CommonWealth Holistic Herbalism

Herbs. Science. Mutual Aid.

When you enroll in online courses with us, you're not alone!

You are a part of our community, and you will have:

🌿 Lifetime access to your materials - there's no time limit!

🌿 When new material and updates are added to your courses, you get it for free - automatically!

🌿 Live Q&A video sessions with Katja and Ryn twice every week - and they're archived so you can watch them anytime!

🌿 Ask questions right while you're watching the material - just start typing in the discussion threads! We answer your questions every day!

🌿 Work together with other students in our Community Space - you can even try it now, just click on the "Community" link above!

check our Scholarship & Discount information here.

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Go ahead - take two!)

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Root Down, Branch Out

Rigorous herbal education for the serious student.

What's New

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<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">We hope you had a great Fallow Month - in the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/pages/community/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Community Space</a>, folks have been sharing about stuff they learned while they were switching up the way that they worked with herbs over this month, and it's so exciting! I'm really thrilled about all the cool stuff y'all did!</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">I hope you hang on to some of those habits, and also, it's time to get Q&A going again for the second trimester of 2023. (How is it the second trimester already?)</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Join us Tuesday May 2nd (and every Tue/Thur in May, June, & July) for live herbal Q&A for the second trimester.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><strong>To join in the live Q&A session</strong>,<strong> just go right into the Live Q&A Sessions course in your dashboard and navigate to the chapter titled "Second Trimester 2023 Live Session Links" - then click on the lesson titled:</strong></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><strong>Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023 Live Session Link</strong></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">(or whatever the appropriate date is)</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">We can't wait to see y'all!!</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">love and chamomile,</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">katja & ryn</p>
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<p id="isPasted">This year, we've implemented a new system: we've divided the year into trimesters. The first three months of each trimester are filled with lots of live events, and the fourth month is "fallow".</p>
<p>The word "fallow" usually applies to agriculture - allowing a field to rest every three years or so. This way, they weren't forcing the land to be over-productive: they were allowing the soil to regenerate, so that it would stay fertile.</p>
<p>Our culture is so focused on "productivity" that sometimes we forget that rest is required in order for us to keep learning!</p>
<p>So we're building a one-month "fallow period" into every trimester, so that all students have the chance to rest from the live schedule and to let the mind integrate what you've learned. It's important to take time to just let things percolate - and if you're engaged in sessions with no break, you never get that integration time.</p>
<p><strong>The "fallow period" allows students to stay on target with their goals without getting burnt out.</strong></p>
<p>If you're enrolled in one of our mentorship programs, this fallow period gives you the chance to take a break from the weekly live sessions so that you can rest, maybe do some review, or maybe just drink a lot of tea!</p>
<p>And if you're enrolled in any of our programs, the one month "fallow" concept can still apply in your life: you can set up your study schedule to follow our trimester schedule. You could say that in the fallow month, you don't try to learn new material, but instead take the time to go back and clean up your notes, maybe take stock of your apothecary, press out tinctures that need attending to, etc. There won't be live Q&A sessions during the "fallow" months, so it's also a time when you can check back into some of the abundance of archived Q&A recordings to find things of interest to you. </p>
<p>Plus: <strong>the fallow months are April, August, and December</strong> - so in April you can do spring cleanup in your garden, in August you can be preserving your harvest, and in December you can be planning for next year! Time in the garden (even if your garden is just a few buckets on the porch!) is a great way to let your mind wander through what you're learning, and make new connections!</p>
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<p id="isPasted" style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-bottom: 1em;'>I have just added a new "course" to the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/bundles/family-herbalist" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Family Herbalist Program</a>. It's not exactly a course as much as a container in which i have organized all the information about how to get a certificate for your work in this program.</p>
<p style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-bottom: 1em;'>I think that it's ready for primetime, so go check it out - if you're enrolled in the program, you'll find it in your dashboard already, and it's labeled "Family Herbalist Program".</p>
<p style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-bottom: 1em;'>If you have questions, feel free to ask!!! And if you find any bugs, just let me know! You can put questions or comments right into the discussion threads!</p>
<p style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-bottom: 1em;'>I'm hoping that this helps you keep your studies organized and tidy, and gives you motivation to work towards your certificate!</p>
<p style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-bottom: 1em;'>If you have already finished all of the coursework in the Family Herbalist Program, then you can pop into this new "course" to take the final exam (don't worry! you can do it!!) and that is the last step to generate your certificate!</p>
<p style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-bottom: 1em;'>love and chamomile,</p>
<p style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-bottom: 1em;'>katja</p>
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<p>It's important to us to closed-caption every single one of our courses, so that everyone can access them. This is important not just for deaf and hearing-impaired students, but also parents with sleeping kiddos, folks studying in public places, folks who like to read and listen at the same time - closed captioning can help everyone learn!</p>
<p>It's actually a pretty lengthy process to make it happen though. Sure, we could do some kind of automated captioning, but the robots are not herbalists! The AIs make so many mistakes that the captioning really isn't even useful. </p>
