Midwest Women's Herbal

Workshops

All workshops in the In Our Own Hands Women's Wellness series are held virtually via Zoom and are three hours in length, happening every other Saturday beginning in January 2027.

 

Deepen Your Connection to Your Body, Your Pleasure, Your Orgasm with Sara Czerwinski

Saturday, January 9, 2027 | 1pm-4pm Central Time

This workshop is for remembrance, reverence and reconnection to what it is to be in a female body. Through discussion, practice, and information sharing, we will explore anatomy, orgasm and the body's innate wisdom. We will practice feeling and expanding the sensations of pleasure and how this can create a deeper connection to the self, the plants and the earth. In a world that often asks women to disconnect from their bodies, this workshop is an invitation to return - gently, powerfully and with deep presence to ourselves. 

Participants will experience pleasure, fun and connection including:

• Knowledge around anatomy, pleasure centers

• Deeper connection to your body, on an emotional and physical level 

• Responsive body movement / moving from the desires of the body

• Connection about desire, pleasure and what actually is orgasm

• Joy, love for the self, others and the world around us

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Writing into Garden, Field, and Forest: The Art & Craft of Nature Writing with Judith Berger

Saturday, January 23, 2027 | 1pm-4pm Central Time

In this workshop, we will read aloud examples of some of the finest writing about nature from writers both present and past, looking at prose, poetry and journal writing, paying attention to how the writer uniquely draws in the reader into the world they are describing.  Between each reading we will generate work, using a variety of timed exercises, with special focus on nourishing pleasure and wonder through the act of using language to capture beauty and feeling, mystery and magic.

Participants can expect to come away with:

• Playful exercises they can use when writing, to unlock the relationship between nature, the heart and the hand.

• Deeper skill in bringing emotion, observation and description onto the page in a way that delights and elicits feeling in both writer and reader.
   

Bring a notebook and pen, and any dried plants from the winter landscape, that are present in forest, field or garden.  A selection of writings will be available the day of the session for us to work with, and you can bring a poem or paragraph from a favorite writer that we can use as a springboard for your own work. 

 

Planning Your Botanical Sanctuary: Tending the Relationship Between Women, Plants, and Place with Susan Leopold, PhD

Saturday, February 6, 2027 | 1pm-4pm Central Time

February is the season of dreaming. The ground is resting, the seeds are waiting. It's the perfect time to imagine the sanctuary your garden could become - a living space that nourishes you, supports the native plants and pollinators around you, and protects the medicinal plants we depend on.

We'll look at native medicinal plants, many of them woodland species like goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), and ramps (Allium tricoccum), that are under pressure in the wild. Drawing on the mission of United Plant Savers and their work at the Goldenseal Botanical Sanctuary and the Botanical Sanctuary Network, we'll discuss how home gardeners can grow and care for native medicinal plants, becoming part of their recovery.

We'll explore being in relationship with your garden rather than seeing your garden as a project. Through reflection, conversation, hands-on planning, and visioning, participants will leave with:

•  Your own sanctuary plan

• Ideas for plants to start this spring

• A deeper sense of how tending the earth is also a way of tending ourselves

Whether you have acres, a backyard, a few pots on a porch or house plants this workshop is for you. No gardening experience necessary. Bring a notebook and colored pencils. This will be interactive and joyful!

 

Lifestyle Medicine & Clarity Breathwork: Nourishing Yourself from Within with Crystal Dawn Higdon Silas, MD

Saturday, February 20, 2027 | 1pm-4pm Central Time

 

Understanding Constitutional Medicine with Althea Northage-Orr

Saturday, March 6, 2027 | 1pm-4pm Central Time

We all enter the world with unique personalities and physical types, encountering illnesses with their own distinct energetics while navigating our specific phases of life.

In this session, we will explore:

• How Eastern and Western energetic teachings on constitutional tendencies apply to women's lives.

• Which herbal allies are best suited for during our youth, busy productive years, and wisdom years.

• How a person's unique constitution influences them through these life stages.

We will examine herbs through both Taoist and Hermetic energetic lenses, learning to fine-tune plant medicine to match life phases, individual constitutional states, and specific illnesses.  Participants of all skill levels are invited to attend — only curiosity and openness are required.

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From Skillet to Medicine Chest: Mushrooms for Health and Nourishment with Linda Conroy, MSS, MLSP

Saturday, March 20, 2027 | 1pm-4pm Central Time

In this wonderful, comprehensive presentation, we'll explore the amazing health benefits, medicinal qualities, and delicious culinary uses of mushrooms. You'll learn how to source mushrooms with confidence, and hopefully feel inspired to try growing or foraging your own! Together, we'll discover how to prepare mushrooms for optimal nourishment and healing, filled with practical recipes and lovely preparation ideas. Here is a quick look at what we'll be covering together:

Culinary Techniques & Kitchen Prep:

• Delicious Mushroom Cooking Methods

• Crafting Nourishing Food Preparations

• Essential Kitchen Safety with Mushrooms

Apothecary & Medicine Making:

• Fungal Extraction Techniques

• Crafting Liquid Remedies

• Creating Infused Pantry Items

Fungi Science & Traditional Wisdom:

• Healing & Adaptogenic Properties

• Rich Historical and Cultural Traditions

• Sourcing, Growing, Identifying, and Harvesting Mushrooms