Plant Immersions

About This Event

10:00am – 12:00pm
Instructor: Irena Stathis
$25 Arboretum members
$35 non-members (Includes Arboretum Admission)

Plants hold within them a kind of intelligence that is directly connected to the Sun and the Earth and all that touches our human lives.

Historically, people have always had a relationship with plants that goes beyond simply using them for food and resources. We can learn to recognize this ancestral knowledge through our senses, to begin to understand what the plants are communicating through their rich smells, delicate touch, diverse tastes and vibrant colors. And in this way, open to the possibility of a new way of relating to them.

Each session we will be working with a different herbal ally, discovering their unique virtues and exploring the many ways to infuse, extract and immerse ourselves in their potent medicines.

We will sit with the herbs and learn about their healing attributes and folkloric history. Participants will get to know the plants through direct experience by touch, taste, smell, observation and intuition. There will be several forms of extracts of the plant to sample. Everyone goes home with a fresh cutting and tools to cultivate a deeper relationship to the plants as healers.

September 18 – Tulsi: the Holy Basils and their many cousins
Join me for an exploration of Tulsi, a.k.a Holy Basil, one of the most revered plants in India. We will get to know her intimately, smelling and tasting her clove-scented leaves and tiny purple-pink florets. Cleansing and purifying to the mind and the space around you. Together we will discover the many healing virtues of these sacred plants and their relatives. We will be working with other Basils as well, discovering their history and folkloric traditions. Beyond their delicious flavors and culinary uses, the Basils hold within them many relevant properties as digestives, tonics to the nervous system and powerful antioxidants, among others.  

October 16 – MUGWORT and the Artemisias
A powerful medicine, with species native to California, pastoral Europe and the Far East, used medicinally by many cultures. Growing by creeks and streams, her soft, silvery leaves ascend into woody flowering stalks in late summer. She is a fragrant and potent medicinal that awakens the mind to the unconscious world of ones underwater life, a DREAMING plant. Named for Artemis the virgin goddess of the moon and protector of women during childbirth, the Artemisias are distinctly feminine and mystical. Join me as we explore their many attributes, from their actions on digestion, sleep and the nervous system to thermoregulation, hormones and much more.

November 20 – Sage & the Healing Salvias
There are many Sages found in the cuisines and traditional medicines of diverse cultures across the world. From the well-known culinary Sages of the Mediterranean to our numerous native California Sages that dominate the dry chaparral hillsides of our local mountains, these plants bring a plenitude of healing gifts and delightful herbal teas. Join me as we learn how these sacred plants with their fragrant oils and potent flavors have influenced humanity since ancient times.