Don Ollsin - appreciating your own magic

Herbal Elder Don Ollsin shares some of the wealth of his knowledge in this episode, discussing everything from talking to trees through to Covid-19!

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Transcript

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Arwen Bardsley: 0:00

So, welcome, Don, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really delighted to have your knowledge flooding upon us all. I would love to just start off with a bit of an introduction to you and how you got into the field of herbalism. And just a bit about your journey. If you don't mind sharing that with us, and why you this life you have now is is so important to you.

Don Ollsin: 0:35

Thanks for having me on. Appreciate that. Uh, yeah. So I started in the 1960s. And I was in Vancouver, British Columbia, which was, you know, a hotbed of creativity and all kinds of things going on. And I came to it through spirituality, I came to the herbs through the spiritual, not the other way around. So I got interested in meditation and spirituality and read a book called The Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda, that I read seven times, big starting book. Steve Jobs had on his computer as the only book he had on his Kindle. So you know that that ignited my fire. And so I ended up finding I won't go into all the details of there are always synchronicities that happen, but I ended up meeting this man who just come back from India, and he had been with a teacher in India and I had that teacher became my teacher. That man had also been a vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver, and in January of 1969, I started working at the restaurant and living at the restaurant. It was an ashram upstairs, we would meditate and we'd go downstairs, and work in the restaurant, it was really good restaurant, actually, and was a lot of fun. So I worked there for nine months, until September of that year. And then I went to India to study with this teacher, his name was Kirpal Singh and he was a beautiful sweet sincere human being that impacted my life and continues to impact my life. And at the Golden Lotus, we served this incredible strange thing called herbs. We had herb teas in 1969 there was a chamomile and you know, hibiscus and stuff like that. You've got to realize in 1969, that was obscure like the herbs aren't what they are today. And so that's that's was the origin and the why I was always like, when I was in elementary school, I, they were teaching the periodic table and the teacher was saying, you know, the ancient people were really stupid. They only had earth, air, fire and water. And I remember like waking up in, like, out of a trance and going no wait a minute that's not right. And looking out the window and looking at the students and going, 'Oh, damn, I'm in the wrong classroom'. And, but, you know, nothing to do with my family. My family wasn't spiritual, or I didn't even know anything about Ayuveda or I didn't really know much about four elements yet. I mean, I'm in elementary school. But the vision stayed with me and and so went back to sleep. And again in about, age 17. My my sister came up my sister, older sister looked after me, she'd taken me rollerskating and she left me in the car, she come back to get me in that she looked at me said,'What are you doing, meditating?' And I'd never heard the word before. But it was like have like a wave just washed over me. What's that word, what does it mean? And then, five years later, I'm in India meditating six hours a day and with not knowing anything about meditation at that point, like, again, not something in my family system at all. So that's the end of the why Yeah, it's just there was a deep always a deep curiosity about life and death and buried my bunny rabbit when I was, you know, five, six years old, and that went dug it up the week later and was oh, she didn't look, Fluffy didn't look the same. So I've always been in the, you know, nobody gets out alive. I've always had a sense of impermanence and always a fascination with the deeper aspects of life.

Arwen Bardsley: 4:47

Yeah, yeah. Beautiful. And I know that you've done a lot of different study throughout your career, and something that really struck me was the fact that you studied a lot with First Nations peoples. And I'm just wondering if you can talk a bit about how this has been really, of great importance to your career and your practice. And even for people who don't want to become herbalists. What what do you think is important just about learning from the First Nations peoples of whatever country we are in.

Don Ollsin: 5:31

You know, this gets formed and my teacher, the main teacher here, where I live, who has passed now at age 95, her name was Ellen White. And the thing to understand is a lot of cultures. They were shamanic cultures, not just have a shaman, but they were shamanic cultures. And we where we live, we're, I mean, we, we tried desperately to decimate them, but we didn't succeed, thank God. And so they still have their big houses intact, their rituals intact. And Ellen was special because she was trained by the elders, I only learned this at her 75th birthday I'd been studied with for a long time, around 1980 on, but I was at her birthday, and one of the elders got up and said, why she was so special, because she was trained from a young age by the elders in the traditional ways. It's it's, I can't really articulate how important and special and she was my adopted mother. So and we actually had a beautiful symbiotic relationship in that I was at her, she got the Order of Canada. And that's a special award, they give people I was sitting with her daughter's and, and one of her daughter, Carol said, you know, Don, you know, our mother in a way that we don't know her because we never went and studied the spiritual stuff with her. Not only that, they consider which back when I started, I met her through a friend, and we hit it off. And so I invited her and all her knowledge to come and share with us, which was kind of against her tradition, in a sense, but she was a great believer in our cultures had to work together, we couldn't be separated. And so we started working together. And then when I married Sandy, Sandy, and I and her started working together, and we did all kinds of, you know, classes and workshops, and, and I participated in her life and a part of her family.

