David Crow, LAc
Journey through the 9 interconnected physiological systems of the body — your power centers — and learn to heighten both their physical and spiritual capacity through a combination of herbal remedies and meditative practices.
Experience an approach to whole-body health that integrates the deep contemplative practices of the East with the natural, life-enhancing gifts of plants.
Would your experience of life be deeper and more inspiring if you truly understood what a profound miracle it is to be in a physical body that can see, breathe, speak, process information, hear, move, feel, heal...
... and perform all the functions that enable you to walk through the world and your precious days on this planet with good health and a sense of meaning?
According to a wide variety of ancient traditions, all of these physical abilities also have spiritual dimensions that enable your capacity as a human being to feel so much vaster than most people can possibly imagine.
What’s more, the same intelligence that allows humans to operate at such a magnificent level of intricacy, strength, understanding, and insight also exists in every aspect of nature and our cosmos.
Plant medicine pioneer David Crow calls the wisdom that flows through the powers of our bodies, all of nature, and the whole of the universe cosmological intelligence — and it’s what enables us to feel a mystical experience of unity with all that is.
David, who designed and is teaching The Shift Network’s first year-long certification program in Illuminated Herbalism, explains that our bodies have nine power centers — the brain, vision, breath, speech, metabolism, the glands, sexual vitality, protection (immunity), and the heart...
... each of which has enormous physical and spiritual capabilities that allow us to not only function, but thrive.
Your power of speech, for example, doesn’t just enable you to talk, express, and articulate your thoughts and feelings. It also gives you the ability to cultivate and influence your relationships and your karma... manifest and create through sound vibration... speak affirmations, mantras, and prayers... and understand yourself and others by listening both inwardly and outwardly.
David tells us that these nine powers are deeply interconnected, each one relying on the health of the others to run smoothly and effectively.
Join David in this highly transformative 9-module course, in which you’ll take a deep dive into all nine of the body centers and explore how you can supercharge their function using the combination of herbal remedies and their associated contemplative spiritual practices.
You’ll discover that when you couple specific meditations with specific herbs, the health of your power centers become more robust, both physically and spiritually.
You’ll also learn which medicinal plants will enhance and deepen your meditative practices.
During this experiential course, you’ll:
- The 9 physiological powers of the body and their spiritual dimensions
- How to improve your health using potent herbs that can supercharge the 9 powers of your body — and how these same herbs support various types of meditation
- The major categories of herbs, formulas, nutraceuticals, and natural therapies for each of the 9 powers
- A wide variety of contemplative practices that will potentize the herbs you learn about throughout the course
- The mystical wisdom that describes the physiological functions of your 9 centers as the manifestation of cosmological intelligence within you... as well as the basis of countless spiritual practices through history designed to sacralize the body and help you perceive its inherent divinity
- How the 9 powers are used in ancient yogic, alchemical, and Tantric spiritual practices
- Mystical lineages identified the cosmological powers as deities in the body and psyche
- Ways to understand and apply the essential meaning and purpose of esoteric teachings from distant times and cultures for contemporary spiritual purposes
- How to transform your ordinary perception of the body and its functions into recognition of its spiritual nature
- The mandalic relationships between the 9 powers
- Why knowledge of the psycho-spiritual dimensions of your being deepens your understanding of medicine, healing, and self-care
- And much more...
This health-enhancing course will be taught in three sections of four sessions each. The fourth session of each section is an integration session that will give you the opportunity to ask questions, share insights, and be guided by David in additional practices to help you further embody the material.
Using a vast repertoire of various methods, mystical traditions throughout the ages have developed diverse methods of studying, cultivating, worshiping, and activating the various spiritual powers inherent in the body and mind.
These practices, which often included preparations of herbal medicines, were used for healing and longevity, yet were also regarded as having the ability to accomplish something far more transcendent, wondrous, and meaningful — to sacralize the physical body, re-identify with our inherent divinity within...
... and transform and transport the mind from ordinary mundane realms of perception into dimensions of awakened consciousness.
