Good morning, beautiful family here is a very special person in my life. Would you like to introduce yourself? Yes, I’m dr. Elizabeth Thompson of the National Center for Integrative Medicine in Bristol, but I do happen to meet George’s, mum as well.
So this is mum and we’re going to go on an adventure today. Right where we going to one of my favorite places, the Bristol Botanic Gardens, why let’s go so I guess the thing that interests me about going to a botanic garden is the fact that our ancestors had knowledge of all these plants and herbs That do you actually have medical qualities, no not just kind of witch doctor serums.
They had knowledge of how nature could actually support us medically. Yes, that bit is fascinating, so science is really proving the benefits of some of these plants, but that knowledge was there beforehand.
So you know there’s. This interesting plant called the scurvy plant that the local people, as that sailors got off long voyages, would know to give to them to eat a bit, but science has shown that it ‘
S got some of the highest levels of vitamin C in any plant, so that is fascinating and a little bit magical that people would know. These benefits welcome my name’s Nick ray, and I’m curator here at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden.
This is a fantastic teaching and research resource for the University of Bristol, but also for the citizens of Bristol the Botanic Garden. Was founded by a German man called Adolf Lightner and he founded the garden along with two colleagues in 1882: four and a half thousand different species of plant from all around the world, a use for teaching and research from schoolchildren through field courses, study courses, specialist courses, All the way through to just enjoying the garden nice picnic a couple of years ago, I came to the botanicas and interestingly, none of the medical undergraduates were using the Botanic Gardens as a teaching resource.
So what’s been exciting is to set up teaching modules that include visits to the Botanic Gardens so that the students can really learn more about the history of herbalism and how it very much informed our lives as modern doctors.
So George, this beautiful Daisy, it’s, one of the Daisy family and there are lots of different daisies. But this is the very beautiful echinacea and for hundreds of years it’s been used to support the immune system.
Obviously, a hundred and fifty years ago we wouldn’t have known it as the immune system, but it has been shown when you take it by mouth, particularly just at the onset of cold or flu-like illnesses just to shorten them because it’s stimulating to the immune system.
It’s, not something to use all the time. But often I will use echinacea and some vitamin C to support me during a cold or flu-like illness just so that I recover that little bit quicker. But it’s, a very, very beautiful plant, as you can see.
So we’re here in the western herbal garden of Bristol Botanic Gardens. You can see it’s, a very beautiful space and I’m. Going to talk a little bit about some of the plants, but I do need to say I am not a herbalist.
I’m. Actually, a holistic doctor I trained and qualified in conventional medicine, but I was always interested in other approaches and about four years ago, set up a new center for Integrative Medicine, the National Centre of Integrative Medicine in Bristol, to look at how we combine conventional lifestyle and Holistic approaches because we’ve got lots of things out there that we can use and that our patients and the public are using.
So why not start to provide a healthcare system that really matches and mirrors what people are doing in reality? I want to show you this plant just next door to this beautiful black cohosh, which is one of the rose family.
You can tell from the leaves, but it’s called meadowsweet. It’s, got a long Latin name. Phillip ng little. Mario, but meadowsweet has actually been used to calm the stomach and what’s really fascinating is this is what we get aspirin from so Bayer, who developed aspirin many many years ago, now derived it from this plant and actually, curiously, because it’s been derived pharmaceutically and a molecules been added onto the molecules naturally found within this substance.
It actually has the side effect of causing stomach problems. You probably know that if you take aspirin aspirin like drugs, you often have to take antacids as well. So isn’t. It curious that the plant itself offers a balanced pharmacology of soothing, a sore and acidic stomach, but the pharmaceutical agent might actually cause that problem, even though it will then work to reduce inflammation in the body so useful things, but may be really good for us to Know that yet again we found it from nature.
So George, we’re now walking into the traditional Chinese medicine and the Botanic Gardens were lucky enough to have Luke Jerram an artist. Some of you may know him because he’s done these amazing huge, Gaia balls that have been hanging around the country, just inspiring people again to really connect to the earth.
Responsibility to look one of his pieces of art is a magical door that takes us into maybe a new world, a new perspective to keep it here at the Botanic Gardens camellia sinensis, which is the tea plant, a traditional Chinese herb that was used from the distillate And health properties for many many years, we now know that green tea is incredibly useful as well for the body naturally anti-inflammatory.
