My Plant Path

My journey with plant medicine began in 2021, when I enrolled in the Vitalist Herbal Practitioner Program through The School of Evolutionary Herbalism with Sajah Popham. Already deeply immersed in energy bodywork, I quickly came to understand the energetics of plants — how they speak to us, how they heal us, and how they carry a vital force all their own.

Sajah’s teachings encouraged me to connect with the plants directly — to listen, observe, and develop relationship before ever entering the clinical phase of study. That guidance led me to create a large medicinal garden, which soon became a sanctuary of communion and discovery. Each plant revealed its own presence, its unique spirit, and its specific healing properties.

As my relationships with these green allies deepened, I began incorporating plant energetics into my bodywork sessions — using the vital force of the medicine to assist in clearing blockages, restoring harmony, and realigning the body. The results were immediate and profound. Since then, herbalism has become a sacred and essential part of both my personal and family life — a living practice rooted in trust, reverence, and daily devotion.

What Is Vitalist Herbalism?

Vitalist herbalism is a holistic, energetic approach to plant medicine that focuses on supporting and enhancing the vital force — the inherent life energy that animates all living beings.

This tradition recognizes that healing doesn't come solely from treating symptoms, but from realigning the body, mind, and spirit with nature’s rhythms and intelligence. Plants, like people, carry unique energetics — patterns that speak directly to our constitution, our imbalances, and the deeper root causes of dis-ease.

Energetics: The Language of Living Systems

Energetics is not abstract or esoteric — it's a grounded, ancient way of understanding the relationship between whole plants and whole people. It describes how plants affect different organ systems, tissues, and emotional states. It honors the unique constitution of each individual and seeks to restore balance by matching that constitution with the appropriate plant allies.

Rather than seeing the body as a machine, vitalism views it as an ecosystem — constantly influenced by the foods we eat, the thoughts we think, the environments we live in, the seasons we pass through, and the relationships we hold.

A Living Tradition

Many vitalist systems are rooted in indigenous and folk traditions that continue to honor the spiritual essence of both people and plants. In this way, herbalism becomes more than medicine — it becomes a way of life, a spiritual practice, and a path of remembering.

Vitalism asks us to strike a dynamic balance between the intuitive wisdom of the heart and the analytical nature of the mind. Sadly, modern medicine has largely forgotten this model — favoring reductionist science over holistic knowing. But this ancient wisdom is alive — and it is returning through those of us who remember how to listen.