Pathways to Healing, A Guide to Herbs, Ayurveda, Dreambody & Shamanism

By Don Ollsin

Deepen your experience of Nature and find your power herbs. Empower yourself by unlocking your dreams and body symptoms. Live in harmony with the seasons. Create your own medicines. Discover your totems and befriend your inner critic. Read on to see how you can enrich your life with this well thought out inspiring guide used by thousands of students.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Don Ollsin
• Release date: Oct 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781458131416

Don Ollsin

About Don Ollsin Study with the best Don Ollsin- Modern and Traditional Herbalist. Don Ollsin’s love for natural foods is what first led him to study herbs. The passion he found in studying herbs and their therapeutic values is what made him continue. As with most passions, Don’s cannot be contained, and he willingly shares his unbridled love for herbs with anyone who wants to learn. Don cares about helping people. He owned Self-Heal Herbs, an herbal retail store, clinic, and dispensary. He made herbal medicine, tinctures, tincture formulas, tea blends, oils, and salves for the store. These products allowed him to help treat thousands of clients. Education is also important to Don. Nancy Turner, a professor of ethnobotany, is just one of many people with whom Don studied. Nancy Turner had the following to say about Don: “Don is a positive, enthusiastic and energetic advocate of herbal healing, who lives his own beliefs and is an inspiration to many people including myself. His ongoing “Herbal Healing Programs” are enjoyed and respected by all those who participate in them. He has been and continues to be a positive force in the lives of many people.” Don combined his passions for education and herbs to teach others about herbs, and has taught herbal classes at University of Victoria, Bastyr University, and Royal Roads University. He created an herbal training program called the “Herbal Healing Journey,” and has developed a distance education program for aspiring herbalists. Don is serving a Shamanic/Herbal Apprenticeship with Ellen White, a coast Salish Elder. Ellen White not only saw Don as a student, but also as a teacher. Ellen White had the following to say about Don’s teachings: “The recipient of Don Ollsin’s teachings would have a better life as they would understand their inner strength. He would not only be teaching them herbs and their usefulness but also about inner strength, energy, and being a whole human. I have seen Don Ollsin turn students around to very calm, vibrant, understanding people. They were able to find their self-esteem. I know some of them are still working in the field of helping others from what they have learned from Don Ollsin Through knowing Don and working with him for all these years I would recommend him to be instructor in herbal medicines and self-help.” Community is important to Don. He wants community involvement and knowledge in growing and caring for herbs. He wants communities to use more herbal remedies in their treatment of illnesses. Not only that, but also he wants those remedies to come from within the community. It is through something such as growing a community herbal garden that individuals inside a community become a true community, and not only a group of individuals in one environment. History of Don Ollsin, Master Herbalist Don Ollsin is a pioneering educator and leading practitioner in the field of herbal medicine. His story begins in 1969 when, working in Vancouver’s Golden Lotus Restaurant as one of B.C.’s first vegetarian chefs, his inherent love of natural food drew him to the study of herbs and their therapeutic value. At this time he began to apprentice under the noted American herbal authority Dr. John Christopher with whom he studied the science and art of herbalism. Wanting to work directly in the natural health field, he moved to Victoria, B.C. in 1972 and opened Sawan Natural Foods, which included Victoria’s first herbal dispensary. In 1976, Don began to study through the Emerson Institute of Herbal Studies. That same year he decided to devote all his energies to promoting the value of herbal medicine and opened Self Heal Herbs in Victoria, a retail store and information resource centre which helped to set the guidelines for quality herbal medicine and education. Don received his Master Herbalist’s degree from the Emerson Institute and soon after began teaching classes on herbs and healing, eventually broadening his activities to include lecturing and giving workshops with noted authors and teachers. Don is a founder, past president and active member of the Modern and Tradtional Herbalist Guild. As a professional herbalist with a practical orientation, Don believes in seeing results. His knowledge of what works comes from his years of experience in treating the widest range of conditions among his thousands of clients. In 1987, Don began to offer an intensive herbal training program called the Herbal Healing Journey and also developed a home study program. In the fall of 1996 Don began teaching at the Division of Continuing Studies of the University of Victoria, where he created the course entitled “Western and Local Herbs for Healing.” Don believes that herbs have a place in today’s evolving health care system. He would like to see more herbal education in the public schools, in colleges and in universities. He wants to see more people learning about herbs grown in their local area and how to work with them with care and respect. He envisions the development of community-based herbal medicine in which the majority of the medicinal herbs used are grown and produced by the communities they serve. Don is the author of the Pathways To Healing, A Guide to Ayurveda, Herbs, Dreamdody and Shamanism. It has been chosen by Time/Life One Spirit Book Club. It is used as the textbook for the Herbal Healing Journeys. In January of 1998 he began the Practical (Earth-based) Herbalist Program at Langara College in Vancouver. He has also has taught herbal classes at the University of Victoria, Bastyr University and Royal Roads University. In 2000 he became a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild. In 2001 he began teaching the Practical & Consultant Herbalist Program at Langara College. My story – Don Ollsin 1969 – I began working at the Golden Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant in Vancouver, B.C. where we served herb teas and I purchased my 1st herb book, Back to Eden by Jethro Kloss. I still have it. 1970 – Dr. Christopher, Master Herbalist and formative force in establishing herbalism in N.A. came into my life and I started my study of herbs and Iridology. It was there I also began studying native teachings, wildcrafting and local herbs with Norma Meyers. James Green, author of The Male Herbal: the Definitive Health Care Book for Men & Boys and The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook: A Home Manual was also involved with us at that time as Norma and James were friends. 