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Ep.109 Designing Your Practical Sanctuary with Stephanie Jackson
63 Plays8 days ago
Have you ever entered a room and immediately felt a sense of calm and safety? In this episode, I sit down with sensory interior designer Stephanie Jackson to explore how trauma-informed design can transform our living spaces into sanctuaries that support our nervous systems and cater to neurodivergent needs.
This conversation offers valuable perspectives on creating spaces that nurture and heal.
Topics Covered about NeuroDivergent Interior Design
➡️ Why designing for your nervous system is more than a luxury—it’s a necessity.
➡️ The difference between biophilic trends and truly supportive space design.
➡️ How plants and lighting help regulate neurodivergent bodies.
➡️ The role of personalization in creating healing environments for yourself and others.
Chapters
00:00 Intro & Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction - Why “Practical Sanctuary” Matters
08:00 Biophilic Design as a Non‑Negotiable Mission
16:00 From Art & Healing Work to Sanctuary Business
24:00 Rehab Case Study: Adapting Home for Recovery
32:00 Designing for Emotional Affect & Personal Aesthetics
41:05 The Shift Network - Eco‑Conscious Partner
42:00 Community Living & the Subtle Power of Interiors
56:00 Start Small: Building Your Own Sanctuary Nucleus
Resources Mentioned
🌱 Stephanie's Work
🌱 The Shift Network
🌱 Personalized mentorship with me and the Plants
// Podcast Guest // Stephanie Lee Jackson | Practical Sanctuary |
Practical Sanctuary uses cutting-edge neuroscience to create spaces that help you focus, heal, emotionally regulate, and build community. Her clients call it ‘space therapy.’
Expanded Show Notes
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Opening and Closing music by @Cyberinga and Poinsettia.
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Transcript
Introduction to Sacred Spaces
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. It's me, Tigra Gartenia. I am so excited about this. So this this whole conversation that that we're about to to to listen to together, that experience together, was something that I have been looking for from the perspective of what Stephanie Jackson does with her practical sanctuary is ah cannot emphasize enough.
00:00:32
Speaker
So important. The idea of creating a sacred space and like really thinking about your interior design as a way to support your relationship with other kin, to support your nervous system, to support the way that your mind works.
00:00:50
Speaker
For all of us that are multi-passionate and, you know, quirky, as we were calling it it in this conversation, neurodivergent, all those things, having a space that truly reflects who you are and that encourages your way of being is so important.
00:01:09
Speaker
So please listen to this conversation. Reach out to us. Let's have a conversation about it because I think that that developing both work as well as personal spaces and designing them as sanctuaries is the next level in our evolution that is just so and No more cookie cutter, man. Dang the cookie cutter.
00:01:32
Speaker
We need spaces that truly help us be the maximum most authentic selves we could possibly be.
Mission of Practical Sanctuary
00:01:39
Speaker
So with that, I am so excited to share with you episode 109, 109, I still can't believe that, 109, Designing Your Practical Sanctuary with Stephanie Jackson.
00:01:53
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.
00:02:14
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.
00:02:34
Speaker
Hello, Stephanie. I have been waiting. yeah have to I have to say, i have in my mind a little list of like types of roles and people that I want to talk to.
00:02:45
Speaker
And when we've had our conversation, i was so excited because this is an actual passion area for me. But before I'm going to jump into exactly what that means, can you please tell everybody who is Stephanie Jackson?
00:02:59
Speaker
I am the owner and founder of Practical Sanctuary Sensory Interior Design. As far as I know, my company is the only company in the world that is doing what I'm doing right now, which is creating spaces that tune to the nervous systems of the people that live and work there.
00:03:23
Speaker
What I mean by that is i create spaces for highly sensitive people, for neurodivergent families, for healthcare, for trauma care.
00:03:34
Speaker
And I pay attention to all of the sensory aspects of the space in terms of how those aspects are affecting the people who live there from all sensory and emotional and relational perspectives.
00:03:52
Speaker
That means I am paying attention to acoustics, how much acoustic chaos there is and how the people who live in that space deal with noise, how they can track or not track conversations, how they can focus.
00:04:09
Speaker
Lighting. people who are highly sensitive to different types of lighting. I will do things to mitigate or change the lighting so people can be comfortable. Relationships, how we set boundaries in our homes.
00:04:24
Speaker
When you're dealing with neurodivergent families, sometimes you have parents with a really different tolerance level for noise, chaos, movement than the children.
00:04:39
Speaker
And you have to set physical boundaries, which allow for those behavioral boundaries to work for everyone.
