The Palash Tree - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers and Back Pain

The Palash Tree Flower

Before modern medicines became prevalent, humans treated many ailments with flowers, leaves, roots and barks of plants and trees. Ayurveda,  an ancient Indian medicinal science, makes use of many herbs and plant materials without substantial extraction of active ingredients as modern medicine does. The idea is that additional compounds in a medicinal or edible plant is an organic whole and a part of life that supports other life.  The complimentary compounds appear to play a useful balancing role whereas individually extracted and isolated compounds can be harmful. A modern example in wide use as food is sugar, a pure chemical isolated from the juice of sugar cane.

Indeed there is no food or herb that does not contain a compound or two that could be from mildly to extremely dangerous if isolated and consumed but is beneficial as a group with other compounds. That is the reason why alcohol distilled from a natural fermented fruit juice and then diluted with water can give a headache and a hangover while the natural fermented juice with same percentage of alcohol may not. The difference is created by  additional balancing compounds in the natural fermented juice.

Ancient spiritual persons led highly regulated lives and were sensitive to processes in their bodies from breathing down to thoughts and emotions. They discovered effect of various herbs through experimentation and at times by observing animals that consumed these plants. With further use among others, certain herbs were declared as being useful for certain ailments. However, the diversity and variety of different plants on the planet is so huge that many useful medicinal plants and their precise effect is yet to be discovered. Such discoveries are not the priority of modern medicinal industry driven by financial motives. They would rather discover a new chemical, patent it and then exploit it for financial gain. Natural plant remedies, especially the most useful ones are a threat to this industry and they would perhaps rather have the most powerful ones such as cannabis declared as a schedule-I drug if possible so that scientists cannot even carry out research on them and discover any potential medicinal value that might interfere with their business. It seems when profit becomes a priority easing the suffering of fellow humans takes a back seat.

The difficulty with ancient herbal science is that it has not been put through the same sort of rigorous scientific analysis as modern medicines. Further the knowledge has not been recorded carefully. Names of some of the herbs are misunderstood and some have become extinct. There is also much fraud in this area as humans are prone to resort to whenever there is profit and when regulation is lacking. On the positive side, these herbs are natural substances unlike modern medicines that are unnatural because they are a product of a laboratory. Even when the original source is a plant, modern practitioners isolate the active or so called active agent and use that as a medicine, an unnatural product. The process of testing is so long that the scientist has little time to study the combined effect of other ingredients in the plant that God put in there along with the so called active substance. The result is that many modern medicines are far more likely to cause a harmful side effect as compared to a natural herb that comes from life and supports life.

Even addictive herbs such as Marijuana and Opium in their natural state appear to be far less addictive than some chemical medicines. Steps are underway around the world to legalize Marijuana which this author supports, since it kills far fewer people than Alcohol does but governments must be careful not to legalize their extracts and so called active agents without considerable study not motivated by a desire of Pharma profits, something that seems to be lacking in many instances in these times driven by corporate greed for ever increasing profits.

Palash

May I now tell something about a personal near magical experience with just one herbal remedy – the Palash flower.  Butea Monosperma or Palash (dhak) is a species of Butea native to tropical and sub-tropical parts of India and Asia. Historically, dhak forests covered much of the area between the Ganges and Yamuna in northern India, but these were cleared for agriculture in early 19th century as the English East India Company increased tax demands on peasants. It is used for timber, resin, fodder, medicine, and dye. The wood is dirty white and soft and, being durable under water, is used for well-curbs and water scoops. Good charcoal can be made from it. The leaves are usually very leathery and not eaten by cattle. However, the leaves are great for making throw away bowls and plates after sewing together and drying and used widely in India for the purpose, a practice that is far more environmentally friendly as compared to use of paper plates. It is a medium sized tree, growing to 15 m tall.. The flowers are 2.5 cm long, bright orange-red, and produced in racemes up to 15 cm long.

