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As I walk this path in The Medicine Woman Tradition, I am grateful for the courage I found in myself to finally step with two feet and whole heart into this journey. I am in awe at the support, the love, and the sincere guidance Kiva, Loba, Wolf, Rhiannon and the Canyon have repeatedly given me. This past year has been one of great unfurling and and discovery, challenges and pain, and pure enthusiasm and confidence in which to continue this walk of life. "I have been researching natural medicine for a long time, Kiva, and have never found anyone who teaches about our real medicines with such awareness and insight as you do. Please don't ever stop!" ............-Lisa Robbins, BScHN, RHN
Each program is made up of several to many individual courses. These programs are not static structures, but rather suggestions for how students might want to combine courses in order to gain the most cohesive skill-set and dynamic framework of knowledge. One course may be taken all on its own, a few from each program or the entire series of courses for a particular program, depending is what is most desired and needed. Story: Our programs are based around traditional archetypes and cultural roles, some of which are no longer valued or recognized by the modern world. And yet, these ancient paths remain insistent callings for many sensitive and perceptive people. In some cases, as with the healer, current society has by necessity retained the function of the archetype but has oftentimes stripped it of its complexity and removed the practitioner from direct connection with the medicine, place and patient. Additionally, these roles have never been and never were intended to be static job descriptions but rather vary from culture to culture, time to time and develop and shift according to need, bioregion and individual. Renaissance: Many of us are familiar with the profound despair and confusion that comes with feeling as if we have been born into the wrong century, that our gifts to the world and our own life callings have no place or purpose in the world in which we live. Reviving traditional lifeways and revitalizing ancient healingways gives us each the opportunity to both find and follow our dreams and purpose. The primal renaissance can provide us with the tools and insights necessary to creating a meaningful life and contributing to the health and integrity of the greater whole of which we are an essential part.
The tribal, earthen origins of humanity still grow and spread just beneath the surface of our well-paved existence. Like the tenacious fingers of Dandelion and Ivy, our roots also have the potential break through the layers of asphalt to rewild and reclaim our authentic wild natures and ways. Relevance: Traditional lifeways, from identifying and harvesting wild food and medicines to cultivating awareness of ourselves and our surrounding to the restoration and tending of the land, remain not only relevant, but are increasingly essential to our well-being as individuals and as a species in these uncertain times. These essential skills and understandings are dynamic and ever evolving in accordance to our context and needs. They can be integrated into contemporary urban life in groundbreaking ways, giving us the ability to impact community and culture in profound ways. The Anima courses are designed to bring students back into direct connection with themselves, the land, their community as well as the traditional lifeways so vital to maintaining those relationships. Through practical skills, personal tools and primal knowledge, these courses aim to assist each person in the process of both discovering and living their dreams and purposes.
The Anima courses are straightforward yet radical in the potential they have to not only affect each person, but also their local community and the world as a whole. An individual or concerted return to personal integrity, herbal medicine, local foods, tribal community, respect for the land and nature-based education is among the most important activism that can be done at this point in history. Obvious in some ways, these daily practices and shifts in perspective can not only change but revolutionize the current paradigm and rebirth a more life-affirming, nourishing and vital culture for the benefit of both the human and more than human world. Certification: We offer certificates of completion issued upon satisfactory (you guessed it) completion of any of our distance programs. As in life, the true evidence of what we have learned is in the integration and utilization of our ongoing education rather than in the artificial construct of a finish line. Each course and program is a rite of passage in and of itself, providing experience and knowledge that will assist the student in their lifelong path toward fulfillment and authenticity. Above all, we strongly believe that authority rests in the individual and their community, rather than in validation from regulatory bodies or outside sources. Caveat: These programs are currently under development, so keep checking back or subscribe to the Anima Lifeways & Herbal School blog for updates and availability of new courses. |
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An invaluable preparatory course for all Anima students, including students of the Healing Arts – featuring in-depth orientation and self-exploration, inspiring us to define and spell-out our personal principles and code of honor, making us ever more effective on our chosen path. Sense of Place and The Search For Home Anima course for deeper connection to self and place, through deepening awareness of the natural world we are a part of – skills for connecting to wherever we are, as well as tools for finding that special home that may be calling to us. Whatever our path and purpose, we benefit the most – and are most effective – the more present we can be for it. Welcome to a course designed to increase our awareness of the vital present moment, deepening our experience, revealing to us our lessons, and rewarding our senses. The Burden Basket: Evaluating & Choosing The Burdens We Bear Rather than compiling endless amounts of new ideas and obligations to our metaphoric basket, it’s tremendously useful to first set aside – at least for a time – every burden that we carry. Once we have been emotionally as well as conceptually emptied of them, we consciously and purposefully choose which ideas, visions, relationships, commitments and roles we want to bear.
Wild means self-willed and true to one’s nature. To ReWild is to be freed and enlivened, meeting our natural needs and answering a wilder calling, connecting to and learning from the natural world, doing what it takes to become a native again, resisting habit and control, assuming responsibility instead of being a victim, and acting out of a sense of authority that can come only from within. Sensory Awakeness & Embodiment Both the effectiveness of our personal practice – and how much enjoyment we draw from our existence and efforts – depend on how truly awakened, enlivened and embodied we are. In a modern world contributing to distraction, diversion and numbing-out, a course in increased sensory awareness is of great benefit to our learning, work and purpose... and can deepen our experience of life’s pleasures. Expanding & Deepening Awareness: Tools for Noticing & Understanding, Healing & Improving The more aware we become, the more effective we can be parents and healers, activists and artists, and the richer our experience of life. This course helps us expand our awareness of the magical patterns of relationship, cause and effect around us, while deepening our awareness of reason and purpose, relevance and ramification. The Anima Medicine Wheel: A Dynamic Interpersonal Tool The Anima Medicine Wheel is a distinct, practical, nature inspired and experience tested model for understanding and diagnosing ourselves and others... an impressively powerful system for all practitioners and seekers of a full and more effective life. |
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A comprehensive exploration of the principles of Traditional Western Herbalism.This five part course is designed to provide the student with a competent and experiential grasp of the principles and practical skills that forms the basis for applied herbcraft. Experiential assignments and exploratory questions are included in every lesson to help the student fully integrate the lesson that the next will be built on. This course is accessible to intent and focused beginners as well as clinical practitioners looking to deepen their understanding of Traditional Western Herbalism. Field Botany for the Herbalist A concise and easy to understand course specifically geared toward the herbalist, forager, naturalist or anyone with the goal of learning to accurately and quickly identify plants. This includes a basic understanding of plant anatomy, taxonomy and nomenclature as well as how to successfully use field guides (especially a dichotomous key) and just as importantly, how to practically apply the knowledge to the student's local area and their work with herbs and edible wild plants.
Increased awareness of not only the natural world but the world of people as well. Learn how to interpret signs, read the story of the land, and anticipate the movements and destinations of both our fellow creatures and human kind... from an instructor who lives the life. Grassroots Activism: Practical Instruction & Ethos For the Activist A course that teaches the necessity for, ethics of, and means for personal activism, taught by a veteran of the front lines... an insightful aid whether working with established groups, organizing around new issues, or powerfully working alone. We are each meant to be influential co-creators of our world, and that means acting in our own ways to oppose injustice, defend freedom, champion wildness and diversity, and promote what we believe to be the potential betterment of the people and planet we are part of. |
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