Intensive Classes
Friday, Sept 12, 2025 – 9 am to 12 pm
Intensive workshops offer participants the opportunity to delve deeper into subjects of particular interest and to work more closely with individual teachers. Intensives are 3 hours in length and are an additional $40 each. Space is limited and intensives fill up quickly. Be sure to register and prepay ahead of time to ensure your space.
All intensives are held on the same day and time so participants may select only 1 intensive.
The Art & Science of Eclectic Percolation: Old-School Drips, New-School Tricks
Teacher: Lisa Ganora
Percolation, a highly efficient method of extracting dried herbs, was developed into a fine art by pharmacists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Eclectic pioneers like John Uri Lloyd and Byron Fenner perfected this fascinating process for crafting high-quality tinctures.
In our hands-on intensive, we’ll explore historical and Eclectic percolation techniques, uncovering their advantages over maceration in producing potent extracts with a rich concentration of medicinal constituents. Participants will learn the principles and methods of the percolation process, how to work with final concentration ratios, how to prepare an optimal menstruum, and how to apply a modern understanding of solubility to plan percolations for different herbs.
We’ll include a live demonstration featuring historical percolation methods updated with modern equipment. Whether you’re a clinical herbalist, medicine maker, or botanical pharmacist, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and confidence to integrate Eclectic-based percolation techniques into your tincturing toolkit.
Handout and worksheet included.
Energetic Herbalism
Teacher: Kathleen Maier
Traditional Western herbalism is based on the concept of Vitalism, or the vital nature of a person. This vitality is akin to the chi or prana of the Eastern systems many are becoming familiar with. Simply stated, the qualities are hot, cold, damp, dry, tense, or relaxed—yet they are elegant and deeply meaningful patterns, forever shifting.
When symptoms are understood as patterns of nature, the relationship between disease and the client shifts. This is the core of Energetic Herbalism: to reveal the depth of relationships that exist within ourselves, our beloved plants, and, therefore, our external environment.
Dry lands invite winds to blow and stir the air. Dry tissues bring winds or tremors and stir our energy. Excess heat oxidizes and breaks down tissues; cooling, sweet remedies calm and build. This class will offer a deep foundation for beginners and practitioners alike, fostering a more intimate relationship with their apothecary and Materia Medica.
Medicines for the Head, the Heart and the Hara
Teacher: Daniel Wiseman
This class will explore the creation and application of spagyric essences, elixirs and tinctures for physical, emotional and mental/spiritual health.
Spagyria, a branch of alchemical medicine making and theory, is marked by it’s three essential principles of Salt (the body), Sulphur (the soul) and Mercury (the spirit). As alchemy is fractal in nature, this triune blueprint can be extrapolated to three distinct forms of spagyric preparations: medicines tuned specifically to physical health, to emotional health and to mental/spiritual health.
The Path To Clinical Herbal Practice
Teacher: Erika Galentin, MNIMH, RH (AHG)
The path into clinical herbal practice is daunting. From her own experiences setting up a successful clinical herbal practice, Erika understands how difficult and overwhelming getting started can be. There are so many factors to consider; from legal nuances, clinical forms, and practice policies to preparing your own extracts, figuring out insurance, attracting new clients, and building your dispensary…and you don’t know what you don’t know. Setting up a safe, ethical, and accountable clinical herbalism practice requires direction, support, and confidence. Inspired by her own journey of building a successful practice, this intensive seeks to demystify and unpack the many facets of clinical practice, remove some of the start-up guesswork, and prime you for the real-life experience of working one on one with clients.
The intensive will begin with offering you tools to clarify your vision followed by in depth exploration of professional and legal considerations, the do’s and don’ts of marketing your services, how your clinical forms are the backbone of a safe, ethical, and accountable practice, and so much more. There will also be dedicated time for an in-depth Q&A session where participants can ask Erika any burning questions they have about stepping out onto their clinical herbalism path.
Herbs for Women’s Health
Teacher: Phyllis D. Light
Puberty, fertility, pregnancy, menopause, aging—how can you best support your body through the stages of life? Phyllis D. Light will share her passion for empowering women to understand their bodies and cycles while teaching about powerful herbs that can help alleviate the most common women’s health conditions.
In this class, fourth-generation herbalist Phyllis D. Light will discuss common health issues affecting women throughout their lifespan. What’s the best approach for recurring urinary tract infections? Is there help for ovarian cysts or fibroids? Hot flashes? Endometriosis? Recurring yeast infections? Bacterial vaginosis? Vaginal dryness? Uterine or bladder prolapse? How can fertility be improved? How can you support a healthy pregnancy?
Phyllis will explore all these topics and more. Join us for a fun and informative workshop on women’s health and herbal medicine with renowned teacher, author, and herbalist Phyllis D. Light. Hopefully, you will leave the workshop feeling more self-empowered in supporting your own health needs.
Herbal Medicine: The Next Frontier
Teacher: Christopher Hobbs
Why do so many resist fully integrating herbal medicine into daily life? This workshop explores the deep-seated beliefs that influence our reliance on pharmaceuticals, even among those who use herbs regularly.
We’ll examine U.S. prescription drug statistics—where 65% of adults and nearly 90% of seniors use pharmaceuticals—and analyze the top 20 most prescribed drugs. What societal, economic, and historical factors have led to a $1.5 trillion (and rapidly growing) pharmaceutical industry? Through scientific and historical evidence, we’ll compare synthetic drugs to herbal and holistic approaches that often work better, addressing root causes rather than symptoms. We’ll also explore how personal experiences, cultural narratives, and self-awareness play a role in true healing.
At a time of global transformation, this workshop challenges us to take responsibility for our health, question limiting beliefs, and embrace nature-based medicine as a viable path forward, if not for ourselves, then all of the other creatures and biosystems on planet Earth.
Botanical Illustration
Teacher: Kristine Brown
Join us for a captivating 3-hour botanical illustration class where you’ll explore the art of capturing the beauty of plants and flowers. This hands-on workshop is designed for all skill levels, from beginners to seasoned artists. Under the guidance of an experienced instructor, you’ll learn essential techniques in observation, sketching, and color application. Discover how to accurately represent botanical details, while also expressing your unique artistic style. All materials will be provided, so come ready to unleash your creativity and connect with nature through art!
Polynesian Lei Making — Beyond Beauty
Teacher: Keya Kai Guimarães
Lei-making and lei-wearing as a medicinal practice is the ancient method of weaving plants and flowers into intentional structures to be placed on the body. As the plants are warmed to body temperature, volatile oils are released and these aromatic compounds directly affect the respiratory, limbic, and nervous systems. Akin to flower bathing, weaving and wearing botanicals is a healing modality that has been replaced by the sanitized version of an ancient and effective medicinal practice — we need to go beyond beauty. In this hands-on, spirits-on intensive, the participants will learn the traditional wili method of binding plants and flowers to a Tī spine. We will cover the history of lei making in Hawai`i brought from Polynesia, various methods of making lei, the efficacy of creating “wearable formula” through choosing plants, and Hawaiian protocols for the entire practice.