A different kind of health club

I've been a clinical herbalist for over 25 years. I've worked with more than 15,000 clients. I've taught at the graduate level and run a nationally recognized herbal medicine school. I say this not to impress you but so you know: when I tell you something about how your body works, it comes from a lot of time spent watching bodies actually work — and not work — and figuring out why.

I opened Three Notch Community Health in Andalusia because I live here and because this town needs it. Not a franchise wellness center. Not a gym with a juice bar. A real place where people can learn practical things about their health, move their bodies in ways that actually help, and have access to clinical herbal medicine without driving an hour and a half.

The education classes are the heart of this place. I teach one class every week — a structured series called Foundations that covers how your body actually works, what drives the problems most people deal with (pain, fatigue, poor sleep, anxiety, digestive issues), and what you can concretely do about them. These aren't motivational talks. They're practical education. You leave every class with something you can try that night.

I also run a clinical herbal medicine practice out of this space. If you need one-on-one help — the kind where someone actually looks at your situation, your history, your patterns, and builds a plan that makes sense for you specifically — that's available here too. Members get discounted rates because you're already doing the education work, which means our clinical time together is more efficient.

Forrest Chalmers is a clinical herbalist and instructor at the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine. He wrote the movement curriculum for our Building Health series and co-hosts the MoveNourished podcast with Alyssa Dalos, RH (AHG).

Forrest teaches guest classes at Three Notch Community Health focusing on practical, functional movement: steel club work for shoulder mobility, sandbag training for real-world strength, somatic movement for body awareness, and functional patterns that translate directly to how you live your life.

His approach to movement is the same as ours to health education — no hype, no performance goals, no Instagram aesthetics. Just helping your body do what it was designed to do, starting where you are right now.