<p>Which means that a human has to create every single file, and then it has to be double-checked to make sure it's accurate, and then it can be uploaded. Noelle, our wonderful closed-captioner (and many other helpful things!), works on this every day, with a few volunteers to help. </p>
<p>We try to put out updates every so often so that you know which courses have the captions complete and how the others are progressing - here you go:</p>
<p><img src="https://files.cdn.thinkific.com/file_uploads/73227/images/fe6/abf/55a/ccupdate_715.png" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-draggable"></p>
<p>There are a few courses not on the list yet, because they haven't been started, but they're on the way, don't worry!</p>
<p>love and chamomile,</p>
<p>katja</p>
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<p>Have you noticed the new Herb-Drug Interaction resources? You'll find these helpful PDFs in the "Materia Medica" chapters at the end of each of the Community Herbalist courses. </p>
<p>So far, we've uploaded them in the following courses:</p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/nutrition" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Holistic Nutrition</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/digestive" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Digestive Health</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/better-sleep" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Better Sleep</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/cardiovascular" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cardiovascular Health</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/urinary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Urinary Health</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/seasonal-environmental-allergies" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Seasonal Allergies</a></p>
<p>We'll be uploading the rest of them over the course of the next two weeks!</p>
<p>We hope you'll find this a helpful foundation to navigate this increasingly common issue! Each of these "cheat sheets" presents a very safe starting point and considers all of the most commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals and OTC meds relevant to that course. </p>
<p>More in-depth and nuanced information is taught in the Herb-Drug Interaction & Herb Safety course, which is part of the Clinical Herbalist program, but these "cheat sheets" give you the information you need to get started safely, so that you can practice and do no harm! ❤️️</p>
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<p>Woweewow - i uploaded a bunch of new herbal goodness for you! <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/neurological-and-emotional" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Neurological & Emotional Health course</a> now has all of its Covid videos, and i know some of y'all were excited about the POTS & dysautonomia video - it's there, so go have a peek! </p>
<p>Plus, all the "Let's Practice" videos are there, and the Capstone Assignment - so far, no one has tried that one, but you could be the first!</p>
<p>And the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/integumentary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Integumentary (Skin) Health course</a> also has all of its Covid videos, as well as new "Let's Practice" videos and the Capstone Assignment. Jump on in and let's see what you learned!</p>
<p><strong>Remember:</strong> the only one who sees your Capstone Assignments is me! So you don't have to worry about getting everything perfect - this is not a test! </p>
<p>❤️️</p>
<p>It's just a chance to think through a whole case and get some feedback about how to work it, so that you feel confident helping your family and friends!<br>Once you submit an assignment, i'll read it (i usually read them on Saturdays), and then i'll send you email with my thoughts, and we can chat about anything that was hard for you! </p>
<p>Enjoy!!!</p>
<p>love and chamomile,</p>
<p>katja</p>
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<p>Lots of new goodies for you today!</p>
<p>The last of the Covid-19 videos have been added to the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/cardiovascular" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cardiovascular Health course</a> - so now you can learn all about repairing the vascular damage that Covid causes, microclotting, pulmonary emoblism, long QT syndrome, "covid toes", and how to manage cardiovascular issues in Long Covid. </p>
<p>AND:</p>
<p>The <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/integumentary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Integumentary Health course</a> Covid-19 videos are uploading right now! So if you've been wondering why covid causes skin rashes, eczema flare-ups, and can even induce sclerederma or scleroderma - well go check it out!</p>
<p>PS: hey nifty, Rose can be helpful BOTH for skin health AND heart health! do you know how? you'll learn all about it in these two courses! 🌸🌸</p>
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<p id="isPasted">We are updating the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/lyme" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Holistic Strategies for Lyme course</a>, and i think you're going to love it!</p>
<p><br></p>
<p>The first thing we did for this course was to break up the videos - they were previously very long, and that can be challenging for folks who are looking for specific material by topic, and it can be challenging if you don't have a long period of time to dedicate to watching the videos! So now the videos are broken down by topic, and shorter so that it's <strong>easier to fit into your schedule</strong> :-)</p>
<p>Next, we're adding <strong>new Quick Guides</strong>, a printable PDF version of the Materia Medica, and other printable resources! So if you're the kind of person who learns best with printed documentation to go along with the videos, here it comes!! </p>
<p>And, we'll be making new <strong>.mp3 files</strong> to match every video - these are files you can download and listen to anywhere, so you can review on the go!</p>
<p>Finally, we're adding a new "Let's Practice" chapter, like we've been adding to all of our courses. It will have <strong>case studies for you to practice</strong> on and a Capstone Assignment so you can get feedback on your work! Once that is complete, we can generate a certificate for you :-)</p>
<p>The first step: the new video organization - is already complete, and the next parts will be uploading over the next few weeks!</p>
<p><br></p>
<p>Go check it out and see how you like it!</p>
<p>love and chamomile,</p>
<p>katja</p>
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<p>We are working to provide closed-captioning for every single course! I wanted to share some information with you about that process, and about our progress so far!</p>
<p>In order to caption videos, we first send every video to a service that uses a machine transcriber to create the .srt file - that's the file that has all the timestamps so that the captions line up right. </p>
<p>But of course, the machine transcriber isn't very good at herbalism! So then, the amazing Noelle and a team of volunteers goes through every file while watching the actual video, to make all the necessary corrections and to make sure everything is lined up correctly. </p>
