***Please note this schedule is tentative and classes are subject to changes in time slot***

Workshops run concurrently. Participants select one workshop to attend for each session.

Magical Menstruums: The Art and Science of Herbal Extraction with Cynthia Thomas

This workshop will focus on fundamentals of essential oils as botanical therapies. Topics will include definition of essential oils and essential oil therapy, extraction methods, guidelines for obtaining and storing essential oils, current and potential role in health care, history and context of essential oil use as botanicals, important practice and safety issues, application methods, and physiological and psychological effects of selected essential oils. We will experience several essential oils as they may be used for common mild conditions, topically or inhaled.

The Art of Case Taking and Communication for Herbalists with Erin Piorier

Working with friends, family or clients? Working well with clients is much more than knowing the herbal materia medica. This workshop will cover the elements of a consultation and effective, artful interview skills. We’ll discuss everything from the forms and paperwork to how to create welcome, respectful environment and how to maintain your boundaries as a practitioner. We’ll pay particular attention to strategies for effective, directed questioning and eliciting useful information about symptoms, organ systems and history from your client.

Based on thirteen years of herbal practice, this class will cover different ways to look at immune function, emphasizing the body’s vital force and tissue states. This class is applicable to those laypeople interested in health as well as practitioners.

Flower essences are magical! Flower essences are meant to affect the things we can’t see or touch, like feelings and emotions. Learn about the whys and hows of flower essences and their preparation. There will be time for questions for areas of special interest to those attending

While many thousands of plants grow wild in North America, only several hundred species are currently available on the herb market in the USA and

Canada

. Why? In some cases, this is because healing uses have not yet been discovered for many of the non-marketed plants. In other cases, however, it is because important and powerful healing uses for some of these plants have simply been forgotten--lost in the mists of time! This workshop will bring to your attention many of these forgotten herbal powerhouses, detailing how they have been successfully utilized in the past and are currently being utilized to promote healing at the Midwest Herbs and Healing Center in NE Minneapolis. Such plants include anise hyssop, bull thistle, clintonia, cocklebur, clearweed, field pennycress, fireweed, horsemint, masterwort, mountain ash, peppercress, pineapple-weed, and others. Plant samples will be available for inspection and tinctures and teas of these plants available to smell and taste.

The spices and herbs we use every day are steeped in the legend and lore of our ancestors. From baking for love to roasting for money, there is a plethora of magick and traditional healing from around the world in every kitchen spice rack. Come and make a rub for your next meal that brings health and good fortune to those who eat it!

Herbal Medicine is accessible to everyone! Join usfor a walk around the farm and learn to identify some of the many edible and medicinal plants that grow around us. Then learn the simple techniques to turn fresh herbs into oils and ointments.

Discover how the Curanderas of Central America use items found in your kitchen and home garden for family health and first aid. The Maya have utilized simple home remedies for more than 5000 years to treat their family and others in their village. Many of their remedies are found in our kitchens and simple home gardens.

We will discuss physical and spiritual remedies you can easily make at home. You will take home remedies you can begin using in your home right away!

Come and join herbalist, Liz Johnson, and discuss ways herbs can help memory, mood, and well-being. We will look at how the brain ages and when various "brain tonics" become useful for studying and for delaying the effects of aging on the brain. Come and enjoy some Brain Booster Tea and learn how to remember the recipe and all of that other important stuff going on in your life!

You can make rich, fragrant handmade herbal products for your skin that aren’t greasy or strong smelling. Lotions and creams can be made from ingredients readily available from the local co-op. These luscious lotions can be for beauty and delight or they can be profoundly healing by the addition of herbal infusions formulated by you from fresh wildcrafted or dried herbs, infused oils or tinctures. We’ll sample a variety of creams, share recipes and make a batch of cream together.

Participants should bring a very small jar or salve container to this class for their sample.

Whether you are just beginning your medicine-making journey or are an old hand, this class will inspire and challenge you to create excellent medicine. Learn the secrets of what menstruums will draw out the healing properties of each herb, how to choose between water, oil, vinegar, 25, 40, 50, and 95% alcohol, and much more! Learn the key differences between fresh and dry preparations, and what those ratios of 1:1, 1:5 and 1:10 really mean. Learn from traditional, to early American Eclectics, to the present herbal renaissance what works, and why.

