Curriculum

50 plants will be covered in depth, focusing on those that are bio-regional and clinically relevant. They will be presented as online lectures and in person sessions with Q&A, discussion, clinical experience sharing, plant connection experiences, and tasting. Students will learn how to identify and grow or source each plant. They will understand specific indications, dosing, energetics, mechanisms of action, relevant scientific research, safety concerns and appropriate applications.

Time: 28 hours pre-recorded videos, and 15 hours in person.

Therapeutics classes will cover a holistic understanding of a wide range of acute and chronic health concerns with principles for herbal support. The lectures will be primarily delivered online with in person class time devoted to questions, review and case study activities. The goal is for students to learn how to integrate information from the program and apply it towards real life health situations they may encounter. Click here for a complete list of therapeutics topics we will cover.

Time: 58 hours pre-recorded, 22 hours in person

Understanding energetics, both in plants and in people, is one of the keys to learning to use herbs more effectively. Using an energetic lens, students will learn how to customize formulation for each individual. Through our senses and observation, we will explore how patterns and elements found in nature help us to explain what might be going on in our bodies, and what qualities to look for in plants to help bring us towards more balance. These in person classes will focus on the four universal qualities (hot/cold/damp/dry), the four elements (earth/air/fire/water), the Ayurvedic doshas, and the western tissue states.

Time: 12 hours in person.

These classes will cover common therapeutic plant chemical families and specific constituents found in medicinal plants. This familiarity helps us understand how to better choose appropriate and safe herbs, make better formulations and make effective extracts. It will also help us integrate an energetic and scientific approach.

Time: 8 hours in person.

These in person classes will explore medicinal plant communities in the wild and garden. Students will learn basic botany, plant identification, and how to grow medicinal plants through the lens of ecosystems and interrelationship. This class will cover how to harvest sustainably while also maximizing potency of the medicinal actions of the herbs. We will look critically at what the dominant culture teaches us about how to relate to plants, and together learn to shift our lens as being a part of and of benefit to the earth as our priority.

Time: 13 hours in person.

We will cover basic and advanced preparations including tinctures, percolations, dual extracts, infused oils and honeys, salves and creams, syrups, vinegars and flower essences. These classes will be held in person and offer hands-on practice. Students will feel comfortable making a variety of high quality herbal preparations, and they will learn how to discern what preparations are most appropriate for each situation.

Time: 15 hours in person.

Nutrition is foundational to health and also a bedrock of herbal medicine. Through optimal nourishment, we provide our bodies with the building blocks required to maintain and regain health. In these classes, students will learn the role of food and nutrition in health, including an understanding of macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Common nutritional deficiencies will be discussed and how to remedy them. We will also focus on herbal nutrition–using nutritive and tonic herbs to augment our nutritional intake, creating a powerful bridge between food and supplements. Lastly, we will cover the pitfalls and potential benefits of different diets, including a focus on our relationship with food.

Time: 15 hours in person.

Being a herbalist is about more than choosing the right herbs. We live within a dominant culture and society that has deeply ingrained values and stories that impact how we relate to each other and the plants. We want to spread a herbal culture that is accessible, respectful, empowering and guides us to be in right relationship with the earth. We believe that in order to rise to this, as herbalists, we need to unpack values and biases we have learned, such as colonialism and white supremacy, cultural appropriation, fatphobia and more. We will discuss how to practice herbalism in a way that is sustainable, responsible, respectful, honoring the lineages of knowledge, and empowering to all bodies.

Time: 10 hours in person.

Connecting with plants is like a muscle we can train to cultivate deeper relationships. In this class, students will spend time sitting with plants both outside of class time and during class together, practicing a heart-centred tuning to nature and felt observation. We will work with our voices of self-judgement and our inner critic about what is possible or real. Through this class, students will engage with plants as beings, cultivate a deep connection with plants, and learn to apply this to their herbalism practice.

Time: 9 hours in person.

All students will gain access to Tammi Sweet’s online anatomy and physiology program. Tammi Sweet is an herbalist who has after many years of teaching anatomy and physiology, created this very engaging program geared specifically for herbalists. She makes anatomy and physiology fun! More information about this specific part of the course can be found on Tammi’s website: https://courses.heart-stone.com/p/online-anatomy-physiology

Time: 24 hour online program, 8 hours in class presentations.