David Bruce Leonard

David is the founder of the Earth Medicine Institute and practitioner and teacher of all five branches of traditional Chinese medicine:

  • Acupuncture

  • Herbal medicine

  • Massage

  • Food medicine

  • Martial arts

David has studied traditional medicines with healers in Asia, North and South America, and Hawai’i. With a Master’s Degree in traditional Chinese medicine, he has a working knowledge of more than 400 traditional Hawaiian, Chinese, and Western plants. A deep ecologist and Hawaiian plant specialist, he has been a student of Hawaiian medicine under Kahu Kawika Ka’alakea, Kaipo Kaneakua and Na Kupuna ‘O Hawai’i since 1992.

Author of “Medicine at Your Feet: Healing Plants of the Hawaiian Kingdom” & “Wild Wisdom: Listening to Heart of Nature”, David is an expert on the medicinal plants of the tropics. He studies, lectures and teaches on cross-cultural uses of plant medicines, environmental concerns, traditional plant gathering practices, and pragmatic approaches to health care. He is known for his off-beat sense of humor. He is often seen in Hawaiian rain forests wearing his favorite trash bag as a raincoat.