Ojai Herb and Acupuncture Clinic

ARTICLES

Rosemary’s effects like sunshine & dew

“I grow it [rosemary] against walls,
so that the sun may draw out
its inexhaustible sweetness
to greet me as I pass...”
Gertrude Jekyll

A painter and watercolorist at heart who could not continue an art career due to deteriorating eyesight, Gertrude Jekyll was renowned in Europe and America in the early 20th century for creating a new sensibility in gardening — a non-conformist expression of color with a focus on the experience of plants. Her approaches to garden color in the more than 400 gardens she created were influenced by artists like the Impressionists and the British painter J.W. Turner. Her comment on rosemary reflects her ability to find the uniqueness in a plant, in this case its warming and stimulating qualities, also key in its healing effects. Rosemary’s irresistible pine and sage-like fragrance carries those qualities, though this time of year its flowers (usually blue, but sometimes lavender, pink or white) rival its scent.

Berry, Berry Good Time

“He who binds himself to a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.”
--“Eternity”, William Blake

Few things gave me greater pleasure as a child than listening to my paternal grandmother Lydia tell Peter Rabbit stories, which often of course included references to bramble bushes and Peter’s sometimes harrowing engagements with them. Peter somehow always managed to muddle his way through. My grandmother and other relatives of her era used to have a saying, “Well, that’s really the berries.” Which meant in local jargon that whatever was being discussed was a conundrum. I never understood the selection of the word berries at the time, but when I think of it now I suspect this expression might have referred to bramble berries (thorny berry bushes like raspberries and blackberries) whose stems (called canes) can definitely be an entanglement—like the attachments William Blake refers to in his poem which can divert us from true joy.

roots

Root veggies hold sweet promise

“The roots of all goodness
lie in the soil
of appreciation for goodness.”
the Dalai Lama

Sweetness in the vegetable kingdom lies a bit deeper than potatoes, among familiar faces like carrots, sweet potatoes and beets along with the less utilized parsnips, rutabagas and jicama. Sweetness is revered in the U.S, though too often for many of us it is purely sweet tastes like candy, ice cream and cake. The sweet taste has a harmonizing or nourishing effect on the body, particularly the digestive organs.

Cloves evoke warm memories and dreams

“Like this alabaster box whose art,
Is frail as a cassia-flower, is my heart…
Carven with delicate dreams and wrought
With many a subtle and exquisite thought
Therein I treasure the spice and scent
Of rich and passionate memories blent
Like odours of cinnamon, sandal and clove,
Of song and sorrow and life and love.”
“Alabaster” in The Golden Threshold,
by Sarojini Naidu, 1896

Unlike their name (derived from the French for nail, as they have a nail-like shape), cloves have a warmth and strength of fragrance and flavor that creates distinct memories

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Ojai's only complete service herbal clinic

1000 herbs and herb products in inventory
Custom Chinese herb prescriptions integrating herbs from Ayurvedic, European and Native American herbal traditions
Gentle acupuncture, cupping and moxibustion treatments

General practice and specializing in:

Problems of mid and later years
Psychoemotional challenges
Skin disorders

Ojai Herb and Acupuncture Clinic

Copying or use of any kind of any text or images on this website requires the written consent of Nathan Kaehler

Information on the website is provided as a public service by Nathan Kaehler, MA, LAc, Ojai Herb and Acupuncture Clinic. They are provided as general information rather than professional advice.

Nathan Kaehler, MA, LAc

Licensed Acupuncturist, California #8423

Master of Arts, Psychology

"And for all this nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things... ."

--from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Medicine can be garden-like with plants whose highest purpose is to nourish and heal.

Properly blended from both tradition and science, the healing plants can gently help us restore harmony in our individual physical and emotional patterns, allowing us to live more like a garden -- in thanks and service.

Plants and trees are cherished in Ojai and surrounding communities, so I enjoy practicing here.

-Nathan

Ojai Herb and Acupunture Clinic

115 Pirie Road, Suite A1, Ojai, CA 93023

Phone number: (805) 640-8700

Email: nathankaehler@sbcglobal.net