Tibetan Himalayan Medicine

Tibetan medical science (Sowa Rigpa) is a comprehensive and complex holistic healing system based on teachings given by Buddha Shakyamuni 2,500 years ago in India. The teachings can be divided into two categories: psychotherapeutic to heal the mind and somatic to heal the body. According to the medical perspective any disturbance — physical or mental — can be caused by imbalances in the three humors of wind, bile, and phlegm or in the five elements of space, wind, fire, water and earth.
Tibetan medicine analyses our unique nature or constitution and teaches us how to make supportive lifestyle choices. Due to the connection that exists between the body and mind — where dietary and environmental factors influence the mind and thoughts and emotions affect the body — each aspect can generate either health or sickness.
There are four types of treatment that Tibetan doctors prescribe for an illness: medicinal remedies, internal or external therapies, diet, and behaviour.

Medicinal remedies
Medicinal remedies are prepared in many forms. The main ones are: decoctions, powdered medicine, pills, syrup (liquid), medicinal butter, burnt ash medicine, syrup (solid), medicinal wines and precious pills. These traditional remedies incorporate many types of natural ingredients: stones, minerals, roots, wood, stems, and saps.
Just like the food we eat, each of these medicinal ingredients has a taste and quality and each remedy is prescribed according to either their taste or quality to restore balance to the humours in the body.