One of the questions we oftentimes get is, people want more energy. And so, what we talk about is the tonic herbs in Chinese medicine. So, it's a little bit different from what people know and are commonly used to, because we talk about qi, or energy tonics; and we talk about blood tonics, which sometimes can be related to anemia; and then we talk about yin and yang tonics, which are kind of out there for most people. We think of yin tonics as nourishing to the fluids of the bodies, and yang tonics are warming to the body. For those people who are always cold, they can be very helpful. So, although I don't have an example of all of those, we've got a few examples that are more common and fairly safe for people to use on a short-term basis. Ultimately, it's always best to work with a Chinese herbalist or acupuncturist, who can best prescribe formulas based on your diagnosis. So, one of the more common ones, and we're starting to see it in Westernism as well, is Huang Qi, also known as Astragalus. I like to call them "Awe Sticks." This particular herb is good for people who have fatigue, who get frequent colds. It's boosting to the immune system, and it's very helpful for just normalizing the immune system. Rishi mushroom, which is a very helpful mushroom, it normalizes high blood pressure due to stress, also that moderately high blood pressure. It's also good for colds and flu. And I find it helpful for restless sleep. We have Codonopsis, or Dang Shen, which is A) a yummy snack, as well as what we call a major qi tonic. We use it in place of ginseng oftentimes. Then we have Baizhu, which is also Atractylodes. We see these in a number of formulas, like Yu Ping Feng San, or Jade Windscreen. Or we can take them as singles, as in these Rishi mushroom caps. One of my personal favorites is what we know as Cordyceps, which is actually a mushroom that grows on the body of dead caterpillars, oddly enough. This one is considered one of the famous sexual tonics that isn't overly stimulating or going to affect high blood pressure or cause insomnia, the way some of them do. This one, unfortunately, or fortunately, is a very popular one. So, make sure you work with your Chinese herbalist, and enjoy your herbs.
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