1971 – I opened Sawan Natural Foods and Herbs in Victoria, B.C. We carried an extensive selection of herbs along with natural foods.I enrolled in Emerson Institute of Herbology, Toronto, Ontario to further my herbal studies through correspondence. I successfully completed the course a few years later. 1972 – I contiued studying local herbs with Nancy Turner, Professor of Ethnobotany, UVIC, B.C. I began teaching classes on herbs and other healing modalities. “Don is a positive, enthusiastic and energetic advocate of herbal healing, who lives his own beliefs and is an inspiration to many people including myself. His ongoing “Herbal Healing Programs” are enjoyed and respected by all those who participate in them. He has been and continues to be a positive force in the lives of many people.” Nancy Turner 1976 – I sold Sawan Natural Foods and Herbs and opened Self-Heal Herbs, an herb store, clinic and dispensary. I made all the herbal medicine, tinctures, tincture formulas, tea blends, oils & salves. We carried a selection of over 200 dried herbs as well as seeing clients privately. I later sold the store and it is still in operation. 1976 – 2001 – I joined and was a professional member of the Canadian Herbalist Association of BC. 1983 – 1986- Earth Medicine Festivals – organized large gatherings with teachers like Ellen White, Rosemary Gladstar, myself and other local teachers. 1986 – 2008- I began my Herbal Healing Journeys, a training program for budding herbalists. Over the years the following teachers have shared their wisdom with me and my students. Ryan Drum – herbs, seaweeds & wildcrafting Michael Tierra – herbs & TCM Dr. Philip Chambers – medical herbalism Nancy Turner – Ethnobotany & herbal identification Rosemary Gladstar – herbs & respect Christopher Hobbs – herbal identification plus uses Susun Weed – Wisewoman Ways Bernard Jensen – Iridology, Nutrition, Skin Brushing & Slant Board Ellen White – native use of local herbs So, if you want the focused, comprehensive and concise path to soar your herbal training I encourage you to sign up now for my program. 1983– ShamanicHerbal Apprenticeship with Ellen White, a coast Salish Elder. Other teachers of Shamanism have been Joan Halifax, Sun Bear, Brant Secunda & Rolling Thunder. I have known Don Ollsin for over twenty years. I was one of the instructors for the workshops he held for his school of herbal medicine. I am eighty-five years of age and I am a practicing herbalist since I was very young. My teachers were spiritual communicators and herbalists. My teachers communicated with plants by energy and vibrations. Don Ollsin was very interested in what I was doing and he became my student over these many years. He learned a lot from me, names and usefulness of plants, but I also learned from him the English names of plant life. Native people used the energies of water and air, and Don was very interested in this. He was able to understand this in a few years and use this information. I have listened and watched him teach the students. Some of the students were coming from far away – South America, England and Africa. I liked how he explained and how he taught them. He was able to find words for me to make it easy for students to understand. In that way their retention stayed. We taught the students how to identify plants and to communicate with them and feel the vibrations from them. The students learned about air and what air carries, such as the feelings whether warm or cold from plants or dead animals, and how they can feel the feelings of them directing us. All of this can be taught to students without scaring them. We used words so it was easy for them to see and feel without actually mentioning the people who have gone a long time ago, who were the original teachers. The students learned about the use of energies, whether on land or in the sea. Therefore, they learned about the use of plants from land and from the sea. Don Ollsin has a deep understanding of these teachings and was able to teach his students in a way that they could see this and understand the teachings. While he was going to diving school it showed that he used the energies of the living and dead animals in the sea. All these years of Don Ollsin’s learning – not only from myself – should not be wasted. It should be given out to others who are interested. This old lady would be so very happy if Don Ollsin would find a way to reach more students through an academic setting for longer periods of time. His courses previously were only for nine weeks in his school. The recipient of Don Ollsin’s teachings would have a better life as they would understand their inner strength. He would not only be teaching them herbs and their usefulness but also about inner strength, energy, and being a whole human. I have seen Don Ollsin turn students around to very calm, vibrant, understanding people. They were able to find their self esteem. I know some of them are still working in the field of helping others from what they have learned from Don Ollsin Through knowing Don and working with him for all these years I would recommend him to be instructor in herbal medicines and self help. Yours truly, Ellen White Respected Elder So, if you want the focused, comprehensive and concise path to soar your herbal training I encourage you to sign up now for my program. 1986- Dreambody (process oriented psychology) studies with Arnold & Amy Mindell, Stan Tomandl, Julie Diamond, Max Shumaker & Gary Reiss from the process oriented community in Oregon. 1986– I began my study of Ayurveda with Robbie Svoboda including constitutional assessment, tongue and pulse diagnosis. See Ayurveda Simplified for more information. 1986- Dorothy McLean, one of the founders of Findhorn along with Ellen White trained me how to tune into devas. 1998 – 2004- Langara College, Vancouver, B.C. accepted my course, Herbal Healing Journey – Level One – Practical Herbalist Program as a College Certified Program. 1998 – I began Level Two – Consultant Herbalist Program at Langara College, Vancouver, B.C. 1999 –I published Pathways to Healing, A Guide to Herbs, Ayurveda, Dreambody and Shamanism. 1972 – 2000- 3000 hours plus of formal herbal clinic practice & 20,000 hours plus of dispensing herbs and herbal information (conservative estimate). 2000 – Present – I continue to teach three Levels of Herbal Healing, Levels 1 & 2 Herbal Program. 2001 – Present- I became a Professional member of the American Herbalist Guild (A.H.G.). 2001 – I helped form The Modern and Traditional Herbalist Guild. The guild made formal application to the B.C. government for a College of Western Herbal Medicine and we are still waiting. 2007 – Created the original Community Herbalist Program at Pacific Rim College. 2008 – Graduate of Northwest Culinary Institute of Vancouver. 2011 – Curriculum designer and Teacher of Herbal Studies Program at Camosun College 2011– Graduate student of Environmental Education and Communication at Royal Roads University.

