My Philosophy of Herbal Healing:

Experiencing nourishment through the gifts of medicine plants can have a profound effect on a person's sense of well-being due to the breadth and depth of support they offer us.  Plants are complex, like people.  The herbs in my materia medica are like my close friends.  One plant may have ten different abilities.

While there are many herbal remedies that have been proven to work over millennia of use as well as through modern clinical trials, natural medicine is always somewhat individual.  Discovering 'what works for me' will be slightly to radically different for everybody.  Deep listening to both people and plants is necessary to find the best match between a person's unique needs and the gifts of the herbs.

I encourage clients and students to get to know the medicine from local, earth-friendly herbs and whole foods, as well as to call on the their own healing gifts of acceptance, self-love, care, laughter, and connection to the Divine or Mystery. 

Natural healing is empowering and also demands attention.  Try another method if you want to take a pill and forget about it.

Medicine plants have the ability to do more than help us through health challenges.  They can also uncover more vitality, beauty, joy, peace and groundedness in ourselves than we may have believed possible. 

People who are drawn to work with me are generally in the midst of deep shifts in their relationships to their bodies and the earth.  I'm not a doctor, and I'm not a substitute for a doctor.  I don't prescribe or diagnose.  

I'm a listener.  I look at the body and ask what its trying to express through its physical challenges without judgment.  In my writing, teaching, and private consultations I seek to help people tap into greater wholeness as they strengthen their relationships to nature and themselves.

Consultations are private, custom-tailored classes.  During consults we discuss the body in non-medical terms and learn about medicine plants that may become life-long friends after helping us out of a hard spot and then quietly supporting from then on.

Trusting the earth's healing gifts and our own takes time and practice to develop.  I'm honored to help people with this process.