This class will cover the gathering and preparation of herbal medicinals. Ethical wildcrafting techniques will be emphasized as students prepare a tincture to take
home for use in their own herbal repertoire.
$5.00 supply fee payable to the instructor.

Matthew is a clinical herbalist and one of fewer than 200 of such practitioners nationwide whose education and clinical skills have been peer reviewed by the American Herbalists Guild so as to be granted the status of a "registered herbalist" (R.H.). Matthew is a graduate of Wild Rose College of Natural Healing, where he studied physiology and Western Herbology and earned his Master-Herbalist (M.H.) diploma. He subsequently studied Traditional Chinese Medicine at the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He has been in clinical practice since 1998. Matthew is also the director of the Midwest School of Herbal Studies, (www.midwestherbalstudies.com) which offers a distance-education program in herbal studies.

Linda is an Associate Professor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing. Dr. Halcón completed her M.P.H. in Public Health Nursing and Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. She teaches clinical aromatherapy for health professionals in the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on the use of plant essential oils (tea tree oil) in treating wounds infected with Staphylococcus aureus. She has FDA approval to explore the use of tea tree oil as an investigational new drug for this purpose.

Kimberly S. Hart has always had a passion for natural health. She has been actively practicing in holistic health since 1993 when she founded Adagio Holistic Therapies, LLC. She has traveled, lived and studied in Central America with elders of the Maya, and is passionate about ancient and indigenous healing methods.

She is a certified teacher of the Arvigo techniques of Maya abdominal Massage and has been recruited to teach Spiritual Healing of the Maya.

Liz Johnson has been an herbalist for about fifteen years. Her training includes working with local herbalists, research, and distance learning. Her clinic, located in Magus Books & Herbs, is the Salus Healing Center. Using local herbs as well as herbs from around the world, Liz works with clients to create a healthier and happier world. In addition to seeing clients, Liz teaches many classes in herbalism, from basic classes to more advanced courses. liz@MagusBooks.com

Erin Piorier is a professional herbalist who has been studying and working with plants for over nine years. Her education includes study with Minnesota’s most prominent herbalists and clinical training through an 18 month apprenticeship. Erin is available for private consultation and provides her clients with handmade wildcrafted herbal products. She is committed to safe, collaborative, respectful natural health care that treats the whole person. Erin lives in St. Paul with her husband and two children and is active in the natural birth and family health communities.

Linda Rolontz has been studying herbalism with Lise Wolff for the past year and a half. After completing Lise’s year long Three Seasons of Herbal Wisdom course she has gone on to apprentice with Lise. Linda is also a Licensed Acupuncturist. She received her Masters of Science from the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She maintains a private practice in South Minneapolis incorporating herbs that she has gathered and prepared into her acupuncture practice

Cynthia Thomas is a practicing herbalist, educator, massage therapist and doula serving the Twin Cities area. Through Sacred Journey Healing Arts, she treats each person as a whole, helping to restore balance of the body, mind and spirit. She has been working with medicinal herbs for 20 years, studying Western European and Native American traditions, and has a B.S. in Herbal Sciences from Bastyr University. In herbal consultations Cynthia takes a thorough health history, assessing diet and lifestyle, and uses a holistic approach to incorporate herbs into a personalized health protocol. Her bodywork is grounded in traditional Swedish massage, Myofascial Release and Bodywork for the Childbearing Year®. Her work as a doula is family centered, offering labor support and helping families create a loving, safe environment in which to give birth. Cynthia teaches classes in herbal medicine throughout the Twin Cities, and can be reached by phone or email. cynthia_thomas@mac.com (612) 991-2717

“I have been blessed with many teachers from diverse backgrounds, all of who have helped to instill a deep respect for nature and faith in our collective power to heal.”

Lise Wolff has studied herbalism for nineteen years, with herbalists from Susun Weed to Matthew Wood with whom she apprenticed in 1995. She is a professional member of The American Herbalist Guild and received her MSc in Herbal Medicine in Scotland. An active practitioner, Lise supplies her apothecary primarily with herbs she gathers and prepares. She maintains a private practice in South Minneapolis and is available for private consultations. For the past twelve years she has taught beginning and advanced herb classes in the midwest based on actual case histories. Lise’s primary focus is on the most prolific plants available commonly called weeds, that insistently volunteer their nutrition and healing powers everywhere we walk.