Hayley Gardner joins us at a profound threshold: days away from the birth of her first child while supporting her husband through treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia. In this intimate Well of Being conversation, she reflects on her unique journey as a healer -- from the inspiration of her grandmother’s parting words that set her on this path, to her apprenticeship with a legendary, Taiwanese physician, to growing her own practice as a clinical herbalist and teacher. Blending deep expertise with her trademark humility, insight, warmth, and lived experience, Hayley shares how she is navigating the beautiful and complex landscape of love, illness, healing, and new life ---drawing on both Western and Chinese medicine, and discovering, in the process, the unexpected medicine of being held by community.

About Hayley: Hayley Gardner is a gifted Classical Chinese Medicine practitioner, herbalist, and the founder of Estuary Herbs on Florida's Gulf Coast. Her journey into Chinese Medicine began as a teenager, through a decade-long apprenticeship with master physician Dr. Ni Hai-Sha, whom she studied with until his passing. In the twenty years since, she has devoted herself to the classical roots of this tradition -- grounding her work in the Han dynasty source texts that many modern programs have moved away from. What sets her apart is her ability to bridge the ancient and the modern -- illuminating how Chinese Medicine's understanding of the body's elemental balances speaks directly to the health challenges people face today. In addition to running her own herbal pharmacy, crafting customized formulas and serving as a resource for practitioners across the United States, Hayley also teaches at Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine in Bradenton. And her herbal product JING -- a nourishing adrenal tonic born during the pandemic -- is now carried nationally and used in acupuncture clinics around the country. Over the years, she has developed a deep calling to support people navigating serious illness, including women undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

You can stay in touch with her work through the Estuary Herbs website and Instagram page