When the cold season returns the amount of colds and flu cases go up and many people get deep coughs that persist for weeks with lung imbalances and excess phlegm being produced by the immune system as a reaction to the bacteria or virus. Humm, how was that for a rather long sentence? Anyway, many people reach for natural methods of healing, which is excellent. However, medicine is an energy and all energy is unique onto itself and contains power. That means that we must not be ignorant in our choices and therefore choose wisely while seeking alternative medicines to ease aliments.
I’ve been posting some articles on select essential oils that are widely used, especially in times of imbalance. You may have read them. I may post a few more. We shall see. This article is geared towards the plant known as Butterfly Weed and clinically known as Pleurisy Root.
When deep seeded coughs persist for weeks on end it came become far more than just annoying. It can disturb precious sleep and pound the heck out of your ribs and muscles from the inside out. All the muscles in the neck, shoulders and upper back also tend to tighten and spasm from overuse with excessive coughing. Who doesn’t seek relief?
- Vick rubs on the chest and feet at night
- mustard and onion poultices on the chest
- essential oil steams with hyssop, wild cherry bark syrups and teas
- massaging of the lung meridian through the chest and arms
- pressing the pressure points behind the neck like the one on either side of the spine between C-7 and T-1, Lung 7, Large Intestine 4, Stomach 40, Lung 9 and Conception Vessel 22
- coltsfoot leaf tea and many other practices…
Butterfly Weed is another common herb that many people tend to reach for when coughs persist. However, like I said, herbs are energy and the energy must be understood so they can be employed for the right reasons to obtain the best benefits. Butterfly Weed is:
- Anticatarrhal
- Antitussive
- diaphoretic
- and an expectorant
It mainly aids the lungs and large intestine energy. Like the clinical name suggests it is the root that is utilized to prepare the medicine through teas and tinctures. The best time to gather the roots are after the plant has gone down for winter, so in autumn or early spring. Tea can be made from the root dried or fresh but it is best to make the tincture from the fresh root only.
It is important to understand that Butterfly Weed is cold in nature and has a bitter quality that is not all that good for certain people. The root is excellent for clearing heat in the lungs, but if no heat is present and the cough is instead due to coldness or other lung imbalance Butterfly Weed might not be the best choice for an herbal remedy. If a person has a damp, cold spleen causing weak spleen functions, Butterfly Weed will simply aggravate the condition further. If a person has an overall cold constitution Butterfly Weed is not a good choice to be used. Instead warm herbs would be much better like cardamom, cinnamon, garlic and ginger.
So before you reach for an herb just because it is said to help with clearing coughs, understand the energy of the herb because coughs, for example are caused by many different energy imbalances depending upon the constitution of the individual. If you are of a hot constitution and your lungs are imbalanced with heat then Butterfly Weed might just be for you. If you have blood in the sputum, chest pain and lung stagnation combine Butterfly Weed with something like Bugleweed. If you however have lung heat with “phlegm-heat” you might want to combine Butterfly Weed with American Ginseng and even Sweet Flag. Butterfly Weed combined with Lobelia works well for spasmodic coughs that are hot in nature and present difficulty expelling fluid buildup.
If you have a lung condition due to a cold nature you may wish to look more into an herb like Yerba Santa because of its warming qualities…
Life is made of energy and to better understand and interact with the universe we must learn the energies as best as we can. Otherwise we are blindly stumbling alone hoping for the best. If you want other natural healing ideas you might want to check out our Self Healing dvd set filmed from one of our Ways Of The Wild Institute Self Healing courses here in Vermont.
To your health ~ White Wolf Von Atzingen ~ Ways Of The Wild Institute
