I MADE THE MOVE
This medical herbalist found his healing town T odd Caldecott is a medical herbalist and a practitioner of Ayurveda, with over two decades of clinical experience. Todd started as a film/TV actor, but after a few years grew bored and headed off on a one-year sojourn overseas, traveling on the cheap throughout India and West Asia. He returned to Canada with a chronic digestive disorder. Not obtaining relief with conventional medicine, Todd eventually turned to Ayurveda, and was so impressed with his results that it sparked what has become a life-long fascination with this ancient system of healing. Todd went on to complete his training as a medical herbalist. In 1997, he moved to the West Kootenays with his young family, where he began working with the Harrop Procter Community Cooperative. In Calgary he was director of Clinical Herbal Studies at Wild Rose College. In 2012, he established the Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine, which provides clinical training to aspiring herbalists, including online programs, workshops, overseas training in Nepal and India, and clinical mentorship. He teaches at conferences and symposiums all over the world.
Why did you choose to move here? Todd • My step-father was a commercial airline pilot that made regular runs up to Powell River, and a few times I got to come along. Later when I visited the region as an adult, teaching at a summer program at Hollyhock, I was struck by its beauty and amazing climate. Over time a number of my friends and colleagues began to relocate to Powell River and Texada, and coming up here periodically to visit and teach, I began to think of it as a place we could call home. What surprised you once you moved here? Todd • I did have some concerns about leaving behind all the skill and talent that brings people to the big city.
My biggest surprise has been meeting people, and their amazing diversity of abilities and talents. Many of the newbies like me are coming here to make a fresh start. So there is a kind of exciting freshness and vitality that I am beginning to appreciate more fully.
Where is your favourite place here? Todd • Our home in Wildwood and its proximity to the Sunshine Coast Trail gives me great respite, and the rocky, moss-covered bluffs interspersed with arbutus trees are among my favourite landscapes. Scout Mountain and especially Gibraltar Bluffs are amazing. What would make Powell River a nicer community? Todd • Like many resource-based communities in BC, Powell River has skeletons in the closet, reflecting a time when people had little respect for the local First Nations peoples and the natural world. Out here in Wildwood, there are parts of the trail where there is a lot debris and broken glass from old vehicles that I have to make sure to keep my dogs away from. A lot has changed since then, but it is clear that there is still work to be done, to continue the process of reconciliation with the Tla’amin people, and to repair the damage we have done to the environment. If you were mayor, what would you do? Todd • Among the more important issues in Powell River is the completion of the upgraded sewage treatment centre in Townsite. We cannot continue to pollute our local waters. I also look forward to the decommissioning and remediation o the Wildwood sewage lagoon, making it safe for the birds and wildlife, and one day soon, turning it into a place locals can visit. I think here in Wildwood we need to actively support local agriculture, and create whatever incentives we need to ensure food security. If I were mayor, my goal would be to ensure and
HEALTH, OLD-SCHOOL STYLE: The founder of the Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine, Todd Caldecott, is impressed by our “diversity of ability and talents.” promote economic prosperity for everyone. What are Powell River’s best assets? Todd • The sheer beauty, the mild climate, the Tla’amin, the old-timers, and all the new people bringing in fresh energy. What is your greatest extravagance? Todd • In Ayurveda we are counselled to avoid extravagance, particularly when it comes to the fulfillment of desire, because desire and suffering are opposite sides of the same coin. Which superpower would you most like to have? Todd • The ability to disrupt the internal dialogue of reactivity that each of us struggles with, to bring about in everyone a timeless, graceful state of inner knowing.
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• april 2019 • prliving.ca