Insight Herbalism
Every sweet-scented Rose is telling secrets of the Universal Rumi
​
Landscape has long offered us keen ways figuring ourselves to ourselves, strong means of shaping memories and giving form to thought.
Thinking topographically, understanding oneself to be thought by place something moves between the landscape and me. Place and mind interpenetrate. Nan Shepard
​
All plants are an expression of love, each from a different perspective. When we connect with a plant, they help reflect the expressions of love, or the barriers to love, that we each carry within us.
Insight herbalism is a somatic, process-orientated practice, rooted in learning directly from plants. In this practice we learn to listen deeply and to explore what it means to meet a plant in our truth, and in our vulnerability. Through this work, plants open doorways to our own innate wisdom as new relationships are formed with Nature, and with hidden parts of ourselves.
​
Some come to insight herbalism to support them with health conditions, others come to work with their emotional trauma patterns and some come for animism mentoring, seeking deeper ways to relate with the natural world and to themselves. In this work we always engage the body, developing somatic awareness skills as we connect with Nature, a real felt experience of the plants.
​
Divine Animism
We are born with this deep connection with plants and the invitation to come back to this wild, sensual and intimate relationship is always open. It is our ancestral heritage and a human right to be in a seemless embrace with the wild world, an embrace that has been fractured and eroded over hundreds of years. It is my belief that by nurturing this animacy perception through reestablishing a connection with Nature, we also invite deep listening and reconnection with ourselves. We remember we are an integral part of this ecosystem and connected to all life – inspiring a sense of deep belonging with the Earth. Tending to this boundary with the wild world keeps it porous, so we can breathe into each other, with love.
As well as building relationships with plants, Divine Animism extends to connecting with the land, the elements and our ancestors.
​
Nature reminds us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, giving us perspective. Nature brings about awe, wonder and curiosity, the beauty found in Nature can be a gateway to gratitude and opens the heart.
​​
Health & Wellbeing
Meeting the natural world in this way can also support physical health issues, both on a symptomatic and root cause level, the somatic and emotional aspects of illness.
​
In a typical session we may work together with one of a variety of plant preparations. With plants as the key teachers, I will be a guide as you journey with the healing processes that arise in the relationships between you and the plant, supporting you to integrate the insights and teachings. Bodywork and Somatic Experiencing will be woven into the session to deepen to the process, with consent and where appropriate. It is a privilege to be able to open space for this way of being with you so you can make your own journey of remembering.
​
The practice of Insight Herbalism was developed by my teacher Nathaniel Hughes at the School of Intuitive Herbalism in Stroud.
