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Milestones in Vitalism
FREE Online Event ~ August 8, 2026
Milestone teachings to honor a decade of vitalist herbalism with ACORN
Event Schedule
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Event Details
Paul Bergner
Featured Presentation
Leaky Gut, Liver Fire & Women's Health
The digestive and liver roots of inflammation, hyperestrogenism, menstrual migraine, and endometriosis
10:00 am - 12:00 pm PST
90 minute presentation, followed by live Q&A
The Liver is more than just a metabolic or digestive organ; it is a critical element of the immune system and the primary regulator of systemic immunity and inflammation. It sits as a gatekeeper protecting the system from dangerous elements of the gut microbiome and the parade of foreign things passing through the gut. It can engulf microbes, transform toxins, and if stressed by inflammatory triggers from the gut, send signals to regulate the "Inflammatory thermostat" of the entire system. When the barrier function of the gut is compromised or degraded, elements passing to the liver trigger cytokine warning signals that alter liver function and affect vascular and immune physiology in every region of the body. These gut-to-liver-to-system signals dial down liver detoxification, bile production, and hormonal clearance, producing classical signs of "liver stagnation" including degraded clearance of estrogen. They are now recognized as the primary triggers for migraine headache; they can also inflame endometriosis and cause its proliferation. We will describe this pathophysiology and present key traditional dietary and herbal therapeutics we have honed for this gut-to-liver-to-system complex over the last 30 years.
Heather Luna
Evolution of the Healing Crisis in Vitalist Therapeutics
12:00 - 12:30 pm PST
When methods are employed to raise vitality the inevitable “healing crisis” will occur. When carefully managed this stage of the healing process brings the individual to a higher state of health. This natural process in the evolution of healing is a critical element in Vitalist Therapeutics.
As your host for introducing ACORN Alumni presenters, Heather offers insights from our 10 years of guiding students and clients in the field of Vitalist Herbalism.
Gathering the ACORNs
12:30 - 2:00 pm PST
See what ACORN graduates are up to! This show & tell will showcase a series of 10-15 minute presentations to spotlight how herbalism has influenced them now.
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The path of the herbalist can take many shapes and forms. Students of herbal medicine often envision what their practice will look like after they’ve graduated. This gathering of ACORN alumni presents examples of how herbalists apply their skills in real world experiences.​
Alumni Presentations
Meet our Alumni Presenters
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Cindy Saylor
Certified Vitalist Herbalist & Nutritionist
Presentation
"Healing with the Ingredients of Life"
Cindy will share her experience using vitalist practices as a clinical herbalist and talk about 2 case studies highlighting the power of vitalism in clinical herbal practice. ​​
Herbalist Bio
​Hello! My name is Cindy and I am a certified vitalist herbalist and nutritionist, and a community educator in San Diego, CA (unceded lands of the Kumeyaay) In my experience plants and herbs provide a green path for all of us to explore and renew our connection to the earth. Plants help us to know ourselves better, they teach us how to care for the earth and they provide food and medicine. Herbs and the green kingdom of plants have helped me transform my own life. The practices I share with my students and clients are time honored traditions that support us in caring for ourselves and our loved ones.
Debbie DeShields
Clinical Herbalist, Clinical Nutritionist, Licensed Massage Therapist
website
Presentation
"Should I Start A Private Practice?"
Website production, advertising and management.​​
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Herbalist Bio
Herbs have been calling me for years, however I was already working and teaching Massage. I was a medical Massage Therapist for almost 30 years. After my hands said “no more” I could ignore my Herbal whispering no more. After graduating from ACORN I have begun a private practice as a Clinical Herbalist with a clinic in my home.
Ildiko Kohles
Herbalist
Presentation
"Personal Practice and Retreat Center"
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Herbalist Bio
We moved to Spain to create a healing center. That journey began with Blue Morpho in Valencia and continues with the development of a retreat center in a renovated old water mill in the mountains. We’re working toward opening this year, focused on as much self-sufficiency as possible through our garden, chickens, medicinal plants, and wild harvesting, while creating a space that supports people in reconnecting with their own ability to heal mind, body, and spirit.
​​Our journey with medicinal plants began after my husband was debilitated by Lyme disease and recovered almost fully within eight months. Heather’s 8-month ACORN course deepened that path, and it was her idea to create a herbal first aid kit as the final project. Since then, we’ve continued expanding and refining it into a very extensive kit designed to cover nearly every possible illness or issue we might encounter during a three-month journey across Southeast Asia, much of it by bicycle. Today, we make much of our own medicine from plants we grow or wild harvest ourselves, and herbalism has become part of our everyday lives in a very practical way.
Josie Semmes
LHP, CHP, CH (Licensed & Board Certified Homeopath, Clinical Herbalist)
Presentation
"Homeopathy and Herbalism"
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Herbalist Bio
Hi I'm Josie Semmes and I am an owner of Nexus Homeopathy and support clients internationally through virtual consultations. I am a Licensed and Board Certified Homeopathic Practitioner (LHP/CHP), a Certified Herbalist (CH) through ACORN, and a Nutritionist. I specialize in helping people with chronic illness through Homeopathy, Nutrition, and Herbal Medicine. Practice special interest: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome), Hypermobility Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS).
