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Sunday International Herb Symposium Workshops

1 Sunday Morning Workshops 9 - 10:30 a.m.

1.  Whole Herbs, Little Chemicals, and Spirit w/Amanda McQuade Crawford.

 As global patterns of dis-ease challenge our planet's health, we can find solutions for the earth and for us in green medicine. Bridging from the physical science to the invisible thread of Vital Force, we'll see how healing tannins, cooling plant acids, and other little chemicals work in our bodies and in the greater planetary body. Inter/Adv. LCD projector/screen

2. Diabetes Prevention and Treatment w/Christopher Hobbs

3.  Wholistic Care of Our Animal Companions.

Using herbs and natural foods to keep our pets healthy and disease free. We’ll discuss safe effective herbs to use for animals, the pros and cons of the various natural food diets available today, and herbal protocols for various illness’s that are common to our four legged companions.

4. Insulin Resistance: Pathophysiology and Natural Therapeuticsw/Paul Bergner.

Insulin resistance is an underlying root of much of modern chronic disease, including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, common cancers, degenerative neurological disease, and reproductive disorders. This pathological process will be described, and a protocol of dietary, nutritional, lifestyle, and herbal treatments developed over a decade of practice and refinement will be offered, with case studies. Inter/Adv.

5. The Quantum Herbalist w/James Green.

  A quantum herbalist is grounded in the worldview of the new physics, called quantum physics. In contrast to the classical physics which sees the world as a linear, mechanical, deterministic machine, the quantum herbalist is grounded in the primacy of consciousness. Join James in an exciting discussion of Quantum Herbalism, Herbs and Health.

6. Ritual, Religion, and Divination; Sacred Uses of Sage (Salvia spp.) w/Aaron Jenks.

  This talk will explore the sacred uses of Salvia species by indigenous American cultures, including the use of “nucchu” in Inca religious traditions; “mirto” in the ritual treatment of the folk-illnesses “susto” and “espanto”; and the use of “ska pastora” in divination and healing. Inter/adv.

7. Celtic Spirituality, Celtic Healing w/Michelle Lyons (Ireland).

The Celts were a flourishing and dynamic race, who made their way from Northern India to spread throughout Europe. Healthy living was a duty for the Celts. They practiced plant medicine, sacred movement and meditation, and lived with a veneration and respect for their environment. In this class, we will re-discover the roots of traditional healing, mythologies and doctrine of signatures, explore the time-honoured medicine used by the Celts.

 8. Living with Cancer w/Margi Flint.

 This class will focus on empowering people to improve their health by consuming life-enhancing, nutrient dense foods and herbs to strengthen the body both to prevent and to treat cancer. We’ll discuss life giving foods, Pre-biotics, Probiotics, Enzymes,  & Amino acids, and the  use of stews, brews, teas, powders, pastes and tinctures to treat cancer as well as effective topical treatments.

9. The Heart-Brain-Emotion Interaction and Hypertension w/Robin Dipasquale.

Hildegard of Bingen wrote, “It is not the brain that thinks, but rather the heart.”  This class will explore the ways that emotions impact our health and well being, focusing on the cardiovascular system.  We will look at HTN, its etiologies, and ways of treatment using herbal medicine through this emotional pathway. Inter/Adv

10.Cleansing through Herbs, Diet, and Fastingw/Nancy Phillips

  Cleansing programs - particularly fasting - are the oldest known medical treatment on earth and completely a natural process. Cleansing can be rejuvenating for physical, mental and spiritual well-being. An individualized program for cleansing is the key. Today we will look at a variety of programs that you can pick and choose from to help you to overall good health.

11. Wholistic Approach to an Influenza Pandemic w/Michael Phillips.

Michael will discuss how our immune system deals with virulent influenza and what can be done to support the right kind of immune response. We’ll look at readily-available herbs known for their anti-viral activity. Lessons learned from past pandemics point the way to homegrown remedies that are far more equalitarian than government solutions!

12. Embracing Deer Medicine, the Flower of Kindness w/Bonnie Kavanagh and Marguerite Uhlmann-Bower.

How do we, as holistic healers interface our work in a society that values the materialistic and thinks from a fear based mind? This class offers an open-hearted view in better aligning ourselves with our clients needs as well as our own. We will look into such concerns as: ‘the should and shouldn'ts’ of therapeutic protocols, ‘to insure or not to insure?’, how do we work with client demographics and corporate herbalism?

HW 13.  Forest Healers; Trees and Native Woodland Plants as Medicine for Body & Soul w/Kate Gilday.

