Monday, September 28, 2009

How To Make Your Own Miraculous Yogi Tea?

Herbal tea has become more popular in Western countries than in Sri Lanka. They have started to relieve their sore throats by gargling with simple herbal mixtures, their headaches, colds or flu by drinking pots of spicy herbal tea. In these countries you can purchase aromatic herbal tea-bags. Its preparation is quite easy.

In Sri Lanka we can get enough herbs to use as tea. To make herbal tea from loose herbs, use a heavy weight tea pot (not aluminium) and boiling water. Add one teaspoon of dried herbs or one tablespoon of fresh herbs to one cup of water. Put the herbs into a stainless steel tea pot, and steam in the boiling water for about three minutes, covered to preserve the aroma. Serve with a slice of fresh lemon or lime or a spoonful of honey.

How To Make Herbal Tea?

Make Your Own Miraculous Yogi Tea
It is taken for colds and congestion of the lungs and to improve circulation. Many of the larger health food stores in the West stock this blend. The following ingredients when mixed with a quart of boiling water makes Yogi tea :

How To Make Herbal Tea? - What You Need:

1 tablespoon coriander seed
8 cardamoms
1/2 inch long stick of cinnamon
8 cloves
5 black pepper corns
1 inch fresh ginger (pound slightly)
1/4 teaspoon any standard black tea (optional)
1/4 cup milk (optional)

How To Make Your Own Miraculous Yogi Tea? – Preparation Method
Boil herbal ingredients for 10 to 12 minutes, then add black tea for colour and simmer for an additional 3 minutes. Mix in milk and sweeten with honey.

Though milk is mentioned here, generally the true Yogi tea never includes milk or cream because it clouds the brew and dulls the aroma.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Use of Cardiospermum Halicacabum

When it is the hot season we can get plenty of cooling herbs both as food and as medicine at our doorstep.

In the market and in our gardens we find plenty of 'Penela Wel’. It is a cheap kind of green leaf known to almost every one. In Sanskrit it is called 'Jyotishmati' or ‘Parawitapadi’, which means pigeon's foot. The botanical term is Cardiospermum Halicacabum.

It is an annual herb which is very common in the low-country and throughout the tropics. It is a small delicate, wiry, smooth, climber. Its leaves are alternate and the leaflets are coarsely toothed. The lowest pair of flower stalks are converted into spiral tendrils and the seeds are in three tangled capsules.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #1
It was very largely used by the Sinhalese settlers to allay pains due to sprains and contusions about the joints. The roots and the leaves are commonly used in medicine.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #2
A decoction of the Cardiospermum Halicacabum roots is given in half tablespoonful doses twice a day for bleeding piles.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #3
The leaves are used for rheumatism, nervous diseases, hemorrhoids and chronic bronchitis. The juice of the leaves is put into the ear for ear-ache.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #4
The leaves are used as one of the ingredients in a medicine recommended in the medical book 'Bhavaprakasha' for the abnormal suppression of menses.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #5
Equal parts of Cardiospermum Halicacabum leaves, Sahinda-Iunu (Potassium carbonate), the root bark of Hin-kumbuk (Terminalia Arjuna), Vadakaha (Acorus Calanus) are pounded and made into a paste with milk.This is administered once or twice a day. Dosage: one teaspoonful each time.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #6
Cardiospermum Halicacabum is a cooling drink when prepared as a canjee. You prepare it just like gotukola kenda. It can be taken in the morning as a drink for breakfast.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #7
The external uses of Cardiospermum Halicacabum. The leaves are applied as a poultice for skin eruptions. They are coated with castor oil and are applied on swellings and tumours.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #8
A paste of the leaves is a dressing for sores and wounds. The leaves are prepared into mallum, and used externally for Hydrocele. Some of the English names for Cardiospermum Halicacabum are Baloonvine, Black-Liquorice and Heart-seed.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #9
The crushed leaves are inhaled to relieve headache. The seeds are used as a tonic in fever, and rheumatism.

Cardiospermum Halicacabum Use #10
Cardiospermum Halicacabum is used in preparing an oil for infants when they find it difficult to breath through the nose. Few people know about this.

Common herbs like Cardiospermum Halicacabum have not been catalogued in Sri Lanka, but more than 5,000 varieties of medicinal herbs have been catalogued in China. Most of these have been found to be more effective than Western drugs.

The Advantage Of Traditional Medicines

Health care in the village can still be based on the ancient methods. The primary practitioners of traditional medicine should be supported by the community.

The people still have more confidence in the practitioner of traditional medicine. In the village its importance is in the community's involvement, support and co-operation.
If we look closely we see that the sick in the villages have been helped by their neighbours. Wise men and women are generally asked by the sick for advice. Herbs have been collected and used. In this manner before the advent of modem medicine folk medicine and an indigenous health system flourished.

Even now traditional medicine has a strong hold in many countries and is accepted by the community. One has to appreciate also that folk and traditional medicine have contributed a great deal to the development of modem medicine.

The advantage of traditional medicine is that it is used according to seasonal conditions and the constitutional state of the sick.


A large part of the population of our country live in rural areas and the majority of them are poor and have no access to the health services.

Health cannot be imposed upon a person; it has to be won in partnership. Our aim should be to bring the health services and the community together to ensure health care to the largest number at a minimum cost Low cost health services should be matched with simple but effective technology.