We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Irena Cora Stathis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Irena Cora, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
Before I decided to attend an intensive herbal program, I was working in physical therapy in Marina Del Rey. I had been taking the prerequisite classes and preparing myself to apply for PT school. I had an interest in healing and the body for a while, yet, even though I had already been introduced to herbalism, I didn’t consider it a career option at the time. Anyway, I was working as a physical therapist aide, sort of trying it out, to see if it was something I really wanted to continue studying. Well, I found that I really enjoyed working with people and I liked the physical aspect of the job, helping clients to practice their exercises, doing some therapeutic massage etc. My favorite part was getting to know my clients, it was a surprisingly intimate setting, folks would just open up and share about their lives. Sometimes they’d tell me about some health challenges they were facing (like cancer), other times they’d talk about departed loved ones. I found it came very natural to me to listen to their stories and I really enjoyed getting to know them.
Eventually, it came to a point where I needed to decide if I was going to apply for a PT program and continue on this path of rigorous schooling or not. So, I was in the lunch room one day on my break, and my boss came in. She sat down with me and I’m not sure how it came up (maybe I asked for her advice), but I’ll never forget what she said to me. She told me that I was good at my job and that I’d make a great PT, but… she said I had to really want it, if I was going to survive PT school. She helped me, in that moment, to really think about it and ask myself, ‘What do I want?’ Even though it might seem very small, it was actually really profound for me at the time. That conversation has stayed with me all these years because it helped me realize that I was looking for something else. It wasn’t long after that I stumbled across the herbal program (I would later attend) and I knew, somehow, that I would go there and that it would be the beginning of an entirely new path.
It’s funny how there are these small moments like that. These ones that seem quite ordinary at the time and, yet, they were actually really pivotal. I still think about that conversation to this day and I feel so lucky, in a way, that my boss said those things to me. She helped me to find the path that was meant for me and I am so thankful for that.
Irena Cora, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
You know this idea that we each have a gift that we are born with, that there is something each of us are meant to do with our lives? I’m not sure if that’s true, but for as long as I can remember I have loved being in nature. I loved learning all about the natural world, plants and animals, the ocean, the way the body works. When I was quite young, maybe 5 or 6 years old, there was this part of the yard on the side of our house that was full of weeds I used to play in for hours, it was like my secret garden. I would dig in the dirt and gather plants to make ‘medicines’ out of them. Even though this was just a kind of make-believe game, it was something that I felt drawn to without even understanding it. I didn’t know anyone who was knowledgeable about herbs, but the ‘call’ of the plants reached me, none the less. Perhaps this was my gift.
As I got older there was this natural inclination towards the healing arts. I remember having this sense that the body could heal itself and when faced with some health challenges of my own, I sought out natural remedies to support that process. Being in nature was always the greatest healer though and the pull to be surrounded by nature was strong. I ended up moving north to live in the forest and sort of stumbled upon herbalism.
While I was in school living in Northern California, I made friends with a group of lovely people who were also into plants and nature. We would spend our free time wandering through the forests, swimming in rivers and camping on beaches. It was a really beautiful time in my life. I was lucky to have friends who had grown up living closer to the land and taught me about harvesting nettles from the creek and gathering mushrooms. This magical world of plants, fungi, and the interwoven relationships of the forest ecosystem began to open up to me. I found out about an herbalism class being taught by a student on campus and I signed up right away… At the time, I was an interdisciplinary dance major and had my sights set on dance therapy as a career. Yet, every Friday, I spent the afternoon in this little cabin drinking herbal tea and learning traditional folk remedies from the kitchen and garden. It was so much fun. I was hooked.
Of course, as it often happens in life, my path to becoming an herbalist professionally was not a linear one. It took me a few years to find my way. I switched majors to physical therapy and ended up working in the field as a PT aide for about a year, and then went on to study marine biology in Baja. I knew I was interested in healing and I loved being in nature, but I was afraid to go for a non-traditional career, not knowing if I could make a living as an herbalist. I finally decided to attend a year long herbal apprenticeship and it was there that I really fell in love with the plants and I knew that herbalism would be a lifelong journey for me.
I worked on herb farms and volunteered at the Sonoma County Herb Exchange while furthering my studies with indigenous healers Nunutsi Otterson and Phyllis Light and seasoned herbalist Candis Cantin. I eventually found myself back in Southern Cali looking for work. I taught art classes to young children and worked at farmers markets selling imported cheeses and olive oil… and in the meantime I started teaching classes on plant medicine. I didn’t really have a plan and wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do with my background in herbs, but I knew that I enjoyed teaching others about the plants and I was already helping people with various health issues – mostly friends and family who came to me seeking natural remedies for common complaints – things like urinary tract infections, menstrual cramps, digestive issues, colds and flus etc.
