But that doesn’t mean tonight’s course at the Common Market isn’t pretty enlightening, anyway.
Along with more than a dozen fellow Eastern-medicine newbies, I’m attending “Journey into the World of Chinese Herbs with Todd McCloskey” in the Frederick food co-op’s community room.
Billed as a brief overview of a field predating modern medicine by millennia—and yet still not widely embraced by the West—the class’ purpose is to demystify the use of Chinese herbs.
But right now, staring at rows of mason jars packed with strange-looking roots, twigs, berries, and powders with names like Huang Qi, Bai Shao, Fang Feng, and Zhi Gan Cao, I’m still firmly in the mystified camp.
Might Eye of Newt be in here somewhere, too?
Fortunately, the easygoing McCloskey, an herbalist and licensed acupuncturist at Holistic Health Associates in Frederick, makes the foreign seem familiar soon enough.
Translated into English, for instance, Sheng Jiang becomes fresh ginger; Da Zao is a date.
And the overarching theme of Chinese herbal medicine? Turns out it’s not complicated at all. In a nutshell, it’s to maintain (or restore) the body’s harmony.
To do that, Eastern practitioners don’t reach for a pill the moment a patient reports feeling sick, stressed, or otherwise torn asunder. They reach for herbs. Or, more specifically, for a carefully considered mixture of herbs.
And it’s these mixtures—with their endless variety and applications—that take a lifetime to master. Tonight’s class seeks only to help us dip a toe into what’s truly an ocean of knowledge.
So when I leave two hours later, I’m clutching just a couple recipes, including ones for Cinnamon Twig and Jade Windscreen decoctions meant to help everything from stiff necks and “wind aversion” to recurring colds and spontaneous sweating.
I’ve also got several creative suggestions for stress-relieving decoctions (which can only help my wound-like-a-spring psyche), none of which require a prescription, waiting-room campout, or co-pay.
On this particular journey of a thousand miles, it’s a good first step.
To find out what classes are coming up at the Common Market, visit www.commonmarket.coop.
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