When the little bluebird Who has never said a word Starts to sing Spring When the little bluebell At the bottom of the dell Starts to ring Ding dong Ding dong When the little blue clerk In the middle of his work Starts a tune to the moon up above It is nature that is all Simply telling us to fall in love. And that's why birds do it, bees do it Even educated fleas do it Let's do it, let's fall in love! --  from "Let's Do It" by Cole Porter The lyrics above and sprinkled throughout this text are from the wonderful collection of tastefully uninhibited Cole Porter songs performed by some of the greatest artists of bygone years, entitled "The Cole Porter Songbook."

If love and romance were meant only for Valentine's Day, all our babies would be born in November. Luckily, amore is in season all year long! Sex, like eating, is a primal urge that should provide some of the greatest satisfaction and joy that life has to offer.

No one knows the true origin of Valentine's Day. Legend has it that St. Valentine was a third-century priest imprisoned by the Romans for secretly marrying young men who would otherwise have been prime candidates for military conscription under the reign of Emperor Claudius II. As for the Valentine's Day cards we exchange, another legend was that when St. Valentine was imprisoned he became enamored with his jailer's daughter and sent her love notes.

Alternatively, Valentine's Day could simply be the product of the church conveniently designating a holiday to coincide with a Roman fertility festival honoring Faunus, the Roman God of agriculture (February 15). Whatever the origin, by the Middle Ages, Valentine's Day was one of the most popular celebrations throughout Europe.
 

Let's Do It! (Or Maybe Not?): Sexual Taboos

Have you ever wondered why throughout civilization there have been so many sexual taboos? Could it be that the many creative expressions of humanity happen, more or less as a result of sexual repression?

If truth be known, most of us have had reason to lament the fact that just as we try to restrain, twist and contort our gustatory inclinations to deny ourselves the occasional banana split or chocolate sundae, we also try in vain to repress our eroticism. No wonder so many of us are depressed.
 

When grandmama whose age is eighty, in night clubs is getting matey with gigolos, anything goes!
-- from "Anything Goes" sung by Ella Fitzgerald

"Old" age is just one supposed restriction to enjoying sex.

Not so for the 70,000 residents living in some 40,000 homes who are spending their ‘golden years' at a retirement community called "The Villages" at Lady Lake, Fla. According to a recent article in Fox News, these folks are not wasting any more of their precious time in erotic self-denial. With a female to male ratio of 10 to one, it is a virtual widower's paradise where inhibitions are shed at the slightest inclination. It's not unusual to stumble upon a casual amorous encounter happening on a golf cart. Rumor has it that there is a very active black market in Viagra both for men and women at The Villages. Why not? With families raised, no need for contraception, and obligations and responsibilities to a significant other a thing of the past, I think these people are just making up for lost time.

Do we ever get too old to partake of the joy of sex? For most of us, the answer is NO. Armed with little more than some lubricant (or, in the case of folks at The Villages, an occasional half tab of black market Viagra), most of us remain good to go all the way to the end of our days. So long as we have an appetite for food, we should have an appetite for sex.

We're all alone, no chaperone
can get our number
The world's in slumber
Let's misbehave!!
-- from "Let's Misbehave" sung by Eartha Kitt

Unsurprisingly, religion and spiritual practice present sexual taboos as well.

As a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I've had various opportunities to consider the Chinese Taoist teaching that is the bane of women married to too-serious martial artists: that the male should never ejaculate for fear of losing some precious life essence. In my opinion, this is just another form of invasion of the bedroom by a restrictive society. We see evidence in some species that male energy spent as ejaculation is a prelude to death, but for humans, current scientific research shows that sex promotes health.

Let's face it: we only live once. As an herbalist, I suggest that the best aphrodisiac is when we reserve sex as the last frontier of our essential wildness. As long as it's between consenting adults, let's get the government, along with the clerics, hypocritical moralists, and ascetic martial artists out of our bedrooms - or wherever else you choose to "misbehave."
 

Causes for Low Libido

Just as decreased appetite is an indication of disease or impending illness, so also is a sagging libido. Nowadays, doctors not only don't inquire about a patient's appetite, but they wouldn't dare ask about one's libido. For most of us, a good appetite in all departments is a sign of wellbeing. So if that's you, perhaps you have something to rejoice about.

There are some physiological reasons for low libido. Certainly as we get on in years (despite what you might hear about some of the residents at The Villages), we can expect things to slow down as our hormones diminish. In Chinese medicine these hormones are all encompassed by the concept of Kidney Yang and Kidney Yin with herbs specifically indicated for each. Specifically, the Kidney Yang herbs support the production of all those hormones that increase our motivation in all ways, including sexual appetite. These include testosterone, estrogen, and the androgynous hormones that are necessary and present in varying degrees in both men and women.

One Kidney Yang herb used in Chinese medicine is Epimedium, aptly known as Horny Goatweed. Lesley describes this herb in her blog. I would only add that this is a common ornamental that can be purchased at most nurseries. One can periodically harvest the leaves; make tea or an alcoholic extract by macerating a good amount in a little vodka. This can then be taken in teaspoon doses once or twice a day.

The fact is, unless there are other physical disabilities such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease, there is no age limit for the world's number one pastime.

Side-effects of prescription drugs

Drugs are a major factor causing loss of libido. For example, the popular drug Proscar is commonly prescribed for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) - swollen prostate in common parlance. BPH usually does not occur before the age of 40, but approximately 50% of men in their 60s and 90% of men in their 90s develop this condition. It is characterized by the frequent urge to urinate, which can result in arising several times throughout the night.

Proscar and related pharmaceuticals treat BPH by altering testosterone metabolism, which in turn shrinks the swollen prostate. The drug's effect on testosterone metabolism, however, can cause diminished libido and erectile dysfunction. You could try having a "drug holiday" on weekends - that is, taking a break from your BPH drug for a couple of days - but it isn't clear if this would restore a man's sex drive. An option would be to ask your doctor whether a lower dose might solve the libido problem and still manage the prostate swelling.

So it seems that if you're suffering from BPH, you have to choose between frequent urination with normal erectile function, or a normal-sized prostate with problems getting going in the sack. What kind of a choice is that? The good news is, there are some natural alternatives to prescription drugs for BPH:

• Saw Palmetto Berries: Extensive European research on saw palmetto, a common berry found growing in abundance in southeast United States shows that saw palmetto is equally effective to Proscar but is not known to diminish libido, cause erectile dysfunction or any other side effects associated with the drug. Just as Proscar needs to be taken over a period of two to three months to effectively shrink the prostate, so too does saw palmetto need to be taken over time (usually not nearly as long as Proscar) to achieve similar positive results. Saw palmetto comes in the form of a standardized extract of 80- 90% fatty acids and is taken at the dose of 160 mg twice a day or 320 mg daily.
• Pumpkin Seeds: Eating a handful of shelled pumpkin seeds three times a week, or better yet daily, is an old time remedy for treating BPH. These contain protective compounds called phytosterols which may be responsible for shrinking the prostate. Like all prostate drugs and herbs these work by preventing the transformation of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). High levels of DHT are associated with enlarged prostate. Pumpkin seeds have this action as well, but with no danger of loss of libido.
• Other approaches such as a low-fat diet, zinc supplements, and essential fatty acids (from sources such as fish or flax oil) and another herb, Pygeum africanum, are also useful for treating BPH.

Statin drugs and loss of libido

Millions of people in North America are presently on statin drugs making it the number one cash cow for pharmaceutical companies, but few read the small print of adverse side effects, one of which can be loss of libido. This is because statins interfere with our body's ability to create cholesterol and can cause a decrease of sex hormones with a concomitant dampening of Eros.

There is considerable controversy regarding the relation of elevated cholesterol and cardiovascular disease (CVD) because there has been no study demonstrating that high cholesterol causes CVD. In fact, studies show that nearly as many people with so-called normal to low cholesterol die of CVD as those with high cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a hormone precursor that has a strong genetic factor; some people naturally make more or less cholesterol. It is also a substance that the body manufactures as a result of stress. Be that as it may, if one wants to lower cholesterol, instead of taking statin drugs, try red yeast rice which is a more natural alternative with similar chemistry and results. Better yet, it is a far cheaper alternative to statin drugs and will not affect libido. I would still recommend taking a dose of Co Q10 along with the red yeast rice since statins are known to diminish this vital heart nutrient.

If you work out, you're more likely to make out

Finally, it seems like a no-brainer, but I have to mention that lack of physical fitness is another big factor in sexual dysfunction. It's been found that men who exercise regularly (especially with some strength training) rarely have performance problems. That's because exercise generates natural hormones that keep you youthful and able to enjoy sexual health.
 

What about a natural alternative to Viagra?

