A hands-on herbal medicine making class where you’ll craft your own custom nervous system oil and learn a profound ancient practice for stress, anxiety, tension, and sleep, at Flow Acupuncture and Apothecary in downtown Salt Lake City
Learn to craft your own nervous system nourishing oil at our herbalism workshop on November 21, 2026
If you’ve been searching for herbalism classes in Salt Lake City that offer something deeper than a quick introduction, something hands-on, deeply nourishing, and grounded in genuinely ancient practice, I want to tell you about one of my most anticipated workshops of the season.
On Saturday, November 21, from 2 to 4 PM at Flow Acupuncture and Apothecary in downtown Salt Lake City, I’ll be leading the Herbal Padabhyanga Workshop. It’s a two-hour journey into one of the oldest and most quietly powerful practices for nervous system regulation that human beings have developed. You’ll craft your own custom herbal oil blend. You’ll receive a beautiful stone guasha blade to take home. You’ll be guided through the full padabhyanga practice itself. And you’ll leave with a real, lasting daily tool for easing stress, tension, anxiety, and the sleep issues that so many of us carry through these darker, colder months.
This is one of those workshops that genuinely changes how people move through their lives. Let me tell you everything you need to know, so you can decide if it’s right for you.
What Is Padabhyanga?
Padabhyanga is the ancient Ayurvedic practice of oiling and massaging the feet. The name comes from Sanskrit: pada meaning foot, and abhyanga meaning oil massage. For thousands of years, this practice has been passed down through the Ayurvedic tradition of India as one of the most reliable and accessible daily practices for nervous system wellness, deep rest, and whole-person balance.
The practice is elegantly simple. Warm oil, slowly applied. Intentional touch on specific points of the feet. Unhurried attention. A few minutes of genuine presence with your own body. That’s it. No elaborate setup. No complicated protocol. Just the body, the oil, and the quiet medicine of attention.
What makes padabhyanga so remarkable is the depth of what this simple practice actually produces. Your feet are one of the most nerve-rich surfaces of your entire body, holding roughly 200,000 nerve endings, each one a direct line into your nervous system. When you massage your feet with warm oil, you’re not just caring for tired feet. You’re sending signals of safety, nourishment, and care into the deepest layers of your autonomic nervous system. Your parasympathetic branch engages. Your heart rate slows. Your breathing deepens. Your whole body remembers what settled feels like.
For anyone navigating chronic stress, anxiety, tension, or difficulty sleeping, this is genuinely profound medicine. And once you learn the practice, it’s yours to use for the rest of your life, any time your body needs real support.
Why This Practice Matters So Much for the Stressed Nervous System
Let me spend a moment with why padabhyanga is such a powerful tool specifically for the patterns I work with most in my clinical herbal practice.
For chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation
When your nervous system has been running in sympathetic activation for too long, finding your way back to parasympathetic rest can feel impossible. Thinking about relaxing doesn’t produce relaxation. Padabhyanga works below the level of thought. The combination of warm oil, direct pressure on reflex points, and slow intentional touch signals safety to your nervous system through pathways that no amount of cognitive effort can activate. For people whose nervous systems have forgotten how to settle, this practice gently teaches them again.
For anxiety
Anxiety is often, at root, a nervous system that’s lost the capacity to downshift. Padabhyanga directly engages the parasympathetic nervous system in a way that meaningfully eases anxious activation. Many people who practice regularly report that evening padabhyanga has become one of the most reliable tools for softening the anxious edges of the day before sleep.
For physical tension
Chronic stress produces chronic muscular bracing throughout the body. Padabhyanga releases tension not only in the feet themselves but through the reflex connections that extend throughout the entire body. People consistently report feeling tension release in areas far beyond the feet after even short padabhyanga sessions.
For sleep
This is where padabhyanga perhaps shines most brightly. Ayurvedic tradition has always recommended padabhyanga before bed as one of the most reliable sleep practices available. The nervous system shift it produces directly supports the physiological conditions required for deep, restorative sleep. For anyone navigating sleep issues, incorporating a brief padabhyanga practice into the evening can meaningfully change the quality of your nights.
