3 Tips for Decolonizing Your Herbal Education Journey
- Brainz Magazine
- Mar 7
- 7 min read
Lamar Greene is a passionate full-spectrum doula, spiritual life coach, and budding community herbalist with a meaningful background in reproductive health advocacy both in the U.S. and globally. They are the founder of Doula Alchemist Healing, a Black and Queer-owned healing practice centered around reproductive justice and spirituality.
Recently, more people have become aware of the harmful chemicals in different foods, hygiene products, and clothing items due to the means of mass production. Upon this illumination, many people in the collective have been turning to more holistic lifestyle choices, including learning how to use herbs for home, health, and beauty needs. Despite our efforts to learn more and do better, we can still be overwhelmed by the vast amount of information out there. This article will provide three tips for decolonizing your herbal education journey to empower you to holistically care for yourself, your family, and the planet.
What is herbal education?
Herbal education is simply the study of herbalism, which is the practice of using plants to promote health and healing. There are also different types of herbalism, with two prominent sub-focus areas being clinical herbalism and community herbalism. Clinical herbalism emphasizes a scientific approach to herbalism and the body, while community herbalism focuses on historical, traditional, and folk applications of herbs. Yet, the two are not mutually exclusive, and there is room for overlap. Herbal education is not formally regulated at the federal level in the U.S., meaning that there are no standard licensure or certification requirements for someone to practice herbalism or share herbal information. However, there are organizations like the American Herbalists Guild, where you can complete the requirements to become a registered herbalist recognized by their association. Some states have more defined regulations for the practices of herbalism, but there is variation among the states.
Two key roles in the herbalism space include herbalists and herbal educators. Herbalists make recommendations or prepare herbal remedies for their clients, whereas herbal educators teach others how to engage with herbs for health and healing. Herbal educators may or may not make recommendations to individual clients, but they do prioritize sharing information in classes, workshops, and other educational spaces. Please know that no one can make claims for diagnosing or treating diseases except licensed medical professionals. Still, it is very common for people interested in learning about herbalism to just want to have a knowledge base in service of health promotion for themselves and their families. Working with an herbalist or attending classes, workshops, and academic study could be a part of your herbal education journey. One’s herbal education journey could also look like volunteering with community gardens, farmers market associations, and herbal retreat spaces. The possibilities are vast.
3 tips for decolonizing your herbal education journey
1. Build a relationship with the plants
A primary way to decolonize your herbal education journey is to build a relationship with the plant or plants that you are working with. Relationships should be the starting part of your entire herbal education journey, seeing that you are asking the plant in question for its healing properties for your benefit. Witnessing is a powerful way to initiate a relationship with plants. Start in your backyard, both literally and metaphorically. You will want to experience the plant in its natural habitat or similar conditions, so survey the plants in your local community or consider growing the plant you feel called to at home. Be patient and present while you witness. How does the plant seem to respond to sunlight? How about water or air? Do you think it needs a small or large portion of any of those elements? You have to become an investigator when redeveloping your relationship with the Earth.
After taking some time to witness, you can transition to strengthening your relationship and connection. If growing a plant, especially for medicine and healing purposes, address the needs that you have learned while observing and truly caring for it. Regardless of whether you are growing a plant or not, you can build a relationship with it. Plants are living beings, so treat them as such. Talk to the plant. Sing to the plant. Feel its essence. The act of decolonizing your connection with Mother Earth requires you to shift your mindset from extraction to reciprocity. At the core, it’s about give and take. What care are you giving the plant in exchange for its healing abilities? When you harvest from the plant, make sure to only take what you need after receiving permission. After harvesting, make sure to make an offering back to the plant or the Earth.
2. Study the folklore, cultural significance, and spiritual symbolism
Developing a social, cultural, and spiritual understanding of the herbs you work with not only helps you to build deeper relationships with them but also allows you to see the expansiveness of plant medicine and the natural world. In expanding our view of the importance of the natural world, we can look to the many Indigenous groups globally who have viewed the land they inherit as a blessing from a higher power that they maintain in exchange for all that the land gives them. Many Indigenous societies view all aspects of nature as extended kin and understand that everything is interconnected in the spiritual realm. The Rarámuri people of Mexico, for example, express this idea through the term “Iwígara,” which describes the belief that all life forms are interconnected and share the same breath. These Indigenous principles largely reiterate that by caring for nature, we are ultimately caring for ourselves.