Viagra works by enhancing circulation to the penis enabling its erection, and may work in women similarly, by increasing blood flow to the clitoris. L-arginine is an amino acid which in itself is not a cure for impotence or sexual dysfunction, but is used by the body as a vaso-dilator, benefitting circulation and endothelial function. Endothelial cells line the inner surface of blood vessels. Erectile dysfunction and endothelial dysfunction both share the common problem of impaired circulation, for which L-arginine is effective. As such, it is a good supplement to add to an herbal program to enhance sex. The difference is that while Viagra increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, L-arginine decreases these risks and costs just pennies compared to the current market price of $15 a pill for Viagra.
 

Foods and herbs for enhanced sexual performance

• Oysters: These are high in zinc which is a necessary nutrient for fertility and male prostate and sexual health. You needn't be too concerned with the fact that oysters have the peculiar ability to change sex many times during their lifespan. They have a high reputation as a sexually nourishing food.
• Asparagus root: Asparagus, rich in hormone promoting steroidal glycosides, has a high reputation as an aphrodisiac. Both in China and India, the root of Asparagus racemosa is used to increase sperm count and nourish the ovum. Chinese herbalists believe that the Yin-nourishing qualities of asparagus root induce feelings of peace, compassion and love. Traditionally, Chinese herbalists would reserve the sweetest roots for their personal consumption. In India Asparagus root is known as shatavari, which literally means "she who possesses 100 husbands."
• Oregano: Whether it's used as a spice on pizza or in pasta sauce, oregano leaves may help to spice up one's love life. Homeopathic preparations of oregano are claimed to sexual excitability.
• Ashwagandha: Withania somnifera is considered the most important single herb in Indian Ayurvedic medicine. It is recommended as a rejuvenative tonic for general debility, brain fatigue, nervous exhaustion, impotence, general aphrodisiac purposes, low sperm count and lack of motility, infertility, and to prevent and treat habitual miscarriage. It works by normalizing male and female hormones. The powder can be taken in capsules, as a tablet, or as an alcoholic extract. One Ayurvedic aphrodisiac formula combines one part ashwagandha to 10 parts milk and one part ghee (clarified butter). You boil the mixture down until only ghee remains. This end product is called Ashwagandha Ghrita. The ancient texts recommend taking a heaping tablespoon of this mixture morning and evening. Eventually, one will experience a significant boost in vitality, libido and sexual stamina.
• Maca: Lepidium meyenii is an annual plant which produces a radish-like root. The root of maca is typically dried and stored, and will easily keep for seven years. The plant is cultivated in Peru's Central Highlands, and was highly revered by the Inca. Sometimes known as Peruvian ginseng, maca's sexual boosting properties for both men and women properties are legendary. When Kris Kilham, an ethnobotanist known as "the medicine hunter" asked a native Peruvian woman why she used maca, she smiled and replied, "Well, for sex of course." Maca is a food-grade herb and the Peruvians would consume 3,000-5,000 mg of maca a day or more. For the average consumer, 4 to 5 capsules a day (1,800-2,250 mg each) is an effective dose. I recommend purchasing maca powder by the pound to take in capsules, sprinkle on food or in blend into smoothies. (Read Kris Kilham's short article on maca here.)
  

A word about consumer expectations of herbs vs. drugs

Most of us are used to the promise of fast-acting drugs. While a drug like Viagra can produce a lasting erection within an hour or so, we have to be realistic when we consider our expectations of herbs and other natural supplements. Herbs bring harmony and health to the body over time. As a result, herbs' actions are accomplished more slowly but are generally longer lasting. Keep this in mind when treating any condition, but especially sexual dysfunction, with herbs.

In the heavens, stars are dancing and the mounting moon is new,
What a rare night for romancing, mind if I make love to you?
-- from "Mind if I Make Love to You" sung by Frank Sinatra
 

Sexual energy is a reflection of an overall state of health and well-being. A healthy sexual appetite is as natural as an appetite for food. Drugs often interfere with libido and whenever possible we are better off looking for nutritional and herbal substitutes for drugs, not only to treat sexual dysfunction, but also to treat the conditions that may cause loss of libido in the first place! With this approach, may you enjoy your lover in health and happiness not only on Valentine's Day but year-round.

With the big hype surrounding St. Valentine's Day already in full swing, many of us turn our thoughts to romance and, perhaps, aphrodisiacs. Now, I don't tend to work with the western concept of aphrodisiacs -- i.e., "Take this herb and you'll have a good sex drive." Rather, I approach the topic energetically -- i.e., "What imbalance needs correcting in the body so the sex drive can increase?"
 

Come On Baby, Light My Fire: The Role of Kidney Yang in Libido

In most cases of flagging sex drive, the imbalance is what traditional Chinese medicine calls "Kidney Yang deficiency." Kidney Yang is the heating/energizing aspect of the body. It encompasses both Qi -- the circulating, transforming, holding, sustaining, enduring power -- along with dryness, warmth and stimulation, as in the spark that "lights your fires," if you will.

Physiologically speaking, Yang represents the body's functions and organic processes such as warmth, libido, appetite, digestion and assimilation. Emotionally, it is the active, stimulating and outward expression of life. Because of this broad spectrum of functions, tonifying Kidney Yang not only increases sex drive and endurance, but has other benefits as well, such as reducing night time urination, coldness, cold and sore lower back and knees, white vaginal discharge, loose stools or diarrhea, infertility, impotence and frigidity.

While it might be nice to improve some of the above symptoms, what you probably really want to know about now is the impotence/frigidity part - i.e., "How can I get it on for Feb. 14?" So on to the herbs.

Herbs for Libido (with other added benefits)

There are some specific herbs that improve libido and decrease impotence and frigidity. In China, regular tonics are administered for sex drive, including "Doctrine of Signatures"-type medicinals such as male seal sexual parts (hai gou shen - now there's fodder for pillow talk!). These kinds of medicinals come with their own set of ethical and compliance considerations; luckily, there are several simple herbs which may be used instead.

Be forewarned, however: just one shot of these herbs doesn't always do the trick! Instead, you may need to take the herb for one to two weeks or more to experience results.

Contraindications for these herbs: Because these herbs are heating, they should not be taken if the person experiences any of the following:

Deficient Yin signs: night sweats, malar flush (redness and burning heat along the cheeks and nose), burning sensation in the palms of the hands, soles of the feet and in the chest, afternoon fever or feelings of heat, restless sleep, dry throat or thirst at night, agitation, mental restlessness, dry cough, dry stools, hyper-sexuality, wet dreams and/or scanty dark urine

Excess heat signs: high fever, thirst, red face, aversion to heat, restlessness, irritability, burning sensations, scanty dark urine, yellow discharges and phlegm, strong body odors and discharges, rapid pulse, hypertension, constipation, possible blood in the stool, urine, vomit, or nose, irritable and aggressive temperament, loud, commanding voice, strong appetite, heavy coarse breathing, yellow or reddish colored eyes, dry and cracked lips, heavy menses which may be early and long lasting, hot, yellowish diarrhea

Discontinue use during the summer months (May through September) unless you live in cold northern climates (then it's June through August).

EPIMEDIUM - Epimedium grandiflorum; yin yang huo

I just have to list epimidium first. After all, when you learn of its common name - horny goat weed - what more needs to be said?

Part used: aerial parts

Energy, taste and Organs affected: warm; acrid, sweet; Kidney, Liver

Actions: tonify Yang - warms the fires at the gate of vitality (ming men - Gate of Life fires)

Properties: Yang tonic, aphrodisiac, antirheumatic, antitussive, expectorant, anti-asthmatic

Dosage: 6-15 gms, infusion; steep in wine to enhance its properties

Precautions: Do not take for prolonged periods as it can damage the Yin, causing dizziness, vomiting, dry mouth, thirst and nosebleed.

Other: This genus is composed of about 25 species and is often grown as an ornamental ground cover for shady borders. Also known as "licentious (or horny) goat wort (weed)," it is commonly available from nurseries. Grow in a shaded, moist environment.

Indications: impotence, frigidity, spermatorrhea, premature ejaculation, frequent urination, forgetfulness, withdrawal, painful cold lower back and knees, dizziness, headache, hypertension, menstrual irregularity, arthritis, rheumatism, spasms or cramps in the hands and feet, joint pain, numbness in the extremities, high blood pressure, chronic bronchitis

Uses: Although epimedium has been used by the Chinese for quite a long time, it is hitting the Western market now as a sexual tonic and aphrodisiac, just as its name, horny goat weed, implies. Indeed, epimedium is used in China to stimulate sexual activity and sperm production, treating symptoms of impotence, frigidity, spermatorrhea, involuntary and premature ejaculation, frequent urination, forgetfulness, withdrawal and painful cold lower back and knees.

Now, as with most Kidney Yang tonics (and tonics in general), results take awhile to appear, so don't expect any immediate miracles like some prescription pills. At the same time, be sure to eliminate all cold/cooling foods and drinks, such as iced drinks, ice cream, raw foods, fruit juices and soy milk, as well as sugar, caffeine and alcohol, as these foods cause all the symptoms for which you want to take epimidium in the first place (sounding harder now?).

