David is the founder of the Earth Medicine Institute and practitioner and teacher of all five branches of traditional Chinese medicine:
- Acupuncture
- Herbal medicine
- Massage
- Food medicine
- Martial arts
David has studied traditional medicines with healers in Asia, North and South America, and Hawai’i. With a Master’s Degree in traditional Chinese medicine, he has a working knowledge of more than 400 traditional Hawaiian, Chinese, and Western plants. A deep ecologist and Hawaiian plant specialist, he has been a student of Hawaiian medicine under Kahu Kawika Ka’alakea, Kaipo Kaneakua and Na Kupuna ‘O Hawai’i since 1992.
Author of “Medicine at Your Feet: Healing Plants of the Hawaiian Kingdom”, “Wild Wisdom: Listening to Heart of Nature” and “How to Worship the Goddess and Keep Your Balls”, David is an expert on the medicinal plants of the tropics. He studies, lectures and teaches on cross-cultural uses of plant medicines, environmental concerns, traditional plant gathering practices, and pragmatic approaches to health care. He is known for his off-beat sense of humor. He is often seen in Hawaiian rain forests wearing his favorite trash bag as a raincoat.
We are refugees from our own biology.
The mission of the Earth Medicine Institute is to create social, psychological, intellectual and spiritual structures that nourish us and our home in profound ways. We recreate the sacred in our lives under the umbrella of Earth-centered living. We take responsibility for our quality of life and choose to become a positive environmental force on our Planet.
From Soil to Soul, Earth Medicine is the act of embracing that which is important, and will still be important 1000 years from now. If we are to survive we must return to our roots. Literally. Learn how…
We are profoundly disconnected from the Earth, from our bodies, from our unconscious “shadow”, and from each other. Somatic awareness is not just some New Age concept; it is our natural state that has been smothered by countless layers of cultural conditioning. “Body-thinking” is our birthright … it aligns us to our core, to our ancestors, and to the Earth itself.
We must reactivate the part of our nervous system that lies dormant. This is our wild nature and it will not be denied. We can reclaim our birthright. We deserve to feel this Planet within our spine. We deserve to feel our Belovéd’s pain and joy within our belly.
We deserve to come home to who we are.