Tropical Herbal Apprenticeship
One Month Immersion into the
Herbal Medicine of the Caribe Sur of Costa Rica
SESSION 1 November 13th – December 10th, 2017
​NOW FULL
SESSION 2 May 27th – June 24th, 2018
“The one month apprenticeship was amazing. I felt challenged, supported, stimulated, and nourished. At so many moments I had to pause in awe to take in my environment, the knowledge of a teacher or fellow student, or to be amazing at learning something new and fantastical about a plant. It was a special experience to be in a new environment, especially one as magical as Centro Ashé, Manzanillo for a whole month. By the end it felt like home.”

“My experience at Centro Ashé was a huge shift for me in my path to herbal healing. It has given me a stable foundation and confidence to move forward into a career as a healer and Plant Medicine Woman. The space felt like home from Day 1 and I feel sadness about leaving, but joyful in the experience that has elevated me to another higher level in my life path. I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to dive deeper into medicinal plants.”
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“Everything about this experiences makes you want to stay a little bit longer. It’s a great experience from the field studies and the on-site classes to the beach and the home cooked meals. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants an intense foundational study in botanical medicine.”
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Join us in the tiny beach village of Manzanillo for a month exploring tropical herbal medicine, where the jungle meets the Caribbean Sea! Our tropical immersion in an amazing opportunity to truly immerse yourself here in the local culture, to explore plant medicine while surrounded by the infamous natural beauty. Our immersion program focuses on providing a strong foundation in folk herbal medicine, and includes an engaging balance between field studies to local indigenous and traditional herbalists and farms, practical and theoretical classes at our center, and time working with the plants in our gardens. You will stay at our rustic group Caribbean Cabina located in the heart of Manzanillo, just one block from the Caribbean sea! Our activities focus are centered weekdays, and you’ll have your weekends off to explore the local area! We accept a limited number of apprentices per session, we encourage you to reach out if you are interested!

The incredible Talamancan Coast of the South Caribbean of Costa Rica is where everything got started for Centro Ashé. We have been facilitating incredible cross cultural and educational programming for many years in this regions home to diverse peoples including Indigenous communities such as the BriBri, Kekoldi, and Cabecar, as well as Chinese and Afro-Costa Rican communities who came to work building railroads and working on banana plantations. Over the years this area has become increasinly diverse with residents from virtually all over the globe. Our programs focus on the sustainable local agricultural food system as well as traditional herbalism as it is practiced across the incredible cultures that inhabit Talamanca. Our programs support first and foremost the local economy, the places we stay and the tours we go on are locally owned and operated.

Daily Flow:
Our program runs Monday through Friday with weekends off. Our days will differ depending on whether we have field studies that day or not. Each week we will have field trips and onsite activities (a total of 10 sessions each week over 5 days). Some days will be field study and onsite class, some will be one or the other. There is plenty of time to spend on the beach and exploring the local area. Monday-Friday we eat meals together usually around 8:00, 12:00, and 5:00. We provide the food for our meals Monday-Friday, and we our loving staff creates nourishing and traditional meals you can’t get enough of. Weekends are totally free and we encourage folks to explore the local area, spend time at the beach, on your final projects etc.

Field Studies:
Each week we will go on field trips in the Talamanca area.
– Jungle Hike in National Reserve
– Visit Indigenous Family to learn medicinal and dye plants
– Chocolate Making with Indigenous Family
– Hike to the waterfalls in the indigenous reserve
– Traditional Afro-Caribbean Cooking Class
– Traditional Afro-Caribbean Herbal Medicine class with local women
– Traditional BriBri and Indigenous Herbal Medicine class – field visits
– Visit Organic Agro-ecological farm on Indigenous Reserve
– Local Plant Walks
– Jaguar Animal Rescue Center
– Visit to local botanical gardens
– Visits to other local friends medicinal and botanical gardens and centers in the region!

Onsite Classes:
– Culture & History of the South Caribbean of Costa Rica
– Introduction to Herbal Medicine
– Tropical Herbal Medicine Making
– Garden Time through out the month
– Materia Medica of Costa Rica medicinal plants
– Herbal Tastes
– Herbal Actions
– Herbal Energetics
– Herbal First Aid
– Kitchen Herbalism
– Tropical Flower Essences
– Starting and Managing your Holistic Business
– Ethical Wildcrafting
– Making Herbal Formulas
– Astrology and Herbalism
– Tropical Herbal Body Care Making
– Grassroots Herbalism & Social Change
– Apothecary Work and Practices
– Movie Nights
– Group Circle Work
– Group Presentations