Epimidium tonifies Yin along with Yang and harnesses ascendant Liver Yang due to underlying Kidney and Liver Deficiency. All this means that it's useful for lower back pain, dizziness, menstrual irregularity, peri/menopausal symptoms, headaches and hypertension. As well, this versatile herb expels Wind-Damp-Cold, treating arthritis, rheumatism, spasms or cramps in the hands and feet, joint pain and numbness in the extremities.

Epimidium further strengthens the bones (the Kidneys rule the bones), lowers blood pressure and treats chronic bronchitis, especially when there is Coldness (white phlegm) and difficulty on inhalation. I always include it in any peri/menopausal formula along with Yin tonics.

Epimidum is traditionally said to be good taken extracted in wine (Dan Bensky, Steven Clavey, Erich Stoger with Andrew Gamble, Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica, Third Edition, 2004, Eastland Press, Inc., p. 713).

For impotence, take with cooked rehmannia (Rehmanniae Radix preparata - shu di huang), schisandra (Schisandra Fructus - wu wei zi) and astragalus seeds (Astragali complanati Semen - sha yuan zi).

DEER ANTLER - Cornu cervi parvum; lu rong

I have a friend who once complained about no sex drive. She missed intimacy with her husband AND she missed him desiring her as well. Deer antler was administered and bingo! In about two weeks she walked around simply beaming.

Deer antler velvet is regarded as "an intense tonic for the Liver and Kidneys that embodies the youthful male growth of the stag" (Ibid., p. 765).

Part Used: velvet of young deer antler

Energy, taste and Organs affected: warm; salty, sweet; Kidney, Liver

Actions: tonifies Yang - warms the fires at the Gate of Vitality (ming men - Gate of Life fires)

Properties: tonic, stimulant

Dose: 3-4.5 gm, decocted; 1-3 gm powder divided into 2-3 doses. NOTE: It is very important to start off with low doses and gradually work up; otherwise symptoms of dizziness or red eyes can occur.

Precautions: Do not use if you have any of the following: bleeding gums, bad breath, mouth sores and headaches across the forehead (Stomach Heat), blood in the sputum, stools, urine or vomit, coughing up of blood, bloody nose, excessive menses, or red and hot skin eruptions (Heat in the Blood).

Indications: fatigue, infertility, low sex drive, impotence, frigidity, cold extremities, lightheadedness, ringing in the ears, sore and weak lower back and knees, frequent, copious, clear urination; children's physical and/or mental developmental disorders, failure to thrive, mental retardation, learning disabilities, insufficient growth or skeletal deformities; vaginal discharge, uterine bleeding, chronic ulcerations or boils, peri/menopause

Other: When deer antler is cooked a long time, a residue collects. This is powdered into a different medicinal called antler glue (lu jiao shuang), which is used to nourish Blood, stop bleeding and tonify Kidney Yang. This powerful Yang tonic also supports Yin and Essence and tonifies Qi and Blood, thus making it very beneficial for many conditions.

CHINESE GINSENG - Panax ginseng; Ren Shen

Panax ginseng is a premier Qi tonic - building staying and holding power (get my drift?). After all, its nickname is "man root" because the shape of the root actually resembles a man.

Because ginseng tonifies the primal Qi which "underlies and supports all the Qi activities of the body, this herb is used in a wide variety of situations where a stronger primal Qi will indirectly aid in their resolution" (Ibid., p. 711).

Generally, though, ginseng has to be taken for a while to build the sex drive and sexual power. In fact, ginseng increases adrenal cortex function and stimulates the pituitary gland to produce more sex hormones. Traditionally it is taken regularly by men age 40 and over, although women may take it, too.

I remember a Chinese pharmacist once showing me a selection of very old and large ginseng roots, valued from $1,000 to $10,000 each (all truly looking like a man!). According to Michael, who studied with him, this Taoist herb teacher claimed certain wealthy Chinese and American celebrities visited him once a year for his rejuvenation technique: a week of avoiding all greasy and fried foods along with drinking the Yin tonic formula Liu Wei Di Huang Wan two to three times a day. Afterward, they'd purchase an expensive ginseng root (costing thousands), cook and eat it along with drinking the tea to rejuvenate their physical and sexual energy. It must have worked, for they returned year after year for this expensive protocol.

The most potent variety of panax ginseng is the red Korean ginseng, which has a warmer in energy, as it's prepared by steaming and then sun-dried or dried by heating.

Part Used: aged Chinese ginseng root

Energy, taste and Organs affected: slightly warm; sweet, slightly bitter; Lung, Spleen

Actions: tonify Qi

Properties: stomachic, stimulant, nutritive, rejuvenative, demulcent, adaptogen

Dose: 1-9 gms, up to 30 gms for hemorrhage shock; decoct 1 tsp./cup water; 20-60 drops tincture, 1-4 times/day; freeze-drying may increase potency

Precautions: according to Sharol Tilgner in Herbal Medicine from the Heart of the Earth, concurrent use with the drug phenezine has resulted in manic-like symptoms

Indications: all Deficiency diseases, chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, profuse sweating, lethargy, lack of appetite, chest and abdominal distention, chronic diarrhea, prolapse of stomach, uterus or rectum, palpitations with anxiety, insomnia, forgetfulness, restlessness, excellent for convalescence, debility and weakness in old age, debility, weakness, tiredness, poor appetite and digestion, emaciation, shock

Uses: As a primary herb for Deficiencies, ginseng revitalizes the body and mind, strengthening weakness, low energy and vitality, shock, collapse due to loss of blood, chronic fevers, heart weakness, debility, convalescence and weakness in old age. It promotes weight and tissue growth and increases longevity and resistance to disease.

Ginseng particularly benefits digestion and Lung function, treating lethargy, lack of appetite, abdominal and chest distention, chronic diarrhea, prolapse of stomach, uterus or rectum, shortness of breath, profuse sweating, wheezing, tuberculosis and restlessness. As a cardiac tonic, ginseng relieves palpitations with anxiety, insomnia and forgetfulness.

Ginseng may be used when the root is four years old, but it's best to harvest when it is at least seven years old, as the older the root, the more potent its medicine (and unfortunately, the more expensive it becomes as well).

It's the new year and guess what's on (almost) everyone's minds: Losing weight and dropping some of the pounds they put on, especially during the holiday season.

Of course, there are a number of those ‘airy' thin, yin, fiery types who seem to be able to eat as much as they want and hardly put on a pound. You might guess that these types have a high metabolism. This is correct, but is that the whole story? Could be, but these preternaturally skinny types might also be using that high metabolism to digest a diet that's actually helping them to stay lean and healthy. Read on:
 

Refined Sugar: The Enemy!

I'm going to have to assume, perhaps wrongly, that most people who might visit my site and read my blog already know most of the problem foods and activities to avoid. But just to be clear at the onset, just as money is sometimes called the root of all evil, sugar would be considered the root of all gustatory evils. And just like money, sugar is not necessarily bad in itself, especially if in unrefined forms like honey, agave and maple syrup which contain minerals that our bodies need.

Traditional medicine classifies foods in terms of flavors and therapeutic effects. The sweet flavor is practically ubiquitous in the foods we commonly eat. These foods contain the kind of carbohydrates and proteins that the body needs to function at optimal levels. From the perspective of traditional herbal medicine (THM), this means that if we crave and overeat sweets, some part of us is malnourished.

When we overindulge in sweets made with white sugar, high fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners derived from corn and refined grains such as white flour, our insulin spikes which causes our bodies to quickly store the unwanted calories as fat. Instead of being satisfied, our bodies feel even more deprived, because like a child promised a present that he did not receive, the body acts up with even more cravings for sweet, rich foods. Ever notice how one indulgence in a refined sweet like candy leads to another? I offer that this fierce internal need is the root for all addictions.

This may not be easy, but if you're really serious about achieving optimal health and weight, the first order of business is to eat, whole, organic pure foods. If you have any suspicion that you may be not eating the optimal diet, check out the latest issue of Men's Health Magazine's 20 Worst Foods In America. If you think you are in this category of individual seeking to lose weight, you may have to start with the basics.

Basic steps to achieve optimal health and weight:

• Eat whole, pure foods, avoid 100% of the foods sold in the center aisles of grocery stores, and for that matter so-called health food stores as well. Learn the dozens of ways to identify refined sugar on labels.
• Plan your meals and either prepare all your own food or hire someone to prepare your food for you.
• Regularly exercise - a half hour of most exercise maintains weight; at 45 minutes of continuous exercise is where one begins to lose accumulated fat stores. One can practice a more aerobic type of yoga, Qi Gung (and don't fall for the myth that slow Asian exercise that doesn't increase your pulse and cause you to break a sweat isn't going to do anything to dissolve fat). Running or walking are great options too. For the winter, I like to use my Nordic track while watching my favorite TV show. (And please, guys, how can you allow yourselves to lie back on the couch, slugging down pizza, beer, nachos, sodas and other fattening snacks while watching your football heroes who are fit as can be get such a great work out? Let them inspire you to get on a stepper, glider, stationary bike, or trampoline for at least for 30 to 45 minutes during the game.)
• A special reminder for computer addicts (I'm one!): Try to make it a point to get up and get physical for 10 minutes or so every hour.

