2016 Herbal Conferences

herbal conference blue ridge black mountain

Medicines from the Earth Herb Symposium, 2016
Dates: Friday June 3 – Monday, June 6
Place: Blue Ridge Assembly, Black Mountain, North Carolina

Over 40 presentations on the integration of botanicals with the latest medical discoveries along with medicine making demonstrations, herb walks and intensives.

Pre-conference Events: Friday, June 3:

Ethnobotanical and Native Plant Field Study with herbalist and ethnobotanist David Winston.

Healing the Gut-Brain Axis with Botanicals with Jason Miller, Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Full topic listing

Continuing education at Medicines from the Earth approved for nurses, naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists and pharmacists licensed in North Carolina.. All approvals now definite.

Looking forward to seeing you again in the mountains of North Carolina!


CrossCutchollasmallSouthwest Conference on Botanical Medicine, 2016   (Past Event – Thanks for making it such a great weekend! )
Dates: Friday April 8 – Sunday, April 10, 2016 

Recordings: Now available for download. Purchase full set of audio (mp3) recordings and speaker lecture notes in pdf.

Continuing education approved for recordings for NDs including 10 pharmacy hours.

Photo report on the conference on Facebook

We look forward to seeing you all again next year (April 7 – 9, 2017).


We hope you will join us for an herbal conference! These events are a great way to meet like-minded people and learn the latest information on botanical therapies for a variety of conditions.

Questions? Email us and we’ll be happy to help.

Herbal Educational Services
Ashland, Oregon
(541) 482-3016

 

Christopher Hobbs, PhD at Medicines from the Earth


herbalist Chris Hobbs in fieldChristopher Hobbs
is a fourth-generation internationally known herbalist, licensed acupuncturist, author, clinician, botanist, mycologist and research scientist with over 35 years of experience with herbal medicine. Here he talks about his intensive at Medicines from the Earth on June 5 titled “Treating Infections with Natural Medicines—An Integrative and Cross-Cultural Approach”

Please tell us about your family heritage in botany.
My dad was a professor of botany and entomology and I still remember riding or walking with him when I was very young and being interested in flowers and plants. I’d ask the names of trees, shrubs and weeds and he would always know the name and some interesting things about them. Lucky for me, because I developed a life-long hyper-fixation on plants myself.

My maternal grandmother and great-grandmother were herbalists. My grandmother studied with a Chinese herbalist and had her own organic herb garden from which she treated people in her community. It’s interesting that so many years later I would receive training in traditional Chinese medicine, receive my acupuncture license, and study herbal medicine in China.

We are looking forward to your intensive entitled “Treating Infections with Natural Medicine—An Integrative and Cross-Cultural Approach” This seems to imply an energetic model of diagnosing and prescribing for infection—can you elaborate?
My practice and teaching style today is always a combination of traditional medicine, my own clinical and personal experience, the counsel and teachings of my peers, and the 10-year science training I completed in 2014. Although I am a scientist, I believe that healing between plants and people results from something greater than just the biological activity of herbs. Something indefinable and hard to measure occurs: a life-force that comes from the relationship between the growing and living plant, the soil and it’s microbes, its complex chemistry, the water, the sunlight, and the atmosphere, which all combine to work for healing on the highest level of intelligence. Continue reading

Chanchal Cabrera and Biophilia

Chanchal Cabrera
Chanchal Cabrera

Medicines from the Earth News: Chanchal Cabrera’s Biophilia Intensive

Speaker Chanchal Cabrera is a medical herbalist practicing on Vancouver Island, Canada. She lives at Innisfree Farm, a 7-acre botanical reserve and herb farm she and her husband Thierry Vrain created over the last ten years.

Linnea Wardwell spoke with Chanchal last week to find out more about biophilia, the instinctive bond humans have for all other life forms on the planet. It shapes her recent work on the farm, and is also the subject of the intensive workshop on Saturday afternoon at the symposium.

LW: Whenever we have a chance to chat, it seems there are new initiatives in your practice and farm activities. We’d like to find out what’s going on recently.

CC: Oh, that is a big question! I am always busy and always dreaming and scheming for the next opportunity to spread the word about herbal medicine.

Herb GatheringSince my 4 months of training at Kew Gardens in 2013 and 2014, the farm has been listed on the international register of botanic gardens, one of 7 registered gardens in BC. Our specialty is medicine and food plants but we are also offering more and more education as well. We are running workshops, hosting events and teaching classes. Last year the 2nd biennial Vancouver Island Herb Gathering at Innisfree Farm had 270 people attend over 4 days. Next one is June 2017!

On top of that, I am still running the botanical medicine department at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in Vancouver, as well, so plenty to keep me busy.

LW: You’ve been a practicing medical herbalist since 1987 and were made a Fellow by the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (the United Kingdom’s leading professional body representing herbal practitioners) in 2009. What is the main focus of your clinical practice?
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Blue Ridge Assembly–more than just a hotel

YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly June 2015

BRA-view2

What keeps us coming back (since 1996!) to Blue Ridge Assembly for Medicines from the Earth?

The answers are easy: a peaceful oasis on 1200 mountainside acres, the rushing streams and the wild plants and trails so near at hand. Being able to leave our car behind and walk everywhere. You won’t find a TV in your room, or a cocktail lounge here, but you will enjoy fragrant nights with fireflies! Ahhh.

We asked some of our regular attendees what they appreciate about Blue Ridge and thought you’d enjoy their answers. (Photos courtesy 7Song were all taken at Blue Ridge Assembly)

Calycanthus-floridus-sweetshrub399
Sweetshrub (Calycanthus)

 

Blue Ridge Assembly has a special ambiance that keeps me coming back.  I like the beauty, especially the creek with its soothing sound and the boulders where you can sit and put your feet in the cool running water and meditate.  The whole place just has a special feeling. — S.M.

 

 

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SCNM – A great place to hold an herbal conference

SCNM
The Commons at SCNM. New sustainably built classroom and clinic building
Herb Garden
SCNM Herb Garden in full bloom (See more photos below)

Back in 1996, the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) occupied a small building in Scottsdale. The school had recently opened its doors and the first Southwest Conference on Botanical Medicine was held that April. We had an enthusiastic crowd of naturopathic students, health professionals, local herbalists and volunteers. Some of you may remember that first panel discussion on Saturday night, under the stars in the inner courtyard–since there was no central meeting hall large enough!

SCNM has since moved to Tempe, and is now one of the top schools in the US for training naturopathic physicians.  It is also one of the first colleges in the country to qualify for LEED certification, a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. The herbal conference is an annual event here, and the profits help support the botanical medicine program at the school.

The two photos above illustrate why SCNM is such a special place: the commitment to the environment through sustainable… Continue reading