#monograpgh

As a student in the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine’s intensive program, I am required to write one herbal monograph per week, totaling 40 over the course of the program.  A small, functional materia medica that I will (hopefully) know intimately well.

A monograph is a detailed written study of a single specialized subject or an aspect of it. Basically, we pick an herb, spend a week tasting various preparations, exploring how it feels in our bodies, spend time with the plant if it grows nearby, research it’s growing habits, medicinal uses, energetics, history, really everything about it. Thomas has a great library including old Eclectic books, a huge online library of old and contemporary books, and we use current research and studies when they are available.  Then we type it up.  

As a writer and herb nerd, this assignment resonates with my learning style and sense of self.  Move over cayenne, monograph writing is the new catalyst in my study formula.

A huge part of being a student is about triaging the synthesis of knowledge.  If I only have two hours, will I study liver pathophysiology, type up my notes from last week, or catch up on plant family characteristics from week 6?

Everything is important.  No one topic deserves to get benched, but with almost 20 hours of class time, 14 hours of work trade, and 5-10 hours bookkeeping for Columbines (most weeks) on top of extra reading, videos, and medicine making, something is getting pushed to the back of the line with the broken thumbs and vague coughs.

Monograph writing is a brilliant assignment, not just because it’s fun or intimately teaches us more about the herbs we will be working with in the clinic (It does).  It’s brilliant because I think spending 5-7 hours a week thinking about one herb would easily get triaged out in the face memorizing a slew of vitamin deficiency signs and symptoms, red flag assessment, etc. for the midterm.