00:04:51
Speaker
So it's a multidimensional puzzle with every family, with every space, which I love doing.
Biophilic Design vs Personalized Sanctuaries
00:04:59
Speaker
And my mission is to get these concepts into the design phase of every building that is renovated or developed in the future, particularly with healthcare, government, business, education, because our spaces are draining many of us and they don't have to, they can support us.
00:05:26
Speaker
So that's my mission in a nutshell. I'm really looking forward to this conversation.
00:05:32
Speaker
So i'm gonna I'm gonna tell you now, because I love everything, every single piece that you mentioned, especially because, so my original foray, when i first started working with plants and I started to have my plant reawakening, I looked around and I said, okay, what direction do I wanna take? Because at the time,
00:05:49
Speaker
You know, this was, gosh, like 13, 14 years ago, there wasn't a lot of discussion. There was biomimicry, which was kind of my first entry points. Like I walked through the whole idea of design inspired by nature, the idea of looking at how different different organisms, different beings, how different plants or animals or even human body parts work in certain areas. And then what does that look like? And I always migrated towards the idea of social innovation, right? The way, how is it that these design elements affect our social interactions or we can design social interactions by there?
00:06:27
Speaker
And that naturally took me into the direction of biophilic design, which attempts to do My words, not yours, what I'm about to say, they're my interpretation of the way being somebody who worked in biophilic design and who still works with biophilic design is a somewhat...
00:06:46
Speaker
not stale, neutral way of doing what you do in the sense that I think biophilic design is a gert first step, but I feel like what you're doing and what I loved about the conversation you and I had when, you know, as we were prepping for this was that I think you take it into the realm that is so important today, which is personalizing it beyond just the checklist that a biophilic design can do. And If you could help just to make sure everybody, all of us are on the same page, do you know anything about biophilic design? And like, can you share a little bit with people kind of like the differences, the way you see them? Because I have my own opinions about how you see the difference between what you do and like tradition, what's become now traditional, which is still cutting edge and still awesome that it happens. But what you see as traditional biophilic design?
00:07:35
Speaker
yes i think it's that neutrality that you pointed out that it's like yes you can choose to do biophilic design or not and it's it's a preference it's nice it has some benefits but it's almost it's like a boutique kind of thing right it's like okay it's for people with money i ah i've been a member of longwood gardens for years and there's this wonderful wall that's like all the plants are growing out of the wall and you see it all over the place. And it's it's almost like a design trend, like any other trend. It's it's sort of morally neutral.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. For me, this is not neutral. It is a it's a mission to bring our environments in tune with our nature.
00:08:30
Speaker
right and And so biophilic design is a necessary element of that, not a aesthetic choice.
00:08:42
Speaker
Now, there are many people who simply don't have the interest or the cognitive capacity to care for plants in their environment. But I don't think the existence of plants plants in our environment and integrated with our building is ultimately going to be optional.
Personalization in Design
00:09:03
Speaker
Right. I think we treat it as though it is optional. So i integrate as much biophilia into my designs as I possibly can.
00:09:17
Speaker
And it needs to be an integrative process. Right. I need to have landscape designers, sustainability designers, healthcare workers, that ah scientists that understand you know ecosystems, they have to be part of the process.
00:09:36
Speaker
right So yeah, that's that's where I see. That's where I come down. Yeah, and i and I think that that's a great thing. I mean, and for those for those that are listening that might not and not not really understand. So biophilic design, in essence, is kind of like, how do I turn whatever I'm designing to have as much natural input as possible? So the idea of lighting that mimics the cycles of nature that might have a dappled or a sort of like, ah instead of straight light, like we would have with a lamp, whenever you have like light coming through trees or anything, it's going to have different shading to it. It's going to have movement to it.
00:10:15
Speaker
um It's having more rounded edges because in nature we have more rounded edges. We don't really have a lot of sharp edges. There's all kinds, there's an entire checklist that exists now, you know, water elements, and how do you have things that you can that mimic even temperature of nature, all these types of elements that make you feel kind of like you're outside, which is great. I mean, like you were saying, it is great.
00:10:39
Speaker
But I do agree with you that I think that it's, it is for some people, especially in the business world, kind of like the end goal, when in reality, i think Like you said, it should be the beginning.
00:10:50
Speaker
Like I start with a biophilic environment, with an environment that I've created that allows elements as if I'm in nature. Then I look at who are the people that are going to be using that.