David will guide you through the mystical teachings and practices of these body-based spirituality and wellness traditions, from which you can develop an immense reverence, meditative concentration, and appreciation for the miraculous processes of life.
In addition to learning which botanical remedies heal various parts of your body, you’ll cultivate an awareness that arises from a profound sense of freedom and genuine compassion...
... knowing that the physiological activities of your body are manifestations of an ancient cosmological intelligence — and that you’re part of the magnificent fabric of all existence.
How This 3-Month Transformational Journey Is Structured
In this 3-month journey, David will guide you through the fundamental knowledge, wisdom, herbs, and practices you’ll need to achieve and maintain a high level of health and wellbeing, while deepening your experience as a spiritual being.
Before and after the journey, you’ll fill out a survey that will take you into deeper levels of reflection that will ultimately provide greater insight into the scope of your transformation.
Three learning segments, each consisting of three classes followed by one hour-long integration session, will give you plenty of time to process and practice all the exercises to make sure you’ll be comfortable and confident with every step you take.
Nine 120-minute video classes will include 90 minutes of faculty instruction and 30 minutes of Q&A.
Three 60-minute Integration Sessions — You’ll be given opportunities for reflection and sharing in the full group, offering you space to share insights with each other, discuss where the process is working well, and where you could use some help.
What You’ll Discover in These 12 Modules
In this 12-part transformational journey, David Crow will guide you through the fundamental skills and competencies you’ll need to heighten both the physical and spiritual capacities of your nine body centers through a combination of herbal remedies and meditative practices.
This course will feature step-by-step teachings and experiential practices with David. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to deeply understand how your body works in relation to your nine body centers — and the cosmological intelligence that runs through you, all of nature, and our cosmos.
Module 1 The Powers of the Brain for Profound Self-Awareness, Imagination, Memory & Concentration
The human brain is one of nature’s most miraculous creations. Its neurological complexity is so vast, it surpasses our ability to comprehend.
Even more profound are the activities of the mind and consciousness that appear to be rooted in the brain’s functions... yet, according to David, actually may not be. This great mystery lies at the root of all the spiritual endeavors and practices that seek to understand who and why we are.
Of all the powers of the body, it’s the brain that gives you the unique ability to look inward, gain self-knowledge and self-awareness, and perceive the nature of reality. It bestows upon you the powers of imagination and visualization that allow you to re-envision and recreate yourself. And it gives you the powers of concentration, memory, and learning that are the basis of manifesting your life’s purpose.
Ancient meditative practices can increase the brain’s powers and functions. In this opening module, you’ll discover how when you use meditation in conjunction with classical medical systems, such as Ayurveda and the use of sophisticated herbal formulas, you potentize the herbs to further enhance your cognitive functions and slow the aging of your brain.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- How to develop awareness and appreciation of the brain’s miraculous powers and cosmological intelligence
- Ways to enhance cognition and activate the mystical functions of the brain as taught by Tantra and Taoism
- Classical herbal formulas such as Saraswati Churna, Brahmi Gritham and Anu Thailam from Ayurvedic medicine that develop higher levels of mental focus, clarity, and intelligence
- Simple methods of combining herbs, aromatics, breathing, and meditation for fast-acting effects on the brain and meditation
- The prana of the brain according to Ayurveda, and its link to yoga, meditation, and wellbeing
- Nootropic herbs such as bacopa and calamus and contemporary nutraceutical extracts, such as huperzine for protecting and enhancing your brain functions
Module 2 The Powers of Vision to Strengthen Your Eyes, Understand the True Nature of Reality & Evolve Your Spirituality
Vision is our connection to light, but it also gives us the power of imagination, the ability to receive guidance from the subconscious, and the capacity to re-envision ourselves and manifest a different future.
The powers of vision are a web of functions that connect sunlight to the eyes and the eyes to the brain. It enables the human brain to function in ways that make you uniquely able to explore, perceive, and comprehend reality and evolve spiritually.
The powers of light and vision have long been recognized and used in mystical, meditative, and yogic traditions for extraordinary practices, such as lucid dreaming, seeing the otherworldly realms revealed by entheogenic plants, and giving birth to ourselves as deities in the imaginal realm of Tantric visualizations.