Book preview

Pathways to Healing

A Guide to Herbs, Ayurveda, Dream Body, and Shamanism

Published by Don Ollsin at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Don Ollsin

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Acknowledgements

Foreward

Preface

H.J. Goals

Personal Healing Myth

Contacting Your Inner Healer

H.J. Guidelines

SECTION 1 Ayurveda

Ayurvedic Constitution

Four Pillars to Treatment

Congestion & Bio-fire

Ayurvedic Guidelines

Taste

Energetics

Tri-Constitution Chart

SECTION 2 Herbs

Preparations Medicine Making

Herbs that Keep you Healthy

Herbs for Change How to Use Herbs

Herbal First Aid and Herbal Medicine

Bach Remedies

SECTION 3 Dreambody

D.B. Introduction

Pathways

The Critic

SECTION 4 Shamanism

Introduction

Plant Dreamworld

Elements

Air

Fire

Water

Earth

Totems

Dreams

Bright dream\Grey dream\No dream

SECTION 5 Seasons

Spring

Summer

Late Summer

Fall

Winter

SECTION 6 Conclusion

Flow, Purpose & Order

Death & Rebirth

Tell me and I will forget. Teach me and I will remember. Involve me and I will learn.

- Benjamin Franklin

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Sandy for her love, support, continual encouragement and fine editing. Our three children, Melissa, Jonn and Brooke for keeping me connected to the magic (dreamworld) and the mundane (ordinary world). My mother who showed me a functional model of how to live in this world. And my father whose dysfunction, prompted my search for wholeness.

