Below you'll find a brief overview of each course in the Family Herbalist Path Package to familiarize you with what you will learn from them. If you find you have particular questions, please feel free to email me!
The Introductory Herbal Course starts with an overview of the herbal approach and introduces herbal traditions including European Herbalism (the Greek humoral system), Ayurveda, and Chinese medicine. It discusses choosing and storing herbs, selecting equipment for making herbal preparations, making an herbarium, developing a materia medica, and gardening and wildcrafting. There are lessons on making herbal teas/infusions/decoctions and tinctures, syrups, and topical applications, such as infused oils, salves and balms, and poultices, and instructions on internal and external applications of these preparations. The course introduces herbal actions and includes special discussions on trees, mushrooms, and seaweeds used as herbs.
We touch on many of the body’s organ systems, reviewing anatomy and exploring herbal support for maintaining balance in those systems; you’ll also find discussions of herbal support for common complaints such as colds and the flu, bronchitis, allergies, premenstrual syndrome, and prostatitis. There are discussions on herbs for children and we have an inspiring unit on kitchen spices and preparations that can be used to support body system balance as well as ease common complaints.
We devote an entire unit to the nervous system—anatomy and physiology, herbal support for stress reduction and headaches, and herbs and lifestyle habits to support healthy sleep. There’s also a unit on body care, the skin, and healthy aging. We finish up the course with a unit on the holistic approach—what it is and how it differs from the conventional medical approach. There are lots of recipes, herbal monographs, videos, beautiful graphics, and other fun downloads throughout the course.
You can preview a sample lesson from the Introductory Herbal Course here and a course outline here.
The Intermediate Herbal Course reviews basic concepts in the first unit and then dives in deeper, working through each body system and the herbs (their actions, energetics, indications, and contraindications), diet, and lifestyle practices that can support wellness and balance disharmony and disease in each of these systems.
We devote one unit to food as foundation—using foods (and phytochemicals) to support wellness and ease common complaints like digestive distress and infection, and include many recipes for infused vinegars, oils, honeys, syrups, cordials, and elixirs, so you can gain experience making a variety of useful herbal products. We discuss wild edibles, plant identification, and wildcrafting and provide guidance on creating a materia medica. There is plenty of inspiration for you to incorporate some of your local foods and herbs into your studies.
The bulk of the course walks through each body system one by one, devoting a unit to each system, including digestive, immune, nervous, cardiovascular, liver, respiratory, and urinary systems, and discusses anatomy, physiology, balance, imbalance, herbal support, appropriate materia medica, and guidance on herbal formulation. We end with a unit on herbs for children and common childhood complaints, as well as a bit on the legal issues related to herbalism.
You can view an outline for the Intermediate Herbal Course here.
Your enrollment comes with Lifetime Access to the course so you can enjoy your herbal studies at a pace that is most convenient to your schedule! We suggest students complete the Introductory Course in 1 year (most people take 4-6 months to finish) and the Intermediate in 2 years (most people take 6-8 months to finish). Each course unit also comes with a downloadable PDF for offline study.
Students in our courses also have access to a vibrant Herbal Academy community page on Facebook so you can interact with peers and teachers.You will receive a certificate after successfully completing each individual course that states you've completed the course under the direction of the Herbal Academy.