Courses
Learn from the garden - Experience, Engage & Enjoy
Would you like to learn more about the therapeutic benefits of herbs, their place in history or the ways in which they can transform the mind and body? Perhaps you are keen to cook with herbs, to make your own first aid remedies or to practice your creative writing. You can explore the mysteries of shamanic plants and learn the folklore of magical trees in the inspirational settings of the garden.
Facilities for courses include a covered area with seats (not heated so wear warm clothes if cold), toilet, provision of herbal tea but for day courses bring your own packed lunch.
Courses 2010
Soundtouch
Vibration, Sound, Silence and Contemplation in the beauty of the Physic Garden
Wednesday 5th May, 9th june and 7th July 10 - 1pm
With Johanna Sheehan, Healing Sound Artist
An introduction to exploring Vibration, Sound, Silence and Contemplation to harmonise and balance your whole being. Soundtouch offers a a unique "Soundbath" experience using a combination of Planetary Gongs (tuned to the frequencies of the Sun and the Moon which create an unusual atmosphere), vocal toning, silence and comtemplation to clear the mind and nurture the spirit - An "out of this world experience" encouraging profound levels of relaxation and feelings of inner peace, wellbeing, focus and opportunities for personal development. For more details please visit website www.soundtouchforlife.com.
Please bring blanket and cushion to lie on during the soundbath for maximum comfort.
Cost £25 per day or 70 the 3 days
Contact Johanna by email johanna@soundtouchforlife.com or by phone 01434
606159 for information and to book for one or all of all days.
Close encounters with healing plants
May 22nd and June16th 10am.-4pm
An Artistic Way to Listen to the Secrets of Plants; Close group Observation followed by a personal painting and drawing experience with a chosen plant. Or is the plant choosing you? A day Workshop with Jenny Blayney.
"Using Goethe's model of plant observation and metamorphosis, this one day workshop will involve a group process gradually building up through engaging all our senses and following the four elements an intimate knowledge of a chosen plant. Then through playful artistic exercises we will allow the plant to speak the mystery of its healing gift.”
"Jenny Blayney (www.magentaarts.co.uk) is an art therapist, working out of the ideas of Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy. She has been running workshops for over ten years on Nature and Art in the Cycle of the Year and on the relationship of the Human Soul and the Spirit in Nature."
£40 including teas and Art Materials but please bring your own lunch to share.
For further information and booking: phone 07909910107 or e-mail jennyblayney@googlemail.com
Feng Shui in the Garden in the year of the Tiger
Friday 28th May, 2-5pm
A half day with Keith Belmont, Complementary medical practitioner (cranial therapy) and Astrologist living from Hexham.
It is an ancient tale that says... "Tenderness is a Tiger's cage".
Come and join us for a half-day choosing plants, flowers and flower essences for the emotions.
Let the plants tell us how to "cage our Tigers".
Listen to poems and tales to develop our tenderness…all things are related, everything depending on everything else.
Cost: £25
For further information and to book: phone 01434 606258 or email gaiahex@btinternet.com
Medicines and Foods from the Hedgerow
Sat 26th June 10-3.30 and Wed 15th Sept 10 – 3.30
Please bring a packed lunch, hot drinks will be supplied
You may wish to bring a camera or sketch pad to help identification of plants after the course.
Please bring waterproofs or an umbrella if it is wet as the course will still run.
Come and spend a day discovering the many medicines and foods growing wild in Northumberland. Being able to collect food whilst out walking or searching out the medicinal plants needed in a first aid situation is both a joy and a special experience that brings one closer to nature. Discover how to identify, collect and use a range of plants.
This is a practical day and participants will prepare a healing comfrey and calendula ointment, infusions, decoctions, and a poultice.
Much of the day will be spent in the Physic garden but there will also be a short walk in the surrounding countryside.
First aid situations such as diarrhoea, cuts, nausea, fever, stings, and earache can be dealt with using plants native to Northumberland all it takes is a little knowledge and confidence, this course aims to give you both.
This course is for anyone who wants to begin collecting wild foods or who is keen to get closer to nature, or start working with healing plants.