As with the powers of the brain, the traditions of herbal medicine offer a rich pharmacopeia for protecting and strengthening the eyes. As with all ancient medical systems, those herbs, formulas, and therapies have always been used not just to support physical health but to potentize the practices of inner alchemy. When combined with visualizations, the potency of herbal medicine magnifies their therapeutic benefits.
In this module, you’ll:
- Participate in simple practices to become aware of eyesight, light, and inner vision as divine expressions of cosmological intelligence in the body
- Learn spiritual and yogic exercises for developing your inner vision
- Discover unique herbs, such as medicinal fungi and Himalayan spikenard, to support your visualization and creative imagination
- Hear about herbs such as valerian and rose, herbal formulas such as triphala ghee, and nutraceuticals such as carotenoids and anthocyanosides — as well as natural therapies for strengthening your eyesight
- Be guided in visualization practices from Tantra and Taoism to consecrate and potentize herbs and formulas
- Develop your perception of Shen, the luminosity of presence, clarity, and spiritual qualities reflected in your eyes
Module 3 The Powers of the Breath for Improved Respiratory Function & Enhanced Meditative States
We all start life with an inhalation, and end with an exhalation. Between those two breaths, the continual flow of respiratory prana keeps the body alive. And we are always one breath away from the next world.
Of all the physiological powers of the body, the breath has been the most recognized — and used — as a doorway into meditative states. Control of the breath is synonymous with control of the mind stream, and vice versa.
Countless practices in yoga, Tantra, Ayurveda, and Taoist alchemy use the breath for gaining some degree of direct influence over the mind and body. Even if you’re not able to enter the most profound states of samadhi described by the ancient scriptures, you may be able to quickly gain great health benefits with minimal effort.
The breath is also the easiest doorway into the ecological spirituality of recognizing your biological unity with other beings, as all living things are breathing together.
In this class, you’ll explore:
- Ways to recognize and increase awareness of the spiritual dimensions of the breath — and its connections with the powers of the voice, heart, brain, and immunity
- Meditations that illuminate and enhance the connections between the breath, the biosphere, plants, and other breathing beings
- Ancient Ayurvedic herbal formulas, such as Agasthya Rasayana, to strengthen your respiratory system and deepen your breathing meditations
- How to use breathing meditations to potentize herbal medicines
- Methods for combining breathing practices, essential oils (such as frankincense), and visualizations for immediate relaxation and stress reduction
- How to use aromatic herbs such as yerba santa and expectorant herbs such as mullein, along with nutraceuticals and natural treatments to support the power of your breath
Integration Session One
David will help you activate the interconnected powers of the brain, vision, and breath to enhance cognitive and meditative clarity.
Module 4 The Powers of Speech for Heightened Communication & Self-Expression
Speech gives you the powers of expression and communication, which are the basis of relationships, karma, manifestation, and accomplishments.
Paranormal qualities of magnetism, enchantment, and healing are attributed to those whose voices have unique qualities.
The powers of speech are linked in profound and mysterious ways to the powers of the breath, the powers of the brain, and the powers of the heart. Understanding these connections gives you greater insight and control over your speech and its effects in both the inner world of your consciousness and in the outer world.
The powers of speech have long been deified. Mantras, for example, are the manifestation of specific deities in acoustic and vibratory form. Mantric practices and herbal medicines have been closely related, using herbs to potentize the power of mantras, and using mantras to potentize the power of medicines.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- How to recognize your voice as an expression of cosmological intelligence
- Simple yogic methods to use in combination with herbs such as licorice, thyme and, galangal, to strengthen your voice and develop its spiritual qualities
- Aromatherapy meditations to coordinate your brain, heart, and breath for clarity and power of speech
- Herbs such as blue vervain, and aromatic oils such as sandalwood for immediate stress reduction that supports harmonious communication
- How the voice is mantra, how mantras are deities, and how the vibratory power of words become manifested
- Herbs, such as tulsi, that potentize mantras and prayers... and how mantras and prayers potentize herbs
Module 5 The Powers of Metabolism for Improved Digestion, Immunity & Clarity of Mind
All forms of life exist by metabolizing sunlight.
