Healing traditions

This section is designed to host the full healing traditions catalog from the app, including region, description, and traditions-linked herbs.

Ayurveda

One of the world's oldest healing systems, balancing mind, body, and spirit through herbs, diet, and lifestyle.

India & South Asia

Traditional Chinese Medicine

A 3,000-year-old system built on qi, yin-yang balance, and the five elements, using herbs, acupuncture, and movement.

China & East Asia

Western Herbalism

A living tradition rooted in ancient Greek and Roman medicine, refined over centuries into modern phytotherapy.

Europe & Americas

African Traditional Medicine

Rich healing practices across hundreds of cultures, using plants, ritual, and community to restore wholeness.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Indigenous / Native American

Sacred plant knowledge passed across generations by hundreds of tribes, honoring the deep relationship between land and healing.

North America

Unani / Islamic Medicine

A Greco-Arabic tradition preserving and expanding the works of Hippocrates and Galen through Islamic scholarship.

Middle East & Central Asia

Mediterranean

Ancient Greek, Roman, and Arab traditions blended into a culinary and medicinal heritage still widely practiced today.

Mediterranean Basin

Kampo / Japanese Medicine

Japan's adaptation of TCM, refined for over 1,500 years into precise herbal formulas integrated with modern medicine.

Japan

Korean Traditional Medicine

Hanbang medicine uniquely developed Korean formulations emphasizing constitutional medicine and the four body types.

Korea

Tibetan Medicine

Sowa Rigpa — the science of healing — blends Ayurveda, TCM, and Buddhist philosophy into rare high-altitude plant medicine.

Tibet & Himalayas

Persian Medicine

Avicenna's Canon of Medicine systematized ancient Persian healing into one of the most influential medical texts in history.

Iran & Persia

Thai Traditional Medicine

A system rooted in Buddhist principles, blending herbal medicine, massage, and spiritual healing practices.

Southeast Asia

Latin American Curanderismo

A vibrant mestizo tradition merging indigenous plant wisdom with Spanish colonial medicine and Catholic folk healing.

Mexico & Latin America

Amazonian Plant Medicine

Ancient shamanic traditions from the Amazon basin holding thousands of years of rainforest plant knowledge.

Amazon Rainforest

Caribbean Folk Medicine

A syncretic blend of African, Indigenous Taíno, and European herbal traditions shaped by the islands' rich biodiversity.

Caribbean Islands

Brazilian Phytotherapy

A unique fusion of indigenous Amazonian, African, and Portuguese healing traditions backed by growing clinical research.

Brazil

Siddha Medicine

One of the world's oldest medical systems, originating in Tamil Nadu, using metals, minerals, and plants to restore the body's elemental balance.

South India & Tamil Nadu

Jamu

Indonesia's ancient herbal tradition spanning over 1,200 years, using turmeric, ginger, galangal, and hundreds of tropical botanicals for daily wellness.

Indonesia & Southeast Asia

Vietnamese Traditional Medicine

Thuốc Nam — a uniquely Vietnamese system blending TCM influences with indigenous southern herbs, emphasizing accessible local plants for everyday healing.

Vietnam & Southeast Asia

Mongolian Traditional Medicine

A nomadic healing system blending Tibetan Buddhist medicine with the steppe's hardy plants, adaptogens, and animal remedies to withstand extreme climates.

Mongolia & Central Asia

Russian & Siberian Folk Medicine

A rich tradition of forest and steppe botanicals — adaptogens, mushrooms, and cold-climate herbs — used for centuries to build resilience and longevity.

Russia & Siberia

Celtic & Norse Herbalism

Ancient Druidic and Norse plant wisdom carried through medieval Europe — hedgerow herbs, sacred trees, and forest plants woven into folk healing and ritual.

Northern & Western Europe

Appalachian Folk Medicine

A mountain tradition passed down by Scots-Irish settlers and Cherokee people, rich in goldenseal, black cohosh, ginseng, and generations of botanical wisdom.

Appalachian Mountains, USA

Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Documented in the Ebers Papyrus (1550 BCE), Egyptian medicine combined frankincense, myrrh, aloe, and over 700 plant remedies with spiritual ritual.

Egypt & North Africa

Yoruba & West African Medicine

Yoruba Ifa medicine and broader West African traditions unite plants, divination, and spiritual healing — with bitter leaf, African basil, and moringa at the core.

Nigeria & West Africa

North African & Amazigh Medicine

A sophisticated tradition rooted in Amazigh (Berber) knowledge, blending argan, henna, nigella, desert plants, and Arab-Islamic medicine.

Morocco, Algeria & North Africa

Māori Rongoa

Rongoa Māori is a living healing system of native New Zealand plants — kawakawa, mānuka, harakeke — intertwined with wairua (spiritual wellbeing).

Aotearoa New Zealand

Aboriginal Australian Medicine

The world's oldest continuous healing tradition, spanning 65,000 years, using eucalyptus, tea tree, desert plants, and deep knowledge of Country.

Australia

Andean & Incan Medicine

Kallawaya healers and Incan medicine combined high-altitude plants — maca, muña, chanca piedra, and cat's claw — with ceremony and profound knowledge of the Andes.

Peru, Bolivia & the Andes

Hawaiian & Polynesian Medicine

La'au lapa'au — Hawaiian plant medicine — and broader Polynesian healing traditions use noni, kava, turmeric, and coastal plants for body and spirit.

