meet emily:
founder/ director, You Joy Life: queer plant person, herbalist, yoga instructor, artist, and ayurvedic wellness counselor.
I've cultivated a strong relationship with nature through co-creating with my plant, mineral, and animal spirit guides since childhood on Vashon Island in Washington state's Coast Salish land, specifically the stolen ancestral land of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Stillaguamish, and Muckleshoot People, to name a few.
I opened my own botanical wellness company, Islandula, in 1999, as a crafter at Seattle's historic Pike Place Market in the crafter's row. My handmade skincare line was made from homegrown calendula and ethically foraged Pacific Northwest native and naturalized plants.
In 2008, I brought my plant medicines to the Portland, Oregon community, opening a healing apothecary at my brick-and-mortar concept shop, Sword+Fern. Local plant medicine makers and healers were invited to offer their medicines for sale in the shop's curated apothecary, the city's first of its kind.
I created intentional medicinal botanical incense offering healing through quieting the mind and breathwork, birthed while cultivating a deeper plant spirit connection after receiving training in Vipassana meditation at a 10-day silent course in the tradition of my teacher S.N.Goenka.
After relocating to Los Angeles in 2014, I received my master fermenter's certification from Stasha Health Catalyst. I learned the art of using fermented food to receive transformative physical healing and boost gut health.
I started documenting my plant explorations in California: wild food foraging, fermentation experiments, and using food as medicine. Land to Mouth @landtomouth
In 2016, I apprenticed as a Shamanic healer for 12 months with Leia Hart of the Eugene, Oregon Center for Shamanism, an apprentice of Sandra Ingerman's.
In 2017, my shamanic practice led me to begin a plant spirit medicine learning center at my studio in Topanga Canyon, called Plant, Mother, Sister. Offered workshops included native and naturalized plant identification, instruction on foraging wild edibles, making botanical medicine, learning healing techniques with local plants, with a focus on sustainable and ethical wildcrafting, using plants and medicine-making materials locally sourced, indigenous, and naturalized to Topanga Canyon.
In 2018, I received my Reiki Practioner certificate and attunement through IPSB at Life Energy Institute, taught by Lisa Thompson in Santa Monica, California.
In 2019, I received my 200-hour Yoga Teacher certificate, taught by People’s Yoga Studio, in Los Angeles, California. I received my Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor certification through the Southern California University of Health Sciences in the Ayurveda Wellness Educator Program with a First-Year Clinical Internship, in 2022.
I received my Principles of Ayurvedic Medicine certification at California College Of Ayurveda in 2023 under Dr. Marc Halpern in Nevada City, California.
a life of experience: committed to learning, co-creating, and self-realization
You Are Wild, You Are Free, You Are Home
You Joy Life + Wonder Mountain Open Source Space is cared for, designed, & stewarded by its founder/director, Eos (Emily): artist, curator, plant person, musician, and plant spirit medicine/energy healer.
Education
Herbalism using Indigenous plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast course with Erin Kenny of Cedarsong School, Vashon Island, WA 2000
Certified Landscape Designer & Environmental Horticulturist. Landscape Architecture, Construction Management and Environmental Horticulture program at South Seattle Community College, Seattle, WA 2000-2002
Yoga Asana Immersion, with Sweethome Teacup, Portland, OR 2009-2011
Vipassana meditation 10-day course with S.N. Goenka and Dhamma.org, Onalaska, WA 2013
MARC (Mindfulness Awareness Research Center) MAPs (mindfulness awareness practice) program course in Beginning Mindfulness at UCLA with Heather Prete, Los Angeles, CA 2015
Certification in Master Fermentation with Stasha Health Catalyst, Los Angeles CA 2015
Noble Heart retreat course with Pema Chödrön 2016
Mindfulness meditation course with Sharon Salzburg, at Insight LA Meditation, Los Angeles, CA 2016
Shamanic Healer Apprenticeship, at Eugene Center for Shamanic Healing, with Leia Hart, Eugene, OR 2016
Certified Reiki healer Reiki Certification at IPSB’s Life Energy Institute, attuned by Lisa Thompson, Los Angeles, CA 2018
Certified Yoga Teacher 200-hour (YTT200) certification with People’s Yoga Studio, Los Angeles, CA 2019, 200-hour (YTT200) certification with Highland Park Yoga Studio, Los Angeles, CA 2020
The 20 Precepts of Healing course (Sunpoint), with Janet Iris Sussman: 20-week course 2020
Queering Death, an intergenerational community learning series and social justice workshop exploring intersections of death, dying, and grief with LGBTQ+ identity and queer theory. Our cohort published Queering Death: An Anthology of Questions, a death, dying, and grief-focused workbook of prompts for contemplation and conversation on how to prepare the LGBTQIA+ community for death, facilitated by Ari Simon and supported by Navel, Los Angeles, CA 2020
Activating the Voice, A 7-week vocal embodiment journey through the chakras, with Doe Paoro 2021
Shadow Transformation Protocol, course with Christina Pratt at the Last Mask Center for Shamanism 2021
Agni Therapy, a course in healing digestion through ayurvedic cooking with Myra Lewin at Hale Pule 2021
Precognition in Dreamwork, course with Theresa Cheung, through the Shift Network 2022
Cosmic Herbalism, course with Adriana Ayales, through the Shift Network 2022
4-month Breathwork course with Jennifer Patterson + Lama Rod, through the Shift Network 2023
Energy Body Mastery, course with Langston Kahn + Christina Pratt, at the Last Mask Center for Shamanism 2024
Certified Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor/Educator Southern California University of Health Sciences, 2022
Principles of Ayurvedic Medicine certification at California College Of Ayurveda, 2023
with eternal gratitude to my spiritual teachers:
Sri Lakshmi- Jai Maa!
Frog, Owl, Hawk, Hawthorn, Rose
Puget Sound ( Lushootseed: x̌ʷə́lč )
Mount Rainier ( Puyallup: Ti’Swaq’ )
Vashon Island (my childhood home, original ancestral home to the Indigenous sx̌ʷəbabš (meaning “Swiftwater People” )
