#Mamoon & #mamoonremedies is inspired by the need for alternative to modern-day medical cures. Each month, or when time permits, @thehorseandcrow will focus on the history of a plant, its ethnobotanical uses, and how current research helps to support its historic use. This month, @mothraqueen has honored us with the ability to share a powerful symbolic painiting she made for, ‘Freedom’ at Burning Man 2017 entitled, “The Tower.” #pain, #internal, #IBS, #painrelief, #paracelsus, #respirtorydisorders, #lovesymbol, #colitis, #matriarchy, #depression, #anxiety #antiinflammatory #rosmarinusofficialis
Part II: Relief from the Pains of the Body and Mind
Every part of our being exists because we have a mind which is or has the capacity for memories. Harmful memories can have harmful consequences for the body and via-a-versa. The mnemonic benefits of rosemary are a testament to it’s role as a healer of the mind. The idea that the mind effects the health of our immune system and entire body isn’t new. But it is only in our relative short history, have we been able to prove this, due to the limitations of technology. But if our brains are memories, as new research suggests, that means we need to integrate the brain healing with the physical ones.
As Wired article, “Your Brain is Memories” illuminates:
Defining memory is about as difficult as defining time. In general terms, memory is a change to a system that alters the way that system works in the future. “A typical memory is really just a reactivation of connections between different parts of your brain that were active at some previous time,” says neuroscientist Nikolay Kukushkin, coauthor of this paper. And all animals—along with many single-celled organisms—possess some sort of ability to learn from the past.
Healing occurs from understanding our past memories and how that effects our bodies, mind, and spirit. A family medical history, is one way of invoking the physical memories genetically transferred through families. But this can be hard to do, not only for your brain, when you’re suffering physically suffering, but also for your conscious self. As author Esther Sternberg puts it:
‘…what happens when you understand the anatomy and physiology of the system is that you can stand back and become an observer of your own situation. So you can, to a certain extent, treat yourself as the patient and dissociate yourself from yourself. But then there’s the patient’s side of you that really doesn’t feel great.’– Stress and the Balance Within
Modern medicine is dictated by the confines of an evidence based approach that the scientific method calls for. Thus, it fails to accept or integrate any idea which can not be seen or physically proven. This exclusion also affects a patient’s ability to be treated for an entirety of symptoms, as a patient’s mental balance is rarely weighed into the treatment of their physical ones. It affects our agency and ability to heal ourselves.
Reducing the symptoms of pain and understanding where it comes from is an important aspect of dealing with any remedy but as the ancient Egyptians once recognized, the true answers come from within. Breaking down the illusions of what causes pain and trauma can be a traumatic process in itself and having the ability to utilize the healing properties of plants, like rosemary, and other tools, can help a person navigate the darkness with more grace and ease.
We are fortunate to associate this post with artist Maren Preston’s panel called ‘The Tower’. ‘The Tower’ speaks to all that feel the pain of the darkness that comes from destroying false notions of self and health developed in the physical/ visible world, to make space for truth and illumination brought about by spiritual rebirth and regeneration.
Anti-Depression/Anxiety
Paracelsus, as mentioned in Part I of Mamoon’s Rosmarinus, also offered another insight into the world of modern medicine–he was the first person in modern psychological studies to relate psychological disorders with physical ones. Many diseases of inflammation suggest a wider spectrum of issues linked to the psychological health of a patient. Rosemary has often been linked to healing the heart and mind, even in its most symbolic sense.
In 2015, in a study published by the Chemico-Biological Interactions Journal, researchers gave mice that suffered from anxiety and depression rosemary leaf tea over a series of a few months. They established that the mice that had ingested the tea had reduced anxiety and depression. This report was not the first to solidify the healing power of rosemary. As the excerpt below reveals, the active components of the plant are similar to the antidepressant fluoxetine, or more commonly known as Prozac.
