Herbs & Body Systems
A Clinical Immersion Series with herbalist Deia Pauline, RH-AHG | Grassroots Apothecary
Six days of in-person clinical immersion -- body systems, herbs for acute and chronic pain, and herbal first aid. Drawn primarily from Deia's curriculum as guest instructor at Berkeley Herbal Center's Therapeutics and Village Herbalist 2 programs, and field-tested across over a decade of grassroots clinical work.
We are living in a time of cascading uncertainty. Healthcare is increasingly inaccessible, expensive, and impersonal. Supply chains are fragile. Communities are under pressure from multiple directions at once. In this landscape, knowing how to read the body, work with plants, and support the people around you is not a hobby. It is a #collapseskill.
Herbal medicine has always been community infrastructure. The plants have not changed. What changes is whether we know how to use them and working with the unique person needing them. This series is about building that knowledge -- not as individual self-improvement, but as collective healing and liberation.
Standalone Days or The Series: Individual classes may be taken separately. Taken together, the six classes form a cohesive clinical framework -- one that connects the systems to each other, to the unique person sitting in front of you, and to the community you are serving beyond the clinic walls.
Class 1 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Digestive System
Class 2 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Nervous System
Class 3 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Immune System
Class 4 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Respiratory System
Class 5 -- Herbal Pain Re~Leaf: Acute & Chronic
Class 6 -- Herbal First Aid for Events, Disasters, Front Lines
Day 1 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Digestive System: The gut is where health is either cultivated or slowly eroded. We start here because everything downstream -- immune function, nervous system regulation, hormonal signaling, inflammatory load -- depends on what happens in this terrain. We cover the gut as a neuroendocrine organ, the gut-brain axis, tissue states and herbal actions matched to pattern, IBS versus IBD, GERD and stomach acid dysregulation, dysbiosis, and the clinical reasoning that tells you why two clients with the same diagnosis need completely opposite formulas.
Day 2 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Nervous System Stress is not a lifestyle problem. It is a terrain problem -- and it shows up in every system you work with. We cover the HPA axis and vagal tone, sympathetic versus parasympathetic clinical relevance, nervines and adaptogens matched to pattern, anxiety versus depletion versus wind/tension presentations, and the gut-brain connection that makes the nervous system inseparable from digestive, immune, and hormonal health.
Day 3 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Immune System We move beyond immune boosting as a clinical strategy -- a framing the American Herbalist Guild has long cautioned against -- and into what immune balance actually looks like in practice. We cover terrain-based immune assessment, the gut-immune axis and why you cannot separate the two, mast cells and histamine, IgE and allergic response, overactive versus exhausted immune states, autoimmune terrain, and how to choose herbs that restore appropriate immune response rather than broadly stimulate a system that may already be dysregulated.
Day 4 -- Herbs & Wellness Strategies for the Respiratory System The lungs sit at the intersection of immune, nervous, and gut-lung axis -- making respiratory presentations some of the most layered cases you will see. We cover upper versus lower respiratory tissue states, acute versus chronic pattern differentiation, demulcents, expectorants, antispasmodics, the environmental and systemic drivers, and formula building that addresses the whole picture.
Day 5 -- Herbs for Pain ReLeaf: Acute and Chronic Presentations; Reading the Terrain
Pain is a clue. The question an herbalist asks is what terrain is this pain emerging from, and what is it trying to communicate?
That reframe influences which herbs you reach for, in what preparation, at what dose. A warming herb in a hot inflammatory presentation worsens the picture. A cooling formula a cold stagnant pattern misses the root. Pain is one of the most terrain-sensitive presentations we work with, and it is one of the areas where herbal medicine can be most precise.
This day covers:
The five influences on pain sensitivity -- constitution, nervous system tone, emotional state, lived experience including trauma and systemic oppression, and terrain
Terrain-based pain typology -- inflammatory, neurological, liver and digestive, emotional, stagnant -- with herbs matched to each pattern
Herbal actions for pain in depth -- analgesics, antispasmodics, skeletal muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatories, nervines and sedatives, circulatory stimulants, bitters and cholagogues, lymphatics, mast cell stabilizers, and mineral-rich herbs -- with energetics and clinical reasoning for each
The 7Song hierarchy of relief -- mild, moderate, and stronger options -- and how to calibrate dose and preparation to the individual and the situation
Palliative care as legitimate care -- alleviating suffering alongside investigating root cause, not instead of it
Sensory and nervous system tools -- touch, smell, grounding, and simple practices that shift the nervous system out of alarm and into relational embodied awareness
Pain assessment using the OPQRST framework -- onset, provocation, quality, radiation, severity, timing -- applied to herbal intake
Favorite topicals -- Hypericum oil for nerve pain, Arnica for trauma and bruising, Mahanarayan oil for deep musculoskeletal pain
Natural alternatives to NSAIDs and adrenal-liver axis support as a clinical framework
Emotional recovery after pain -- what it looks like, why it matters, and how herbs support it
We close with an intake practice -- a real pain presentation worked through in circle using terrain-based reasoning.
