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Ep.128 Nature as my Co-Guide with Clara Schroeder
16 Plays58 minutes ago
In this conversation with eco-therapist and author Clara Schroeder, we explore what happens when you stop trying to “fix” nature and start remembering you are nature. We talk about everyday, practical ways to reconnect—whether you’re in a forest, a city park, or standing by your kitchen windowsill with a houseplant. If you’ve felt anxious, lonely, or creatively flat, this episode offers a grounded path back to belonging and resilience.
You’ll gain: clarity on why disconnection feels so heavy, gentle practices to re-attune your senses, and a new perspective on letting Nature co-guide your life.
What You’ll Learn About Nature Therapy for Anxiety
🌱 Ecotherapy 101: invite the land to co-lead your healing (even in cities).
🌱 Micro-rituals that work: breath, morning beverage gratitude, and “place-based” noticing.
🌱 Houseplants as teachers of adaptation, reciprocity, and rhythm.
🌱 Community matters: we’re not meant to do this alone.
✨ Resources ✨
🌱 Expanded Show Notes
🌱 Clara’s book: Re-Nature: How Nature Helps Us Feel Better and Do Better
🌱 Naturally Conscious Community (NCC) — discussions, classes, live events
🌱 Sprouts Writing & Creativity Group
🌱 Plant Wisdom Book Club
🔗 Connect & Explore More
🌿 Website
🌿 Contact
🌿 Shop Eco-Conscious Partners
Socials
📸 Instagram
📘 Facebook
💼 LinkedIn
▶️ YouTube
🎵 Credits
Opening + Closing music by @Cyberinga and Poinsettia
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Reconnect with Plant Wisdom'
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. It's me, Tigria Gardenia. i can't, can I just say this? I'm going to say this.
00:00:12
Speaker
I love this podcast. I love this podcast for so many reasons, not just because, of course, I'm doing it, but I love these this podcast because I love the people i am sharing with you. i am just in awe of everything that they are and everything that they do. And I'm just so humbled to be able to bring this to you.
00:00:34
Speaker
Plus the interweaving of ideas and thoughts as like, you know, this guest, and I think about what this other guest is doing and saying, and what this guest has understood and all these things to be able but to, this little multi-potentialite, this little multi-passionate person that I am is just like,
00:00:52
Speaker
ah, in heaven every time i get to come and record an episode.
Introducing Guest Clara Schroeder
00:00:56
Speaker
And this episode is no different. I just recently met Clara, but from the moment we started to speak, I knew i had to bring her on the show and I knew i had to share her with you.
00:01:07
Speaker
Because again, it's another one of those people that's just quietly doing the work. Plus she has a new book and you know me, I love books. I am reading so many books right now from the different people that have been coming forward on the show, plus, you know, getting them into the Plant Wisdom Book Club is always fun.
00:01:26
Speaker
So this episode is going to be just another deep dive into reconnection and why it is so important and how you and any anyone you know can do it in small steps. As always, remember that this episode and all the episodes, this entire podcast exists thanks to your support.
00:01:46
Speaker
So please hit the subscribe button, hit the like button, Make sure that you share this with your friends and come over to the Naturally Conscious community to be a part of these deeper discussions and explorations.
00:01:59
Speaker
Because it is all of this that is what is going to change the paradigm that we desperately need to change right now.
Exploring Plant Wisdom and Ecosystem Thinking
00:02:07
Speaker
So with that, I leave you with episode 128, Nature as My Co-Guide with Clara Schroeder.
00:02:15
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.
00:02:36
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.
Clara's Journey to Ecotherapy
00:02:57
Speaker
Hello, Clara. Hello. i good to see you. So good to see you. I'm very excited about this because already in the two times that we've had right before this and the last time we spoke, we kind of just dove into so many topics. I should have just hit the record button from the very beginning. It would have been useful.
00:03:17
Speaker
But before we start, we've like really get into it. Can you tell everybody who is Clara Schroeder? Sure. Yes, I'm happy to be here. So my name is Clara. I'm by training and profession. I'm an ecotherapist, outdoor guide, and new author, which is exciting.
00:03:35
Speaker
and mostly also, i'm I have a sole mission to bring more well-being and then like global health to people, the planet, all beings, no nature. I'm here to really heal the disconnect that is present in our world and causing so many issues between human society and the more than human world. And so that looks so many, many different ways as I'm sure we'll go and talk about.
00:04:03
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, so I just really, I'm just a really passionate kind of guide and messenger between different parts of, of our, of our worlds here.
00:04:16
Speaker
love I love actually, ive i say this all the time, so I just kind of want to reassure you, I love the stumbling of words. The stumbling of words to me is, especially for multi-potentialites, for us that have all these different passions that we're weaving together, is such, for me, an indicator of how we're bringing new paradigms into being. So you stumble away because I think that's the most exciting part of it all. And I want to i want to start on a... There's so many different places where I kind of want to start based on our conversations.
00:04:51
Speaker
But I want to kind of dive a little bit deeper into um this particular comment, this particular topic of disconnection, because I'm excited. Like I get, I literally get goosebumps excited how more and more of the people that I'm talking to, as we're getting into our conversation, we're realizing that it is disconnection. And it is that, that place when the human places themselves outside of nature that causes so much of what we're seeing in the world. So many of the
00:05:24
Speaker
the anxiety, the the feeling of hopelessness, the feeling of aloneness, all of these different pieces really oftentimes come back to that original riff and that disconnection.
00:05:37
Speaker
I'd love for you to kind of share with us kind of how did you get there? Like what was the path that took you to the understanding of that that original kind of trauma, as we call it, or that original parting and everything that it's been happening to, especially the human being, but also the planet as a result.
00:05:55
Speaker
Agreed. Yeah. So, I mean, I was always, and and I can talk more about this later. i was always very connected to nature, very connected to animals growing up, not just, you know, like just having conversations with more than human beings, et cetera.
