About My Book and Philosophy

About Mama’s Home Remedies | My Philosophy

Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and The Pleasures of Natural Living

Publication Date: Jan 2008
Price: $19.95
Category: Health, Body/Mind/Spirit, Small Press Selection
Pages: 328
Book Type: Paper
Size: 6 x 9
ISBN-13 978-0-9791758-2-4Hardcover Edition:Price: $24.95
ISBN:13 978-0-9791758-1-7

By Svetlana Konnikova, MA, AN, with a Foreword by Anna Maria Clement, PhD, NMD, Codirector and Chief Health Administrator of Hippocrates Health Institute

Interwoven with centuries-old herbal remedies, time-tested techniques, and women’s wisdom handed down through the ages, this kaleidoscopic whole-health tapestry reveals a myriad of natural methods for achieving and maintaining good health and all-around happiness.

At the heart of the narrative is a compilation of natural recipes for infusions, poultices, teas, and tinctures—garnered by the young Svetlana while listening to her mother and “the girls” (other medical professionals like her mother) as they shared their bond of friendship and their tales of healing success while gathered for tea in the family’s blossom-filled garden—intertwined with her grandmother’s fairy tales, family vignettes, legends, and herbal lore.

Filled with easy-to-make, natural, healing recipes for common ailments and illnesses—such as allergies, asthma, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, and respiratory problems—this all-encompassing guide to wellness offers a holistic approach that intermingles alternative treatments with folklore, psychology, philosophy, and spirituality to foster optimal health and joyful living.

VIEW SAMPLE PAGES: Contents | p10 | p209

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My Philosophy:

If I were to name the most precious resources of life, I should say good health, loving family, sincere friends, great books, fresh flowers, and powerful Nature. As John Burroughs, American writer and naturalist said once, “Nature we have always with us, and inexhaustible storehouse of that which moves the heart, appeals to the mind, and fires the imagination–health to the body, a stimulus to the intellect, and joy to the soul.”

Obviously Nature did it all to me because her driving force fired my imagination, stimulated my intellect, made me feel happy, and ‘pushed’ me to write my award-winning scripts, articles and non-fiction books. I was ‘programmed’ to became a medical doctor, but I became a television broadcaster and writer instead. Shhh! It was my Mom’s strong desire that I will devote my life to becoming a doctor. At first, I did not have anything against my Mom’s big dream, but then I decided to follow up my own dreams of being a journalist. So I chose a “gold middle.” I became a writer and a broadcast journalist, an educator, and the family “doctor” for my family. Now you understand why I finally wrote Mama’s Home Remedies…

I’ve been a practitioneer and avid researcher of herbal medicine, natural and holistic approaches to health for the last 25 years. I have also written other non-fiction books, television scripts and articles for different magazines and publications. During these years I’ve witnessed so many “shows” and demonstrations of so-called new natural remedies and therapies, fake diets, and endless promises of “one-minute miracles” from self-proclamed gurus… No doubts, some health breakthroughs have merit, others provide little or no benefit at all, and I was always wondering how people can believe such nonsense?

Then I realized how fortunate I am growing up in southeastern Europe amidst medical professionals active in natural medicine, folk healers, grape growers and winemakers. I consider myself the lucky heir to their extensive knowledge, which I began to document in a thick notebook when I was 12 years old. Day by day I recorded recipes and natural remedies that were passed down through the generation as treatments to prevent and fight disease. Now this knowledge of the healing power of green plants–our lifesavers is shared with you. More than 300 pages of Mama’s Home Remedies for your perusal.

Do you know that one of the important precepts of Hippocrates doctrine was based on the “the healing power of nature,” or in Latin, vis mediatrix naturae. If people will learn how to recognize the medicinal properties of herbs, they can save themselves wiith simple, green cures for diseases. It definitely threatens the happy livelihood of the trillion-dollar earnings of today’s pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, including numerous medical centers and a whole ‘army’ of physicians imposing on the patients endless prescriptions with expensive drugs, chemotherapies and other medical procedures during long hospital stays, costing literally a fortune.

Today traditional, modern, and alternative medicines can no longer go each in their own way. We must change it, and learn to use them in synthesis, drawing from the best of each to reach their common goal–to prevent and treat disease, very often with means given to us by Mother Nature.

My interest in herbs and nature began long ago. I remember my first impression: a bunch of small chamomile flowers in a crystal vase standing on a side table near my bed. They held a delicate aroma that I memorized forever. I feel that it blends perfectly with my body chemistry. Do you know a story about chamomile, which is called motherly herb? Chamomile is one of my favorite flowers, and it is used extensively in many natural remedies throughout my book, Mama’s Home Remedies. The Latin name for chamomile is Matricaria Chamomila. The name is derived from the Latin word mater, which means mother. A kind herbal healer for the people. Chamonile is like a good nurturing mother and is favorite, valued folk remedy in Europe, especially in Russia.

Chamomile was the first of Nature’s greetings to me from the unknown miraculous world outside. I grew up in a home filled with dried herbs, potted plants, and fragrant sachets everywhere to keep the air fresh with an energizing scent. Our kitchen was filled with numerous packets and glass jars of mixed herbs, nastoykas (infusions), juices, teas and elixirs.

Beginning with my great-great-grandmother, several generations of women on our family were fascinated with herbs and everything that Nature could provide us. Grandma planted herbs, flowers, and trees in her gardens and used them as natural healers in the preparation of homemade green medicines; cosmetics, and in cooking delicious vegetable meals, preserves, and elixirs.

All women in our family, except my mother, were homemakers, but they learned how to use a green pharmacy. They acquired a broad range of knowledge of plants and used it to prevent and heal various ailments in their family members. Thanks to them, my sister and I grew up without extensive use of antibiotics and other drugs. Instead we were surrounded with great books, good friends, a beautiful natural environment, Grandma’s fairy tales, and her green-blue garden.

We also had Grandpa’s wisdom and his vineyards with ripe grapes, Papa’s home library with hundreds of great books and lessons on how to reach your dreams, and Mama’s motivational discussions on self-esteem and treatment with her homemade healing remedies.

We lived in a big house standing in the hilly countryside in southeastern Europe with its sunny vineyards, fields with blossoming herbs and flowers, and big, sometimes giant walnut trees everywhere. Our house was called “Open Door House,” but not for sale…, it was open for guests. My grandmother and grandfather, and then my parents, created an exciting atmosphere there where my aunts and uncles, cousins, good friends, and neighbors were welcomed to tea parties and “green” dinners, where candlelight and stimulating conversations abounded.

Tea parties were a Friday tradition and always a perfect get-together at our home.

Tea was considered to be an essential part of l’art de vivre. We sat down to tea many times–the same party around the same table on our patio, overlooking Grandma’s multicolored garden with an array of flowers that greeted us with sweet and pungent aromas while the strains of Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” filled the air. It gave me a great inspiration for many years ahead. According to my experience, classic music works as the best stimulus to your imagination and gently drives you to create something good, healthy and joyful.

Writing this book was a hard work and pleasant experience in the same time. As a result, it turned into a useful volume empowered with valuable information, motivational mottoes, practical and inspirational advice; a tribute to Mother Nature, Moms and Children, Parents, Grandmothers and Grandfathers, Women and Men, All Curious at Heart, and a guide to help them start, build and live good life with all natural pleasures and healthy wisdom abound.

VIEW SAMPLE PAGES: Contents | p10 | p209