OK, so those are the basics. Screw up any of these and I guarantee you will fail to achieve optimal health and weight.
 

Refined Foods, Alcohol and Emotional Eating

Refined foods in general are trigger foods that just make you want to eat more. Even refined salt increases our salt craving because the naturally occurring minerals in salt have been removed mostly to enable more convenient dispensing. Avoid refined foods like the plague. In fact in our society they are a plague and the major underlying cause of all disease.

As for alcoholic drinks, everyone should know that alcohol is a byproduct of fermented sugar. Therefore, as alluded to previously, alcoholic addiction should be considered from one perspective as another form of sugar addiction. (If you think this is hyperbole, check out the sugary snacks always present at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.) From that perspective, it is really trading one terrible self-destructive addiction for another.

If you want to preserve even a semblance of health while indulging, make it a point to consume alcohol that has no added refined sugar. In the old days, cheap alcohol made from refined sugar was called "rot gut." In my clinical experience, I have seen that it is so much easier for an alcoholic to recover if he or she only drank good quality alcohol rather than one who drank booze spiked with sugar to cheaply increase its alcohol levels.

Emotions are a big part of our food cravings. Tell an Italian to give up pasta, or an Irishman to lay off the whiskey, and it's tantamount to denying a cultural inalienable right! (As for you pasta lovers, did you know that cooking pasta al dente lowers the glycemic index so that the carbs are not so quickly stored as fat? Al dente means "to the tooth" -- in other words, the pasta should not be too soft, still giving your teeth some work to do when chewing. For healthier, less fattening pasta, it should be put into the a pot of rolling, boiling water and cooked, depending on the type of pasta, no longer than 5 to 8 minutes. Test your pasta toward the end of cooking time to be sure it is not too hard nor too soft -- just al dente.)

It's really hard to completely overcome our associations with food that stem from the most festive and happiest remembrances of our childhood and young adulthood (whether these are pasta, beer, wine, desserts, ice cream, candy -- you know what they are), and now that we are grown think of all of those things as "bad" for us. I bet most of you are rejecting that thought as you read it here. It's the same little voice that creeps up in our moment of tiredness or weakness that says, "Aw, that can't be completely bad" or "Just a little bit can't hurt." Well, a little bit may not hurt, but let's face it: it's awfully hard to have just a little bit!

Making Responsible, Principled Choices for Diet and Health

I have found that categorically rejecting anything in life (food or otherwise) either drives one to a state of overblown opinionated insanity (where you find yourself shunning certain foods and indulgences as if they were going to be instant death), or else eventually one caves in and indulges to excess in moments of stress, tiredness and weakness.

Have you ever noticed that living in community makes us just as vulnerable to the healthful foods others offer us as we are to the not-so-healthful foods? Think of the last time you were at a potluck gathering or party, standing before a spread of sugary treats that would never find their way into your own home, let alone your mouth. (It's funny we call them "treats"; is it really a "treat" if it makes you sick? In my more lucid moments I have to ask myself that.) The same goes for liquor or even other things like drugs. What are we to do in such situations apart from extricating ourselves from them entirely and becoming an antisocial rogue animal?

To be honest, I really don't have a reasonable suggestion for that one because we would all like to think of ourselves as being gregarious and open, but then we all have our weaknesses. Forging a set of principles around diet can help. Principles are contracts that we agree with ourselves to live by and they are simply not open for discussion. Remember, a principle is not a "rule" -- rules are more fixed. Some principles can become close to a rule, but by definition they are ideas that we choose to live by.

If you are committed to losing weight and becoming healthier this new year, you may find yourself having to make some serious adjustments not only in terms of diet and exercise, but also in terms of who your friends are and what your activities with them are. Try to create a team of friends and a tool kit of exercises, foods and principles that will support your goal.

The Struggle

Today's theme is particularly appropriate given the unsettling state of things throughout the world. Over the last eight years, the cynical elements, the very antithesis of faith, have grown in this country so that "we the people" have felt powerless in the face of the many fear-based decisions that we have allowed our representatives to make. We have to question whether we really are any safer than we were on 9-11. With the increasing disintegration of our nation's infrastructure, several things have become clear: the rise of energy and health costs, and the erosion of public education, an institution which the founding fathers of this country deemed essential for democracy.

We have allowed our body politic to be held hostage by huge corporate lobbies so that our leaders must govern having to weigh the cost of appeasing their corporate investors against the needs of the nation. Their failure to maintain adequate regulations of large corporate and financial institutions, which ultimately caused their collapse, was a massive betrayal of our trust. The inordinate amount of time, money and attention given by our leaders to attempt to "fix" this disastrous state of affairs led them to further neglect the needs of the people. No wonder we have lost faith in the system!

The election of Barack Obama -- in many ways, the most unlikely candidate for the presidency of the United States -- coincided with this series of events, reflecting a thirst for a completely new kind of leadership. But now we must guard against the pendulum swinging too far in the direction of excessive government control and increasing regulations that might threaten the our own personal liberties in other ways.

We are invited to an era of increased government transparency and to fearlessly present our views to our representatives.

So how is all of this relevant to health and healing and to an herbalist?

What herbal medicine teaches is that health represents a balance of various contrasting energies and forces in our bodies. This extends to a balance created with the outer world and nature. Finally, herbal medicine teaches that the first place to look for relief and assistance is in our immediate surroundings.

This demands responsible management of our natural resources by those who live closest to them and depend on them the most. These resources include fundamental necessities such as air, water, food, energy, and the places where we find them.
 

Hope for Energy

Many who are cynical say how alternative energy sources such as wind and solar cannot begin to supply our needs in the ways that petroleum has over the last 100 years. However, I think if each community, each household, each business, invested in producing their own energy from these sources, we might see a significant decrease in dependency from offshore energy reserves. We recently installed a solar system for our home in the low-lying hills boarding the coastal town of Santa Cruz. It was a big outlay of funds initially, but we are confident that whatever we spend today will be easily earned back within approximately seven years. You can't imagine the satisfaction of seeing the needle on the meter swinging in reverse, actually feeding energy back into the common grid for our community.

This approach to energy is ecological and free (maybe I shouldn't say anything, but so far there is no tax on wind and sunlight). Hopefully the Obama administration will set as a priority the kind of incentives that will enable more people to take advantage of these resources and in turn create new job opportunities. Imagine the possibility, if instead of having to pay rising fuel prices at the pump, we could supplement those needs by simply plugging our cars and appliances into free sources of energy!

Hope for Health Care

My particular interest in herbal medicine was fueled by the events of the late 1960s when increasing numbers of us who felt disaffiliated with the policies and directions of this country sought opportunities for greater autonomy and self-sufficiency. This led to the founding of communes throughout the country (including my own, Black Bear Commune in the wilderness of Northern California). In turn this movement led to the institution of collective farming, buying, co-ops, organic food, composting, recycling, free or low-cost clinics, and a number of less invasive and more natural alternative medicine modalities such as acupuncture and herbal medicine.

While not necessarily the best choice for all our medical needs, these healing therapies are capable of attending to at least 80 to 85% of the medical needs and conditions that afflict most people on a day-to-day basis and result in a burgeoning dependency on our limited conventional medical facilities. People routinely flood hospital emergency centers with fevers, abrasions and relatively minor respiratory, digestive and other complaints that can be easily attended to at home or by the local herbalist. In my clinical experience spanning over 35 years, I have personally seen a number of diseases efficiently resolved with herbs, acupuncture and other forms of skilled Asian physiotherapeutic modalities. These services are still largely not funded by insurance companies and certainly not by governmental agencies that are in the grip of the giant medical and pharmaceutical interests.

If we are really to develop a more equitable or universal health care system, it behooves us as the nation that in the past has shown itself to be pioneer for innovation to include these cheaper, less invasive health care modalities as options. There will always be those who prefer the quick fix of the magic bullet pill to relieve all symptoms, but there will also be those, who for various reasons, be they cost or preference, opt for a natural approach with diet and lifestyle modification, the use of herbs, acupuncture and other natural healing modalities.

It is up to "we the people" to inject this into the health care discussion of the Obama administration. He and his wife are descendants of a Black heritage where Africans used and continue to rely on the use of herbs and natural remedies for the majority of their minor health needs. Similarly, life as slaves on the plantations of the South necessitated people to continue to seek common plants and "weeds" for to maintain their health.

Just as we may not find a single alternative to fossil fuels for our energy needs, we need to take the same attitude with our health needs and be willing to employ a variety of means to assuage the many diseases that afflict a people on a daily basis.

We need a radical change of thinking when it comes to administering to people wracked by injury and disease. No profession represents the essence of compassion and caring as do the health professions. That is why we have so many hospital emergency services that at least in the past had to administer to those in need now and bill later. It is this area where hospital emergency wards are beleaguered by increasing numbers of the poor, immigrant and indigent at night, with insufficient numbers of medical attendants, that is at least partially driving up the cost of health care and leading to the closing of hospitals and community medical facilities.