Arwen Bardsley: 8:03

And so what kinds of things were you learning from her?

Don Ollsin: 8:07

The connection, you know, the, it's hard to describe to some people that apparently, in the recent history, there's a book called The Pacific Ocean or something. These people where we live have been here for a long time, like, way longer than they thought, so to be with people who are from this land, and there, they transmit something to you that you can't get from books you can't get from another Westerner, colonizer because you know, we can get it in our own ancestral lands, but you can't get it cuz you're not from here, like you're not from this soil from the like, we're at the park the other day and my wife and we're both feeling kind of frazzled. And I said well let's tune into the rocks because Ellen was really big on all, of course, All I said, you say What can people take from it get the fact that all life is sentient, all life is communicating to you, all life wants to be communicated with, all of nature. So that's one of their, they didn't have their thing was I And thou, they didn't have an'it'. Nothing was an 'it'. So there's no it's you know, and we're disenchanted. We're living a sterile - I'm being a little bit dramatic here - but we can be living in a very cut off, you know, trees or timber or feet worth money versus trees are living beautiful beings and I studied with Dorothy Mclean from Findhorn. I don't know if you know of her, but she was one of the founders of Findhorn where they planted all these trees. They grew all these fantastic gardens and she grew them by tuning into the plants to tell her what to do. Anyway, she just died at 100 Just recently, and I studied with her too. And she said, the trees are confused. They don't know why we don't talk to them anymore. You know, so I tell all my students talk to the trees, especially the ones and, you know, when you're in the city, and they're growing in, you know, in a place where, you know, they're gift, giving us the oxygen and purifying the air and stuff, but it's hard work, you know, like, it isn't the ideal circumstances for them. So anyways, that's what I'd say take from it is that it's a sentient universe. And you're not alone. You're never alone.

Arwen Bardsley: 10:45

Yeah, and just to, and yeah, that we are nature as well. You know, there's all this stuff about get back into nature, but we are nature and we need to just recognize that again. And yeah, I so agree that there's we're just we're very disconnected from all the other beings on the earth. Yeah.

Don Ollsin: 11:13

And I like what you're saying too, but us, like, people say they want to see a miracle. Christ, look at yourself. You're trillions of cells functioning. You, we're living miracles. And we're self healing. You know, my wife had a small accident recently, and just watching her body heal itself, you know, like, and, you know, I've worked with people, well, I'm in my 70s now, but I, when I started, I worked with people that in their 90s and keeps healing, you know, like, it's like, so yeah, I like I think people need to acknowledge that too. Not just that. We need to appreciate our own magic and in 'an Alchemy of psychology' with James Hillman. It's like, We are the vessel for the spirit. So what a blessing, you know, and so our human life is a very precious thing. We, we house a thing called God or creator, whatever you want to call it, it's a very powerful force. That we, we have the privilege of and so life is as hard as it is, and I'm in life can be really hard. But at some point, the one of the greatest lessons Ellen White taught me, I would fire up, and I'd complain and whine and I'd like... She'd listen patiently. Yeah, okay. Did you say thank you? I know, she'd ask me that. Because she'd do that all the time. I'd go. And so even in my most, you know, like, everything's lousy and I'm feeling really 'huh', if I can say thank you. It's it's a strange phenomena, but it actually works. I don't want to, and I'm not in my mind thankful. But there's something that happens if I go. Okay, thank you. Okay, thanks. And you know, it, it changes it. So I think that's just there's something about this privilege of being having having a human birth, and especially a lot of us who are privileged to live with so much abundance really. Anyways,

Arwen Bardsley: 13:43

yeah. And so are you saying that you're? So you're saying thank you, and it's kind of Thank you for teaching me this lesson or, you know, making me go through this hardship.

Don Ollsin: 13:56

Yeah. And thank you for this, abuse that I mean, I don't want to say abuse that's too strong a word, you know, yeah. When things are not working out the way you want them. You're not even thinking of So you're literally just saying thank you. You don't have you're not framing it as a lesson or anything. You're just just just saying thank you. Thank you for this mess. And life is messy. And I guess life has a big shadow side. I'm not a really big, new agey, like everything's hunky dory, beautiful. Everything is beautiful. But there's also alongside of it is the not so beautiful, and we need to learn to deal with that. We also need to name that and, you know, not let it had to be an unconscious thing where we look the other way if it's something that needs to be addressed.

Arwen Bardsley: 14:56

Yeah. And so you feel that even if you are not really feeling thankful that but if you're just saying it, then it's kind of the trigger for changing how you feel about.

