Who We Are – Co-Directors
Heartstone Center for Earth Essentials was founded by Tammi Sweet and Kris Miller to provide learning and healing to remember what is in our bones… To rekindle and nourish our essential human natures as bright and creative spirits with great capacities for aliveness and compassion, intimately connected and interdependent with all life on the Earth. Click here to read more about the mission.
Kris Miller, MA, LMT, CHP
Kris received her formal training in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed massage therapist and certified practitioner of Hakomi Body-Centered Psychotherapy. In private practice as a counselor for over 40 years in Ithaca, NY, she has been influenced by a variety of clinical modalities & orientations as well as the diverse life experiences of her clients. As a result, she offers a rich variety of resources to her clients. Kris' philosophy is holistic & transpersonal & integrates the principles of Buddhist mindfulness & eco-psychology.
Kris has a special interest in nourishing aliveness and health in our individuality, our social identities & relationships, & in our groups & organizations. She cares deeply about social and environmental justice and believes that these issues have a profound impact on our health and wellbeing.
Over the last decades, Kris has studied herbal medicine with Pam Montgomery, Rosemary Gladstar, and other beloved herbalists, EMDR with Ida Wolffe, and Spirit & Earth-based practices & philosophy with Rocio Alarcon, Brooke Medicine Eagle, & Tom Brown, Jr. In recent years, she's been deepening into the wonderful modalities of AEDP with Kate Halliday, ProcessWork & Deep Democracy, and the transformational work of Resmaa Menakem's Somatic Abolitionism.
In addition to her practice, Kris taught courses in Stress Management and Counseling for Health Professionals in the Department of Health Promotion at Ithaca College. For over 30 years, she worked as a consultant in human relations with Training for Change (TFC) Associates and in earlier years, at Cornell University, focusing on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, and social identity.
Now in her 70’s, Kris integrates all of her loves including healing in relationship to the Earth, Earth-based practices and Spirit. To this end, in 2007, she co-founded the Heartstone Center for Earth Essentials with Tammi Sweet. Since 2009, she has also been offering guided retreats, facilitated councils and ceremony at the Center.
Kris is available to officiate and assist with planning weddings for all couples who choose to enter the sacredness of marriage.
Tammi Sweet, MS, LMT
Tammi received her formal training in Neurobiology & Endocrinology and is a licensed massage therapist. She has worked for many years as an instructor in Anatomy and Physiology at the college level and at the Finger Lakes School of Massage in Ithaca, NY.
In addition to teaching the brilliance of the body, Tammi loves to bring others into deeper relationship with the natural world and with spirit. Tammi has been a practitioner of herbal medicine and a teacher of primitive skills & herbal medicine for many years. She studied herbal medicine with Rosemary Gladstar & Pam Montgomery, Spirit & Earth-based skills and philosophy with Rocio Alarcon, Brooke Medicine Eagle and Tom Brown, Jr. and has been influenced by many other wonderful herbalists especially Stephen Buhner’s pioneering work on the heart as an organ of perception.
Her background in physiology has made her a valuable resource to developing herbalists and massage therapists who want to deepen their foundations as practitioners. In 2007, she decided to integrate these loves into her own school and co-founded the Heartstone Center for Earth Essentials with Kris Miller.
In 2013, Tammi launched an 8-week online course in Anatomy & Physiology for Herbalists, Massage Therapists & others. In 2017, Tammi published a new series on Transition Zones, Advanced Physiology for Holistic Practitioners
"The thing that aided my learning was Tammi’s enthusiasm, excitement & passion for what she was teaching." - A.C.
In addition to teaching in the classroom and workshops, Tammi loves to take the adventures and learning outside onto the land. She frequently offers weed walks and garden classes on medicinal plants and garden practices at Heartstone and in other magical places out in the community.