The sun and fire are two of the most powerful and universal of all the archetypes in the human psyche, taking countless forms as gods, goddesses, deities, symbols, and mythologies. Every ancient culture from Greece to India and China to the Americas used fire for worship and purification in ceremonies and rituals.
In Ayurveda, the deities of sun and fire manifest in our digestive and metabolic heat. In yoga and Tantra, we find the fire of Kundalini. In Taoist, Arabic, and European traditions, we find the fires of alchemy — transmuting the outer and inner elements.
The powers of metabolism are complex, subtle, and mysterious, with intimate relationships — not just with the processes of digestion, assimilation, and elimination, but also with the light of the spirit, the clarity of the mind, the powers of the brain, eyes, and vision, the strength of immunological resistance, the regulation of the endocrine system’s glands, and the vitality of the reproductive essences.
By learning how to recognize the spiritual dimensions of metabolism, you can not only burn away residues of the past lingering in the body and mind, you can also develop a direct and intimate relationship with the presence of the sacred and divine in everyday life.
In this module, you’ll learn:
- The spiritual dimensions of metabolism — how to experience ordinary processes of your body as the inner fire of solar light
- How to recognize and harmonize the 5 primary forms of metabolic fire — and their psycho-spiritual functions according to Ayurveda
- Ways to purify and strengthen your mental and emotional metabolism using meditation combined with herbal medicines, such as aromatic spices and essential oils that are rich in solar energy
- How to transform the use of herbs and food into an intimate relationship with Agni, the body deity of metabolic fire
- Alchemical meditations on inner fire for removing mental, emotional, and karmic negativity
Module 6 The Powers of the Glands to Increase the Function of Your Endocrine & Chakra Systems
The endocrine system is a mandala of miraculous functions, which can accurately be described as the intelligence of nature regulating every aspect of your body and mind.
It’s not surprising that the primary glands have been linked to centers of mystical energy and power — the chakras of the dormant subtle nervous system. But what relevance does endocrinology or the chakras have for your daily life and spiritual journey? And how can you use the knowledge of these systems in a meaningful way to deepen your wisdom and insight?
Like many mystical practices that have come to us from distant times and cultures, there are important pearls of wisdom mixed with confusing teachings and unrealistic claims. Our challenge in the modern age is to extract what is essential and meaningful, and apply it in ways that are beneficial for our spiritual growth.
By studying both the ancient roots of the chakra system and the modern understanding of the endocrine system, you may discover that you don’t need to replicate intensive mystical practices from a thousand years ago to recognize the divine and sacred powers of Creation functioning inside you in every moment.
In this class, you’ll explore:
- How to recognize cosmological intelligence in the functions and influences of the endocrine system in your body and mind
- Meditations, visualizations, and the use of herbs, such as ginseng and maca, to connect with the miraculous cosmological intelligence of the endocrine glands
- The relationship between the endocrine system and chakras
- The differences between the modern “biopsychology” system of chakras and the ancient “hidden body” system, and how to use the essence of both for meaningful and effective meditation
- How herbs and aromatics could be correlated with chakras and their functions
- The primary categories of botanical medicines that can be used for the physical and spiritual aspects of the endocrine system, such as pituitary and thyroid regulators, adrenal trophorestoratives, and others
Integration Session Two
David will help you activate the interconnected powers of the speech and breath to strengthen personal expression and manifestation... and activate the interconnected powers of metabolism and endocrine system to improve vitality and balance biorhythms.
Module 7 The Powers of Sexual Vitality for Greater Happiness, Fertility, Longevity & Illumination
According to Tibetan embryology, at the moment of conception, the blue essence of the space-like formless consciousness of the incarnating mind merges into the union of the father’s white essence and mother’s red essence.
These essences, which are distilled from sunlight, moonlight, and nutrition in the human body, can accurately be described as the most primordial and intimate of all expressions of Creation — giving birth to itself in infinite forms.
It’s not surprising that the powers of sexual vitality have been deified since the dawn of humanity as the countless gods and goddesses of fertility and virility found in every culture.
