plant medicine education
We live within a network of living beings. We have a complex ecology both within us and surrounding us made up of a diversity of species that we have co-evolved with. We have co-evolved with plants in this complex network and plants are themselves complex living beings. They have hundreds or sometimes thousands of chemical constituents. Plants adapt to many different environments and form communicative relationships with other individuals and other species within their local ecological surroundings. They develop complex chemical responses as part of their adaption to the environment. Plants can lend us their adaptive qualities and teach us to adapt to our ecological surroundings. Plant constituents act synergistically within the human body and affect the way we respond to the input we receive from our physical environments and our emotional encounters. Plant medicines introduce a new set of chemical messengers and a new energetic frequency for our bodies to integrate. This new information can assist us to release old physical, emotional, and spiritual patterns and form new pathways within.
The role of the herbalist is to find the best plants to assist the individual person. Each person has unique patterns and unique experiences and perspectives. If you consider 5 people who all have the same disease diagnosis, they will each have slightly (or drastically) different signs of disease and different experiences of life with that disease. A person's expression of health and disease depends on their physical and habitual tendencies and their strengths and weaknesses. The herbalist’s role is to seek to understand the patterns that show in a person's life and to identify how we can shift those patterns to improve quality of life and resistance to disease. We can make use of a person’s natural healing capacity and the strength of plant allies to assist them.
We can use a combination of intuitive and biomedical approaches to herbal medicine. A great deal of useful information has been gained through modern scientific investigations of plants and human health, and traditional knowledge and intuitive learning are also at our disposal. Similarly, we can make use what is known about the physical benefits of plants, but we can go beyond the physical and consider a person’s experience of life and support their emotional wellbeing and their spiritual path. A plant well suited to the individual person can ease the experience of disease, help to restore resilience, and teach how to be more at ease being in the body. Ultimately the goal is to find the means to express one’s authentic self in various aspects of life. Through the sharing of knowledge we can each be empowered in our own healing.
Lindsay’s interest in plants was cultivated in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. During ten years of work as a naturalist guide, Lindsay gained a deep appreciation for ecology and her work integrates her respect for the profound nature of connection within our web of life. She has a deep love for plants and a passion to increase the availability of safe, effective medicines. After study in geography, nutrition, and yoga, and mentorship in energy work, shamanism, organic gardening, and herbal wildcrafting, she dedicated herself to herbal studies and was one of Pacific Rim College’s first Diploma of Phytotherapy graduates. She is a professional member of the British Columbia Herbalists Association, the past Vice President of the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations, and Dean of the School of Western Herbal Medicine at Pacific Rim College. She has taught numerous professional and community level courses and particularly enjoys teaching Botany for herbalists and gardeners, Plant Identification, Energetics of Herbalism, and Materia Medica. She lives in the traditional territory of the Lekwungen speaking peoples (the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations) currently known as Victoria, BC. She is a happy gardener, yogi, and mother to two children.
"I had the pleasure of being a student of Lindsay in several courses at Pacific Rim College. She helped me learn how to feel. I came from Corporate America and when I turned 50 I decided that wasn't the life for me. Lindsay opened her heart and shared her knowledge with me. She is a soft spoken born leader and true guide for those walking an unknown path. Her ability to see and hear you is a gift none too many possess."
Dallas, former student
"You've influenced me a great deal. You're such a talented educational guide and have a unique way of making everyone feel heard and included. I am forever putting what you've taught me into practice, from understanding plants at a deeper level to plainly being able to identify them."
Katelin, former student
"Lindsay helped me to refine my herbal intake while a student in her clinic. I am grateful for her ability to help me ask deeper more intuitive questions that helps me to connect plants with my clients. She is also an amazing herbalist for children as I brought my son to see her multiple times."
David, former student & client
"Lindsay is an extremely gifted practitioner! After one session with her I knew I had come to the right person and I've worked with her as my herbalist over the past 5 years. She treats you holistically by incorporating her knowledge of plants and western science with her instinctual feeling of what is best needed for you. She originally helped me overcome my anxiety and panic attacks. She showed me some breath work techniques and formulated some tinctures and teas that were just for me, not a standard product that you get out of pills. I felt immediate change within days, to the point where I could function normally again. Within a short 2-3 months I noticed that my anxiety and panic attacks were completely gone. Since then she has helped me strengthen my digestive system and maintain my overall health. I would highly recommend her to anyone seeking alternative methods to treat their health concerns."
Anonymous, herbal medicine patient
"I was lucky enough to study under Lindsay last year, as her teachings have imprinted me in so many ways. Lindsay is potent magic in a human form. Her compassionate devotion to her students, the plants, and the original teachings of the multitude of medicinal lineages is truly unlike any other: it is pure, honest, and beautiful. Lindsay is not just a professor, but rather a facilitator of knowledge, wisdom, and connection. She is someone who never hesitates to give additional resources and engage with powerful feedback in order to help for a better understanding. Her loving energy and enthusiasm allows and inspires for her students to reach a deeper and greater magnitude of learning and integrating, in and outside the classroom."
Riley, former student
“Lindsay’s work is deeply rooted in her values – from the moment I first encountered her, I had a strong sense of trust in her because she embodies her values fully. Her skills and knowledge arise from her dedicated practice, her genuine relationship with Nature, and her commitment to heart-connection through her work and teachings.”
Nikki Manzie, Colleague
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