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Ep.111 Reclaiming Your Wildness Without Losing Yourself
119 Plays1 month ago
I've been reflecting deeply on wildness—not as chaos, but as a core intelligence that’s been buried under all the roles, rules, and routines we’ve been taught to follow. In this solo episode, I explore what it really means to reclaim that wild essence—not by breaking everything down, but by building a life that can actually hold it.
Drawing wisdom from plant kin like cattail and aspen, I share how movement, presence, and relational flow can reconnect you to your true nature. When you stop trying to fit into systems that were never designed for you, you begin to create the kind of internal structure that sustains you—emotionally, creatively, spiritually.
This is about stepping out of survival mode and into something more nourishing. Your wildness isn’t the thing holding you back—it’s the guide showing you how to grow.
Topics Covered about Reclaiming Your Wildness
➡️ Wildness is a relational force that guides authentic growth
➡️ Plants like cattail and aspen model emotional presence and grounded adaptability
➡️ Structure isn’t restriction—it’s the vessel that supports creative flow
➡️ Reclaiming your wildness is key to building a life that sustains you
Chapters
00:00 – Welcome & Why Wildness Matters
07:30 – Facing the Fear of Your Own Wild Edge
15:00 – Shadow Traits: Compasses, Not Enemies
22:30 – Body Rhythms and Seasonal Flow
30:00 – Boundaries as Riverbanks for Creative Power
37:30 – Partnering with Plant Allies to Stay Grounded
45:00 – Bringing Everyday Life Back Into the Forest
Resources Mentioned
🌱 Spirit Wild Plant Quiz
🌱 Mini Voyage with Spirit Wild Plants
🌱 Seedling Sprouts (Naturally Conscious Community)
🌱 Personalized mentorship with me and the Plants
Expanded Show Notes ☝🏽ReConnect with Plant Wisdom podcast Ancient and modern knowledge from biology to spirituality about the wondrous ways plants help you lead a Naturally Conscious life.
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Opening and Closing music by @Cyberinga and Poinsettia.
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Transcript
Introduction to Wildness
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. It's me, Tirega Dania. So lately, i have been thinking a lot about like a lot about wildness.
00:00:17
Speaker
not and Not just the kind that like howls at the moon or runs barefoot through fields, though I am all for that. I'm talking about the kind of wildness that pulses quietly underneath your skin. You know, that kind that knows who you are beneath all the roles and the rules and the routines the kind That kind of wildness that just can't be domesticated, no matter really how hard they try.
Reflections on Past Episodes
00:00:48
Speaker
And so this conversation started like all the good ones do as a thread running through the interviews I've been having for the podcast. First, in episode 107, I was talking to Woods, and I touched on ecofeminism and mythology and how wildness has been labeled as dangerous and untrustworthy, even immoral in so many cases.
00:01:13
Speaker
And then there was that moment with ah Eric and Min in episode 110, where we talked about the flow and rivers and how movement is both power and presence and that wildness that comes through the merging.
00:01:27
Speaker
I've also recorded some that haven't even come out yet with like, for example, Ellie Yule and Eleanor O'Hanlon that brought me into contact with other aspects of wildness, like wildfires and weed and wild women and merging through wildness. It really struck me how often wildness is something that is, i don't know, for so many people to be feared or worse,
00:01:56
Speaker
fixed, like if it's a problem.
Connection with Plants
00:01:58
Speaker
And yet when I think about plants and how most have shaped me, they're wild. The ones that have touched me the most are the ones that have allowed me to see them see kin in their wildest forms.
00:02:17
Speaker
Their resilience can grow where they aren't expected and can adapt without losing who they are. And that's really what I want to talk about with you today, you know, because we've been conditioned to think that wildness means chaos, that being soft or rooted or relational means chaos.
00:02:39
Speaker
We can't also be wild. But really, what if wildness is the very core of your relational intelligence, right? What if wildness is actually how you evolve?
Reclaiming Wildness
00:02:51
Speaker
Or maybe wildness is what you evolve into. So in this solo episode, which is 111, want to talk to you about what it means to reclaim your wildness without losing yourself.
00:03:02
Speaker
And I'll be leaning really deep into cattail and aspen and a few other wild truths that might surprise you. Because these are really the things that are touching me in this moment. And I feel like With everything going on, it really is an important aspect for us us to truly understand who we are by understanding our inner wildness.
00:03:25
Speaker
So in this episode, we're going to explore wildness in every aspect, not the kind that's out of control, but the kind that lives inside of you, right? That kind that's deeply intelligent and relational and so often misunderstood, that authenticity that comes when you express your wildness.
00:03:44
Speaker
I want to talk about how we've been taught to fear wildness in our so many aspects of our culture. It's like this little drip, drip, drip that you don't even realize you're receiving on a regular basis that tells you hide your wildness.
00:04:01
Speaker
Don't do it. Don't go there. Or worse, which is the one that drives me crazy. You're broken. Fix it.