Course tutored by Ross Menzies, a Medical Herbalist based near Hexham. He has been in practice for over 10 years and uses mainly native plants to treat many acute and chronic health imbalances. He is an experienced tutor and has a strong interest in wild foods as well as a deep belief that Nature can be a source of spiritual nourishment and inspiration, this is reflected in the course.
Cost £35 - A £20 non refundable deposit is required to secure a place, the full balance being paid on the day.
To Book: Phone 01434 606619 or Email Ross Menzies (rossmenzies67@tiscali.co.uk)
AN INTRODUCTION TO USING HERBS AND HERBAL REMEDIES WITH OUR ANIMAL COMPANIONS
3rd July 10 am to 4pm - Cost £40
This whole day course will help you to learn about how your companion animal (focussing mainly on horses, dogs and cats) has evolved using natural remedies . Learn which ones are useful for you to grow, and use with them for common ailments.Devised and presented by Leigh Smyth who works therapeutically with humans and animals using a number of healing modalities, including the use of herbs, essential oils and other natural remedies.
Leigh Smyth of ‘Essentials for Equilibrium’ is passionate about the medicinal/ healing properties of herbs, essential oils and other natural substances for our animal companions. Having trained with the pioneer of this work, Caroline Ingraham,at the Institute of Zoopharmacognosy, Leigh is keen to help as many animals as possible. Leigh is also a Registered Nurse and Reiki Master She says all animals can and do heal themselves with the earth’s natural products, and the main areas Leigh most often helps with are skin problems/ allergies, and emotional problems which have arisen from past trauma or abuse (often rescue dogs, cats and horses who have had some sort of trauma respond very well and are supported to let go of problematic emotions connected with past experiences).
To book contact Leigh on 01830 520098/07814822531 or email leigh@essentialsforequilibrium.co.uk
An Introduction to Shamanism
Saturday, July 31st 2010 - A One Day workshop with Paul Francis
Shamanism is our most ancient spiritual tradition. It has been practised for tens of thousands of years in every part of the world where humans have settled. It is the spiritual practice that the overwhelming majority of our ancestors practised, going way back into human history. It has seen cultures rise and fall. The fact that it has survived and thrived is testament to its truth, power and usefulness.
The course will include: the history of shamanism · the key concepts of the shamanic universe •· how to enter a shamanic ‘journey’ · the basics of how to journey for others
Times are 10am till 5pm. Prior booking is essential. Attendance on this course enables one to apply for the intermediate and advanced courses.
To book: Cost: £40. A deposit of £20 secures a place (non-refundable, except in the event of the course being cancelled). Contact Paul on 01524 67009, (paulfrancis@mail.com)
Using Nature for Relaxation & Rejuvenation
Saturday 21st August 2-5pm
Too often in the modern world, we feel rushed, over worked and over tired, stress has become a word we hear on a daily basis. Too much stress can adversely affect the mind and body and is also one of the biggest enemies in the battle against ageing healthily.
Spend an afternoon learning to get back in harmony with nature and replenish that flagging energy, soothe tension and still the mind.
Learn how simple essential plant oils and remedies can be used to relax and rejuvenate with Aromatherapist and Reiki Practitioner, Lisa Wilson.
The afternoon will include an introduction to essential oils and how to use them as well as simple techniques and recipes for making your own facial oil, massage oil and bath blends.
Cost £25 (students and other concessions £20)
To book email info@newbodhi.co.uk or Tel. 01668 213 496
THE HOME HERBALIST
Saturday 4th September 2-5pm - Cost £25
Cuts and grazes, stings and bites, sprains and strains, coughs and colds, tummy upsets … In this afternoon course, we will look at herbal remedies used for centuries in the home to treat these problems and some of the latest research that shows how and why many of these age-old remedies are effective. We will also look at what remedies might be found in a home herbalist’s first aid cabinet, including tips on how to prepare and how to use them – including infused oils; ointment; syrups; tinctures; and poultices.
