Filipinx Food as Medicine : Healing with Autumn Transitions
5 Virtual Teachings from Sunday October 13, 2024 to Sunday November 10, 2024
9am-12pm (San Francisco Time) | 12pm-3pm (New York Time) | 6pm-9pm (London Time)
We are never alone, in our struggles, healing, and liberation. The supportive practices of connecting with the Land and the medicines within our lineages are always available to us. Join us as we collectively reclaim our right to heal ourselves.
Through hands on teachings on Filipinx food, common herbs, and rituals of earth reverence, we will explore our ancestral medicine in service of freeing our communities, the land, and future generations. These lessons are appropriate for both beginners and those with years of experience in holistic wellbeing, ancestral healing, and political organizing.
This course is structured through 5 Live, virtual gatherings and 4 pre-recorded lessons. Teachings are facilitated by Kai Delgado Pfeifer. More details of the course structure and contents can be found below.
These Virtual Gatherings are potent opportunities for storytelling, community connection, and collective healing. Deepened by exploration of outside of class, we will weave our personal healing journeys with a larger community rooted in shared healing intentions. Full participation in virtual gatherings and pre-recorded lessons are necessary to receive the deepest benefit from this space.
Filipinx Food as Medicine is a culturally specific learning community that is only open to BIPOC (including mixed race) participants. Uplifting the abundant ancestral connections and histories of solidarity between BIPOC lineages, we welcome this opportunity for cultural exchange and deepening of our shared liberation.
Course Structure & Contents
————-———During live sessions—————————
Every Sunday 3 hr live session is split between meditation + discussion circles and hands on cooking or medicine making time. Engagement with the assignments outside of class are necessary to have clear orientation during the live sessions.
5 hands-on food + herbal practices/recipes.
Week 1 - Plant Meditations & Introductions to Food as Medicine
Week 2 - Earth - Warming Stews and Relationship with Sweetness/Sugar
Week 3 - Water - Broths and Herbal Infusions
Week 4 - Fire - Rice based ancestral offerings
Week 5 - Air - Vinegars, Fermentation, & Pungent Spices
Practical theories for healing through the 4 elements, seasonal changes, and dietary + spiritual significance of various foods
Guided time for communal meditative grounding & small group discussions to integrate the learnings from pre-recorded offerings
————-—-—Pre recorded offerings——————-
Participants can anticipate spending about 1.5 hours each week outside of class to watch supplementary videos and engage in reflective practices.
Decolonized histories of Filipinx agriculture, food, spirituality, & society from pre-colonial times up to current day issues
Creative prompts to connect your personal journey with plant based healing to shared experiences, histories, and struggles.
Disclaimer: This course is neither a clinical herbalism workshop nor an ancestral lineage healing course. While those are important work to undertake, the framework of this course is not equipped to address specific physical ailments through plants or work intensively to heal the spirits of specific ancestors. In this course participants are encouraged to uplift their personal family stories and begin to shift challenging legacies through the gentle mediums of ancestral foods, common herbs, and safe ritual connection with the Earth. Those seeking thorough herbalism curriculum or work to directly address specific ancestors/ancestral lines are encouraged to seek out other practioners that can explicitly hold the depth and focus required of these explorations.
Gathering Protocols to Honor Self & Community
To honor the intimate nature shared amongst participants and facilitators, our live sessions will not be recorded. In addition, participants are required to attend at least 4 out of 5 sessions (1st session on 10/13 required) and remain present for the majority of gathering time. Last minute exceptions can of course be made for sickness or emergencies.
Each of our live, virtual gatherings will begin with short guided meditations where we are encouraged to open and maintain our own sacred space and/or altar. This altar/sacred space will be a grounding point for us to make food/medicine offerings to the land at the end of each gathering. Suggestions for how to create this from Filipinx traditions will be shared 1 week before the first gathering.
The rest of our shared time will be split between group discussions (based on Pre-recorded assignments), short presentations, and hands-on cooking workshop where participants share stories and reflections while collectively cooking. As a result, we invite you to be fully present to our exchanges and allow these lessons to live more fully in our hearts / memory.
Please register for our email list if you are unable to make this committment and would like to stay updated for future offerings.
Course Logistics
Live Gathering Dates: Our journey begins on Sunday October 13, 2024. We will meet every week until Sunday November 10, 2024.
Video Conference: We will gather on Zoom and a recurring meeting link will be sent a few days before the first circle.
Pre-recorded Lessons: Will be offered on Google Classroom and will be uploaded Sunday after class concludes. Participants can anticipate spending around 1 hour each week on these guided offerings. These lessons are intended to be the starting point of our live class discussions.
Ingredient shopping lists: These will be sent out along with weekly self-paced google classroom offerings. Participants can anticipate spending 10-20 Dollars/Euros per class on food and herbal supplies.
For folks with children, elder, or other community responsibilities: The first half of each live class is meant for more personal space of healing and reflection for the person who has signed up for the class. However in the second half of classes with cook-along demos, you’re highly encouraged to bring your families, friends, comrades which enriches your space of colleective healing.
Class Size is limited to 30 participants.
Pricing / Sliding Scale
As part of its vision to support the healing and liberation of our communities, Filipinx Food as Medicine offers its classes on a sliding scale basis. Due to scarce grant funding, this class will have only a limited amount of scholarship spaces that you can apply for in the standard registration form (link found below).
We ask registrants to make a suggested donation to the best of your ability. We will not require proof of income when registering and trust that our community will offer in a good way. Your investments in the teachings you receive are crucial in order to fairly compensate the organizers, assistants, and other infrastructure required to make this space available to the community.
Please note that the sliding scale named “solidarity offering” is intended only for individuals who come from low-income backgrounds (i.e. qualify for public programs such as food stamps/Medicaid, or earn around or less than $18k per year as a single person).
Please refer to this page to help you determine what is an equitable sliding scale donation for your particular situation.
Suggested Sliding Scale Donations
Solidarity Offering - This scale supports the majority of program cost.
$200 USD
Equity Offering - This scale reflects program cost / living wage compensation.
$400 USD
Benefactor Offering - This scale reflects full cost for your self & contribution on behalf of a fellow community member.
$600 USD