Traditional Tongue Assessment for Herbalists, Nutritionists, and Aromatherapists

Traditional assessment methods, such as reading the tongue, face or pulse, are invaluable doorways to the inner terrain, giving us clues about qualities such as moisture and heat, as well as a sense of tension and overall vitality. We can also gain insight into the psycho-emotional world of the client, their world view and perceptions, as held in and expressed through the body. Assessing the tongue is especially useful for understanding the state of digestion, but also serves as a microcosmic mirror of all of the organs, as well as a person’s integrated function. Tongue assessment is relatively easy to learn and apply and will give practitioners a valuable starting point for crafting effective, individualized protocols based on the specific energetic and functional presentations of each client.

In short, tongue assessment can offer us insight into specific aspects of illness, as well as the overall wellbeing of our clients, whether we employ a more physiologic or energetic lens or a combination of the two. If energetics is new or overwhelming to you—especially if you are a “Western” herbalist—assessment can also be an excellent way to see these concepts in action and learn to apply an energetic lens to your understanding of your clients and their protocols.

This course will cover foundational theories of tongue assessment and guide participants in selecting herbs and other supports (food, essential oils, lifestyle choices) based on various tongue presentations. Participants will practice assessments between classes and will be invited to bring questions back to live sessions.

Using tongue assessment, you’ll learn to:

 - Assess qualities of temperature, moisture, tension, tissue integrity, circulation and overall vitality
 - Determine broad personal constitution and energetic properties of specific presentations  
 - Differentiate acute vs. long-term tongue qualities and how they might change over time
 - Match plants (and other strategies) to people based on pattern recognition
 - Recognize simple and more complex patterns and understand appropriate goals to address them  
 - Create individualized and effective protocols for yourself, family and clients

Tongue assessment can actually be fairly intuitive and doesn’t require as much memorization as some other systems of assessment. Once you get the basics, it’s easy to begin using this valuable tool right away. This is a great opportunity to receive step by step guidance in adding tongue assessment to your toolkit — including in virtual settings — and promises to be interesting and useful for beginners and seasoned practitioners alike!