3 - 1 - Tinctures and Microdosis - Tinturas y Microdosis

8/10/2019 3 - 1 - Tinctures and Microdosis - Tinturas y Microdosis

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Hello I'm Eliseo Cheo Torres.I teach a course on traditional medicineat the University of New Mexico.And today we have a speaker[COUGH] that you mayhave seen on other programs heretranslating some of the activities, butnow she's going to present toyou an activity on teachers.And I'd like to introduceAntonette Gonzales known as Tonita.Tonita welcome.[CROSSTALK] Good to have you.Tonita got her certificate ontraditional medicine at [FOREIGN] Mexico.Her teacher there was also[FOREIGN] Mexico City.Tonita has spent overa year studying in Mexico.Now she has a clinic in Albuquerque,northern part of Albuquerque.The north valley that we call, andtoday Tonita's going to demonstratethe preparation of tinctures, which is

alcohol based and maybe micro doses?>> Mm hm.>> And micro doses which are water based.She's going to explain how youcan prepare your own medicine.Tonita, thanks for being here.>> Thank you.>> You're welcome.>> I appreciate it, it's an honor.Well, good afternoon orgood morning, as we start the day.So, one of the things as we think aboutherbalism, or a yerbera, as we say, or

that practices herbs.This is a tradition that,throughout Throughout times,every indigenous communityused herbs as medicine.That was their first primary,and sometimes, you know,if you look back into the historicalcontext, the way they knew how herbsworked is that they would start looking atthe animals, what the animals were eating.And you kind of see that instinct.It's kind of the same way that,

you know, you'll see a dog when they'restomach's upset they start eating grass.So they would see when.The animals are sick what they would eat,andhow that transformed intothe medicine that we now eat.If you look at the logicof what seems right.And my experience of working


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with different herbalists isquite fascinating because whetherit's an herb they know or not, one ofthe first thing that you're going tosee is they're going to grab the herb.They're going to take a piece of it,they're going to take the leaves andthey're going to smell it,and they're going to look at the colors,they're going to look at the grain,the stem, the smell, the aroma,and they also going to taste it,is it bitter, is it sweet, andbecause that's going to give to theman idea of how the medicines is going tobe used in the body is something that,.We've lost.If we looked at the culture andthe language of [FOREIGN], the way theynamed the herbs was how the medicine forwhat system it was going to be used.And we look at herbs now, there's a wholescientific concept of how we use herbs butthe way we're going to explain it now

is the way out indigenous people andthe way that peopletraditionally have used herbs.And they've gone a little bit further,especially at [FOREIGN] andthe University of Mexico City.Is a scientifically proven, that themethods which the traditional healers andcuranderos have used herbs which isthe method I'm going to teach you today.Scientifically focused formedicine as a great healing source sothat it was, they took an old tradition

and proved it scientifically.So this is a way a lot of people still tothis today if you go into traditional.Herbalist in Mexico City oreven here in New Mexico,you'll see that the way that theyprepare the herbs is very similar.So, there's a great ways that we do herbs.We can do teas that you could buy,this is valerian root for example.You can see it dry.You can do it in baths.But one way that was, is great way of

conserving plants is with tinctures.And it's quite fabulous.It's, it's very simple.It's nothing that youneed to great extent.We're going to do a tincture firsttoday of estafiate which is mugwort.And there's different varieties.This is artemis vulgaris.And this is great for the immune system.


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Disinfect your tools.But we have tools thatare specifically just for plants.These are not scissors that I would usein my office or use in the kitchen.This is just what we use forplant medicine.And as I go through and I start cutting,and putting these into the jar.I'm asking permission andI'm being conscious of the fact thatthis is going to be used for medicine.And I'm going to go until I fill,like I said, this up until the rim.So we want to be able when weput the alcohol into the plant,that we're able to cover it completely.We don't want the plant to beexposed without the liquid.So, we continue to put the plantinto a container till it'salmost completely full besides,like, probably, like,the first inch is where we

don't want to have it exposed.[SOUND] Estatiata, this is a great herbthat we use for the immune system.It's one of,it was Mexico's key plant against H1N1.for, for healing and the main problem.It's also used on the skinwhen there's skin irritation.In Chinese medicine,this plant is used and dried, andused in, what's called moxibustion.And it's a way that we use to bring downinflammation and help the immune system.

So as I get this plant, the next thingas you can see I've left a little bit ofspace here,is I'm going to fill in alcohol.Normally, if you were in Mexico City,the alcohol that would be used isalcohol de cana, a cane alcohol.But here's a little bit difficultto find alcohol that's 99% proof.So, we have, if this was 99%proof alcohol, the formula that'scustomarily used, is that you would fillyour container for 80% of alcohol de cana.

