Amaia’s Herbal Journey

I have always held a deep love for the natural world around us and a pull towards healing in its many forms. I began working with plants and learning how to be in relationship with myself, others and plant kin in a way that held reverence, respect and reciprocity as a child.

When I was living abroad in the late nineties and early noughties, working on organic farms and smallholdings while doing part-time massage therapy and Ayurvedic studies, I encountered a naturopath who inspired me to train as a herbalist.

I loved the way she practised and I saw myself being able to do the same kind of practice with plant medicine as my main focus. It is the immense healing power of plants and the reciprocal relationship that we can forge through listening, sharing and caring which calls me. As we tend the earth, so the earth tends us. Using plants as medicine is a way of life as much as a healing modality,

I decided to train in London doing the Herbal Medicine BSc (Hons) degree course at the University of Westminster which involved 4 years of full time study. I managed to do the first year in Aoteoroa apprenticing with a herbalist there while I studied. In London I gained a first class BSc degree with honours in Herbal Medicine and a bloom of wisdom from my mentors such as beloved Christopher Hedley (RIEP). I was awarded prizes from both the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) and the University of Westminster.

Following the degree I left the UK to live alongside a herbalist in Ecuador and try and learn as much as I could there, planting rainforest plant medicine gardens and studying the local flora. I then moved to India for some months where I deepened my knowledge of Ayurveda and how herbal medicine is used within this system of healing.

Finally I relocated to Gloucestershire as a herbalist and began practising herbal medicine from a couple of local clinics and also from home. I then worked from my apothecary in Frampton on Severn for 7 years until setting up the apothecary I now have near Stroud.

As well as my herbal medicine degree, I have done other training which include yoga teacher training, Wilderness Rites of Passage training, Women’s Herbal Medicine, counselling, body-centred psychotherapy, mycology (medicinal mushrooms), wilderness and outdoor first aid and grief-tending. All of my trainings influence my work and teaching.

Some years ago I correctly self-diagnosed a chronic illness. This illness determined a path of my life’s journey and without my knowledge of herbs and nutrition I fear I might not be where I am today. I see the power of plant medicine and have utilised it where orthodox medicine failed me. The whole experience served to deepen my understanding of both chronic illness and herbal medicine and allowed me to approach treatment of others in a much deeper way.