My name is Liz Collins.  My first passion in the recognition of physical and spiritual health is the practice of yoga, with over 25 years of teaching and study. I was certified in the Iyengar tradition through the Center for Yoga of Seattle in 1997. In the past 14 years I have immersed myself in the Shadow Yoga lineage, studying primarily with Scott Blossom and Matt Pesendian. I hold a BA in Sanskrit and South East Asian Religious Studies from Evergreen State College. I have also studied with Nita Rubio in the Sri Vidya lineage and the Tantric Dance of Feminine Power for the past 14 years.

I have been exploring the vast field of herbalism for over 13 years, and have studied with Peruvian, Oaxacan, Chumash, Ayurvedic, and Western herbal masters, as well as many hours and days directly with the herbs themselves. I joined EWSPH in 2016 and have learned so much through the teachers, curriculum, and community. My focus is primarily on Ayurveda and native herbalism. I love to wildcraft, garden, and alchemize in my kitchen, cackling away as pots bubble and the aromatic spirits of plants fill the air.

David Frawley taught me this passage from the Rig Veda; “Plants as Mothers and Goddesses, I address you; May I gain light, energy, sustenance, your soul, you, who are a conscious being.” This is the way I approach herbalism, as a sacred spiritual path, learning directly from the herbs, the first peoples, and, from the lineage holders in the human realm as well.

I have a ministry called Anahata Healing Arts, where I share my healing work through massage (I am a CMT with 16 years professional experience), Ayurvedic bodywork, yoga instruction, and Integrative health counseling (as a graduate of IIN), as well as guided Ayurvedic seasonal cleansing. I also have a botanicals business called Baba Yaga Botanicals, based on my love for the dangerous wisdom giver and wild witchy herbalist of Russia, who rides in a mortar and steers with a pestle, wiping away her tracks with a birch broom.

In addition to my professional work, I teach gardening and herbalism to 3 grades at the Waldorf School of Santa Barbara on a volunteer basis, and work one day a week in service of the plants at a native plants nursery on the Gaviota coast called Santa Barbara Natives. I love to spend time with my husband and two kids, hike, write poetry, and live a beautiful life in a kincentric ecology of mutual nourishment and care.