My friends: Ken Bloomfield for his wise counsel and editorial comments. Stan Tomandl for his support, processing skills and positive feedback. Chris Carless for his long hours, creative wit and continual support and encouragement. Carmen Lane for her excellent typesetting and Paula Morrison for the cover design and Soren Henrich for his creative illustrations.

My teachers: Ellen White for her friendship, guidance and shamanic teachings. Kirpal Singh for his continual support, guidance and direction in the spiritual world. Dr. John Christopher for his trail blazing. Norma Myers for her wild - woman ways. Rosemary Gladstar for her warmth and support. Susun Weed for her guidance, encouragement and speaking her truth. Ryan Drum for his friendship and wildcrafting teachings. Robbie Svoboda for opening the doors of Ayurveda for me. Dorothy Maclean who talked to devas and passed on her inspiration and encourgement to me. Arnie Mindell who taught me how to experience, follow and grow through the dreaming body.

Every student and client I have had the privilege of being with. All of the graduates of the Herbal Healing Journey.

The Earth, Water, Wind and Fire and all their gifts as well as the Plant Beings and especially the Oak Deva.

Don Ollsin

FOREWORD

I have a treasured memory of Don Ollsin and I at the onset of our friendship moving warily towards each other over many months. Feeling each other out, a powerful affirmation of exercise 61 in this book. What became clear as we became more comfortable with each other was that, as herbalists and teachers, we were breaking away from rigid traditions in our work. I am passionately concerned with education, the process of learning, and the values that are conveyed just as much as the information. So is Don. He brings a remarkable understanding of learning as a life process and a skill in setting the scene whereby people can gain understanding, insight and self-awareness as well as information. He showed me the value of asking students questions and creating an environment where they can find their answers. I see Don as a teacher, coach and guide as well as an informer.

Since those early days we have become collaborators and I have had the immense pleasure and privilege to be invited to co-facilitate with Don in some of the courses he teaches. His knowledge is vast yet rooted in his search for deeper questions that will reveal new answers. This process has always led us to new ground, always searching, listening to our inner wisdom and guidance, connecting our knowledge of healing and learning. From it we have both been richer.

For Don his work with herbs, nature and his own inner world is a personal journey, the fruits of which he shares with clients and students and has for over twenty-five years.

The great teachings call us to know ourselves, love our neighbour and do good works with one startling omission that Don provides in the Herbal Healing Journey. He shows us how.

Rowan Hamilton. Herbalist. MNIMH MSCS Dip Phyt.

Don Ollsin is a highly qualified herbalist, consultant, teacher, author and nature guide with over 40 years experience in the field of herbal medicine. Visit his website at www.herbalhealingpathway.com.

Pathways to Healing was previously published as Herbal Healing Journey Playful Workbook, a selection of the Time/Life One Spirit Book Club.

What a wonderful book, a jewel of originality among the plethora of herbal books lining the bookshelves. As its name implies, Herbal Healing Journey is a playbook, a workbook, a guiding light and a healing journey into the green world. I found the instructions clearly presented and the many exercises developed to bring one closer in touch with the plant world intriguing. I'm looking forward to incorporating several of the techniques described throughout this herbal Play/Workbookin my own teachings and classes.

Rosemary Gladstar, author of Herbal Healing for Women.

Danger! This book can help you become a wild green person who eats weeds. The exercises are sound and beautiful. Much here for beginners and pros, too.

Susan S. Weed, founder, Wise Woman Center

Don is a positive, enthusiastic, and energetic advocate of herbal healing, who lives his own beliefs and is an inspiration to many people including myself. His ongoing Herbal Healing Journey Programs are enjoyed and respected by all those who participate in them. He has been and continues to be a positive force in the lives of many people.

Nancy Turner, Professor of Ethnobotany, UVIC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

PREFACE

Welcome to the Pathways to Healing. This book is a journey of the self to the Self. It is a circular or spiral path circumambulating the Self. I am Don Ollsin and I was born in Assinaboia, Saskatchewan in 1946. My family moved to Vancouver, B.C. in 1954. In 1969, I travelled to India, where I lived, studied and meditated for six months. Afterward I returned to the West Coast and started various businesses - i.e. Health Food Restaurant, Natural Food Store and eventually, a Herbal Dispensary called Self Heal Herbs in Victoria, in 1976. I sold it in 1994 and am currently teaching, consulting and writing.

