David Winston
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David Winston is an herbalist and ethnobotanist who, for the last 26 years has practiced herbal medicine in United States. He has over 35 years training in Cherokee medicine, Chinese medicine and the western Eclectic medicine traditions. In addition, David is a founding/professional member of the American Herbalists Guild[1] , for which he served three terms as a Board Member and is a founding member of United Plant Savers a nonprofit which seeks to protect native medicinal plants of the United States and Canada and their native habitats. [2] He serves as an adjunct professor at the Tai Sophia Institute and is the Dean of the Center for Herbal Studies [3]
As a child he developed a serious relationship with plants and started experimenting with taking them and observing their effects. As a teen he spent summers on the Cherokee Qualla Boundary reservation where his aunt and uncle instructed him in Cherokee medicine. He was treating people by age 17. In 1970 he moved to New York City where he studied with Dr. Eng, a doctor of Chinese Herbal Medicine. In 1976 he began study with western herbalist William LeSassier who developed the theory of Triune formulas and started university courses in physiology and pharmacognosy. He also studied with Dr. Christopher who was unique in being a nationally known herbalist in his generation, as well as with local healers. In 1976 he started his clinical practice. He currently practices as a Cherokee medicine priest which allows a combination of herbal and ceremonial medicine techniques. [4]
David Winston has one of the largest private libraries of botanical medicine in the United States with extensive holdings with over 8,000 books and over 10,000 articles including eclectic and Thomsonian Medicine, physiomedicalism, the history of medicine, Native American medicine, worldwide ethnobotany, pharmacy, pharmocognosy and economic botany. He owns the only company dealing exclusively with antiquarian herbal and medical books.
He founded Herbalist and Alchemist, an herbal tincture firm known for spagyric alchemical processing of herbs. Unlike most commercially available herbal tinctures, the alchemically processed herbs have mineral constituents reduced to ash from the marc added back after filtration.
His school, the David Winston Center for Herbal Studies, trains herbalists and medical personnel in the use of herbal medicines, using over 300 plants taken from Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, eclectic and European herbal traditions, with subtle differentiation between species and uses. His philosophy is to use plants from various traditions, analyzed in a way that allows him to construct formulas based on Cherokee, Triune, Chinese or other traditions that match the individual, rather than using herbs stereotyped for a specific disease. This is a kind of constitutional medicine that puts the strengths and weaknesses of a patient at the center of the analysis rather than the named disease, and is common to most traditional herbal medicine traditions. A number of the leading younger herbalists in the United States today were trained in his methodology and he has taught in other countries as well.
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[edit] Publications
- 2007, Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief (with Steven Maimes)
- 2006, Cancer: Its Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment (With Earl Yarnel and Eli Jones)
- 2003, Herbal Therapeutics: Specific Indications for Herbs & Herbal Formulas
- 2001, Herbal Therapy and Supplements: A Scientific and Traditional Approach (with Merrily Kuhn)
- 1999, Saw Palmetto for Men & Women: Herbal Healing for the Prostate, Urinary Tract, Immune System and More (Medicinal Herb Guide)]]
- 1992, Nvoti Cherokee Medicine and Ethnobotany in American Herbalism edited by Michael Tierra Crossings Press