Don Ollsin: 15:07

It's the it's kind of Zen thing. It works, but I don't know how it works. And it's not something I want to do. But I had about a week ago or so I was really feeling sorry for myself and really feeling just'urrggh'. And then I'd actually dreamt about Ellen for the first time since she passed. And I had a dream about her that night. And so she came into my mind and I went 'oh God Yeah, I gotta say, thank you'. I don't want to say thank you but I did. And it was like I said, it's not it's not an easy pill is and she was not an easy teacher she would reprimand me all the time. But she gave me hard lessons. I won't go into details but she wasn't. She was as she was a fierce teacher like, beautiful, sweet soul, but strong teachers like, you know, she wasn't. She kept my ego in check.

Arwen Bardsley: 16:09

Oh, I think we all need a teacher like that. Okay, so can you talk to us about sustainability and ecology and the relationship that they have with healing, and whatever else you'd like to say about those things, because they're one of my favorite subjects.

Don Ollsin: 16:32

As you know, in 2011, I went back to university I know I went to university have ever been to university, I got into a master's program because of my life experience. And I got a degree in environmental education and communication. So I spent two years studying this in depth. And one of my favorite subjects in that program was systems systems point of view. I've gone on since then, the study of Fritjof Capra, who wrote the way of life and wrote the system's point of view, the way of life was one of our textbooks. And the systems point of view is an incredible, almost textbook, beautiful human being. But like, in a systems point of view, you you have to look at all the aspects of not only the physical aspects, but the social aspects, the economic aspects. And, and I feel like say with this pandemic, for example, one of my biggest things about it that bothers me is that it's just one approach. And it's and its, and it benefits, the cure benefits only a few and really has damaged our social system. So the social system and the economic system, and even the even the human body system were not really taken into consideration. It was just one approach. And it wasn't systems approach. That's what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying it's good or bad what the answer is, I don't know what the answer is

Arwen Bardsley: 18:14

Are you talking about locking people down?

Don Ollsin: 18:17

locking people down mandatory vaccinations of a experimental drug, that I don't think there was enough consideration given to the whole system, and then enough time thinking about the ramifications of what this would mean. And I think we have a real mess right now that we're really in the middle of and I don't think it's over yet, in terms of the damage done. And I think a systems point of view would have much changed that. I will say, my country where I'm from originally, ancestrally as Sweden, and they developed a thing called the natural step. And people can look into that. But it's an idea that nothing can come into the environment that doesn't belong there. So that's a really good, you know, systems approach.

Arwen Bardsley: 19:08

So can you take us through, you know, perhaps what a systems approach to dealing with that the pandemic would have looked more like,

Don Ollsin: 19:18

well, probably beyond my scope, because they have people that do this that create, like, whole system for countries but the understanding of a systems point of view is that things are complex, not simple. There's seldom a simple answer. It's like when they go into Sweden, and go into a community, they last 20 years to bring about the changes because they know that everything's gonna need to change, not just, you can't just you can't just recycle, you have to look at everything like they took, they took like. Okay the people that run the natural step went to, they were invited to speak to an oil industry and they're like, well, they're doing everything wrong, what can we say? And so they said, well, we'll just go and talk to them about the theory and the philosophy of, of systems thinking, and natural step. And at the end of it, the very intelligent people in the audience they are speaking to, these are scientists and be the high end, intelligent people. They didn't talk to them, the persons there didn't need to talk to the presenter, they start talking amongst themselves, well the end all and be all this, they ended up growing beets for alcohol for cars, like so they reduce the consumption of gasoline dramatically by coming up with an alternative? And same with the garbage they don't know what to do with the garbage in Sweden because they've learned to utilize everything so well, that garbage is down to 8%, which used to be 60%. So yeah, so. So that's what I mean is that it's, it's complex. You got to think about the ramifications of everything and the interconnection of everything. It can't just be we'll do this and that'll fix it. No. And then also our immune system, you'd have another question about the immune system. Our immune system is our relationship to our environment. And there's a much around, Varela created the Santiago theory in Chile. And the whole idea of that is called structural coupling. And basically, our body is always always in relationship, and is literally being created by our environment. Outside and inside, we are what is called structurally coupling, we are creating our cells and our tissues in relationship to what we're experiencing in the outer environment, and inner environment. So if you're having thoughts of terror, you have got to kind of get a handle on that because your body's responding to that. And if you're experiencing fear, excessive fear in the external environment, well that's not really great.

