Providing Quality Natural Health Education Since 1994

Medicine of Avicenna Courses

CONTACT KRISTIE KARIMA BURNS, MH, ND
herbnhome@gmail.com

The medicine of Avicenna/Islamic medicine is on the verge of becoming as popular as Chinese medicine in the West -and mostly outside of the Middle Eastern community. Avicenna, the cornerstone in the Middle Eastern Healing movement was heavily influenced by Chinese, Greek and Ayurvedic healers and wrote the Canon of Medicine which was the most widely studied work of medicine in Europe from the 12th to the 17th century.His methods, which draw from traditional texts, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine and the medicine of Hippocrates has been refined and expounded on for the past 1000 years by prominent healers to produce a masterful system of healing which is filled with inspired and original ideas as well as a synthesis of all healing traditions from the East.

This series of courses was added to the Avicenna Institute after Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND had lived in the Middle East for 16 years. The information in this course is the result of ten years of studies in Eastern Healing as well as her previous experience as an herbalist, naturopath, and iridologist.

101: History of Greek, Roman & Arab Medicine: The goal of this unit is to familiarize the student with Greek, Roman and Arab medical history and to put into place and perspective what Islamic Medicine is as opposed to Arab Medicine. and how Greek, Roman and Arab medicine influenced each other.. In addition to a vast amount of writings on the topic, original works are also read in this unit.

202: History & Influence of Arab Medicine: The goal of this unit is to show, in more detail, how the Arab and Islamic world influenced western medicine during the point in history known in the western world as the Dark Ages. Additionally, this unit illustrates how Arab and Islamic Medicine was influenced by other cultures, including China and the Western world.

303: Typology of Avicenna: The goal of this unit is to introduce the student to the ideas of temperament and physiological type. This method of viewing bodily health was used in Greek and Roman times and was made famous again by Avicenna. From there it passed into the Arab world as well as Europe. Typology is still heavily used today in China as well as India and other areas. This unit strives to familiarize the student with the history of typology as well as teach the student how to use a working model of these theories.

404:Theory in Islamic Medicine: The goals of this unit are to introduce the student to some aspects of Islamic Medicine that could be considered uniquely Islamic in nature such as the properties of healing with the lunar calendar and food properties mentioned uniquely in the Hadith.

505: Herbs of the Hadith: The goal of this unit is to introduce the student to Hadith, the science of Hadith and all of the herbs that were mentioned in the recorded Hadith and how they were used according to these sources. Modern usages of all the Hadith herbs are also covered. Latin names are provided for all herbs. The Book, The Complete Guide to Medicinal Herbswill be used for other units in this course. This unit is useful for seeing how religion influenced the use of traditional medicine in this area of the world. Medicine of the Hadith is unique among the healing traditions of the world in that it is one of the most widely used traditions within a religion. To contrast, not all Christians are familiar with the herbs of the bible, nor are people of other religions familiar with the herbs and healing traditions of their religion. However, in the Islamic world, the healing Hadith are as much part of the religion as prayer is.

606: Herbs of the Holy Books: The goal of this unit is to introduce the student to all of the herbs and plants that were mentioned in the Quran and how they were used according to Hadith sources. Modern usages of all the Quranic herbs are also covered. Latin names are provided for all herbs.  The goal of this unit is to show how religion influenced healing.

707: Herbs of the Arab World: The goal of this unit is to provide the student with a look at herbal usage in the modernArab world. I have studied herbal usage in India, China, Mexico and native America as well as other areas of the world. It is facinating how each area of the world shares many of the same herbs but uses them in different ways. Each area of the world also has herbs unique to their geographic location.

808:Aromatherapy and Spiritual Healing: The goal of this unit is to familiarize the student with the concepts of spiritual aromatherapy as used by many healers throughout history. The student will also become familiar with studies done on the healing power of scents and essential oils.

909:Herbal Preparations: The goal of this unit is to educate the student about various herbs and how to make herbal preparations from these herbs. Towards this goal the student is also educated in the history of herbal preparations. Pharmacy is discussed, reflecting on previous units. In addition, alchemy is introduced, not for purposes of usage, but as a historical unit. Herbal preparations are taught through the making of tinctures, teas, pills, salves and other common preparations.

110:Healing with Prayer:Including information on Gem Therapy and Prayer Beads, Color Therapy and Places of Worship, Yoga, Islamic Prayer and Physical Benefits of Prayer Positions. The goal for this unit is to introduce the student to a number of methods of healing in the context of some modern practices as well as the practices of other traditions. This unit strives to create a feeling of continuity and unity in the concepts put forth by traditional medicine and demystifies many methods used in traditional Arab medicine by showing how they can transfer into other scientific studies or more familiar alternative healing traditions such as yoga or color therapy.

111:Traditional Nutritional Healing of the East:The goal of this unit is to show how Eastern healing has met with the modern world and modern science and medicine in successful ways and how the nutritional therapies of Avicenna can be integrated into the concepts of modern medicine. This unit also includes information on basic diet and offers a number of suggestions for therapeutic diets, their basic theories, usage and benefits.

112:Putting it all Together - Case Studies & Modern Challenges Including Practicum Section: The goal for this unit is to bring all the information from the course together in a unified manner by illustrating most of the information discussed in previous units through the study of individual cases. Cases are presented from the beginning to the end as a learning tool, and as a springboard for further discussion. Modern challenges and issues such as euthanasia are also discussed in this section of the course. In addition the student is provided with at least 30 different case studies chosen to represent many different aspects of the course material. Every effort is made to reference the past course material and encourage the student to use the information they have learned in the course as they are reading the case studies. The student in quizzed on the material they have read, however, most of the testing will be done in the next unit.