Boswellia Serrata for your Health
We are all so fortunate to be able to share the knowledge from the timeless archives of Vaidya Mishra’s family lineage. I have been especially honored to be able to sit, side-by-side, with Vaidya for the past 15 years, when he visits my clinic and teaches me, on-site, how to take care of the numerous health problems that I encounter on a daily basis.
I feel the need to share with you some of the practical knowledge I have acquired learning with Vaidya, as it is so simple yet precious. So I have decided to periodically write up case histories, that sometimes even amount to almost miraculous stories. When you how, through the practical SVA teaching, how to use and incorporate divine herbs, there is literally no limit to what you can do with them, how much you can heal with them. I will also be sharing with you any other pertinent tidbits of knowledge that I’ve collected out here in the field.
Since this is the Holiday Season, I begin my first story with a well-known herb, Boswellia. Dr. Mishra gives us the capability of taking it in a glyceride or, as he calls it, Herbal-Memory Nectra drop form, since many people need high doses, and the crude herbs could disrupt the digestive tract when/if taken in large doses over long periods of time.
This is an herb I simply cannot keep on the shelves. It is a powerful anti-inflammatory and works like an Ayurvedic prednisone! It can be used for inflammatory bowel disease, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, for bronchitis and asthma or other inflammation in the lungs and for joint and muscle pains (as in osteo or rheumatoid arthritis).
In all inflammatory processes, there is increased formation of leukotrienes. The key enzyme for leukotriene biosynthesis is 5- lipooxygenase. Boswellia inhibits (stops) the enzyme 5- lipooxygenase from forming.
As their name implies, leukotrienes were first discovered in leukocytes but have since been found in other immune cells.
Leukotrienes regulate immune responses. For example, leukotriene production is usually accompanied by the production of histamine and prostaglandins, which also act as inflammatory mediators.
One of the roles of leukotrienes (specifically, leukotriene D4) is to trigger contractions in the smooth muscles lining the trachea; their overproduction is a major cause of inflammation in asthma and allergic rhinitis. Leukotriene antagonists (Boswellia in this case) are used to treat these disorders by inhibiting the production or activity of leukotrienes.
Leukotrienes contribute to the pathophysiology of asthma, causing or potentiating the following symptoms:
- Airflow obstruction
- Increased secretion of mucus
- Mucosal accumulation
- Broncho-constriction
- Infiltration of inflammatory cells in the airway wall
Almost every time I put a patient on this herb, they come back and tell me how much better they feel since going on it. I am especially grateful for this wonderful herb. Last year I developed asthma after a prolonged bout of bronchitis. I went to a highly revered pulmonologist in Philadelphia from Jefferson University, the most distinguished medical institution in this area.
She told me the only way I could cure my condition was to take a steroid inhaler and a bronchodilator inhaler for several months to clear up the inflammation in the smaller bronchial tubes.
However, my body rejected the inhalers and they actually produced the opposite reaction in me – they closed up my lungs. After taking the Boswellia Nectar drops for 5 months (along with other herbs to heal the lungs) I went back to the pulmonologist for my lung function studies.
The small airways which were only working up to 85% capacity were now working 115%! The pulmonologist was shocked – when I had left her office the last time (in early July) she had warned me that the only way I could heal my lungs was to take the two inhalers. She told me that if I didn’t my condition would worsen to the point where I needed more and more rescue inhalers.
I left her with all the research on the herbs – she told me she’d see me in a year for a quick checkup and she said she was highly interested in learning more about the use of herbs for lung conditions.
As I was researching Boswellia on my own last summer, I found out it also comes under the name of “Frankinsense”. I told Dr. Mishra that the Three Wise Men presented this herb to Christ when he was born and now I understand why. Its capabilities are tremendous!
He told me that the three magi, or the Three Wise Men, were descendants of the Shakaldwipa Brahmins, his own family lineage! I felt humbled to be part of such a divine lineage treating people in this modern day and age with the ancient knowledge of these great seers.
So, as we enter the New Year, I would like to wish all of you happy and healthy holidays and a joyous new year. I hope you enjoy all the stories of my experiences with these wonderful herbs and using all the information of Vaidya Mishra’s SVA lineage. Dr. Mishra has taught me a wealth of knowledge. Ihave loved sitting by his side all these years hearing the stories of the herbs and I am excited to show you some of the miracles I have witnessed over these past 15 years.
Marianne Teitelbaum, D.C.
December 25, 2012