Arwen Bardsley: 22:21

And so what are your suggestions for people to get more from their immune system? And you know, really

Don Ollsin: 22:34

the one thing that you and I talked about is like I hone that. think, for me, a big part of healing is education. And so educate not medicate all I mean by that is that you have a really incredible access to information now learn more about

Arwen Bardsley: 22:51

Yeah, right. your immune system what it is not and get the latest there's a doctor I tried to find the whiteboard on it. He has a beautiful whiteboard Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, maybe you can put it in your notes after, I can send you it. But he has a beautiful

Don Ollsin: 23:10

I don't want to push any I'm just saying educate whiteboard on the immune system and and it's it's really explains the modern concept of the immune system, how it's connected, psycho neuro immunology, how it's connected to the biome, how it's connected to our psyche, it's not just a simple and it's not in the way of the in Fritjof Capra's book is not a defense system is a communication system. It's just always communicating with your outer environment. And if something's it's like a balance is it has a bouncer as part of its immune system. And if somebody's not good for the party, the dance, then they get rid of them. But other than that, they don't go and kick but if you check something directly into the blood, it's kind of have a response. It's gonna have a freakout to a certain extent. But I'll stop there. yourself become empowered, know that, that your immune system is an incredible like psycho neuro immunology that was all Dr. Wehrli who I told you he was one of the doctors who went to work with the with the Dalai Lama. And and Dalai Lama did all these work with these neurologists and and in, you know, started to develop this whole psycho neuro immunology, which means our psyche, which I was talking about, affects our physiology. And as there's no question around it,

Arwen Bardsley: 24:59

yeah. No, absolutely. And it's so important for people to even if they just get that basic concept that if they're constantly in a state of stress, whatever that is, whether that is fear or whether that is anxiety, then that is going to impact on their immune ability, the ability of their body to continue a positive communication, to use your words, with its environment. Yeah. So important. So can we talk a bit more about spirituality? Because you did say you came into your, your practice and your work through that? How do you what's your relationship with spirituality now? And how does it fit into the world

Don Ollsin: 26:02

I walked two paths, and I got to walk the path of my teacher Kirpal Singh who I went to India with. I had an interesting dream a few years ago, where I was talking to the man who introduced me to Kirpal Singh, the teacher went to study with an India and I was saying, Well, I walked two paths, I walked the path of Kirpal and I walked the path of Ellen White. So my spirituality is a very earthy based spirituality. My teacher in India was also really earht based, but we have this, we have this vision of these people in India there. We we lump them into the spiritual like, religious thing, but they're, they're not many of them are mystics, like my teacher had a tree growing through his house. And you know, he instead of cutting a tree, and I did his house, when he go into the jungle to meditate, the scorpions would follow him in a row. When he sat to meditate, they'd sit around him and meditate with him. You know, like, I went to visit Yogi Rachavcheri on the banks, the Ganges River, I was there for six, nine months, and his home was carved into the mountainside out of dirt. But it was really nice home it was it was an it was very comfortable. But he was 110 years old, you know, like, so and those that I'm I could wax poetic about it. But it's so that stayed with me and I still meditate every day. And I meditate no matter what I, if I go through a stage where I'm not being so spiritual, in a sense of following all the rules, I still meditate, my teacher said, I don't care what you do, but meditate every day. You know, you can break every other rule. But don't miss your meditation. So. So I meditate every day and I probably could count on one hand, the times I missed meditation and since 1969. But then I have this deep, intimate connection with nature that Ellen and other teachers, I had already had it, but they just enhanced it incredible. I had the experience in 1969, of a waking vision of a deva, which I don't have waking visions, I am not a visual kind of person. But I actually saw her and talked to her. And that's a whole other story. But it's on my website that On the opening page, because it was the beginning method, of the program I still teach it happened in 1986 before I started that program.

Arwen Bardsley: 28:45

And so with meditation, what when do you do or do you have a specific time in your day when you do it?

Don Ollsin: 28:52

usually first thing in the morning, I really encourage people to when they wake up to when they make that transition from sleep to both ways from sleep to waking and from waking to sleep. I really feel that's a valuable time to stay stay aware of your they call sleep the younger sister of death. So you go to sleep as if you're not going to wake up in the morning. You know, just you know, because there won't be a time when we don't. We don't? Well, at least we don't wake up as this person. You know, I believe we can. Transition. Yeah, I believe we can transition to the next level of life. You know in a wakeful state, but But anyways, that's part of the training with both Ellen and Kirpal is that we're all going to die. That's just a given. Nobody gets out alive. So you should spend some time thinking about death, don't devote all your time to the impermanent world because it's not permanent.

Arwen Bardsley: 30:08

So how would you suggest somebody start that kind of meditation practice?

Don Ollsin: 30:14

Just start. That's the big, just be still. You still and know that I'm God, You're God. Like, there's a part of you that a lifeforce inside of you that is animating you. And so just meditate on that lifeforce. And, but do it, do it take five minutes a day just to stop, stop your story. You know, and just, it's not easy. But if you practice, then it'll get easier. When I first meditated, it was bizarre I'd close my eyes and you know, what the hell am I doing? I'm sitting on a floor, you know, I, I didn't know what I was doing. But eventually, gradually you your your consciousness can get inside. And then I really do believe you. You need teachers and that, but I think that process then brings the teachers to you. Like, I feel like I was drawn to all my teachers from Ellen to all kinds of them. So but you have to start the, you have to start quieting the noise. And listen.

Arwen Bardsley: 31:32

And there's so much more noise now, don't you think than when you first started meditating?

