The Vital Force of Nature and Holistic Herbalism (2017 Evolutionary Herbalism workshop)
One of the most important perspectives-that is, ways of seeing the world- for the true holistic herbalist, is to have an understanding of the vital intelligence found within all of nature. It is critical to learn to perceive the human body as intelligent, that everything about a plant is a communication, and that we as…
Terra Vita 2017: The Quintessential Herbal Monograph
In early March of 2017, I was lucky enough to break away from the frost of Oregon and head down to southern California, visit some old friends, and make some new ones at the Terra Vita Symposium in Laguna Beach. It was an awesome event held at a funky alternative school for kids and brought together…
The Allopathic Herbalism Trap
Vitalism is an ancient principle found in the western traditions that recognizes the life principle within plants and people. This vital principle is what gives everything life, and while the biochemical attributes of an organism are important, it is not all there is. When we use an herbal medicine, we are using the…
Herbal Therapeutics and Differentials for Pain
Let’s face it, pain really sucks!! It can completely dominate your consciousness, blurring out everything else until it becomes your sole focal point, making life a bit more difficult to simply live your life. A lot of folks think that herbs don’t really work that well for pain. That the only things that really work are the heavier hitting…
What You Should (& Shouldn’t) Do When You Start to Get a Cold
Everyone who knows anything about herbs knows that you take Echinacea at the first onset of a cough, cold or flu. But is that really true? More importantly, is that really holistic or in accordance with the vitalist understanding of herbal medicine. Is it possible that taking a squirt of Echinacea every 30 minutes at the…
The Key to Herbal Energetics and Constitutional Systems
One of the key distinguishing characteristics of the practice of true holistic herbalism is the understanding of herbal energetics juxtaposed with the human constitution. These 2 areas of study are the crux of traditional systems of herbalism and natural medicine, and are likely the most overlooked aspects of people and plants in modern medicine- both pharmaceutical and herbal.…
Alchemy and Medical Astrology in Clinical Herbalism (lecture from 2016 Breitenbush Herb Conference)
This class covers some of the critical components in regards to how incorporating western alchemy and medical astrology can radically enhance your practice of holistic herbalism. When we talk about holistic herbalism, I often see the word holistic spelled “whole-istic”- to be truly holistic we have to think about the wholeness of people and plants.…
The Importance of Nervines (lecture from Breitenbush Herb Conference 2016)
I always tell my students that for the client that is stressed and exhausted to give them herbs for the nervous system before even thinking about touching the adaptogens which are typically administered for these common complaints. Too many herbalists use adaptogens out of their clinical indications and traditional context of usage and overlook the…
How to use Corn Silk as an Herbal Medicine
Most people merely think of Corn as strictly a food plant, but often fail to realize that there is a medicinal component of it as well! So when you shuck your Corn, don’t forget to save the long threads on the inside of the husk- what we call Corn Silk. It has a pretty simple and straightforward medicinal…
The One Herb Formula
Sometimes when I walk through the grocery store, I’ll pick up a bottle off of the many shelves of herbal supplements and check out what their formulas look like. I like to see how people think through, or in many cases, don’t think through how to put an herbal formula together. Most of the time,…
