Herbal health and healing thyself

Good health is a sometimes elusive prize that medical herbalist and medal-winning bodybuilder Sarah Beesley sets out every day to capture - for her clients and herself.
Ms Beesley is a Reiki practitioner, nutritionist and registered medical herbalist with five years' training in herbal and nutritional medicine, specialising in digestive, immune and endocrine disorders, natural fertility and reproductive health, allergies and adrenal and diabetes treatments.
And, to put her own good health to the test, she three years ago took up weight training, twice winning silver in regional and national bodybuilding competitions.
"I had trained as an interior designer but I decided to change my life and headed into herbal medicine, and it's been an incredible journey."
Ms Beesley this month re-opened the doors of her Self Heal Clinic in Carterton after shifting the business from Greytown, where it had been based for six years.
The multi-practitioner clinic houses one of the most comprehensive herbal dispensaries in the lower half of the North Island, boasting a substantial range of medical-grade teas and plant tinctures.
Carterton life coach Maree McManaway and Masterton homeopath Dayna Davis will soon be working from the clinic as well as a dispensary assistant.
Ms Beesley trained in herbal medicine in Waikato and counts in her professional arsenal a detailed knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, chemistry, biochemistry, plant pharmacology, nutrition, drug interaction and product manufacturing.
She has also trained in Bach flower remedies and alternative health treatments, including quantum reflexology and emotional resonance.
"It's about cutting to the chase of people's health problems and treating their limiting self-belief as much as revealing and treating any underlying health imbalance they might be suffering.
"We hold to a more holistic concept of health than the current medical model that pictures the body as a sequence of isolated parts.
"There are quite a few doctors in Wairarapa who know of me and how I work, and some doctors have referred people to me and we've got some Wairarapa Hospital nurses as clients.
"New Zealand still has somewhat of an 'us-and-them' health system running between the community of established health professionals and practitioners like myself. Not like in some European cities, where hospitals have natural health practitioners on staff. But there is a paradigm shift happening here all the same; it's just happening slowly, that's all."
Referrals to the clinic are for a wide range of conditions but most commonly for chronic health problems. Ms Beesley will also refer clients on to a general practitioner, chiropractor or mental health provider if necessary.
"My goal is to empower people and help to set in place changes in behaviour to bring their own good health to them.
"So, no, I'm not a big fan of over-the-counter self-medication - it can throw the body into all sorts of imbalances and some prescription medicines can cause nutrient depletion.
"Where valid, we can address that. Our plant tinctures are concentrated not diluted and the treatments in our dispensary aren't packed with binders and fillers."
Lining the pathway to the front door of the Self Heal Clinic are several neat squares of newly sewn vegetable gardens.
"What we eat and drink is vital to our good health and recovery from illness.
"Our little gardens underline that philosophy and you literally walk through that potency to reach our door.
"People need to understand that the quality of every cell that makes up your body depends on the quality of the food you eat every day - it's that simple.
"It's only when you fall ill that things become complex."