00:06:13
Speaker
And so I eventually made my way to study environmental studies and conservation and restoration of of the environment in my undergrad. And as I was finishing that up, a lot of people were coming to me because I'd been, the I'm a, I follow Buddhism. I'd been a kind of a meditation um meditator for a long time and people came to me and started sharing with me how they were feeling not you know not very well and they liked my grounding presence. And it was just this interesting... i was here thinking I would go into a ticket job and about restoring the environment and conserving nature, et cetera.
00:06:52
Speaker
And like just these weird conversations started... like I started attracting people and they would share. And I love that vulnerability, that depth. So it got me thinking more and more about like, why is it that we don't feel well and whole? And obviously you just open the news and you see it.
00:07:08
Speaker
um And I, it was like, well, I just, it just clicked. I was like, oh, it's because most people don't, don't live or didn't grow up the way that I did. Just running around in the woods barefoot with my dogs, you know, and talking to the trees.
00:07:22
Speaker
And so when i was I was thinking at the time, like I said, I would take a technical job, go pull you know invasive plants and stuff like that. that's what we did in environmental restoration. But it occurred to me that it was actually ah different path that was opening up to to me. So I decided to look into more of a spiritual psychology, more clinical psychology, and just I became really interested in this, like, how do we heal?
00:07:50
Speaker
that disconnect, like people aren't relating, even conservationists, even people who are actively trying to help the planet. How do we heal this this thing where like, oh, it's outside of us, we're trying to fix something that's not us, but actually it is us, it's always been us and we've just you know forgotten.
00:08:08
Speaker
So it became like, for me, it was ah an honoring, And I wanted for people to remember that I wanted them for it to be the remembering. And so then, you know, I took a ah gap year at that time I was traveling to Nepal. I was teaching at a Buddhist monastery.
Non-linear Career Paths in Conservation
00:08:25
Speaker
so I was having kind of, i was I was, having my own healing journey and awakening journey. And, I, I then found a program that was basically, um, clinical psychology through spirituality.
00:08:39
Speaker
and so i went and served of my masters in that and i specialized in ecotherapy because so spirituality can include nature and uh does for a lot of people luckily and so that's just kind of became my path but it was this like real recognition of like wow not only are people are around me hurting but also so is the rest of the world you know how do we how do we address that I really admire that kind of step-by-step approach that following your calling and then realizing how that weaves into things. I think there are still people out there who feel like, okay, if I get a conservation undergraduate, then I need to get it ah master's that has this, this, and this. And then like, it has to be this very linear type of progression. But I think what we're finding with conservation,
00:09:30
Speaker
the whole kind of multi passionate way of looking at the world as more as neuro divergence actually becomes the actual like regular divergence or the way that we think about it.
00:09:42
Speaker
We realize that there are so many different paths. And I think that that also echoes the spiritual work that you were just talking about, because For example, at in Dhammenherr, we often talk about relationships and the we call them the missing archetypes.
Reconnecting with Archetypes and Ecosystems
00:09:57
Speaker
Those ways of relating that are archetypes that are species that we as humans had and have been lost in the separation from the mother worlds from the world of the plants and the world of the nature spirits and even our own disconnection with our part in the animal world the fact that I am part of that and so these archetypes connected to relationships or relating have been lost and the plant world holds them for us specifically ancient trees hold these memories so the reconnecting back with the plant world and the plant kin home is not just about kind of, you know, feeling good and and environmental issues. It's also about recovering pieces of our memory, pieces of ourselves that we have lost in the process. And that whole remembering is is a big part of it.
00:10:52
Speaker
Remembering who we truly are as interconnected beings who are also independent, but who live in this interconnected life. And therefore, a part of me is plants, a part of me is animal, a part of me is divine, a part of me is nature spirit, a part of me is and a part of me is and a part of me is and I can say that even from a biological perspective, right?
00:11:15
Speaker
I am part bacteria, I am part, you know, all these different is different parts. And so when we start to look at ourselves, I think that you you just end up in this understanding of we are an ecosystem. i um one of my One of my favorite kind of speakers and and and writers, ah Emanuele Coqchia, just recently i was listening to a ah presentation by him and he said that ecology is just natural sociology.
00:11:44
Speaker
It's all about relationships. And I was like, yes. Yes. Yeah, is it? That's the part. So how does this work for you? Like, how does it manifest itself? Now?
Eco-therapy and Nature Connection
00:11:57
Speaker
You've gone through this entire path.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah. so what are you doing with it? for Yeah. ah So, you know again, just so not linear. um So to pick up where I left off, my master's thesis was ecotherapy.
00:12:15
Speaker
So I did the research, the science, because I knew that that would be necessary to put this work out there and to convince other people who you know aren't convinced and don't understand and just needed the data.
00:12:27
Speaker
And after that, I was like, okay, I have the master's in psychology. i can communicate. I can you know understand people better. going to become a certified coach because I didn't want to work with clinical population. And then, and that was a requirement together, the masters and the coaching certification to become an eco-therapist, like a certified professional eco-therapist.
00:12:50
Speaker
And so, you know, that just added years of of schooling and I did the thing and, you know, also taught in between and kind of built a business. Um, And then, you know, eco therapy and how the way I lead it is i work, I do work remotely with the people on their nature connection. That's totally a possibility, especially for people with limited mobility. Like it's really, I'm trying to make it very accessible.
00:13:16
Speaker
um And it can also look like going to, you know, a park or the forest or the beach, depending on I'm in San Francisco, California. So we have kind of have all those options.
00:13:27
Speaker
and go And just being with the client in that space and then inviting nature to be my my co-guide essentially. And and was i what I was saying in my intro is I'm just the messenger.