Cultural Teachings and Fear
00:04:12
Speaker
Oh, had longest conversation with one of my clients about this just yesterday from the from when I'm recording this, about this idea that everything is like once we get into this state, there's still something to fix. You're broken.
00:04:25
Speaker
Oh, it was ah was a really powerful conversation. But what if that wildness isn't something to outgrow? What if it's actually who you are? And when you stop trying to be what everyone else expects, that's what emerges.
00:04:40
Speaker
So in this episode, I want to explore what that wildness really looks like when you're living in flow and in your true nature, not someone else's structure or system. And I want to show you how to rediscover that flow through movement and presence and how you might find it in your own way, right? Let's explore what different ways this might come.
Rediscovering Flow
00:05:00
Speaker
Maybe it's through writing or ritual or art or even the way you speak or dress or all of the above, right?
00:05:07
Speaker
So we're going to, of course, be looking to whole series of different plants for wisdom, especially because I've been working very closely with them. And I want to share some of the insights and also give you some hints on how you too can work with these plants or any other plants of your choosing.
00:05:23
Speaker
Cattail, for example, teaches us that emotional presence without getting lost in the feeling, right? How to how to flow with those emotions, be a part of the emotions, but not be lost in them.
00:05:35
Speaker
And Aspen reminds us that we're connected below the surface, even when we're trembling on the outside. that strength, that core, that clonal love.
00:05:47
Speaker
These are beings that have so much to show us about resilience and adaptability and staying rooted in who we are even as we move with others. And that's why I love working with them.
00:05:58
Speaker
It's an intimate type of work. It's very different work than some of the work that I do with someone like Gary, the silver fur that's much more loud and present and visible cattail.
00:06:11
Speaker
is more intimate and Aspen, especially with that quaking nature and those connected roots, it's all kind of happening below the surface. So I guess maybe one of the most important aspects we're gonna get to today is how to, how structure or certain kinds of structure can actually serve your wildness.
00:06:33
Speaker
The idea that wildness doesn't mean out of control, which I think is what again, societal norms try to tell us, but instead wildness is something much, it's much more than that.
00:06:45
Speaker
It's not about boxing it in but more of giving it space to express itself, to evolve, to feel safe enough to be seen.
00:06:55
Speaker
And because this isn't really about tearing everything down to feel free, it I want to focus on the creating containers that let your wildness bloom.
00:07:07
Speaker
that let your wildness expand and evolve, and that the freedom that comes in that, even while you're relating to others. By the end of this episode, I want you to feel permission to reclaim your own wildness, not as chaos, but your true nature in motion.
00:07:28
Speaker
to trust that you can evolve through relationship and still remain rooted in yourself. I want you to understand that flow isn't something you force. It's something you feel.
00:07:38
Speaker
And that wildness, when it's honored, is, how do I say this? let me see, how can I explain it? It doesn't erase your identity. It actually reveals it.
Expressing Wildness
00:07:49
Speaker
So while movement is the gate gateway that helps me right find my way my wildness, um I mean, getting into that that state, that place that I talk about often that the words struggle. So I apologize for hiccups and misstarts because this topic It's taken me a long time to express because i think oftentimes when I start to come into the conversation of wildness, for a long time it just got ranty about how society doesn't allow us to be wildness. And we are going to talk about some aspects of that.
00:08:27
Speaker
But It's also that wildness, we don't really know how to express it, I think. I think we're, you know, we've been programmed to see things in wildness as like, you know, the the crazy woman, especially the the hysteria, the like, the one that does whatever the fuck she wants.
00:08:47
Speaker
But wildness isn't really that. And your path may be very different from the way that I have reached my wildness and I've tapped into that.
00:08:58
Speaker
So really, that's why I said i want you to feel permission at the very end to explore it. It might come for you through writing or color or touch or the way you laugh at the exact wrong moment.
00:09:11
Speaker
It might come in something you read that triggers something in you or something you watch or just Being. Working with my clients, I get to explore how wildness flows through them and whatever unique form that it takes.
00:09:29
Speaker
And that's why this is coming about. You know, it's coming home to what's already whole. And that's, I think, the hardest part that you don't want to put in that I struggle with putting into words is that we think of wildness ah or the expression of our wildness seems like something that's fragmented or broken or wrong. And in reality, it's it's our wholeness.
Exploration of Personal Wildness
00:09:56
Speaker
It's already worthy. It's already wildly wise because it's connected to this thread that is that permeates through every aspect of your life from your inner humanness, your inner animalness, your inner plantness, but also probably your past lives, your soul structure, your personalities,
00:10:15
Speaker
your ancestors, your, you know, spiritual ancestors, like your wildness is that authentic part of yourself. And so therefore it touches all of that. So this is the conversation I really want to have with you.
00:10:28
Speaker
So, uh, you know what, let's, let's just get into it. But first I, uh, forgot. I want to invite you to connect to one of my eco-conscious business partners, because you know,
00:10:44
Speaker
They're pertinent to the episode as well.