For whole-person grounding
There’s something deeply, quietly grounding about caring for your own feet with warm oil and intentional attention. The practice brings you into contact with the parts of your body that carry you through every day, the parts you probably ignore the most, and the parts that most need and most respond to care. The felt experience of being present with your own feet is one of the most genuinely humbling and restorative practices available.
Hands-On Herbal Medicine Making: Craft Your Own Custom Oil
Alongside the practice itself, this workshop is a genuine herbal medicine making class. You’ll roll up your sleeves and craft your own custom herbal oil blend from scratch, matched to your own body and your own nervous system needs.
You’ll learn about base oils
The carrier oil you choose for your padabhyanga practice matters. Different oils have different qualities, warming or cooling, grounding or lifting, specific to different constitutions and needs. We’ll explore the main base oils used in traditional padabhyanga and help you choose the one that best fits your body.
You’ll explore nervous system herbs for topical use
Not every herb that works beautifully as a tea or tincture is suited for topical application. We’ll work with a curated selection of plants that have long histories of supporting relaxation, resilience, calm, and restoration through foot massage specifically.
You’ll craft your own unique blend
This is where the magic happens. You’ll combine your chosen base oil with the specific herbs that speak to your body and your current needs. Each attendee leaves with a completely unique custom oil, infusing and ready to use at home.
You’ll receive a guasha tool to keep
Traditional padabhyanga often uses a small metal bowl called a kansa bowl, made from a specific alloy that enhances the therapeutic effects of the massage. I also like to use a stone guasha tool as it’s so much easier on the hands and can be applied on other parts of the body, too. Attendees will receive their own stone guasha blade to keep.
This is one of the most valuable aspects of an in-person herbal class in Salt Lake City. You’re not just learning about herbal medicine. You’re making it. With your own hands. From ingredients you can touch, smell, and recognize. And you’re leaving with a real, tangible medicine you’ve created yourself.
One of the most fascinating dimensions of this workshop is the exploration of the specific points on the feet that produce the deepest effects.
Ayurvedic tradition teaches about marma points, which are specific energetic and anatomical locations throughout the body where touch produces profound shifts in energy, nervous system state, and overall wellness. Many of the most important marma points live on and around the feet. When these are engaged thoughtfully during padabhyanga, the effects go far beyond what simple massage would produce.
Reflexology, a related tradition that developed in both Eastern and Western lineages, maps the entire body onto the feet. Specific points correspond to specific organs and systems. Working these points gently during foot massage sends supportive signals throughout the whole body.
In this workshop, you’ll learn the specific points from both traditions that most powerfully address nervous system resilience, calming, grounding, and relaxation. You’ll leave knowing exactly where to apply pressure, in what order, and with what intention, to produce the deepest effects for your specific needs.
This isn’t vague instruction. It’s precise, teachable, body-based knowledge you can use the very same evening you take the workshop home.
Attendees will craft their own unique oil blend to take home and enjoy
A Workshop for the Season We’re In
The timing of this workshop is deliberate. November through February is when our nervous systems most need this kind of gentle, consistent, grounding support.
The days shorten. The light recedes. The cold settles in. Inversion season begins along the Wasatch Front. Holiday pressures layer onto everything else we’re already carrying. Family dynamics intensify. Financial stress rises. The natural rhythm of this time of year asks the body to slow down, to turn inward, to rest more deeply. But modern life keeps demanding full-pace output right through the darkest months.
The mismatch between what the season is asking of your body and what your life is demanding is one of the most reliable producers of winter depletion. Chronic stress intensifies. Sleep suffers. Mood dips. Anxiety climbs. The body feels increasingly tired and tense at the same time.
Padabhyanga is exactly the kind of practice this season most needs. Warm oil. Slow attention. Earlier evenings. Deeper rest. A few minutes of genuine care for a body that’s been carrying a lot. Done consistently through these months, this simple practice can meaningfully change how you move through winter.