Don Ollsin: 31:39

Totally. Totally. Yeah. I like I said, I don't say it's easy, but be an essentialist. Just focus on what's essential. And I think this is one of the things that should be essential in your life is that to know that you're impermanent and you want to devote some time to that part of you that is, is not impermanent. Behold, my deathless body, my teacher used to say, you know, like, there is a part of us, I believe, that doesn't die. But some, I don't know why it's such a tricky thing that we have to figure it out. But somehow we, we got to get back in touch with that part of ourselves. Somehow we've we've abandoned that. And that's, you know, somehow we have to, like I said it, but I also feel it's grace. I don't, I don't want people to feel bad if they're not, like, I think there's something about those energies finding you too like, you know, they find you and then they waking you from within, like I said about my story, elementary school that was already there. There's, I was already on this journey, because this had nothing to do with Don Ollsin, the kid from the 50s. And, you know, born in Saskatchewan, and you know, there's nothing, anything in that world to equate with the experience I had, that was inside of me. So that's inside of everyone. I think my teacher says, Once you ask the question, Who am I? You're screwed. I could from then on, it's like, now you have to answer the question. You know, and I love there's a thing called that is there is a picture of this child and the child said, what part of me is me?

Arwen Bardsley: 33:44

Ah.

Don Ollsin: 33:48

You know, so just start asking questions like that, you know, what part of me is me?

Arwen Bardsley: 33:56

Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it? When you start to take away all the external things, like, you know, I'm a mom, I'm a herbalist. I'm a surfer, you know, whatever that is that then you if you can't, that can't be your answer, then what is who are you? Yeah, very deep, but

Don Ollsin: 34:20

You've found your essence. You know, I guess one thing I want to say is it's very beautiful to it's not I mean, I'm kind of looking at the negative side, you gonna die, but no the fact is the spiritual realm is existing all around us at all times. We just dip into it. It's not it doesn't go anywhere. Matter comes out of spirit, not the other way around. The spirit is the permanent part. This is always has been the impermanent. It all passes and changes, but spirit world is more, you know, more of who we actually are. And and it's beautiful. It's blissful. It's It's nothing like you can ever imagine. In this world, there's nothing that I have and I lived a blessed life. I grew up with 60s with sex, drug, rock and rolls. And you had all kinds of incredible experiences, but nothing, nothing compared with the spiritual experiences. I had nothing. Like LSD was like, child's play compared to it.

Arwen Bardsley: 35:24

Ah, I love it.

Don Ollsin: 35:26

I'm serious. Like it's so that exists. I mean, that's the irony of it all. We are these. The light of your own soul is equal to 12 Noon day suns. And that's just your soul, not the oversoul that's just the energy that it's enlivening you right now, inside your body is enough light of 12 noon day suns. But it's kind of she got lost she sobered. But we if if we can eventually tap into that it's worth the it's worth the investment. I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Arwen Bardsley: 36:05

Yeah, and it's really I mean, I believe it's really our life's work.

Don Ollsin: 36:11

Yeah, I do too. Well, Bach was I see your Bach Flowers behind you. You know, he was he was really big into that, you know?

Arwen Bardsley: 36:23

Can you talk about the Bach flowers seeing as you've brought them up? For People who don't know much about them?

Don Ollsin: 36:30

Well, they're flower essences that were developed in England by Dr. Edward Bach. And he was a Harley Street physician. And what I love was when I had my store in Victoria, I had an herb store, for 18 years. I started in 1976. And I had some customers who were in their 90s. Then I had one customer who had actually met Dr. Bach. And he was a Harley Street physician. I thought that was so cool. You know. So I love that kind of transition. But anyway, he was a regular physician, but he didn't, he didn't like allopathic medicine, it didn't work for him, and then he got introduced to homeopathy, that the work of Hanuman, and that really changed his his understanding of medicine. And then he went on to develop these nosodes, which are still used in England. And then he then he went, it's kind of cute, he had a laboratory, he was very, he was a very intense guy. So he burned all his work and, and got rid of all laboratory stuffs. But he packed one suitcase, and, and then he left his practice. And then we got into the woods, where he was going in nature, because he wanted to be in nature, he'd avoid parks all his life, because he knew he went into parks, he would get drawn into nature. So he was so dedicated to be a doctor, a scientist. But he decided no, it's in nature. So he goes into nature but he unpacks the suitcase, it's full of shoes, he took the wrong suitcase. And that's exactly what he needed. Because all he did was walk around and look at plants at that point. And you know, and figure out the then figured out there was a vibration of the dew and the sun, there was a vibratory power there that if he took it, he would get the vibration from it. And that would that would heal this emotional thing. And the first ones he he got that when the second batch of remedies he got he would he would suffer the condition and he'd go out into nature and find the plant that would alleviate that particular emotional suffering. So he treated the emotions, not the physical. So that was his that all disease comes from an emotional disturbance.