The powers of sexual vitality are crucial for your health and happiness, but they’re actually far more subtle and profound than the physical reproductive fluids of youthful childbearing years. The red and white essences of your parents are the genetic basis of your body, mind, and karmas, living inside you like energetic echoes of ancestral lineages flowing back in time.
These essences are also the basis of longevity, spiritual fulfillment, realization, and illumination. The powers of sexual vitality are intimately related to the powers of the brain, endocrine glands, metabolic fire, and heart.
In this class, you’ll learn:
- The cosmological origins of sexual essences and vitality in your body
- How to strengthen the related powers of sexual vitality, immunity, longevity, and manifestation
- Cultivation, transmutation, and rejuvenation of essences in Taoist and Tantric sexual yogas
- Herbal meditations to link the body mandala of sexual vitality, brain, heart, metabolic fire, and endocrine systems
- How to enhance sexual vitality and romantic love with sacred anointing perfumes
- How to use unique testosteronic aphrodisiac herbs, such as Anacyclus and Chlorophytum
Module 8 The Powers of Protection to Reduce Infections in Your Organs
Classical Asian medical systems have developed sophisticated concepts and practical knowledge of the human immune system. In Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines especially, large pharmacopeias of herbs, formulas, and therapies were used to enhance the protective powers of the skin, lungs, digestive system, and other organs vulnerable to infection and disturbances from elemental influences.
These ancient methods have become increasingly popular and necessary, as modern society has discovered the value of immune-boosting herbs and nutraceuticals for protection, treatment, and recovery from increasingly virulent microbes and our exhaustion from chronic stress.
In ancient times, fortifying the immune system with herbs was generally done in conjunction with spiritual practices — specifically invocations of protective deities. These deities were invited to reside in the body to protect the Qi of the organs against stress and trauma. They were visualized like body armor to ward off diseases and negativity.
Tantric ceremonies, performed both outwardly and inwardly, created mandalic fields of energetic protection against evil spirits, negative influences of ancestors, malefic influences of the elements, bad luck, and misfortune.
Integrating the two traditions of medicine and meditation, herbal formulas were blessed using the invoked powers of protective deities for treating inflammation, pain, and epidemics.
In this module, you’ll learn how to:
- Perceive the functions of immunity as expressions of nature’s evolutionary intelligence in the body
- Combine meditation and herbs to activate your body’s mandala of protective power
- Understand the relationships between immunity, powers of the breath, metabolic fire, heart, glands, and essences of sexual vitality
- Potentize the immune system by understanding the wrathful protective deities of Tantra and Taoism
- Safely use strong immune system stimulant herbs, such as andrographis and echinacea, along with nutraceuticals and natural therapies to support both the physical and spiritual dimensions of immunity and protection
- Use visualization, mantra, affirmation, intention, and prayer to potentize immune-boosting herbs and herbal formulas
Module 9 The Powers of the Heart to Enhance Your Qualities of Love, Empathy, Emotional Intelligence, Wisdom & Intuition
Our incarnation in this life is measured in heartbeats, which are the pulsations that carry our thoughts in waves.
Many classical medical systems and mystical lineages believe that a treasure box of subtle energy appears around the newly forming heart of the human embryo before its first beat, slowly encapsulating the omniscient consciousness that has incarnated into form. At the time of death, this treasure box opens to release the consciousness residing in the heart back into the universe.
Countless teachings about the mystical dimensions of the heart have come from virtually every religion, faith, discipline, and meditation lineage because the heart is the most direct link to our innermost Self. It’s said that when the heart chakra opens, all the other chakras fall into it — and that the heart is not actually in the body, but the body is in the heart. The heart is where Spirit becomes infused in the body and resides.
When you keep your attention close to your heart, you become blessed with its spiritual qualities of love, empathy, and compassion for yourself and others. You also enhance your emotional intelligence, cognition, wisdom, equanimity, and intuition — and cultivate the courage to be sensitive and receptive to life even when you’re surrounded by pain and confusion.
