FOLK MEDICINE AS PEACEFUL RESISTANCE
Every act you make in partnership with the Earth is an act of peaceful resistance. Every seed you plant, every cup of tea you drink, and every wound you heal with a homemade remedy is a powerful declaration of independence, peaceful resistance, and resilience.
Folk herbalism represents a bond and trust in the wild and natural world, and working with wild native medicinal plants enhances that connection with your immediate environment and the whole. When you allow the land to support your healing process, you consciously choose to work in partnership with wild untamed expressions of life to heal mind, body, and spirit.
Our herbal apprenticeship program is now entering it's eleventh year and is a hands on season by season adventure into the world of folk herbalism. The framework of this program is wild native medicinal herbs through the energetic principals of western herbalism. Our unique approach is rooted in relearning how we perceive health and illness, getting to know the herbs themselves, and developing a skillset in keen observation and awareness of the language of the body so that we can recognize 'conversations', patterns of disharmony, and imbalance. This provides a much more useful, practical, and holistic understanding of folk herbalism than simply learning to utilize herbs by matching them with illnesses. You learn to work with them, understand them, and live with them...as green family.
Throughout this program you will come to understand the foundational properties by which herbs work, how the body's organs and systems respond to them, holistic assessment, and the art of using your senses, intellect, and intuition to perceive the physiological, energetic and etheric properties of herbs, and more. This will assist you in establishing a solid foundation upon which to develop your own unique style and approach to herbcrafting.
This program is not just about herbalism though, it's much larger than that! It's about a healthier greener way of living, personal development, self awareness, observation, service, and reweaving connection while dreaming yourself into BEing. Throughout the year together, we not only speak about plant allies and their medicinal virtues and herbal lore, but also explore ways of fully integrating them into daily life through conscious nourishment for the head, heart and hands!
Season by season we mindfully sip and blend healing infusions, nourish ourselves with delicious seasonal wild foods, medicinal syrups, and herbal drinks, we lovingly create remedies and sensory formulas, consciously craft our own natural body products, we explore and develop our own unique ritual tools, creative herbal expression, and more. We discuss themes such as radical peace, ethnobotany, environmentalism and ecology, plant myths, magic, folklore and poetry, regenerative land stewardship, reciprocity and giving back, sustainability and the need for sustainable herbalism, ethical foraging practices, rewilding in modern society, full sensory BEing, indigenous practices, elemental skillsets, ways of walking lightly in our daily life, and so much more.
Our herbal apprenticeship program takes place in the beautiful Alpine countryside, giving you the opportunity to work outdoors and hands-on with wild native medicinal plants in the surrounding mountains and meadows. Our indoor learning space is Niamh's community clinic and herbal dispensary. Here you will meet a whole new world of wild land dreaming and full sensory plant healing on an intimate level.
Would you like to learn how to work with wild native medicinal herbs more effectively? How to sustainably gather, prepare, and work with your own seasonal herbal remedies? Enhance your connection with nature? Gain an extensive skill set in medicine making and natural healing? Would you like to join a fun filled community of like minded nature lovers?
If so, then join us!
2025 DATES
Module 1 • SPRING • April 19 + 20, 2025
Module 2 • SUMMER • June 14 + 15, 2025
Module 3 • AUTUMN • August 9 + 10, 2025
Module 4 • WINTER • October 4 + 5, 2025
Class times each weekend are 10am to 5pm each day.
So as to avoid the risk of permafrost and snow, our first module takes place in April and our final module takes place in October.
LOCATION & GETTING THERE
This in person apprenticeship takes place in Tirol, Austria. Full address and GPS coordinates are sent to registered participants only. For those of you traveling to us from outside of Austria, the nearest international airports are Munich (Germany), Salzburg and Innsbruck and all between a 45 minute and 90 minute drive/train ride. There are shuttle services available between the airport and our center which can be arranged directly with Four Seasons Travel in advance or in the airport arrival hall. There are regular train services available from within the airports which will take you to our local station in Kufstein, simply follow the signs in the arrivals hall and you will find both self service ticket machines and desk clerks available for your assistance.
ACCOMMODATION
These are non-residential training weekends. If you are travelling from outside of the area and need to book accommodation, Kufstein is just 3kms away and there are many hotels, guesthouses and self catering apartments available via www.booking.com and the Kufstein Tourist Office, www.kufstein.com. This part of the Alps is breathtakingly beautiful and there are stunning walks in the area, but please be sure to bring weather appropriate clothes and shoes with you. If you require transport to and from our location each day, we recommend taking a taxi. There is a taxi stand outside the train station in Kufstein, alternatively you can call Taxi Bundschuh on 0043-(0)5372 6 74 74 to book a car. A reminder that class times are 10am - 5pm each day and you are asked to arrive on time. Your meals are not included in the fee, as such, please remember to bring your lunch with you each day.
COURSE FEE
The fee for the full year is €1750
Class size limited to just four students
Your course fee includes all tuition costs, light refreshments on class days, all ingredients, glassware, and equipment required for medicine making, and materials for creative and hands on activities during class times on all four modules. We supply you with all course materials you need to learn and study with us, unlimited access to our extensive in-house holistic health library, and you're even provided with locally produced recycled paper copy books and pens for you to write your class notes. This fee is a non-refundable investment.