00:10:48
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:11:42
Speaker
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Societal Constraints on Women's Wildness
00:11:50
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:12:15
Speaker
Welcome to Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. I'm your host, Tigria Gardenia, Nature-inspired mentor, certified life coach, and the founder of the Naturally Conscious Community. For over a decade, I've been known as a world ambassador for plant advocacy, working closely with plants to share their practical wisdom to help you consciously embody the elements of life that nourish your evolution.
00:12:36
Speaker
In this podcast, I delve into ancient and modern knowledge from biology to spirituality about the wondrous ways of plants. Together, we'll explore how ecosystem thinking helps you overcome limiting beliefs, understand the true nature of relationships, and live an authentic, impactful life.
00:12:56
Speaker
So let's start with the idea of wildness. In modern culture, wildness gets treated like a problem, something to tame, something to control. Wildfires are threats.
00:13:07
Speaker
ah Wild plants are weeds. ah Wild women are unhinged. Like wildness does not have a good kind of connotation. it's But the interesting part is that wildness from a nature perspective, like nature with a capital N, right? The personification of nature doesn't see wildness as dangerous.
00:13:30
Speaker
Kin or you know the the beings of nature see wildness as intelligence. as responsiveness, as essential, right? Because that wildness is that instinct, that that core essence that knows things.
00:13:45
Speaker
So when I think about my own relationship with mildness, I realize it that it's taken me time to unlearn what I was taught about what's appropriate, what's productive, what's, oh, famous words for me, too much.
00:14:03
Speaker
How many of you feel that? Like my wildness expresses itself in a way that is very consuming. I'm consuming to myself. I'm consuming in a good way.
00:14:14
Speaker
It likes to consume. It likes to understand. It likes to express. It has all of this. So for so many of us, especially those of us socialized as women, wildness was conditioned out of us super early, right? We were praised for self-control, for calm, for being pleasing and agreeable and well, yeah, contained, right?
00:14:37
Speaker
Held.
Movement and Authenticity
00:14:38
Speaker
But in that containment, we lost something something. I don't know, maybe maybe we didn't lose it We just kind of tucked it away. I think if we're lucky, we tucked it away.
00:14:51
Speaker
We put it into a little safe space because deep down inside, we knew it was important. And rather than getting rid of it or pulling it out of ourselves, we just sort of hid it away into a corner.
00:15:04
Speaker
I know for me, i feel my wildness most clearly when I move. So for me, movement is how I remember who I truly am. When I dance, especially with my eyes closed, something inside me opens up that no conversation or journal prompt ever could.
00:15:23
Speaker
That's why when I used to produce so i used to produce ah intentional dance parties, I don't know if you remember that, but I used to produce these large, large dance parties and they were all with different types of music and usually with lots of art and the whole premise of my parties was about stepping into a world and being able to leave the regular world behind so that you could get lost in what was experiencing it. So we always had these deep themes. I had an entire series that was all about alchemical transformation and the different stages. And so
00:15:57
Speaker
The thing was that for me personally, I always used to create, this is the benefit of being the ah producer and especially kind of like the head honcho. I always created a space just for me off to the side of the stage where no one was allowed to enter.
00:16:15
Speaker
And it was usually cordoned off in some way. And that was my wild space. That was the place where I could move without anything. any kind of worry about bumping into anybody. So I could dance. I always dance with my eyes closed when I get into that state.
00:16:32
Speaker
And so I could just dance and I didn't think about being judged or contained in any which way. I didn't even worry about being seen. Sometimes at one time it was right in the middle of the stage behind the main act because that was the only space we had.
00:16:48
Speaker
And in that space, it's just me. And my body and the rhythm of whatever is flowing through me in that moment that is being guided by the music. I always used to say that I never had to take drugs because the music is my drug. And that really is the way that it is for me.
00:17:07
Speaker
my that wildness comes through much more strongly. In other words, I can hear who I am. I can feel who I am. I can express who I am when I move, when when my body is allowed to do its thing.
00:17:26
Speaker
and And it's funny because sometimes people would come up to me afterwards with you can't imagine how many times this has happened to me. It's really weird. The last time it happened to me, I was in, I was in Croatia. It wasn't even my party.
00:17:39
Speaker
I was just like, I was, my friends had taken me to this like club in Croatia. I had the right type of music. It was the right moment for what I needed. And i just put myself off in a corner kind of near where the DJ was. And I just kind of put myself in a corner and I closed my eyes and I just did my thing, right? And afterwards, somebody came to me with almost like tears in their eyes. And they were telling me they were like, how moved they were by the way that I was dancing by the not the way it looked, because it's not about the way it looked.
00:18:13
Speaker
not because it looked beautiful or, or anything, but because it felt real. And in an environment in particular, in that environment where most people are dancing to see and be seen, um having somebody who didn't give three shits about that, but was just like off doing her own thing in the corner for them was just something that they had never experienced before. And I get that.
