Our Approach
At our center, we are more than just our physical bodies and we are intricately connected to the world around us. Our approach to healing starts with awakening to our connection with the natural world both within our bodies and to the world around it. By listening to the wisdom that arises here, we can heal ourselves in harmony with nature. Our mission is to bring real lasting health to the body and mind synchronized with the rythmns of the earth.
Medicinal Herb Sanctuary
We are a five acre sanctuary that specializes in organically and biodynamically grown medicinal herbs and native plants. We provide the space and the resources to help others develop an intimate connection with the earth, their inner ecosystem, and the vast worlds of herbalism, ayurveda, and astrology.
My Story
Naturally drawn to organic foods and environmental sustainability as a youth, I knew there was more than just buying organically. Growing up in Hopkins, Minnesota, I didn’t have access to small scale organic farming methods that I was craving in my adolescents. So the day I graduated high school I packed my bags and moved to Northern California. There, coupled with my love for yoga, I began to learn small scale organic farming in a community of yogis.
That began my decades long pursuit of organic farming, yoga & mindfulness, and living simply with the land. I moved to Vermont where I spent eight years pursuing these passions. While in Vermont, I earned my bachelors of science degree in holistic health, creating a major that suited my passions. In between semesters at university, I apprenticed with the well-known herbal company, Herb Pharm, in Williams, Oregon igniting my love for growing medicinal herbs. Both in school and after, I had the pleasure and privilege of growing herbs while living in eco-villages that focused on eco-psychology, sustainable farming, herbalism, yoga, meditation, and nonviolent communication.
Since then, I have had many incredible opportunities of travel, study, and collaborate all over the world. I followed my passions of Ayurveda to the island of Kauai, Hawaii where I earned my Yoga and Ayurveda Teaching Certification with Myra Lewin through Hale Pule. Shortly after, I was hired to manage an organic herb farm on the island. Eventually I left the garden paradise of Kauai to take an opportunity to live and study with a healer and herbalist in Mexico.
I completed my Ayurvedic Health Counselor degree from Kripalu School of Ayurveda in 2016. During my clinical internship portion of Ayurveda School, I attend an extended meditation retreat in my home state of Minnesota. Here, at the Prairie Farm Retreat Center, the idea for an Urban Monastery was born. Since I was 15, I’ve had a daily meditation practice, attended multiple silent meditation retreats per year, and lived in various forms of monastic households. I was ready to take my practice to the next level and infuse my day with as much practice as possible with other dedicated yogis.
It was in this setting, in a semi-monastic household in Minneapolis, Minnesota where Herban Ayurveda was born. A housemate at the Urban Monastery had been farming a certified organic property for a few decades and invited me to join. So in 2016, I quit my day job working as a wellness analyst and started farming full time. Even though farming and running my own business have been the most challenging work I’ve ever done, I feel so grateful that I’ve found my way to be of service to this earth and community.
