Plant Teachers

A trailblazing anthropologist and an indigenous Amazonian healer explore the convergence of science and shamanism “The dose makes the poison,” says an old adage, reminding us that substances have the potential to heal or to harm, depending on their use. Although Western medicine treats tobacco as a harmful addictive drug, it is considered medicinal by indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest. In its unadulterated form, it holds a central place in their repertoire of traditional medicines. Along with ayahuasca, tobacco forms a part of treatments designed to heal the body, stimulate the mind, and inspire the soul with visions. In Plant Teachers, anthropologist Jeremy Narby and traditional healer Rafael Chanchari Pizuri hold a cross-cultural dialogue that explores the similarities between ayahuasca and tobacco, the role of these plants in indigenous cultures, and the hidden truths they reveal about nature. Juxtaposing and synthesizing two worldviews, Plant Teachers invites readers on a wide-ranging journey through anthropology, botany, and biochemistry, while raising tantalizing questions about the relationship between science and other ways of knowing.

This book provides a skilled and knowledgeable exploration into to the uses of 7 herbs by a master herbalist. This book would be useful to students and practioners of herbalism, homeopathy, and flower essences, as the information can be utilized across these disciplines. The book clearly explains when and how to use these remedies and gives ample case studies from author's personal experience that further assist the reader in forming a clear picture of the signature of the herbs described.

Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children is the fruit of decades of development and innovation in the Plum Village community's collective practice with children. Based on Thich Nhat Hanh's thirty years of teaching mindfulness and compassion to parents, teachers, and children, the book and enclosed CD cover a wide range of contemplative and fun activities parents and educators can do with their children or students. The activities are designed to help relieve stress, increase concentration, nourish gratitude and confidence, deal with difficult emotions, touch our interconnection with nature, and improve communication. Planting Seeds offers insight, concrete activities, and curricula that parents and educators can apply in school settings, in their local communities or at home, in a way that is meaningful and inviting to children. The key practices presented include mindful breathing and walking, inviting the bell, pebble meditation, the Two Promises or ethical guidelines for children, children's versions of Touching the Earth and Deep Relaxation, eating meditation and dealing with conflict and strong emotions. Also included, are the lyrics to the songs on the enclosed CD that summarize and highlight the key teachings, as well as a chapter on dealing effectively with conflict in the classroom or difficult group dynamics, based on a conference with Thich Nhat Hanh, teachers and students. The accompanying CD has inspiring recordings of all the songs in the book as well as a guided pebble meditation, total relaxation, and children's touching the earth. Beautiful, color illustrations by Wietske Vriezen Illustrator of Mindful Movements (ISBN-13: 978-1-888375-79-4) accompany the various practices. Any adult wishing to plant seeds of peace, relaxation, and awareness in children will find this book and CD helpful. It is full of wisdom on how to simply be with children and nourish their compassion for themselves and others. Illustrated by Wietske Vriezen Illustrator of Mindful Movements (Mindful Movements – Ten Exercise for Well Being, ISBN-13: 978-1-888375-79-4). Includes 1 audio CD.

This is the third and final volume of North Atlantic Books’ hard cover edition of Dale Pendell's Pharmako trilogy, an encyclopedic study of the history and uses of psychoactive plants and related synthetics first published between 1995 and 2005. The books form an interrelated suite of works that provide the reader with a unique, reliable, and often personal immersion in this medically, culturally, and spiritually fascinating subject. All three books are beautifully designed and illustrated, and are written with unparalleled authority, erudition, playfulness, and range. Pharmako/Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path focuses on plant-based and derivative psychedelic "teachers" (including ayahuasca, peyote, LSD, and DMT) and on the "poison path" of substances such as belladonna, ketamine, and ibogaine. Each substance is explored in detail, not only with information on its history, pharmacology, preparation, and cultural and esoteric correspondences, but also the subtleties of each plant's effect on consciousness in a way that only poets can do. The whole concoction is sprinkled with abundant quotations from famous writers, creating a literary brew as intoxicating as its subject. The Pharmako series includes the predecessor volumes Pharmako/Poeia (which covers tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, opiates, salvia divinorum, and other substances) and Pharmako/Dynamis (focusing on stimulants and empathogens).

