Nature and Nurture
When you first enter Hollow Reed Holistic, the scent of frankincense envelopes you first, before you take in the warm wood grain furnishings with accents of black, and the tidy apothecary shelves filled with vials of essential oils and packages of dried herbs.
The experience of a physical space is one that can’t be replicated with online shopping, and that’s exactly how owners Chad Cornell and Nancy Hall want it to be.
“We want this to be a place for community,” he said. The other difference between Hollow Reed and buying products from other online suppliers is the one-on-one consultations they offer, and the reassurance that what you are buying is quality, ethically harvested and sourced herbal medicine. Hall’s practice focuses on essential oils.
Cornell, who grew up in Winnipeg, was first exposed to herbalism and natural healing when he lived in British Columbia, working as a guide in Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. Later he attended the Wild Rose College of Natural Healing in Alberta. He has also studied Ayurvedic medicine, known as the sister to yoga, he said.
Traditional healing views your body more as a garden than a machine. The garden metaphor is one Cornell turns to for running a business as well. “The entrepreneurial path is challenging. Healing is our focus and what we’re passionate about, but we had to learn the business side. Some years are better than others and you learn from your mistakes.”
Changes in the business climate were one of the reasons behind their move to Corydon seven years ago after eight years in Wolseley. “We didn’t want to be a hippy thing that just goes on in Wolseley.”
As natural healing has become more mainstream, it’s important to understand that natural doesn’t mean harmless, he said. They pay careful attention to interactions among herbal treatments, and how they interact with other pharmaceuticals.
Unfortunately, most people don’t come for holistic treatments until they are experiencing a health issue. Hollow Reed is about understanding the bigger picture of lifestyle and diet’s role in health. “We aren’t here to just tell you what to take,” he said.
“I don’t blame people for having judgements. It’s the influence of pharmaceuticals in our culture,” he said. “We don’t push to convert or convince anyone. Traditional methods have been in place for thousands of years. Nature is intelligent. Medicine grows all around us and we call it weeds.” Many of those weeds were nurtured by our ancestors because they were important to them, he said. “They are gifts we have to remember how to use.”
Hollow Reed recently expanded to have room to offer classes and other events, such as meditation and offering a place for others to share their knowledge in a new space known as the Lotus Lounge.
For more information about upcoming events at the lounge, or to learn more about Hollow Reed Holistic offerings, visit hollowreedholistic.ca.
Photos by Claudine Gervais
