MAYA BLOW
Herbalist, Classical Homeopath, Organic Farmer, Educator, Permaculturist, Co-Owner Soul Flower Farm, Founder and Director
Maya Blow is an herbalist and classical homeopath practicing at the Emeryville Health and Wellness Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied undergraduate history at Clark Atlanta University and San Fransisco State University. Maya studied herbal medicine at the California School of Herbal Studies in Northern California and also completed four years of homeopathic medical school at the Institute of Classical Homoeopathy in San Francisco. After graduating Maya went on to teach homeopathic materia medica at the ICH. She is a current teacher for the California Women of Color Herbal Symposium, as well as on the faculty of the Institute of Urban Homesteading based out of Oakland California. Maya has been studying, practicing and making herbal medicine for over fifteen years and brings to her practice an innate sensitivity, empathy and powerful intuition towards her clients. Besides her passion for holistic and alternative medicine, Maya is an artist, mother of two, farmer, and avid crafter. Maya teaches nature studies, gardening, herbal medicine making and many other homesteading and DIY classes. She has been making and teaching art for two decades and continues to draw her inspiration from her love of nature. Some of her hobbies include organic gardening, animal husbandry, foraging for wild food, fermenting and canning, making herbal medicine, cheese making, and dying with plants. Maya runs a handcrafted herbalism CSA from her organic farm where she grows fruit, vegetables and medicinal herbs, as well as tends bees and raises chickens and jersey milk cows. Some of her most recent work and adventures include speaking at the Black Farmers and Urban Growers Conference Oakland, California 2015, representing the Black Permaculture Network at the International Permaculture Convergence in England 2015, participating as a North American representative at the Agricultural Biodiversity Community Conference in Thika, Kenya 2015, speaking at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show 2016, speaking at the Women’s Visionary Congress in Petaluma, California 2016, and teaching for the Bay Area Farmer Training Program through the Multi National Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture.
YASIR CROSS
Organic Farmer, Bee Whisperer, Permaculturist, Engineer, Co-Owner Soul Flower Farm
Yasir Cross is a design engineer by trade and has been practicing permaculture design for many years. He is a grey water specialist as well as a skilled builder. He is passionate about natural beekeeping and has been studying and keeping bees successfully for almost a decade. He follows the natural beekeeping methods of Abbe Warre. Yasir is also a crafter and artist who loves to work with his hands. He has a natural gift for fixing just about anything and as an organic farmer is putting that gift to good use. A student of the biodynamic farming methodology, Yasir is using, learning, and teaching his experience. Sustainable building, grafting fruit trees, composting, double digging, and building soil are some of his interests. Hobbies also include hiking, drawing, mountain biking, and wrestling. Yasir is co-owner of Soul Flower Farm where he lives with his wife, sons, chickens, bees and jersey milk cows.
ABI HUFF
Herbalist, Apothecary Owner, Medicine Maker
Abi Huff is an ever-evolving community herbalist, medicine maker, and overall plant nerd. Her passion lies in connecting people to their inner wisdom, and responsibility to the planet through gratitude for, and relationship with the plant kingdom. Acknowledging the plants as intelligent life and our ancestral connection to the medicinal, spiritual, and cultural uses of plants is, in her vision, the foundation to understanding plants as medicine and inspires a deeper connection to the magic of our amazing planet.
Abi has attended The California School of Herbal Studies and The Evergreen School of Botanical medicine, and has been seriously holding plant medicine for over a decade. She has been blessed to be mentored by many Master Herbalists who are our honored and beloved Elders.
She currently runs The Stinging Nettle, a small clinical practice and apothecary where she is the primary medicine maker and clinician. She is also the chair head for the Sonoma County Herb Association/Exchange education committee. In all her work, she is committed to sharing and learning with the greater community.
GRACE KARUNA JONES
Herbalist, Acupuncturist, Astrologist, Aromatherapist
Grace has focused on spiritual and healing practices since age 11. Living in various monasteries and ashrams for some years, dedicated to going deeper into meditation practices and transforming Emotions Work through the breath. She has studied various healing modalities. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine and she is certified as a Western Herbalist, Aromatherapist. and is a Reiki Master. She has studied extensively in a monastic setting with a master of old Daoist Five-element astrology, before being asked to continue their work in America. She offers Five Element Astrology Health readings for individuals and for ascertaining relationship compatibilities.