The Northeast woodlands are home to many species of healing trees and plants, quietly holding the resonance of the past and hopeful future of wilderness.  The grace, presence and healing the trees hold is more than the medicine they provide.  They connect us back to the land, to the wild essence of our own inner landscape, to the consciousness and practical nature of this environment.  Let’s walk among the tall ones and learn of their gifts and the native, at-risk plants they nurture and protect. 

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now
~ anonymous

2 Sunday Mid-Morning Workshops 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

“Unknowingly, we plough the dust of stars, blown around us by the wind, and drink the universe in a glass of rain”
~ Ihab Hassah

1. Natural Care for Mothers, infants and Children w/Rocio Alarcon & daughter Michelle Viteri (Ecuador/England).

From mother, daughter, granddaughter team, you’ll learn about traditional herbs and diet used for pregnancy, birth, lactation and infancy. Healing massage for both mama and baby will be shared, along with ceremonial and cleansing bathing and a special technique called ‘hipping’. These helpful tips and more from a household where 4 generations of powerful women still live together!

2. Therapeutic Uses of Essential Oils w/Tim Blakley.

We’ll discuss oil quality, safety, and, most importantly, the therapeutic uses of oils. We’ll cover in depth over 30 oils, both common and less common. Oils for cold and flu season, as antimicrobials, skin uses, stress reduction and more will be covered. Participants will leave with the ability to make a variety of therapeutic blends. Intermed

3. Ayurvedic Help for Cancer w/Anne McIntyre (UK).

Ayurvedic cancer treatment includes recommendations for lifestyle and use of specific foods and herbs which are not only helpful in preventing the progression of the disease but also make the patients feel better and more comfortable in mind and body. Inter/Adv

4. Immune System Modulation with Mushrooms for Treating Immunodeficiency, Autoimmune Diseases and Inflammation w/George Vaughan.

The ability of medicinal mushrooms to modulate the immune system makes them very effective for the treatment of a wide variety of immune-related diseases including compromised immune systems, autoimmune disorders, asthma, allergies and inflammation. This class will cover the different types of mushrooms which are most effective for specific disorders and diseases and will include specific examples with case studies.

5. Sacred Plant Medicine w/Stephen H. Buhner.

Through a unique blend of storytelling, personal reflection, experiential exercises, and information gleaned from the study of indigenous cultures and the wild plants Stephen shares the ancient experience of sacred plant medicine. This workshop explores: the visionary source of all plant knowledge, how people talk to plants and the plants to them, the use of sacred plant medicine in healing, and how all of this fits into the wonderful web of life on this Earth.

6. The “Monas’ of Gynecology w/Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo (Tibet).

This class will focus on the cause and conditional causes of gynecological disease according to Tibetan medicinal practices. The etiology, clinical symptom(s) diagnosis, and treatment methods will be shared. Dr. Wangmo will share effective Tibetan remedies for nourishing and supporting women through menopause.Adv

7. Respectful Collection of Plants w/Dona Enriqueta Contreras (Mexico).

Dona Enriqueta will share rituals and ceremonies she’s been taught by her elders for the proper gathering of medicinal plants. Offering copal and incense and prayer to the Mother Earth infuses the plants with their curative essence that we then offer to our patients.

8. The Fascinating Art of Beekeeping w/Todd Hardie.

Todd, of Honey Gardens Apiaries in Ferrisburgh, VT, will share 30 years of beekeeping, the practical, idealistic, and supernatural, moving with the spirit, stories of marketing, plant medicine from the honey house. Join Todd in an informal discussion.

9. Psychoactive Plants w/David Hoffmann.

What are they, where are they, how do they work, why do they work, and why are they vilified?

10. Essential Oils in the Palliative Care Environment ~ Potentials and Challenges w/Rhiannon Harris.

This presentation explores the use of essential oils in palliative care, using case examples and providing important guidelines to the therapist. Adv

11. Hands on Phytochemistry w/Michael Ford.

Understanding solubility enhances herbalist’s formulation skills. Hands-on activities designed to demonstrate how to get the most out of your herbs, choosing different menstruums, and the art of making emulsions (creams & lotions).

12. Contact with the Plant world: Research from the Federation of Damanhur w/Crotalo Sesamo (Italy).

Crotalo Sesamo, Director of the Olami Damanhur University in Italy will share highlights of Damanhur’s 25 years of experience in field of plant research and their findings on plant sensitivity and communication with the plant world.

HW. 13. Weeds for your Needs w/Doug Elliott.

We will roam rich wooded areas of the campus focusing on the great variety of medicinal, edible, and otherwise useful wild plants - their botany, natural history and folklore, as well as their traditional and contemporary herbal uses.  Please note; Doug will cover different herbs that on his earlier walk.

