Todd Caldecott

Clinical Herbalist, Ayurveda Practitioner
RH(AHG), CAP(NAMA), RHT(BCHA)

23/08/2026

We’re well past the dog days of summer, and I’m taking some time to relax on SaltSpring Island with some friends. I recently launched a local herb group in qathet, and we’ve had an incredible response, with hundreds joining in just a few weeks.; Likewise, the interest among local folks apprenticing with me. We’ll have an orientation session mid September to talk about what this is going to look like. And starting next year, I’ll start looking at how I can expand this opportunity for out-of-town folks. Stay tuned, keep cool, and hydrate, imagining your future like a juicy fat pear butt.

30/06/2026

One of the most important insights I’ve had recently is that the same discipline I bring to clinical practice belongs in relationship.

In clinic, I don’t immediately accept testimony as truth. I pause. I ask questions. Sometimes I simply let the testimony sink in before responding.

It recently occurred to me that relationship deserves the same discipline.

I’ve written a longer reflection on this, drawing on Caraka’s Trividhā Parīkṣā (“three means of knowing”).

https://open.substack.com/pub/toddcaldecott/p/let-the-testimony-sink-in

29/06/2026

Some of the wonderful people at the Vancouver Island Herb Gathering. I was kinda low energy this year but felt so loved and cared for. Herbal folk are the best folk!

21/06/2026

Thank you to these beautiful beings for making me a father.

Looking back at these photos, I'm reminded how quickly it all passes. So much of fatherhood is spent in the midst of ordinary things: working, providing, fixing, driving, worrying, planning, paying bills, trying to do your best. It is easy to miss how precious those years are while you're living them.

Father's Day falls on the third Sunday in June, and this year it coincides with the summer solstice. To all the fathers out there: may this solstice bring light, warmth, renewal, and strength.

The work is not always visible, and it is not always acknowledged. But your presence matters more than you know. The time is fleeting, the responsibility immense, and the rewards often only become clear in hindsight.

Don't underestimate your importance or your presence.

And if you have a troubled relationship with your own father, consider the weight and significance of that. Loving yourself also means making peace with the father within. Create a little space for that today—even if only as a possibility. Offer some goodwill and compassion to your own heart, to the part of you that longs to protect, provide, guide, and love. And if you can, extend some of that goodwill to your father as well.

Whether your experience of fatherhood has been joyful, difficult, absent, healing, or unresolved, may this day bring a measure of understanding and peace.

Happy Father's Day.

14/06/2026

Anyone remember this classic Peanuts strip?

I recently shared it with a patient recovering from a chronic gastrointestinal condition who had become highly sensitive to every gurgle, rumble, and sensation in their abdomen. After a long history of pain and discomfort, even normal digestive activity can trigger a threat response, leading to hypervigilance.

In many chronic conditions, the issue becomes one of “volume control.” Healthy digestion is not completely silent, but most of the time we simply don’t notice it because it remains in the background of awareness. Once attention becomes fixed on bodily sensations, however, normal digestive activity can begin to feel abnormal, concerning, or intrusive.

This is particularly relevant in disorders of gut-brain interaction such as IBS, where hyperawareness of visceral sensations can amplify symptoms and contribute to a self-reinforcing cycle of anxiety and discomfort.

Paying attention to your body is important, but so is knowing when to shift your attention elsewhere. Meaningful work, social connection, exercise, creative pursuits, time in nature, and other immersive activities can help turn down the volume. As attention broadens, many of these sensations often become less noticeable and less distressing.

Sometimes the path forward is not listening more closely to every sensation, but learning when it is safe to stop listening quite so hard. So many things are like this in life!

06/06/2026

With gratitude for her life, and sadness at her passing, I share today that Grandma Sophia crossed the rainbow bridge at the age of 14.

She was a central part of my kids’ lives growing up and gave birth to five pups herself, including Bella and Freya, who in turn birthed 21 dogs between them—almost all of whom remain here in qathet.

The hardest thing for me, as a parent, is to bear witness and hold space for my kids: a poignant reminder of our own mortality, and of how heavily this weighs on every parent’s mind.

The thing about grief is that there is no way to fill it; it just is. With time, its emptiness diminishes relative to the ceaseless fullness and flow of life, but the absence of what we cherished—and perhaps did not fully appreciate or comprehend when we had it—always remains.

It is a good reminder to reflect on the fragility and tenuousness of life, and to celebrate both what we have now and what we have lost.

In that spirit, and for the many beautiful and rewarding things she brought into our lives, we honour Sophie’s life.

26/05/2026

ADHD is often framed online as simply an “overstimulated mind,” but the neurobiology is much more complex than that. Dopaminergic underactivation, executive dysfunction, trauma, sleep dysregulation, metabolic instability, and environmental factors all play important roles.

This is also why simplistic “calming” approaches — whether pharmaceutical or herbal — do not always produce meaningful clinical results. Understanding the actual mechanisms matters.

Curious to hear from clinicians, practitioners, and people living with ADHD: what interventions have genuinely made a difference for you?

22/05/2026

Finding a dietary home in complex digestive disorders.

20/05/2026

The chamomile flowers are just coming into season, which for me is a little melancholy, because I planted these for someone who’s no longer in my life.

This is German chamomile, Matricaria recutita, a gentle nervine and antispasmodic herb whose essential oils — bisabolol and chamazulene — contribute to both its fragrance and its medicinal properties. The sunny flowers with their lovely fragrance are a balm for the nervous system, but no herb can resolve the grief of losing something or someone you once held as precious.

If this resonates for you, by all means, pour yourself a cup of chamomile tea, and when the feelings come up, instead of getting caught up in the accompanying thoughts, notice and locate the feelings in your body, welcome and give space to them, staying focused on the feeling sensation itself rather than the thoughts, and gently let them dissipate.

Although the harvest may seem small, just like plucking a few flowers every day, over time it adds up. May your harvest, whether it is chamomile flowers, grief or both, be fruitful and abundant.

08/05/2026

Spring pollen is inevitable, but chronic suffering is not.

When pollen counts rise, many people experience more than just congestion and itchy eyes. The inflammatory response within the mucous membranes can increase susceptibility to respiratory infection, while the broader immunological burden may contribute to systemic issues such as histamine intolerance, digestive disturbance, fatigue, brain fog, and joint pain.

When I was younger, spring was a season of dread for me. I suffered from severe allergies and systemic inflammation. But by understanding how to reduce my immunological load and support resilience, my experience changed completely. Now at 57, living with three dogs and a cat I was once told I was “profoundly allergic” to, I can walk through pollen-drenched forests and cut my acre and a half of grass, moving through spring free of symptoms.

Too often people normalize chronic symptoms, assuming they will resolve on their own. In Āyurveda, postponing the treatment of disease is considered a form of prajñāparādha, or “a crime against wisdom.” Specifically, this is reflected in the term dhṛti vibhramśa, referring to a failure of resolve: when we know what must be done, but delay action until imbalance becomes pathology.

Part of the problem is that many people eventually lose faith that chronic conditions can truly be resolved, and instead settle for temporary suppression of symptoms rather than addressing underlying causes. And the pharmaceutical industry banks on exactly that resignation.

The unfortunate reality is that health problems tend to gain inertia over time. The earlier we intervene, the easier they are to resolve. If you need support, I am here to help.

Endereço

Beco Do Batman - Vila Madalena
São Paulo, SP
05436-100

Site

https://dogwoodbotanical.com/

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