is needed.  I have been known to spend three and a half hours on some occasions.  I admit that this is a very long time and not ideal for a viable business model, but we do have cups of herbal tea to sustain us!

Why do I spend so long?  Well in my view if I get that first understanding of the case right then the progress of the treatment will be smoother and quicker.  It is an investment.  I don’t want to fall into the trap of just glossing over the symptoms.  I am after a sustainable healing, it may take a little longer but the original condition will not return if the root cause has been fully addressed.

Often the causative factors become clear as the case unfolds.  This may be the first opportunity a patient has had to rationally think about all events leading up to the illness in a logical timeline.  Identifying the underlying root cause becomes easier and a treatment plan presents itself.

Time to go through the case properly can also highlight lifestyle factors which need to be changed and why.  I find that when people understand the cause and effect of adverse diet and lifestyle they are much more positive about changing them.

Then there may be the unresolved issues which have been buried for years.  These can’t be shared in a quick ten minute slot.  I have lost count of the times that patients have said ‘I have never told anyone that before’. The relief of being able to share is tangible and sometimes there are tears.  These unprocessed inner burdens can eat away at us, clouding our ability to live life to the full and reducing our body’s ability to balance itself. Having the time to share, if that is what is needed, is a hugely significant aspect of healing.

In Tibetan Medicine there is no distinction made between the healing of the body and the healing of the mind. In fact all illness is considered to arise from not understanding the true nature of reality.  Where there are issues which are getting in the way of healing then the texts contain excellent advice on ways of dealing with them.  The idea is not necessarily to try and change the outer environment, but to work on our own minds so that we are more resilient to life’s obstacles.  Only recently a patient reported a huge improvement because she was able to use one of these techniques to let go of an old resentment which had been bugging her for years.

So as a herbalist I need to make time to understand each individual case, as well as the time to understand the actions of each of the multitude of herbs at my disposal.  Consultations can’t be rushed just as the preparing of medicine can’t be rushed.

We all have our own jigsaw, we just need the time to solve it.

For more information about Myrobalan Clinic visit www.myrobalanclinic.com 

The Doctrine of Signatures – Mnemonic or Message?

There has always been a mystical relationship between man and plants

As part of the living system of the earth we are intimately connected with plants.  Man has been living on this planet for a mere 200 000 years, whilst plants have been here for 475 million years, and vascular plants for 350 million years.  It is not surprising that we rely on them for life itself.  You could say that the nature of plants is hardwired into our systems.

There has always been a mystical relationship between man and plants, developed out of respect and awe for the effects they have on our bodies.  The development of Western herbal medicine has been greatly influenced by ‘The Doctrine of Signatures’.  This is a philosophy which was originally spread by a shoemaker Jakob Böhme of Görlitz in Germany who had a profound vision as a young man.  A deeply religious man, his vision showed him that the relationship between the Divine and man was signalled in all things. He wrote ‘Signatura Rerum’ in 1621, and this was translated into English as ‘The Signature of all Things’.  The message behind this work was that the medicinal uses of a plant can be inferred from close observation of the plant and how it grows.

Modern science has relegated this doctrine to superstition and a mnemonic, but perhaps that is hasty.  The shapes and growth habits of plants reflect the difficulties and opportunities that they have encountered in the course of their development.  Stresses caused by waterlogging, drought, wind, predation, shade or sunlight have all given rise to different plant forms, constituents, healing properties and energetic characteristics.

Eastern systems of healing developed a sophisticated understanding of the role of tastes and potencies in the actions of herbs.  We link the constituents of a plant with its taste and actions, and these constituents arise in individual plants to help them thrive in their own environmental niche.  The appearance of a plant is shaped by its need to survive and the conditions it has to live in.  Perhaps then it is not so far fetched to say that the way plants have overcome their environmental challenges can help us overcome our own internal imbalances.

Traditionally the Doctrine of Signatures is illustrated by the leaves of Pulmonaria officinalis (Lungwort) which are said to resemble diseased lungs, and the knobbly tubers of Ranunculus ficaria (Pilewort) resemble a rather nasty case of piles.  I have to admit that I don’t tend to use Pulmonaria in my practice but I do use Ranunculus ficaria to make a cream and many patients can attest to its remarkable ability to soothe and shrink painfully inflamed haemorrhoids.

I don’t think that The Doctrine of Signatures is something which should be learnt by rote though.  That misses the point.  This system is all about contemplative study.  It is a way of connecting with the herbs that we use and understanding their actions on a deeper level.  The beauty of this is that if we spare the time to listen to the messages from the plants they will reward us with an enhanced ability to work with them for the benefit of our patients.

Take Symphytum officinalis (Comfrey)  for example.  If you have ever harvested the roots you will have noticed their uncanny resemblance to bones and joints.  Comfrey has earned its common name of ‘Knitbone’ with good reason, containing a substance called allantoin which stimulates cell proliferation and supports wound and fracture healing.  It is such a shame that fears over the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids have pressured herbalists into agreeing a voluntary ban on its internal use – but that is another story.