The more classes I taught the more people started coming to me and things just unfolded naturally. I love teaching, I love meeting other folks who are also drawn to the plants. It is especially fulfilling watching people in my classes fall in love with herbalism just like I did. For them to experience directly how the plants can heal, how they can shift our moods, open our hearts, clear our minds… it is such a beautiful thing.
Well, one thing sort of just led to another and eventually I decided to start my own school, the Flowering Earth School of Herbalism. I offer hands-on workshops in my garden and more extensive programs like my Herbalism Course for Women that includes plant walks and field excursions to connect with the healing herbs and the beautiful wild places they call home. All of the classes I have taught over the years were born out of my deep love for the plants and they are really my heartfelt offerings to share with my community what I have been so blessed to call my ‘life’s work’. This has been my guiding force all along, this wish to honor the plants and help others find their own path to healing, and I truly feel it has helped me to continue to grow professionally and to find new doors opening.
In my classes, I put a lot of energy towards helping my students to cultivate their own relationships with the plants while providing practical experiences to help facilitate their deeper understanding of the plants’ energetics and their unique medicinal qualities. For me, working with the plants is really about finding a sense of joy and gratitude for the beautiful gifts that the plants bring and I try to bring that to my classes. We really have a lot of fun together. There is a sense of community that naturally appears amongst us ‘plant folk’ and you start to see how really valuable it is to have others you can share with and learn from. This is part of how Herbalism grows and expands – through exchanging our knowledge and experiences with one another.
I will say that, even though I truly do love teaching all my classes, something I am the most proud of is my Women’s Course. This program has been germinating in me for years. Even before I went to herb school, a tiny seed was planted in me, a dream really, of a community of women coming together to heal and to nurture themselves with the help of the plant beings and Mother Nature. The last few years of teaching this course has been so rewarding and beautiful and I can’t wait to see how it continues to evolve in the coming year.
At the moment, I am really excited about my new monthly Herbal Medicine Making series. I haven’t set the dates yet, but will be announcing it soon. Each class we will meet in the garden for a hands on workshop. Participants will learn practical skills for preparing their own herbal medicines from the basics of harvesting, processing and proper storage to various methods of extraction. Every month we will focus on different techniques and learn which methods are best to use for each plant, depending on what you’ll be using it for. Topics will range from the basics like herbal tea formulation and preparation, tinctures and infused honey, to more advanced techniques like steam distillation for essential oil and hydrosol extraction. We will explore traditional folkloric uses of the plants as well as practices for developing a deeper relationship to the plants as healers, teachers and friends.
Sessions will vary month to month depending on what is available in the apothecary and what’s in season in the garden and folks will go home with a sample of whatever we are making that day. So, over the course of the series you’ll basically be building your own herbal medicine chest!
Along with my classes, my herbal practice has continued to grow and I am still making seasonal herbal elixirs, teas, massage oils, topical ointments and beauty balms. In my one-on-one consultations, I help my clients with various health concerns, relying primarily on my own herbal apothecary and garden. I think its important to take an active role in one’s well-being and I try to encourage this by teaching my clients about the plants they are using and how to balance their constitutions through self-care practices and nourishing foods. Although in recent years my focus has become mainly women’s health, I have also helped many folks with a whole range of issues, from acne, hair loss, toothaches and chronic coughs to digestive issues, anxiety and stress management.
There are some really wonderful herbalists out there, practitioners and teachers alike. Some that have been my mentors and others I am fortunate to call my friends. All of these lovely humans bring something different to the table and they help so many people and care so much for the Earth and her plant children. In some ways, what I do, is just a small ripple in the wave of herbalism that is flowing throughout human history and I just feel grateful to be a part of that magnificent, vibrant force. So, in that sense, it’s difficult to say what sets me and my work apart.