CHLOE BEE
Herbalist, Apothecary Owner
Salutations, my name is Chloe Bee, I jump from tree to tree singing sweet alchemy so let me be me and set your self free. I hold frogs as a medicine animal with a representation for the love of encouraging humans to be a prismatic rainbow, to be adaptable, aqueous, and also terrestrial, and for my love of what we call curañdurisma. I aim to see the whole picture and honor the trees for truth. I have been a dancer for 16 years and have trained in contemporary, urban tribal, Afro-contemporary, dancehall, and modern jazz. With positive influence from my long-time aromatherapist mother, a passion to build a healthy body, and a deep desire to change the dominant systems of agriculture and medicine into something more harmonious and stable, I intentionally act as a catalyst for social change. Running up mountains, gardening vegetables and herbs, hip hop dance, handstand-a-thons with myself, and climbing rocks are my preferred ways of processing the organic, natural homegrown-as-possible, and local food that I love. I am the generator of a heart-centered community hub for the alliance of ethnobotany, artistic expression, cultural diversity, Earth-first thinking, and herbalism via transformative workshop facilitation presently thriving on community-expressed needs for the cultivation of plant wisdom, movement, and meaningful ritual. Rainbow Bliss Botanicals and Happy Healthy High Horny Herbs are two of my current projects that strive to integrate consciousness, ceremony, botanical medicine, and sacred dance through honoring the divine intelligence between people and plants. I’ve been holding down an organic apothecary sandwiched between a nightclub and a corporate bank for 4 years so that I can serve the City of Tempe with herbalism in the mainstream. This project to have a botanical presence on the busiest foot-trafficked location in the state of Arizona is a service to the community; a place where lovers meet, where dancers come to nourish, where addicts come for solutions, where local designers & creatresses come to sell, and where our culture has a independently owned and operated place of Earth medicine, unconditional love, and acceptance.
Fueled by ancestors, a Summa Cum Laude Bachelor's degree in Sustainable Ecosystems and Soil Science, and undergraduate studies in Dance Media, Performance and Choreography at Arizona State University and University of Waikato, New Zealand, I believe that plants are teachers. Since 2009, I have studied Ayurveda, TCM, and Eclectic herbalism as well as the experiential materia medica of the Diné, Apache, Maya, Hopi, and Aztec. My formal herbal studies are with 5 years of EastWest Planetary Herb School with Michael and Lesley Tierra as mentors and teachers. Together, we hold TCM clinics in Santa Cruz for veterans, homeless, and humans with mental health needs. In April 2017, I will be a Professional Member of the American Herbalist Guild with formal training in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, and Western Herbalism.
To learn more please visit my blog, a calendar of events, and explore a line of love-made & intentional herbal treats at:
ANNIE ANTEPARA
Permaculturist, Organic Farmer, Educator, Seed Saver
Annie Antepara is first generation American, born and raised in New York, her roots are Incan and Ecuadorian. She has been thriving in California for thirteen years. Annie is an organic farmer, permaculturist, designer, herbalist, and massage therapist. She is passionate about plants, trees, soil, and loves working with children and animals. As a teacher and a lifelong student she is always ready to learn from every situation. Annie views what she does for a living not as a job, but a lifestyle. Her main interest and method as a permaculture designer is to catch and infiltrate water. Her purpose as a teacher is to spread knowledge and love. She believes strongly that knowledge is never to be just obtained; it always needs to be shared. Annie brings to the School of Earth Medicine abundant experience farming in a dry landscape and a deep overstanding of permaculture design, as well as extensive knowledge of the biodynamic philosophy of Rudolph Steiner. Annie is an advanced seed saver and has trained for many years with Rowan White of Sierra Seeds. Annie’s design company is Edge of Resilience.
VICTORIA ALARA ALCOSET
Ayurvedic Practitioner
Victoria Alara Alcoset practices Ayurvedic Science in Oakland, California, after a decade steeped in the Classics, offering massage, and apprenticing to master clinicians in the Kolhatkar lineage of Shubham Ayurveda. An urban-raised chicana indigena of Ashkenazi (Jewish) and Omugi (Raramuri) descent, she brings all her cultural knowledge to bear in her healing, writing, teaching and living (in the SF Bay Area since 1989).
Email Victoria@Ayurveda-Healthcare.com for updates on offerings from her practice.