Herbalists and Health Freedom w/special guest Diane Miller. Diane Miller is an attorney, dedicating her legal talents to health freedom. As Legal and Public Policy Director of the National Health Freedom Coalition (NHFC) and NHFA, and Co-Chair of the World Health Freedom Assembly, Diane is active in providing information and resources to health freedom decision-makers across the country. We’ve invited Diane to join us this weekend to provide an overview of policies and trends that will affect the future of health care in this country and what you can do to make a difference.

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with JOY the whole time to have such things about us!”
~ Iris Murdock (1919 ~ 1999)

3 Sunday Afternoon Workshops 1:30 - 3 p.m.

Walk the Earth in Beauty and Power; Spiritual Principles for Health, Wealth & Happiness

1. Ecological Approach to Therapy w/Dr. Juan Almendares (Honduras).

Dr. Almendares will present an ecological model of therapy and treatment which incorporates integrative health, vision and practice. Inter/Adv

2. Sex and Smell – Do Women Really Need Men? w/Mindy Green.

The subject of sexual attraction is unique to each gender and involves the biology and physiology of scent mapping, pheromone production and perception, receptor binding, and more. We will discuss how scent affects brain wave patterning of men and women, and how pheromones affect us and those we come in contact with. We will discuss herbs for sexual health and answer the title question, which will assuredly be very politically correct.

3. Two Buds and a Leaf w/Ryan Drum.

Three herbs, Poplar Buds, Grindelia Buds, and Fig leaves, each provide non-aqueous healing constituents (resins, gums, and latex, respectively). Understanding their botany and ethnobotany can improve using their unique properties and uses.

4. International Programs for Medicinal Plant Conservation: What Works! w/Steven Foster.

Herb and medicinal plant conservation has always been a concern, but since 1988, a concerted international effort by people who care has created numerous programs around the world that do more than talk—they work! Steven will share his experience in working in international programs with a focus on herb conservation.

5. The Dirty Dozen w/Matthias & Andrea Reisen.

A dozen favorite roots:  how they grow, why they grow where they do and what that means to us, how to harvest them, and our favorite ways of using them.

6. Traditional Thai Medicine: Therapeutic uses of Thai Herbs, Spices & Foods w/Ed Smith.

Class will cover the history of traditional herbal medicine in Thailand, and how it is being incorporated into the modern healthcare system. The pharmacological and therapeutic application of herbs, foods and spices used in traditional and modern Thai medicine and topical use of herbs in traditional Thai massage. Class includes a colorful slideshow.

7. A Holistic Medical Herbal Approach to Thyroid Dysfunction w/Dr. Michael Friedman.

An overview of pathophysiology and laboratory testing of thyroid dysfunction will be discussed within a holistic context of healing therapies. The use of botanicals, bioidentical hormones, nutrition, vitamins, minerals and lifestyle counseling as a restorative treatment approach towards healing for thyroid disease will be discussed. Case studies of patients treated for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Hashimotos Disease, Graves Disease, and Toxic Multi Nodular goiter will be discussed in detail. Adv

8. Edible and Medicinal Plants of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest w/Janice Schofield Eaton.

Enjoy a visual tour of the herbs in diverse Alaskan habitats from tundra to coast. Discover tonic, specific and heroic plants of the far north, and countless ways to use them in your life. Includes a gorgeous powerpoint slide show.

9. A History of Medicine in the United States w/Guido Mase’.

Herbalism is only recently been 'alternative'. It is upsetting to hear technological medicine described as 'traditional'. Learn the wanderings of health care in the United States through the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring the ascendance of homeopathy, eclectic medicine, and the criminal vagaries of 'regular' doctors and the AMA. An important 'back story' for herbalists – never taught at modern medical schools.

10. Understanding and Treating Lyme Disease; a Wholistic Approach.

HW 11. Tree Spirits Tree Walk w/Susun Weed.

Please join me for a magical time in the presence of the trees of Wheaton and the surrounding forest. We will sit in silent communion with special trees, as well as talking about their uses.

HW 12. Symplocarpus and sassafras: Unusual Plants of New England w/Bevin Clare.

Have you learned the basics? Seen enough of dandelion, burdock and violet and want to meet some of the rarer plants growing in the unique ecosystems that surround us? Join Bevin for a final to meet some of the more hidden and less common medicinal plants of New England. Inter/Adv.

“Most people think too much. Get them to laugh and half their troubles and sickness will go away and the blessed herbs will do the rest”
~ Miss Hortense Robinson (Belizean elder midwife and herbalist)

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