Shantree is a Therapeutic Nutritional and Energetic Herbalist, Ayurvedic Live-Food Nutritionist, Permaculture Educator, Constitutional Ecological Consultant and Forest Garden Practitioner with 40 years experience in the Organic Natural Healing Arts. He is an expert on the medicinal and nutritional properties of herbs and trees of Carolinian Canada. His primary focus these days are on research, demonstration and education.
He is the founder and co-director of The Living Centre (1983), and Living Arts Institute with his beloved spiritual partner Lorenna, the centre is located outside of London, ON. in the heart of Carolinian Canada.
Shantree received his doctorate in Nutritional Medicine and Herbalism in the 70’s. Since then he has been exploring the effect of an integrative lifestyle approach to one’s physical, mental and emotional health. His passion and study for the over three decades has lead him to explore the benefits of a high energy Ayurvedic live-food approach to nutrition and the ecological benefits of integrating local and wild edible plants into one’s daily life.
In his private practice he has counselled tens of thousands of clients to improve their health and well-being. He has had the honour to teach, counsel and empower thousands of individuals on their educational journey.
A past Vice-President of the Ontario Herbalists’ Association (OHA) and served on the OHA board for 10 years. A Professional Member of the Ontario Herbalist Association for over 30 years. Shantree is dedicated to providing an integrated preventative approach to well being, applying the healing wisdom of the East and West. He formulates and dispenses his own herbal preparations “HerbSpirit Botanicals”.
Shantree’s deep spiritual connection to the Earth which has drawn him into the teachings of shamanic and earth wisdom practices as well as Carolinian Canada native plant preservation and studies. He is a passionate edible and medicinal forest gardener and designer, permaculture teacher and well known for his unique circular medicinal-wheel forest garden and medicine trail with over 1,000 species of edible and medicine plants and trees through the 50-acre botanical sanctuary.
Since the mid 1980’s Shantree has been applying organic herbal forest gardening practices. Creating his own unique approach to how permaculture works in the temperate climate of Canada. After 30 years he is now sharing this with his students and apprentices who come to study Forest Gardening and Permaculture. A number of years he co-founded Artemisia’s Forest Garden Nursery located at The Living Centre.
Shantree is the author of ‘Ayurvedic Tongue Diagnosis’, the first book of its kind to be published in the west. He has researched and compiled certification courses on Shamanic-Energetic Herbalism, Ayurvedic Living Nutrition, Four-Season Permaculture Course and Sevenfold Path of Peace. He has created an Herbal Educator Diploma Course ‘Visionary Herbalism’ which integrates a wholistic approach to empowering students to become herbal activists in their own community. In addition he has written numerous other books and manuals such Conscious Living, Forest Gardening: A Call to Action, Pollen Power, Squirrel Medicine and hundreds of herbal, nutritional and ecological articles which have been published in Canada, USA and Europe.
He has travel and lived for periods of time in the tropics such as Costa Rica and southern Mexico studying and researching medicinal, nutritional and the ecological gifts of plants of the rainforest. His teaching experience has taken to numerous countries and has taught at University of Western Ontario and taught 2nd. and 4th. year medical students. Has also taught and Fanshawe college in London and Mohawk college in Hamilton. He has trained students and apprentices from 21 countries.
Shantree combines his passion for herbalism, plant medicine, wild edible nutrition and forest gardening with newly emerging scientific information from many fields – Ecological Medicine, Resilience Science, Deep Ecology, Regenerative Design, Living Nutrition, Deep Organic Medicine, Bioregionalism, Natural Health Science and the visionary solutions from the Bioneers. Visioning to reveal a regenerative path toward better stewardship of the natural world. A spiritual activist at heart.