The Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism, Inc., offers certificate programs in Fundamentals of Medical Herbalism, Advanced Herbalism, Clinical Herbalism, Nutrition, and Flower Essences. We teach Western herbalism and integrated nutrition in the Vitalist tradition.
CSCH also operates the Evergreen Center Clinic, a sliding-scale holistic center for Vitalist health education in Boulder, Colorado.
Paul Bergner, the Founder of NAIMH (CSCH’s predecessor school) defines Vitalism as a clinical strategy based on the principle that Life, Nature, and the Great Spirit from which they arise are fully present in all the tissues of the body, and also in the psyche, the spiritual heart, and the soul – sustaining life and health, providing momentum for personal evolution on all levels and for the fulfillment of one’s highest purpose in social and spiritual life. Vitalist practitioners employ clinical strategies and methods which support this life power through the encouragement of nourishment, digestion, rest, and appropriate activity; identification of purpose in personal life; connection with nature; an active spiritual life; identification and removal of obstacles to cure on all levels; and avoidance of methods which suppress or distort life processes. Our Vitalist curriculum incorporates all aspects of science, especially physiology and pathophysiology, but equally values knowledge from traditional medicine, empirical observation, instinct, and intuition. The Vitalist view is not confined to the narrow materialistic world view that dominates much of modern science, medicine, and social life. Vitalism is the use of foods and herbs in support of this approach and these processes.