Another fascinating body mirroring image is brought to us courtesy of Mormordica charantia (Karela).  This is the bitter gourd used in Indian traditional cooking.  It is very bitter, but when cooked as part of a spicy dish it is delicious.  There is a lot of evidence to show that Mormordica charantia can help to support the pancreas,  treating insulin resistance and Type II Diabetes.  Next time you get a chance to bring a fresh Karela fruit home I recommend that you cut it in half to reveal its beautiful cross section and then compare it to cross sections of the pancreas on line.

It doesn’t have to be all about direct body images though.  The subtleties of the messages from plants are there for us to discover if we take the time to be with them.

Filipendula ulmaria (Meadowsweet) growing on wet ground near the river

Filipendula ulmaria or Meadowsweet is a very effective anti-inflammatory and antacid particularly useful in gastric inflammatory conditions.  It is also a good anti-rheumatic herb reducing the tendency to inflammation and acidity in the joints.   It grows on damp ground.  I find it close to the river where it forms clouds of sweet smelling cream coloured candy floss tops in early summer.

Meadowsweet has a characteristic slightly pungent aroma which comes from the presence of salicylates.   Salix alba (Willow) and Populus tremuloides (Quaking Aspen) also contain salicylates which help to reduce inflammation, fever and pain.  Interestingly all  three of these plants have their roots in damp ground but their aerial parts are not particularly wet and boggy, if anything the leaves are tough and a little dry.  This to me indicates that they have the ability to work with soft, soggy inflamed tissues, drying them and toning them.

Galium aparine (Cleavers) an excellent lymphatic tonic

Galium aparine or Cleavers is an excellent lymphatic tonic which I gather in large quantities each spring.  The long trailing succulent stems do not have a particularly rigid structure of their own, but they use other vegetation as support, winding through hedges reaching great lengths, often over six foot where I gather it.  Pulling it is easy as it has its roots in wet soil, often a ditch, and you have to be impressed at how efficiently water is moved long distances by this plant.  As a medicine Cleavers moves water into the lymphatic system and transports it to the kidneys where it can be removed.  It is an excellent remedy for resolving lymphoedema and for enlivening a sluggish, infection prone lymphatic system.  Cleavers has traditionally been used as a filter and you could say that this mirrors the filtering action of the lymphatic system in the body.

So these examples are a taste of my own musings, each herbalist comes to their own insights and understandings. Gathering herbs is a peaceful activity and one can’t help but be open to the messages that they have for us.  I am not suggesting that we throw away the advances in herbal medicine which have come through scientific investigation, but I do think that the Doctrine of Signatures is worth incorporating into our personal herbal journey.

For more information about Myrobalan Clinic visit www.myrobalanclinic.com 

Making Tinctures – Preserving the Vibrancy of a Practice

Tinctures ready for straining and pressing

In my practice I like to combine Western Herbal treatment ideas with the energetics of Tibetan Medicine.   I carry a large stock of herbs each with their own unique balance of properties and I blend tinctures for individual patients.

Tinctures concentrate the essence of herbs so that smaller doses can be used compared to aqueous solutions.  Whilst fresh infusions or decoctions are lovely, tinctures are more convenient to take and help patients to stick to their treatment programme.  I make my own tinctures and for the most part these are made with herbs that I have either grown or wildcrafted myself.  

I should explain that tinctures are the result of macerating a herb in a mixture of water and a solvent, in my case I use high grade neutral food grade ethanol, which is 98% alcohol.  The proportions of water and alcohol are adapted to each individual herb and the medicinal constituents which will be extracted.  The aqueous portion extracts the water soluble constituents, and the alcohol takes care of the oil soluble components.  If you get the balance right, and use high quality raw material, you will end up with a concentrated bottle of healing vibrancy bursting with all the active ingredients which were in the fresh plant.

Pressing macerated herbs

The process of tincturing is straight forward.  I macerate the herbs in preserving jars, and leave them in a dark place for three weeks, agitating them daily to ensure maximum extraction of the medicinal ingredients.  At the end of that time the fluid is drained and the herb residue is pressed using a wine press to get every last bit of goodness out.  The resulting liquid is filtered, bottled and labelled.  The details of each batch are carefully recorded in my log book.

As my practice gets busier the work of growing, gathering and tincturing herbs becomes more time consuming.  In business development terms it would probably be sensible to delegate this aspect of the practice to responsible wholesalers who will despatch stock to me quickly and reliably when I need it.  There is a bit of a problem with that plan though because it was my love of herbs which drove me to became a herbalist.

Making a batch of Skullcap tincture

Herbalists have long understood that the scent, taste and form of a plant helps to indicate the actions that it will bring to the body.  For example living Agrimony exudes a heady lemony aromatic scent which can so quickly be lost if it is not processed with care, and you only have to brush against a living marshmallow leaf to understand that it has soothing demulcent properties.

Working only with bought in dried herbs or ready made tinctures may be efficient but it would remove a direct connection with the living plants which I cherish so much.  This is why I believe that making tinctures myself not only preserves the vibrancy of the herbs but it preserves the vibrancy of my practice.

For more information about Myrobalan Clinic visit www.myrobalanclinic.com