Learning from Matthew Wood

Matthew Wood, author of the upcoming Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to New World Medicinal Plants, will be teaching several courses this year on herbs, herbal medicine and herbal practice. Wood runs the Sunnyfield Institute of Traditional Western Herbalism, an institute of holistic herbalism that believes there is a spiritual side to the plants as well as a medical side. In his essay Philosophy of Healing, Matthew Wood describes the concepts on which his work and his classes are based:

“We view the person and the medicine as having both a spiritual and material level of existence. This infers that we look upon Nature in a similar manner. In doing so, we depart from the conventional scientific approach, which views Nature, humanity, sickness, and plant life as mechanical entities. While we depart from the scientific mainstream we do not abandon science, but attempt to include it within a broader, spiritual perspective.”

Matthew Wood is an internationally renowned practitioner of herbal medicine. He offers classes in the United States as well as international classes in herbal practices. He has just finished a class on energetics and pharmacology in Israel, and will begin a course in the United Kingdom in late July 2009. Listed here are some of his 2009 classes in the United States:

Clinical Skills Development (Minnesota)
The purpose of this class is to learn to observe, understand, and locate pathological processes in the body from a holistic standpoint. The course includes 12 classes that can be taken together or individually. To see a list of class topics click HERE.

Winter and Spring, 2009.  Wednesday Evenings, 7 pm to 9:30 pm; at South Minneapolis location.  $20 per class, $200 for the entire class.  Dates: Jan. 28, Feb 11, 18, Mar 11, 25, Apr. 1, 8, 29, May 6, 20, June 10, 17, Jul 1.

Contact Matthew Wood at greenmedic@copper.net / (763) 972-7225 for more information.

Organ Systems and Herbs, in Depth (California)
Six weekend workshop, intermediate level, on organ systems and introductory client evaluation. This class has already started, but an equivalent class will be started late 2009 or early 2010.

Contact Mary Pat Palmer for more information: 707-895-3007 (mpatpalm@herbalenergetics.com)

Traditional Western Herbalism: An Intuitive and Energetic Approach (Oregon)
An Intermediate to Advanced Class designed to help students and practitioners with a good background in herbalism improve or begin practice.

Six Weekend Classes, Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday.
Apr. 17/18/19; May 1/2/3; June 5/6/7; July (assignment, no class); August 21/22/23; Sept. 4/5/6; October 16/17/18.

For more information, contact: prestonfoell@yahoo.com

The Wisdom of Nature (Vermont)
Nature is alive, and one can approach this living soul from at least two major directions. First students will learn about the intuition, how it works and how to use it, both on its own and to supplement dreamtime, then how to recognize the patterns in Nature through the ‘doctrine of signatures,’ then the ‘spirit signatures’ that draw relationships between plants and animals. At all times the class will be as experiential as possible, through looking at herbs, herb walks, discussing the intuition, imagination, instincts, defining them and their differences.

August 6 – 9 at Partner Earth Education Center in Danby, Vermont
Time: 10:00am Thursday to 3:00pm Sunday

Cost: $495 earlybird discount if paid in full by June 15th, thereafter, the cost is $545. Includes all instruction, meals, indoor lodging or camping. Register with a $100 non-refundable deposit.

For more info or to register: www.partnereartheducationcenter.com or call 802-293-5996.

Click HERE for more information on these and other upcoming classes.
Click HERE for books by Matthew Wood