Well, we know quite a lot about green tea. Master gu cultivated it on the mountain and the Daoists for thousands of years understood the medical qualities of green tea that only now modern science are confirming.
So as we go deeper into the garden, we’re, going to see many peonies sacred plants in China, revered for their beauty, their flowers and again. That just reminds us that our connection to nature may not be by ingesting anything.
But just by experiencing beauty harmony, green spaces and do you know we are hardwired to feel more relaxed in the color green, our cortisol levels will drop even if we’re shown images of green, but if we actually get out into the natural environment Here a beautiful dark green, then our bodies start to relax because we are hardwired to be connected to the natural.
But George, I’m, really excited to show you this ginkgo tree ginkgo biloba. It’s, also known as the maidenhair tree, and this is a female ginkgo. You probably recognize it from its leaves and it’s. Put into a lot of city centers, because it will naturally absorb pollution again nature, helping us out when we’re, just making a mess of things.
But what’s fascinating about ginkgo is that in traditional Chinese medicine it was known to help with blood flow. So if people were having problems with blood flow, maybe in limbs then gingko would be used.
So, as a conventional doctor, I’m, often encouraged not to have trees, but you ‘ Ve got to admit this is the most beautiful tree you can see where I get my obsession with trees from it’s. Not my fault, I’m, just mmm, taking a little bit of Szechuan pepper this incredible red pepper.
So in Chinese you have ma and la ma. Is the numbing spice like this Szechuan pepper, my mum’s currently struggling and then la is the chili spice that we used to, but do we have numbing spice and in the West we don’t? Have this obviously pepper will make us knees and stimulate, but this completely makes us go numb.
I’m full on, like a thousand ounce over my lower my lower lip lower and upper lips, mum is known to overstate pain, not sure how much this is affecting me, but yeah. When me and master who went to a session, we went to Chengdu capital and I used to in the restaurants just like pour loads of this and just like enjoy the numbing spice Wow.
My lips are just totally buzzing, I quite enjoy it. Okay, you got it yeah because yeah you may be crunchy, oh my god, right as it started it’s begun. So we’re, going to visit the hot houses and in the hot house we’re, going to see a lot of foods that we used to like chocolate.
Turmeric ginger cardamom is just fantastic to see these things growing, cinnamon bark, but we’ll head in there and then see what yummy things are there for us. What is it you’re doing so here, George and you might be able to see the cocoapod there.
This is the chocolate tree. A very important tree for many of us, and actually we’ve realized that chocolate is really good for us in its pure form. It’s, naturally anti-inflammatory in the body, so a bit of dark chocolate works on those little blood vessels to clean them and balance them.
So we can enjoy chocolate in moderation. At the right times of day and know that actually it’s good for us. Thank you so much. Thank you delicious mmm. Well, thank you ma’am I felt like I learned a lot.
You can see why it’s, my favorite place in Bristol yeah it’s beautiful. I really want to bring master goo here having the Chinese herb garden. That’s. Amazing, I’m sure he’ll really enjoy it when you think of the diversity of plants and trees that are here, you know it’s just so exciting and you can come again and again and learn new things.
All the time yeah and it started in the 1880s. It connects me to the Victorians, who also had this fascination and love of nature, and this institutions still going. I think it’s, an amazing thing yeah.
So if you enjoyed what mom talked about today, you’re, doing more stuff like this, or do you want to tell people in general what yatzee and how they can get in contact? Yeah do follow us on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram the National Center of Integrative Medicine.
We’re, really trying to create a movement for change in healthcare to transform it into a much broader vision where we honor and respect holistic approaches. Herbalism acupuncture traditional Chinese medicine, but also connecting to green spaces, cold water swimming, but also just looking at conventional medicines, making sure they’re right for you, and in fact this week we’re launching our holistic doctor service.
So that’s time and space with a qualified doctor to really look at your health needs, whether it’s, just an early warning sign that you’re getting out of balance or whether you’ve got A condition that you’d, really like to look at with a holistic model, then do visit.
Our website speak to our inquiries team and find out whether this kind of approach can help you with your health and well-being right. Well, if you’re interested there’s, links in the description and on the screen now, but otherwise should we tuck into this beautiful, looking lunch? Yes, absolutely and yeah sprinkled with olive oil, sprinkled with olive oil until next time,