Foundations of
Sowa Rigpa Herbalism:
Introduction to Tibetan Pharmacology

3-day course with Dr. Edward Coughlin

Spanish Translation Available 🇪🇸

Option to order herbal kit to compound alongside Dr. Edward Couglin!
(Action Required: Order your herbs today as delivery can take 2+ weeks)

Pending approval for 9 NCBAHM PDA points

(NB: pending status does not guarantee PDA point approval.)

Write your awesome label here.

Saturday September 5, 2026
Sunday September 6, 2026
Monday September  7, 2026

9AM-12PM PST
10am Mexico City | 12pm New York
6pm Rome
Check your time zone


All participants receive one year access to video recordings for review or self-paced learning.



Healing is fundamentally about restoring the balance of elements within the body. By combining deep clinical experience with traditional lineage disciplines, we learn to treat the whole person, not just the symptom.


This course is open to all, however those totally new to Sowa Rigpa are encouraged to enroll in Introduction to Sowa Rigpa: The Fundamentals of Tibetan Medicine to prepare.

🌿 Hands-On Medicine Making

View the Welcome section of this course for details on how to order the herbal kit.

Course Description

Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan Medicine) operates on the principle that the physical body, the imbalances that afflict it, and the medicinal antidotes that restore health all share the same elemental essence.

This course takes you on a step-by-step educational journey through the core philosophy, taste science, potencies, and compounding strategies of Tibetan herbalism. By organizing herbs structurally like a royal court—assigning roles to the King, Ministers, Army, and Vehicles—Sowa Rigpa creates an elegant, highly effective, and systemically balanced medicine. Whether you are a practicing clinician or an avid student of traditional systems, this course gives you the tools to conceptualize internal medicine through a completely holistic lens.

Course Overview & Highlights:
This course is delivered across three consecutive live online sessions, blending classical textual theory with practical, modern applications.

Key topics covered:

1. The Core Philosophy & The Principle of Opposites:
- The shared cosmological essence of the body, disease, and medicine.  
- The Five Elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Space) and their physiological expressions.
- Applying the law of "like curing unlike" to counter internal imbalances. 

2. The Science of Taste, Potencies, and Humoral Efficacy:
- How the 6 pre-digestive tastes transform into the 3 post-digestive tastes to balance the Nyepas (Humors).
- The 8 Potencies and 17 Qualities that dictate advanced pharmacology.
- Understanding Natural Potency—exceptions where an ingredient's innate quality overrides standard rules (e.g., Honey).

3. The Materia Medica Laboratory:
- Comprehensive study of 38 core materials categorized by Fruits, Seeds, Spices, Roots, Stems, Bark, Flowers, and Resins.
- Therapeutic profiles of foundational plants like Sedru (Pomegranate), Arura (Chebulic Myrobalan), and Agaru (Eaglewood).

4. Anatomy of the 14 Classical Formulas:
- Deconstructing multi-compound dynamics via the Kingdom Metaphor.
- In-depth study of master formulas, including digestive restoratives like Sedru Ngapa, systemic rejuvenators like Tsawa Ngajor, and anti-inflammatory remedies like Pökar Chupa.
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This course provides the insights needed to read the body's subtle shifts and compose masterful, balanced formulas today.
This course is included in the one year Foundations of Sowa Rigpa course but is available as a standalone module for those who are not in Foundations.
Those who wish to continue and deepen their studies of Sowa Rigpa after this course may enroll in SRI's one year training in Foundations of Sowa Rigpa (English or Spanish cohorts) or apply to join our Kunye Therapist Certificate Program, starting in September!
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About Edward J. Coughlin, AP, DOM, Dipl. OM

Edward Coughlin is a board-certified Acupuncture Physician, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, and certified Sowa Rigpa Practitioner with three decades of clinical and executive experience. As the founder of his private practice, Jade Lotus, and one of the very first acupuncturists in Florida to earn hospital staff privileges, he has performed over 50,000 treatments—bringing a profound depth of real-world expertise to his clinical and educational work.

Dr. Coughlin is a dedicated educator who serves as Core Faculty for the Sowa Rigpa Institute, teaching advanced herbalism and materia medica for their international certification programs.

Edward’s approach to medicine is uniquely holistic, seamlessly blending Eastern traditions, Western herbalism, and physical cultivation:

- Advanced Western Herbalism: Trained in Eclectic Western Herbal Medicine with the Matthew Wood Institute.
- Alchemical Arts: Deeply studied alchemy, para-chemistry, and spagyrics with Robert A. Bartlett at the Spagyricus Institute.
- Martial Lineage: A senior student of Master Kao San Lun and a 35th-generation disciple of the rare Little Nine Heaven system of martial arts, holding over 30 years of training in this disciplined lineage.