Holy Basil commonly known as Tulsi, is considered to be one of the most sacred plants in our country considering the exceptional religious, medicinal, and moral properties of Basil. In our ancient text, Basil is designated as most prior or a star plant amongst all the plants. There is no plant that can persist in front of Basil because of its properties in all fronts of life.
According to our mythological texts, when Satyabhama was measuring Lord Krishna with his riches and fineness, the balance between the two didn’t attend until unless Rukmini placed a leaf of Holy Basil with all her devotion and kindness to the side of wealth. This incident explains the moral regards and relevance that Basil holds within. Apart from this, basil is also considered an important part of marriage in Indian culture.
Besides all its foretold relevance, it upholds many untold medicinal properties which make it a STAR plant amongst all other plants.
Basil holds a sweet scent in it which is a characteristic identification to it.
In Ayurveda, Basil is considered as “Rasayanam” that is referred for the herbs that are essential for longevity and to remain healthy, being far away from diseases. Also, it is considered to provide inner strength, cheerfulness, and enlightenment to an individual.
How people commonly use basil leaves in daily life?
There are different ways of how people choose to inculcate Holy Basil in their day to day life. You can also inscribe some of these ways if you haven't yet –
• By preparing a decoction - Some other medicinal or herbal drugs can be added to this or it can be taken individually by simply preparing a decoction of Basil leaves.
• By adding few leaves of basil to their food maybe in cooked or uncooked form.
• By preparing steam for inhalation - it is very useful in case of respiratory disorders.
• Directly chewing or eating leaves not advised - There is a point that people should take into consideration that we usually don’t know or omit! Basil leaves are not advised to be chewed or eaten directly because basil leaves contain Mercury and iron which can damage teeth, thus should either be taken in form of decoction or tea or should be gulped directly or maybe taken in cooked form.
Inculcating basil to your daily regime can really help you to maintain a balance between your health and disturbed lifestyle that we all practice knowingly or unknowingly.
This herb act as an adaptogen. It enhances the ability of the body to adapt natural resistance to all those physical, emotional, and environmental stresses that a person goes through in general.
Holy Basil is considered or termed as “Elixir of life” because of its uncountable health benefits.
• An Immunomodulator - Being a rich source of vitamin C and zinc it plays an immensely important role because it increases the natural killer T cell activity that boosts the immune system of an individual.
• Maintains the hormone levels - It shows a great result in coping with PMS (premenstrual syndrome). Also, helps woman approaching close to menopause to cope up with a sudden hormonal imbalance.
• Antidepressant property - Regular intake of basil can keep a regular check on your neurotransmitters - serotonin and dopamine, which are majorly responsible for causing depression and anxiety.
• Digestion enhancer - Intake of basil on a daily basis keeps a check on the digestive mechanism of the body. It helps to cure problems like indigestion and also ignites the digestive fire which in turn helps to cope up with the loss of appetite.
• Antioxidant properties - Basil is a rich antioxidant because of this property it shows an excellent result in skincare it helps to keep blemishes, darkening and acne at a bay. It also shows great results in hair care. It strengthens the root hair and nourishes the scalp well prohibiting the growth of fungus and dandruff on the scalp. Basil overall helps to slow the process and signs and aging if and only if taken on a regular basis that too for a long duration of time. Due to antioxidant properties, it is also considered to act as an anti-cancer drug as it constantly detoxifies skin, liver, and lung. It is also known to detoxify kidney and its additional diuretic properties, by maintaining proper urination it keeps a check on bilirubin levels and kidney stone formation also.
• Anti-pyretic properties - Because of its anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties basil is also considered to reduce fever. In fact, basil is one of the most important components used in antipyretic Ayurvedic formulations.
• Anti repellant properties -Traditionally, neem and basil leaves are used as an ant repellant. They are kept in the form of dried leaves with dry grains to avoid the occurrence of insects.
Basil is a plant with exceptionally incredible and uncountable properties it is a plant widely and chiefly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC) and other holistic medicine systems other than our Ayurveda sciences. The best part about using basil is that it is a very cost-effective drug and can easily be grown in homes. Therefore, it can easily be inculcated in routine in different forms. Also, dried leaves of this herb are easily available at most effective prices.
We (Holy Basil Mediclinic) as clinicians have gained inspiration from Holy Basil. We have always tried to inculcate all the morals of Basil. We have tried to render the best of our services to humanity and mankind being the front Warriors of society. Even in this pandemic, we have tried not to let people suffer from any woes. Basil being an Elixir of life, we have always tried and we’ll continue to work towards improving ourselves and prove as an elixir to mankind.