Take control of your health.
Herbal Wellness Online Course
A seasonal guide to nourishing your body and spirit with herbal medicine and holistic wellness.
Deeply Nourish Yourself
As a registered herbal practitioner and educator, I see how herbs empower people to live a healthy, enjoyable life.
We’re seeing increases in all kinds of diseases, and chronic illness, especially mental health, and many of these conditions are preventable, but the conventional healthcare model doesn’t include education. Much of my work as a herbalist includes educating my clients and students about how their body works, and how to take care of themselves.
I created this course because I want to empower people to be more self-reliant, and I've witnessed firsthand the powerful healing effects of herbal medicines.
Take control of your own health and well-being by learning how your body works, and how to take care of it with homemade herbal remedies and holistic self-care.
Savayda
Are you overwhelmed and confused by natural health advice online?
If you're increasingly relying on "Doctor Google" to help you stay healthy, you've no doubt found too much information, gimmick-y solutions, and conflicting information.
This course is like a user manual for your body.
When you know how your body works, it's easier to take care of yourself and avoid disease. A preventative approach to health includes nurturing yourself in different ways in each season.
Much more than a course on herbal medicine, you’ll be learning how to deeply nourish yourself throughout the year, to build resilience, prevent disease, and improve vitality.
You'll create your own guide for optimal health that you’ll refer to year after year.
Just imagine . . .
Finding & identifying local wild plants in forests and fields near you, or cultivating your own medicine garden.
Knowing how your body works, and how to keep your systems healthy and prevent disease.
Making your own herbal remedies to save money and control quality, and be more self-reliant.
Creating a seasonal self-care guide that you can refer to year after year.
Cyndi P.
My decision to enrol in the Holistic Herbal Wellness has been one of the best decisions I have made for myself. It has not only opened me up to the knowledge of a new way of living on a physically healthier path, but also a more fulfilling emotional and spiritual path. It has changed my life, and has instilled a new passion within me. It has encouraged me to stretch my boundaries, to make deeper personal connections, and nurtured a new relationship to nature's healing powers. My mind has been opened to a more spiritual realm within the plant world that awakened a magic within me that I had lost. My physical and mental health has significantly improved with both significant weight loss and a new energy and light within me. I want to thank Savayda for sharing her passion and wisdom to all of us. Her passion is contagious. This new plant wisdom now shines bright within me, so I can share this light with others. So much more to learn…
I cannot wait for year 2 to start!
Medicine grows all around you...
and making herbal remedies is rewarding, but to be effective it must be done right.
So how do you know which preparation to make with each plant?
In this course, you'll learn
- how to identify plants in season
- which parts of each plant to use
- which herbal preparations to use to extract the desired medicinal properties
Health is Multi-Dimensional
In this holistic course, you'll learn how a herbal lifestyle can improve many areas of your life, not just your physical health.
Increase Vitality
Vitality is the result of good health; herbs restore us to good health. Many herbs improve energy naturally, without stimulants. Adaptogens fortify resilience.
Prevent Disease
Support your inate ability to heal and maintain good health, enhancing your resistance to dis-ease.
Improve system Function
We respond well to “herbal tune-ups”, each system of the body has corresponding herbal tonics that fortify and strengthen it. Choose herbal tonics, foods and activities, in alignment with the seasons, to improve overall function and balanced health.
Uplift your mood
You will feel your best by living in attunement with the seasons, nature, plants and your body’s natural rythms. Being in alignment with your life purpose(s) opens the doors to happiness and fulfillment.
Deepen your connection
with nature
Plant study is a gateway to nature. Each season you'll meet local plants to incorporate into your lifestyle, medicine making and self-care. The herbs we meet are understood and appreciated within the context of their needs, habitat and unique purpose.
Save money
Homemade remedies are not only natural and safe when used correctly, but also much more affordable than store-bought herbal medicines, especially if you grow and forage your own herbs.
Are you ready to have a healing year of herbal self care?
Connect with Plant People
One of the things previous participants appreciate most is the connection with other like-minded people coming together with the common ground of herbal and health study. Students value the support and friendships that emerge out of this shared herbal exploration.
Human connection is often difficult to foster in online courses, which is why I'm offering a unique online community room where participants can connect outside of class time, with planned and spontaneous meet-ups.
You'll also get access to a Facebook group, exclusive to the class.
You might just meet a new best friend!
What You'll Learn
Looking at the body as a whole - spirit, mental health, staying healthy . . .
Body Systems
How the systems of your body work and how they're interconnected.
Foraging
How to find, identify, and harvest wild medicine in your area in a sustainable way.
Plant Pharmacology
Introduction to how phytochemicals in plants affect our bodies
Medicine Making
Make your own herbal tonics, including tinctures, salves, syrups, and more.
Ayurveda
The science of life - Ayurveda helps you tailor your healthcare to your unique constitution.
Healthy Eating
The vitality of whole, fermented, and super foods, and how to prepare them.
Seasonal Self Care
Just like the Earth has seasons, your body has seasons. The course content is organized around the seasons, so you'll learn how to honour your body's needs throughout the year. Here is a small sampling of the seasonal nature of the course.
Autumn
As the wind picks up and the days get shorter, we'll make a grounding ashwagandha chai, and dig roots for tinctures.
Summer
Summer brings the vibrant energy of flowers, which we will harness by making our own flower remedies.
Winter
Shorter days bring a time for self-reflection. We'll stay warm by making fire cider, and reflect on the relationship between health and our life path.
Spring
We emerge with new beginnings, just like the plants. A Spring cleanse takes advantage of the abundance of fresh young greens, to replenish and boost vitality.