<p>Then the file can be uploaded and you can use it!</p>
<p>You'll see a file in the Welcome chapter of every course that has captions ready for you - it's got instructions on how to switch them on!</p>
<p><br></p>
<p>Here's a list of the courses that have captions already, and where the captions are in progress:</p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/4-keys" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Four Keys to Holistic Herbalism</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/materia-medica" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Materia Medica</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/herbal-medicine-making" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Medicine Making</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/herbal-community-care-toolkit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Herbal Community Care Toolkit</a> - 75%<br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/energetics-holistic-practice" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Energetics</a> -75%<br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/formulation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Formulation</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/nutrition" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nutrition</a><br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/basic-phytochemistry" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Phytochem</a> - 60%<br><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/puberty" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Puberty</a> - 50%</p>
<p>And <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/digestive" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Digestive Health</a> has just started - it's at 10%</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px;">New closed-caption files are being added every day!</span><br><br></p>
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<p>I'm currently uploading new updated videos on Covid and Long Covid in lots of different courses! </p>
<p>There's foundational information about how to support all the stages of Covid - prevention, as well as infection, recovery, and Long Covid - as well as information about how Covid impacts all the different parts of the body and how we can mitigate those impacts. </p>
<p>You'll find new, fully updated Covid materials in the following courses:</p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/cold-flu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cold & Flu</a></p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/herbal-community-care-toolkit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Herbal Community Care Toolkit</a></p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/respiratory" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Respiratory Health</a></p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/immune" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Immune Health</a></p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/cardiovascular" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cardiovascular Health</a></p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/digestive" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Digestive Health</a></p>
<p><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/neurological-and-emotional" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Neurological & Emotional Health<br></a></p>
<p>Each chapter already has a few hours of video covering the foundational approaches, and over the next two weeks i'll be uploading more videos about each specific system. I'll also be uploading a Covid chapter in <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/children" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Children's Health</a>!</p>
<p>So jump right in and check back frequently as i upload even more good stuff!</p>
<p>love and chamomile,</p>
<p>katja<br><br></p>
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<p id="isPasted">We've created a new Community Space that has much better features than our old one, and i hope you love it!</p>
<p>All you have to do is look up at the top of the page and click on the COMMUNITY link:</p>
<p><img src="https://files.cdn.thinkific.com/file_uploads/73227/images/65c/745/6d2/Screen_Shot_2022-03-05_at_12.47.46_PM.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable"></p>
<p><br></p>
<p>And you're in!</p>
<p>So jump on in and let's get this party started!</p>
<p>*Don't worry - the old community groups are not being deleted for a while so if there's something there that is still helpful for you, you have plenty of time to go get it.</p>
<p>But the new features in this new Community Space should really improve the chat-ability and make it more fun and easier to connect with other students!</p>
<p>Not a student yet? No problem! You can create an account and start chatting - and when you do, why not grab a free course? You might enjoy the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/4-keys" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Four Keys to Holistic Herbalism</a> and the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/herbal-study-tips" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Herbal Study Tips course</a> - both are totally free!</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>love and chamomile,</p>
<p>katja</p>
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<p id="isPasted">Hi!<br>I just uploaded new Capstone Assignments! These assignments help you pull together everything that you've learned in your courses, and we'll send you feedback on your work!</p>
<p>A couple weeks ago i posted the "test balloon" capstone assignment in the <a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/digestive" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Digestive Health</a> course and it's going great! </p>
<p>So just now i added:</p>
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<li><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/reproductive" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reproductive Health</a></li>
<li><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/nutrition" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Holistic Nutrition</a></li>
<li><a href="https://online.commonwealthherbs.com/courses/better-sleep" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Better Sleep</a></li>
</ul>
<p>If you're getting close to finishing one of these courses, then bop on over and check out the new Capstone Assignments and show off everything you've learned!</p>
<p>love and chamomile,</p>
<p>katja</p>
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Herbs. Science. Mutual Aid.

Herbal Study Tips

4 Keys to Holistic Herbalism

Working with Grief: community + course

Herbal Community Care Toolkit

All About Nettles!

Elderberries & Elderflowers

Lovely Lavender!

Herbs and Dreaming

Herbal Remedies for Cold & Flu

Holistic Pain Management

Seasonal & Environmental Allergies

Herbal Medicine for Beginners

Family Herbalist

Family Herbalist Orientation

Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica

Let's keep in touch!

Root Down, Branch Out