Giving yourself this workshop now, and the daily practice you take home from it, is a gift of real nervous system support right when you’ll most need it.
Herbalism Classes in Salt Lake City and Why They Matter
Finding good herbalism classes in Salt Lake City that go beyond retail-focused product education is genuinely valuable. The workshops I host at Flow Acupuncture and Apothecary are designed to offer something more. Real, hands-on learning. Grounded clinical wisdom from more than a decade of private practice. Access to a working apothecary where real medicine is made. And the warmth of a small, intimate group where you can actually engage, ask questions, and connect.
This padabhyanga workshop is part of an ongoing series of herbal classes I host here in Salt Lake City throughout the year. Each one explores a different dimension of herbal medicine, with the common thread of nervous system wellness and real, practical support for the patterns people most carry. Whether you’ve never touched an herb before or you’ve been studying for years, these workshops are built to meet you where you are and offer real value.
For anyone searching for herbalism classes near you, or looking for ongoing ways to deepen your relationship with herbal medicine here in Salt Lake City, I’d love to welcome you into this community.
Herbal Padabhyanga Workshop
Saturday, November 21, 2026
2:00 to 4:00 PM
Flow Acupuncture and Apothecary
1204 East South Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah
$45 per person
Includes your custom herbal oil blend to take home, a traditional stone guasha blade to keep, guided padabhyanga practice,
hands-on medicine making, handouts, and class
Space is limited. Please register in advance to secure your spot.
What to Bring and How to Prepare
To make the most of the hands-on padabhyanga practice during the workshop, please come prepared with a few simple items.
Clean, dry feet
We’ll be working with your feet directly during the guided practice, so arriving with freshly washed feet makes the experience much more comfortable for everyone.
Clean socks to put on after practice
After the oil application, you’ll want warm, clean socks to protect the oil and continue absorbing its benefits as you leave.
Creature comforts
Bring whatever helps you feel comfortable during self foot massage. A yoga mat to sit on. Cushions to support your back or knees. A blanket if the space feels cool. Anything that makes it easier for you to be in your body during the practice.
An open mind and willingness to slow down
This isn’t a high-intensity workshop. It’s a quiet, grounded, intentional two hours. The more you can let yourself drop into the pace of the practice, the more deeply the medicine will land.
Please note that due to the nature of this workshop and the special supplies involved, refunds are not available. However, tickets can be transferred to a friend if your plans change.
Who This Workshop Is For
This workshop is a beautiful fit for anyone who’s been navigating any of the following:
Chronic stress or a nervous system that’s lost its ability to settle
Anxiety that climbs in the evenings or prevents deep rest
Physical tension, especially in the lower body
Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
Winter depletion or seasonal mood changes
Curiosity about Ayurvedic practice and traditional herbal medicine
A desire for a sustainable daily practice that doesn’t require elaborate protocol
Interest in hands-on herbal medicine making
Anyone drawn to learning from a clinical herbalist in a warm, intimate group setting
You don’t need any prior experience with herbalism, Ayurveda, or massage. The workshop is designed to meet complete beginners with the same care it offers people who’ve been exploring herbal medicine for years.
Beyond the Workshop: Continuing the Work
If this workshop speaks to you and you feel called to go deeper into the work of nervous system healing and herbal medicine, several paths forward are available.
Attend more workshops
I host regular classes throughout the year at Flow Acupuncture and Apothecary, each exploring a different dimension of herbal medicine and nervous system wellness. The current calendar is always available on my classes and workshops page.
Schedule a personalized consultation
For anyone ready for the deeper work of a custom herbal formula built specifically for their body, my clinical herbal practice is available. An initial consultation is 90 minutes of thorough, unhurried care that creates a personalized plan for your specific nervous system and life. Many workshop attendees eventually transition into this one-on-one work.
Stay connected through my monthly newsletter and blog for ongoing wisdom, seasonal support, and updates about future events.