00:11:02
Speaker
And I add a layer on top of that, which is biophilic. Given what those people who those people are and what those people will be doing, what is it that I need to add to the environment to create a relationship between the environment and the bet the health of that of that person, just like any animal in nature or will and even every plant in nature will personalize their space.
Stephanie's Career Journey
00:11:25
Speaker
so that it's most adaptive to what it is that they need, right? You're not going to have a beaver that just because you're outdoors, you're going to have in the tundra, right? A beaver is going to want water, but a beaver is also going to create their own den. They're going to be able to move that those in certain positions to best shape how big or how small the beavers are. Like you're always going to have the plants and the animals adapting their environment to what's best for them. We've always done this with like decoration.
00:11:54
Speaker
But I think what you do is really important because it says to a space, whether it's your home or your business, I am an individual person. I have characteristics that are natural for my work. Like if I work on Wall Street, I know it's high stress. It's very fast paced. It has all these types of things.
00:12:10
Speaker
If instead I'm talking about my business, personal study at home. I might want an environment that's very conducive to, you know, my nervous system being able to take in lots amount of inputs to be able to, you know, study or to be able to do calculations or strategy, depending on how I want to use it.
00:12:26
Speaker
And I like the idea of being able to create an environment that supports, you know, whatever it is that I need that space, whatever I'm going to be using that space for.
00:12:37
Speaker
And that's where I think biophilic design or any of the design elements don't really go that far. and And I really like that that's the direction that it takes you.
00:12:48
Speaker
How did you end up kind of deciding to go in this direction? it it It picked me. there always. I had no intention of doing this.
00:13:00
Speaker
yeah And when I look back, I i see how... i'm I'm a pretty, i wouldn't say, so I don't like the word stubborn, but.
00:13:13
Speaker
I'm stubborn. I've got three pairs of horns in my as and my astrology. I am so freaking stubborn, it's ridiculous. ah Like, heads down, horns out, i am just going to go.
00:13:26
Speaker
I consider myself to be open-minded. um I'm open to taking things in and I'm open to other people's perspectives, but I also have an internal compass, which is very important.
00:13:39
Speaker
decided like and it surprises people because I am so open I mean I'm all interested in knowing what people are about and I'm interested in helping and supporting them and so people think I'm very easygoing and then they hit something that's important to me and they find out that I am not the malleable person they assumed I was because of the openness so I started out as a fine artist with The absolute commitment that is like, i will I will live out of dumpsters. I will do what I have to do to have to be and to to make art for the rest of my life. And that was a very, very conscious, firm decision at a very early age, which I followed through on.
00:14:30
Speaker
at times when my peers who were with me in the beginning are like, Oh, this is too hard. I'm going to go to medical school. I'm going to go to law school. I'm going to get an MBA. Like I'm out. I'm just like, ah dude, it's like, no, this was, this was for life.
00:14:45
Speaker
So, and I did that for 20 years. I founded a couple of alternative art spaces. I did the sojourn in Mexico to paint full-time thing. I did the move to New York and,
00:14:58
Speaker
found a movement thing. i I did art blogs when I you know i wasn't getting the the traction I wanted. So I was like, okay, I'll make it. I will create the thing.
00:15:10
Speaker
And the art world took me down. The art world and the economy. I'm Gen X. I graduated into multiple recessions. I've seen booms and busts yeah a lot.
00:15:23
Speaker
But the 2008 bust... took me out because I ah had my my daughter right as I was pregnant, as the economy was collapsing. Her father was in the financial industry. The the jobs and money just evaporated overnight. just you know He had a contract, just poof, gone.
00:15:46
Speaker
So by the time she was nine months old, I was living off my credit card in New York. And you know that it was like, no, the art world is not taking care of me and really never had. It was, I had gotten behind the scenes enough that I could see how basically bankrupt it was of any values that I wanted to espouse.
00:16:13
Speaker
ah it's It's essentially a money laundering scheme for where people who got their money through means that artists are in the street protesting about, right?
00:16:27
Speaker
So like i couldn't get where I was want needing to go with the art as I had always assumed i would. And in the meantime, I had gotten completely caught up in healing, like helping people heal.
00:16:44
Speaker
That was how I was keeping my lights on was a licensed massage therapist. And I use the massage therapy is like, okay, let's pay the bills. So you you always get a client on the table, get your rent paid and then you're good. You paint, you blog.
00:17:00
Speaker
But I had a family to support at this point and there were no jobs. And my, um, Now X was not helping.
00:17:13
Speaker
So I had to get serious about learning business skills.
00:17:18
Speaker
So that's what I did. I made my massage business into a real business. I started learning marketing, branding and all of those things.