00:13:42
Speaker
I'm just letting people know that there is ah communication happening and I'm kind of like attuning their senses to it. So we'll be like processing something,
00:13:56
Speaker
And you know the client will say something and then you know a hawk flies overhead or you know something, a lizard, or ah we come across you know fallen leaves, it's fall, for example.
00:14:08
Speaker
And so I'll bring that in and I'll say, hey, did you did you notice when you said that you know this happened? Like it's a spontaneous nature event is what we call it. um And then I'll ask, you know, what does that bring up for you? So I'm not, it's not, nothing's artificial, nothing's forced.
00:14:23
Speaker
I just literally before any session, I'm, you know, like come into prior and I connect with the land and I ask for guidance for the client. And so there's a real, like it's a relationship. I'm building a relationship between the person and the place.
00:14:39
Speaker
And the place is is chosen, you know, according to what they're working on or what they're comfortable with, not everyone. wants to go be out of cell range and on a dirt trail. Sometimes we can go to a city park and look at the flowers growing or whatever, the trees.
00:14:55
Speaker
um So that's kind of, and and so those sessions go an hour to an hour and a half. And then I also have led ah women's nature retreats. And, you know, just again, it's that, and on those circumstances, I also send them out on on the land as a solo.
00:15:12
Speaker
um So there's a lot of ways that it manifests. And I try to bring in on the corporate world side, i call it, i I focus more on resilience and how nature is an ally in resilience. And so I try to, you know, I've delivered some talks about that. And there's, of course, science backing it up. But that's a different, and another different facet, like you were saying, multi-potential, multifaceted.
00:15:38
Speaker
Absolutely. And I do think that this is so important to help people realize to help us enter into an understanding that place is important.
00:15:49
Speaker
And place can be anywhere. And I think, you know, going into parks, using and working with the land around you is so important, even if that is your you know urban street even if that is the inside of your home.
00:16:05
Speaker
And once you connect back into place, and and I think that this is why that combination, like you said, of in-person, but also just because you can't do it in person doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Like I do, I would say 99.999% my work remotely. work with houseplants.
00:16:22
Speaker
And working with houseplants because
00:16:26
Speaker
with housepl plants and i love working with housepl plants because You know, houseplants have had such a rich history with human beings. Houseplants have been connected to us, have been growing, expanding and more than anything, adapting.
00:16:40
Speaker
Because if there's ever a species that has had to adapt very quickly, most houseplants are tropical. right They've had to kind of adapt into this temperate kind of ah kind of weather that we have inside of a home.
00:16:54
Speaker
Most of these plants have had to figure out how to deal with changing light conditions on a regular basis. Like you're in a windowsill or maybe you're farther away and how do I deal with this darkness and all these pieces.
00:17:05
Speaker
And I think that once we start to get into the life of a house plant, we start to recognize so many aspects of ourselves as that adaptable, resilient species that we really are.
00:17:17
Speaker
And then that helps us better see who's outside from starting with the grass, you know, moving out through the dandelions, going out to the wild plants. And then even, like I said, city trees, so many different kinds of city trees that are also amazing at adapting to small confined route systems to areas where you know the conditions of the heat island effect that you see in cities.
00:17:43
Speaker
And I think that when you take people through these journeys, starting wherever it is that they are, local parks, understanding you know the different types of environments that even you have, I think most of us don't even recognize, like you said, you have beach in San Francisco, you have also higher elevations and lower elevations, you have Very, very urban streets. You have slightly urban streets. You have a little bit of everything.
00:18:07
Speaker
And I think that when you take people out to have a relationship with the more than human world, right outside, then place becomes something tangible, it becomes more home, it becomes more relationships and friendships and all these different pieces.
Impact of Nature on Well-being
00:18:26
Speaker
And I'm curious as to what you see in your clients, but also in your own like research and in your own life. How do you see that this changes people? Like what are the experiences that you see? Yeah, for the actual human when they start to recognize and that life, because it ah and me let me preface the question because one of the challenges I experienced and I find that many of us that are in this is that It's society, the public talk of things like anxiety and fears and depression and are so allopathic. They're so mechanical. They're so medicine based.
00:19:12
Speaker
They're so chemically driven in the conversations that are happening. That I find that especially in urban environments, most people don't even recognize that what they're experiencing is disconnection from nature.
00:19:28
Speaker
And so how do you, one, how do you kind of overcome that? How do you help people understand, hey, all these things that you're trying to treat with medicine or exercise or discipline or whatever is really more disconnection?
00:19:45
Speaker
And on the other side, once you finally get people through the door, what do what are you seeing changing in them? Yeah, so I love your question. And I also want to preface that I don't work with clinical populations. So they come to me with anxiety and they come to me with loneliness and, you know, potentially depression. And um because my certifications other than my master's in psychology, that doesn't make me a psychologist.
00:20:11
Speaker
Fair. I say that all the time about myself. No, Like, I will not specifically work on that with
Simple Practices for Nature Connection
00:20:18
Speaker
you. And everything that we'll do together improves it. um So, yeah I mean, i think, first all, let's start with anxiety because that's so common. And for me, anxiety comes, i mean, there's, and I won't get into all of it, but grounding, you know.
00:20:36
Speaker
People don't know how to ground, they don't feel grounded, and I don't blame them. you know look Look at the world that we live in. um So that is a great starting point, first of all. you know and And plants are such allies in that nature in general, like feeling your like your feet on the ground, connecting with the earth, you know noticing that connection, literally. like Your body is part of something bigger. There's entire forest field underneath you.
00:21:06
Speaker
um So anxiety, you know grounding first, and then really a lot of people, were and they feel like alone in their anxiety and their concerns and their fears about the world.
