This article is from page 84 of the 2008-10-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 84 JPG
DESPITE an ancient tradition of us- ing herbal medicine in north Clare, the area has been without a practic- ing herbalist for many years now. All that is about to change however with the arrival of herbalist Lisa Guinan, who has just launched a new practice in Ennistymon.
A Dubliner by birth, Lisa has strong connections with the north of the county and will join the growing team of alternative healers working out of St Bridget’s Homeopathy and Healing Centre on Main Street.
‘IT have always had a great connec- tion with Clare. I have two sisters
living down here for years so I have been coming down here for years. It’s been in my mind to come here for years so I figured that now was the time to take the plunge,” she said.
“I am herbalist and I also do naturopathy. There is no-one else practicing as a herbalist in north Clare, in fact I think that I may be the only herbalist practicing in all of Clare at the moment. I work out of St Bridget’s Healing Centre in Ennisty- mon along with a whole host of other natural healers.”
A qualified herbalist and naturo- path, Lisa is registered with The Irish Register of Herbalists and the Association of Naturopathic Practi-
tioners.
She is also affiliated with The Na- tional Herbal Council responsible for the quality and standardisation of herbalist practitioners in the coun- try. “With herbalism you are treating the whole person and not the illness. So someone might come into me with a skin problem, but I wont just look skin because the root problem could be with the liver perhaps, they might have too much toxins in the blood,” she continued.
“So because we are treating the whole person we can always make an improvement, no matter what is wrong. It can also be good to treat
people who don’t have any specific illness, they just don’t have much en- ergy or are feeling lethargic.
‘They may have some smaller di- gestive problems that we could help with. I treat people by giving them a herbal formula. A patient will come in and I will spend an hour or more with them going through their his- re ays
“Depending on what they say I will put together a liquid herbal formula for them. These formulas are unique to each person and targeted to give them exactly what they need.”
For more information contact Lisa at 0877531023 or lisahar@gmail. one