Meet the Woman behind the Medicine. By Paris Iha
In this post we talk about the healer’s journey and how one herbalist, Pearl Sites, came to dedicate her life to herbal medicine. Learn about her plant ally Saint John’s Wort, the importance of having a philosophy for your herbal practice, and how to find the right practitioner for you.
Every healer has their story…
What is it that ignites the spark to align one’s passion and their career? For healers, often times it is their own healing journey.
Getting to know your practitioner is like getting to know your farmer. It’s not just the organic produce that is good for you; it’s about developing a real relationship with your food and where it comes from that offers soul level nourishment.
So it is in the world of holistic health.
Meet Pearl Sites.
Pearl’s mission is to promote health sovereignty through herbal medicine and to support people in making changes that last. She does this by offering therapeutic, one-on-one counseling and by training a team of student herbalists each year in her teaching clinic to become caring and knowledgeable practitioners.
Pearl’s journey with herbal medicine began when she was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 22. She had been diagnosed with advanced stage cancer and was put through several surgeries, chemo, and multiple rounds of radiation before she received her clean bill of health.
It was during this time, between being a cancer patient and actually feeling better, that Pearl became interested in herbal medicine. Although the doctors told her she was well, she had never felt sicker in her entire life.
She moved to Hawaii to focus on her health. Even though she was in a beautiful place, Pearl still felt terrible. Working at a health food store, Pearl began to pull every book on natural healing she could get her hands on. Every paycheck went toward supplements and trying out health fads, like colon cleansing—“I made my self really sick!” she remarks about this time in her life. “Even sicker!”
The world of natural healing can be not only difficult to navigate, but also provide misleading or potentially harmful information especially when it is out of context. Heroic strategies promising instant gratification often come with a price. Ideas and information rooted in personal experience, traditional uses and a philosophical context; they matter. For Pearl, the price was exacerbated symptoms and prolonged suffering.
“I was trying to detox my already depleted system…that’s what the books said.”
Eventually however, the pieces started to come together. As they did, and Pearl began to treat her self naturally and with success, Pearl decided to dedicate her life to helping people who felt as disempowered as she had when navigating the healthcare system and looking for reliable resources and knowledge of alternative treatments. She decided to focus on herbal medicine.
Since this time, Pearl has cultivated relationships with people, places, and plants— all of which inform her practice as an herbalist. It was in Virginia near the Appalachian Mountains where Pearl first met a couple of her greatest plant allies (plants that align themselves as healing and teaching agents in one’s journey): Saint John’s Wort and Wild Yam.
“Saint John’s Wort is probably the plant I’ve used the most, the longest, and it’s one where I can feel the shifts in my body and nervous system when I take it…It’s been so useful to me in so many areas of my life that it’s hard to distill down; from helping my liver, to promoting calmness and reducing anxiety”.-P.S
Several years ago, herbal medicine supported Pearl on another chapter in her healing story; when Pearl decided to get sober.
“(Saint John’s Wort is) an herb I recommend a lot in early sobriety to help with the transition physically and emotionally…and it’s one that I’ve meditated a lot with. It brings the sunshine and joy.”-P.S
That’s part of the magic of herbal medicine, and of the healer’s journey. It is layered, multifaceted, and can show up over and over again yet in different ways, with different lessons.
Pearl’s philosophy around herbal medicine has developed around these life experiences.
“It’s not about learning what herb is good for what condition. It’s really a whole system of philosophy and treatment approaches and therapeutics.”-P.S
It is wonderful to start learning when, where, and how to use herbal medicine and natural remedies. When working with serious health issues, Pearl advocates for working with an herbalist. When choosing a practitioner, she recommends thinking about how you’re comfortable speaking about the body. Find someone who speaks your language, who can meet your needs and has a strong education in whatever aspect you’re looking to fulfill: use your own discernment.
“It’s important to sift through the various options, whether it’s in herbal medicine and looking at treatment options, or looking at life options or directions. Being able to intelligently sift through that information and decide what path is going to serve you best is key—and by intelligently I mean intelligence of the body, mind and spirit.”-P.S
In response to her passion, in 2016 Pearl opened Hawthorn Wellness in Ashland, Oregon. It began as a teaching clinic, training new herbalists, and has evolved into a wellness center that hosts classes, workshops, a team of practitioners, and its own line of house-blended herbal remedies.
Hawthorn Wellness is exactly the kind of resource in the community that would have served Pearl early in her journey.
“in this age of specialties, I think it’s really important for people to have somebody who can help them connect the dots” –P.S
Pearl’s wellness center is becoming a hub where you can find people, and herbs, to help you do just that: connect the dots.
The goal of Hawthorn Wellness is to marry tradition with innovation. As a multi-dimensional dot connector, Pearl is constantly exploring ways to integrate the traditional uses of herbal medicine with the modern needs of her clientele. Traditional medicine adapted not only for the modern lifestyle, but for chronic illness and pain, and marrying it with new information about the body and disease processes.
Pearl’s passion for personal development is not just conceptual; she utilizes it as a tool for effecting positive, long-lasting changes in her practice.
“I have dedicated my life to personal development and figuring out tools to not only change my life and to feel more positive, but to ways that I can reach people to help them feel more empowered … And herbal medicine is the larger umbrella for that. The way we practice at Hawthorn is all about personal empowerment. We have expertise about herbal medicines and information but we believe that people are the experts of their own wellness and their own bodies.” -P.S
There are many paths to health and wellness. Pearl’s approach is all about offering a roadmap based on a collaborative model. Her journey has taught her that there is no expert greater than yourself, especially when it comes to personal health, and that is it one’s own journey that can be the greatest teacher.
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” –Rumi
The light, the spark that ignites a passion often enters us through the place of original wounding. It is a place of vulnerability. It is like a crack in the sidewalk, where the traveling seed of a dandelion blowing past just may stop and take root. It may be a place to learn from and return to; it is a place to begin again and evolve from.
Pearl’s story has transformed her and enabled her to support her students, her clients and those who come to know her personally and professionally.
“Pearl has helped me to grow by encouraging me to step up as an herbalist in spite of self-doubt. She has also been my personal development guru! I’ve gleaned so many amazing practices from her that have helped me improve my mindset and confidence so that I can show up better for clients, the people in my life, and have more fun! She is an incredible teacher in many ways beyond her vast knowledge of herbal medicine, a topic that she’s sparked in me a lifelong interest in studying.” –L.F
“Pearl has had a major impact on my life, and I will be forever grateful to her for the wisdom and confidence that she has passed on to me. Pearl has a way about her that makes learning fun and attainable, the way that she is so humble and open to all her students no matter where they are at is very special. Her classroom is a safe space where I felt completely comfortable to be myself. She is such an inspiration to me, not only the things I have learned in the class room but also just witnessing how she shows up in her life has given me guidance and confidence in what I am doing in my own life.” –K.B
I have yet to meet a holistic health creative who does not have a story of their own that informs and underlies the development of their personal philosophy and approach toward their practice.
Stories heal. Cultivating a relationship with your practitioner, learning their story and coming to know your own offers nourishment and sustains a relationship centered model of care.
So tell me, self-healer, what brought you here and how did you first become interested in herbal medicine?