The Medicine of Bone
As a vegetarian of almost 40 years, when I turned to bone broth to heal, it was a difficult transition yet, I would not write this if I had not felt the healing benefits myself. In the ancient healing traditions of both the East and the West, the bones are seen as the keepers of our deepest vitality — the storehouse of our ancestral energy, our Jing, the essence that sustains life itself. When we are exhausted, anxious or adrift, this essence becomes depleted and this is tiredness that food and good sleep alone cannot touch.
Bone broth is in many ways, the simplest and oldest of tonics. When bones are simmered slowly, they release minerals — calcium, magnesium, phosphorus — and the gelatin that supports the integrity of our joints, gut and connective tissues. But beyond the chemistry, there is an energetic medicine too.
TO MAKE
Add a mix of organic chicken pieces or bones, a splash of apple cider vinegar to draw out minerals, a few aromatics like a leek, turmeric, garlic, ginger and perhaps medicinal herbs or seaweed if you wish. Cover with water and simmer gently for 12–24 hours.
Strain, store, and sip slowly. If you have guts issues drink one small cup three times a day.
I also use the broth to cook short grain brown rice to make a congee adding extra ginger to warm the interior and 3-5 crushed cardamom pods.
Making bone broth is a practice of devotion and participation — being part of the cycle of life and nourishment.
In Chinese Medicine, the bones are governed by the Kidneys, the home of our inherited strength, willpower and our capacity to stand firm in the world. The long, slow cooking of bone broth mirrors the essence of Kidney Qi itself: slow, still, enduring, deep. Bone broth also nourishes the Spleen and Stomach, aiding digestion, grounding the spirit and helping us assimilate not just food, but life itself. When digestion is strong, we can transform what we take in both physically and emotionally, into clarity, energy, and peace.
Bone broth, in its essence, is a gesture of return. It reminds us that nothing in nature is wasted, that transformation is always possible even from what has been broken. The minerals and collagen feed the bones, the blood, the gut but more than that, they remind us of our belonging to the earth. I share this not from theory, but from experience. I would never offer what I have not lived.