Storytelling and folklore have been powerful practices in many communities of color around the world to connect ancestral wisdom to the present. Reading folklore is an amazing way to start understanding the cultural and spiritual significance of different herbs that you are drawn to or in relationship with. You can research folklore for specific herbs from your own cultural background or look for relevant stories from the land of origin for said herbs. When connecting with folklore, especially those outside of your own cultural background, please make sure to approach it with respect, self-awareness, and honor for the people who put forth those contributions.
Studying folklore and spiritual meanings associated with the herbs we are building relationships with can strengthen how we engage with and use those herbs for healing. In Indigenous folklore, for example, the stinging nettle’s origin story is often associated with the trickster energy and symbolism of the coyote. The folklore reminds the listener of how people commonly think it’s a weed; however, the herb has a rich nutritional content, including vitamins A, C, D, E, K, folate, and more. There are also times when the symbolism associated with an herb transcends culture, which can be illuminating. Peachtree leaves, for example, originated in ancient China, where the herb has been associated with spiritual symbolism around longevity, immortality, fertility, and new beginnings. Concerning the themes of fertility and longevity, years later, Southern Black Midwives in the U.S. commonly used peachtree leaves in herbal remedies for reproductive health, to cleanse the body, and much more.
3. Slow and steady meets depth over breadth
Decolonizing your herbal education journey is also about learning that plant medicine benefits more than just the body. Plant medicine benefits the mind, heart, and soul as well. We can only develop this level of holistic plant knowledge by really taking our time to forge deep connections with the herbs we feel called to work with. You do not need to know the healing properties of hundreds and hundreds of herbs to be able to reap the benefits of the natural world. That approach makes it easy to fall into the mindset of extracting herbs from the earth solely for human benefit and pushes away from the relationship-building approach. It is very difficult to forge meaningful relationships with hundreds and hundreds of herbs, especially in a short amount of time. Therefore, it is best to get rid of the perspective altogether.
Instead, remember that meeting your healing goals and needs while having meaningful relationships with the plants is more than enough. You are likely able to achieve this by knowing the benefits that a handful of herbs pose for your mind, body, heart, and soul. This can involve finding safe ways to explore the same herb across various herbal medicine applications to see how it impacts the multiplicity of your well-being. Going slow and focusing on depth also allows you to see how different herbs may work together because you will know their properties more deeply. A decolonial approach to herbal education can provide us with a valuable way to care for the wellness of ourselves and our families, but more importantly, it provides a sustainable pathway to reconnect with the planet. Restoring our reciprocal relationship with the earth can heal the planet and heal our sense of humanity.
Let’s connect you to empowering healing services
Are you ready to experience transformative guidance and support during your reproductive care experience? Are you ready to evolve and fully commit to becoming the highest and most authentic version of yourself? Whether you are juggling all the changes that come with being postpartum, seeking non-judgmental support alongside abortion care, ready to set your intentions for an affirming birth experience, or looking for spiritual guidance on generating more harmony and alignment in your life, I am here to be a grounding and compassionate support person for you. Herbal education is integrated into all of my services. Check out the descriptions of my service offerings and book a free 30-minute consultation call to take the first steps toward a journey of empowerment and transformation. Your higher self already thanks you!
Disclaimer: The material in this article is for informational purposes only. It does not replace the advice or counsel of a doctor or healthcare professional.
Read more from Lamar Greene
Lamar Greene, Full-Spectrum Doula and Spiritual Coach
Lamar Greene is a passionate reproductive justice advocate who has answered their calling as a healer. Greene is a full-spectrum doula, spiritual life coach, and budding community herbalist motivated by their mother’s birthing narrative and their own life’s journey. They earned their Full Spectrum Doula Certification with Birthing Advocacy Doula Training and completed their Spiritual Life Coach Certification with Transformation Academy™. Their interest in spirituality was sparked in 2017 by a summer study abroad trip, where they lived and learned amongst Tibetan monastic communities in India. They are the founder of Doula Alchemist Healing, a Black and Queer-owned healing practice centered around reproductive justice and spirituality.
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