Following a recipe for a detoxifying thyme bath from a book, she boiled the herb's leaves on the stove, poured the brew into her tub, and emerged with a film of soggy leaves clinging to her body.

Russo had forgotten to strain the thyme, but after about 20 minutes, just as the book had promised, the effects of the bath kicked in nonetheless. She could feel herself breaking out into a sweat, she says, and the next morning, she felt profoundly refreshed.

"I was kind of surprised the stuff really worked," Russo says. "These were just herbs in a bucket."

The experience sparked the Willow Glen resident's curiosity. It also was the start of an insatiable interest in herbs and their numerous uses. Twenty years later, she's learned how to grow them, dry them, cook them and drink them. And now she is ready to share that knowledge in a class at the Willows Senior Center called "Herbs, Teas and Aloes."

Russo says people have always used herbs for multiple purposes. She remembers her own Italian-American grandmother generously utilizing the aromatic plants for food preparation as well as various ailments.

"Salt and pepper and ketchup is what you see nowadays," Russo says.

In her planned eight-session class, Russo wants to revive an appreciation for herbs by incorporating history and folklore lessons.

For example, participants will learn that sage has traditionally been used for meat preparation not primarily for taste, but for the its antiseptic qualities.

Russo says she would like participants to leave the course with the ability to identify at least 15 herbs and understand their usefulness.

"I want them to know they can drink these herbs, cook with them, make baths, plant them and make them into gifts," she says.

This class may still be in the development stage, but Russo's class "Feng Shui Quilts" at the senior center is up and running.

On first impression, the classes, which will be offered through the Metropolitan Education District, may appear unrelated. But to Russo-- who left her job in advertising several years ago--there is a common thread: The rediscovery of age-old techniques that promote health and well-being.

Like the rediscovery of herbs, Russo's 12-session quilting class revisits the ancient principles of feng shui through quilting.

While the course incorporates plenty of hands-on lessons in sewing and quilting techniques, she says the primary focus is a meditative, spiritual one.

Russo came up with the idea when she was taking lessons from renowned San Jose quilter Therese May several years ago.

The standard setup of feng shui principles, the baqua, is divided into nine areas--wealth, fame, relationships, health and family, children and creativity, knowledge, career, helpful people as well as the calming center, chi. Russo considered the baqua an ideal way to incorporate the principles into the basic nine-patch quilting pattern.

May, who in her work often uses traditional quilts as an expressive medium, thought Russo's idea would hit home.

"It was kind of an inspirational moment," May says. "It was a perfect melding of two things that came naturally."

The main idea, Russo says, is for a quilter to reflect on a baqua area that she would like to improve in her personal life and to translate her wishes into the quilt through the use and placement of symbols and colors.

"It's kind of like a Tibetan prayer quilt," says Russo, emphasizing that the idea is not necessarily to wish for material things, but for self-improvement.

Sylvia Karp, assistant principal at the Central County Occupational Center, part of the Metropolitan Education system, adopted Russo's classes into the fall program. Russo's unique approach to the quilting class intrigued Karp.

"The feng shui quilting class puts a very interesting package around a basic quilting class," Karp says. "I thought it would attract people who wanted to look at quilting through a different perspective."

If Russo's classes resonate well with the community, Karp says they will be kept as part of the schedule.

Russo hopes the passion she discovered 20 years ago can be passed on to her students through the smoothing properties of herbs and teas and creation of quilts.

"Feng Shui Quilts," is taught Mondays, 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Willows Senior Center, 2175 Lincoln Ave. For more information about the proposed herbs class, contact Joanne Gale Russo at 408. 269.3053.