About Us
We seek to honor the sacred knowledge of our ancestors while distilling it into wisdom and innovation that keeps pace with the world we live in today. Too much has been lost and forgotten through colonization and oppression, leaving scars on us that are aching to be healed.
Our Goal
It is our goal to help soothe those aches and guide those who work with us to a place of balance, reminding them that we are all in relationship with the world around us, and to be healthy and well is not some lofty goal only available to a select few.
Our Name
We chose the name North Wind to be our herald because, in many ancestral European spiritual traditions, this was the essence of truth, clarity, justice, wisdom, and protection. All of these things are values that we carry with us into each of our offerings.
About Rylan
Rylan (He/They) was raised in the rural Carolina swamplands by strong Southern women. He went to school for Communication, Psychology, and Medicine in both Virginia and California, always searching for ways to best serve his community. He spent a decade working in patient advocacy and healthcare management, a skillset he carries into clinical practice today alongside an ancestral gift for healing. As a queer person, Rylan has spent most of his adult life doing community organization within LGBTQ+ spaces, most specifically bringing healthcare access to online gaming groups here in the Bay Area. Rylan is also a lifelong practitioner of diasporic indigenous Celtic spirituality, and finds great balance weaving this more esoteric lens in with his well rooted scientific background. He is always seeking to create relationships between people and the deep healing that can be found in nature while navigating the complex and conventional world we live in.
Rylan is the owner and main clinician of North Wind Apothecary in San Francisco, and has been studying, practicing, and teaching Western Herbal Medicine since 2012. As a strong advocate of local biome and ancestral remedies, Rylan focuses on sustainability and decolonization, as well as progressive medical advancement.
