LionHeartHerbs.com was created in response to my realisation that despite millions of pounds of research proving their effectiveness, over 1.4 billion people using these herbs regularly with great effect and despite a 5000 year track record of proven effectiveness there was no one in the UK and indeed in all of Europe selling Taoists Tonic Herbal formulas. As a practicing Nutritional Herbalist and Peak Vitality Consultant I realised how crucial it was that these herbs are readily and easily available to European customers and set about creating the most useful and pragmatic blends based on real-world results that I found that my clients were the most interested in achieving. I did this using the herbs that I found most effective in helping them achieving these goals. However I now have customers from all over the world, including the US, as news of just how powerful these formulas really are spread quickly!

People often view Taoism as a type of Oriental religion but from my perspective nothing could be further from the truth. In fact I would describe Taoists as the first empiricists and pragmatists, essentially they were truly dedicated to discovering the way the world actually works, rather than trying to make the world conform to their beliefs about it, or impose their beliefs about the way things are onto others

The only distinction I see that would separate a Taoist perspective from what is considered a strictly scientific perspective is that once they saw and understood how things work, rather looking into how they could exploit that knowledge, they looked at how to come more into harmony with the way things are (otherwise known as ‘The Tao’, although this is only one translation)

As a result of this exceptional degree of alignment with nature the Taoist Masters were credited with truly extraordinary understandings and abilities and are almost mythological figures. These Taoist masters would also tend to live on a diet of predominantly or entirely Taoist Tonic Herbs. One of the main preoccupations of these Taoist masters was to live as long and as healthy a life as possible.

Click here to learn more about other Taoist secrets of longevity

Put simply the distinction between a Tonic Herb and a Medicinal Herb is that Tonic Herbs can be taken as often, in as large a quantity and for as long as you like with no detrimental side effects whatsoever! In this sense they are just like a food.

Medicinal Herbs on the other hand often have side-effects if taken too frequently in large enough doses and care must be taken in their use. Even some foods like garlic would technically belong in the medicinal herb category as studies have shown that long-term prolonged use of large amounts of garlic can unbalance the two hemispheres of the brain!

All of the herbs used in LionheartHerbs.com’s range are Tonic, and therefore completely safe with the one exception of Bupleurum used in the Cleanse formula which is still mild and harmless unless taken in very large doses, more than most people could possibly stomach. All are safe if instructions are followed.

Yes there are and in fact I've included a few from other traditions including Horsetail from Western Herbalism and Cats Claw from South American Herbalism, as I've found through experience that they have real pragmatic value equal to the Chinese Taoist herbs. However the broad range and deep understanding of Tonic herbs is far greater in Chinese Taoist Herbalism than anywhere else by far.

There are probably many accurate answers to this but I’ll provide with the two explanations I find most compelling and interesting:

The first is the way that herbalist get paid. In Traditional Taoist Medicine you would pay a Herbalist as long as you were healthy, to keep you that way and you would keep paying them unless or until you became ill, at which point you would stop paying them until you were well again. A totally different paradigm from what we in the West are used to, and as you can imagine this would give the Taoist Herbalist powerful and compelling motivation to keep you well, in fact to keep you functioning optimally, at your best, as if you weren't they would risk losing their reputation as well as their income.

In Western Medicine and Herbalism however the opposite paradigm is in play: you only go to see a Doctor or Herbalist (or whatever other healthcare practitioner) once you are already unwell, who would give you drugs, or Medicinal Herbs (or supplements etc) with their potentially dangerous side-effects and you would keep paying for them, and the ‘health’ practitioner until you got better. A very different approach, and one that intrinsically doesn’t encourage practitioners to keep people well, as this would mean no income, unless they have exceptionally high levels of altruism and integrity, which certainly some do. Admittedly, in this day and age there is no shortage of sick people to treat, but you can see how the different attitudes would affect approaches to health.

Secondly, the other huge difference is that in Western society we've tended to idealise youth while traditionally in Eastern society there has always been much more of an emphasis on respect and admiration for the wisdom of old-age. Therefore from a Taoist philosophical perspective there is a much greater emphasis on Longevity, which would mean staying healthy and vital for as long as possible so as to enjoy the benefits of old-age for as long as possible. In fact there are many stories of Taoist masters living, in peak physical condition, for hundreds of years!

