History of Unani Tibb Herbal Medicine

Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Graeco–Roman medicine from Hippocrates and Galen was assimilated by the Arabs, and an Arabic tradition of medicine, known as Unani Tibb, developed. The word Unani (meaning ‘Greek’ reflects the strong Greek influence to this tradition, while Tibb means the knowledge of the states of the human body in health and disease. 

A succession of renowned Arabs physicians continued the development and codification of this tradition, one physician in particular - Ibn Sina was hugely instrumental in adding his own inventions and discoveries to the sum of herbal and botanical knowledge he had amassed. He had qualified as a Physician by the age of 18 and was the first to distill Rose essential oil. Avicenna wrote over 40 books and bought together all that was available on the nature of disease, plant medicines, aromatics and medical theories (such as TCM, Ayurveda, etc) in his Canon of Medicine, the largest medical text ever written. Unani Tibb Medicine (UTM) is now widely practiced in the Asian sub-continent, Australia, South Africa and we’re now seeing its return back to Europe, where it all first began.

With this tradition in mind we began work on the concept of the Garden Clinic back in 2016 with a desire to create a space that would be conducive to the development of spiritual and physical health. The work completed in 2019 and we opened our doors to the clinical practice and educational workshops early in 2019. We are continuing to learn and grow all the time and hope to expand our offerings into other cities and formulate collaborations with other like minded organisations.