Herbalism Goes To Prison

This road of life holds many twists and turns. We may call some of these good, some bad, and others somewhere in between. What I love about each new day, and the idea of tomorrow, is that we never know what it will hold so it’s packed with pure potential. What is most important to me these days is the potential for life to surprise me and take me to new directions and adventures related to natural healing and herbalism. I have taught many classes and demographics of people over the years. My teachings have been delivered in forests, some festivals, addiction recovery centres, and even some medical students on university campus. This year has brought herbalism and The Hollow Reed School to a new destination: a prison called Stoney Mountain. It is an interesting feeling being invited to a place that most people try their very best to avoid for their entire lives. At first I noticed a blend of excitement with some genuine apprehension; I’ve never been in a prison, and I had a variety of images of the people inside come to mind, mostly from movies, and they ranged from the best to the worst case scenarios. I was invited out by an inspiring woman named Judith Harris who has been organizing a very unique program in conjunction with the University of Winnipeg called “Walls to Bridges.” It is designed as an opportunity for inmates to apply their time and energy to earn some university credits while they are in the institution. The challenge was initially that it needed to be a 12 week program with each class being 2.5 hours each, which is a lot of content to design for a beginner’s class with little idea of the diversity and interests of those attending. Regardless, after hunkering down and designing the content it was cleared by the university and classes began in early September. My first day was pretty stressful, as I didn’t have the best directions and ended up driving all around the prison grounds trying to find it. Fairly quickly, I had a tail of police cars making sure I wasn’t there to break someone out or get into some kind of trouble (no trouble making – just a wayward herbalist trying to find his way to class). Eventually I found the visitor parking and made my way into the security check. The setting was dark, with the kind of awful institutional lighting you might imagine. I had to get a locker to check my phone and keys, and after doing so I headed up to meet the students. The walls were filled primarily with posters with slogans of hope and wisdom along with Indigenous teachings. As I got closer to the entrance of the class I could see some pretty intimidating looking men. By intimidating, I mean they were dressed in the standard blue shirts one finds in prisons, and most of them looked like they had not skipped the gym a single day in the past couple of years. It was quite a contrast from the demographic and environments that I am accustomed to. Up until this moment in time, the groups that I had taught were typically 90% female who were already up to speed with many concepts related to natural healing, and the settings I taught in were far more pleasant. It was shortly after that I was able to sense a flash of the beauty and the power of the human spirit. Each and every one of them came to shake my hand and thank me for coming out to teach them. The inmates spanned virtually all nationalities and had a variety of accents. The three credit program actually allows students from outside of the prison to join in and access the unique credits, however we only had enough time to advertise the course briefly so we only had two off site students. Two women joined the class, and considering that the class and the site were all male, they were definitely feeling the uniqueness of the setting. We chose to move all the desks into a circle and our deep dive into herbalism began. I was not allowed to bring in any props for safety reasons, however I had put some essential oil on my palo santo bracelet before going in, and I sent it around the circle to open the class with the essence of one of our best plant ambassadors – peppermint! We covered a lot of content in that first class. Topics ranged from early childhood plant memories to the miracle of all that is green and how we could not live without our precious plants. We covered ways we can learn and know things besides books, and discussed the wise ways of all of our ancestors. As we went further into the importance of a healthy gut and the pillars of good digestion I could see what they were all thinking – why have we never heard this before now? They were fully engaged, possibly more than any other group I had taught before. They literally started to look like kids in a candy store when they received their textbooks (the same one we use for module one in the apprenticeship program). We shared many things, like the connection between the health of the gut biome and our mental and emotional health. We discussed anti- inflammatories like chaga fungus and ginger root. By the end of the class, they were passionately committed (by their own accord) to learning how to make their own sauerkraut, as it’s not on their list of ordering or menu options in prison. In fact, there was not a single good fermented option for them on their existing food menu. The good news that I came to learn was that they are all involved in a garden and were growing their own vegetables. In fact, they said they spend most of their free time in the gardens in the summer. A few classes later, I invited a botanist and fellow student of our herbalism apprenticeship program ,Jen Berger, to teach the class about botany and some of the scientific side of plant identification. We toured the garden, looked at some wild plants in the yard, and I left with an armful of vegetable blessings from the gardeners. They are now committed to growing more herbs next season. I could not help but notice the sincere love they had for their ability to connect with the gardens, to get to know the plants, and to fill their pantry for the winter. It is easy to see that there is a real opportunity for inmates to develop their interests and change their perspectives on life and the simple places where we can find happiness. In reality, other than the police presence and barbed wire fences, the site has a lot in common with monasteries and retreat centres. There is little distraction, and a chance to go into sweat lodges and pray for more clarity and healing. There is a chance to read, meditate, and to not be plagued by the constant distractions and gnawing addictions of the modern world, like YouTube and smart phones. There is a chance to reflect on the path now past, the mistakes made, and to develop a new vision for the path ahead. As it turns out, there were more inmates interested in the course than we could let into the first class. We have more content ahead including meditation and essential oils, learning about Ayurveda, watching some video content of myself wandering through the forest in the film Our Common Roots, and a visit from an Indigenous Elder. To wind up the course, each student will be presenting on a plant and we will potentially be making a little compilation of information and inspiration for future inmates to reference and enjoy. I will wrap up by saying that it feels like a sincere honour to be with these fine humans; humans who may have made some mistakes, maybe not had the best upbringings, fell into the wrong crowd or dealt with some tough mental health genetics. Regardless, they are seeking a new path and I’m happy to play a part in helping that path be one that is filled with some of the wisdom, love, and life force of our green allies.