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States is indeed an occasion for renewed hope and faith. However, as he has so eloquently and repeatedly said, he cannot do what needs to be done alone. It will require many of us to insinuate ourselves into the various discussions on the economy, energy, education, health care, and so forth, and become actively involved in our communities and on a national level to have our voices and views heard.

On this the final day of Kwanzaa observance, I hope that we all can reach across the divisions of race, religion and politics to work together to create the kind of community and world that we want, keeping in mind that we live in a democracy that needs us to soften our individual demands, be they cultural, religious or otherwise, to allow for a diversity of views and opinions.
 

Poem for Faith: Forty Acres by Derek Walcott

Forty Acres
by Derek Walcott, written for Barack Obama

Out of the turmoil emerges one emblem, an engraving -
a young Negro at dawn in straw hat and overalls,
an emblem of impossible prophecy, a crowd
dividing like the furrow which a mule has ploughed,
parting for their president: a field of snow-flecked
cotton forty acres wide, of crows with predictable omens
that the young ploughman ignores for his unforgotten
cotton-haired ancestors, while lined on one branch, is
a tense court of bespectacled owls and, on the field's
receding rim -
a gesticulating scarecrow stamping with rage at him.

The small plough continues on this lined page
beyond the moaning ground, the lynching tree, the tornado's
black vengeance,
and the young ploughman feels the change in his veins,
heart, muscles, tendons,
till the land lies open like a flag as dawn's sure
light streaks the field and furrows wait for the sower.

The meditation for this day should include the kind of outer and inner seeking that occurs to us when we see ourselves at night looking up to the stars with humility and dazzling wonder. At such rare moments we may experience a rare feeling of ease and calm knowing that in the vastness of creation there is always place for hope and faith to fill the void.

 

Herb for Faith: Skullcap, Scutellaria laterifolia

The herb that I have chosen for today's theme is a beautiful low growing plant of the mint family commonly known as skullcap (Scutellaria laterifolia). This plant has calming, nerve settling properties combined with gentle anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties. As such, besides its use as a calming nervine, it has always had a special place in my medical armament for assisting in treating alcohol and drug addictions. I have given small doses of it hourly or every two hours for alcohol and drug addiction and found that people could go through the formidable withdrawal ordeal with minimal discomfort. The tea is always the best form and I recommend steeping two ounces of the dried herb in four cups of boiling water, covered for 20 minutes. This could be sweetened with a little honey if needed, or better yet the sweet, non-caloric herb from South America called stevia. To negate or lessen withdrawal symptoms I suggest that a half cupful be taken every waking hour during the withdrawal period and continued at a lesser dose of a cup three times daily for a week afterwards.

The herb is inexpensive, easily grown from small cuttings in most gardens and while it can be used for other neurological conditions ranging from insomnia to epilepsy, its special use as an herb to overcome addiction seems particularly appropriate as we explore ways to lessen our addiction to foreign oil, drugs (including medical drugs that could be supplanted with the use of herbs), and unnecessary conveniences that have the propensity to take us away from normal physical activities such as walking and interacting with each other.

Whether it be the last day of Kwanzaa or any other day, we can invoke a simple affirmation as part of our daily prayer meditation, "With peace and calm in my heart, I open myself to the inspiration that flows through me."

Dear reader: wiith other commitments needing to be attended to, I've invited my student and East West School editor, Anne de Courtenay, to guest-blog for the sixth day of Kwanzaa. I'll be back tomorrow with a post on Faith. --- Michael Tierra

The theme for today, the sixth day of Kwanzaa, is Kuumba -- Creativity: To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Closely related to and building upon yesterday's theme of "Purpose," our meditation for today has not to do with creation for creation's sake, but for a directed, purposeful creativity. It is a call for us to draw upon our memories, imaginations and desires to create ways to strengthen and beautify our community, to prepare it to support even more creation and abundance after we are gone.

This type of creativity places an inherent value on community as a foundation from which we draw strength and in which we invest for the future. It's more than just our group of friends, family, co-workers or our neighborhood -- community forms the basis of our identity.

As a bona-fide Generation X-er (and born at the tail-end of that, no less), I certainly do not have the breadth and depth of wisdom Michael has presented in previous posts surrounding the lessons about community learned during his formative years at Black Bear. As the product of a completely urban and post-modern experience, a certain degree of isolation plus a weird hybrid of anonymity and individualism have always shaped my ideas of creativity and community. Only in my mid-20s, when I became more and more involved with my herbalism school in Chicago and later with East West, did I begin to really form and understand what I consider to be a real community experience that has become a significant part of my identity.

It would be no exaggeration to say that many of my generation and later are most likely to learn their lessons about community from the recent explosion of social networking and virtual communities on the Web! So, it may be helpful to dissect what consciously improving one's flesh-and-blood, mortar-and-brick community might mean in the real world, especially in urban settings where the idea of community itself might be a slightly nebulous concept.

You might ask yourself the following:

• What and who exactly are my community? What binds us together? What values do we share?
• Can I identify something that is missing or that I would like to see developed in my community?
• Why do I think this should be changed or developed, and what do I think my community would look like if it were?
• If such a development would indeed benefit the community, what specifically is my goal and intention?
• Turning my attention once more to look at what resources I have to work with in my community, what sorts of specific actions, in order, might I take to achieve my goal/intention?

Once these questions are addressed and answered, the actual work needed to achieve the goal can begin.

Key to the sort of purposeful creation kuumba describes is the recognition of oneself in the generational continuum of one's community. Any creation using today's raw materials should honor our ancestors as well as support our children and our children's children.

From the standpoint of a student of herbalism, my fellow Chicago students and I travel as often as we can to my teacher's farm to help care for the specimen gardens and generally maintain the sacred nature sanctuary there. In classes and clinic in the city, we aim to help each other learn with the ultimate goal being to develop ourselves into better healers, thus reaching an even wider community. It is a conscious co-creation with each other, our teachers, our teachers' teachers, and the elements.

That's a very narrow example, of course. We can create many ways to better our communities -- we can "grow" people through education; we can build structures in which to gather for worship, art appreciation or commerce; we can honor our elders' dignity and instill that same dignity in our children by providing them with the best care; we can tell stories through various forms of art, plant trees and gardens, and be good stewards of the Earth.

But let's look at it from a less ambitious perspective: perhaps the most basic and literally nourishing way we can build community is often overlooked: Make and share a meal.

Poem for Kuumba/Creativity: "All that I have comes from my Mother!" by Luisah Teish

All that I have comes from my Mother!

I give myself over to this pot.

My thoughts are on the good,

the healing properties of this food.

My hands are balanced, I season well!

I give myself over to this pot.

Life is being given to me.

I commit to sharing, I feed others.

I feed She Who Feeds Me.

I give myself over to this gift.

I adorn this table with food.

I invite lovers and friends to come share.

I thank you for this gift.

All that I have comes from my Mother!

by Luisah Teish

How can you not feel part of a community when you are either hosting or invited to a meal prepared with love? Healing food prepared and shared with loving intention nurtures community on so many levels. It may not build community in so far-reaching a way as building a library or theater, sure. But it is a relatively simple ritual -- and a necessary one to boot! -- that can form and strengthen the nucleus of community. Whether it is a large feast or an intimate gathering of family and friends, the shared meal represents community and creativity at their most basic forms.

Teish's poem covers so much of what kuumba is about: the creation of a meal meant to nourish the community; use of healing foods harvested (probably organically and responsibly!) from Mother Earth, raw materials synthesized together into one delicious dish; generosity and the true spirit of sharing; and gratefulness for the source of the food and life in general, be it the Earth or the ancestors.

The chef finds joy in knowing where her food came from, how it is made, how it will be shared, and whom it will nourish. "I give myself over to this pot," she says, showing that she is generous with her food as well as her spirit and loving intent. This basic building block of conscious creativity to serve and share with a group can foster a togetherness that prepares all -- on a physical and emotional level -- to find the energy to better the community in more visible ways.

Herb for Creativity: Dang Gui

Angelica sinensis, better known as dang gui, is the premier blood-building herb in the Chinese materia medica. As such, it is a specific tonic for women and is used for all sorts of gynecological complaints, including cramps, irregular periods and other menstrual disorders. It specifically treats symptoms of blood deficiency in both men and women, including ringing in the ears, dizziness, dry skin and hair, fatigue, limited flexibility, brain fog, and blurred vision.

Dang gui is unique as a blood tonic in that it also helps move the blood, which relieves pains of stagnant blood anywhere in the body. Its blood building and moving effects work best when taken in combination with other herbs to enhance its action for specific indications.

So why have I chosen dang gui to represent creativity? For this I choose to look at creativity from a very basic angle.

We all know it takes two to make a baby, but it is the woman who carries it while she and the fetus together create ten little fingers, ten little toes, two little eyes, and so forth. To do this, a woman must have enough blood in her body to support herself and the child within. Dang gui, with its famous blood-building qualities, indeed helps resolve issues of infertility and thus helps prepare a mother for the creation of new life. (Note, because this herb also moves blood, it is contraindicated for use during menses and pregnancy.)

