Phasinee Yanotai's great-grandfather was a Thai traditional medicine doctor, concocting herbal drugs for the sick. Living over a century apart, the two never met. But that isn't stopping Phasinee from reviving his practice, which saved a number of lives during its time.
Mowaan business operator Phasinee Yanotai preparing ya hom tablets.
"What my great-grandfather did might look merely like a doctor giving patients medicine to cure their sicknesses. But his job back then has become very culturally valuable today," said Phasinee, 39, who is the owner of Mowaan, a manufacturer and retailer of ya hom, or Thai aromatic herbal medicine, located on Bamrung Muang Road of Bangkok's Phra Nakhon district. Especially among elderly Thais, ya hom has long been used as a cure for fainting spells, dizziness, heat exhaustion and upset stomachs.
Phasinee is the fourth generation of Mowaan business operators, after her great-grandfather, her grandmother and her aunt. Though she grew up among the familiar sights of medical tools and the thick aroma of herbal medicine, her educational background in Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Law is a far cry from her plan of preparing and selling drugs.
After graduation, she worked as a project coordinator for international trading at the Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group for six years before moving to the Thailand Creative and Design Centre, where she worked for another five years.
Phasinee soon realised that her family's small business was threatened by changing lifestyle trends and a decline in popularity of Thai traditional medicine, and that the business might be dying along with its elderly patients, who had relied on the family's cures for decades.
"My grandmother took over the business from her father, but she was not a doctor so she could not diagnose, only formulate herbal medicines based on her father's recipes," she explained. "After my grandmother, it was my aunt who took care of the business. Back then there were only 20 customers left, and she was thinking of closing it. But it was those loyal, elderly clients who had nowhere to turn to when it came to finding the right cure. So my aunt decided to continue. But she did not do any marketing. She concocted medicines and then called her customers to pick them up. It was not a relationship between doctor and a patient; it was more like a family."
Ya hom at Mowaan is available in the form of small tablets, all of which are made by hand.
Before quitting her full-time job, Phasinee began to develop interest in Thai traditional medicine and consequently enrolled at the Thai Traditional Medicine School at Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram, focusing on pharmacology, so as to be able to better understand the family legacy — medicinal formulas which had passed on from her great-grandfather's generation.
According to Phasinee, there were over 100 medicinal recipes during her great-grandfather's time, including a cure for fever, constipation, sore throats, blood circulation for women and children's diseases, only half of which were passed on to her grandmother.
But when her aunt took control of the business, only four ya hom formulas remained.
"Preparing Thai traditional herbal medicine requires not just rare ingredients, but also manpower. This is one of the major reasons my aunt decided to keep only four recipes," Phasinee said.
This Sino-Portuguese building dates back to 1924 and is the current office of Mowaan, where four ya hom recipes are sold. www.bangkokpost.co.th/multimedia. In years past, there were more than 100.
Some ingredients for ya hom are rare and pricey, such as saffron and guliga (gallstone from a leaf monkey).
"Some ingredients are extremely hard to find, while many are no longer available. Each preparation process is also complicated and requires many people to master it. But my intention is to keep these four and one day, when we are ready, we might be able to bring some old recipes back."
According to Phasinee, ya hom is made from several fragrant herbs, each of which has its own medicinal property. But in compounding a certain medicine's formula, it is paramount to ensure all of the ingredients work in harmony and that their effects do not clash.
"Thai traditional medicine fundamentally underlines the body's blood circulation and regards the heart as the centre of it," she said. "If the heart is healthy, the circulatory system will work perfectly.
The major property of ya hom is to improve the heart so as to enhance circulation. Ya hom helps freshen the body, cure dizziness, ease bloating and bring about better sleep.
Tools for ya hom preparation.
"This results in stronger physical and emotional health."
Incorporating ya hom into the modern world, where urbanites are more inclined toward Western medicine, Phasinee strives to break the misconception that ya hom is only for the elderly.
She has turned ya hom, which is mostly available powder form, into a candy-like lozenge, making it more accessible, and has redesigned her packages in an attempt to convey the message that Thai herbal medicine is meticulously designed for people of all ages.
"Ya hom can be used from the very start of life until the end," she said.
Ya hom candy is popular among the young.
"A pregnant woman can use ya hom to strengthen the foetus. After it is born, ya hom can help ease bloating in babies.
"And for adults, ya hom is a cure for stress, headache, dizziness and exhaustion. Even in the last moment of life, there is one certain ya hom recipe, which can help remove phlegm momentarily so the dying can say their goodbyes."
Phasinee admitted that it is hard to foresee the future of Thai aromatic herbal medicine, especially because Western medicines render quicker effects — and that ya hom has no scientific research backing up its own efficiency.
But Phasinee hopes people will at least gain a better understanding as to what ya hom really is, and perhaps realise its value.
"I only wish for ya hom to continue to have a place to stand in Thai society, because it has existed here for over 300 years.
"With its various medicinal properties, I consider ya hom the breath of life."