One thing I often hear from folks who come to my classes, is that they are looking for in-person experiences where they can learn about plant medicine hands-on, to learn how to make herbal extracts and to be with others in the garden playing with the plants, it is such a good time. I think people are really yearning for connection with others and with the natural world. So, I guess that is something that kind of stands out in today’s world with so much of what’s available being ‘virtual’ nowadays. Being together in a community, getting our hands dirty, tasting and smelling the herbs, sitting with them in the wild, this is how I learned the practice of herbalism and it is a legacy that I hope to carry forward.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
For me, being in a field that is inherently creative and being someone who is naturally creative, I am always craving something new, something different. In the kitchen, I never make the same thing, the same way twice. What I mean is, I really enjoy creating something new and each year I offer new classes and reinvent the old ones. I am always studying and learning more and improving my herbal practice to include these new skills. I am not someone who relies heavily on routines (probably to a fault), but instead I thrive in new circumstances with ever-changing stimuli.
Perhaps that is partly why I ended up doing the work that I do, because I work with people and plants, both complex living beings who are always shifting, always different. Of course, there are recognizable patterns in herbalism, like seeing a certain plant treat the same symptom picture in many people or identifying a relative of a plant one is familiar with based on its similarities. But these patterns are fluid and I have found this reflected in my work, that is, there is a kind of fluidity that is necessary to keep creating and growing with the work that I do.
Working with plants calls on a kind of openness, being open to the unknown, to one’s ‘intuition’, to what the plants are communicating in the moment, which is, at times, quite surprising. When I am sitting with a client or even in preparation for a class I am teaching, sometimes the plants sort of ‘call out’ to me, like they are saying ‘hey, pick me!’ or ‘I am the one you need’. A plant just pops into my mind or keeps showing up and its not always what I am expecting. All this to say that, this has been true in the trajectory of my career as well. There have been several times that I have had to ‘pivot’ and usually quite unexpectedly. You know, I’ll have some plan of how my year is going to go, what classes I am going to teach, how I want things to flow, and then something different will appear, perhaps an obstacle or perhaps an opening to something new and even better than I could have imagined. And, if I am open to it, then I can make that shift and discover a whole new way of working.
The pandemic, I think, brought this experience to the forefront, in a very tangible way for many people. Suddenly, not being able to go along with business as usual, but sort of having to reinvent oneself. In the begging of 2020, I was half way through teaching my first ever herbal apprenticeship, which was a completely in-person, hands-on program. I had only been teaching for a few years at that point and had never taught anything online and then I had to learn an entirely new skill, while teaching, for the first time online, this extensive course. It was pretty intense, and thankfully, my students and I had already established foundational skills and a beautiful sense of community before that, which helped immensely. Even so, it was challenging, to say the least. I honestly never thought I would teach a class online, there was almost, even a kind of disdain for the idea. But, as it turned out, I found it opened this whole new opportunity to connect with people who otherwise would not be able to attend my classes and even really came to enjoy online classroom.
That is just one example, but there have been many, thus far. I am learning to really appreciate this newness that appears from time to time. Instead of seeing these moments as something negative that is forcing me to change, I see it as a chance to keep trying something different in my field, to meet people from different walks of life and even learn new skills
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Collaboration. Finding a partnership with a local institution where I could offer my classes and get my name out there was a big step in helping to grow my reputation as an herbalist and a teacher.
The first class I ever taught was hosted by my sister at her home, she invited her friends over for a workshop and she even handled the money for me (I was totally uncomfortable doing it myself at the time!). That first workshop gave me the confidence to start teaching more classes, I hosted some at my own home and then I started reaching out to local yoga studios and plant nurseries, anywhere that I thought folks who would be interested in my classes could find me. Looking back at those first workshops, they were so much fun and there was a lot of grace, just being able to share with others my love of the plants, it was so sweet. In spite of those good experiences, it was difficult to find the right venue where I could teach. I even had to cancel a class once because I just didn’t get any sign-ups. Living in this huge metropolitan area, I really felt at a loss on how to spread the word on my classes or to attract more clients. I was even trying the old school method of putting up flyers!
Anyway, after hitting a few roadblocks and even feeling a bit discouraged, I finally connected with the Arboretum. They loved my ideas and were ready to offer me a space for teaching classes whenever I wanted. My first class went extremely well, with great attendance. Since they already had a big following, it was much easier to get more visibility for my classes and with each class I taught, new folks would attend, many of whom became my ‘regularls’ and some who are now close friends . Until finally, I was able to start my own school, with classes taught at home in my garden again. Since I am not particularly savvy with online marketing, especially back then, I really needed to connect with an already established institution that could reach the broader plant loving community in LA. It’s something that I have been so grateful for as it has helped me to be able to do what I am meant to do in the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.floweringearthschool.com
- Instagram: @abaloneherbals
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irena.stathis/, https://www.facebook.com/FloweringEarth/
Image Credits
Yara Sousa, Irena Stathis