From a slightly more general perspective, the proliferation of Blood, in traditional Chinese medicine, leads to a proliferation of well-nourished and harmonious Qi/energy, and vice versa.

In other words, this herb supports the future by helping to create a strong and safe atmosphere in the present. Sounds like kuumba to me!

As a final note to the nourishing properties of dang gui, and as an addendum to Luisah Teish's poem above, the Chinese administer this herb in a food-as-medicine stew including mutton or lamb and ginger as a postpartum meal for mothers who are experiencing abdominal pain (due in no small part to blood deficiency, having lost a lot of blood giving birth). The traditional recipe is simply one part dang gui, two parts fresh sliced ginger and five parts mutton simmered in eight cups of water until reduced by half. But here's a recipe for lamb, dang gui and ginger dumplings which would be fun to make and even more fun to share, especially with anyone in your community who might need a bit more warmth and energy this winter! (And here's a delicious-sounding recipe for steamed dang gui chicken.)

So, is kuumba/creativity for the sake of bettering our community just about cooking food and making babies? Of course not. These are just metaphors for consciously creating and nourishing a better future of healthy people able to shape a healthy and exuberant community. In any way you can, may you create with others a stronger and more beautiful community in 2009!

Thanks to Michael and East West for the honor and opportunity to contribute my thoughts here! Readers, I invite you to visit my personal blog, Herbis Orbis, for a discussion of a wide range of topics including herbalism, living with the seasons, and music. --- Anne de Courtenay

America is a great country because we are all here! Aren't you great? Aren't I? We're all great. Can you rise above your layered guilt and low self-esteem to say, "I'm great - and you're great too"?

What makes us feel the most pride? We can feel pride for all kinds of things about ourselves but too often it's directed to those things that our actions and decisions have the least to do with -- our race, the place where we are born, the country we live in, and so forth. This is natural, but for me, my actions, work and accomplishments are the greatest source of my pride. I don't think I'm better than anyone; I'm just talking about that moment after you've completed a worthwhile task when you can stand back for a few seconds and say, "Wow! That turned out pretty darn good!"

I can't imagine anything worse than awakening in the morning with nothing to look forward to and nothing to do. Thankfully, this hardly ever happens. If that were part of my daily reality, I think it might be time to die and make room for someone else who might be able to find something useful to do with their lives. Yet I'm afraid that too many people who have allowed their dreams and hopes to be beaten down since childhood awaken each day like that.

Anything we do must be done with the spirit that it is something we all can share some satisfaction and benefit from, or it's just another exercise in loneliness - and that's not much fun. Ideally, one's source of income should be a job or career that one can feel some personal pride and fulfillment in doing. Those who are self employed usually have little problem finding this perspective, but one may also be fortunate enough to have an employer who allows one the dignity to experience his or her personal accomplishment and satisfaction to the full and share in the profits.

One thing we need to remember is to always leave room for those who need to look deeper or higher for a purpose. These are the visionaries. They are the artists, poets, painters, musicians and scientists who of necessity must be given the resources to indulge themselves in the search of rarer accomplishments; accomplishments that require time and whose purpose many of us may not immediately see or understand.

This was one of the shortcomings of my life at the Black Bear Commune. Practical needs involving daily survival, involving kitchen duty, clean up, child care, pulling weeds, milking goats, chopping wood, etc., were so immediate in terms of our needs that those of us who at times went off to paint a painting, write a poem, compose music, or even study plants and herbs were seen as shirking their responsibility and duty to the commune. Those of us who had the calling and inspiration for these kinds of activities just had to take that time but it would have been better if everyone respected and appreciated the value in terms of our greater life together.

One day, the beatnik poet, Diane Di Prima, a friend of Elsa Marley (herself an extraordinary artist and poet), came down the road to live at Black Bear Commune. She decided make her home in the loft of the barn. In it she put up beautiful clothes and tapestries and exhibited the art treasures that she had acquired, welcoming us all to come up and appreciate them and the space she created any time. Below, a spirit of resentment was stirring concerning the contrast of someone "owning" (I prefer to regard it as "caring for") objects that possibly had considerable monetary value while everyone at the ranch was always scrambling to see how to get enough money for building supplies, tools, or the next run for food staples. I really appreciated and was proud of the space that Diane had created and enjoyed hanging out in the wonderfully warm, exotic space she had created in our barn loft, above the cow and goat herd. It didn't take more than two weeks for the negative rumbling of resentment to reach virtually threatening proportions. One morning around 4:30 a.m., I saw Diane hurrying up the road with all of her books, art, sculpture, tapestries and so forth, to skedaddle out of the ranch before others took it upon themselves to rip her off. I think it was a sad day for Black Bear.

For me, the moral of the story was that apart from all our practical needs, purpose must leave room for deliberate, focused purposelessness to impart that added special meaning that I think reflects our higher purpose.

Despite my suggestion that Kwanzaa might be a universal celebration, it is impossible to ignore the fact that its founder Maulana Ron Karenga intended it as a special celebration for the African Americans. Kwanzaa was founded by Karenga in 1966 in Long Beach, CA, a year after the infamous Watts riots.

Only 43 years later, we have just elected Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States. Obama never said or implied, "I'm black and therefore it's time that I get elected president"; nor did the Democratic Party he represented say or imply, "Let's give a black man a leg up and a lift to the presidency of this historically racist country." We the people saw him as the best candidate for the job and he was elected based on his talent, charisma, skill and ability to communicate to the needs and concerns of the broader base of the American people.

I know it may not be entirely true yet, but I'd like to think that the pervasive worldwide acceptance and high regard for jazz and rhythm and blues; numerous black athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Jerry Rice, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, just to name a few; and the incredibly wealthy humanitarian, Oprah Winfrey, shows that we Americans have finally arrived at the place where race indeed represents nothing more than the color of one's skin or other superficial characteristics.

So there's a question here: Are we as a nation ready to move ourselves even measurably away from considerations of race?

Are we coming to the "America" Langston Hughes describes in the following poem?

Purpose: Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again

by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed

And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--

The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,

We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Herb for Purpose: Atractylodes Alba

Purpose is not simply something that we find, but a quality that we have -- the power to actively impart meaning to any endeavor of our life. Somebody, sometime, somewhere had to see and impart logic and purpose to just about any and everything we can imagine. This is a divine quality.

This implies that it is our prerogative and choice to impart and see purpose to anything we may do. We can help each other in that and I suppose that is where the collective or community support aspect is valuable, but ultimately it is up to the individual to awaken to it in his or her own life. Some of us are given or find great, creative work to do, those fortunate people may find it easier to see immediate and long term purpose and reward to their work. Others may find it difficult to see the greater purpose in a monotonous occupation.

However, it is possible to lose one's sense of purpose regardless what the task may be. People who commit suicide may be considered to have lost a sense or purpose for living. For the despairing teenager losing his or her first love, shamed before their peers, failing in school -- when one gets to the place where suicide appears as an option, sense of meaning and purpose is either absent or at critical low point.

The point is, purpose is a choice. Consider those who live in the most oppressive and abject circumstances, subjected to tyranny and oppression. Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela served 27 years in one of the worst prisons in South Africa only to emerge as South Africa's first democratically elected president, and went on to lead his nation through a period of reconciliation. One can cite countless other examples, but suffice it to say that such individuals obviously possess a strong sense of meaning and purpose that allow them to persevere.

Purpose is a divine attribute that we bring to our work. We can help each other achieve this by serving as an inspiration for those with whom we are in close association.

Atractylodes alba is a Chinese herb that is used as a Qi tonic with the specific attribute of firing up digestion, helping the body to sort through and find appropriate purpose for the many and various nutrients in food. Herbalists believe that good digestion is the foundation to health. Without it our body suffers gradual and progressive malnutrition which leads to a plethora of acute and chronic diseases.

Atractylodes is seldom taken by itself but can be combined with other qi tonic herbs such as ginseng and astragalus described for the fourth day of Kwanzaa's theme, "cooperative economics," to amplify their effects by further enhancing digestion and assimilation. In the same way one can easily imagine how adding a sense of meaning and purpose to any of our solitary or collective endeavors enhances their value.

The meditation for today, the fourth day of Kwanzaa, is Ujamaa -- Cooperative Economics: To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

In meditation on today's theme, I look back once again to my experience at Black Bear commune where our goal was to become as self-sufficient as possible through pooling our talents and resources. We found that through a combination of gathering, growing and raising our own food, and utilizing simple resources found or developed on the land, the cost to support and maintain a person was only $80 a year. No one felt deprived and nearly every evening there would be some form of communal singing and dancing or the opportunity to go off to some quiet place to read.

