Six Reasons to Choose Our Herbalism Course

When you’re looking for a herbalism course, we are fortunate to have many options in today’s world. That means you’re bound to find the one that perfectly suits you - how you learn best, what you want to get out of it, what kind of herbalist you want to become. If you’ve come across our intensive herbalism course - Awaken Herbal Wisdom - and are wondering if it’s the right fit for you, read on.

Students who join our herbalism course want knowledge that’s more than skin deep. They want to feel it in every fibre of their being. They want to develop skills. They want to understand their bodies. They want to build confidence working with herbs. They want to pass this knowledge down to the next generation.

I’ve yet to meet a herbalism student (or long-practising herbalist, for that matter) who doesn’t get swept up in the excitement of a new herbalism book. But you can have all the information and recipes in the world sat on your shelves. You can annotate, add bookmarks, organise and re-organise. But it will all stay there on your shelves unless you develop a deep knowing of herbalism.

This means making and drinking copious cups of herbs as tea, getting in the garden, making herbal remedies, listening to the messages your body is sending you, pulling back the curtain on society’s status quo. In essence, you’ll be getting your hands dirty - and you’ll love it!

Our senses are the gateway to our deepest memories - whether we’re accessing old ones or forming new ones. A smell or a taste is inextricably interwoven with an experience we’ve had and the story we tell to recount it.

This is why the teaching methodologies on our herbalism course are all based on engaging your senses, experiencing working with herbs and remedies first hand and sharing stories that paint vivid pictures that stick in your mind.

Learning herbalism with us is practical, hands-on and memorable. Of course, you’ll learn plenty of terminology as you go, but it will stick naturally, rather than be crammed into your brain through lots of memorisation.

How many herbal recipes or herbal remedy making techniques have you seen online or read in a book and tried and just got totally stuck? Perhaps you’ve not even got that far - reading about a technique in a book, and despite how straightforward it may seem, you just can’t seem to get started and try it? This is because you’re missing two things - context and feedback.

Many years ago, someone asked me to cook his favourite meal for his birthday (his mother’s speciality, no less). I had never seen the dish before, let alone tasted it, and although the core components (rice, stewed meat, etc.) were familiar, the specific way to prepare them for this dish were not. I was completely overwhelmed. I had no context for what I was trying to do and I wasn’t getting any feedback other than it didn’t ‘taste right’. The task was, frankly, impossible.

When it comes to learning to make herbal remedies, so many people get stuck getting started or get disheartened and give up because they don’t have context and feedback. However, when you choose a herbalism course that is hands-on like ours, you get both of those things in spades.

You get to see the process so you have context. You get to do the process with me so you start to learn how it will feel and develop that muscle memory. You can ask me as many questions as you like whilst we’re doing it together, as well as afterwards as you try things on your own, so you can improve your skill over time. There are some herbalists who don’t have much skill in making their own remedies. If you’re enrolling on our herbalism course, that’s not the kind of herbalist you want to be.

Although some people hear the call of herbal medicine whilst still in their formal academic years, many people want to start learning herbalism later in life. They may be looking for a career change or are busy with their current career, have already done a university degree (or two!), have had children and now have a new perspective on what knowledge they value sharing with their families or have retired and are keen to pursue a new (or reawakened) passion.

Most people in this stage of life have no desire to go back to a formal academic environment with papers and assignments, staying up late studying and being marked on their work. They’re motivated to learn herbalism and to learn it thoroughly because it’s important to them. They don’t need to prove it to a tutor or certification board.

If that’s you, our herbalism course is a great fit. We do all of our core learning together and interactive, so it’s completed as you go. There are no marks, no exams, no additional requirements and no feeling of going back in time. I know you’re motivated to learn and your journey will have its own exciting twists and turns, which I’m here to support.

Whether it’s meeting new people who want to learn for the same reasons as you, seeing them season after season to connect with the herbs and each other or making friends for a lifetime, we all know there is power in community. Not only are we stronger together than in isolation, there is also something incredibly freeing about spending time with like-minded people - that ability to fully exhale and just be, knowing you’re not the odd one out, knowing you can just ask the questions that come to you, connect the dots out loud and share your thoughts and yourself with others.

When you join our herbalism course, you become part of a real herbal community - and I don’t use that word lightly. The students in our cohorts form deep, lasting bonds. Yes, there are the practical things like answering each other’s questions and sharing supply orders. But they also genuinely look forward to meeting up. They get together outside of our in-person gatherings and go to exhibitions or out for a meal together. They become friends.

Every single student who has joined our herbalism course says the same thing - This course has changed my life. Herbalism becomes integrated into their daily lives. They make remedies for their families. They create their own herbal personal care products. They look at what they put on and in their bodies differently. Each and every herbalism course student is genuinely living herbalism - not after five years or ten years (although you can choose to continue on the journey with us for more than one year), but after just one year. In four seasons, our students’ personal health improves, their personal power improves, their resilience strengthens and their creativity flourishes. They truly become herbalists.

So if you’re wondering if our herbalism course is the right fit for you, ask yourself these questions. Do you want to develop a deep knowing of herbalism? Do you want to learn through your senses? Are you looking for a herbalism course that is hands-on? Do you want a herbalism course that breaks free of exams, papers and required reading? Do you want to be part of a real herbal community? Do you want herbalism to become your way of life?

If you're a resounding yes to all of the above, I invite you to join us. New cohorts of our herbalism course - Awaken Herbal Wisdom - enrol each autumn and begin the following spring, with registration opening first to the waiting list. You can find all the course details and join the waiting list below.

I can’t wait to see how your journey unfolds!

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!