“Extract of R. officinalis causes an antidepressant-like effect (Machado et al. 2009, 2013; Sasaki et al., 2013). Phytochemical studies have identified active components in this plant, such as carnosol, betulinicacid, ursolicacid, 1,8-cineole (Machado et al., 2013), luteolin, carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid (Sasaki et al., 2013), components that may be responsible for the antidepressant effect of rosemary. Rosemary extract (10 mg/kg, per os) was similar to the action produced by the classical antidepressant fluoxetine, using the same dose (10 mg/kg, per os) (Machado et al.,2009)–Trends in Food and Science Technology
Anti-Inflammatory
Inflammations of the body are associated with anxiety and stress. Perhaps the most important function of rosemary is as an anti-inflammatory agency on the body. Carnosol and Carnosic acid are two powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds found in rosemary. Whether ingested orally or administered topically, rosemary has been linked to reducing inflammations of muscles, blood vessels, and joints. Therefore, it’s an effective treatment for ailments like high blood pressure, gout, arthritis, and injuries sustained during physical exertion or surgery.
Stomach Disorders
[caption id="attachment_2460" align="alignright" width="328"]
Leaf surface of Rosmarinus officinalis imaged by scanning electron microscopy. (A) Distribution of glandular trichomes on the adaxial epidermis; (B) Distribution of non-glandular and glandular trichomes and revolute leaf margin (asterisks) on the abaxial epidermis; (C) Detail of the abaxial leaf epidermis showing the high density of trichomes, predominantly located in epidermis depressions (arrow); (D) Non-glandular, capitate and peltate glandular trichomes on the abaxial epidermis; (E) Capitate glandular trichomes (long and short stalk) on the adaxial epidermis; (F) Detail of peltate (p) and capitate (c) glandular trichomes and cuticle striations; (G) Secretary head of peltate trichome showing eight radially disposed cells and broken cuticle (arrow); (H) Detail of the rupture in the cuticle of a peltate glandular trichome. Scale bars: A–D 1⁄4 100 m m; E–H 1⁄4 10 m m.
I had originally come across the benefits of rosemary on a recent family visit to Cyprus. My grandmother was suffering, tremendously, from the symptoms of Crohn’s disease. After a bit of research, I found that rosemary, infused as a tea or made into a tincture could help relieve many of her symptoms. Symptoms of which I felt were an accompaniment to the anxiety and stress of losing her husband.
Rosemary is antispasmodic, which means that it can help relax the muscles, particularly around the gut and intestines. With IBS (Irritable Bowl Syndrome), for example, part of the reason the condition is so painful, is due to the spasms which occur in the gut. These also cause bloating.
Rosemary relieves these symptoms. pharmacists of whom found that its oil, “…has a marked action on the digestive system, with relieving the symptoms of indigestion, constipation, and colitis.”
There are an incredible amount of gastrointestinal issues that rosemary helps to alleviate and throughout history it has been used to stimulate appetite, to help digestion and work against stomach pain and dyspepsia, ulcers, diarrhea, flatulence and bloating and also aids in dispelling intestinal worms and parasites.
In 2011, The journal of established that Rosemary leaves hydro alcoholic extract (RHE) and essential oil (REO) “are both effective to possess anti-colitic activity, and reinforce the use of this plant as a remedy for inflammatory bowel diseases in traditional medicine”
The antioxidants in rosemary have been proven to reduce and prevent the unhealthy amount of white blood cells which are present with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Try making a rosemary tisane, or tea infusion next time you are experiencing flatulence, bloating and mild spasms of the gastrointestinal and biliary tracts. The leaves alone (especially younger ones) are the strongest in relieving and relaxing the stomach.
Against asthma, coughs, colds, and catarrhs, bronchitis, pneumonia. Rosmarinic Acid (RA) is a bronchodilator which means that it opens up the air passages while at the same time, RA inhibits leukotrienes that inhibit the bronchial flow. The antioxidants also decrease the pathogens that affect bronchial asthma by preventing free radicals.( Aqel M B, J Ethnopharmacol, 33 (1991) 57.)
Pain Relief
In addition to the pain relief that comes from relieving the gastrointestinal tract, rosemary has been used to alleviate other pains ailing the entire body. Inhalation of the essential oil affects the perception of pain that a patient may feel. External use of rosemary oil can ease the pain of rheumatism and gout, especially in the winter, if symptoms are worsened by cold weather. As a poultice, it has been used as a way to heal wounds. An oil can also be rubbed on the stomach for its relief.
As a medicine, rosemary has the power to deliver a unique gift to a world suffering from the physical effects of the mind and body. In Part III: Stimulation, Purification and Regeneration, @thehorseandcrow will explore the power of its ability to ward off harmful diseases, or even spirits, as well as reverse some of the most pervasive ‘incurable’ health disorders in our world today.
The Horse and Crow 
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