Herbal Allies for Stressful Times (Class 2 of 2)

This series offers herbal knowledge and curanderismo practices to help you to tend to yourself and to build resilience when facing stress.

Herbal Allies for Stressful Times

with Atava Garcia Swiecicki, MH, RH (AHG)

Herbalist, Educator and Author of The Curanderx Toolkit, Reclaiming Ancestral Latinx Plant Medicine and Rituals for Healing.

Date: Wednesday April 22, 2026 (2nd of 2 classes)

Time: 6–7:30 PM PST

Location: Zoom (link will be provided closer to date)

Price/Offering: $20.00-$50.00

Description:

Stress is an inevitable part of life and many people in our communities are facing unprecedented levels of stress in these challenging times. This class offers herbal knowledge and curanderismo practices to help you to tend to yourself and to build resilience when facing stress.

We will explore how stress affects us emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We’ll look at how the nervous system responds to overwhelming experiences and how herbs can gently support us to be more resilient.

A central part of this class is learning how to build relationships with herbs. We will discuss how our herbal allies are not simply substitutes for pharmaceutical drugs, but cherished friends who offer us nourishment, guidance and unconditional love. We’ll talk about herbal nervines and adaptogens, and how they can help us navigate both acute and chronic stress.

We’ll explore the healing gifts of familiar plant relatives such as manzanilla (chamomile) and pasiflora (passionflower), along with other herbal remedies for anxiety, muscle tension, insomnia, and emotional overwhelm. We will also learn practices rooted in ancestral wisdom such as limpias and baños that support our emotional, energetic, and spiritual well-being.

Atava is inspired by the plants and guided by her elders, ancestors and dreams. She was born in Detroit, Michigan to a Mexican/Navajo/Hungarian mother and a Polish father. She has called home Ohlone territory Huichin (Oakland, California) for almost three decades.

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Atava is a well loved teacher and has taught hundreds of students. She loves to train healers and to support them to develop their natural healing gifts. She is the founder of Ancestral Apothecary School, which was born from her dream to create a more diverse community of herbalists and healers in the Bay Area.

In addition to teaching at Ancestral Apothecary, Atava has taught at many venues throughout California and the US, including the California Institute of Integral Studies, John F. Kennedy University, Sacramento’s Sol Collective, the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium, the Portland Plant Medicine Gathering, the American Herbalist Guild Symposium, and Herbalists without Borders. She has also been a sponsored guest teacher with Mujeres de Maiz in Los Angeles.

Atava received her undergraduate degree from Stanford in Feminist Studies and her graduate degree from Naropa University Oakland in Indigenous Mind. She is also professionally trained as a clinical herbalist, flower essence practitioner, curandera, and dreamworker and is certified in both acupressure and Jin Shin JyutsuⓇ. Atava has also developed her own style of ancestral healing work, which she calls Deep Genealogy Coaching.

Atava is a founding member of The Healing Clinic Collective, which offers free healing services to underserved populations in the Bay Area. She has also volunteered for many year as an herbalist at the Charlotte Maxwell Center in Oakland, which serves low-income women with cancer and has been a member of Curanderas Sin Fronteras, which offers free traditional medicine services in the Bay Area.

In 2017, Atava and her school, Ancestral Apothecary were recognized for their positive contribution to the field of herbal medicine by receiving an award from the American Herbalist Guild recognizing Notable Work Supporting Diversity, Equity and Justice in Herbalism.

Atava loves the alchemy of herbal medicine making and has created her own line of herbal products. Each product is unique with its own story and healing properties. Ancestral Apothecary products such as Sage Shield, Siete Flores, Heart Mend can be found at our online store as well as stores throughout the West Coast.

In 2020 Atava relocated to the desert where she continues to see clients both in person and online. Her first book, The Curanderx Toolkit, Reclaiming Ancestral Plant Medicine and Rituals for Healing, was published in July 2022.