I have always been interested in living and eating healthy. I’m sure it began with my grandfather. He taught me to fish, to plant a garden, and to can fruits and vegetables. He was from an era long past when having a small farm, if not just a garden, as well as preserving foods meant the difference between eating and hunger. My junior high school offered a class in agriculture and in high school I took an interest in local plant identification. I went to Cal State San Bernardino where I was allowed to have an independent study in hydroponics and finished a degree in Geography. However, when I went to UC Davis I focused on organic farming. During my time at Davis I completed a masters in Geography actually focused on biofuels, I lived in the Domes, a unique, organic, sustainability centered student community, I wrote a book on the Jews of Sacramento, spent six months on a kibbutz in Israel, and learned Unix. I love to travel so I became a teacher, using my summers to go anywhere. I was a computer application teacher for 20 years, using technology dating from Apple IIs and PCs to iMacs and various Windows based machines, teaching programming, networking, and computer graphics. I left teaching to study organic farming in Thailand, a course of study leading to a PhD. Over a period a nine years I learned about Thai foods and culture, a wide variety of Thai herbs, and practical Buddhism. I spent time in Burma as a Buddhist monk, learning what it is to meditate. My wife Tanyapon was an experienced farm leader and grew organic vegetables in Thailand. We operated an oyster mushroom farm together for two years in Thailand before returning to the U.S. I took a job teaching to complete my years to retirement. Tanyapon and I also grew and sold oyster, shiitake, and lion’s mane mushrooms, as well as wheatgrass juice, sunflower sprouts, and various Thai vegetables at farmer’s markets in Los Angeles. During this time one of my closest friends was completing a Doctor of Oriental Medicine degree at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine and really lit a fire under me to learn more about herbs. After taking early retirement at 55, I began studying herbology independently. My customers told me that I needed certification, so I sought formal training. The curriculum of the East West School has been remarkably comprehensible and adaptable to my specific needs. Michael and Lesley have put together instructional tools which are readily customizable to my specific objectives. While I am learning so much about a wide range of imbalances and remedies, I can go deeper into my own particular interests, not surprisingly being mental, emotional, and physical issues of men approaching 60. I have also been correlating Thai herbs with their Chinese counterparts. My instructor, Holly Hutton, has been very encouraging and thorough. She explains to me the questions I should be asking, and completely answers the ones that I ask. In other words, she is teaching me the process of understanding herbalism. Next year I will integrate my competencies into Tanyapon’s massage therapy business, operating as Sanctuary Holistic Therapy. I am dedicating part of my study to herbs for muscle relaxation, tendon and ligament rejuvenation, and calming herbs. I hope to add to the success of her business.