And then 20% water, soit's a radio of 80-20.But here, it's a little bitharder in the United States tohave that concentration of alcohol.You could use like ever clear.The other thing that you could use isthat if you were going to have that sameseparation, instead of using ever clear orsomething that was 99%,


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you could use vodka.But in the case that you would use vodka,you're going to top it sothat it covers all of the plant.But you're going to make sure that-That you don't dilute this with water,because the alcohol in our country isalready diluted, so you wouldn't havea need to add more water into it.And you're going to want to make surethat when you do it that your plantis completely covered.Now the ideal situationwould be is that if you use.If you use a container,we're using a clear container today, butthe preference would beis to use a container oramber, and because that does a betterway of conserving the medicine.So once my container is full andI have used alcohol andI see that my plant is covered, it'simportant that before we put the lid on,

and we don't want the metal totouch the plant or the tincture.So we're going to cover it with plastic.And we'll put the top.Now one of the important things that we dowhen we are making the tincture is that wewant to label it.And we're going to label the top andI'm going to label.Now this needs to seep for 30 days.So you'll keep it in a cabinet,where there's no sun.Every day you're going to rotate it, so

that it moves the energy of the plant andit becomes your medicine.You'll take a label...And you're going to write your name.It's very very critical thatyou put your name on it,because you'll knowexactly when you made it.You'll put the date.And we use this symbol which isa circle with a line through it,to say that this is a mother tincture.Now, one of the things that's critical

is if I didn't have a cabinet ora place to store these, what you would dois instead, is that you're going to getaluminum paper, and the date'simportant because you're going to know.There's two ways of doing it.They'll either say that you can do it for30 days, oryou can do it with the lunar cycle.So if you made your medicine


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on the day of the full moon.Or it would be ready within the twentyone days of the full moon cycle.Or you leave it for 30 days.So if you're covering this, and you'llsee a lot of herbalists that have theircabinets full of these metal containers,you would again label it again.And you're going to put your name, putthe sticker and you'd have your tincture.Everyday you want to go in and rotatethis to make this into your medicine.And that's how we do a tincture.And this is a tincturethat we would use orally.It's a great, fabulous way of usingmedicine, because we're able to heal.And you can imagine,some I'm used this example.This is artichoke, which we say alcachofa.And this is an, a tincture that we made,this is a mother tincture.And what we do from here, so if you lookat the little bit of plant that I used.

How much tea would be,if we were going to actually consume tea.So when we're dealing with the ruralcommunities an access to plant may not beso easy throughout the year, this isa great way that we could, make medicine.So this is a tincture that'salready prepared and ready.It's alcachofa which is artichoke whichis really, really great for the liver.And what we would do then is,rather than, sometimes people will make,when they have their tinctures and

it's ready, they will get the tincture andthey'll start to, you could put it in gel,you can make it like a body cream Oryou can get the tincture andyou can use it in microdosis.And this is typically the waythat you see it prescribed.And basically, if we remember the 80 20concept, it's the same in microdosis.We're going to get our dropper bottle, andwe're going to use this same distribution.It's an 80 20 distribution.Or, if you were going to make a smaller,

the scientific would be about10 drops to 10 millilitres.And you'll see most traditional healers,you could actually count the drops, but,most traditional healerswill actually just take it,whoops, put a little bit in theircontainer, and they're going to eye it.And they're going to eye andsee what is my percentage, and


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how does it work from there.When they take their percentage.And you can kind of especiallywhen you've been doing this forawhile you'll see how much tincture andhow much water.The next percentage is that you'regoing to take another 80 20.You either have the vehicle whichis going to make the rest is canbe pure water in the case thatyou are working with people thatare having alcohol issues or children.You would use pure water.But the normal way that peoplewould usually use their vehicle isto use 80% water, and 20% alcohol.Because it's going to create that base.And the way that this works is that you'regoing to go right underneath the tonguewith the tincture.So, I'm going to top this off witha tincture so that this is ready.This would be a medicine that I would use

if somebody who is either trying to detox,trying to cleanse the liver hashad like an excess of medication.But also somebody who's been really angry.If we look at the emotionalreason have a liver issues,there's usually people that havehad either an excess of medication,excess of heat orhave had an emotional issue.So we'll get the dropper,we're going to close this.And traditionally in Mexico,

and it's funny,I've asked different people why,is that in order forthis to truly be prepared,that you would actually shake it 30 times.And the scientific studies haveproved that what this does is5 drops equals a cup of tea.So it's much easier, especially whenwe think about people that are working,don't always have the time to sit andprepare a cup of tea.But they could take these little bottles.

