Results for Category: Live Well

Memory of Summer
When I was a young girl, we would take our yearly summer trip to visit my grandparent’s house. They lived in South Georgia where dirt roads gently suggested a way through the landscape. The drive up to their house was a dusty one; to pass the time, we would hang our arms out of the…

Tips on Balancing the Root Chakra
Today we’ll be starting a new series on chakras. In this series, we’ll be discussing the different chakras of the body...

The Rewards and Challenges of Being a Clinical Herbalist
Clinical herbalism is a dynamic career path for advanced herbalists that has some unusual challenges and rewards! Not only does a ...

8 Careers For Advanced Herbalists
Working one-on-one with clients may be the first thought to cross your mind when you think of careers for advanced herbalists. However, someone with advanced skills in herbalism can make a living as an herbalist in a variety of ways. Herbalism is less mainstream than other fields, and there are many good things that advanced…

How To Use Hydrolats For Babies And Young Children
There’s nothing more stressful for a parent than a baby who won’t sleep or a sick, inconsolable child. Fortunately, we can turn to natural remedies to help and support during these challenging situations. One option parents can choose is to use hydrolats for babies and young children. But what are hydrolats, where do they come from,…

How To Make A Kid-Friendly Mother’s Day DIY Herbal Hand Cream
With Mother’s day right around the corner, many children are busy crafting lovely gifts for the most treasured of people, their ...

Sour Flavors: How Taste Can Rinse Out Winter
Today the equinox came, sandwiched between two watery eclipses spanning Pisces and Aries, bracing us inside this liminal space, a ...

7 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Clinical Herbal Practice
Perhaps you have studied herbalism for a few years and find that you are drawn to clinical herbalism – the side of herbalism that focuses on working one on one with clients. Perhaps you know that you want to work as a clinical herbalist, but you may be wondering what it would take to start…

How To Make A DIY Mother’s Day Bouquet Using The Language of Flowers
Mother’s Day is approaching, and what mother wouldn’t be happy with a bouquet her children or other special person picked out for her? Most all moms love pretty flowers! But this year, how about trying something a little different? Consider the nearly forgotten art of “The Language of Flowers” or floriography. Instead of buying a premade…

How To Use Bitter Herbs With Children
Have you ever tried using bitter herbs with children? I have, and my first attempt didn’t go over so well. Two years into he...

Who Can Be A Clinical Herbalist?
Professional herbalists who work with clients may choose among many different titles to describe their job. Some prefer simple “...

Aromatic Spring Cleaning With Essential Oils (+ 6 Recipes!)
Spring. New. Revival. Resurrection. Growth. Birth. We associate such words and concepts with the vernal season as we emerge from winter. We also often think of another word, which may not make us smile like the previous words do: spring cleaning. One better way to spring clean is spring cleaning with essential oils. What if…

Gift Of The Earth: A Spring Poem
As I sit, fingers lingering on the keys of my keyboard, I gaze outside. This is where the poetry grows, my fingers simply telling the beauty that nature so sweetly provides. The trees burst into the ready as they crown themselves in tethered colors of white, yellow, then green. Our rooster shouts. His juvenile crow…

How To Make Easter Crafts for Kids With Herbs: Planting A Living Easter Basket Tutorial
Springtime is here filling the air with the fresh scents of new life and sunshiny days! And with Easter just around the corner, th...

10 Ways To Inspire Herbal Curiosity In Children
Spending time with children in the natural world is enjoyable and enlightening. Children notice far more than we do because they a...

How To Learn Herbalism Directly From Plants
By Sage L. Maurer The plant spirits are waiting to speak with those of us who are open to listening. They echo through our minds and hearts, touching our bodies with their healing hands, and guide us into the medicine we are most needing. We can ask the plants for wisdom and guidance, and we…

How To Create Simple Perfume Blends Using Aromatic Notes
Essential oils are produced for three primary purposes: flavorings, fragrances, and therapeutic applications. The vast majority of essential oils are actually produced for the first two, flavorings and fragrances, and have been used for these purposes for quite a long time. Today I want to show you how you can take essential oils and blend…

Book Review: The Beginners’ Book of Essential Oils
We were given a copy of The Beginners’ Book of Essential Oils to review. The book is written by one of our own Academy grad...

11 Essential Oils For Dry Skin (Plus A No-Crack Lotion Recipe)
There is nothing better for wintertime dry skin than a nourishing body butter, made with the finest quality, unrefined butters and...

5 Things To Consider Before Starting Your Herbal Business
Starting your herbal business might seem easy enough at first – after all, you could even grow many of your own ingredients or start out small as a hobby business. However, making and selling herbal products comes with legal and regulatory requirements that might surprise you. There are many important considerations for keeping your labeling…

Speaking the Herbalist’s Language
There are a number of words that can give beginning herbal enthusiasts or students a reason to stop and scratch their heads. Even if you might know what a word like “decoction” or “ayurveda” means, you might not be sure of the pronunciation. Learning the herbalist’s language is no simple task! And with herbalism borrowing…

How To Make Fragrant Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments: A Child’s Holiday Craft
At our house, you will often find us gathered around the table during the holiday season enjoying craft time together. We love cra...

Homemade Pumpkin Playdough With Sweet Spices
A big warm batch of freshly homemade spiced pumpkin playdough is perfect for playtime on an autumn day. The warmth of the playdoug...

Opportunities for the Herbal Entrepreneur
Herbalism is a unique niche for the aspiring entrepreneur. Herbalist entrepreneurs can create their dream job by turning a passion for herbalism into a living. We’ve done it here at the Academy! Creating a line of herbal extracts, body care products or tea blends, growing or wildcrafting herbs to sell, or creating monthly herbal CSA…

Strengthening The Roots of Our Herbal Practice
We can work on many levels as herbalists, but at some point it becomes important to go deep down into the depths of our tradition and root ourselves firmly so that the personal practice of herbalism in our lives can flourish and blossom. The rich ground of historical herbalism and the new frontier of modern…

Connecting With The Season of Roots
The herbs in our gardens and the wild places around us live a year that is marked by the ritual of necessity. Each season has uniq...

Herbal Vinegar Hair Rinses
Every season provides a new way to strain and damage your hair. The sand and salt water of the ocean in summer can leave you with ...

12 Best Botany Words for Your Herbal Studies
Most of the time, the words we use to describe our herbs are fairly straightforward: calendula petals, mint leaves, and ginger root. Leaves, petals, and roots are parts of plants familiar to most people, even if they aren’t gardeners, herbalists, or botanists. And for most purposes, that’s as technical as you need to be. Other…

Giving Thanks for the Fall Harvest
The time has come again. Fall is right around the corner and it is time to start collecting and harvesting what Mother Earth has given to us. She has been very good to us this year, here in Michigan, with all the good heavy rainfall that we had at the beginning of spring which has…

Relieving Stress through Yoga – 9 Useful Tips
For me, setting aside every task and “to-do” I have for the day to take a yoga-break is indispensable. Sometimes, I wonder wha...