Here's some information on Rhodiolas.
Chapter 13
Adaptability and Protection
In working to preserve a healthy state for individuals, Taoist medicine offers two additional components that work in concert with the Three Treasures. They are Adaptability and Protection.
Adaptability
Adaptability is a sought after state of being, a major component of what the Chinese call “health beyond danger” (and what I am referring to in this book as a state of being that is above the Threshold). The great Canadian endocrinologist Hans Seyle M.D., one of the world’s prominent researchers on stress, stated that adaptability is the human race’s most important attribute. He says, “Adaptability is probably the most distinctive characteristic of life. In maintaining the independence and individuality of natural units, none of the great forces of inanimate matter are as successful as that alertness and adaptability to change which we designate as life, and the loss of which is death. Indeed, there is perhaps a parallelism between the degree of aliveness and the extent of adaptability in every animal, in every man.”[71]
After all, one can find humans living in all regions of the planet, and no matter how hostile the conditions, those inhabitants have adapted to them. Supporting our adaptability is also one of the great assets of the Tonic herbs.
There are a handful of herbs found throughout the world that contain properties referred to as adaptogenic. The recent term "adaptogen" was applied by Soviet scientist N.V. Lazarev in 1947 to describe the metabolic balancing properties of the Siberian herbs
Rhodiola Rosea (
Arctic Root) and
Siberian Ginseng (
Eleutherococcus Senticosis). After determining the unique and complex properties of these plants, he and his student, I.I. Brechman, used this term to define a new class of herbs that had a normalizing affect on bodily functions. In Lazarov's words, an adaptogen “must be innocuous and cause minimal side affects in the physiological functions of an organism, it must have a non-specific action of immune enhancement, and have a normalizing action on various bodily functions, irrespective of the direction of the pathological state."[79]
The Soviet government was looking for substances that could help keep soldiers from freezing while on the battlefield. They conducted tests on Rhodiola
Rosea's adaptogenic properties, but in order to utilize this herb in warfare, their research was kept quiet until the fall of the Soviet Union. Rhodiola
Rosea, as Lazarov named it, was found to have a beneficial effect on the nervous system and adrenals. The plant has a regulating effect on the body’s thermostat. The herb was found to help cool overheated elements in the body and warm or stimulate cold, sluggish metabolic or anabolic functions. Thus, the scientists created a name for the herb's regulatory actions, terming it an “adaptogen.”
In the Himalayas, a related species,
Rhodiola Sacra was found and studied by the Chinese. According to their results,
Rhodiola Sacra proved more potent as an adaptogen than the Russian Rhodiola
Rosea. Rhodiola
Sacra, and a close cousin from the high mountains of southwestern China,
Rhodiola Crenulata, are now used extensively in Chinese medicine.
Sacra is very difficult to obtain, and I feel it is better left to the highlanders of Tibet, as it aids in the absorption of oxygen in those high altitudes. *Contraindications; Rhodiola is very safe.
Adaptogens can have a regulating action on the central nervous system, which oversees both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous functions, helping to ensure their healthy interaction. Rhodiola in particular is said to nourish the pituitary gland, the master gland in the endocrine system, which governs the central nervous system. Adaptogenic herbs would fortify
Jing and
Chi and may also help one cultivate
Shen.
What distinguishes an adaptogen is having two sets of RNA in its cells, which tend to infuse the plant with its own
Yin/Yang balance. When we consume these plants, they also help our bodies maintain a better balance of hot and cold and of
Yang and
Yin. They are thus able to stimulate the body when it requires stimulation, but can also calm the body when excited. They can regulate body temperature, cooling it when overexerted, and stimulating it when lethargic. In this way. adaptogenic herbs are viewed as having a dual-directional affect on body energies.
71. Morishige, Fukumi, 1987.
Chinese Traditional Medicine Part III, Page 12-23, ISBN4-88580-053-6 C-0077
79. Carl Germano and Zakir Ramazanov,
Arctic Root (Toronto: Kensington, 2000)
Source:
Pages 199-201
[deleted cuz of OCR type-os]
