🔋
Rest doesn't relieve my fatigue
Even after resting all weekend, Monday still feels exhausting.
Beyond replenishing energy — tailored to your constitution and the season
Personalized Herbal Medicine · Restorative Tonics
The same fatigue can have different causes, and different causes call for different prescriptions. We assess your condition and design the prescription your body needs right now.
Has any of this been going on for a while?
If rest no longer restores you, your body's reserves may be running low
🌙
Sleep doesn't leave me refreshed
You get enough hours of sleep, but mornings still feel heavy.
🤱
Recovery after childbirth or surgery is slow
Your body doesn't feel like it used to, and aches keep showing up.
🍂
Every change of season wears me down
Colds and dips in your condition come back whenever the seasons change.
Core Solution
How your prescription is designed
1
Assessment
We first determine whether your fatigue stems from depletion, sluggish circulation, or problems with digestion and absorption.
2
Prescription Design
We formulate around your constitution and the season. Even the same tonic is composed differently in summer and winter.
3
Guided Use
We give you specific guidance on how to take it, for how long, and which foods to avoid alongside it.
4
Follow-up
We check how your body responds while you take it and adjust the formula if needed.
🌿
Therapeutic herbal medicine and tonics are not the same
Herbal medicine aimed at treatment — such as stabilizing sleep or restoring digestion — is designed differently from tonics that replenish depleted energy. Through consultation, we start by identifying what your body actually needs right now.
doctor Dr. Heo Ji-young
A graduate of the College of Korean Medicine at Kyung Hee University, with master's and doctoral degrees in pathology — the mechanisms of disease — from its graduate school. Later served as a research professor in the university's Herbology department, studying medicinal substances. Studying both disease and medicine from both sides is the foundation of this practice: explaining "why a given medicine works for a given illness" in the language of both pathology and pharmacology.
Explains autonomic, chronic, and intractable conditions — and structural problems of the body — in the language of modern science, and proposes treatment matched to the cause. Has taught prescribing and clinical practice to Korean medicine doctors for over ten years, and is a co-author of "Korean Medicine, Explained by Korean Medicine Doctors," selected for the 2018 Sejong Books list (general category).
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Will herbal medicine make me gain weight?
A. Generally not, unless weight gain is the goal. In fact, formulas are often designed with the aim of restoring digestive and metabolic function.
Q. Can I take it together with Western medications?
A. In most cases, yes — as long as you space out the doses. Let us know what you are currently taking, and we will factor it into the prescription.
Q. How long do I need to take it?
A. It depends on the goal. We usually start with a one-month course, adjust as we monitor your progress, and do not recommend taking it longer than necessary.
Q. Since herbal medicine comes from nature, does it have no side effects?
A. No, that is not the case. Effects and side effects generally arise from the same mechanism, at the same site — differing only in dose and duration. What makes something safe is not where it comes from, but the dose, the duration, and the condition of the person taking it. That is why we first check what medications you are currently taking and your current physical condition, and we do not recommend taking it longer than necessary.
Q. How should I store herbal medicine I have not finished yet?
A. Please keep pouches (liquid decoction) refrigerated. Unopened, about two weeks is generally fine; once opened, it is best to drink it the same day. Pills or powder forms should be kept somewhere cool and dry, and please watch for moisture during the summer. The most common mistake is drinking medicine that has been kept too long because it seems wasteful to throw it away — please discard anything that has gone bad.
Q. What should I do if my condition changes while I am taking it?
A. Please let us know right away if you notice any change in your condition while you are taking it. That observation is what we use to adjust the next prescription. Because the prescription is reviewed every two weeks, you can simply tell us about any changes at your next visit.
Contact Us
Have questions?
We're here to help.
02-446-1075
Weekdays 09:30 - 20:00 / Saturday 09:30 - 13:00
Lunch Break 12:30 - 14:00 / Closed Sunday · Public Holidays
Articles on Herbal Medicine & Tonics
Latest blog posts from our director
Blog
Water Does Not Move on Its Own
Water cannot set its own direction; it follows whatever pulls it. What the body does instead is keep separate doors for water to pass through, and decide how many of those doors to open. So swelling is less a matter of having too much water than of water having left the place where it belongs.
Blog
It Is Mealtime and I Do Not Feel Like Eating
I do not look at a lost appetite first as a matter of will or mood. Hunger is a signal that comes up when the stomach empties, so I begin with how fast the stomach is emptying.
Blog
Sweat Is Not Only for Cooling You Down
When blood gathers at an injured place, fluid between the tissues increases. But the body is not a sack — it is a compartment, and when fluid increases the pressure rises, and that pressure in turn presses on the vessels and the lymphatics from outside. The pores are the valve that lets that pressure out.
⚖️
What makes something safe is not where the medicine comes from, but the dose and the duration
Effects and side effects generally do not come from different places. They arise from the same site, through the same mechanism — differing only in dose and duration. That is why we do not use the phrase "safe because it comes from nature." What makes something safe is not where the medicine comes from, but the dose, the duration, and the condition of the person taking it.
Dr. Heo Ji-young holds a PhD in Korean Medicine pathology and previously served as a research professor of herbology at Kyung Hee University, studying how the components of herbal medicine act in the body. This is the standard used to decide what to prescribe, how much, and for how long.
Treatment Process
Here is what to expect at your first visit
1
Checking your vitals
We start by measuring blood pressure, pulse, and body temperature for everyone who visits.
2
Assessing your condition
If you are also considering an herbal medicine prescription, we review a questionnaire along with urine and blood sugar tests, oxygen saturation and perfusion index measured with a fingertip device, the mouth, the eyes' pupillary light response, breathing, and sympathetic nervous system response — together with a hands-on physical examination where we look, touch, and check your movement directly.
3
Explaining what we found
Based on what we find, we explain which part of your body is currently off balance. These checks are meant to reduce diagnostic error, rule out other underlying conditions, and prepare for any possible side effects. See the full list of what we check
4
Setting a timeline together
For first-time patients, we often start with about one month, and review the prescription again every two weeks, because the prescription needs to change as your condition changes. Not everyone needs to take it for a long time. Because of individual variation and the many variables in each person's physiology and condition, we cannot state this in absolute terms.
🌱
The body does the healing — herbal medicine's role is to restore the conditions
"Herbal medicine does not cure disease. It only restores an environment that has tilted off balance — the actual repair work is done by the body." This is a passage from the book Dr. Heo Ji-young wrote.
Cells already have their own repair mechanisms. When the surrounding environment stays off balance, that mechanism simply cannot run properly. So instead of pressing hard on one spot, we start by finding where the conditions have tilted.
♨️
The herbs and water we use
We use herbal ingredients that come with GMP certification. The water used for decoction goes through a water purifier.
Kyunghee Meerae Korean Medicine Clinic, Gwangjin is located at Room 201, 46 Jayang-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is a 7-minute walk from Guui Station Exit 4. · Directions