In my practice as a herbalist I work with a small but potent range of plants - mostly native to Britain, all of which I have connected to deeply and intimately with myself over the past decade. Everything I share is rooted in my own direct experience as well as being informed by many hours or study, research, group settings and clinical practice. I draw on the wisdom of my ancestors, the wisdom of the land, and the deep trust in fully honouring the wisdom of the person I am working with, meeting them exactly where they are now.

In our sessions together we return to a place outside time and conditionality, to the ancient pulse of the universe, to nature, to our own very being, and here we take space to listen and respond.

Everything I share in my practice comes from my own direct experience of life; an embodiment of all I have been taught and have learnt.

My Journey:

In my early 20’s I had a profound and deeply impactful moment of deep insight into the true nature of existence whilst alone in nature. It was an instantaneous moment of the pure recognition that we are not separate from nature, and that in Reality there is nothing to do.

It was perfect moment of truly seeing that all of the striving, doing, seeking, wanting, needing, success, failure  - that believing there is anything to be or to achieve, is entirely a construct of the world and the human mind.

Life itself is just here, living. And we get to be a reflection and embodiment of this.

It was a moment of pure relief and complete collapse.

For a short while this reflection brought a deep joy and freedom to my life. But due to the spontaneous nature of it, and with lack of any support for understanding and integrating what had happened, I had no reference points for what had occurred.  The effect this had on my day to day life and how to function in the world quickly became deeply confusing and isolating. I felt a vast gap between my experience of the world and how I saw those around me relating to it and experiencing it.

Within a year of this recognitionI was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Again I  found myself mostly alone, this time navigating the medical system and at the mercy of  the ‘fixing’ mentality within the mainstream medical paradigm.

I was exhausted, almost constantly in pain, and yearning to reconcile the deep impact of what my body was expressing to me, the effecting this was having on my life and the expectations I had for it.

And at the same time I had never been more driven or self motivated in anything than in understanding and exploring what this illness truly meant and how to become well. Not just fix some symptoms, which is what the medical model offered me, to become a cog in the machine of the capitalist workhorse, but to live healthy alive and vibrant - in alignment with that realisation I had had alone in nature.

I do not believe that the recognition I had and the subsequent development of autoimmunity are separate.

Over the years what I have come to understand through my experience, is that much of the chronic illnesses, mental health struggles, isolation  and imbalances so common within modern societies and the individuals within them, is due to the loss of this intrinsic connection to nature that I had the profound recognition of in that moment - of seeing our true nature. Not just my true nature but a way of being that is available to anyone.

For millennia humans have moved further away from living in direct relationship with the natural world, and in doing so a collective amnesia of overly identifying with the world of human creation, with the turmoil in our minds, rather than the earth itself has taken place.

It is a loss that is largely unconscious, hidden in a way that most do not even realise they are missing amongst the seeming safety and comfort of the modern world, but so clearly  seen in the cracks when we take the time to slow down and look.

As I navigated my health discovering a new sense of who I was, I was fortunate to find support and guidance from others, both human and of the more than human world, who could support me in integrating my experience, and how to carve out a path in living in the world, whilst holding close to me my connection to my true nature.

What subsequently unfolded over the next decade and a half, has been a truly integrative approach to healing that neither rejected or submitted to any one dogmatic pathway, but fully integrated the most effective strategies for my own unique experience so that I could be well.

I came to deeply understand the nature of pharmaceutical medications and the role they play in supporting us to live in the modern world.

One of the most profound ‘healing’ experiences I had, was after being admitted to hospital. I can only describe it as time of utter and full surrender to something vaster than I was, but that the surrender to receive help came entirely from my own sovereignty and choice. This was very different from being coerced or scared into doing what I was told.

I spent 5 days in hospital receiving care whilst also receiving what I can only describe as divine healing light pouring into me. I was leaving my room each day to go outside into the grounds to practice qigong - for the first time really understanding what this practice was and fully knowing I was connected to everything.

The speed with which I recovered in the weeks to come was remarkable and for years afterwards medical professionals was surprised that I was only receiving ‘monotherapy’ - ie I didn’t need a host of other medications to keep symptoms in check, or the cascade of  symptoms that can occur from the medication, in check.

Regular blood tests to see if my body was creating antibodies against the medication - which is common, always came back clear.   

Whilst the medication received bi monthly via intravenous infusion in hospital was not perfect and brought with it a need to be vigilant of negative effects from  suppressed immunity, it gave me the space and the energy to fully meet the other layers of myself, to nourish my body again which had become weak and depleted from years of barely being able to eat, and reignited my own sense of self and the healing capacity I had within.

Whilst ultimately it was down to me and may own sense of power to become well again, I in no way did this alone. To truly dance in a symbiotic relationship of receiving support and taking self responsibility is a paradigm shift away from seeing healer or doctor as an authority over, of not being a victim to an illness or stoically going it alone and suffering in silence.

At times I have fallen into both modes as I gradually found an equilibrium of autonomy within support.

It takes courage to ask for help; to be vulnerable and to fully allow ourselves to be cared for when we don’t know what is happening. To trust others so we can surrender into rest which is so needed to be able to heal. Equally it takes strength and self responsibility to know what we need and to do what it takes to change and thrive.