Branch of a a Palash Tree in full bloom

The Palash tree is a medicinal tree and among its various uses it has been suggested for treating inflammation, swelling, conditions related to bones etc.  For some years now I have suffered from time to time with a stiffness of the back and a feeling of weakness and tiredness in that area that has increased with age, not quite an ache but nevertheless not comfortable. It is something that appears to be common with age and those who lead a life on the desk and chair. Therefore, a few months ago when I heard of the use of Palash flowers from a learned source, I visited a traditional supplier and procured some dried flowers and added them to my afternoon cup of tea. They produce a strong yellow color when boiled. If you wish to do that then add the palash flowers to the boiling water first and let boil for few minutes before adding tea leaves that do not need more than an instant of boiling. The effect was magical. The back stiffness and feeling of  back tiredness disappeared within a day. Last month I ran out of the flowers and gradually the back stiffness returned. Two days ago I procured some more flowers and repeated their use. Once again the effect was magical. The back pain disappeared within a day again. Praise the Lord who seeded our planet with such wonderful herbs that humans could benefit more from if they gave up on undesirable distractions and learned to love and nurture nature instead.

It must be emphasized that this is merely the personal experience of the author and not based on any scientific study. It  therefore is not a recommendation for others and it is up to their own judgement and discretion as to how they take the information shared here

UPDATE December 2017: Now the Disadvantages

Since the article was first posted, I posted interim updates. Those are now deleted and replaced with this final one containing my longer experience with use of Palash Flowers to ease back discomfort and pain.

It seems just as there are some medicines for symptomatic relief and others that cure,  it is so with herbal medicines too. My experience with Palash Flowers seems to indicate that although it provides quick symptomatic relief from back discomfort to me, perhaps as an herbal anti spasm agent, it does not address the underlying problem because that returned whenever I stopped the use of Palash flowers periodically. The difficulty of depending on medicines that provide only symptomatic relief is that the underlying problem may worsen over time. Therefore I looked at other areas too that might help solve the problem of back discomfort. These fall in three broad areas:

1. Physical exercise to strengthen back
2. Life style improvements especially ensuring that the bed is firm and comfortable and that one does not sit for long on chairs that are not fully comfortable
3. Looking for any internal deficiencies

I have to admit, I am not very good at a program of exercises right from young age. While younger, lots of walking, cycling, swimming and hiking made up for it but those have reduced with age. Fortunately, with increased use of smart phone to access the internet, the need to sit at a desktop computer has reduced.

 However what helped me most was the exploration of other vitamins and herbs to address the cause. The herb Ashwagandha helped a bit but most relief has now been found by a daily tablet of Calcium and Vitamin D3. As I keep taking it, I hope it is not only providing relief but also helping to cure the back weakness. The pill I take after breakfast has a low dosage of both, lower than what docs recommend most times seems. It has 500mg Elemental Calcium and 200 IU Vitamin D. Sticking too a lower dosage has resulted from my earlier experiences with chemical medicines. The Docs seem to recommend too much, perhaps directed at the worst cases or the greed of Pharma. While that may be good for short term emergency needs it does not seem wise to me for long term use. In my youth when I suffered frequently from colds and flu’s and found that regular consumption of vitamin C helped avert it, I chose just 100mg a day while docs recommended 500mg. But the lower dose worked just fine for me. I shall post again in future if I learn new information on the issue and also stop taking the Calcium and D3 pill in a few months. The Vitamin D3 was suggested by my daughter who is an accomplished Internal Medicine and Geriatric specialist with education from some of the finest universities in the world.

For Physical Exercise See:

Goodbye Backache by Dr David Imrie with Colleen Dimson, first published in Great Britain by SPCK, Marylebone Road, London NW1 4DU,
http://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Backache-David-Imrie/dp/0449205886





From  the author of  The Babaji Affair

www.amazon.com/Babaji-Affair-Ashok-Malhotra/dp/149232955X

Palash flower image from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:STS_001_Butea_monosperma.jpg

Palash tree image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palash_Tree.jpg

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.