00:21:18
Speaker
So nature, when and i I use nature, it's a capital N, but it's like ah a bigger you know container. um and like you said you were you're just talking about it if someone starts to pay attention to the cycles of nature right us outside their doorstep that tree that depending on where you live something is that like that tree's unless it's like a conifer but even the conifers change like the fine trees absolutely you know yeah they there's there's a cycle there's a rhythm there are seasons like just like your own internal seasons
00:21:51
Speaker
and There's a movement, there's a rhythm, and the moment you start paying attention to that, then you you don't feel so alone. I mean, one of the practices that I talk about in my book is like good morning ritual. So it's super simple, um nothing crazy deep or or spiritual because it's made for a mass audience.
00:22:11
Speaker
have your morning cup of or coffee and think about where did the water come from? What, where did, what was it? Where was the tea grown? Where was the, where did the coffee beans come from? um and what, what community of people, but also earth beings and like ecosystems help that come to me.
00:22:32
Speaker
And automatically you're connected, you're interdependent, you're interconnected with a whole, like with, you know, the planet and other people and, yeah as you consume it like really set you know you're the intention that you honor that connection and so that's a simple simple thing but people not going to think about that necessarily like you know so ah things that i see shifting in my clients or just in general is people feel more relaxed they feel more trusting they feel
00:23:05
Speaker
um like they're not so alone. And it's something that you cultivate, right? It's a practice. So it doesn't, you start it and then, you know, you might stumble and and then try again.
00:23:17
Speaker
and it's, you build on it and then it becomes, until it becomes automatic. And that's really what i want to help people build into their lives. And that's how you create sustainable wellbeing. Because that's kind of a phrase that I use when I talk is sustainable wellbeing comes from you know acknowledging that we're completely connected all the time to the more than human world.
00:23:42
Speaker
It's just you have to work your work towards it and be conscious about it. And I hope that answers your question. It's almost like it's almost like an ah it is. It's a reawakening. It's a reactivation that happens.
00:23:55
Speaker
I've actually – it's interesting to see in my own practice with my one-on-one clients – um how much I've even changed in the way that I do things. For example, I used to give much more space to my clients between sessions. And nowadays I do either weekly or biweekly kind of fixed sessions because of exactly that practice, because we are introducing those types of thoughts into their lives, because we're trying to create these living, we are working on these living ecosystems and
00:24:27
Speaker
And that that practice that you mentioned of like the morning is so important. Taking that time to like, especially with food, it's such a great way of doing it because it is something that is such an unnecessary part of ourselves.
00:24:43
Speaker
So taking that moment as you're preparing your coffee or your tea in the morning and literally like through touch, through ah in memory, through emotion, through so many different parts of yourselves and senses of yourselves connecting in into that particular being, whether you're talking about tea leaves or the water or the coffee bean.
00:25:08
Speaker
And like literally as you're pouring it into whatever it is, taking that time. I mean, I think that there are so many people who talk about having that favorite mug that favorite kind of apparatus that they use for brewing their coffee, and that it all tastes better because you're putting in that energy and because you're starting up your day with that connection.
00:25:29
Speaker
And that moment of sitting, you know, with that being who has given their life for you. And to, you know, bring that into yourself is probably one of the first things that you connect with,
00:25:44
Speaker
The same as breath, as you were talking about relating to grounding is even just 5, 10, 15 minutes of breathing, of breath work of any sort, but just that conscious breath and how different it is. I think most people think that when we talk about breath work, we talk about it from the perspective of, you know, clearing your mind. And it's like, again, this mental practice. And yes, it can be.
00:26:10
Speaker
But I have found... that more than anything, breath work is about all those beings that are coming in as I take that breath, all those connections. And with my plant partners,
00:26:21
Speaker
All the oxygen that they're producing yeah that for that space, for me, and how I then think about it, almost all the meditations that I do, I try to bring that consciousness of like, every time you breathe out, you're also giving to your plant partners. You are sharing that carbon dioxide. You're sharing molecules.
00:26:43
Speaker
of yourself, you're in your saliva, in your, in all of those compounds, not just are you bringing in those volatile organic compounds from the plants, but you're also expelling a whole series of different compounds.
00:26:56
Speaker
And so that's their, you know, plants have as many parts of you in them as well. And, and so do so does your cat or your dog or your reptile or whatever other animal is living nearby the lizard, the spider, you know, whether you like spiders or not.
00:27:13
Speaker
you know, the ants crawling across, like all of these beings are sharing this space. And I think that when we start the day with that connection, like you said, i now feel grounded. i feel a part of something. I don't have, not mentally necessarily, but at least I know i am part of the Graeber web of life and I don't have to think about it. I just have to feel that piece. Yeah.
Introduction to Clara's Book 'Re-Nature'
00:27:41
Speaker
you meant what You mentioned a book. You mentioned a book. What is this book of which you mentioned?
00:27:49
Speaker
Yeah, so um the book is kind of my way of trying to take these practices and this message to a much wider you know portion of people.
00:28:01
Speaker
Because it's it's one thing to be, I felt like I was operating, you know, doing my business in in a bubble. i am lucky I live in California and people kind of are tuned to these messages. They understand ecotherapy is a new field and um it's starting to spread, but it's not widely known. And so...
00:28:23
Speaker
Just a little backtrack, i experienced a traumatic brain injury a few years ago when I was in kind of in my mid-20s. And um so it took me a long time to recover from that. And I felt like I was really being offered a second chance at life. And um i kind of coming out of that long recovery period I decided that, like I just mentioned, the world is in crisis and I have these tools and some sometimes gifts
00:28:57
Speaker
And my message just was, I wanted to amplify. I wanted to reach more people. So I always knew I would write a book. I just didn't think it would come that fast. And so the book, I moved forward with it kind of coming out of my recovery. It gave me ah more of a sense of purpose. I wasn't sure how I was returning to two entrepreneurial pursuits to my business.
00:29:17
Speaker
So that's how I came about. That's the backtrack. um And I'm very grateful to be here today. Let's just put it that way. And the book is called Re-Nature. and how nature helps us feel better and do better. And the idea is to show people, like I talk about the disconnect, the history, you know how we got to where we are, how we have mental health crises that are, like you said, are being treated with medicine. And and you know again, I'm not gonna make comments about medicine.