Whilst it was a deeply challenging time in my life, illness also cascaded me into an inner enquiry of discovering of what it truly is to live wholly, fully, as we are. It has become my life’s work to explore what being human really is, and what it even means to be well; that we can thrive and live fully in connection to our true nature - whatever our life circumstances or state of wellness.

I have immersed in many trainings and paths of enquiry over the past two decades, with the catalyst of my practice being a 7 year apprenticeship with the School of Intuitive Herbalism.

This was a potent and deep dive into a truly holistic approach, not just into herbalism, but into how we live in the world, unravelling and relearning so many layers of myself, and within the living context of a rapidly changing world.

During this journey we integrated concepts and practices from medical, mythical and mystical traditions across the world, bringing together ancient practices with modern understanding, with all of it always being referenced back to and understood from each of our own direct experiences, in direct relationship with living plants and the sacred sovereign land of Britain - my ancestral home.

This has led me to having a truly unique way of practicing which is deeply embedded in my own experience and healing journey.

The path of my life took a very different turn to what I had imagined for myself, and one of the most potent and hardest lesson this journey has given me was the effect autoimmunity and medication has had on my fertility. I have lost 3 babies in the first trimester of pregnancy, with 10 years of infertility as I healed between the 2nd and third miscarriage. This has been another initiation into trusting what life is bringing me whilst also seeking for answers, navigating medical support whilst staying true to my own sense of fertility and soul journey.

It was after my first miscarriage that I had my second realisation. Deep in shock and grief, I had an instantaneous moment of these sensations flipping 360* inside of me and I realised none of it was personal, the love I felt was a conditional need to care for my own baby, was actually utterly unconditional and I could share this love.

During these years of illness and integration I set up and ran a successful childminding business. This felt like a soul calling from that moment of unconditional love, and it was a calling to simply hold the hearts of babies and children, and their families as they navigated the tender early years of family life and the separation out into the world.

It was more than a job or vocation, but a building of and being central within a community, which led me into also supporting a few of my childminding families with the birth of their second and third children, and from this I trained as a Doula and Birthkeeper.

This essence of ‘holding hearts’ is now the core of my work as a herbalist, working intimately alongside my clients as they navigate their path, and discovering for themselves what they need.

I have been medication free now for nearly 4 years and entirely symptom free. And although I am approaching 40 I feel more fertile, more vibrant and more alive than I ever have before.

My Guides and Mentors:

Lisa Lochhead -  I met Lisa 14 years ago - the same day I met my partner, Antony, and it was one of those truly monumental meetings that changed everything. As the ground was falling away from me in so many areas of life, Lisa has been a deep heart sister and true guide for me in embodying my womanhood. Being with her on retreats, in circle, and in communion with bigger cosmic cycles, and how to live this in my life, has been a true and potent ground for the path I walk. I am also grateful to her and her husband Todd for the support they gave to Antony and I in the early years of our relationship, helping us stay in the fire and allowing us to be transformed.

Nicola Ley - Nicola scooped me under her wing in my most vulnerable and unsure days as I figured out my path with Crohn’s disease. She is a true witch in the best sense of the word - a wise elder. Embodying joy whilst knowing the deepest depths of grief, a mirror I am beyond grateful to her for. For her unconditional support training me as a qigong teacher and showing me what I am capable of holding, introducing me to the path of the plants, and letting me be her PA - dyslexia and all!

Nathaniel Hughes and The School of Intuitive Herbalism - It was Nicola who first took me to see Nathan for a herbal consultation. I honestly thought I would simply be asked about my symptoms and handed a bag or maybe a bottle of herbs. What I experienced couldn’t have been further from the truth! I was at a point in my life when everything was dissolving and I was hyper vigilant distortion and dishonesty. Meeting with Nathan, I felt like I was fully being seen - possibly for the first time in my life, and the years that followed of one to one sessions with the plants where a potent anchor point in my healing. Flowing from this  into my 7 year apprenticeship with him, having a core role in the creation of the Insight Herbalism Training, and now facilitating on course with the school has been the life line and anchor for the life I have created now, and the work I get to do, that doesn’t feel like work but truly and fully feels like an embodiment of that moment of realisation I had all those years ago.

Official qualifications:

• I have a degree in Theatre from Dartington college of Arts. This helped me dissolve my concepts of the world, and gave me the time and space to begin to know who I am. I am forever grateful for those three years of getting to create art surrounded by fields, even if professionalising my art practice somewhat destroyed it.

• I trained as a Qigong Teacher with the Shiatsu College.  This guided me out of my insecurity and into seeing the iron like, unwavering Qi field that I can hold for myself and for others.

• I am a qualified Insight Herbalist through the School of Intuitive Herbalism, after embodying 6 years of apprenticeship, creating my own competencies of how I practice which are endorsed by the school and my peers.

• I was an Ofsted Registered Childminder. This challenged and pushed all of buttons in doing something where I had to jump through official hoops, but gave me the training ground for running my own business, and meeting my own edges in the dance between what it means to be professional and offering simple genuine human care.

• Anatomy and Physiology for herbalists with Tami Sweet

• Antenatal Wisdom Doula Training with Dominique Sakoilsky and Amanda Rayment

• Birthkeeper Training with Evony Lynch

• Closing the Bones with Sophie Messager