CHESTER, Vt. – Amber Ham, a licensed massage practitioner (LMP) and new owner of Songbird Wellness in Chester, Vt., lived in Santa Rosa, Calif., before moving to the East Coast. Ham settled first in Long Island, until she started experiencing some serious health issues that forced her to leave her home. She learned she had contracted Lyme disease, and was also having a severe reaction to mold at the house she was living in at the time.
After Ham moved out, she began to educate herself to regain her health, strength, and energy. That’s when she took a “deep dive” into the therapeutic qualities of plants and plant extracts, in a determined effort to feel better.
Ham lived in her camper van while working as a massage therapist at the luxury resorts in the Hamptons, N.Y. She experimented with different tinctures, and described that period of time as an “everyday commitment for over a year,” to learn about and practice therapeutic herbalism. Through this consistent self-care, Ham was able to slowly get herself to a place where she no longer felt constantly exhausted and in pain.
“I would call it remission,” Ham said, referring to her current state of good health. “I know it’s still in there, hiding in my cells.”
The ‘it’ Ham refers to is Lyme disease. Ham speaks with respect about Lyme disease, and explains how intelligent the tick-borne illness is, quickly adapting to its environment, learning to hide within cells or alter its form so that our immune systems cannot defeat it, and making it a difficult disease to treat.
The practice of treating illness with herbs reaches back to the Middle Ages. It is a wide-ranging course of study, and Ham said she continues to learn, even as she gives talks and holds workshops on the subject. She plans to begin hosting “gatherings” at the shop starting soon, calling them gatherings rather than classes, because “we all learn from each other, don’t we.” Additionally, the Springfield Library reached out to Ham to schedule a series of talks with her at the library.
Ham has been a practicing LMP for 23 years; her initial training was completed at the National Holistic Institute in Northern California’s Bay Area. She is also a functional nutritional therapy practitioner, trained and certified to assist clients in balancing their body chemistry to achieve optimal health.
In addition to an apothecary of bulk herbs, Songbird Wellness stocks soaps, oils, balms, tinctures, and miscellaneous items related to wellness, such as massage aids, yoga accessories, neti pots, and mushroom growing kits. Ham’s massage table is set up in the adjoining room. The space, just off the Chester town green, past Fischer Arts on the corner, offers a soothing and professional but unserious ambience, which is 100% intentional on Ham’s part.
“I made this place for people,” Ham stated. “I wanted to create a safe space where people could come and feel empowered by learning ways to balance their health imbalances. Where they could facilitate their own healing, rather than outsourcing it. There is a little magic in doing some of these things yourself, I feel, relearning ancestral knowledge to feel more whole.”
Before renting the storefront on School Street, Ham said she took regular tours of Stowe, Woodstock, and other areas in southern Vermont. She admitted Chester feels like the right spot, and she is grateful to be part of the expanding retail community on the green.
Songbird Wellness will host a grand opening this coming weekend, during the Chester Festival. Ham said she’ll have a tent set up in front of the shop, with herbal elixir samples and snacks. Ham looks forward to meeting more of Chester’s residents, and folks from surrounding areas, to introduce her practice to more people, and share the many benefits of natural remedies.