Arwen Bardsley: 38:54

Yep. Yep.

Don Ollsin: 38:56

One thing I want to say too, though, I think that as you study these things, in more depth and more intimacy, you start to really appreciate the power of them. So I was teaching a class, a herbal class in Canada and I was in this place where I had they had these beautiful aspen trees, it's a bit of a reserved area, but I get the students who go out and do attunements with plants, so they talk to plants and they ask the plants for you know, they speak to them and ask them for help or guidance and stuff. So I sent everybody off and then I was so excited because I I really like aspen trees and I know kind of what aspen's for. And so I went to the Aspen and I was so excited come and it was really that's a very tumultuous time in my life. We have moved to Hawaii and it didn't work out, I'd flown back to do this workshop, left my wife and kid there and sort of I didn't know what the hell's going on where it was meant to be. So, but Aspen's for the fear of the unknown, right, so I thought, okay, so to the Aspen, give me some guidance. 'No'. What? 'No'. And that was it, 'no', I was like, I was flabbergasted I was like, and then I was also humiliated. I went, everybody's talking to trees I just swallowed it and went into the workshop and the next day of teaching the teaching the essences in prac and got the essence, showing it everybody talking about them, when it comes to Aspen, but I went, Ah, I have to not know, if I want to deal with the fear of the unknown. How can I be afraid of the unknown if I know what's going to happen? That's what the tree was trying to tell me. No, I can't tell you. It's, you need to be in the unknown. And be comfortable with that. Yeah, you know, the Buddhists call it no reference points. You know, we all have reference points, but they're, they're temporary at best, but but they work and we all need them. It's called the tonal world versus the nagual. The tonal is the conceptual reality, the an herbalist, your name is Arwen, you know, you're so old, your mother blah, blah, but in that other world where we're not that. So, anyways, so I teach, you know, I teach students how to, like I made my own essences too that was really cool. I went through a stage in life where I made lots of my own essences, but it's a really deep way to connect to the plants. Going through that ritual, like he did, you know, collecting the flowers, putting them in the sun, you know, and doing it doing it, like Bach, or when when he woke up, he knew it was good day or not good day to make the essences. So that's the way I feel too. In alchemy, you you're one with the process, you're as much a part of the process as the process is. And so

Arwen Bardsley: 42:37

and so for people who are interested in the flower essences, versus taking perhaps a herbal you know, supplement, what would you say, you know, when when would you use one over the other? I know there's no general rule and it's going to depend on an individual situation, but what can you just give us a comparison between the two?

Don Ollsin: 43:10

I can definitely answer that one because what I have found you can't really to the best of my experience with both clients and myself. You can't really use them so much as a prophylactic as a a crisis medicine when you're in that emotional state you're you're you're you're in a energetic pattern and what the essence does it goes in and changes the pattern you know. It might amplify it so it has to go to completion or it might dissipate it so they're more really meant to be for the experience you're having like I am taking rescue this is only my second professional podcast first one was this morning so so I'm taking rescue remedy and larch for self confidence and there's also really thing called acupressure what's it called? It's floral, you know accu, or it's using acupressure points for the essences are quite kind of thing of the name right now.

Arwen Bardsley: 44:26

And how do they how do you use them?

Don Ollsin: 44:29

It's really cool. I really like the acupuncturist I I really because of who they've studied with and I know that their backgrounds are really sure, but they've chosen certain acupuncture meridians and certain acupuncture points for each essence. We just put a drop on that on the essence and that goes into the acupuncture point, and even studying the extracellular matrix, acupuncture it's proven because there's word called these hind cylinder Was that go directly the acupuncture points so that when you put something on the skin it goes directly into the acupuncture point. Floral accupuncture, why can't I, darn it!

Arwen Bardsley: 45:13

I'm sure we can google it

Don Ollsin: 45:14

You can find it Yeah. But it's a cool book and I can grab the book if you want.

Arwen Bardsley: 45:23

that's Yeah, that's really I love that I work more in my work with the chakras. But I've heard I have learned I did some kinesiology studies so learnt about the various acupuncture points on the meridians. So, yeah, really powerful. And I and I'm sure that you could use the essences on chakra points as well.

Don Ollsin: 45:54

You know, I really, really, really encourage all my students to use the herbs on the body more because we don't do we've gotten so into this, you know, there was a man named Maurice Messegue, he was a French herbalist and he he healed a lot of a lot of people and he and healed famous people and he's written a book called"Of people and plants" Maurice Messegue, but he'll only do a foot bath and a hand bath. He never gave the herbs internally he'd do a foot bath and a hand bath, one in the morning, one in the evening. He'd go out and harvest the herbs in the wild and he was really into into herbalist but I don't I really think people I think the acupuncture work or the chakra work would be fantastic, you know, put Hawthorn on your heart. Don't just take it internally, but put the herb on your heart.

