About Blue Jay Herbs
DAVID KUKKOLA
OWNER/FOUNDER
In 2015, David Kukkola founded the family-owned small business Bluejay Herbs in Santa Cruz, CA. David has been practicing as a Medical Herbalist, Shiatsu master, and nutritional counselor for over 30 years. During this time, he established multiple, successful natural health care centers throughout Northern California. Specializing in severe, chronic, physical, and emotional ailments, as well as difficult to diagnose maladies, David focuses on the total integration of body, mind, heart (emotions), and spirit or Protoplasmic Medicine.
David has studied and worked with healers from traditions around the world: Native American, Asian, African, as well as European cultures. The foundation of his healing practice began with Yasuo Mori, Shiatsu Master in Seattle, WA. Later, he worked with Herman Aihara, cofounder of the Macrobiotic Diet in America. He strengthened his healing foundation, studying at the Namikoshi Shiatsu College in Tokyo, Japan. During his time there, he resided in a Buddhist temple with the honorable Nichidatsu Fujii, founder of Nipponzon Myohoji.
As a dedicated practitioner of the Healing Arts for the past 30 plus years, David has had the opportunity to collaborate and work with many outstanding indigenous healers, teachers, and leaders including:
- Dennis Banks, Nowa Cumig; cofounder of the American Indian Movement
- Bill Wahpepah; Kickapoo/Sauk Fox
- Reece Smith, L.Ac.; cofounder of the Institute of Chinese Herbology
- Ping Yee Wong L.Ac. and Lai Fu Cai, L.Ac.;Doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Malidoma and Sobonfu Somé of the Dagara Tribe; Burkina Faso, Africa
- Bruce Elijah; Oneida Clan of the Iroquois Confederation
Through his lifelong commitment to the Healing Arts, and in his present endeavor in the founding of Bluejay Herbs, David works toward the highest expression of healing tradition. He engages inextricably with Nature and Community, integrating the wisdom of our Ancestors and Elders with the mentorship of Youth and Ritual to honor each phase of life.