TAMU MOSLEY
Wholistic Wellness Facilitator, Raw Food Kitchen Alchemist, Yoga Instructor
Tamu Mosley is a mother of 3, a teacher, a wholistic wellness practitioner, a yogi, a raw food kitchen alchemist and a vegetarian of 20+ years. Tamu was introduced to a vegan life style in 1995 and quickly became passionate about a wholistic approach to this new way of eating and living. It not only became about what she put in her body by way of healthy non-meat and non-dairy foods but it also became about what she put on her body, in her environment and what she allowed in her mind. She realized that this was a lifestyle and was inspired to live it as wholistically as possible. Along with creating healthy meals, she began mixing up natural skin care products, cultivating a strong yoga and mindfulness practice as well as creating self-care rituals to nourish her body, mind and spirit. Detoxing and cleansing has also has become another layer of the wholistic approach to wellness and is now part of her daily, weekly and seasonal practice. Over the years Tamu’s personal wholistic wellness practice has grown and changed as she continues to learn more of what nourishes her whole self. Tamu launched her business Wholistic Shine in 2014 as a platform to inspire, educate and empower others to cultivate their inner shine through wholistic wellness. Tamu is inspired by and works with other wellness warriors around the globe who are growing and expanding with the needs of their body, their community and mama earth. She continues to move with passion for health and wellness so that she can continue to serve others who seek to live a more whole, balanced, healthy way of life.
Education- Certification- Courses:
-B.A., Cultural Anthropology, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1995
-Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, San Francisco State University, 1997
-200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, Niroga Institute, 2010
-Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training (5-Day Intensive), Yoga Tree, 2010
-Medicinal Plants and Spiritual Evolution Intensive (18 week course), David Crow at Shift Network,
2016
KIYOKO GUILLORY-GONZALEZ
Community Herbalist, Numerologist
Kiyoko holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and a minor in Philosophy from University of California, Los Angeles. Her passions live amongst the soil, rock, heart and hearth. She is a lover of natural design impeccably executed by our Earth Mother. Thrilled to have found her true passion through the language of nature, Kiyoko looks for the essence in all of us to find our true identity as love-light workers to engage in the vibrational shift necessary to heal ourselves and everything sacred that needs preservation on this planet. Spirit Spy Farm is her backyard medicinal farm; she runs a business and home apothecary, Eudaimonia Botanica where the majority of plants are grown or sustainably wild-harvested. Kiyoko's roots in herbalism began while traveling in a pueblo in Jalisco, Mexico called Rancho Viejo where she learned about local plant medicine from an elder who came from generations of sourcing plant medicine from "la loma", the field. Her first traditional western herbalism teacher was Dr. Christopher Hobbs. She learned a thorough foundation of Herbal medicine from his program in (2012-2014). Thereafter, she apprenticed with Mary Pat Palmer of Philo School of Herbal Energetics 2014. Shamanic herbalism and pulse diagnosis was the next call to order with herbalist and author Matthew Wood in 2016. She took West African botany which she strongly believes was initiated by the ancestors, taught by Yeye Luisa Tuish author of Jambalaya, Afro- Latino ethnobotanist Rachel Thomas and herbalist Sobande Greer of NCB School of Herbalism in 2017. This past year 2018 she began taking Wendy Read's Cannabis Consultant Therapy license program which is still underway. Feeling divided between western herbalism and TCM, l began attending Candis Cantin's Evergreen School of Integrative Herbology in 2017 where her teachings focus on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine with an emphasis on tongue diagnosis. Currently she is in her advanced apprenticeship. Kiyoko is holding prayerful and intentional vigilance as a mandate on the universe to allow her path as an herbalist to heal and uplift those who need assistance fine tuning into their gifts as Earth love lifters.
ASATU MUSUNAMA HALL
Dancer, Mother, Midwife, Health Educator and Kemetic Yoga Instructor
In addition to being a Co-founder of Luna Nueva Wellness Colletive, Asatu has close to 20 years experience working in the Oakland community as one of the few midwives of color. Asatu is the founder and director of
Sacred Grove Traditions Women of Color Wholistic Health Exchange, an Oakland-based, international public benefit organization committed to assisting girls and women of African-descent in developing a healthy lifestyle through education about holistic and alternative methods of self-care and wellness, providing advocacy and education about Midwifery and alternative birth options and developing Rites of Passage for young girls and young women.
BAE LAUREL O'CONNOR
Resident Media Specialist
Bae Laurel is a Bay area born artist, root whisperer, and storyteller. As the Resident Media Specialist, bae laurel is honored to witness and weave together the ever unfolding story of The School of Earth Medicine through video. Bae Laurel is especially thankful to her teachers Abi Huff and Richard Lescarbeau, and Liza Johnson for opening her heart to the medicine of plants and movie magic! You can explore Bae Laurel's visual medicine at
AFIA WALKING TREE
Educator, Facilitator, and Ritualist
Afia Walking Tree, M.Ed. Jamaican-born and raised, internationally acclaimed percussionist and visionary facilitator. Afia blends her radical self-love of earth, drum, body into sustainable life-art practices. Afia insists on drumming, dancing, chanting, and growing food for gender equality, queer rights, and environmental sovereignty. Her wildness inspires authentic edutainment performances, lectures, garden and landscape design and life coaching processes. Afia serves as adjunct professor at Holy Names University, California Institute for Integral Studies, Sophia University, and Edna Manley College for the Performing Arts in Jamaica.
