Practical Herbalism

Practical skills for practitioner development

108 total hours

16 hours of recorded lectures with Paul Bergner
45 hours of video instruction with Heather Luna
47 hours of guided hands-on projects and assignments

At Your Own Pace • Lifetime Access

Get the course

Paul Bergner

Offers deep insight into traditional Western herbalism, physiology, and clinical thinking

Heather Luna

Demonstrates practical applications, formulation strategies, and case-based learning

Hands-on Projects

Guided projects and assignments that ground your education in real experience

Course Overview

Practical Herbalism presents the context of the vitalist approach to healing, nutrition, and lifestyle, with fundamentals in formulation and case-based study. You will learn how to study an herb, which will establish a foundation for effective future learning. This course is designed for herbalists with a foundational understanding who are ready to deepen their clinical thinking and understanding of vitalist principles.

This course contains audio lectures from Paul Bergner of North American Institute of Medical Herbalism, along with video instruction from ACORN School director Heather Luna.

This blended experience enhances learning of key concepts for developing herbalists of all levels. Paul Bergner lays the foundation for learning herbal medicine and Heather Luna adds clarity and guidance, grounding this information into real-world clinical practice. This online course greatly expands on the original NAIMH material to provide deeper context in therapeutic applications to truly transform the results you get in practice.

This course includes

Audio lectures from Paul Bergner
Video instruction from Heather Luna
Notes & Slides
Recipes
Herbal texts
Out of print herbal books
Worksheets
Client handouts
Hands-on projects
An herbal medicine making kit

Practical Herbalism is an experiential course

Taste herbs • Journal their effects • Write your own Materia medica • Make medicines • Devise formulas • Apply Vitalist approaches to healing

Immersive & Hands-on

Practical Herbalism offers an immersive, hands-on experience for developing a practitioner level skillset within the vitalist paradigm. You will learn to work with herbs within the broader context of nutrition, lifestyle, and individual constitution.

Learning happens through doing. Whether you are building a stronger foundation or refining skills developed over years of study and practice, this course offers a practical, hands-on approach to produce results when working with others. Throughout the course you will learn how to apply herbal medicines in context, gain a practical approach to the study materia medica, and develop a deeper understanding of how to apply herbal medicines through direct experience.

With this course, you will develop practical skills with 30 herbs and learn how to prepare and use more than 20 different types of herbal preparations. You will explore how herbs can support nutrition, digestion, rest, skin health, pain management, and common self-limiting infections and fevers.

You will also learn to evaluate the traditional constitutional qualities of herbs and conditions—including hot, cold, moist, dry, tense, and relaxed states—and how to work with these qualities thoughtfully to support balance and minimize unwanted effects.

What you will learn

How to evaluate herbal actions, energetics and uses through sampling and journaling
Differentiate herbal legends from clinical pearls
Assess for safety considerations
Make more than 20 types of herbal preparations
Use herbs to support nutrition and overall vitality
Apply herbs for common skin concerns
Use herbs to promote relaxation and restful sleep
Support healthy digestion with herbs
Understand the warming, cooling, moistening, and drying qualities of herbs
Consider constitutional patterns when selecting herbs
Use herbs to support the body during pain, common infections, and fevers

Structured Lessons

Follow structured assignments that build real-world skill with a focus on clinical thinking. Learn to write your own Materia medica, complete sampling and journaling projects, and make practical preparations for your clients. You will not just gather information, you will learn how to think like a practitioner.

Each lesson integrates:

Clinical and historical perspectives
Structured assignments for synthesis and application
Formulation strategies rooted in real-world use
A curated reference library to deepen your study

Syllabus

Sample and Journaling Experience: Learn what an herb does beyond the book
Practical Uses for Garlic: Chemistry changes in preparation
Nutritive Herbs: Herbs to correct common nutritional deficiencies
Topical Herbs: Physiology and therapeutics for connective tissue repair
Herbs to Support Digestion: Assess and correct digestive complains
Moistening and Drying Herbs: Evaluate constitutional patterns in people and plants
Heating and Cooling Herbs: Herbal safety and humoral contraindications
Herbs to Support Relaxation: Therapeutic approach to correcting sleep debt
Herbs for Pain: Understand the pain complex and build effective formulas
Herbs for Infection and Fever: Support versus suppression and treatment by stages

Practical Herbalism Syllabus

Medicine Kit

Experience is the best teacher. Along with this course you will receive an herbal medicine kit containing over 30 herbs. This is not an add-on. It is central to the learning process. Sampling and journaling herbs teaches what can never be learned from a book.

Your Medicine Kit will be mailed within the first week of signing up for this course. You will receive tracking information once it ships.

Through hands-on experiential learning you will learn:

What to look for when sampling an herb
How the effect of an herb evolves after taking it over several days
Effects of the same herb in different preparations.
The power of integrating powders, syrups, and honey pastes into your practice.

Medicine Kit Contents

Tuition $1800

One-time payment includes:

NAIMH Course Materials from Paul Bergner (audio lectures, notes & slides)
Video instruction with Heather Luna
Herbal Medicine Kit with printed notes (valued at $200)
PDF Reference library of 17 classical herbal texts
Lifetime Access

How this course works

Move through the material at your own pace. The course is designed to be taken step-by-step.
Each section contains videos, readings, downloads, and hands-on projects arranged in a curated learning sequence.
Your progress will be automatically tracked as you move through the course.
Students wishing to earn a certificate of completion must submit homework assignments.
You can take this course for your own personal development without earning a certificate of completion.
Students wishing to progress onto our pre-clinical training program must complete assignments to earn a certificate of completion.