00:29:49
Speaker
i think sometimes they have their place and we can also just use plant allies so much more than we use chemical substances. But beyond that, there's a potential for us to to to lift the consciousness, to come together and start to, so we nature to really notice the ripple effect of our own nature connection so i teach people how to build that in the book and then paying attention to how that ripples out literally it's going to make everyone in your life feel better because you're a better person you're more whole you're more connected you're more well so you know your your family your community everyone's going to benefit that's the first ripple
00:30:31
Speaker
outside of yourself and then beyond that if your well-being is coming well-being is coming from being connected to the more than human world to what you've always belonged to then my hope and the you know the science backs this up as well is that people are going to want to protect and like care and give back and really show that compassion that's so needed and lacking in our world so it's um The book has three parts. The first part is more going over like how we got here, the issues, you know, it's it's definitely not doom and gloom, but you need, we've got to kind of get into it first.
00:31:09
Speaker
The second part is more talking about that community piece, the resilience, the spirituality, you know, before I get more into the tools, the love, the compassion, the, um you know, the ripple effect of of nature connection.
00:31:25
Speaker
And so re-nature is the idea of reconnecting with nature to a whole other level. And and yeah, it'll be it'll be out very, very soon. I, of course, will include all the information about it in the show notes.
00:31:39
Speaker
And I love this, like, I'm a big re person. So my, to a certain extent, I guess you could just say brand is about reconnect. I mean, this podcast is called, you know, reconnect with plant wisdom. I have so many parts that are called reconnect or reawaken or we because I really do feel and this is part of also my philosophy, you know, the whole Dhammenhury and philosophy and my own spiritual practice is that we were once all united. We were once connected. And I don't see necessarily the individuation as a negative thing. i think that it's very easy for people, as you said, to get into the doom and gloom or to focus on the negative. I feel like it's a path of awareness and of consciousness and of conscience that we have to develop. i feel like it's really important.
00:32:26
Speaker
i I feel like if we look at this as a journey that we take, it's kind of like the epic hero's journey. Yeah. or the heroine's journey, or the fact that to me, I don't care about gender, the the thing's journey. like that's frustrates It frustrates me all the words that we've split. And that's at least in English, it's better than in other languages I speak where I'm like, I do not want to use those words anymore.
00:32:51
Speaker
Because I hate that they denominate one, you know, I'm an engineer, period. Not an engineer, not an engineer air or whatever words you want to add. Like, I'm just an engineer.
00:33:03
Speaker
Why do we have to have hero, hero and heroine as separate things? It bothers me. But anyways, you know, I feel like it's important for us to recognize and to get comfortable and excited even of the fact of, oh, wow, I'm on this soul journey.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yes, that is looking at where I started from, which most likely was some kind of unity to some kind of division and separation to then reunite in consciousness to reunite in awareness.
00:33:33
Speaker
And I hate to say this because it's corny, but it comes up all the time. That's where you find that universal, unconditional love. it's It sits in that awareness. To my opinion, it doesn't sit in the past where we came from because there was no awareness. And in my opinion, without awareness,
00:33:50
Speaker
You don't really get that unconditional peace. And I think that that's what we feel when we're with and we connect back into the natural world of which we're a part of. It's like we feel ourselves click into place and you recognize this this uncontrollable feeling of
00:34:11
Speaker
beingness and of being a part of this, that is where that seed of unconditional love really does come from.
00:34:22
Speaker
And you, at least this has been my journey and the journey that I see ah so many of my clients go through is, it is something that we can talk about,
00:34:33
Speaker
But when you feel it, it really has to be, it really always comes from that awareness. It's like, oh my goodness, that's what it is. I remember the first time i was in a spiritual research group that we sort of came to that understanding. And I i remember that feeling.
00:34:50
Speaker
I've always been one that's when you when people talk about, oh, all of this beautiful, unconditional love, I'm like, eh, whatever. and And then to be sitting with, ah you know, with actually this plant, no name Dracena, who's sitting right in front of me and feeling that from the group of people and by people, I mean human and more than human people We were all sitting in this group and it was virtual, to be honest.
00:35:17
Speaker
And here was all these, I think there was like maybe eight of us and each one of us, um you know, eight couples because each person had, each human person had been working with a plant person for the last year.
00:35:29
Speaker
And here we were sharing these experiences and I felt all these plants and people interlock in a way. And that that sort of radiating, I know it sounds super corny, but I have no other way of saying it, this radiation of like universal love that came out of it that still to this day, like makes me tear up as I'm talking about it, because it was just like, oh, my goodness, that's where we're headed.
00:35:54
Speaker
Like, that's what I want to feel. all the time. i want to I want to be able to lock into that. And I feel like these practices that you're talking about and that we're talking about relating to what you've included in your book and what you practice as an ecotherapist is really about that.
00:36:12
Speaker
It's about baby steps that you guide with the help of a natural being ah
Overcoming Societal Disconnection
00:36:20
Speaker
and that we as the kind of coach, therapist piece are just there to hold that space for you and to like hold your hand when you wobble and make you feel like you're fine.
00:36:36
Speaker
Where do you want to go from here? And having that person turn to the plant partner or ant partner or dog partner, whomever of the more than human world that's helping them in that moment and turning and say, where should we go?
00:36:50
Speaker
What steps should we take? Yeah. And seeing where that curiosity takes them is such ah privilege and so beautiful. And, and then from there, you can't unsee it.
00:37:06
Speaker
yeah So therefore, it feeds into everything you do for the rest of your day, week, year life, you can't on do that step unless you you really got to work hard for it, like type of thing.