Katherine Flores
Clinical Herbalist
Presentation
"Herbal treatment for a schizoaffective client and efficacy of treatment options for cancer treatment for palliation"
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Herbalist Bio
Katherine is a third year clinical student with a love of helping others increase their natural vitality and getting their full story in the process. Working in the neutraceutical field she is a person with large vitalist dreams and a curious mind to find solutions for patients in todays modern age. It is her hope what she hadslearned and continues to learn from Acorn and their community with help others for many years to come.
Nic Ruff
Herbalist
website
https://snakemedicineapothecary.org/
https://www.instagram.com/snakemedicineapothecary/
blog
Presentation
"How Herbalism Calls Us Home"
Exploring how our connection to plants is deeply ancestral. No matter where we come
from in this world, geographically and ancestrally, our ancient connection to our plant relatives is deeply rooted in our relationship to Earth. Our reciprocal relationship to elements of nature lives in our bodies, our stories, our songs, our dances, and can be awakened by restoring our relationship with plants. Plants are a portal to call us home.​
​Herbalist Bio
Nic (she/her/ella) is a wild child of nature, somatic movement practitioner, dance anthropologist and herbalist. A queer wombyn of Irish, East Asian, and Jewish ancestry, she is a life-long practitioner of naturopathy and herbalism for her own health and her children. In 2025, she felt called to deepen her knowledge and practice of herbalism and began ACORN Footprints in the Fall. After working in non-profit, reproductive and socially-justice informed healthcare in the U.S. for 20 years, she witnessed how broken and extractive our industrialized healthcare-for-profit system has become. Her goal is to build bridges between multiple systems of healthcare and create accessible pathways to reconnect people to plants, restoring our universal ancestral relationship to nature and our plant relatives. She is building momentum towards launching Snake Medicine Apothecary, a Mutual Aid Circle of Solidarity and Collective Healing. This project is an opportunity to uplift community, deepen relationships, share knowledge, skills and resources, and build resilience. In the meantime, she hosts Mutual Aid tea parties, makes medicine for her community, teaches dance, and facilitates somatic movement and integrative healing practices.
Nicole Tait
Clinical Herbalist
Presentation
"Seed to Medicine Herbal Clinic: rural Colorado clinic resource—rooted in hands-on learning, holistic care, and local access"
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Nicole’s journey has evolved from farm to farmers' market booth style operation to a comprehensive clinic-based education. ACORN’s education program has supported exponential growth, the “try it for yourself” learning ethos, shifts in her product line formulation, deepened the content of her on farm based education, and dramatically improved her client care. The impact of high-caliber clinical education with access to this online education on a rural community is absolutely profound. ​​
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​​I came to ACORN after establishing my herbal farm in rural Colorado. I had started selling products and was noticing at farmers' markets that something was missing when customers would ask for support with health concerns, that I only understood part of the puzzle needed to support them. I attended the Good Medicine Confluence and heard Heather speak on nutrition, and that was an Ah Ha moment of understanding the gap in what I was sharing from my market booths. I promptly registered for the next fall of Footprints and have gone on to complete the Advanced program. The support from ACORN, Heather, and Paul has truly helped fill in the gaps in my education. Teaching me to look at the whole presentation, recgonize patterns, and be able to better understand how to support through more than just herbs.
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What I appreciate the most about their teaching is their approach of try it for yourself. With an active farm and an abundant medicine maker, I get the opportunity to try a lot of different things. It has shifted my formulation to integrate more notes from the Eclectics, balanced the formulation that already had a solid foundation, and helped me refine my approach with clients. I hope to refine that further through the residency year in the Free Clinic.
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In Nucla CO, most of our definitive care is over 2 hours away, and providing a farm as an education center and clinic resource for my local community is at the heart of what I strive to do. This is an incredible resource for our community, and my long-term goal is to build a physical clinic and education center on the back of the farm.
​​Herbalist Bio
Nicole, a clinical herbalist and graduate of the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism and the Acorn School of Herbal Medicine, is currently studying under Ash Ritter. She’s taken additional courses from Aviva Romm, Josh Williams, Ashley/Adam Elenbaas, Mother Hyde Herbals, and Sacred Blossom Farm.
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Cypress Roots Craft Herbalism is an herbal farm, apothecary, and telehealth medical clinic, sharing a passion for the natural world while empowering personal transformation and healing. The Nucla, Colorado, farm practices regenerative seed-to-medicine farming. Telehealth services specialize in functional wellness, integrating nutrition, lifestyle coaching, dietary guidance, supplements, flower essences, and customized herbal formulations to empower your wellness journey.
Registration
Milestones in Vitalism
Saturday, August 8, 2026
10:00 am Pacific Time
Live Zoom Webinar
​Register to join us for inspirations in Vitalist Herbalism and receive the post-event recording, even if you can’t attend live.
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