Basil

Profile

TCM Categories

• Release the Exterior & Warming
• Food Stasis
• Tonify Yang (kidney)
• Water Deficiency

Functions

• Release the exterior of Wind-Cold, especially in the sinus region
• Descends Stomach qi and resolve food stasis, dyspepsia, nausea
• Tonify Kidney Yang to drain Dampness in the Lower Heater, gout
• Promotes lactation (ST channel affinity) and relieves uterine congestion

Indications

• Wind-Cold in Yangming zone - fevers and chills, absence of sweat, frontal headaches (and quite effective for temporal headaches), sinus congestion, loss of smell, muscle tightness and numbness (LI-4, ST-36, LI-20, LU-7, BL-12, BL-13)
• Food Stasis with nausea; can be used for nausea during chemotherapy (CV 12), epigastric distention, and poor protein digestion (CV-13, CV-12, ST-21, ST-25)
• Deficient Kidney Yang with infertility, impotence, lack of milk flow, amenorrhea, low back pain, weak knees, frequent urination, ovarian cyst, prostatitis, hypotension, poor willpower, low self-esteem & confidence (KI-3, GV-4, CV-4, BL-23) adrenal stimulant
• Emptiness of the Water element

Topical Applications

• Apply at BL-67 to promote birth delivery
• Use with Rosemary in post-workout liniment for sore/flaccid muscles

Specific Protocols

• Apply a 4% dilution over BL/KI Divergent Channels.

Actions

• Anti-inflammatory
• Stomachic (promoting the appetite or assisting digestion)
• Nervine
• Snake/insect bites

Contraindications & Cautions

Notes

• Opens the orifices
• Brings the possibility for seeing a different path
• Alerts and enlivens the senses (diffuse to increase alertness)
• Keeps you awake, for a long drive
• Great to enhance concentration
• Good for depressive type bipolar disorder; for sadness and depression
• Nourishes the KD/SP connection, this is especially good with evergreens
• Promotes a connection to the outside world, especially with a lack of confidence coming from KD deficiency
• For food sensitivities
• For people who eat little but still gain weight (food stasis)
• Strongly promotes wei qi movement in the intestines, promotes peristalsis
• Can tax the yang, activates the yang
• Use with yang qiao mai

Additional Comments

• Caution: Excessive use of Basil oil can exhaust yang. Use in rotation for up to 3 months.
• "Exotic" Basil oil (from the Comoro Islands & Reunion Islands) can be used for all types of hepatitis and herpes/shingles.
• Basil has several chemotypes; the methyl chavicol type is the most common
• Use in Neti-pot