Anne is a practising medical herbalist and nutritionist who has tutored courses in the history of herbal medicine and written a book based on the ‘Remembered Remedies of Northumberland’. As well as a deep interest in the way herbs were used domestically, she also keeps up to date with modern research through her role as editor of ‘Greenfiles’, a quarterly publication of research abstracts and synopses for professional herbalists and nutritionists
To book a place or for more information, contact: Anne Larvin, MNIMH, Medical Herbalist
Tel: 01665 602025 or Email: anne.larvin@bondgatehouse.co.uk
Psychedelic plants
and Altered States of Consciousness
Saturday 11th September 2-5pm
Spend an afternoon discovering how plants can alter the way you see the world from ‘plants of the gods’ used by shamanic healers to induce trance like states and hallucinations or access to the ‘spirit world’, to herbal highs (legal and non addictive!) that improve our mental well being
Your guides for the afternoon will be Elaine Perry, Neuroscientist as well as the garden Curator, who will talk about how plant chemicals interact with systems in the brain and explore consciousness as brain based or beyond, andGeorge Wake, ethnobotanist and pharmacologist who will bring along and tell us interesting tales about his amazing mind altering cactus collection..
Costs £25 (students and other concessions £20)
To book email e.k.perry@ncl.ac.uk or phone 07879 533875
WINES AND BEERS:
HERBAL DRINKS FOR HEALTH AND PLEASURE
Saturday 18th September 2-5pm - Cost £25
Herbs have been used in wine- and beer- making for millennia, for both pleasure and as medicines. Carafes of medicinal wines have been found in Pharaohs’ tombs and beer (both small beer and herb beer) was a staple drink for everyone in England until clean water supplies were universally available. In this afternoon session, we will briefly explore some of the history associated with herbal beer and winemaking including ancient and more modern recipes for herbal wines and beers whether as tonics, aphrodisiacs or digestives. We will also look at which plants to use, when to use them and how to prepare some of these older recipes from herbs and spices in the kitchen, garden and hedgerow.
Anne is a practising medical herbalist and nutritionist who has tutored courses in the history of herbal medicine and written a book based on the ‘Remembered Remedies of Northumberland’. As well as a deep interest in the way herbs were used domestically, she also keeps up to date with modern research through her role as editor of ‘Greenfiles’, a quarterly publication of research abstracts and synopses for professional herbalists and nutritionists.
To book a place or for more information, contact: Anne Larvin, MNIMH, Medical Herbalist
Tel: 01665 602025 or Email: anne.larvin@bondgatehouse.co.uk
Tree Medicine
Sat 25th Sept 10-3.30pm
Please bring a packed lunch, hot drinks will be supplied
You may wish to bring a camera or sketch pad to help identification of plants after the course.
Please bring waterproofs or an umbrella if it is wet as the course will still run.
Trees have been hugely important to people throughout time as sources of medicine, food, fuel, for building and of course producing the oxygen we breathe. They are also central to many myths and in folklore.
This day is a celebration of the wonderful variety of trees that grow around us. It is a day to get to know them a little more deeply. We will learn how to identify a number of trees both in Summer and Winter. We will explore some of the folklore associated with each tree and how each has unique attributes and uses.
This course is for anyone who wants to use all their senses to get to know trees better and who is open spending a little time getting up close and personal trees.
There will be the opportunity to prepare a wonderful elderberry flu, cough and cold syrup, and several remedies from barks and leaves.
If you are a closet tree lover or tree hugger or simply want to be able to identify and make medicnes from trees then please come and join us.
Course tutored by Ross Menzies, a Medical Herbalist based near Hexham. He has been in practice for over 10 years and uses mainly native plants to treat many acute and chronic health imbalances. He is an experienced tutor and has a strong interest in wild foods as well as a deep belief that Nature can be a source of spiritual nourishment and inspiration, this is reflected in the course.
Cost: £35 - A £20 non refundable deposit is required to secure a place, the full balance being paid on the day.
To Book Phone 01434 606619 or Email Ross Menzies (rossmenzies67@tiscali.co.uk
More courses will be added as the year progresses, so please watch this space!
Topics we hope to cover in the foreseeable future,
with the people who have so far been invited to participate, include:
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If you think you would like to run a course yourself
please email Elaine Perry e.k.perry@ncl.ac.uk.