I work with herbs, plant devas, dreams, processes, elemental forces and natural medicines with clients and students. I have been sharing and building my repertoire of knowledge since 1969. I practice herbology, medicine-making, iridology, reflexology, shamanism and counselling. I use process-oriented psychology tools in my work. I am an active student of the dream world.

Don’s Dream. In this dream I come into a town and I ask where Carl Jung (one of the foremost founders of depth psychology) lives. I am directed to an apartment complex. I arrive at his door and with apprehension, I knock. His wife answers the door and leads me into the kitchen and departs. I stand there alone until Carl comes into the room. He looks at me and asks, What are you doing with your life? I begin to tell him that I am studying Dreambody with Arnold Mindell but he interrupts me. I said, what are you doing? What do you have to offer to the world?

I remember two strong vivid awakenings that occurred around ages nine and thirteen. The first was in primary school. A teacher mentioned that the ancients had an archaic belief in the four elements. I remember experiencing a cloud of knowing enveloping me. I awoke in it and looked around wondering where I was and what was I being taught? In my previous world of knowledge, the four elements were fundamental to a precise and dynamic understanding of the world. Some deep part of me challenged the information being fed to me. As I looked around the classroom everything looked foreign to me, the walls, the windows and the desks. I remained in that heightened state for another fifteen minutes. It lingers in the present and guides me in this present work. I was approximately nine years old at the time.

My second awakening occurred when I was thirteen. I was sitting in my sister’s car waiting for her. I was lost in deep thought as she approached the old Chevrolet. I didn’t hear her open the door. She looked at me and inquired, What are you doing? Meditating? The word meditating invoked the most pleasant feeling that touched my spirit and spread throughout my body like internal goose bumps. I looked at her in dazed wonderment. What does meditation mean? I asked. In that moment

I knew that I knew better than her what meditation meant. By the age of nineteen I was actively pursuing the process of meditation. By twenty-two I was meditating three to six hours a day in an ashram in India under the guidance of Kirpal Singh, a true Master of the art and science of meditation. Through his grace and guidance I experience the incredible depths and joys that meditation brings. It has helped me immensely in my understanding of nature and her marvellous secrets.

I have studied personally with many teachers. Some of them include Kirpal Singh (Indian Mystic), Ellen White (Coast Salish Shaman), Stan Tomandl (Process Oriented Psychologist), Bernard Jensen (Nutritionist), Dr. Robbie Svoboda (Ayurvedic Doctor and Teacher), Dr. John Christopher (Herbalist), Eunice Ingham (Founder of Reflexology), Rolling Thunder (Medicine man), Dorothy Maclean (One of the founding members of Findhorn), Arnold Mindell (Founder of Process Oriented Psychology), and many others too numerous to mention.

I have conducted the intensive course, the Herbal Healing Journey, more than 17 times now. It includes experiential learning about herbs, healing, ayurveda, working with body symptoms using process-oriented psychology and shamanism. It has now evolved into a nine month course embracing home study and weekend practicums (see back of book).

I developed the exercises and accumulated the knowledge for this book over the last thirty years. The book is designed so that much of the learning comes from within yourself using the do this exercises to guide and support you.

My shamanic teacher, Ellen White, encourages us to think as we. We include: myself, my partner and editor Sandy, my children, my ancestors, my adopted grandmother Ellen White, my adopted grandfather Kirpal Singh, my friend Chris Carless, my buddy Stan Tomandl, my teachers, my students, my friends, my co-workers, the plant people, the elements, the ocean, the devas, the many beings from the spirit world. In Ellen’s world we are connected to all life. Nothing lives in isolation.

Carl Jung introduced me to the idea that our symptoms and illnesses are very important circumstances deeply connected to our growth, not meaningless pathological symptoms. When we take the time and effort to listen, decipher and act on our symptoms they can be rich in meaning, full of information and offer new directions, attitudes or solutions.

You may want to ask yourself, What is right about this situation or symptom? By changing our questioning from what is wrong to what is right we may activate a new set of answers or solutions.

Healing Journey Goals

My goal in writing this book is to offer you tools and knowledge to increase your awareness that may initiate transformation in yourself and your life.

I have designed the exercises for optimum learning based on the latest research in education.

I want to share with you in an experiential way the wonders and magic of herbs, nature and life. If your life is changed in any small way for the better then my goal will be achieved and my heart will be happier.

My goal of connecting your learning and wellness practices to the flow of the seasons is to connect you to a natural flow that is consistent, stable and defined.

Do This!