Nathalie Beijersbergen on how herbs nourish your body from the inside

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Nathalie Beijersbergen is trained as a pharmacist, teacher, and acupuncturist.
She enjoys practicing at the GP practice Statenkwartier in The Hague (www.concurae.nl) and Zoetermeer. In addition to her practice, she is the chair of the Dutch Association for Phytotherapy (www.fyto.nl) and has founded WoMen Education.
She is one of the webinar speakers offering an exclusive webinar for our NVA members during the Acupuncture Week. Of course, she is also happy to share her passion with other interested parties.

How do Chinese herbs help in the recovery from burnout, in addition to acupuncture or taking rest?
‘What I really like about Chinese medicine is that it works both preventively and at the moment itself. When someone has been under treatment for a while, a potential burnout can be prevented before someone really becomes overworked.
If someone has already reached the point of burnout, there are certainly still many possibilities. Sometimes people indeed need rest or sleep to process things. Unfortunately, good sleep is not self-evident for everyone, people often have to get up to urinate, or have difficulty falling asleep, dream a lot, have staring-at-the-ceiling duty, suffer from night sweats or other complaints. To improve sleep, and thereby promote recovery from burnout, there are different herbs. The nice thing about Chinese herbs is that someone takes them several times a day, while acupuncture is often only once a week or less frequently.’

How do you choose which Chinese herbs best suit someone's burnout symptoms?
I mainly rely on my senses; I observe someone's posture, facial expression, and tongue carefully. Additionally, I listen attentively to the description of the symptoms, pay attention to someone's choice of words, and the strength with which they speak.

This information leads to a diagnosis, and then I choose a treatment strategy and finally the right herbs that go with it. Especially in the choice of herbs, I take into account my findings from the anamnesis. There are about 500 single herbs available, these are also prescribed in formulas, a fixed composition of herbs. In consultation, someone chooses the form of administration; powder, tablets or capsules or a drink.'

Can Chinese herbs support body and mind simultaneously?
'Yes, they can. Suppose someone with burnout is also frustrated about the situation. According to Chinese medicine, frustration causes Qi stagnation, where energy stops flowing. This can manifest as fatigue, but sometimes also as slight irritability. When the Qi/energy flows again through the use of Chinese herbs, the frustration takes on a different form. This often allows someone to better deal with or transform the frustration both mentally and emotionally.'

More stories during the Acupuncture Week
This interview is part of the Acupuncture Week, which this year focuses on burnout. During this week, we share various conversations with acupuncturists and clients about how they view recovery from both physical and mental exhaustion from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Also, read the other interviews and be inspired by stories from acupuncturists and their clients about recovery and balance.