In this closing session, you’ll:
- Explore Taoist teachings on the heart as the residence of Shen, luminous spirit
- Listen to your heartbeat as a supreme form of self-nurturing
- Discover how to activate the body mandala of the heart by combining herbs with visualization to ignite the links between your heartbeat, brain, breath, speech, sexual vitality, and mind
- Learn how to develop and manifest the inherent spiritual qualities of the heart by combining heart-centered meditations with Shen-activating herbs, such as unique species of reishi, and floral essential oils
- Examine the life span, its karmas, and its potential, from the first to last heartbeat
- Discover herbs such as albizzia and linden flowers, and herbal formulas such as the “Celestial Emperor’s Heart Supplementing Elixir” to support tranquility and clarity in your heart
Integration Session Three
David will help you activate the interconnected powers of sexual vitality, immune protection, and the heart for greater immunity and emotional wellbeing.
SPECIAL BONUS OFFER
In addition to David’s transformative 12-module course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Chinese Herbal Tonic Re-visit
In herbal medicine, an herbal tonic is used to help restore, tone and invigorate systems in the body or to promote general health and well being. An herbal tonic is a solution or other preparation made from a specially selected herbs. In this course, we shall endeavor to look deeper into this cultural alchemy and determine it's effectiveness and possible side effects from taking them on a regular basis. With precautions and contra-indications.
In This Session:
- Cultural habit of taking Chinese tonics
- Effectiveness and possible side effects from taking Chinese tonics
- Precautions and contra-indications.
What People Are Saying About David Crow, LAc…
American Buddhist writer and academic
President of the California College of Ayurveda
Naturopathic physician, associate professor of botanical medicine, and medical director
Ayurvedic herbalist and teacher
Registered Herbalist, American Herbalists Guild
Co-Author of Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Nine 120-Minute Class and Three 60-Minute Integration Sessions With David Crow
Experience a unique opportunity to learn from world-renowned plant medicine pioneer David Crow, a leading grassroots healthcare expert — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a streaming video option and will guide you through your nine body centers so you can heighten both their physical and spiritual capacity through a combination of herbal remedies and meditative practices.
Twelve Transcripts of Class Sessions
In addition to high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each lesson.
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, An Herbalist’s Journey Through the Body’s 9 Power Centers
We feel honored that David Crow has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive online training. This is a unique opportunity to learn from a world-renowned plant medicine pioneer and leading grassroots healthcare expert whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about living a robust life — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually — by combining herbal medicine and spiritual practices, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind training.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
If you don’t absolutely LOVE An Herbalist’s Journey Through the Body’s 9 Power Centers — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form 14 days from your date of purchase and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for David Crow, LAc
Author of Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing
Author of Ayurveda: Life, Health, and Longevity
Shift Faculty and Sacred Drummer
Celebrated Author and Chef
Eastern Cape, South Africa
Yorba Linda, California
About David Crow, LAc
David Crow has been a clinician, consultant, researcher, and educator in the field of natural medicine for over 40 years. A world-renowned speaker, author, and thought leader, David emphasizes reimagining healthcare and empowering individuals to become their own self-care experts.
As a teacher, David has taught extensively for more than 25 years, throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He’s been a top faculty member at The Shift Network since 2015, where over 10,000 students have taken his online courses. He pioneered and hosted The Shift Network’s annual Plant Medicine Summit, which has been attended by over 300,000 people from more than 120 countries.
David was one of the first Westerners to train and be licensed in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and one of the few to study Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicine in traditional internships in Nepal and India. He was also one of the first medical pioneers to use essential oils and aromatherapy in clinical practice, and to integrate these diverse modalities into comprehensive treatments.
He’s traveled extensively for ethnobotanical research and to study traditional medical systems, including sojourns in Central and South America, Europe, North Africa, Taiwan, Burma, Nepal, and India. He’s worked with many communities around the world to establish a network of projects supporting sustainable cultivation and production of botanical medicines and artisanal essential oils.
David, who has studied extensively with numerous spiritual teachers and meditation masters in Asia, integrates these teachings into his medical practice and presentations on natural medicine and ecological spirituality.