One of my favourite quotes of all time from an unnamed ancient Taoist sage is:

‘In order to do anything in this life we must first have energy’

By carefully observing people and the world around them Taoists discovered several essential and undeniable truths about life:

• There are three fundamental types of energy in a human being, which they called Chi, Jing and Shen; which I translate as Vital, Adaptive and Character or Perspective Energy, respectively.
• That in order to live an optimal life you must have abundant amounts of all three types of energy
• That optimal levels of these three energies can only be achieved when your organ systems are all well balanced and working harmoniously with each other and when the way you live your life consistently conserves, as well as accumulates energy.
• That what you do and don’t consume is an essential part of achieving this harmonious balance and energetic abundance.

Taoist tonic herbs help to restore balance and strength to the organs, as well as their corresponding glands and systems, like the circulatory system or central nervous system for example, which is how they are able to create impressive and noticeable results in so many seemingly unrelated areas simultaneously.

They can do this because ultimately every part of the body is connected to every other part and when you start to bring these parts into a harmonious balance all sorts of disparate seemingly unrelated symptoms and problems, some of which you may not even realise you had until they’re gone, will tend to resolve themselves without ever being tackled directly and you will often experience all sorts of results you never even imagined possible from something as simple as consuming herbs.

Tonic herbs are fundamental backbone of a life of extraordinary health on all levels and always have been throughout the ages and throughout all cultures (although Taoists truly mastered them) and should be considered as fundamental as food or water if your goal is to thrive and not just survive!

Absolutely! The results you will get will depend on many factors: what your goals are; what formulas you are taking; how much you are taking and how long you are taking them for. I do warn people with tonic herbs, as with all herbs not to expect instant results as it can take several weeks to feel the benefits, but in the majority of cases I find that you will feel the benefits almost immediately upon consuming your first Tonic Tea. This does however depend on your level of sensitivity as well as bodily awareness. Obviously some results like muscle gain or fat loss can take a little longer to manifest.

How much should I take?

There are recommended guidelines included in the instructions to making all the teas, but with tonic herbs the general rule is: the more the better! However consistency is more important than quantity.

So, for example ideally you would consume a 500g packet of tea over the course of one or two weeks, evenly spread out throughout the days and keep taking them for three months. I recommend three months because of the widely recognised theory that it takes around one hundred days for your body to take on a new habit, a new way of being, which is ultimately what we are getting the herbs to kick start within you, a new, stronger, more balanced way of being.

However you could make a 500g packet of tea last one month, two months or even the whole three months and it would still definitely have a beneficial effect, just less pronounced as you would be consuming less. But, just to re-emphasise, the most important thing is to consume the tea consistently for a few months, then the results are absolutely guaranteed!

Think of it like training to get fit, obviously the more appropriate training you do, the more fit you’re going to get, but it’s much more beneficial to do a few minutes every day, than one all-out three hour session at the gym, followed by two weeks slumped on the sofa.

Consistency is the key!

Definitely! Ideally you would keep them separate, as each formula is targeted to a different organ system, and mixing them can confuse the body and dilute this targeting system slightly, but it's fine to mix them if you're too busy to prepare them separately. The most important thing is to take each one consistently every day, all other considerations are secondary.

Some of the herbs are certified organic. The Astragalus, Reishi, Cats Claw, Bupleurum, Nettle, Horsetail and Licorice are always organic, others vary with availability. Some are not and I get them in the highest grade available. The controls on herbs coming into this country are very strict, far more so than for junk food and pharmaceutical drugs. I get told sometimes that a herb is simply not available as one batch failed one test and all exportation of it gets suspended. Also it's important to consider that the higher the grade of herb, the more it's likely to be grown wild and high altitudes, away from any industry. Often high grade herbs are of far higher purity than any certified organic produce you find in a supermarket, being grown 100s of miles away from any industry or agriculture.

It's not possible to get a complete range of certified organic herbs to make up a targeted formula for a specific purpose. No one else in the world does it. I personally can tell when I've eaten, say, an organic cucumber or a pesticide sprayed one by its taste, but I don't get the same taste from a non organic tonic herbs. They are very strong, hardy plants. They wouldn't get the same level of spraying as the hybridised, overly domesticated plants that make up the majority of our, and our livestock's diet. Non-organic garlic is the same I believe, as it's by nature so resistant to parasites, fungus' etc.

So to sum up: our herbs are always of the highest quality available.