00:37:22
Speaker
I think you can forget about it temporarily. Fair. But there comes the remembering. So that's why I understand I also work at least weekly or bi weekly, when I'm in a, you know, in a coaching container, because the remembering the building of the awareness, the building of the connection takes that much activation sometimes.
00:37:44
Speaker
But I think that, you know, i can use my mom as an example. and her adult years, she became a ah herbalist, you know, for personal reasons and family, et cetera.
00:37:55
Speaker
But before that, as a child, and since I was very inspired by her in my whole life. she She was ah communicating with animals. she She would talk to birds and and hear birds and not just, you know, it was like language.
00:38:07
Speaker
But then it was it was, I mean, this just gets into the witch wound and everything, but she was like, it was like not okay. So then... when she, um when she, like, came out of that kind of, you know, raising children and being, you know, she actually went to business school and she's like, you know, she made a path for herself, but then she remembered somewhere along the journey, was actually an animal. Um, I'm trying to remember, I think it was her horse. Like basically ah she rescued a horse. we We have horses in the family and,
00:38:43
Speaker
um He needed holistic help. and so And so then she became exposed to communication. and so in this case, animal communication. And she remembered. And now she's you know energy healer for animals. She does she does herbalism for animals. animals and um But it's you can disconnect. You can forget. You can get pulled by society.
00:39:06
Speaker
And, uh, and follow a different paradigm for a while, which is, you know, we're all human. That's normal. And and don't want anyone to feel bad about that and follow, like you're saying, the curiosity, follow the spark, follow, you know, be open and then you'll receive essentially.
00:39:26
Speaker
I love that. And it's so true. it is true. I mean, we we do have periods of our lives where we forget certain pieces, especially that path through a certain level of quote unquote adulthood in the traditional world where...
00:39:40
Speaker
Our cities are just built badly, so they don't encourage you to stay connected. And so people feel like, oh well, I didn't grow up in a farm, so therefore I you know i couldn't. And it's like, it's not necessary to do that. You you don't have to have 700 plants in your apartment either.
00:39:57
Speaker
There's lots of other ways, but you're absolutely right that it is so easy for us to forget and to get wiped out. And I think that that forgetting is what causes or causes it triggers. Let me just use that word for lack of a better term.
00:40:13
Speaker
all of those feelings that we were talking about, right? Those fears, that anxiety, that loneliness, that separation. i know that for myself in the last, like there have been three major elements.
00:40:25
Speaker
We'll use that term for right now that, When I don't have them, when I disconnect from them in my life or when I feel like i I separate out more for different reasons, I feel that void. One of them is my esoteric roots, like really, which nowadays after living in Dahmenhurt for 15 years is a completely different story because they're so integrated into who I am that It doesn't matter what I'm doing.
Wisdom of Plants as Guides
00:40:51
Speaker
i i'm I'm still always doing it with you know those guides, with those relationships, with that understanding of the cosmology of the universe. But there was a period in my time of my life where I felt you know kind of you this is life and life is just this and it's this box and everything that's in this box. The other one is the arts.
00:41:08
Speaker
Like if I don't have a form of creative expression, I remember back when I was working in the corporate world, especially my first few years of technology had come out of a school of music, right? Because i'm a music engineer. So I come out of this school of music with creativity and the arts surrounding me. And I come into a company that is all about that, like This is technology meets music at the height of the internet bubble. It was such a thrill to be immersed in all of this new technology, but specifically around the arts.
00:41:41
Speaker
And then for to various reasons, I had to step away and farther away and farther away. And in the process also lost my own personal because i had, you know, played instruments and sang when I was in college and I lost a lot of that.
00:41:56
Speaker
And I remember sitting and listening to a friend of mine play the piano and I was crying. And it wasn't, yes, he was playing beautifully, but it wasn't because of that. Yeah. Got to say that.
00:42:08
Speaker
But it wasn't because of that. It was because I didn't have that in my life. And then even when I got all those pieces back together, there was this still this feeling of like, what is missing?
00:42:21
Speaker
And then i met the plants. Like I met all these plant people. And all of a sudden, it was like, oh, my goodness, that is the missing piece. Like that is the part of me that I had never had a chance to even form a relationship with because my upbringing never brought me into connection and contact. I didn't have access to that. It wasn't part of our vocabulary.
00:42:52
Speaker
It wasn't part of the way we did things. And as the years have gone by now, I realize how much of that like hole that I had that that loneliness that I had is gone is is been filled, you can say, with this relationship.
00:43:14
Speaker
And how important it is for us to recognize it didn't happen all at once. And it did not happen in the way most people like think in the movies, it's supposed to happen. Like I go out and I bought a house in the middle of nowhere. I mean, I kind of do live in the middle of the nowhere, but I am a city girl by heart. Yeah.
00:43:32
Speaker
And I, you know, started to recognize this in those teeny like grass. Grass is everywhere, folks. Grass is everywhere, folks. Grass is your friend.
00:43:44
Speaker
Grass is probably one of the wisest guides because they've been stepped on. trampled and they have learned to thrive from it, they grow. Kin grow everywhere.
00:43:56
Speaker
Like seriously, you couldn't get rid of them even if you wanted. Kin have been status symbols because a lawn is considered to be, you know, something of status and kin have also been what means junk, like an overgrown house where the grass is all over the place.
00:44:13
Speaker
can have been everything. So if you really want to get a wide range of what it means to live with humans, without humans, with animals, with this, with that, go chat with grass. Trust me.
00:44:23
Speaker
And they live in community because when you go and look at grass, it's very rarely one species. There's like all these little species all around grass. Trust me, grass is your friend, man. Go have fun with grass.
00:44:34
Speaker
And you do that anywhere. It doesn't matter where you're living. Unless you're in Antarctica, and even there, I'm still convinced that there are blades of grass that are showing up in places. You can connect with grass like ah do it. Is there in the work that you do and and in your own experiences, have there been kind of like more master plans that have helped you through your process?