00:18:35
Speaker
I get that a lot. Like, That for me is
Maintaining Wildness Daily
00:18:39
Speaker
wildness, right? It's not performative. It's not chaotic. It's just true. And I feel, i think for me, that's the the primer, right? That's the thing that allows me to get into that state,
00:18:55
Speaker
So that I can learn what that state feels like for me. So that then when I'm in other places where it might be more difficult to get there, I can feel what I'm, I know what I'm feeling for. I know what I'm trying to get to the flow I'm trying to experience, whether I'm in a meeting or I'm on a stage or I'm just sitting around with my family and friends and having a difficult conversation or having any kind of conversation, that feeling that I get when I dance, that feeling of being in that flow and of expressing my true self, I can tap into and I can then guide it from, or I can be guided from, I guess is a better way of thinking about it, whether I'm writing or speaking or just hanging out.
00:19:45
Speaker
and And my plant allies have really helped to reinforce this, especially as I often point to the plant for those of you that are watching on the video right behind me, right? No name Drasenia.
00:19:59
Speaker
And no name Drasenia has like really helped with this because Ki still to this day doesn't want to talk. Ki doesn't want a label or a name or for us to sit down and have a chat for me to journal about.
00:20:12
Speaker
Ki always wants me to move. And every question I bring, every curious yeah career well curiosity, excuse me, every curiosity I hold, every time i want to sit and work with this plant or experience things with this plant, Ki meets me in motion, which is really interesting because obviously Ki's not moving around.
00:20:36
Speaker
But there is emotion. This plant holds emotion. and He has been showing me how my answers come through my body, how my processing comes through my body, how gesture and sway and all those parts of me that don't want to speak, even though I am a good speaker and I love speaking. I do process through speaking, but speaking is not always appropriate.
00:21:00
Speaker
And sometimes, sometimes it's pacing. Sometimes it's doing yoga. Sometimes it's, uh, you know, speaking with my arms in full motion. sometimes it's drawing, but really exaggerating the motion of my arms, all of that motion.
00:21:20
Speaker
And sometimes it is sitting still like in the grass, but there's a movement. There's a swaying with the wind and with all the other beings that are in that grass. Like that's where flow lives within me.
Guiding the Flow of Wildness
00:21:32
Speaker
And that's where I tap into my wildness.
00:21:35
Speaker
So when I get too far away from it, when I lose touch, that's where I head. Flow is one of those words that we throw around a lot, especially in coaching and creative spaces, but it's not always clear what it actually feels like.
00:21:50
Speaker
And that's what you want to get to. You want to feel it so that you can Pull it up whenever you need it or know and identify and go with it. Guide that flow, not get lost in that flow, which I think is the other big mistake that happens.
00:22:07
Speaker
We think we're supposed to get lost in the flow. Flow is supposed to be the guide. No, you are always the guide, always the guide. But you guide the flow. You watch how the flow is moving, how your own expression and your own beingness is in there, how your wildness, that part of you with no censoring, with no anything that's holding it back.
00:22:30
Speaker
How and where does it want to go? And then how does that fit in relation to in relationship with others? Flow isn't ease necessarily, it's presence.
00:22:42
Speaker
it's It's that quiet clarity that rises when you stop performing and you start aligning with the things that you're doing. When you collaborate not out of I should or I have to, but out of, wow, this is going to make it better. From from I do the right thing because it's the right thing to do.
00:23:04
Speaker
It's your body whispering to you, Yes. And before your mind even catches up, flow doesn't always look graceful. Sometimes it's messy.
00:23:15
Speaker
or slow or weird. Even it comes in really unexpected ways, but when it's real, you feel it and your wildness comes x in expression through that flow.
00:23:30
Speaker
Because again, now you're taking who you are and you're putting it into relation with something bigger, something outside of you. And that's that expression.
00:23:42
Speaker
So
Creating Safe Spaces for Wildness
00:23:43
Speaker
that's what I hold space for in my work, right? I don't give you a formula. I was talking about this recently because we were having a big discussion here in Dom and her around the concept of communication and relationships in particular.
00:23:57
Speaker
And we were a group of facilitators and we were talking about like, what's the process to get there? One of the people in the group Really, really, really wanted to create a process. And I was thinking hard about like, what is my process? Because with every single one of my clients, it is a very different experience. so I can't just say that I have this one way that I work.
00:24:17
Speaker
And I realized that my biggest process is that space, right? Like the most important thing I do from the very, very beginning By having you talk about not just what you want to accomplish in the work that we do together, but who you are and what are your values and what are the things that are most important to you is start to create that container, that space in which you can just start to let all your defenses come down. You can start to start stop stop censoring yourself where you don't think about or worry about your worthiness or your imposter syndrome or whether it's going to work or anything like that.
00:24:54
Speaker
I don't give you a formula that says do this, then do this, then do this, do this. I create a container so you can feel your own wildness, your own rhythms, your own inner intelligence start to emerge.