Herbal Cleanse
Revitalize your system with a guided, three week spring cleanse - it is life changing!
My
Favourite
Modules
In each month, you'll learn new plants to look for in the wild, how to make medicines with them, and their role in self-care. These feature modules set this course apart and are noted favourites by past students.
Herbal Facial
Skin is the largest organ of the body and reflects your inner health. Learn the inner conditions that affect the appearance and health of your skin. Treat yourself to a five-part herbal facial.
Seasonal self-care plan
Throughout the year, you'll be building your own customized self-care plan that you can refer to and refine for years to come.
Plant Attunement
Plants speak; you will be given exercises to enhance your listening and your ability to learn directly from them, forming a personal relationship with the plants you are guided to meet each month.
Flower essences
Explore vibrational medicine. How does it show up in herbalism? One way to experience it is through the use and preparation of flower essences.
Meet Savayda Jarone
Plant study changed my life!
Like a light switch going on, I was turned on and tuned in to my environment in a much more meaningful way.
I've been enchanted ever since.
We live so close to the plants, they are all around us, yet most people seem disconnected from the natural world. I created this course to facilitate this re-connection and to empower people to live healthier, happier lives by including herbs in their lifestyle.
I've been offering this course in person for over 20 years, plus two online cohorts. The course keeps getting better and better.
Praise for Holistic Herbal Wellness
Health is Cyclic
It helped me realize that the journey to health is cyclic and get in touch with my own rhythms.
Sophie Pilipczuk
Connect to Health
By cultivating this knowledge, and empowering learners, the course helps connect individuals to their health, their inner healer, and moreover, to nature.
Coleen Freeke
Practical & Fascinating
I signed up for the 1st year herb course thinking that I really did not have the time and that I would regret it. I can honestly say I did not regret it for a minute.The classes were practical and fascinating, Savayda had an endless wealth of knowledge and experience, and my fellow students were friendly and knowledgeable. I continued on to take the second year course, it is a lifelong pursuit now!
Linda D.
What's Included
Live Classes and Q&A Sessions
Two live sessions on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6:30-8:30 AST from September to June (except December). One session is course content delivered live, and the other is a Q&A session with Savayda regarding that month's course material.
Fall Dates: September10th, 24th; October 8th, 22nd; November 5th, 19th. More dates TBA.
20+ hours of on-demand video lessons
On-demand video classes, in addition to the live classes, include medicine making, meeting the plants in their habitat, and herbal medicine theory. This course is seasonal, and new material will be unlocked each month throughout the year.
Course Notes
Two hundred pages of downloadable course notes and worksheets, plus the presentation slides of each lesson.
Over 50 Plant Monographs
Monographs are detailed descriptions of each plant, including foraging tips, which medicines to make, dosage, and precautions.
Herbal Essentials Kit
Experiencing the herbs firsthand is essential to herbal learning.
Although you'll be learning to identify and forage herbs near you, you'll also receive a package of Savayda's favourite herbal essentials in the mail, included in the price of the course.
Estimated Value $200
~ BONUS ~
One of my favourite things to see when I offer this course is how my students become lifelong friends. I offer two ways for you to meet other herbal people through this course:
- access to my Facebook group of herbal students
- a unique online classroom where you are free to drop-in and interact with other students, with suggested meet & greet times
Estimated Value $PRICELESS!
~ OPTIONAL ~
Students will have the opportunity to attend an in-person, immersive herbal weekend at my home and retreat centre, Blue Forest Shores, in Nova Scotia, June 2025.
Details and additional cost to be announced.
14-Day Money Back Guarantee
I have offered this course for over 20 years, and I stand behind it. If, for any reason, you're not satisfied after the first module, you can get a full refund anytime within 14 days after the first class. If you have any issues, just get in touch with our friendly support team and they'll either help you out until you get the results you need or give you a swift refund.
Join the waitlist
Registration is now closed.
Classes start in September each year. Join our list to be notified when registration opens for the next cohort.
Frequently asked questions
The only additional cost is for any medicines you choose to make. We will be learning a variety of medicine-making techniques, and you are encouraged to try each method at least once.
For self-care, herbs are effective at alleviating simple, self-limiting health conditions. More significantly, herbs incorporated into a holistic lifestyle can enhance well-being (on many levels) and help to prevent illness.
When used by a professional herbalist, herbs are also highly effective at bringing balance to health and resolving a wide range of health conditions.
Upon purchase, you will receive login information to access the course. New material will be uploaded each month in advance of the Live session.
A list of recommended books is covered in the first class, but they are optional reading materials.
The only two books that we highly recommend purchasing are Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine and The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America.
No. Upon completion you will receive a Certificate of Completion. This course empowers you to take care of your own health, and does not certify you as a clinical herbalist.
Herbs are generally safe, when used properly at the recommended dose. This course focuses on gentle tonic herbs that are suitable for self care.
For home medicine making you will need a few supplies:
- glass jars 250-500 ml sizes, recycled jars are fine and encouraged
- small amounts of herbs
- alcohol, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, molasses
- knife, cutting board
- a kitchen scale is strongly recommended
- cloth or paper bags for herb gathering
- colouring pencils, notebook, pen
Live classes are held on Tuesday evenings, twice per month.
The first sessions are
September 10th: Class
September 24th: Review & Q&A
October 8th: Class
October 22nd: Review & Q&A
November 5th: Class
November 19th: Review & Q&A
Yes, I currently offer Levels 2 and 3 in person, and they will be offered online next year.
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