00:44:59
Speaker
Yeah, let's see. hey i have to I mean, give it up for really powerful trees and tree guides, whether it's for myself or for clients. I feel like a lot of the connection, I literally, i think it's one of the stories I share in the book.
00:45:18
Speaker
um someone told me like, I breathe better when I'm hugging a tree. And like, duh, you breathe better when you're hugging a tree. Kudos. So like, you know, it just like that symbol is so powerful. And like, kudos there are awesome.
00:45:35
Speaker
But it's very, so i just, my whole life remember already as a little girl, just going to talk to, So it was a walnut tree where I grew up. So I'm originally from France. So in our garden, we had um we had a walnut tree and it had some sort of disfiguration on the trunk on the bottom. And I was like, as a little girl, I was very concerned for this tree, but it always thrived. And in fact, years later, because I moved so much,
00:46:03
Speaker
When we were in the area, I would return and I'd ask my parents to drive by and see if it was still alive. And so that walnut tree and now it's a very elder, beautiful oak tree here. And and i'm right now outside of San Francisco.
00:46:19
Speaker
And like I could cry. i just Every time we get these huge storms, I probably will cry. And it here in Northern California in the winter. And I'm every time I'm in my bed thinking, oh my gosh, is this grandfather oak tree going to make it?
00:46:35
Speaker
And I go out there and like, yeah, maybe a branch will have fallen, but it's, it's, and it's so, yeah, I just, I, he's part of my, my like weekly ritual.
00:46:47
Speaker
um So I think, you know, there's so many symbols and archetypes around trees and obviously like they're, but you from the root system to like the, what they offer and to the, the chemical compounds in the air that you were talking about. It's, um yeah, I think, I think that's probably been really strong guides for me. And, and also, um you know, they, they, they hold the nests of so many birds and,
00:47:17
Speaker
Like it's just so always something. You can never, you know, be bored looking and communicating and being with trees. There's always something going on. Absolutely. And I love um how when you think about trees, right, we start to realize also the phases of life, you know, very similar to our own faces.
00:47:37
Speaker
The, you know, the the maiden mother crone to a certain extent is really one of the archetypes that the that oak trees in particular embody so beautifully you you know, the idea of the oak tree being this creating shade and just playful and experiencing the land and then getting to the place with the acorns and giving so much. I just recently had, I think it was like episode 123, Elspeth Hay, who we were talking about acorns, how she fell in love with the understanding of life and of nourishment and of this myth of farms that we have through oak trees and really connecting back into ohak
00:48:19
Speaker
and how the oak goes through that mothering phase where it takes care. And then that crone of like, I create this entire ecosystem, my body holds and all these little holes that get created for other kinds of critters.
00:48:32
Speaker
And people you know like you said, nests that get held and my roots hold things up. And there's just this entire ecosystem life that gets created from an oak tree that is such a powerful,
00:48:46
Speaker
metaphor, but also partnership with ourselves and the environment. So many people have relationships with Oaks because Oaks have really been there for humanity to be examples, but also to share and co-create in that perspective. Like you said, that co-guiding of that co-guiding of that space. And it's only been us that has forgotten. Like we as humans have forgotten in so many places about that relationship which is is such a beautiful co-creation. And we do see, you know, what was it? Unfortunately, for I just blanked on the name of the oak tree that was cut down a few years ago in England that made, you know, headlines of when, you know, this oak that was a symbol of that community, a symbol of that location,
00:49:36
Speaker
And here are these stupid people who come, they are stupid, I'm sorry, but nobody will tell me that these humans are not stupid, who come and just like say, oh, he he he, I'm going to cut this tree down. It's like, what are you doing? And that's that example of the disconnection that you were talking about, that that fact of when you're connected to that, you no longer...
00:49:56
Speaker
you you don't go in that direction because that just feels like cutting off your own limb. Yeah, exactly. And heading into it. As we start to wrap this up, ah so tell us once again, the name of the book.
Promotion and Call to Action
00:50:09
Speaker
and So about the time that we're going to be um that this this episode is coming out. I know that the that so check back, check, your check your bookstores, check. I'll put the links in, but also check your bookstores because it should be right about coming out right now. If you don't find it yet, go call the bookstore and be like, hey, when are going get this book?
00:50:27
Speaker
And so tell us all the name of the book, if it has a subtitle and and tell us what we need to know. And also, of course, we'll include your information so that people can find it directly from your website. Thank you. So the book is called read nature. So it's spelled read dash nature, talking about that remembrance, the reconnection the subtitles. subtitle I'll be super transparent was so difficult to find because so is I went with, I had a different one, but it, I'm trying because it's a mass audience.
00:50:57
Speaker
I had to go more TED Talk style. So it's how nature helps us feel better and do better. And I know that some people have some issues with that because it's personifying nature. And I completely agree.
00:51:11
Speaker
And when you have a publisher, you're on deadlines and they have a say. And so here we are. I go with re-nature most of the time, depending on who I'm talking to. Yeah. So, and my name is Clara Schroeder and yes, it will be available. So it's like late September for the ebook, early October for the paperback.
00:51:29
Speaker
You can also just reach out to me. I'm getting copies that are like completely sustainably printed where everything is like the ink is algae based. And so those are limited copies. You can like shoot me an email. I'm happy to send them over. Otherwise it will be carried by bookstores um so there's like a whole your local bookstore should be able to pull it um but yeah if you want not every copy is gonna be that unfortunately because it's just logistically the world doesn't work that way but it will hopefully one day
00:52:02
Speaker
It will. It'll get there. it's ah It's a lot closer, believe it or not. It's a lot, lot closer. i have I have a lot of books now because I've been talking to so many authors, which I love. So I have this little like collection and I'll make sure that we include it in our list of possible books for our Plant Wisdom Book Club. I'll send you book club, of course. Yeah, it would be wonderful because ah that book club, can I say, we've been going now for about...
