About Joan
I’m an herbalist and educator in Oklahoma City, and a facilitator for the HeartMath Global Coherence Initiative, that is doing groundbreaking research into the unseen connections between living beings. I see clients both in person and remotely, and I teach in my community and beyond. I have studied natural healing since the 1970s with formal training in life sciences, trauma technology, austere medicine, and community health.
I completed my clinical training with honors at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism under faculty mentor Paul Bergner, and I hold a B.Sc. from Oklahoma City University in Technical Education. I'm a general member of the American Herbalists Guild, and am forever curious about the amazing ways that herbs support us.
Plants have always been a part of my journey,
in healing and as companions.
I have walked hundreds of miles of roads and trails in Oregon, and Colorado, and especially in the Green Country of Oklahoma, breathing with the trees, and observing the systems of life that work together. Initially the plants were Teachers of my Spirit, and connected me to a way of being in the world that transcended the coercions and materialist messages of our time. Walking those roads and meadows, I often sensed the lives of all its beings together as a Spirit of the Land, in a richness of joined energies that would take my breath away.
From a young age I knew intuitively that herbs could help us heal deeply and nurture vitality; and over time they became my primary source of care. I mark time with the sun and the moon as the seasons change in garden, field, and hills, and bring the love of these into my work.
Herbal Medicine . . .
Wild plants are a vital form of nourishment, and provide health to us on so many levels. We evolved with them, and our cells know what to do with the herbs that we smell, ingest, breathe and soak in. It's a strong and vital partnership. Herbal medicine offers us understanding and tools that modern medicine does not have.
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Herbs work best in the context of excellent nourishment, movement, and plenty of sleep. Rather than merely addressing symptoms (though they can do that), the best use of herbs is to shift the body's ecology. For example: Simply supporting the digestive tract can resolve a whole slew of symptoms everywhere else!
Skilled herbalists, holistic healers and indigenous medicine practitioners have always looked for the underlying cause of dis-ease in the body. Focusing on underlying causes of disharmony, rather than the symptom, offers insight into which herbs can address the imbalance and support the body's return to harmony.
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. . . and Earth's Healing Rhythms
The Earth’s rhythms are the Rhythms of Life. Her patterns of light and dark, activity and rest, flow and ebb provide a matrix for regenerative living. They follow the cycles of the day, the moon and the seasons.
Attuning to these cycles supports healing and deep reconnection with the earth, and our own spirits.
