Special Events and Intensive Workshops
Herbal Intensives with Julia Graves
Special Guest Herbalist, Flower Essence Practitioner, Body-Worker, and Psychotherapist visiting from France
The Herbal Vehicle: Best Delivery Methods for Optimal Effects
Monday June 17, 2-5pm
$30 members/$35 non-members
Explore the lost art of the herbal “vehicle”. Once well understood in all traditional systems worldwide, the art is still preserved in the teachings of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Discover what the ancient Western herbals have to offer about delivering herbs in specific ways for individual conditions. Learn how to deliver a cooling herb in a cooling vehicle to a heated condition for optimal effect and understand the differing effects of offering the same herb as a hot versus a cold tea, baking remedies in starch, and steeping in wine versus vinegar.
Musculo-skeletal Herbs
Sunday June 23, 9am-11:30am
$25 members/$30 non-members
A thorough and differentiated approach to our muscles, bones, and tendons is often neglected in herbal teachings in favor of focusing on internal organs. However, ailments of the muscles, bones, and tendons are very common and most adults suffer from injury-related and other problems of the connective tissue. Taught by a practicing herbalist and body worker, this class is about learning to “think muscle / tendon / bone”. It considers the tissue states, such as dry versus damp joints, inner scarring and adhesions, and other common conditions. We will look at using herbs as well as essential oils, resins, flower essences and other plant remedies. An ideal class for bodyworkers.
Head Trauma and Herbs
Sunday June 23, 2-4:30pm
$25 members/$30 non-members
Most people suffer from head trauma at some point in their lives. Be it a concussion, whiplash, or otherwise banged head, the results are often subtle, but can be crippling for the rest of one’s life and give rise to a host of vague conditions. Accumulated small head traumas lead to neck problems, vision trouble, headaches or migraines, and vertigo. It is not well known that herbs, flower essences and homeopathy can support the multiple aspects of head trauma and the tricky conditions that can go along with it. Herbal remedies along with various bodywork techniques offer an ideal and synergistic approach. For a comprehensive understanding of support for injuries in general, this class can be taken by itself or with Musculo-skeletal Herbs.
The Language of Plants Herb Walk: Opening Our Eyes to Nature
Monday June 24, 3-6pm
$30 members/$35 non-members
In this plant walk, we will take the doctrine of signatures out of its medieval box, dust if off, and apply it to the plants we encounter on our path. Reading plants for their medicinal properties is not hard once you learn to see the ‘signatures’ or signs. The language of nature is straightforward; the only prerequisites are clear senses and an open mind.
Julia Graves has studied massage, medicine, and cupping in the European tradition. She has trained as a Gestalt psychotherapist, worked for Findhorn Flower Essences, and served as a flower essence practitioner and essence creator. Julia offers her own line of flower essences, The Lily Circle, as well as a kit of flower essences for Mayan Abdominal Massage.
In 2010, she founded the Naturopathic Earthquake Survivor Relief Clinic, and headed the clinic in its three missions in Haiti. Julia is also author of The Language of Plants, a detailed guide to the doctrine of signatures.