PANDORA THOMAS
Permaculturist, Educator
The earth is my employer.
Pandora Thomas is a passionate global citizen who works as a teacher, writer, designer and speaker. She studied at Columbia and Tufts University and with several permaculture and greenbuilding design programs. Her writing includes a children’s book, various curricula and a manual entitled "Shades of Green" for individuals wanting to teach green building to youth. She has keynoted and lectured on topics ranging from diversity, social justice, youth and women's leadership, social entrepreneurship and sustainability. She has taught groups as diverse as Iraqi and Indonesian youth to men serving in San Quentin creating inspiring and hands on programs around permaculture design, sustainability, and outdoor and environmental education. Pandora co-founded Earthseed Consulting LLC, a holistic consulting firm whose work expands the opportunities for sustainable living for diverse communities. Her most recent projects include co-founding the Black Permaculture Network, working with Toyota to design and currently serving as a coalition member of the Toyota Green Initiative, which supports African Americans in understanding the benefits of adopting sustainable lifestyles and co-designing, teaching with and directing Pathways to Resilience-a permaculture and social entrepreneur training program that worked with men and women returning home after incarceration, She has studied four languages and lived and worked in over twelve countries and her other achievements include presenting at Tedx Denver and SF, and being awarded internships and fellowships to Columbia University, Green For All, the Bronx Zoo and the Applied Research Center. When she is not working you can find her spending time with her beloved mother and cats or in the redwoods.
TANYA HENDERSON
Herbalist, Nutritionist, Yoga Instructor
As co-creator of the California Women of Color Herbal Symposium and creator and director of Sacred Roots Wellness, Tanya found her way into the world of holistic health and indigenous healing in the midst of several years of New York City living, a hectic career in journalism and a serious need for balance. Her deep desire to self-heal turned into a passionate journey to embody wellness, while guiding others to do the same.
Tanya has been working in the field of health and healing as an herbalist and nutritionist for an aggregate of 11 years. She earned her certifications in Western Herbalism and Holistic Nutrition at the Ohlone Center for Herbal Studies and Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition & Culinary Arts.
As a former nutrition-based cooking instructor in the Berkeley Unified School District, her love for plants as both food & medicine has been her driving force in raising awareness around integrative health & wellness by incorporating herbs into the diet both preventively & medicinally. In addition to working in private practice, Tanya makes herbal body care products and teaches yoga in the schools with a goal of inspiring individuals to their personal best. She received her yoga teacher training through the Niroga Institute. Along with sharing her growing knowledge of plant medicine in underprivileged communities of color, dancing and taking meandering hikes in the woods, rain or shine, are among her many loves.
For more information about Tanya, her practice and offerings, visit
AMELIA JASMINE AZUL
Yoga Instructor, Artist, Healer, Educator
Amelia Jasmine Azul comes from a family of artists, teachers and healers and is living all of these professions. She has been dedicated to sharing her love of health and creativity with communities across the world- through social work, community endeavors, and teaching yoga/art/workshops. She currently works for WGU university supporting elementary teachers in training, is co-founder/teacher of a donation based yoga studio Earth Tribe, and is actively involved with Project Avary, an organization for children with incarcerated parents. She considers life itself to be her greatest educator. She is taught by both the seen and unseen realms and enjoys connecting with the Source in all. In 2011 she began actively communicating with plant spirits and continues to expand her ability to listen to various realms with the specific intent of supporting well-being and love for all. She holds a Masters Degree in Education from UC Berkeley, an Expressive Arts Therapy certification from JFK University, Mindfulness and Trauma Informed Yoga certification from Niroga Institute, BA in Community Development from New College, and acting training from the American Conservatory for Theater. Amelia’s intention in life is LOVE. She enjoys travel, ecological living, spiritual development, community, creativity, laughter and fun!
HOLLY CALICA
Herbalist, Co-Founder of Luna Nueva Wellness Collective and Kalingafornia Laga
Holly continues to bring her experience as an educator, artist, and herbalist to the San Francisco Bay Area. Her unique background as a Cultural Worker preserving Indigenous traditional knowledge, skills and practices lends itself to participating in the revitalization of plant medicine and other cultural practices in our time. She revels in teaching all she has learned about plant medicine, self-massage bodywork, and spiritual healing with the community in order for the community to learn about self-care and self-healing.
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