About Us

Welcome to the new, web site for Dancing Willow Herbs. We are very excited by the wider variety of clean and pure products we are currently offering our clients, from healthcare to household to pet care. Our commitment toward a pure ethic is as strong as it was 10 years ago, when we first opened our shop at the pristine foothills of the San Juan Mountains in Durango, Colorado. As trained herbalists who offer hands-on treatment everyday in our shop, we are constantly reminded of how important it is to be dedicated to bringing our clients the best herbal products available. In fact, more and more people, it seems, have become weary of the toxic effects from harsh, inorganic chemicals in their drugs and the subsequent stress on their bodies. Often, the drugs we take to make us better actually make us weaker from their toxic aftereffects.

At Dancing Willow Herbs, the key to herbal healing is defined by four priniciples:
1. Gentleness -- Unlike harsh chemicals, herbal medicine is not limited to removing only a fraction of an herb’s healing potential. We use our herbs in their full form because we believe the whole herb is essential. Whereas chemical drugs alter biological components to force a quick, but often toxic and stressful, effect on the body, herbal medicine goes to the mechanism of sustaining healthy organ function, gently stimulating a function that’s naturally how your body performs. Our millenia-old tradition is empirically proven and environmentally sound.
2. Sustainability -- We are known as picky, but it’s our slavish devotion to sound environmental practices that is part of why we love what we do. We feel good about working with only organic farms around Colorado because we know where our herbs are coming from. Additionally, we do not take more than what we need, and we strive tremendously to nourish the environment and our community through our work. The result? A better, more potent product that we feel represents our environmental philosophy of sustainability.
3. Potency/Strengthening -- Our passion for what we do enforces our commitment to the details. Our medicinal formulas are created with extensive knowledge and an unrelenting passion, informed by scientific and herbalist understandings of how herbal interactions work synergistically. We only use small batches, taking our time to ensure strength and potency of all of our tinctures, salves, and other healing products. As well, there is an exchange between our herbalists and our products that transcends a list of ingredients. We put such a tremendous amount of energy and love into creating ethical, potent, and pure herbal medicines using consistently high standards, we think some of that power must go into each tincture or salve we make. We are sure you will feel that, too.
4. High Quality -- All of our herbalists and apprentices are trained professionals and hand-picked for their abilities to listen carefully, work passionately and ethically, and think creatively. We test and re-test our products, creating small batches to ensure high quality, and using only organic farms with outstanding reputations. Our standards are among the highest in the industry.

We hope you enjoy perusing our web site. If you ever come to our beautiful town, please stop by. We’d love to meet you.

With great blessings,
Debra Swanson
Clinical Herbalist