My training as a clinician in herbal medicine began in 1992 during my search to resolve a chronic digestive disorder I acquired while traveling on the cheap in India. In my search for relief I tried many different things including modern medicine, naturopathic medicine, homeopathy and Chinese medicine, but nothing seemed to shift my health issues until I met an Ayurveda physician named Dr T. Sukumaran. His simple and informed recommendations, which essentially taught me how to take care of myself, sparked what has now become a life-long fascination and study with Ayurveda and traditional medicine.
Since this time, I went on to complete my training as a medical herbalist in 1997, studied Ayurveda at a hospital in India, and later became the clinical director of Wild Rose College and published a textbook in Ayurveda. I have been in clinical practice since 1995, and have practiced all over the world, working with a variety of health issues from the common cold to cancer (for my c/v please click this link). These days I live on a small farm in Powell River BC, and am director of the Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine.
Tradition is my inspiration. I explain this in large part because I was born without any kind of tradition. My cultural heritage is a product of being a native of the West Coast, now living in the traditional territory of the Tla’amin First Nation, on the western edge of the Western world – where East becomes West – suffused and tempered by the raw abundance and beauty of the Pacific Rim.
Tradition inspires but it is also the confluence of traditions that excites me, where connections and new insights can be made. As a practitioner with >25 years of clinical experience, I have followed this intertwining of traditions and practices, and the more closely I have observed, the more clearly I have seen that all medicine has a common root. But at the same time, I have learned that there is no source of knowledge which is perfect, and thus the error of contradiction exists everywhere: especially in medicine.
It has been my great fortune to see and learn the interconnected of all these systems, if only to account for some discrepancy, to solve a some conundrum, or to provide deeper clinical insight. I am interested in the very best option for good health and a balanced mind, and I am not hesitant in challenging beliefs and practices that run counter to these. But this doesn’t mean that I equate the value of health with anything other than the ease and happiness that it affords the user. Everyone makes personal choices, and I work with pretty much everyone. My only motivation is to get you to a place where you become more empowered.
Testimonials
18 year old female with depression
“I definitely feel a positive difference. Thank you for all that you’ve done, you really have helped!”
63 year old female with A-fib and congestive heart failure:
“The most recent heart ultrasound showed my heart ejection fraction has improved to normal levels. I do feel a lot better in terms of fitness and ability to walk, keep standing at work through the day, walking up stairs and hills without gasping and feeling completely winded. I am so grateful, thank you.”
70 year old female with Graves’ disease:
“I am feeling much better including more energy (don’t have to nap during the day). Stools almost normal – no diarrhea. My weight has come up and I do not have any more racing heart. Antibody Receptor, T4, and T3 in normal range.”
38 year old male with Lyme disease:
“So after a few days of the meds I’m feeling remarkably better with less internal pain in the stomach and my shakes have stopped… my hair is shiny and oily and my skin is clearing up.”
63 year old female patient with dyslipidemia and nephropathy:
“It’s just about a year now that I started to follow your advice. I am so grateful for you and that I was able to take in the valuable help. Blood work and urine analyses show that everything is within range. I just measured my waist-hip ratio, it is now 0.8 from 1.2, weight loss from 154lbs down to 128lbs.”
42 year old male with chronic anxiety
“I have noticed a change and am grateful for it. My mind doesn’t seem to run away with thoughts these days the way it could in the past. I definitely feel more empowered to stop the wheel from spinning and return to a more neutral state.”
28 year old female with inflammatory bowel disease
“I want to thank you for the help you gave me in getting healthy. I have been off all pharmaceuticals/drugs for over a year now and am managing my Ulcerative Colitis purely by your diet, your tinctures, and your lessons that taught me to tune into my body better. I got to KEEP my large intestine, and am able to live at an incredibly stable state for the most part. My GI told me I’d never be healthy and that the large intestine HAD to go. Well, western medicine failed me but you did not!”
26 year old female with dermatitis herpetiformis and endometriosis
“For Lent (the 40 days leading up to easter) I decided to follow your diet recommendations completely 100%, no cheating, nothing. I know you’ll be thinking “I told you so” but yeah, I should have just done this from the beginning! My skin has been like 5 million times better, I’ve had 2 periods which have been the most pain-free periods of my life, and in general, things are really good. Honestly, it’s been life changing. THANKYOU for everything……and thanks for letting me come to these realizations on my own without forcing me into it!”