00:25:09
Speaker
And from there, we build your worthiness. There we start to befriend that imposter syndrome. And it's there where you start to realize, oh, my goodness,
00:25:21
Speaker
It is going to work. I can do this and I can do it with ease. I don't need this to be hard. Like, It's kind of like the way I used to build that space for myself on the dance floor, right? Creating that safe, sacred space or the way that Dracaena builds that space for me now when I move with Ki. I mean, I struggled at the very beginning, like, oh my God, how silly it is. Here I am dancing, oftentimes to nothing because I don't really put music on or anything like that when I move or I dance.
00:25:54
Speaker
But I have noticed in these two years that we've been working together on this. How much more creative I am, how my imagination is um has has found its footing, how much better I interpret and understand things, my ability to remember, my comprehension, and creating that kind of space.
00:26:16
Speaker
is is so important. And here's the thing that's interesting about this, as I'm sitting and I'm thinking about it, this is where plants live. Like plants live this way, especially wild plants, which is why that wildness emerges from that.
Plant Wisdom and Adaptation
00:26:33
Speaker
For me, again, it's movement. For somebody else, it might be writing. For somebody else, it might be colors and any kind of thing. So, you know, it could be anything. What I create in that container is a container that will hold it that will allow you to explore and find it, trying things that maybe will and maybe won't work.
00:26:53
Speaker
It's going to take time. It wasn't like this happened overnight for myself, nor does it happen overnight for my clients, which is why I love working long, long term with, you know, individuals that really want to get into it.
00:27:08
Speaker
I'm holding my teacup. You can't see it because it's like off screen, but I've been holding my teacup this entire time because I thought I was going to take a pause, but you know me and my talking, I just, I just talk.
00:27:20
Speaker
Ah, Gen Mai Cha. I love it. Anyway. and And the thing about this is like the reason why plants are so good to work on these types of things, besides the fact that I can't be with you 24 seven, right? But your house plants or any kind of plant ally that you're working with can be.
00:27:36
Speaker
And, you know, kin grow this way without any kind of permission. Nobody tells kin that they can or they can't. You know, as a matter of fact, most people, especially if you're thinking about dandelions or any kind of like vine, I mean,
00:27:49
Speaker
We try to cut them back. We try to say, no, don't grow in that direction. And they're like, man I'm going to do whatever I want. They stretch towards the sun on a unapologetically, you know, they can root where they find support, can move and adapt in relationship to the environment.
00:28:08
Speaker
They never lose their essence, right? That plant always is that plant, not just that species, which I think is something that I get asked a lot. You know, like when you start working with plants, do things change?
00:28:20
Speaker
I have right in front of me one, two, three. It's only three of you now. Three aloes that actually all originally came from the same plant, Vera.
00:28:34
Speaker
All of these are children of Vera. Actually, not true. Hannah is a child child of one of the children of Vera. And yet, Jaina, Zan, and Hannah all have very, very, very different personalities. Like, they grow at different speeds.
00:28:54
Speaker
Jaina is large and takes up lots of space. And wants to be seen and yet is relatively kind of off-putting where Zan is much smaller and much more um connected. Like it's funny, i'm Zan is actually, wasn't originally supposed to live here. Zan was somebody else's, was given to somebody else, but that person asked me to take care of Zan and Zan has been with me ever since.
00:29:22
Speaker
And Zan is much more connected to me. Like i i even moved Zan recently from a place where I would see all of Zan to just, I can only see like a little sliver of Zan right now.
00:29:34
Speaker
And yet I know that connection. I feel Zan's presence. Zan and I have a really strong connection where Hannah is tiny and Hannah has been tiny for years.
00:29:47
Speaker
I don't know why, because, you know, Jaina, which is technically, I guess, Hannah's mother is huge. And, and like I said, Jaina has branches and into all different sorts of directions and is untamed and is unruly.
00:30:04
Speaker
And instead Hannah is like, I am going to be perfectly symmetrical and I am just going to come here and give my presence. So, so Hannah and I don't really talk at all because Hannah's not there.
00:30:16
Speaker
And that's not what Hannah is. I don't know. That's not where Hannah is in this stage in the life. And yet they all arrived. Well, Jaina and Zan arrived at the same size that Hannah has today. And yet they're, they blew up and Hannah's like, nope, I don't want to do this.
00:30:32
Speaker
And that's the thing, right? They can move and adapt, like I said, in relationship with their environments, but they never lose the essence of who key is of who that particular plant is. And that's what makes them wild.
00:30:48
Speaker
That's
Wildness and Structure
00:30:49
Speaker
what makes them such powerful teachers. Take cattail, for example, rooted in the mud, always shifting with the water, sensitive, flexible, Not weak at all, although people would think so.
00:31:03
Speaker
Not only that, like conquered humanity in so many ways. I mean, all of us have had some, you know, a cattail in our hands at some point. Cattail teaches us how to feel without drowning.
