East to West Medicine

Flowers in Than Goan, India! Taken by Rachel Elizabeth Oristano, Summer 2012.

At the beginning of the summer, I attended a Botanical Medicine elective at Shaw Island, which at the center of the San Juan Island cluster off of Northwestern Washington state. When the course ended my instructor requested that someone write an article about the week for Nexus, the NCNM school newsletter. Although my article was met with appreciation, the editor decided to interview me instead… which of course occurred while I was sitting in Newark airport during a 12-hour layover on my way to India (more on that later). I have therefore taken the opportunity to post my original here:

The Shaw Island Herbal Intensive Experience

At the end of the school year, a cluster of NCNM students begins a five-hour journey from Portland to Anacortes, WA, where we join our fellow natural medicine enthusiasts from Bastyr University and await the ferry to Shaw Island. Once there, Doctors Glen Nagel, ND and Jenn Dazey, ND lead us to the far end of the island where we are to spend the following few days braving the rocky coasts and learning what the Pacific ocean has to teach us of its medicine.

The Shaw Island Herbal Intensive is a perfect balance of nature walks, hands-on learning experiences, lectures on seaweed from the venerable Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD, and much-needed recuperation time. Dr. Drum regularly tours the San Juan Islands giving lectures on the benefits of seaweed, which are a delightful combination of his extensive knowledge and colorful humor. He is a wealth of valuable information and can dissect a clam like no other.

On Shaw Island, I heard my classmates’ excited laughter as they plunged into the cold ocean for some of nature’s best Hydrotherapy (I preferred swimming amongst water lilies in a nearby freshwater pond), watched them rescue the preserve caretaker’s lost goats, and laughed with them as we participated in a scavenger hunt and an accessory wildcrafting contest. I hunted for giant horse clams in the sand, examined purple starfish, and, at Dr. Drum’s insistence, allowed a sea anemone to exfoliate my fingers. And of course we all collected vast amounts of seaweed, from Nori to Turkish Towel to Sargasm. We set it out to dry in the sun to bring home later.

A highlight of the trip was its perfect timing, for not only was the weather ideal, but we were there for the lowest tide of the year, which happened to fall on July 4th. We were able to enjoy firework shows from two of the neighboring islands while lounging on the ocean bluff with the brilliant full moon competing for our attention. Dr. Nagel made a Kava Koncoction for the occasion, although I must admit that Kava doctored with a few pounds of honey, ginger and coconut milk still tastes a great deal like Kava. Later the island preserve caretaker joined our Kava ceremony, and his wife and children joined us in singing songs as lead by Dr. Nagel on the mandolin.

In addition to the learning experience, this trip gave us the opportunity to meet and spend time with our future colleagues from Bastyr University. Although NCNM and Bastyr are only three hours apart, there are surprisingly few classes available wherein we can mingle and learn from each other. It is the differences between the two schools as well as our uniting passion for natural medicine that made our time together on the island so valuable. When leaving, our reluctance to disband was placated only by the knowledge that our schools are not quite so distant.

I want to thank Doctors Nagel, Dazey and Drum for composing such a wonderful experience, the volunteers who kept us well-fed and taken care of, and most importantly my NCNM and Bastyr University classmates whose joy and energy made this much more than a class elective.

Balance, Joy, and Wisdom,
Raye

Resources:

http://ryandrum.com/