My daughter ended her summer vacation with the flu! She spent her last days before school lying in bed, drinking tea and napping. That actually sounds kind of nice!
While I had been busy scheduling appointments and crossing tasks off my list, I had forgotten to take a few steps to boost our kids immunity before heading back into the classroom. It was a good reminder and inspired me to share my favorite back to school remedy.
This formula goes by many names; Jade Windscreen is the most common. Yu Ping Feng San is the Chinese name. This simple formula tonifies Qi and strengthens the Wei Qi, which is our “Protective Qi” that circulates on the surface of our body, protecting us from pathogens, like viruses and bacteria.
The classic formula contains only three herbs: Huang Qi, Bai Zhu and Fang Feng. While these are all Chinese names: some of you may be familiar with Huang Qi, AKA Astragalus. These three herbs work synergistically to protect our immunity, strengthen our digestion (Spleen in Chinese Medicine) and help us to fight off pathogens in our environment.
Jade Windscreen is great to take before we are in situations that can compromise our immunity; i.e. back to school with lots of other kids and germs, before airplane travel or before allergy season. Sometimes it is used for women who always catch a cold before their period or is used as part of a postpartum rebuilding Qi program.
This formula has a very mild (almost sweet) flavor. I have it in tincture form at home and mix it with a little warm water and a touch of honey before giving it to my kids.
Since this is such a common formula, it is readily available at natural food stores and on-line. I also carry it in my clinic. Its a good one to have on-hand in your home herbal medicine pharmacy.
Giving this formula daily for the first few weeks of school along with getting adequate sleep and a healthy diet go a long way for a rock solid start of the school year. Hope it is a great year for all you parents out there 😉