By Barbi Schulick, Co-Founder and Director of Sustainability

Founders Paul & Barbi Schulick

My husband Paul's call to herbalism began in the early 1970's when he was pulled to learn all he could about the botanical world. The son of a doctor, he learned early on of the limiting nature of pharmaceuticals, having suffered a litany of side effects from his father's prescriptions. But Paul also attended his father on house calls and witnessed his genuine dedication to his patients which inspired him to investigate the healing arts. Once grown, he longed for a gentler, kinder medium by which to administer his own brand of care. While embarking on an herbal education he soon understood what was missing from his father's allopathic adherence was respect and reverence for the many thousands of years of traditional wisdom.

Paul's herbal approach married the innate respect for science he inherited from his father with his newborn love of tradition and nature. Soon after studying under the guidance of renowned herbalist Dr. John Christopher, he began creating herbal extract formulas. These were followed by his innovative blending of Whole Food Complexed vitamins and minerals with synergistic herbals and the dozens of formulations that have defined New Chapter's twenty five years.

Recently Paul developed a presentation for our employees in which he expounded upon his ever evolving appreciation for botanicals. Central to his message is a growing sense of the importance of gratitude in the healing process. As a younger man he was apt to use herbals with a more mechanistic approach, less prone to pauses of appreciation for their simple existence and the sacrifice they make to human health. Now after years of partnering with them in the pursuit of wellness and having supplied a livelihood for many, he is reflecting more and more on the gifts they have given us.

His talk was inspired by a message left on his voice mail from an exuberant user of Zyflamend, offering thanks for the product. This was followed by a flurry of e-mails and letters expressing the same. Paul had coincidentally begun reading about gratitude and its role in spiritual practice so these intonations of "thank you, thank you, thank you" struck him even more deeply than usual. He recalled a reference from his early reading of Health Through God's Pharmacy by Maria Treben, a revered European herbalist, about the effectiveness of herbal treatments related to gratitude and, as is typical of his work style, he was seized with a desire to learn all he could on the subject.

Gratitude is an essential, often overlooked element to healing. It could be argued that for healing to be complete, gratitude is necessary. The emotion of gratitude takes us outside of our isolated, individual world and unifies us with the totality and the recognition that we are inter-dependent with all of creation. Albert Schweitzer said, "Gratitude is the secret to life." Hans Selye, who coined the term "stress" considered gratitude the most essential emotion to counter its harmful effects. It's no secret how emotional stress reeks havoc on the body and it's intriguing to consider a little thankfulness may be a powerful antidote.

In his book, Thanks! Dr. Robert Emmons, sites a gallop pole in which the majority of respondents reported that expressing gratitude made them feel extremely happy. Science suggests a happier attitude can contribute to nine more years of healthy life expectancy.

Modern herbalists like Paul attribute much of our botanical wisdom to the native cultures. Tribes like the Iroquois were not only adept at understanding plants and making use of their life giving attributes, but they imbedded gratitude into their every daily act. To them, the expression of thanks was part and parcel to herbal healing, suggesting that not only do the substances that heal us deserve our thanks, but the healing they give is likely augmented by that expression. Kenneth Cohen, author of Honoring the Medicine, The Essential Guide to Native American Healing puts it this way: "Without an offering of gratitude an herb treats only symptoms and does not reach the emotions and spirit of the deeper causes of illness."

Truly, the natives understood the plants in ways we in our modern distractions can't even begin to fathom. An Arapaho chief reminds us: "All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them." Science has in its own way benefited from the notion that plants make themselves known to us. The leukemia drugs vincristine and vinblastine are derivatives of Madagascar periwinkle, an herb which appeared to a shaman in a dream revealing a similar application. The Christian Science Monitor reports that "Scientists say plants carefully consider their environment, speculate on the future, conquer territory and enemies, and are often capable of forethought..."

I have long observed Paul engaged in his herbal alchemy: mixing herbs like slippery elm and okra at the kitchen sink, counting out drops of cayenne extract from an eye dropper, or concocting ginger syrups on the stove. I've listened to him expound on the myriad constituents in a newly discovered and promising botanical. What is different is the more and more frequent bowing of his head over his morning supplements, the daily exultations of thanks to the green beings which buoy our health, empower our business and support our lives.