Arwen Bardsley: 46:53

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's so cool I'm glad we we brought that up. So with Can you just tell us a bit about what, what the focus of your work is now because I know, as you mentioned, you you had the store for many years. You're not doing that anymore, but it's really more around teaching now. Is that right?

Don Ollsin: 47:16

Yes, yes. Yeah.

Arwen Bardsley: 47:17

And so what are you actually teaching? And who are you teaching?

Don Ollsin: 47:22

Yeah, so I'm both teaching and mentoring. And mostly, you asked for the who, who is my thing I did a I did a survey of them a while ago. And so their world view's spiritual, honoring our ancestors, following life cycles. Resiliency, which I love the word and I think that's one of the things that we're losing with not treating the immune system. Naturally, and, and with a lot of things love and joy in things. We don't we don't get the resiliency, you know, factor. Well, I think globally act locally. They value community collaboration, supporting and being with others. 95% Female always has been, it's a feminine art, I just have to be a fairly feminine, man, I have a very masculine side too, but I it's a feminine art. And so I attract mostly women, supporting and being supported by their spirit, respect for all life, sustainability, and sourcing food and medicine. So I teach a lot of that healing of self. And that's another thing. I'm calling my new program that started out as the healing journey in 1986. And in 2000, in 1998, I wrote a book called Pathways to healing a guide to Ayuveda, dream body and shamanism? So I'm calling my new program, the wounded healers journey on the pathways to healing and those those pathways I've got them written down here include. Give me a minute. Process oriented dealing, I really believe that there's a process involved in in anything that happens is not just a single event, it's a process. So process oriented healing, which is dream body is process oriented psychology, which I've studied in depth, herbs, of course, and you know, connection, herbal allies, herbal medicine, making history of herbalism, all that kind of stuff, the essences, but not just the essences like that, especially the Bach Essences. I really believe in them as a unique system done by a very unique human being. So I really teach those, the core thing, but I still talk about the essences. Systems Thinking paradigms, learning how to learn, we're not taught how to learn. We're only told this learn this Wellness Consulting. So at the end once people gone through the process, so it's a 12 week journey that goes in each season, so there'll be a summer intake, fall intake, winter intake and spring intake. And the 12 weeks is designed people could take longer, but it's going to be designed to people to get through it because people on the internet, I did my master's thesis on transitioning face to face classes to online, and what happens is people online don't complete, it's really challenging. For people online to complete programs, this is across the board. So I'm trying to make it as easy as I can. So I'm giving them a kind of like a discount, if they do it in the 12 weeks. There'll be ongoing support every week. And then I have students who have done that, and could do that. But I'm going to encourage it more. And then they'll have completed that. But the last one would be wellness counseling. So be integrating process work, shamanism and herbs and Bach remedies, and just all the things you've learned. How do you work with a client doing that?

Arwen Bardsley: 51:36

Yeah. And so I was going to ask if it was available online, which you've already answered. And so but is it? Is it okay for anybody anywhere in the world to do it. So a good part of my audience is down here in Australia, and obviously, the herbs and the plants and things that around us are going to be different to where you know, like, like your students were saying, think globally, act locally. Our herbs and plants are local to us. So how does that all work?

Don Ollsin: 52:11

I think there's enough in there like, of the process of learning herbs and so that and you know, what I would encourage anyways, even if you're anywhere, if you get you find a botanist or an herbalist to you on a herb walk, like you can't learn the herbs of I don't believe he can learn the actual connection to the herbs. But you can learn that you can learn what herbs are really resonate with you and which ones you want for your you know, kind of problems you feel like you'll see if you're like a woman who works with women and might want to look at a lot of herbs to do with around their periods and things like that. If you somebody that works with immunity, you want to you know, so we cover all those so you can get the knowledge and then you can transpose the Australian herbs for the Western herbs. And that's something we can help you with too. You know, I mean, like, that's something that would excite me. I always love learning new herbs and there's and also in our Ayuveda you work with qualities, you don't work with you work with tastes. Yeah. So you get pungeant, bitter, astringent, salty. So you know this is a bitter herb so you get an idea of what it's known to be for but then you can take that really find it. Oh, yeah, Ayuveda's covered in the in the course too. An introduction to Ayuveda. That's a big, big study, but I use it as a way to complement your work as an herbalist as a consultant.

Arwen Bardsley: 53:49

Yeah, okay. And so can anybody do your course do they need to have some prior knowledge?

Don Ollsin: 53:57

No, no, there's no prior knowledge I'm I'm gonna do an intake a little bit it's more of Are you are you committed to it? Are you have you had a dream about it? Is your heart into it like it? It's it's not the healers path is like I call it the wounded healer because we're all wounded. But also some of us will. And it's mostly for healing yourself. That's the means focus to heal yourself. But there is a component to go on to if you want to go on and heal others because if you're healing yourself, you'll learn a lot of things and people will start asking you anyways. What do you do for this? Because they're not getting much help from the doctors and even got worse since the pandemic we now we now have phone consultations here in Canada. That's mostly how you see your doctors on the phone. So sorry, but you got real problems that Is anyone take a systems point of view looking at an emotionally spiritually and all the other ways? Not going to cut it?