00:52:27
Speaker
I think almost three years, if not more, like somewhere in there, or maybe it's been more. I mean, and I just love all the books that we're, that we've read, even the ones that have been duds.
00:52:38
Speaker
Cause we have had a few duds. I once did a podcast episode that was like 11 fantastic books and a, and a dud. know Sorry to the author, but it was like, no do not do that type of thing.
00:52:51
Speaker
But even the duds, like they're still great stories and there's always something to come up with it. So I think it's so important, like you said, to have a book that touches different audiences and allows people to have these experiences. Because again, not everybody at the very beginning is going to have quote unquote, the courage to contact an ecotherapist or, you know, ah a nature inspired like life coach, like not everybody is ready to take that step.
00:53:18
Speaker
And I think that books provide an opening for you to start playing with this practice on your own. And I would say this to everybody who's listening that like feel free to start with the book, right? Or to even supplement with the book, right? The book is a great place for you to have that place that that kind of doing it and ideas and activities and just some direction.
00:53:41
Speaker
That being said, we're not meant to do things alone. We're just not. We are social beings. And so whether you go one-on-one with somebody, because again, you want to start in this perspective, or because you're trying to get deeper into something of your own, or you come into something like the naturally conscious community, which is, you know, my community online, which is a space for you to explore through the arts, through reading, through meditation, through discussions, all of it is good.
00:54:10
Speaker
Just find the thing for where you are. Take one little step, play with it, and then allow the curiosity to drive you into the next direction. Because really, that's the way we're going to get things done.
00:54:23
Speaker
People like c Clara, i'm like myself, we're here to help be that container of safety to give you some ideas and directions. And more than anything, we're here to just support your path. And if that means buying a book, great. If it means coming into the naturally conscious community, fantastic. If it means coming and doing one of our programs or working with us one-on-one, also great.
00:54:44
Speaker
Whatever feels right. The most important thing is that you do something and that you feel supported in doing it. That to me is like the essence of it all.
00:54:55
Speaker
I completely agree with you. You said so beautifully. And in fact, it's funny you mentioned not doing it alone. i think the the very end of the book invites readers to do a 10-day challenge. five practices in the book.
00:55:08
Speaker
I suggest you know trying them out over 10 days and repeating whichever one feels right. And then sharing it with someone, inviting another person to do them with you. And seeing how that changes their lives and talking about it. Like it's inviting, the more connection you invite into your life, whether with people or or more than human beings, the better. Absolutely.
00:55:30
Speaker
It will be. Claire, this has been such a fantastic conversation. i am so grateful for the time that you've shared with everyone and also all of, you know, your experience, your knowledge and the work that you're doing.
00:55:43
Speaker
It's just, it's needed. we We need all these different paths for people to reconnect and to find their, you know, connection and re-nature as you've said it. So any last words, anything you want to share with the audience before we go?
00:55:58
Speaker
Oh, just thank you so much for having me on also for doing the work that you do for, you know, paving the way, opening it up for more and more healers to come together, to give back, to create communities that are in connection with, with, with nature, with the plants, with the earth. Um, I think the more of us start to talk about it as well. Like if you're listening to this podcast right now and you feel inspired, share it with someone, someone that you think would resonate or, or would learn something because we're, I think you and I are are the same in that way. We're trying to raise or change shift the paradigm, raise the consciousness to, to be a more united, poll you know, healthy world. And in that, and that healthy, I mean, like at all beings, not just people.
00:56:46
Speaker
So if any of that speaks to you, please, you know, spread the word and, and, And yeah, join the book club, buy my book, like, you know, take action because actually talking about the very beginning, taking action is an antidote, a very strong antidote to anxiety, depression, loneliness, you know?
00:57:09
Speaker
So so this I have hope. I have hope when I talk to people like you. i have, you know, I just have hope and and everyone, but we need to come together and and keep stepping up.
00:57:20
Speaker
i you you i I echo those sentiments 150,000%. I also have hope, especially after speaking with so many people. I love doing this podcast. I love having the naturally conscious community because it is what gives me hope.
00:57:34
Speaker
It is what helps me see that that humanity does have hope. the opportunity and is moving so many people in in so many humans are moving towards this reconnection,
Conclusion and Future Paradigms
00:57:46
Speaker
and that we need to focus on that and help people get there.
00:57:50
Speaker
And what I love in in the work that you're doing, and also what we were talking about in the naturally conscious community is having these spaces for people to explore what the new paradigm is, because we don't actually know what it looks like, right? We haven't, we've been living in this old paradigm. So we're stretching and pushing and trying things out and experimenting.
00:58:08
Speaker
And I think spaces like eco therapy, and as well as the naturally conscious community are made for that. This is a place where we want to experiment, we want to fall down We want to make mistakes because it is only in doing these types of things, in taking our thoughts and our feelings and putting them, as you said, into action in the living world that we actually get to start creating and co-creating this new paradigm.
00:58:35
Speaker
so And I think that plants are the wonderful co-guides for this experience and co-creators of this experience and all of the beings of nature really are looking and waiting and they're looking at humanity going, are you gonna, are you gonna do it?
00:58:50
Speaker
Are you gonna do it? So thank you so much for this conversation. And for everyone listening, as Clara said, please, if you enjoyed this, like, subscribe. you know, hit that, you know, whatever button that might explain because everything has a different name, follow button, this or the other.
00:59:07
Speaker
But more importantly, share this, share the thoughts, share the ideas, reach out. We are all here to support you in this process. And if you want to have a complete group of people and a entire container that holds you, find myself, find Clara, find the naturally conscious community out for you there.
00:59:26
Speaker
We are just so excited to do this work together. So with that, that's the end of this episode. Thank you so much. Remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance.
00:59:39
Speaker
Thanks for tuning into 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.
00:59:54
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.
01:00:14
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.