David Crow on the
Healing Power of Medicinal Plants by Randy Kambic
D
avid Crow, author of In Search of the Medicine Buddha, among other books, is a foremost expert in botanical medicine and other natural health applications. As a teacher, telemedicine consultant, researcher, certified master herbalist, aromatherapist and acupuncturist, he has studied Chinese, Tibetan, Ayurvedic and Western herbal medicine for more than 30 years. He is a strong advocate of the safe use of herbs and essential oils, and installing gardens in public and private spaces. As one of the first medical pioneers to use essential oils and aromatherapy in clinical practice, integrating them into comprehensive treatments, he is also the founder of Floracopeia Aromatic Treasures.
photo by Simone Anne
Why do you feel humanity needs to reconnect a sacred relationship with plants?
22
Broward County, Florida Edition
NaBroward.com
For our survival as a species. Plants created the biosphere over hundreds of millions of years, including the ozone layer, the oxygen in the atmosphere, the fertility of the soil, the regulation of the seasons and the foundation of the food chain. From those conditions, higher life was able to emerge and evolve: Humans emerged from conditions created by plants. Since we cannot live directly on soil and sunlight as plants do, the structure and function of the human body are designed so that we can extract those energies in forms that plants provide; our physiology, respiration and metabolism is a mirror image of photosynthesis. We have complete biological dependency on plants in every moment; understanding this is the basis of reverence for nature, which is