This did not mean that there were no challenges or problems. In fact there were many, much of them the result of our own ignorance and naivety concerning matters that other more successful tribal societies, through trial and error and with no alternative to pack up and leave (as we individually eventually did), learned to avoid. Lacking any agreed upon or enforceable principles and rules, we had no means to control who came down the long switchback dirt roads, how long they might stay, or when they might leave. This made for a more or less continuous state of instability.

In retrospect, my Black Bear experience ultimately showed that one need not run off and join a commune to experience the benefits of ujamaa. What it takes is vision and will to change. Perhaps it starts with inviting a few like-minded people to a friendly discussion about community. This may include family, friends or neighbors. What resources are they willing to share -- a seldom used piece of equipment, a portion of land to make a collective garden, a plan for collective buying or exchange of services, perhaps?

On a slightly larger scale, cooperative economics means developing small businesses and enterprises to fulfill the needs of one's immediate family, friends and community and whenever possible to employ those who are most able and dedicated to work and further develop themselves within those businesses and enterprises.

Even without the exceptional challenges of living in a wilderness commune like Black Bear, some of the steps toward cooperative economics I describe above may not only seem daunting and inconvenient, but downright counterintuitive to some. But take a moment to contrast this with the ensuing financial crisis of our times where people are losing their personal and collective autonomy to self-perpetuating corporate greed.

The root of selfish hoarding and greed is fear and insecurity. This in turn impedes the free flow and availability of energy, which in economics equates to money. This has an adverse effect on all of society, which includes the economies of the entire world.

Society as a whole always suffers when its economy is solely based on "winners and losers," which allows an increasingly disproportionate small number to advance at the expense of the larger majority. This type of cold, unbridled capitalism leads to exploitation, persecution, poverty, crime, war and terrorism. People with no meaningful way within the law to oppose oppression eventually feel justified in resorting to acts of terrorism and violence.

As we learned in part from yesterday's meditation on collective work and responsibility, one always has a choice. Why would you choose to support an economy like the one I've just described where there exists a much more compassionate and intelligent option?

No society is without its problems and challenges. The point of this day's meditation is only to show that through cooperation and sharing it is possible to expand the limited number of loaves and fishes to attend to the basic needs of many.

Cooperative Economics: All You Need Is Love by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Love Is All You Need

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game

It's easy.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made.

No one you can save that can't be saved.

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time

It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

There's nothing you can know that isn't known.

Nothing you can see that isn't shown.

Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.

It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

All you need is love (all together now)

All you need is love (everybody)

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

-- Lennon/McCartney, Magical Mystery Tour, 1968

The lyrics of this song are so out there that it requires a certain level of letting go in order to embrace its meaning.

To put it simply, all is dependent on the power and intention of love to allow anything that is worthwhile to occur. We needn't delude ourselves that love somehow boils down to any overt act, but we should always strive to allow it to be the spirit behind all our exchanges with each other, including our business activities. I think if we operate from the place that "I gain when you gain" (perhaps using this as a basis for meditation), we have the essence of today's Kwanzaa theme, Ujamaa/cooperative economics.

Herbs for Ujamaa: Ginseng and Astragalus

Two herbs come to mind as I contemplate what it takes to invoke the powers necessary for "cooperative economics:" ginseng and astragalus.

Ginseng is the major herb used not simply to stimulate and therefore exhaust energy (as does coffee and other stimulants), but it actually builds and increases energy by increasing cellular mitochondria and the creation of ATP, the physiological basis of physical life energy.

There are two major types of ginseng: American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) and Chinese ginseng (Panax ginseng). Both are powerful energy-building tonics. American ginseng has a somewhat cooler, less stimulating effect, while Chinese and Korean ginsengs are warmer and more stimulating. Forget about the popular sodas and caffeinated energy drinks that claim to have ginseng in them. Usually it is present in quantities insufficient to have any value, and is of poor quality at that. Unlike the true energy-building properties of ginseng, the effect of these drinks is based on stimulants such as caffeine which draws from our energy reserves, and when abused can lead to adrenal exhaustion.

Planetary Herbals has several products that include ginseng, including pure ginseng tablets. Personally I make it a point to take two of these each morning. This is not a full therapeutic dose, but is enough to gently build and maintain our daily energy needs. For those complaining of chronic low energy, I recommend taking two tablets three times daily with warm water to help assimilation.

Astragalus is another herb used as an energy-building tonic with the additional virtue of increasing the protective energy of the body against pathogenic corruption. Thus, astragalus symbolizes our ability to channel the power of the four elements of nature to outwardly manifest our immediate needs as well as our highest dreams and goals. The Chinese include astragalus as the major herb in a formula called Jade Screen, which protects against catching colds, flus and other diseases.

I can hardly reflect on this theme without considering my own experiences as a Digger -- a hippie living in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district from 1967-69. These years of my life, considered now the zenith of the hippie revolution, finally culminated with myself and others founding a wilderness community known as Black Bear Commune in the mountains of Northern California. (The photo below is one of a much younger me at Black Bear.)

During those years, thousands of young people throughout America found themselves smitten with the wanderlust for a new life purpose. This quest often used the promise of love, sex, and rock and roll as its rudder, but in the highest sense it was a search for community based on principles of "do-your-thing' self-determination, sharing and openness -- all based on what I generally believe to be a well-founded conviction in the essential goodness of humanity.

In my community we learned that it was possible to share so many parts of ourselves with each other -- our homes, food, methods of transportation, bodies, minds, spirit, art, music and yes, even drugs -- and no one would be the lesser for having participated. In fact, it was quite the opposite; we learned that by voluntarily pooling our resources we were greater than the sum of our proverbial parts. Then it dawned on us that with a cruel illegal Viet Nam war looming in the background, and the struggle for racial and gender equality raging on all around us, we were participating in a movement that was soon seen as a threat to the principles of a society and politic that was antithetic to our young ideals. We aimed to build a culture and community counter to a society that sought to control individuals by keeping "we the people" separate and alienated from each other.

The fact is that in our time, there is more than enough of all the necessities to go around. We could feed thousands at a love-in in Golden Gate Park by barbecuing the meat of a freshly dead whale from a marine biology lab up the Northern California coast. The still very edible discarded unsold produce that filled the waste bins behind giant supermarkets was practically enough to feed a community of large multiple dwelling homes in the Haight. With the spirit of sharing openness on the part of its legal owners, one truck that would otherwise spend most of its time unused and parked on the street was used to pick up and deliver these and other useful goods to the places where they were needed. What's more, it was all done in a spirit of goodwill and joyous satisfaction. It was a "thing" that someone was eager and happy to do, and others were able to benefit from this union of generosity, joy and action. There was nothing to steal or take because whatever there was belonged to all.

In short, it was the picture of ujima -- all of us took reponsibility for one another and worked collectively to achieve a harmonious community.

Foreseeing the collapse and devolution of the hippie/Haight Ashbury culture (which was partially because the media kept blowing it up and inevitably more and more unsavory elements mixed with drugs took its toll,) I and some friends purchased land in the Klamath mountains with a down payment provided from various "weekend warrior" Hollywood and rock band types. In the autumn of 1968 about 30 of us moved out onto the land, named Black Bear Ranch. At first it truly represented our "back to Eden" mythos. It was a place with two year-round running creeks you could drink and fish from, endless miles of national forest (these were the days before the U.S. Forest Service designated such wild tracks as "tree farms"), no electricity or telephone, and a few broken down shacks. By the time we got there, we had barely enough time to truck in a winter's store of food and put up a pile of wood for to provide heat for the next six months or so. We soon learned the value and meaning of interdependent survival, making the most of our collective pool of scant experience and whatever tools we could find.

This is where I seriously began to explore the wild plants and other possible sources for food and medicine we could derive from our natural surroundings. The goal was ultimately to become completely self-sufficient and freed as much as possible from a money-based economy. Even then we sensed the fall of the American capitalist empire (which may or may not be occurring at this very moment).

In any case I learned many powerful and valuable lessons about collective consciousness from that wilderness experience -- life lessons that few of us living in our ticky-tacky little separate boxes we call home might hope to earn. We really are a tribal people and when we find ourselves in close daily intimate contact with a group of people based on interdependent survival, everyday life events and people assume mythic proportions. People tend to fulfill certain needed roles in a society if they are left to sort things out on their own as opposed to being told what niche to fill. I gravitated toward the herbalist, healer, and shaman; others became the kid care people; others, the garden care people, the animal care people, the art people, the kitchen people, the construction and repair people - all of this just naturally occurred without any pre- agreed upon assignments. Again, it was the power of "do your own thing" in action. For me it seemed uncanny but strangely natural. What's more, we each eventually grew to resemble the various gods and goddesses of ancient mythology, and I learned first-hand how those myths evolved.

Another valuable thing I learned was that sharing cooperatively was the most ecological and economical way to live. We only needed one or two vehicles for the ranch, one being a mandatory truck. People shared tools and learned to maintain them for each other. I learned how natural it is that around the early spring, living off the land, one naturally gets low on animal protein and we just naturally eat less and shed the winter stores of fat. I also learned that living off the land as a vegetarian was, practically speaking, impossible. Our life together as a wilderness tribe convinced me that we are first a hunter/gatherer people, requiring fish and game to survive, along some wild edible plants which were the first to appear in the early spring. Living off the land as we did, we watched a agrarian lifestyle naturally arise with goat and cow's milk, but we also relied for food on fish (salmon were abundant in the nearby rivers and creeks), deer and even an occasional bear or mountain lion.

