Melungeon Voices S5 E1 – Southern & Appalachian Folk Medicine

For the Season 5 debut episode, Heather Andolina (MHA Board President) is joined by Lindsay Kolasa and Phyllis Light to discuss Southern and Appalachian folk medicine, what Southern and Appalachian folk medicine is, its origins, and the connections to the Melungeon people.
 
Phyllis D. Light is a fourth-generation herbalist and healer and has studied and worked with herbs, foods, and other healing techniques for over 30 years. Her studies in Traditional Southern Folk Medicine began in the deep woods of North Alabama with lessons from her grandmother, who’s herbal and healing knowledge had its roots in her Creek/Cherokee heritage. She has a master’s degree from the University of Alabama in Health Studies, and has experience in both clinical and private settings including working in integrative medical clinics in Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama. In addition to herbalism and nutrition. Currently, she is the director of the Appalachian Center for Natural Health and continues to maintain an active private practice and consults with clients and offers health educational classes for businesses. Phyllis is also the author of “Southern Folk Medicine, Healing Traditions from Appalachian Fields and Forests".

Lindsay Kolasa is an Herbalist and Social Services worker, and due to a health crisis that began in 2001, has followed a long and winding path of healing, breakthroughs, and insights. She has dealt with trauma and recovery, the microbiome, trans-generational trauma, biodiversity, and tending the fractures in various forms of modern relationships. This journey has taken her to places such as the mountains of Western North Carolina, to the Pontic Steppe of Ukraine, to the coast-lands of California, and to the red clay hills of Eastern Mississippi. With 10 years of social service work and another 10 plus years of working with clients through her Herbalism practice, Lindsay has assisted a number of people in revealing deep and lasting shifts in their lives. She describes her work is trauma-informed and soul-based, utilizing tools such as narrative medicine and compassionate inquiry, creating a container of presence, curiosity, and insight in her practice.