Programs at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine

For those who want to take their healing into their own hands or provide healing for their community, the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine offers a 6-month Weekly Summer Program, meeting 2 days a week from May through October, and a Winter Weekend Program, which meets one weekend a month, November through May. Our newest program is the Advanced Clinical Program to continue the education begun in our basic programs, offered November through April. Workshops and plant walks are also offered throughout the year.

We are currently located at 135 Houston St. in the Montford district, about a mile north of downtown Asheville, NC in a beautiful Victorian home.

Weekly Summer Program

Program Overview: This 6-month, 300-hour program is for anyone who wants to be self-sufficient for their health and medicine, whether you intend to be treating yourself and your family, to be a community healer, or whether you wish to have a public practice as an Herbalist. It is appropriate both for committed beginners and for those who have already begun their studies. This class is intended to give you all the tools you need to go beyond treating symptoms and use diagnostic skills and knowledge about specific plants to treat at a deep level. Holistic herbalism is a beautiful art combining plant wisdom, intuitive and scientific diagnosis, and artful treatment.

The main focus will be on constitutional diagnosis and holistic treatment, including tonic herbs, food, and lifestyle. You will also learn how to do as much as possible yourself - how to identify plants, ethically gather them and make high quality extracts and preparations.

Class dates are May 5 through October 28, 2008 with a 2 week break in July. Classes will be held Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. There will be two field trips, one to the Shenandoahs in Virginia and one to the Piedmont area of North Carolina. Interested students are welcome to work at the free clinic at the 2009 Rainbow Gathering in New Mexico during the first week of July.

Classes: Individual classes cover plant identification, wildcrafting skills, medicine making, anatomy and physiology (structure and function of the human body), healing diet, holistic diagnostic skills including Chinese tongue and pulse diagnosis, constitutional medicine, study of individual medicinal plants, and a Student Clinic.

Instruction: CoreyPine Shane is the primary teacher, with 12 other faculty leading classes on Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Flower Essences, Botany, Gardening, and more.

Tuition: Tuition is $2600, due the first day of class unless other arrangements are made ahead of time. The following early-bird discounts are available: $2200 if tuition is paid in full by January 1 and $2400 is paid in full by April 1.

Applying: Click here to download an application in Microsoft Word format. Deadline for applications is April 15, 2009 , after which applications will be accepted only as space is available. Class size is limited to fifteen: thirteen students and two apprentices. Apprenticing is a serious time commitment, at least two additional days per week. Apprentices do not pay but work directly in the herbal field, helping to chop roots, fill tincture bottles, or put together an order - whatever needs to get done. More than a simple work/study, it's an involved experiential education. Apprentices should typically apply by December, as these spots fill up faster than you would think.

Winter Weekend Program

Overview: Healing with plants is an ancient tradition with a history as long as humanity’s, if not longer. In this program, we learn how to integrate the history and tradition of herbal medicine with modern insights and science to create a holistic way of understanding the body in health and disease. In this class we will study both a holistic approach to the western scientific model as well as a holistic paradigm of healing using traditional systems of healing that help us see the "pattern of imbalance" that creates disease rather than just alleviating symptoms. At its base, holistic Herbalism treats clients, not diseases. This 140-hour program will give you a good foundation in holistic and herbal medicine, so that upon graduation you will know how to treat yourself, your family, your friends, and be prepared for further study if you so desire.

Classes: Each weekend we will have a session on the structure, function and treatment of one organ system, a section on useful plants, and a "special topic." These topics include First Aid, Medicine Making, Chinese Medicine, Nutrition, Formulation, and Field Botany. There will also be a question and answer session each Sunday morning.

Dates and Times: Class begins November 21-23, 2008 and meets the second weekend of each month through May 15-17, 2009. Class times are Friday 6:00 - 9:00, Saturday 10:00 - 6:00 and Sunday 10:00 - 5:00.

Instruction: CoreyPine Shane will be the primary instructor, with guest instructors teaching a wide variety of subjects. Besides lectures, there will also be homework and monthly quizzes.

Tuition: Tuition is $1400 for the course, or $1250 if paid by September 15, with a $200 deposit due upon acceptance. The remainder is due by October 20 . Class size is limited to twelve.

Applying: Click here to download an application in MS Word format. Application deadline is November 15.

Advanced Clinical Program

For those who want to deepen their practice as Holistic Herbalists, the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine in cooperation with the North Carolina School of Holistic Herbalism offers a rare opportunity for advanced study. In this 150-hour program students see clients under the tutelage of skilled practitioners in a local free clinic, providing a hands-on experience serving the community.

Pre-requisites: Graduation from a 250-hour herbal education program or ability to show equivalent training is required. Students are expected to know physiology and western sciences and demonstrate a good working materia medica.

Classes: There will be 30 class hours in Advanced Physiology, 15 hours in Applied Herbal Medicine, 25 hours of Clinical Skills, and 65 hours of Clinic time, beginning with observation, student interviews, and finally Clinical Round Table.

Dates: Class begins January 20 and ends May 30, 2009, meeting every Tuesday from 6 pm - 9 pm and every other Saturday from 10 am – 5 pm.

Location: Classes for this program will be held at the Appalachia School of Herbal Medicine, 2 Westwood Place in West Asheville.

Application and Tuition: Deadline for application is January 1; applications are available by request. Tuition is $1500 and a non-refundable deposit of $300 is due upon acceptance; the remainder is due the first day of class.

 

Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine

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828-275-6221

cp@blueridgeschool.org