00:31:15
Speaker
If you've ever worked with spirit wild plants, if you take my spirit wild plant quiz, or if you do the mini voyage with spirit wild plants, specifically if you do the spin the mini voyage with cattail, It's all about getting in touch with those emotions while your feet are in the mud, stable, but your body is swaying in the wind and you can hold your emotions and remain steady while still expressing them without bending or breaking.
00:31:44
Speaker
And I love that about cattail. Like every time i have... About two years ago, Cattail came in really strong. As a matter of fact, I ah have an episode of the podcast around Cattail because Cattail was coming in not just strong for me, but for many different people in that time. Because, you know, having the Spirit Wild Plant quiz, I can see when Cattail comes up on a regular basis.
00:32:06
Speaker
And it was interesting to watch how Cattail was coming in and the response I was getting from people and the feedback. And then, you know, Cattail went off and I was on in a different thing. And then just recently, Cattail was like, yo,
00:32:17
Speaker
You need me. I am back with a vengeance, to be honest. And it's been an amazing ride to realize that, you know, how these wild plants affect me, where someone like Jaina and so and ah Zan and and Hannah all live with me. And so I have one kind of relationship with My relationship with cattail, especially since there are no cattail growing around the area, specifically right where I am, is very different. It's very remote. It's it's more um archetypal than being direct, which is very similar to my relationship with aspen, for example.
00:32:55
Speaker
Aspens remind us that we're never just individuals, right? We're never just this thing that is separate from anybody else, right? They are clonal. They are connected through their roots. And every single aspen that you see rising is actually an individual plant, but yet really just a clone of the overall system. And yet look how different when you look at aspens nearby they are.
00:33:18
Speaker
So Key's entire strength comes from that underground connection, and that unseen community of roots and supports. And all of this connects into this beautiful trembling leaf, right?
00:33:33
Speaker
This idea that even when the wind shakes you, you're still held and you're still connected. And even as you express and grow and change because your environment is pushing you to do this, you still have a strong foundation similar to what Cat's Hill teaches us.
00:33:50
Speaker
But where Cattail does it from the perspective of my emotions can be grounded and yet fluid, Aspen teaches us you're never alone.
00:34:00
Speaker
You can tremble and express and move and do all these things and know that you are part of something bigger and that your expression has a role in something bigger.
00:34:15
Speaker
That's wildness. Living that, giving into it, leaning into your personal expression, knowing you are held.
00:34:26
Speaker
And when I see this come up with one of my clients, it's it's it's probably one of my favorite moments to see my my client move one step further deeper into who they are and slowly step out of that container that I've given them and you know bring their own container of safeness into the world.
00:34:50
Speaker
This isn't about being out of control. Wildness is not about lost. It's about relationship with your environment, with your allies, with your truth.
00:35:02
Speaker
It's what emerges and what you allow to emerge through the union with others while still always maintaining that core part of yourself.
00:35:14
Speaker
And that brings me to something I really want to underline, which is that wildness doesn't mean giving up structure. You, you, you know, being held is both an energetic feeling, but also you can hold that space in many, many different ways. And sometimes that comes through structure.
00:35:34
Speaker
But a structure doesn't deny you. It doesn't filter out who you are. Structure creates a path for it. Kind of, again, going back to the river metaphor that we talked about with what that i that we talked about with ah eric which was that the river is this on being this this water entity that has all this flow and emotions and expression, and it moves through the grooves, through the banks.
00:36:05
Speaker
And that is the structure that holds, that makes it a river, right? That's what makes Ki a river, different than an ocean, different than a puddle or a pond, right? Different than a lake.
00:36:18
Speaker
It is the structure that allows ah the water to pick up movement. And so you can think of your wildness like that. And you can think of structure as something that guides the flow. And again, you set your own structure so that you guide the flow, whether that's being super organized, because you have to take care of a project like I'm, I'm right now today, it's my last day before I go away. And so I have a bunch of things to do. I'm super structured today.
00:36:45
Speaker
And yet there's a flow to it because I created that structure myself based on what I needed and the best way to express those wild parts of me, that authenticity, the fact that I'm not being contained.
00:36:58
Speaker
So structure can actually serve your wildness. It doesn't have to contain it in the sense of hold it back. It contains it in the sense that it allows it to flow fully without overflowing and getting wasted or lost.
Integrating Ecosystem Thinking
00:37:14
Speaker
Like that riverbed that helps give that shape to flow. Like a dance floor that lets your body move freely. ah Like a container that I create with my clients so that they can feel safe enough to explore all their own little edges.
00:37:31
Speaker
Right? Structure could be a thing that protects your wildness. So it doesn't just get trampled so that it doesn't leak out in all kinds of different directions. The key is it has to be your structure.
00:37:44
Speaker
It can't be anybody else's structure. It has to be a structure that reflects your own rhythm, your truth, your essence, and what you need in the moment. So even a structure that you put in place in the past might not work tomorrow.
