Is Becoming a Herbalist Worth It? Three Reasons It’s a Definite Yes from a Qualified Herbalist

If you’ve been thinking about dedicating some focused time and energy to learning herbalism, you may be asking yourself - Is becoming a herbalist worth it? Is it worth learning an ancient health practice? Is it worth spending the time and effort to develop your skills and knowledge? Is it worth going against the grain and doing things differently for yourself and your family? Here are my thoughts as a qualified herbalist and founder of a herbal medicine school.

Yes! Herbal medicine is the original medicine. Long before pills and injections there were herbal remedies. (And frankly, if they didn’t work, humanity wouldn’t still be here today!) The world we live in is constantly promoting the ‘new’, the ‘state of the art’, the ‘latest and greatest’. But when it comes to health and our bodies, regardless of what birthday you most recently celebrated, humans weren’t born yesterday. Our biology is thousands of years old, as is our connection with the rest of nature.

Our bodies and medicinal herbs speak the same language. They know how to communicate with each other effectively. Those interactions are based on thousands of years of conversations between people and plants. So it’s no surprise yarrow - one of our twelve familiar herbs we build a relationship with in the first year of our intensive herbalism course - has been found in the teeth of Neanderthal skulls dating back 60,000 years. (No matter how many times I share that with students, it still fills me with awe and humility.)

Fast forward to modern day allopathic medicine, which has only been interacting with our bodies for a handful of decades at a maximum, which comes with a list of warnings and side effects so numerous, the font size has to be microscopic. The latest research is either realising more warnings that need to be attached to these human-made, rather than nature-made, substances or, at best, having a eureka moment when it connects the dots to realise something herbal medicine across multiple traditions (e.g. Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western herbal medicine) has known and recorded for two thousand years.

So if you’re wondering if becoming a herbalist is worth it if what you’re learning is ancient knowledge, rather than the ‘latest discovery’, my answer is a resounding yes. And if you’d like to explore the ancient nature of herbal medicine more, have a listen to my conversation with Rachel Hodgens on the Weaving the Wild podcast.

Absolutely! Will there be trial and error? Yes. Will you have remedies you lovingly tend for them to only go mouldy? Yes. Will you sow seeds in your garden that don’t thrive? Yes. Will you make a blend in the early days that isn’t effective in the way you intended? Definitely.

But that is all part of the process, all part of learning.

I’ve heard it said herbalism takes more than one lifetime to learn and I think that’s true for two reasons. First, herbal medicine is a set of knowledge and skills that have been developed and passed down since the dawn of humanity, so it’s not something we can become expert in overnight. Second, because herbal medicine is a living practice. If you took all the notes from all the books in the world on yoga, for example, your muscles, your flexibility, your mindset would never feel the benefits because the information hadn’t been put into action. The same is true for herbal medicine. It wants to flow through you, to dance between your head, your heart and your hands. It wants to be garden dirt beneath your fingernails. It wants to float with you in the bath. It wants to fill your kitchen shelves. It wants to saturate your mind and wash your eyes so that you see what is outside you more clearly and understand what is going on inside you so you can respond.

So if you’re wondering if becoming a herbalist is worth it if it means you’ll have to put in time and effort developing your knowledge and skills, I would say it’s a wonderful way to live your life. If you’d like to explore how to learn herbalism effectively so it gets baked into your bones, have a listen to my conversation with Mason Hutchison on the HerbRally podcast. Link to that blog post And if you’re wondering how much time you need to dedicate to learning herbalism if you join our course, you can read more here. 

Definitely. It’s not always comfortable at first when you start doing things differently from ‘the way it’s done’, but it gets easier with time. It also gets easier when you are part of a community of budding herbalists who are on the same journey and who can remind you you’re not alone.

Becoming a herbalist is worth it because it places control of your health in your hands. It gives you autonomy. It gives you the freedom to choose which parts of which systems you want to engage with (or not) on your terms. It gets you asking questions of the status quo - and once you start peeling back the layers, you discover more resilience in yourself, as well as options and ways of doing things you may have never thought of before.

It may also mean you get the opportunity to practise creating and holding boundaries for yourself and your family - again, not always easy, but definitely worth it. And the more you work with herbal medicine and the more choices you make in line with what feels good for you, what makes sense for you, what brings vitality and peace to you - not everyone else - the easier it gets. (And there are herbs you can work with for support along the way!)

So if you’re wondering if becoming a herbalist is worth it if it means going against the grain, my answer is an unhesitating yes. If you’d like to explore how much opens up for us when we empower ourselves through herbalism, have a listen to my conversation with Fiona MacKay on the Nurtured by Nature podcast. Link to that blog post And if you’re wondering what our students think, you can read their stories here.

Is becoming a herbalist worth it? As a qualified practitioner and founder of a herbal medicine school, I can say an unequivocal yes. Find a course and community that bring you joy and enjoy the journey. Tap into ancient wisdom. Be grateful for all the learning experiences - the successful remedies, as well as the not-so-successful ones - along the way. Feel your personal power grow and develop. Becoming a herbalist is absolutely worth the journey.

If you're here in the UK, you’re very welcome to take the next step on your journey building your knowledge, skills and confidence as a home herbalist with us on our intensive herbalism course - Awaken Herbal Wisdom - which spans all four seasons and gets herbalism both deep into your bones and your daily life. Although it is intense, it’s suitable for a wide range of herbalists, including beginners! You can learn more about our herbal medicine course here. Be sure to put your name on the waiting list to see what the current cohorts are up to and get first access to enrolment before it opens.

Whatever your next step is in becoming a herbalist, I hope you enjoy the journey!

At Rhodes Roots & Remedies School of Herbal Medicine, our practice of herbalism is rooted in the belief that we must remember, reclaim and relearn our knowledge of our bodies, our autonomy and how to work with plant medicine in order to bring control of our own health back into our families and homes for a sustainable future for ourselves and the planet. Through our intensive herbalism course, we facilitate the development of confident, empowered herbalists, attuned to the messages of their bodies and the natural world. Living the deep wisdom of herbal medicine within themselves, their homes and their communities, they uplift themselves and others, creating a stronger society organically. We do hope you'll join us on your journey!