Books about Materia from Amazon.com

Two of the foremost American educators and healers in the Chinese medical profession demystify Chinese medicine's centuries-odl approach to health. Combining Eastern traditions with Western sensibilities in a unique blend that is relevant today, BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH opens the door to a vast storehouse of knowledge that bridges the gap between mind and body, theory and practice, professional and self-care, East and West..
Price: $7.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Rosemary Gladstar is the mother of modern herbalism Her wisdom and vision have inspired an entire generation of herbal healers, and her insights into the healing power of plants have helped people everywhere embrace more natural, healthy, and radiant lives.

Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health is the author's practical compendium of herbal know-how. Written with her signature warmth, this must-have reference will help readers of every life stage enjoy radiant well-being, every day. Limit stress and anxiety, get adequate rest, boost immunity, improve mental acuity, and embrace life balance — these are elements of Gladstar's prescription for wellness, longevity, and boundless energy. To help achieve these goals, she offers a number of general-wellness recipes, including 7-Herb Long-Life Soup, Long-Life Elixir, and energy-inspiring Zoom Balls.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to specific herbal remedies for everyone in the family — adults, babies, children, and elders. Good Vision No-Cook Herbal Jam, for example, will help keep aging eyes functional, while Rosemary's Itch Relief Remedy offers a soothing salve for poison ivy. Whether a reader wants to soothe baby's diaper rash, enjoy a better night's sleep, conquer headaches, cure a case of athlete's foot, or boost a sagging spirit, Gladstar's time-tested herbal remedies offer new options for natural healing.

These therapies are enhanced with an A–Z herbal apothecary featuring detailed information about more than 90 herbs, as well as tips for preparing herbal remedies from scratch.

The hardcover edition has become an everyday reference for tens of thousands of families. This paperback release brings Gladstar’s wisdom to even more people interested in embracing physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being..
Price: $9.93 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Reveals the use of direct perception in understanding Nature, medicinal plants, and the healing of human disease

• Explores the techniques used by indigenous and Western peoples to learn directly from the plants themselves, including those of Henry David Thoreau, Goethe, and Masanobu Fukuoka, author of The One Straw Revolution

• Contains leading-edge information on the heart as an organ of perception

All ancient and indigenous peoples insisted their knowledge of plant medicines came from the plants themselves and not through trial-and-error experimentation. Less well known is that many Western peoples made this same assertion. There are, in fact, two modes of cognition available to all human beings--the brain-based linear and the heart-based holistic. The heart-centered mode of perception can be exceptionally accurate and detailed in its information gathering capacities if, as indigenous and ancient peoples asserted, the heart’s ability as an organ of perception is developed.

Author Stephen Harrod Buhner explores this second mode of perception in great detail through the work of numerous remarkable people, from Luther Burbank, who cultivated the majority of food plants we now take for granted, to the great German poet and scientist Goethe and his studies of the metamorphosis of plants. Buhner explores the commonalities among these individuals in their approach to learning from the plant world and outlines the specific steps involved. Readers will gain the tools necessary to gather information directly from the heart of Nature, to directly learn the medicinal uses of plants, to engage in diagnosis of disease, and to understand the soul-making process that such deep connection with the world engenders.

.
Price: $11.76 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The definitive guide to adaptogenic herbs, formerly known as “tonics,” that counter the effects of age and stress on the body

• Reveals how adaptogens increase the body’s resistance to adverse influences

• Provides a history of the use of these herbal remedies and the actions, properties, preparation, and dosage for each herb

We all deal with stress every day, and every day our bodies strive to adapt and stay balanced and healthy. In Adaptogens, authors David Winston and Steven Maimes provide a comprehensive look into adaptogens, non-toxic herbs such as ginseng, eleuthero, and licorice, that produce a defensive response to stress in our bodies. Formerly known as rejuvenating herbs or tonics, adaptogens help the body to “adapt” to the many influences it encounters. They increase stamina and counter the normal effects of aging and thus are becoming important tools in sports medicine and in the prevention and treatment of chronic fatigue and other stress-related disorders.

Winston and Maimes present the historical uses of these herbal remedies in India, Russia, China, and the Americas and explain how they work and why they are so effective at combating stress-induced illness. Monographs for each adaptogen also present the latest scientific research and include the origin, traditional use, actions, properties, preparation, and dosage for each herb..
Price: $10.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Fully updated and authoritative, this revised edition of DK's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine makes this classic, completely illustrated reference guide even bigger and better than the original. Featuring more than 550 medicinal plants and the most current scientific research, this volume provides a comprehensive guide to healing with the world's oldest form of medicine. A unique photographic index profiles over 550 plants, with detailed information on habitat and cultivation, parts used, active constituents, therapeutic properties, and traditional and current uses. A special section profiles 100 of the most common plants, featuring herbal preparations and recommendations for self-treatment. Guidelines on growing, harvesting, and storing medicinal plants also demonstrate making remedies for home use. In addition, accessible text offers fascinating insight into the chemistry of plants and their healing properties, explaining how and why they work as medicines within the body. The major herbal traditions of different cultures- Europe, India, China, Africa, Australia, and the Americas- are vividly described. A review of herbs from a historical perspective reveals the connection between medicinal herbs and cultural beliefs toward healing. Offering extensive coverage of all that herbs are- from cultural traditions to chemical components to self-treatments for common ailments-this Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine is the ultimate reference for anyone interested in exploring the healing benefits of medicinal plants..
Price: $22.41 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $8.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

An overview of the natural remedies that have become legendary for their effective treatment of common conditions.

.
Price: $6.93 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This could be the most important book you will read this year. Around the office at Chelsea Green it is referred to as the "pharmaceutical Silent Spring." Well-known author, teacher, lecturer, and herbalist Stephen Harrod Buhner has produced a book that is certain to generate controversy. It consists of three parts:
1. A critique of technological medicine, and especially the dangers to the environment posed by pharmaceuticals and other synthetic substances that people use in connection with health care and personal body care.
2. A new look at Gaia Theory, including an explanation that plants are the original chemistries of Gaia and those phytochemistries are the fundamental communications network for the Earth's ecosystems.
3. Extensive documentation of how plants communicate their healing qualities to humans and other animals. Western culture has obliterated most people's capacity to perceive these messages, but this book also contains valuable information on how we can restore our faculties of perception.
The book will affect readers on rational and emotional planes. It is grounded in both a New Age spiritual sensibility and hard science. While some of the author's claims may strike traditional thinkers as outlandish, Buhner presents his arguments with such authority and documentation that the scientific underpinnings, however unconventional, are completely credible.
The overall impact is a powerful, eye-opening expos' of the threat that our allopathic Western medical system, in combination with our unquestioning faith in science and technology, poses to the primary life-support systems of the planet. At a time when we are preoccupied with the terrorist attacks and the possibility of biological warfare, perhaps it is time to listen to the planet. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned about the state of the environment, the state of health care, and our cultural sanity..
Price: $11.79 [Notify me when price goes down.]