A New Chapter: Why I have opened Pods Wellness Clinic in Headford. On planting something, tending to it carefully, and finally opening the door.

Opening a clinic feels a bit like planting something. You prepare the soil carefully, tend to every detail, and then — with a mixture of excitement and vulnerability — you open the door. That's exactly how I'm feeling as I prepare to open the door to my new clinic, Pods Wellness, at 44 Main Street (Upper Floor), Headford, Co. Galway.

New Herbal Medicine Consultation Room in the Pods Wellness Clinic in Headford.

I've been in practice as a medical herbalist since 2008, the year I graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in Herbal Medicine. In those early years, I was learning what it truly means to sit with a patient — to listen not just to their symptoms but to the whole story of their health. The stress that keeps them awake at night, the digestive complaint that flares when life gets hard, and the fatigue that no one seems to take seriously. Herbal medicine gave me a framework for hearing all of it.

A few years later, in 2010, I qualified in Massage Therapy (ITEC Diploma) — a lovely complement to herbal medicine. The two disciplines speak the same language: supporting the body's own capacity to heal, assisting rather than overriding. I began offering both in my practice while working in a private clinic in Dublin. In 2014, I left my Dublin practice and moved to the west of Ireland and started my work alongside Dr. Dílis Clare, a GP and medical herbalist, in her clinic in Galway. This was an important step in my professional development — the educational and inspiring aspects of this collaboration shaped me in ways that remain with me today.

My educational and professional path continued to develop through the years. I attended a variety of additional training and educational programmes, including Women's Health Education under the guidance of Dr. Aviva Romm (MD, midwife and herbalist) and a two-year training programme overseen by David Winston, a renowned american herbalist. Both of these have further shaped my approach to practice and given me insights into herbal medicine that I cherish to this day.

Over the years, I have assisted thousands of individuals in my clinical practice. This has involved individuals at all stages of life from infancy to those in their sage years. This has also involved assisting very broad range of health conditions. I have been blessed to witness how effective plant medicine can be, and how healing human touch and connection truly is.

Over time, education became of increasing interest to me, and I eventually completed a Postgraduate Diploma (2015) and MSc (2017) in Clinical Education. These qualifications formalised something I had long felt: that teaching and treating are not separate callings, but two expressions of the same commitment to health. A great deal of my clinical work involves education, and it is always a pleasure when someone leaves an appointment feeling they have learned something of value — something they can carry forward on their path to better health.

In 2018, I began working with Heartwood, a professional training college for those seeking to become medical herbalists. My roles with Heartwood have been varied, including overseeing clinical supervisor training workshops and, in later years, providing clinical supervision for the Heartwood Tuesday online training clinic. In addition, I have had students attend my private practice over the years, where they have had the opportunity to observe what taking a full case history involves, explore the reasoning behind treatment plans, and experience what it means to hold a therapeutic space for someone seeking support.

I believe passionately that the next generation of herbalists deserves rigorous, compassionate mentorship. Good clinical education doesn't just produce competent practitioners — it produces practitioners who know how to be present with a patient, how to hold uncertainty, and how to keep learning throughout a career.

Over the last number of years, the longing to open my own practice again grew steadily stronger, and I eventually came to the conclusion that it was time to take this step.

And that step has brought Pods Wellness into the world.

The name felt right from the beginning. A pod is a vessel — protective, purposeful, full of potential. It's the capsule a seed travels in, the structure a plant uses to carry what matters most safely into the world. I wanted this clinic to be exactly that: a contained, calm, purposeful space where people feel safe enough to begin their healing. From an educational standpoint, it is also symbolic — teaching is like sowing a seed of knowledge that grows bigger and stronger, supporting someone on the professional path to becoming a confident practitioner in their own right.

Pods Wellness is a natural health and wellbeing clinic offering herbal medicine consultations, massage therapy, and herbal workshops and events. There is more coming — in particular, something I am very excited about in the world of education — but I'll share that in the near future… not quite yet.

What I want most is fairly straightforward. I want to do my best to assist people in finding answers that may help them move towards their optimum wellbeing. I want to offer a space where individuals feel heard — where they can share what they are going through and be met with care. I want to offer those enthusiastic about learning an opportunity to explore herbal medicine and natural health. And I want to provide students of natural medicine and healthcare practitioners a platform where they can seek support on their professional path.

I'm excited that you're here, and I hope this space offers you what you are looking for. If you'd like to know more about what we offer, or to book a consultation, you can find everything at podswellness.com. And if you have questions — about herbal medicine, massage, or whether any of this might suit you — please reach out. That conversation is always where it begins.

"This is just the beginning — I'll be sharing more here in upcoming weeks" 

Lara Jonasdottir

BSc Herbal Medicine · ITEC Massage · MSc Clinical Education · Pods Wellness