Day 6 -- Herbal First Aid at Events, Gatherings, Disasters, and the Frontlines. Whether you are supporting a neighborhood gathering, a regional festival, a mutual aid response, or a community in crisis -- the skills are similar. This curriculum draws from experiences compiled into a best practices manual for herbal first aid and wellness spaces at events and on the frontlines, a 50-hour clinical training distilled into one day. My work is influenced by Wilderness First Responder training.
We cover:
Herbs for acute presentations in field conditions: wound care, pain, respiratory distress, digestive crisis, trauma response, heat and cold exposure, anxiety and shock
Scope of practice in field and disaster settings -- when to refer, when to hold, when to act
Safety, consent, and trauma-informed care in high-stress environments
Setting up a wellness space at events and gatherings: layout, flow, intake, documentation, team coordination
Mutual aid framing: how herbal first aid fits into collective care, not individual survivalism
Working with what you have: improvised preparations, local plants, community resources
We close with an intake practice scenario where you practice assessment, triage, and herbal response.
Who this is for:
Practicing herbalists ready to sharpen clinical reasoning.
Students who want to expand foundational herb knowledge. Community herbalists wanting to build knowledge together.
Anyone who has felt uncertain in an intake and wants a clearer framework.
Anyone who wants to be genuinely useful at a gathering, event, or moment of community crisis.
How each day works
Classes meet one Sunday a month (TBA) 10 AM to 5 PM.
For body systems days, you arrive having completed a one-page write-up on that day's topic -- structure, function, anything that has already landed for you. This way we come in refreshed on the basics and can move quickly into the clinical work.
We take breaks as needed. After a 45-minute lunch we go deeper into conditions and pattern work. We close every day with an intake practice worked through in circle -- everyone listening, everyone contributing, learning from one another.
The pace is guided and timed, and genuinely conversational. Each session makes space for practitioners to bring their own knowledge and experience into the room.
Your work is supported by detailed handouts, group intake practice shares, and personal written feedback on submitted case studies.
Pricing
Individual day: $150 Full six-day series: $800 ($100 off the individual day rate).
Community rate for Fleur and Forage members: $85 per day or $455 for the full series.
Sliding scale for active volunteer clinic participants: $70 per day or $380 for the series.
Pay-It-Forward Sustainer rate: $175 per day or $950 for the series -- supports community access for those who cannot pay full price. Different capacities, not different worth.
No one turned away for lack of funds. Reach out.
A percentage of proceeds goes back to Fleur and Forage for graciously hosting these classes.
Payment supports the continuity of care and the ability to show up consistently for others.
An Invitation to Practitioners:
If this work resonates with you, I would love to grow it. Are there body systems or clinical areas not covered in this series that you teach or want to teach? I am open to bringing other practitioners in to expand what this series can offer our community. If you are interested in teaching alongside this work, reach out.
About the Instructor
Deia Pauline is a clinical herbalist and educator based in Atlanta, GA, practicing since 2008 and registered with the American Herbalist Guild since 2014. A longtime Wilderness First Responder and former EMT, she brings field medical grounding to her herbal practice. She teaches in Berkeley Herbal Center's Village Herbalist 2 program and runs Grassroots Apothecary, a community herbal practice rooted in mutual aid and collective care. Her field clinical work spans over a decade -- from MASHH Clinic Collective to her own herbal wellness clinics at Sunset Campout, Oregon Eclipse and Envision Music Festivals, multiple Women's Herbal Symposiums, Buckeye Earth Skills Gatherings, and disaster relief deployments. Locally, she supports Fleur + Forage's free herbal clinics serving marginalized communities across Atlanta. You may catch her dancing to house music beneath the stars.
This practice exists to keep care alive inside a system that actively devalues it.