(By the way, if you want to see a video that only hints at what communal life was like at Black Bear Commune, I suggest you rent the documentary "Commune" which I'm told is now the fifth top-rented Netflix film.)

So on this day of Kwanzaa and the next, let us meditate on our primal roots as an interdependent people, reliant on the earth and all its gifts and changes, but more importantly, each other. Consider the opposite: how utterly difficult it would be to have to survive totally by ourselves! The relationships and societies we create are not only to generate rivalry and confusion but also to at least make it possible for each of us to achieve a level of self-sufficiency so that a few of us at least can rear our very inquisitive heads above the herd to see and help prepare for what's ahead -- and yes, most importantly, to inspire us to a vision of unity.

Collective Work and Responsibility: "I Hear American Singing" by Walt Whitman

The poem for the today's theme of ujima is by one of my all-time favorite poets, Walt Whitman:

I Hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning,
or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day- at night the party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Herbs for Ujima: Marijuana and Goldenseal

My choice of herbs for our theme today is informed by my personal experience: Marijuana and Goldenseal. These were two of the most influential and widely used herbs during the inception of the Black Bear wilderness community (and by hippies in general).

If truth be known, the mid-20th century herbal movement was begun with marijuana -- and we did happily inhale. Marijuana is currently finding deserved appreciation not only by those who use it recreationally but from the medical community. While frequent use of marijuana leads to a state of apathy and delusion which is counterproductive to health and well being, marijuana and all intoxicating herbs have and continue to play a vital role in human society -- as a way breaking free of our stuck fixations, compulsions and obligations enough to see that somehow there are always at least several different realities operating or possible at any given time. In other words, we should always remember that we always have a choice. Ever notice how things tend to work themselves out whether we choose to play an active role or not? (For an illustration of this, I highly recommend that you rent the old 1938 Frank Capra movie masterpiece, "You Can't Take It with You.")

Goldenseal is an intensely bitter herb so that indeed it tends to serve as the "bitter brew" that serves as an antidote to our overindulgences that lead to liver congestion, toxicity, and stagnant inflammatory diseases. 

The hippie bibles included the books "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein and "Back to Eden" by the naturopathic doctor Jethro Klos. Jethro Klos was big on the use of goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) and until I rediscovered echinacea, it was the go-to herb for all infections and inflammations. It is still pretty good for those conditions taken both internally in a powder (usually put into gelatin capsules) and applied externally to infected sores and wounds. With herbalism going mainstream we have learned that the wild stands of North American goldenseal are endangered and so we should generally insist on using only organically cultivated goldenseal.

I tried to meditate on this theme yesterday after my family's exchange of gifts as Lesley and I took a walk up a hill near our home in the low-lying hills above Santa Cruz. It was a drizzly, overcast morning.

Now, Lesley has a wider stride than I, and I found it a distracting challenge to keep up with her. She, on the other hand, looking for a cardiovascular workout, experienced some annoyance with my intention to follow the dictates of my own somewhat shorter stride. I recalled how we've experienced this problem in the past and thought, "If we are not even able to experience unity of being able to walk side by side, how can I expect that religions and the many other aspects that divide humankind from one another, be expected to achieve the noble realization of unity?"

In fact, it seemed that the day was engineered to test my definition and subjective experience of umoja/unity: Just before breakfast, I had a difference with my 25 year-old concert pianist son, Chetan, concerning the musical intention and significance of a single note varied in a repeated passage that he was practicing in Brahms' Piano Trio in C Minor op 101. In the heat of trying to learn this particularly ecstatic musical phrase, Chetan decided that the difference of only a single note of the repetition was a mistake of the composer. I tried to convince him how much changing a single note in a passage, flatting the third of a major triad for instance, can change a passage from a brighter optimistic tone to that of mysterious brooding intimacy. This wasn't a simple minor third change but an altered note that upon repetition still seemed to add to the expression of this remarkable work. We couldn't find common ground on this issue. Disunity strikes again!

Even periodically repeating the phrase "all is one" in my meditation on unity, which moved me into a wonderful state of inner peace and calm, was promptly frayed by the events described above!

I'm sure any of you who have had the not untypical holiday family experience over the last few days have experienced similar chaos and disunity. If, as I did yesterday, you get worked up with the expectation to make unity happen between yourself and others whom you love and care about, you may find that when it doesn't happen in even the most trivial situation, it can cause disgruntled feelings. It seems that each year as the holidays approach we seem to forget the previous years' challenges and confrontations that arise around the broader issue of family unity. As we plan for the holidays, some of us vow to avoid the same pitfalls of the previous years... but inevitably "stuff happens" and a sour note is struck amidst the festive cheer.

I think I would have had better success if my meditation and discussion on unity was done as part of a ritual with others, which is what Kwanzaa provides. However, this only seems to beg the question of what value is it to spout noble ideas and thoughts as part of a ritual if we are unable to practically implement those as part of our daily life and interaction with others?

Having said this, I don't think that all was for naught and that there is at least something to be said for performing an action with positive intention as opposed to the plethora of bleak news reports of serial killing, terrorism, genocide, financial greed, loss of life's savings, joblessness, environmental endangerment, home foreclosures along with the violent forms of entertainment we turn to in order to distract and dull our awareness of these negative aspects which seem to permeate our daily lives.

Taken in light of the above, I would have to say that my personal attempt to practically find unity between myself, others and the world that I live is eminently a worthwhile endeavor.

Kwanzaa Day Two Theme: Self-Determination

Let's turn to the theme of the second day's Kwanzaa contemplation: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) -- To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Here is some verse -- a prayer, really -- specially selected for "Self-Determination:"

Meditation (in Swahili)

K'a má fi kánjú j'aiyé.
K'a má fi wàrà-wàrà n'okùn orò.
Ohun à bâ if s'àgbà,
K'a má if se'binu.
Bi a bá de'bi t'o tútù,
K'a simi-simi,
K'a wò'wajú ojo lo titi;
K'a tun bò wá r'èhìn oràn wo;
Nitori àti sùn ara eni ni.

Let us not engage the world hurriedly.
Let us not grasp at the rope of wealth impatiently.
That which should be treated with mature judgment,
Let us not deal with in a state of anger.
When we arrive at a cool place,
Let us rest fully;
Let us give continuous attention to the future;
and let us give deep consideration to the consequences of things.
And this because of our (eventual) passing.

Eji Ogbe -- The Odu Ifa

I was not able to find a worthwhile poem on ‘self-determination' that I thought was good enough to serve as a basis for this second day's theme. However after much thought and consideration I remembered the great essay, "Self-Reliance," by the mid-19th century America transcendental philosopher, poet and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is a long essay that far exceeds the bounds of a blog but I can't think of a more appropriate statement encompassing the essence behind the idea of self-determination than this brilliant, oft quoted essay by Emerson.

In working up to preparing this entry, I read this essay again and realized that the last time I read it I was in my early teens. It was a fascinating experience to re-read the essay almost 60 years later.

When I read such phrases as:

"Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist,"

or

"He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not 'studying a profession', for he does not postpone his life, but lives already. He has not one chance, but a hundred chances,"

or who hasn't heard or repeated the proverb, "God helps those who help themselves,"

-- I realize that the precepts and principles Emerson expounds upon in this essay have supported my own life journey and the measure of fulfillment and success I have been able to experience throughout.

I think Emerson would be in full agreement with my personal view that all of what we accomplish in the world is manifested and directed by the invisible inner reigns of the will.

Cyperus for Self-Determination

As an herbalist, I choose the herb cyperus to correspond with self-determination, because cyperus is used to regulate energy or qi. One must be able to control their qi in order to appropriately direct their will. It is a common weed, with species and subspecies growing throughout the world, considered a noxious weed by most Western gardeners. Little used by Western herbalists, it is  widely used in as a medicinal herb China, India and in certain tribes in the Peruvian Amazon jungle where it is used to prevent conception. This is probably because of Oxytocin fungus that naturally occurs in the damp soil of that region of the world. In any case it should be strictly avoided if one wants to become pregnant or during pregnancy.

Cyperus rotundus is also known as xiang fu in Chinese herbal medicine and it is used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to regulate qi and relieve the tendency of stagnant liver qi, which according to TCM theory is the cause of a wide variety of common imbalances, ranging from digestive complaints, chest pains, painful and irregular menstruation to depression and moodiness. All of these are regarded as "irregular qi" for which cyperus along with a number of other herbs would be employed. Other than precautions against using it during pregnancy, it is a wonderful herb to relieve menstrual irregularity and attendant pains and is otherwise considered a perfectly safe and harmless. In fact, certain California American natives used the roots of this herb as a food.