Aging and Yin Deficiency; Tendonitis & Liver; Essential Oils that Support Liver Yin & More!
23 Feb, 2025
Hello Everyone,
This week, I have an excerpt from the SPE/NHSS Members Journal for you. It should give you a great idea of the approach and resources we apply.
My Natural Health Science System (NHSS) consists of a synthesis of all the components of my practice and my lifestyle over the course of 45 years. Although retired now from naturopathic practice, the following components still serve as the paving stones for the pathway of my daily existence: the basic principles of healthful, all-natural diet, strategic nutritional supplementation, herbal medicine, cell salts, homeopathy, Vital-Chi Skin-Brushing, hydrotherapies, healthful sunbathing, stretching exercises, chi kung (qigong) exercise, deep breathing exercises, acupoint therapy and other forms of self-directed therapeutic bodywork.
Additionally, I use invaluable supportive technologies as needed, including molecular hydrogen inhalation, pulsed electromagnetic fields therapies, color light therapies, among others. My basic premise in teaching the NHSS has always been that each person should have the knowledge and skills to preserve good health and to be a skillful healer within one’s own home.
I began developing the art of Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE) in the 1990′s. SPE (deep psychospiritual work with customized essential oil blends and gemstone essences) is actually the psychospiritual counterpart of my NHSS. Ideally, the two systems are used in concert. They are completely interactive and I often integrate the techniques of both systems to create powerful therapeutic protocols.
Aging and Yin Deficiency
Elderly people tend toward Yin deficiency. Yin represents the substances of life, and Yang is the motivating force (chi or vital force is a manifestation of Yang) that activates these substances. Materially, the fluids of the body, including blood, lymph, cerebral spinal fluid, synovial fluid, hormones, mucosal secretions, etc. are all components of the body’s Yin. Yin is substantial, cohesive and lends depth and weight. Lacking sufficient Yang, Yin is static, or flows downward with gravity. Yin contains, collects and stores, and therefore, nourishes and sustains.
Yin represents the energy that is responsible for moistening and cooling bodily functions. Yin declines with age, usually beginning in the late 30s.
When Yin is depleted, the body begins to show signs of heating and drying due to a deficiency of the moistening and cooling functions necessary to maintain homeostasis. Yin deficiency and dryness negatively impacts the blood and intercellular fluids by making these more viscous and sluggish in flow. As chi is nourished by Yin and depleted by physical resistance in the tissues, Deficient Yin and its associated thick fluids that tend toward stagnation, ultimately lead to chi deficiency. When Yin is enhanced, thick fluids are thinned and blood and lymphatic circulation improve.
When Yin is over-consumed (e.g., due to stress and over-activity), endurance and vital reserves decline. One becomes hyper-reactive and hypersensitive, growth and repair slows, and the depth of the mind/body organism’s dimensions becomes increasingly superficial. The overall sense of flow is disrupted; one comes to feel un-nurtured and unsupported.
In Chinese medicine, the concept of bodily Yin is often primarily focused on the body’s fluid organization. However, the adult body is composed of approximately 60% water and an infant’s body is typically 75-78% water (dropping to 65% by one year of age). Thus, Yin actually constitutes the cellular substance of the body. It is necessary to first reconstitute Yin before the body’s Yang (the action potential, chi and heat within the body) has a sufficient matrix to operate efficiently within.
Signs of aging are closely linked to the depletion of the body’s Yin: hair and skin become dry and devitalized; joints (including the ankles, knees and the intervertebral joints of the spine) become rigid and prone to injury. The maintenance of vibrant-quality health while aging is directly dependent upon the preservation and strengthening of systemic Yin.
Due to decreased storage function associated with Yin deficiency, common symptoms among older individuals include frequent urination, nocturia (frequent urination during the night), incontinence, depletion of physical structures (e.g., osteoporosis and sarcopenia), and insomnia. Often, insomnia is the result of the inability of the body to move activating chi into storage in the interior at night.
