02/20/2012
The History of Chaga:
For thousands of years, Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus) has been revered throughout the known world (Eurasia), where it has been referred to as a precious "Gift from God" and nature's "King of Herbs". Documented back well before the time of Christ, ancient Asian folk medicine practitioners relied upon Chaga, a special mushroom, to maintain a healthy life energy balance ("Chi"), preserve youth, promote longevity, and boost the body's immune system. As a folk remedy, Chaga was ingested by the local people of the Siberian mountain regions in tea or powder form, inhaled from smoke and applied to the skin.
Documented in the book "The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing" in 100 B.C., the Chinese Monk Shen Nong proclaimed Chaga as a superior class herb, because of its diverse and complete health-enhancing properties. The entry reads "A Precious Gift of Nature" and "The King of the Herbs".
For centuries, people have used Chaga as a daily supplement for the overall balancing of the body's immune system and promoting good health even for those of advanced years. Historically, some Russians drank Chaga as a daily beverage just as we do coffee or tea. Today, Chaga tea is commonly used in Russian cultures as a family cupboard product to support a healthy immune system.
Early Russian culture embraced the use of Siberian Chaga, and its use has spread westward to the Urals and Baltic regions of the European continent. In the 12th Century Tzar Vladimir Monamah was reportedly treated with Chaga to maintain his health.
Siberian Chaga, received acclaim and notice by the Western world when Nobel Prize winning Russian novelist Alexandr Solzenitsyn introduced it in his 1968 novel, The Cancer Ward, where he talks about the tea from the birch tree mushroom and its beneficial properties.
According to thousands of years of testing by Chinese Health Practioners, mushrooms including Chaga, can help to increase longevity, promote health, and boost life energy or "Chi." The biochemistry of these mushrooms is complex and is still being studied. After 40 years of research, the publication of hundreds of clinical, in vivo and in vitro studies, research science is only beginning to understand the life and health enhancing properties of the class of superior mushrooms......Ref. Chaga Int.
