Contrary to what its name sometimes suggests, gemmotherapy does not consist in healing with stones but with plant buds.
Why use buds instead of plants?
“Traditionally, in herbal medicine, we use the active principles of plants. But according to the needs and the expectation of care, we use those of the roots, leaves, flowers or a mixture of both. While in the bud or the young shoot, we find in concentrate the properties and benefits of all the future parts of the adult plant “ explains Moune, author of My gemmotherapy notebook.
Gemmotherapy therefore uses bud macerates for complete care. “Because, not only do the buds concentrate the active ingredients of the whole plant, but in addition they have regenerative properties specific to their embryonic state”.
For example, the linden bud combines the calming and anxiolytic virtues associated with the flower of this tree, and the diuretic and depurative properties of the sapwood, the tender and whitish part which forms each year between the wood and the bark.
What is a bud macerate?
It is of course in the spring, just before they hatch, that the buds and young shoots are harvested, to collect all their virtues and especially the vital energy of the sap. After harvest, the buds will macerate for 21 days in a mixture consisting of one third of water, one third of vegetable glycerin (in pharmacies or organic stores) and one third of 40 ° alcohol (fruit alcohol).
“Each of the three will extract different active ingredients: what will be extracted by water will not be extracted by alcohol or glycerin and vice versa. Together, they will therefore extract all the active properties of the plant” underlines Moune.
After 3 weeks, this solution is filtered and stored in an opaque bottle. This is what we will call “bud macerate”.
How to use bud macerates?
“The mother macerate can be used as it is, that is to say concentrated. But if you find it too loaded with alcohol, you can dilute it in water by counting one part of macerate for 10 parts of water” explains the expert. Note that the bud macerates marketed by homeopathic laboratories have already been diluted.
The usual dosage is 5 to 10 drops 3 times a day for an adult (30 to 50 drops for the diluted macerate) and 2 to 5 drops per day (10 to 15 drops for the diluted macerate) for a child over 6 years old. To be taken in half a glass of water, without meals and as a three-week treatment.
But the consultation of a naturopath makes it possible to adapt the dosage to each one.
3 bud macerates for spring
• Birch buds : they stimulate the whole body including internal organs. It is a general tonic recommended as an off-season cure (spring and autumn) to drain, help the liver to eliminate excess and cleanse the kidneys, in particular of its stones.
• Chestnut buds : they help the body to get rid of toxins but above all they help soothe pains or feelings of heavy legs and they act on the lymphatic circulation of the swollen lower limbs.
• Young sprouts of rosemary : they rebalance the body so that it can better absorb the nutrients essential to its health and they regulate the acid-base balance. They also stimulate the immune system in cases of chronic allergy, which makes them particularly useful in this period of pollen allergy.
Find out more : My gemmotherapy notebook, Moune, Mosaïque-Santé editions
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