WHO WE ARE

First and foremost, we are plant lovers and medicine makers who are dedicated to the study of traditional, folk, and indigenous herbal medicine.

We use plants to connect you deeply to your roots and to expand your vision towards what wholeness can mean for you. It is our goal to create sacred space, promote natural healing, and do all that we can to help people discover their inner wisdom and innate healing power of their extraordinary body.

Verbal Roots takes pleasure in crafting handmade health products of the highest quality using the best of what nature has to offer. We believe that herbalism is most powerful when grown through relationship to the local grounds on which we live on. For that reason, all of our products are formulated with materials we’ve grown ourselves (without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic chemical fertilizers), responsibly harvested in the wild, or purchased from local, organically certified retailers who share our vision for sustainability.

As we ethically harvest our plant allies in the wild, we give the utmost respect to the land. We take extreme care to only harvest what is necessary while leaving enough to ensure the plant's ability to continue to thrive. We garner joy from the land and give thanks for its bounty, proudly playing our part in supporting the movement of eco-responsible harvesting, farming, and manufacturing.

Philosophy of Sustainability

Our commitment to our collective health and the health of the earth is the core of who we are. This is what we believe:

• To craft all we do with quality and integrity

• To empower our community with health education and wellness tools

• To educate on sustainable and ethical relationships with herbal medicine, plant habitats, and earth-based healing

• To protect natural plant habitats and prevent over-harvesting

• To reduce our waste as a company

• To give back to our community and to ensure access to herbal medicine for all those in need regardless of financial circumstance

• To only partner with those companies, community partners, makers, producers and others whose operations are aligned with our commitment to you

Our Offerings

• Verbal Roots products are made with materials that either we’ve grown ourselves (without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic chemical fertilizers), responsibly harvested in the wild, and/or purchased from local, organically certified retailers who share our vision for sustainability

• We infuse our herbs in high quality organic oils to create healing butters, balms, and massage oils

• If using essential oils, we only use therapeutic grade and steam distilled by companies known for their high quality standards and support of ecologically sustainable agriculture

• Our herbal extracts are tinctured in certified organic cane alcohol to create a truly organic remedy that is also gluten free for those who has gluten sensitivities

• We make remedies with love and intention. Always in small batches so freshness and quality is guaranteed

Our Values

• We welcome all people and are committed to undoing all forms of oppression.

• We embrace and celebrate humanity’s diversity of size, race, ethnicity, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, dis/ability.

• We center the needs of women and gender non-conforming individuals, people of color, immigrants/refugees, low income communities, people with disabilities, survivors of trauma, elders, all faith communities, LGBTQIA+, and everyone with limited access to equitable health care.

• We are accessible: We offer sliding scale fees, a staff trained in anti-oppression, work with consciousness to create accessible space for people with different disabilities, and cultivate a clinic that is building bridges within a community.

• We are collaborative: Practitioners from various modalities work together toward each person’s optimum health. We work with local and national social justice organizations to build healthy communities from the outside in and the inside out.

• We are empowering: We support patients and students in making informed choices about self-care. We are working toward realizing health justice for every being.

I began my plant journey about 10 years ago while I was living in New York City. There I worked as a fashion and textile designer for several years. Under immense stress, my overall health was declining and I developed alopecia, autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. The only option I was given was to inject steroids directly into my scalp every month. I knew that this was NOT the answer. This was my turning point. I discovered the magical healing powers of plants through my own willingness and stubbornness to heal naturally. After healing my autoimmune disease, I had a deep desire to share my love and knowledge of plant as medicine and what I have learned through my experience with others. I started Verbal Roots Apothecary soon after.

My primary focus is Vitalism and Western Folk Herbalism but I enjoy blending a variety of other holistic systems like Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Alchemy into my practice. My philosophy to wellness is self-understanding on the physical and spiritual level, rather than focusing on the illness or specific parts of the body. Holistic medicine consist in the treatment of the spirit, soul, and body, not just the disease. This ancient approach to health considers the whole person and how he or she interacts with his or her environment. It emphasizes the connection of mind, body and spirit. Herbalism, in order to be holistic, must support the possibility that there is a spiritual side to the plant as well as a material side. This approach to wellness gives us a greater appreciation and understanding that Nature as a whole is a living, spiritual being.

I believe that conventional medicine has a valid place. However, I also believe that traditional folk medicine, ancestral plant wisdom, and natural healing remedies play an utmost important role that are often missing in our healthcare. I respect the traditions and experience of our ancestors, the subtle energetic of healing, and the discoveries of modern science. My goal is to help others transition from a culture of expensive healthcare to a culture that seeks optimal health through natural mind-body medicine for a more self-sufficient, rather than dependent on a medical system and/or pharmaceutical drugs.

I hope you join me on your plant journey and rediscover the missing ancestral plant wisdom that we were all born with.

Education & Credentials:

Current student of the American Herbalist Guild

Vitalist Herbal Practitioner (School of Evolutionary Herbalism)

Master Herbalist (School of Natural Healing)

Wild Living Soil + Permaculture (Turtle Lake Refuge)

Anatomy & Physiology (Heartstone Herbal School)

200-Hour Therapeutic Yoga Teacher (Soma Yoga Institute)

300-Hour Advance Spiritual Yoga Teacher (Yoga Farm Ithaca)

KUNDALINI YOGA * ENNEAGRAM * AYURVEDA*LUNA WISDOM