Educational Offers
experiential workshops • conferences
guided experiences • residencies
Tours and Conferences
ETHNOBOTANICAL TOURS for FAMILIES and COMMUNITIES
Whether in an urban setting or on your rural property, Benedetti offers a journey to help us remember together the many ways we can collaborate with the trees, vines, and shrubs that are always with us. Each journey includes songs and practices of reciprocity with nature.
PREREQUISITE:
Non
DURATION:
2 hours
Bushes and Trees for Survival
Bushes and Trees for Survival is a “broth lecture.” We celebrate native and naturalized herbs and trees that have been mainstays of the country’s herbal medicine for generations. We strive to feature plants common at the presentation site. We serve a broth made with one of the featured plants. Sometimes, the broth is prepared on-site as part of the presentation.
PREREQUISITE
Non
DURATION:
2 hours
FOREST ETHNOBOTANY
Through photos, text, and anecdotes, we explore how our ancestors and other Caribbean grandparents collaborated with native and naturalized trees to acquire wisdom and meet their needs for food, medicine, fiber, shelter, and much more.
PREREQUISITE
Non
DURATION:
2 hours
AFRO-PUERTO RICAN ETHNOBOTANY for SURVIVAL
An illustrated lecture on plants and trees native to Madagascar (flamboyant tree, witch's broom) and Africa (coffee, fragrant geranium, African tulip tree, guingamboo, tamarind); also those native to other places but which arrived here from the African continent (pigeon pea, plantain, banana, coconut palm). These plants (and others) contributed to the survival of our ancestors as medicine, food, fiber, shelter, and more. We honor their benefits and explore their importance for our times.
PREREQUISITE
Non
DURATION:
2 hours
The PLANTS of our THREE CULTURAL ROOTS
An illustrated lecture on native plants and trees of Africa, Europe, and the Americas within the context of ancestral survival: physical and spiritual medicine, food, fiber, shelter, and more. We honor their benefits and explore their importance for our times.
PREREQUISITE
Non
DURATION:
2 hours
FEAST of PUERTO RICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS
Interactive workshop. You will learn to use medicinal plants to prepare food and remedies for illnesses such as the flu, herpes, and even mosquito-borne viruses. We will experience tradition!
• We will recognize the medicinal value of 30 antiviral plants from our culinary and medicinal traditions.
• We will begin to decipher the language of plants to discern how best to prepare our teas.
• We will sing!
PREREQUISITE:
non
DURACIÓN:
4.5 hours including snack
BOTANICAL BLESSINGS
This 36-hour experiential course is designed to explore the foundations of our botanical medicine tradition and empower participants to create their own remedies. We explore Caribbean herbal medicine from an ancestral, practical, and cultural perspective. We identify and learn about dozens of plants, their properties, and uses. We study key vocabulary to interpret scientific literature about our plants. We prepare herbal teas, infusions, syrups, botanical oils, decoctions, poultices, alcohol tinctures, horchata, medicinal seasonings, hand sanitizers, antiviral treats, anti-inflammatory necklaces and bracelets, wild superfoods, and more. Participants with perfect attendance and satisfactory performance receive a certificate.
PREREQUISITE:
non
DURATION:
6 workshops of 6 hours each
GREEN SOUL: direct communication with plants
For those who have studied the classic *Green Soul* by shaman and Eastern medicine practitioner Eliot Cowan, this workshop offers an opportunity to connect with a plant that calls to us, offer it our full attention, and then visit it in the spirit world using the shamanic practice of rhythm and intention.
*Book available in the Bookstore on this page.
PREREQUISITE:
having read Alma Verde
DURATION:
4 hours
SOULS and AROMAS: ancestral aromatherapy
A celebration of the aromatic plants from our patio and other places connected to our cultural history. We prepared a ceremonial bath with local plants. We made skin cream. We created a homemade temazcal (sweat lodge) and crafted pillows that promote deep sleep and others to help us remember our dreams. For Botanical Blessings graduates only.
PREREQUISITE:
Botanical Blessings
DURATION:
8 hours
FOREST BATH
Forest Balm is grounding and reconnection. After releasing our physical bodies, we walk, breathing with the forest, until we reach the forest circle. There we lie down to give and receive offerings of attention, respect, and pure heart. Earth, sky, trees, birds, rhythms, ferns, stillness, clouds, stones. We are part of that which always heals. For individuals and groups.
PREREQUISITE:
none
DURATION:
2 to 3 hours
GREEN SOUL: direct communication with plants
For those who have studied the classic *Green Soul* by shaman and Eastern physician Eliot Cowan, this workshop is an opportunity to approach and offer our fullest attention to a plant that calls to us, and then visit it in the spirit world using the shamanic practice of rhythm and our intention.
*Book available in the Bookstore on this page.
PREREQUISITE:
Having read Alma Verde
DURATION:
4 hours
CREATION of a WALKABLE MANDALA
The Walkable Mandala is an ancient technology that receives, amplifies, and transmits our healing intentions. This participatory sculpture invites us to walk its contours, thus strengthening the intentions placed on the earth with each stone.
Built in spaces of at least 25 feet by 25 feet, this mandala is a pattern found in petroglyphs and on the earth, from the Caribbean island of Dominica and Central America to Australia, Norway, and Ireland. The processes of building and walking it promote well-being and activate our healing intentions.
PREREQUISITE:
none
DURATION:
3 to 4 hours