And they can put five drops underneaththeir tea four times a day.And they would have a consistentflow of the energy of the medicine.And the plant medicine sothat they could heal.So it's a great way of healing andsupporting community.But also if you think about,I work in some communities in


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Mexico that it's really,really difficult for them to get medicine.And this is a very cost effectiveway to work with world communities.And even communities here where,it's very easy, andthey're not having to worryabout take time and go make tea.It's something they couldcarry in their purse andreally work at a very functional way.I'm going to show you,some of the people ask is,how do you do that ifyou don't have plants?You can do that with a dry plant.The only difference is that whenyou're taking the plant out,you really want to uselike a coffee filter.It takes a little bitof a lengthy process.Or if you're juicing dry plants or, likeeven if it was something like turmeric you

could definitely make it into a tincture.But she's want to a sieve or a pieceof cheesecloth and a coffee filter.It takes a little bit of time forit to filter out, butit's a great way of preparing medicine.So, you definitely can do this with herbs.Another way that way herbs and, andthe same way of doing tinctures is if wewere going to do, and where you reallyhave to make a difference is, if I do forexample, one of the things that's common,especially with children

when they run a fever.And one great medicine that we pulledout of the garden this morning.This is fresh oregano.And oregano has an amazing way.It's a very hot plant.But it's a great way, it smells deliciousyou could definitely use in cooking.But we really use this in emacerations sowe can bring down fever.You would actually put this at the bottomof the feet to pull down fever asquickly as we can.

So if I was going to do thiswith to make another tincture.But this tincture is reallyimportant that you want to do,because in this tincture, this is nota tincture that we're going to consume.This is one that we'regoing to use topically.You'd see a lot of the grandmothers, Iknow it's very common here in New Mexico,


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that our grandmothers would use alcohol.And they would use different herbssometimes even astofieda to,to bring down the pain in their body.So in this case, this would be somethingtopical where you could use regularalcohol that you buy at the,at the grocery store at the pharmacy butone of the big things that youhave to really make clear is thatwhen you're doing this that you label thisthat it's not to drink so normally that.Little circle with the line throughit that we used is used foronly, fortinctures that we're going to consume.In this case, for you to remember andto know where you're atwhen you're doing this.When you're going to label this,you're going to label it andyou're going to put the plant name.The date, andthen you'll just going to put an X on it.

And that you'll know is that this isnot a plant that you'll be consuming.This is something that you'regoing to be using topical.Now in, normally when we make tincturesthat are going to be consumed, you neverwant to mix plants and do a tincture,customarily if you are going to,.How somebody that say youwant somebody relaxed andyou're going to put Tila, which islinden flower, passion flower, you wouldmake the tinctures separately and then you

can combine them later in one container.And if it was 20 millilitres you'duse about t, twe, ten drops of each.So you're cons, k,keeping the consistency of the 80/20.In this case, if this was somethingthat you're going to use topically,you could add a couple of more herbs.And so, for example,one great combination, and it growsbeautifully here in New Mexico is, youcould actually make your own bug spray.I actually recommend

to a lot of people forthese times of mosquitos, that you coulduse citronella, which is just gorgeous.And rosemary.And you can soak it, and it will become,you can put it into a little spray bottle,and it becomes your own insect retitle,repellent.And it's all natural.So, after you would do your alcohol,


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you get your regular alcohol thatyou buy at the grocery store.You'll do the same thing.You're going to top off the plants.Let it sit normally for 30 days, again.Because you really want to get the essenceof that plant, and have it come through.[SOUND] Cover it the top,again, keeping consciousof what you're doing,what you're teaching.And in this case you,you again wouldn't add any water.Now I probably, am a little short inalcohol, we definitely want to keep it sothat it's covered to the top again.I would do the same thing because we don'twant the metal, the metal to change.The quality of the plant orthe reaction that the metal can cause withthe plant and your going to cover this.We would use the same level with that x.Put the name of the plant.So in this case.

This is oregano.The date.And you would shake it.And you would let this sit for 30 days.So, it's, it's quite amazing andincredible that amount of plant,the very little plant that wecould use to bring about healing.Now this is something that you could use,like if you had rosemary forexample, you could have arnica, calendula.You could even use oregano.For somebody that had like arthritis,

it would be a great way ofpulling down inflammation.There's a,another plant that would be really good,to people had skin infections,would be our yarrow demacia.Yarrow demacia's a really,really good plant here that we use inNew Mexico, for any type of infection.And it can be taken both orally ortopically.So, some people don't like to use topical.They'll prefer to use straight alcohol or

vodka for all of their tinctures.That way they,if they decided to use it for an ointment.Because what you could do is if youhad a little bit of, let's say,this oregano, andyou wanted to make some type of body,you could be able to mix iteven with a simple hand gel.Mix it together so, it absorbs into


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3 - 1 - Tinctures and Microdosis - Tinturas y Microdosis