00:38:00
Speaker
you know i go through long periods where I put one kind of structure in place, maybe a routine that I do every morning or every night. And then I break that, which is what's happening right now.
00:38:11
Speaker
And I flow because I'm in a different place. And I know that that routine is still good. And I will pick that routine back up. I trust in myself. I know that when my body is ready and needs it, my body will call for it again.
00:38:23
Speaker
and But right now, what I need is a little more kindness to myself, a little bit more spaciousness. I need a little bit more, should say, like I need to play with time a little bit more.
00:38:38
Speaker
And those are the kinds of things, for example, we do in seedling sprouts, right? Inside of the naturally conscious community, you're in seedling sprouts, which is where we have the mini voyage with plants, where we have the book club, where we have the writing and creativity group.
00:38:51
Speaker
That's the place where we explore these edges, right? Those are the places where we ah work with other beings closely, like in the mini voyages with the spirit wild plants.
00:39:04
Speaker
It's a place to explore the different ways each one of these spirit wild plants can connect with you, right? The the watery emotional energy of cattail or the, the deep rest and attunement that comes from purslane and, ah you know, that big nourishment or the intuitive, uh, intuition, spiritual intuition that comes from,
00:39:26
Speaker
from chickweed right each one of these plants has their own way of providing different structures and the mini voyages allows you to to to express that to play with it in a safe space the same as our writing group that allows us to you know think about different ways of using creativity and the written word to express different parts remember i told you to find your structure you need to find your structure and this gives you the opportunity to experiencing those types of structures or any kind of structure so that you can see what works for you, to invite you deeper into your own nature so that you can live as kindu, right? Aware and present and making the choices that are best for your body, responsive, relational, and most importantly, wild, true to your own true nature.
00:40:16
Speaker
In closing, i I really want to leave you with Well, let me think of it this way. I want to actually pose a few questions to you. i want I would love to hear and for you to reflect on these. You can you know contact me in the Naturally Conscious community. you can leave comment if you're on YouTube. You can send me an email, whatever works for you.
00:40:40
Speaker
right i want to know what does wildness feel like in your body? And if you don't know what it feels like, what are you doing to try to experience it, to, to the activity, not activities.
00:40:56
Speaker
I'm looking at all these structured words and they're not fitting. Right.
00:41:01
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm. really want to know where are you giving yourself permission to flow? Hmm.
00:41:13
Speaker
Where is it that you've been taught to contain your wildness and where instead today are you playing? Not to playing. That's really the right word. Experimenting with, exploring where your own edges are.
00:41:31
Speaker
Wildness isn't something you have to chase. It's been something that's, it's been there just all along with you. It doesn't demand that you give up who you are.
00:41:42
Speaker
It asks you instead to become more of who you are through relationship, through sensation, through flow. It's not always tidy. It's not always neat and simple. Oftentimes it gets into the muck, right?
00:41:59
Speaker
I mean, I was bringing up the whole, when I was talking about cattail, the whole idea of flowing in, you know, the stems. But the truth of the matter is that I've been down in the rhizomes with cattail.
00:42:11
Speaker
Cattail has taken me when I've been like, I'm going to flow said, no, you're going to swim you're just going to sit here in this mucky water of your emotions and you're going to.
00:42:27
Speaker
multiply them out in every direction like a rhizome so that you really feel every part of it. I'm not letting you like flitter away like a fluff ball.
00:42:39
Speaker
I need you to be in this now. So yeah, it's not always tidy and it's not always understood, but it's always real and it's always yours.
00:42:53
Speaker
So wherever you might be, That might be the place for you to be right now. And so my question is, where might it be the time or the place or the experience or moment to let some of that wildness move again in you?
00:43:16
Speaker
That's what I want to know. I want to know where is that wildness moving? And if it's not moving yet, how can I help you move it?
Harnessing Wildness for Growth
00:43:27
Speaker
How do you get into that flow?
00:43:32
Speaker
So if this episode, for example, is something that stirred something in you, if you're feeling the call to move differently in your life, in your creative work, in your relationships, I want you to and want to invite you to take some steps, any step.
00:43:50
Speaker
Any step. Remember I told you movement is good. We were just in a meeting this week from when I'm recording this and we were talking about the need to scream because the book that we're reading in the Plant Wisdom Book Club, which is um The Missing Island of of Trees, which is fantastic, has kind of almost starts, if you've ever read it, it starts with somebody who screams, screams, not like I'm going to scream, but like screams, right?
00:44:16
Speaker
screams And we were talking about how, whether physically or metaphorically, screaming sometimes is so good. So I want to invite you to take any step, any step.
00:44:29
Speaker
You can start with a mini voyage with your spirit wild plant, right? It's a gentle plant guided experience to help you connect to that inner wildness in partnership with a plant that best reflects your current inner nature. your current inner world, what you're experiencing, what you need.
