Healing Heart Herbals

Mission Statement

Healing Heart Herbals is committed to inspiring people to strive to be all they can be through simple living and connecting with nature. These things help us to foster a sense of place and belonging that inspires personal integrity and development. Within this outdoor classroom, nature herself is the greatest teacher - the plants and animals, stars and moon, sun and rain. Back to basic life skills allows us to eliminate the extras and focus on the essentials. Learning through doing, engaging in lively discussions, and taking time to simply be, inspires not only personal growth but also builds relationships and community. Providing a space to achieve this is our commitment to you.

Facility

Healing Heart Herbals has taken up residence in Meigs county Ohio, between Athens and the Ohio River. We affectionately refer to this land as Wabi. A frequent question is, “what does that mean?” In tea language, it is an aesthetic value of the Japanese Tea Ceremony that celebrates rustic beauty. This rustic location patiently awaits your arrival. Through cooperative efforts, its beauty and comforts are constantly evolving. It is a quiet haven for personal reflection, a delightful atmosphere for afternoon tea, a quiet refuge for healing retreats, an aromatic experience of herbs and flowers, an opportunity to learn and grow, a cozy womb from which to emerge reborn-- it is whatever you choose it to be! It is our gift of joy and wonderment and our reward is the smiles and glowing eyes of those who grace this space with their presence.

Wabi means the ability to see the magical potential that lies within the ordinary world. The Orientals express it quite eloquently,

“One who has not experienced the rigors of austerity like the grasses,

can not hope to understand the essence of wabi.

It is only natural to appreciate the beauty of flowers in their season,

but it takes a finer sense to uncover the beauty of the grasses beneath the snow.”

Please visit Wabi and discover what it means to you and cherish the memories!

* Click facility for description and rental for accommodation rates.

Education

Here at Healing Heart Herbals we are committed to quality education that:

inspires students to want to learn
incorporates hands-on-learning experiences
stimulates critical thinking
encourages expression of diverse perspectives
respects the opinions of others
honors all life as sacred

Learning takes place in small group settings, creating a sense of family. Enrollment for scheduled workshops is limited in size to better accommodate individual needs and goals, provide personalized instruction, and ease human impact on the land. Personal wellness consultations and retreats as well as internships are scheduled to accommodate individual needs. Learning is further enhanced through the written word. Throughout the facility, and especially in the library, you’ll find a wide assortment of books. Videos, tapes, and games are also available for your enjoyment.

Classes, workshops, and weekend retreats are designed to connect people with nature and teach life skills necessary for survival, growth, and wellness. By encouraging the caretaking of self, others and the land, we hope to create a more viable tomorrow for individuals, families, and communities. We look forward to having you visit this magical green space to grow and heal and learn about gardening, cooking, medicine making, green cleaning, wild foods, kitchen cosmetics, aromatherapy, and anything else that has a positive affect on people and their environment.

See the current schedule and special events pages for activities happening here including:

We delight in custom designing events here at our facility or at other designated areas for individuals and groups seeking such services. If you are interested in scheduling an event with our teachers, please see speaker information for details and a list of possible topics. Personal consultations and wellness retreats are available by appointment and/or reservation. These are intentionally created to fit the individual and may include:

diet and nutrition, local foods and/or vegetarian meals
body work, massage, reflexology
herbal and wellness consultations, flower essences, aromatherapy
affirmations, focused intentions
plant identification walks, meditative labyrinth walk

If there is any natural or holistic element you are specifically interested in, please ask and we will do our best to accommodate.

Staff

Director: Cindy Parker completed her Master’s degree in Family Studies at Ohio University where she is currently a part time professor. She has been a practicing folkloric herbalist of the wise woman tradition for many years. She graduated from the California School of Herbal Studies in 1979 and to this day continues to study and learn. She is a certified childbirth educator and a founding member of the Ohio Midwives Alliance. She home birthed and home schooled four children, encouraging them to live naturally and respect the earth and all its inhabitants. In addition to running her own herbal apprenticeship program, she has also been a speaker at national conferences including Frontier’s Herb Fest in Iowa, the International Aromatherapy Conference in San Francisco, and the Women’s Herbal Conference in New Hampshire. She blends her holistic and herbal background with her family studies and home economic education to create a unique and green approach to life skills education. She is committed to celebrating domesticity for the skilled art form that it is and hopes that one day it will receive the respect and compensation it deserves. She loves sharing her knowledge and experience with others and is especially rewarded when she sees that “aha” spark light up the souls of her students. In addition to her duties as director, she also teaches the Foundations of Herbalism Program, offers educational consultations, and is available as a speaker for conferences and meetings.