A story of awakening to remarkable shamanic powers, teachings, and techniques • Describes the author’s work with plant spirits, entheogens such as ayahuasca, and indigenous shamans during his 20 years of fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon • Explores the practice of soul retrieval and shamanic work with feathers, stones, and sound • Includes techniques for exploring non-ordinary reality, exercises for expanding sensory perception, and practices to open your creative artistic visionary potential After surviving a serious elevator crash in London, Howard G. Charing found he had developed healing touch as well as the ability to hear voices and experience visions--just as a healer in Italy had predicted only a week before the accident. He began using his abilities to heal but felt he needed more guidance and training. He first connected with a national spiritual healing organization, only to be told he was doing everything wrong. Then, through a friend, he discovered shamanism. Sharing profound teachings and extraordinary experiences from his more than 30 years of shamanic healing work, Charing explains how he accidentally became a shaman and completely changed the course of his life. He describes his work with plant spirits, entheogens such as ayahuasca, and indigenous shamans during his 20 years of fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon, including his studies with the late visionary artist Pablo Amaringo. Investigating altered states of perception, he provides visionary techniques for exploring non-ordinary reality, exercises for expanding sensory perception, and practices to open your creative artistic visionary potential. Detailing the practice of soul retrieval, the author discusses why it is one of the most effective and profound spiritual healing practices and shares emotionally charged stories of successful shamanic healings he has attended. He also includes shamanic wisdom on working with feathers, stones, and sound and compares current research in physics with the vast body of experiential knowledge from indigenous spiritual traditions. From the accident that started his journey to the many remarkable spiritwork encounters that have happened since, Charing’s story will empower readers to begin exploring the realms of consciousness and energy that surround us and welcome the dissolution of the boundary between the physical and the spiritual.

In The Power of a Plant, globally acclaimed teacher and self-proclaimed CEO (Chief Eternal Optimist) Stephen Ritz shows you how, in one of the nation’s poorest communities, his students thrive in school and in life by growing, cooking, eating, and sharing the bounty of their green classroom. What if we taught students that they have as much potential as a seed? That in the right conditions, they can grow into something great? These are the questions that Stephen Ritz—who became a teacher more than 30 years ago—sought to answer in 2004 in a South Bronx high school plagued by rampant crime and a dismal graduation rate. After what can only be defined as a cosmic experience when a flower broke up a fight in his classroom, he saw a way to start tackling his school’s problems: plants. He flipped his curriculum to integrate gardening as an entry point for all learning and inadvertently created an international phenomenon. As Ritz likes to say, “Fifty thousand pounds of vegetables later, my favorite crop is organically grown citizens who are growing and eating themselves into good health and amazing opportunities.” The Power of a Plant tells the story of a green teacher from the Bronx who let one idea germinate into a movement and changed his students’ lives by learning alongside them. Since greening his curriculum, Ritz has seen near-perfect attendance and graduation rates, dramatically increased passing rates on state exams, and behavioral incidents slashed in half. In the poorest congressional district in America, he has helped create 2,200 local jobs and built farms and gardens while changing landscapes and mindsets for residents, students, and colleagues. Along the way, Ritz lost more than 100 pounds by eating the food that he and his students grow in school. The Power of a Plant is his story of hope, resilience, regeneration, and optimism.

The entire family goes out for a romp in the woods picking mushrooms and herbs. Grandmother passes down her knowledge of plant life.

"Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering moss is a mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. In this series of linked personal essays, Robin Kimmerer leads general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings. Kimmerer explains the biology of mosses clearly and artfully, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us. Drawing on her experiences as a scientist, a mother, and a Native American, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world"--Publisher's description.