From the Chinese medicine perspective, one of the liver's main physiological functions is the Yin action of storage of blood.
The liver stores blood and regulates the volume of blood circulation according to the needs of various tissues and organs. During rest the amount of blood required by the body decreases and the surplus is stored in the liver. During vigorous activity blood is released from the liver to increase the volume of circulating blood.
It is important to know that in Chinese medicine, the liver is said to "rule the sinews." In this instance, the term "sinews" corresponds to certain active aspects of the muscles and joints, prominently including the tendons. Dysfunction of the Liver acupoint meridian is considered to be involved in problems affecting these tissues. Therefore, when treating tendonitis, it may prove useful to apply whatever essential oil blend you prepare to specific Liver meridian acupoints.
Tendons and ligaments have a very poor blood supply meaning that they do not have any blood vessels that travel through them, which is what makes them very strong and resistant to stretch. This is also why the do not heal quickly, because they lack a direct blood supply. The materials that they need to heal are supplied to the body via the blood, and then are transferred to the tissue thru the fluid that leaves the blood flow carrying the needed materials.
Therefore, ligaments and tendons need to be constantly "bathed" with this fluid since they do not have a direct blood supply within them as muscles do. This is why they take longer to heal than muscle. This is also why movement helps them to heal more quickly because movement of the soft tissue helps with the "bathing" process.
As increased blood flow speeds up the healing of tendons, anything, including improved circulation of chi along the Liver meridian and enhanced Liver Yin, that increases blood flow, ultimately enhances the healing process.
Essential Oils that Support Liver Yin
As noted, healthy tendons require robust circulation of the Yin substances blood and extracellular fluids. Given the central role the liver plays in the storage and distribution of these, it is a good strategy to add in at least two essential oils into a tendonitis treatment blend that support Liver Yin. Two leading oils, among others, in this reference are blue chamomile and rosemary.
Thus, a comprehensive formula for a Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE) tendonitis blend that treats both the root and branch of the disorder, might feature the following essential oils: frankincense, turmeric, blue chamomile, rosemary and lavender(lavender is included in all SPE blends as it is the only essential oil that can harmonize the diverse soul-natures of the component oils).
The Guiding Oil
However, one more oil could tailor the blend specifically for tendonitis of a particular joint. In other words, a particular oil would be selected if one intended to treat Achilles tendonitis and a different oil would be selected, if the intention was to treat shoulder rotator cuff tendonitis.
In SPE, this "targeting" oil is referred to as the guiding oil.
The February live class for members is scheduled for Tuesday, 2/25/25 will focus on: Spikenard Oil, neurohormonal dysregulation, the human rhythmic system; rhythmicity as a factor in health and disease, and, if there is time, rhythmic, intermittent fasting to assist weight loss. Of course, those members cannot attend the live class will have the opportunity to view it on the recording link that will be emailed to everyone a few days after its presentation.
In the next issue of this NHSS/SPE MembersJournal, I will describe how to determine an appropriate guiding oil for different tendonitis locations. I will also present a complete discussion of how to apply the tendonitis essential oil blend, not only to the injured tendon but to specific (easily located) Liver meridian acupoints. That discussion will also return to the corresponding image model derived from Chinese acupuncture understandingsthat I utilized in earlier NHSS/SPE protocols.
For example, the ankle corresponds to the wrist of the opposite side. The knee to the opposite elbow. The shoulder to the opposite hip. Thus, when treating, for instance, Achilles tendonitis, instead of focusing solely on the affected ankle area, one would also treat the tendons of the opposite wrist.
I’ve been delivering online webinars and coaching my students on the practice of SPE and NHSS (Natural Health Science System) from decades now. We are now in the process of delivering last year or so of online live classes and the mission now is to record the content and make the classes along with reference documents available via the membership program.
The classes usually run for 2+ hours and we usually have 1-2 tracks, so a subject is usually completed in 2-3 classes, giving time to assimilate and start basic practice of the protocol. The members’ newsletter that I send out before the classes provide the context and content helping you prepare.