Hawaii & Pacific Islands

Filipino Traditional Medicine

Hilot and Albularyo traditions blend indigenous Austronesian plant knowledge with Spanish colonial influence, using lagundi, sambong, and bayabas alongside prayer and hands-on healing.

Philippines

Mayan Traditional Medicine

Mayan h'men healers use copal, pericón, chaya, and rainforest botanicals alongside ceremony and the sacred Tzolk'in calendar — a cosmological system of diagnosis and healing still practiced today.

Mexico, Guatemala & Central America

East African Traditional Medicine

Across the East African highlands, savanna, and coast, healers use moringa, frankincense, teff, and endemic medicinal plants alongside divination and community ritual.

Kenya, Tanzania & Ethiopia

Cape & Southern African Herbalism

The Cape Floral Kingdom — the world's most biodiverse — gave rise to centuries of Khoi-San and Cape Malay healing using buchu, rooibos, honeybush, and fynbos plants unique to southern Africa.

South Africa & Cape Region

Sri Lankan Traditional Medicine

Deshiya Chikitsa — Sri Lanka's indigenous healing system — blends Ayurvedic principles with uniquely native plants such as polpala, kothalahimbutu, and weniwal for formulas distinct from mainland India.

Sri Lanka

Kazakh & Central Asian Medicine

Rooted in the steppe traditions of the Silk Road, this nomadic healing system uses hardy adaptogenic plants, fermented koumiss, and Turkic ethnobotany passed through generations of traveling healers.

Kazakhstan & Central Asia

Ancient Babylonian Medicine

The world's oldest written medical texts — cuneiform tablets from 2000 BCE — document hundreds of plant remedies including cedar, myrrh, thyme, and henbane at the foundation of Western pharmacy.

Mesopotamia & Iraq

Mapuche Medicine

Mapuche machi healers combine ritual, spiritual diagnosis, and the extraordinary plant diversity of Patagonia and the southern Andes — one of South America's most vibrantly alive healing traditions.

Chile & Argentina

Sufi & Islamic Mystical Medicine

Sufi healers integrated Prophetic medicine (Tibb al-Nabawi) with mystical healing, using rose, saffron, frankincense, black seed, and Quranic recitation to heal the body and purify the soul.

Middle East, Persia & Central Asia

Slavic & Eastern European Folk Medicine

Baltic and Slavic healing traditions preserved through wise women (babki) and village healers — using birch, yarrow, wormwood, and banya (sauna) culture across the forests of Eastern Europe.

Poland, Russia & Eastern Europe

Hausa Traditional Medicine

The Hausa people's Boka healers maintain one of West Africa's most systematised oral pharmacopoeias, using baobab, desert date, neem, and tamarind in precise formulas for body and spirit.

Nigeria, Niger & West Africa

Khmer Traditional Medicine

Cambodia's Kru Khmer healers blend Theravada Buddhist principles with Austronesian plant knowledge, using galangal, noni, and jungle botanicals in formulas inscribed on the temple walls of Angkor Wat.

Cambodia & Southeast Asia

Shipibo & Upper Amazonian Shamanism

The Shipibo-Conibo of the Peruvian Amazon practice deep plant cosmology — using ayahuasca, master plant dietas, and hundreds of jungle medicines in ceremonies that interweave song, vision, and healing.

Peru & Upper Amazon

Taoist Herbal Medicine

Taoism gifted the world the concept of tonic adaptogenic herbs — he shou wu, reishi, ginseng, astragalus — emphasising longevity, harmony with natural rhythms, and the cultivation of vital essence (jing).

China

Santería & Afro-Cuban Medicine

Lucumí/Santería maps Yoruba Orishas onto Cuban biodiversity — each deity governs specific healing plants, creating a vibrant syncretic medicine where ritual, community, and botany are inseparable.

Cuba & Caribbean

Micronesian & Melanesian Medicine

Indigenous healing traditions across Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands use kava, morinda, breadfruit leaves, and reef-edge plants in community healing ceremonies with deep spiritual roots.

Pacific Islands — Fiji, Vanuatu & Micronesia

Malagasy Traditional Medicine

Madagascar's extraordinary endemic flora — over 80% found nowhere else on Earth — supports a distinct healing tradition using ravintsara, rotra, and kinkeliba with deep Southeast Asian and African roots.

Madagascar & Indian Ocean Islands

Himalayan & Nepali Folk Medicine

Nepal's high-altitude healers use rare Himalayan botanicals — yarsagumba, kutki, jatamansi, and nardostachys — growing at the crossroads of Ayurveda, Tibetan medicine, and indigenous Newari healing.

Nepal & Himalayan Region

Scandinavian Folk Medicine

Nordic folk healing preserved in Icelandic sagas and Norwegian manuscripts — using yarrow, elderflower, meadowsweet, juniper, and pine resin to survive and thrive in the world's harshest climates.

Norway, Sweden & Nordic Countries

Aztec & Mesoamerican Medicine

The Aztec Badianus Manuscript (1552) documents over 184 medicinal plants — epazote, toloache, copal, and cacao — in sophisticated formulas whose legacy lives on in Mexican traditional medicine today.

Mexico & Mesoamerica