00:44:47
Speaker
There's drawing and journaling and movement. And of course, a ritual, because you know me, I can't do things without rituals. I need, i need rituals. Like me they help me. They give me containment, right? They give me shape.
00:45:01
Speaker
And all of these are designed to help you feel back into the flow, right? So if you want, you can even take the spirit wild plant quiz if you've if you're not sure which wild plant you want to work with to meet the guide that wants to work with you in this very moment.
00:45:17
Speaker
Or if you already know, you can just head straight over to the mini voyages. They're on my website. All the links are also going to be in the show notes. And if you want to go deeper, like really deeper, if you're ready for a more personalized support, then book a discovery call with me. Again, in the show notes, but of course you can always hit it from my website. Come on, my name is pretty simple and my website is just my full name, tigriagardenia.com.
00:45:39
Speaker
So it's pretty easy to find where I am. This is the work I do every day with my clients. helping you create your own container for wildness so you can flow with your true nature in a way that feels grounded and embodied and real.
00:45:54
Speaker
And I love this work so much because in a time in history, which unfortunately for women is a time that seems to never go away, where we are constantly being told what we can and we can't do, that we are this and we should be that. And You are not allowed to do this and this is not who you are.
00:46:15
Speaker
Isn't it beautiful to have one place at least, one place where you can just be yourself, where you can let your wild self shine?
00:46:28
Speaker
And if you work with me, you don't even just get one space. You automatically get two because I always work one-on-one and in the naturally conscious community. So you get to experience this wildness in every direction.
00:46:41
Speaker
You get to have me hold that space for you and where we can really explore it and flow with it and play with all the different sides and the edges and the center and everything about it.
00:46:54
Speaker
And you get to work really closely with a group of people who are all doing this work together. And so we get to hold each other and support each other. Remember, I was talking about Aspen, right? This is that interconnected root system while you get to come up as a beautiful trunk and lay your canopy out however it is that it wants to flow to catch that sun that sunlight, right?
00:47:19
Speaker
That's what it is. And so remember, you were never meant to be domesticated. You were meant to grow like Hindu, like plants, and you were meant to be free, like an animal and like a tree.
Final Encouragement and Community Invitation
00:47:34
Speaker
You were meant to be responsive and relational, like to be in relationship.
00:47:42
Speaker
And yet at the same time, to be completely untamed in all the best ways that that word holds. So thank you so much for being here with me, with your plant allies, with all of the allies around the world that want to work with you.
00:47:58
Speaker
And as always, remember the...
00:48:03
Speaker
Well, that didn't come out right. and I'm still in that state. i was about to just do my wrap-up, but I'm in this state where...
00:48:19
Speaker
besides the fact that I'm super emotional right now, um I'm in this state where
00:48:27
Speaker
I'll be honest, I'm fearful. That's where I am. I'm fearful. I'm fearful that you won't see it the way I do. Not because I'm right, but because those limiting belief bodyguards that we've put in place sometimes hold us back from so much beauty in the world.
00:48:45
Speaker
And I don't mean beauty as in like things that are pretty. I mean beauty as in like core, heart opening beauty. ah And I'm always so fearful when I come to the end of an episode.
00:48:59
Speaker
that I didn't say it right. That the urgency to be who you are, to let the world see you, the the the deep love I experience or the deep feelings that are here that I probably can't put into words that are why I do this and why want to be I want to hold that space. i I want you to drain my energy holding that space in all the best ways, which you want, by the way. you want I'm a freaking energizer bunny.
00:49:33
Speaker
um i I just want you to know you can do it. And I'm always fearful when I get to the end that somehow I didn't
00:49:45
Speaker
help you see how amazing are. how amazing you are I know it sounds so stupidly corny because I am corny at times, but that's it. i I want everybody to shine.
00:49:57
Speaker
ah love it. If you ever have the chance to come to Damanhur and if you ever end up being an initiate, especially in the world, you will you can ask around. Like, I am your biggest fucking cheerleader. Like, I am going to cheer you on because i don't want to do it alone.
00:50:14
Speaker
i i don't want to. i don't I don't want to be alone. So when I say what I'm about to say next, please know that it's coming from the very bottom of my heart with every single cell in my body giving its maximum.
00:50:29
Speaker
I really want you to resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance because that is the only thing that's going to change the world.
00:50:41
Speaker
Until next time.
00:50:43
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. To continue these conversations, join us in the Naturally Conscious Community, your premier online ecosystem for plant reawakening and accelerated evolution and co-creation with other kin.
00:50:58
Speaker
Here you'll find expansive discussions, interactive courses, live events, and supportive group programs like the Plant Wisdom Book Club and the Sprouts Writing and Creativity Group. Connect with like-minded individuals collaborating with plants to integrate these insights into life. Intro and outro music by Steve Shuley and Poinsettia from the singing Life of Plants.
00:51:19
Speaker
That's it for me, Tigria Gardenia, and my plant collaborators. Until next time, remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance. I'm out. Bye.