For anyone interested in deep, soul-level healing work with essential oils, this is an opportunity you will not want to miss to study with me in the convenience of you own home.
Sign up for the membership program today - for just $99/yr and receive the invitation to participate in the next live class and access to all the video classes, blend formulations, gemstone essences, recipes, etc. in the member zone.
Here at NaturalHealthScience.com it is our mission to help you learn to be your own "inner physician". I hope it helps you obtain and experience the knowledge and tools to live a healthy, wholesome life.
Please feel free to write to me if you have any questions. I hope you enjoy reading the articles in this newsletter and find the information beneficial in your journey to wholeness of being while improving your practice and skills.
A fundamental dietary principle of my Natural Health Science System is: Eat a diet dominated by fresh, whole, high water-content, alkaline ash foods that prominently features a variety of nutrient-dense, power foods. One of these nutrient-dense, power foods is chia seed — a food that is an important component of my daily diet. In this article I present a detailed discussion about the nutritional bounty and healing potential of chia seed.
This 2.5 hours+ series of classes by Dr. Berkowsky provides an in-depth view of the Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE) method of essential oil blend formulation using the SPE Repertory of Essential Oils and the SPE Materia Medica/Spiritualis of Essential Oils with a focus on a blend formulated for use with those who were traumatized by the Los Angeles wildfires.
This series provides a wide spectrum of information regarding not only SPE blending and the use of SPE oil blends, but also physiology and pathology from both a Western and Chinese perspective, and the nature of trauma.
Members of the NHSS/SPE Membership program can download the formulation guide with rubric chain (25 pages) and blend blueprint.
Berkowsky’s Synthesis Materia Medica of the Twelve Cell Salts (eBook)
Dr. Berkowsky’s in-depth Materia Medica of the 12 homeopathic cell salts and integrating cell salts with essential oils, herbal medicine, acupuncture, molecular hydrogen and other traditional naturopathic remedies.
I have found hydrogen therapy to be profoundly beneficial and so feel compelled to make people aware of its healing potential.
I have been using the Ultra 3000 from a few months now, it is a high-quality, high performance unit. Before this I had the 900 unit which worked great as well, however the latest 3000 model offers much higher doses and there is a . The H2 water made at 500 setting is working very well. I feel there is sublingual and buccal absorption of the H2 and it affects the entire head region. My eyes feel clearer, brain sharper and some sinus drainage immediately afterward.
Dr. Bruce Berkowsky (N.M.D., H.M.C., M.H.) has devoted himself as a teacher and practitioner of the art and science of natural healing for over 40 years. He has constructed a dynamic system of health creation from a synthesis of the complementary aspects of traditional naturopathy, classical homeopathy, western science, traditional eastern healing arts and anthroposophical science. He applies modern physiological and biochemical knowledge into a context that acknowledges the unity of human life with the fundamental elements and rhythms of nature. And for the past 25 years Dr. Berkowsky has devoted much of his attention to the development of the art of Spiritual PhytoEssencing (SPE), a system of deep, soul-level healing work with essential oils.
Enquiries for sponsorships, speaking, and interviews are welcome. Simply contact us with any questions and we’ll get back to you asap!
DISCLAIMER: All content is intended as an educational tool, and not as a prescription. Readers are advised to seek the advice of their healthcare providers before discontinuing any medication and/or trying any new remedy or technique.
Dr. Bruce Berkowsky is the founder/teacher of the Natural Health Science System™ which he has developed over the course of his 40+ years of research and private practice, and includes: traditional naturopathy (N.M.D., MRN, CTN); herbology (M.H.); nutrition (Ph.D.); homeopathy (DHM, H.M.C.); massage and bodywork (NCTMB); aromatherapy (cert.); constitutional iridology (cert.) as well as East/West healing arts/exercises/bodywork.
Dr. Berkowsky, a registered naturopath, master herbalist and classical homeopath, is the founder/teacher of Spiritual PhytoEssencing and the Natural Health Science System which he designed following many years of research and clinical practice.
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