Arwen Bardsley: 55:08

Yeah, no, it's it's the same here that certainly exploded doing telehealth and yeah, it means that they're not in front of their patient.

Don Ollsin: 55:17

It's challenging. We do we do online consultations, and I'll be honest, it's a lot harder than in person. Because many things when I had a store, I would see a client. And I would go through all the process, and I'd read eyes, do pulses and do an intake all the you know, and figure out what they would benefit from, then I would take them down to the store and say, Are you interested? While you're here? Do you want to get some of the things? And they said, Yes, I would pass them off to one of my staff. And they would walk around explain things and you know, give them options. That was great, they'd leave with a plan and the product online, we found like working with people like oh my god, it took them three weeks to find that thing. So it's much more challenging. But I'm open to it. I mean, I had a mentee, I shut down after the pandemic started. I moved to be closer to my liked a lot of changes, like everybody else went through a lot of changes because it disrupted life as we know it. And I'm still somewhere in that process. But I'm coming back out now. And I'm re establishing my my work, which has been very successful. I mean My work has been really successful. So when a mentee approached me and said, Don, you were teaching us two years ago, I do do these internet consultations. Now. Everybody's doing it, you're not doing it. Well. Come on, come back. Because we learned a lot. We learned a lot doing we, we saw a lot of clients over the period I had my mentorship, so we did a lot of virtual consulting, but I will do it differently this time.

Arwen Bardsley: 57:04

Yeah, yeah. Good. So people can find your course where?

Don Ollsin: 57:14

donollsin.com O-L-L-S-I-N O-L-L-S-I-N. It's not a normal spelling.

Arwen Bardsley: 57:21

Okay, so we'll definitely put that in the show notes anyway. And just to finish off, Don, I did want to ask you, if you were a herb, what Herb would you be?

Don Ollsin: 57:34

Hawthorn. To heal people's hearts

Arwen Bardsley: 57:40

Beautiful. I love that.

Don Ollsin: 57:42

Nourish people's hearts.

Arwen Bardsley: 57:43

Yeah. Okay.

Don Ollsin: 57:45

Hawthorn is a. And for the pandemic thing, the one herb, one of the herbs that I would recommend, as a preventative and it's, Hawthorn, and still it's usually the first herb I start all my classes with still heart disease is the number one killer in the world, and hawthorn is one of the most powerful preventive nurturing herbs for the heart. And that goes for all the things connected to the heart, the vascular system, the eyes and stuff. So I really recommend people start using Hawthorne on a daily basis. As soon as they can the hawthorn berries. I like to make the tincture because it's convenience is really we're a convenience culture whether we like it or not, if I don't make it for convenient for people, they won't do it. They'll last two weeks making a cup of tea but then No, I mean, if you're a kind of person who is a ritualist and that works great, but otherwise a tincture's really easy. You can put it into anything you're having.

Arwen Bardsley: 58:51

Is that how does the tea taste? Is that a

Don Ollsin: 58:54

Oh, is it well, the challenge with Hawthorne is it's pleasant taste. the berries are I think are the easiest and the best they're delicious, but you shouldn't boil you should soak the berries overnight in a thermos and that's the way the Chinese did it. And that's the way I when I'm counselling people who want they're teas I tell them to take their make three cups of tea like put the amount of herbs you need for three cups in a thermos overnight and then drink three cups during the day. So that's a and then do that every night as a ritual and that gets into being a ritual. So with Hawthorne, you shouldn't really boil the berries because that isolate that takes away some of the active constituents but that's why I like the tincture. I just literally press my Hawthorne tincture yesterday I make. I make a lot of tincture and I take it everyday my mother who died at 93 Her heart was you know I hate to say it but Yeah, we had to put her under at some point. It's like her heart was still beating and she has like such a strong heart, you know, that her health was so many other ways deteriorated. But she took it about last 20 years of her life on a regular basis. So

Arwen Bardsley: 1:00:18

well, that's a great tip to finish on. Thank you so much.

Don Ollsin: 1:00:21

You're very welcome.

Arwen Bardsley: 1:00:23

Yeah. So thank you for for your time and your wisdom this morning. I really appreciate it.

Don Ollsin: 1:00:28

You're Very welcome. I'm really happy to meet you. And I'm really glad that we have this opportunity on virtual to connect, I mean, we wouldn't have it otherwise. So now I appreciate that.

Arwen Bardsley: 1:00:40

Why that's right. Well, thank you so much.

Don Ollsin: 1:00:44

Okay.