Designing for Neurodivergent Needs
00:17:25
Speaker
And ah very short time into it, one of my clients said, Stephanie, you know, I just love that painting in your studio and I just love your how your space is set up. Would you do that in my house? And I was like, no, I'm sorry. I don't make art anymore. and She said, all right, you check for a deposit. it And I said, I do that.
00:17:44
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Sure. her And it was transformative because I really loved this client, first of all. And I knew her very well. And she had a vision that she knew what she wanted, but she did not know how to do it.
00:18:02
Speaker
And i went into her space. She wanted a ah mural on her staircase risers that looked like oh um water. And I was like, I could do that, sure.
00:18:14
Speaker
um But she she had the vision, she picked the colors. Her space was, ah you know, it had certain ceiling height, certain window height, it' certain means it's in Philadelphia. So the light is a certain way.
00:18:29
Speaker
And I'm hyper aware of all of those things because I've been studying light and color for decades. And I've lived in a lot of different environments. And I'm like, okay, this is going to work. This is not going to work. This is going to work. This is not going to work.
00:18:43
Speaker
And the process of being in her space with her and talking with her and playing music and telling stories and going through the process of creating this mural that worked with the space.
00:18:54
Speaker
I'm like, this is what I was born to do So many more elements than just creating this object that you stick on the wall and try to sell to someone. Right.
00:19:08
Speaker
So i I'm like, okay, well now I know business skills. So I'll, funnel my business skills into creating ah business that does this.
00:19:20
Speaker
And soon on the heels of that, I realized that I had another superpower, which is i love quirky people. I've had I've always befriended the the oddest person in the room at any point.
00:19:35
Speaker
I love that now that the world, you know, has this kind of ah ah love affair with the word neurodivergent. And I'm like, dude, we've been calling these the mad genius.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yeah. the weird, like we call ourselves inside of my naturally conscious community, we call ourselves weird and woo, you know, but like, I just got ah a message from my friend. I have a friend of mine that goes running every morning and he's, I've known him since high school and he leaves me these like 20 minute messages while he's running every morning.
00:20:03
Speaker
And it's because it's his way of like, like just moving through everything in his brain, everything that he's thinking, which is sure, quirky, let's call it quirky. but Those mad geniuses that are like, of course, the neurodivergent people, we've known all of them our whole lives. Yes. I mean, way before I knew the word neurodivergent, these were my friends.
00:20:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. you know i have a friend that I've known since we were seven years old that does that. you know i will I'll get the text message. It's this long. It's some random thing. I'm like, yay.
00:20:39
Speaker
exactly. and that And I think that the other piece, and I'm interrupting your story, but only because it feels like it's appropriate. What I love is that I think because of that, because we've always known these people, because we've always been these people, we also know the things that they need, right? Things like like these are people that are...
00:20:57
Speaker
that are highly amazing. And like, like you said, that the 20 minute voice message or the super long text. And then, they disappear for three days into a cave in their houses.
00:21:09
Speaker
And it's because like their minds are so huge and moving all over these things. And then it collapses in and of itself. And then the house needs to be both entertainment space for everything that they do. Like they're usually musicians or creatives of some sort. And then it also has to have the safe, protective environment.
00:21:29
Speaker
I am recharging type of, you know, the whole highly sensitive thing that a lot of people think still don't recognize is such yeah an important set of characteristics. Access to nature, nature inside the house, recharge, recharge my battery.
00:21:45
Speaker
Okay, i'm I'm done. Now I can be yeah outgoing again. Well, you you just described the the the next part of this process was realizing that I know what these people need.
00:21:57
Speaker
And that really everyone needs these things. It's just, it's way more obvious with neurodivergent people. Absolutely. You know neuro, I mean, and it's, it's so polarized with neurodivergent people. They have superpowers and then they have outsized needs that if they don't get they're,
00:22:18
Speaker
It's collapsed. It's catastrophic. but So it's urgent with the neurodivergent population and becoming more so because as we all can find one another through the internet, who and this is genetic, people who maybe didn't find anyone to partner with and did not have children all through all all of history are now finding ah each other on the internet constantly.
00:22:47
Speaker
having kids and their kids are even more far along on the spectrum than they are. And it's seen as this like epidemic, this crisis. What's causing this? I mean, for me, it's like it's fairly obvious that it's hugely genetic. I mean, I'm sure there are some environmental factors, but I don't consider neurodivergence to be a disability.
00:23:10
Speaker
ah Agreed. I consider it to be a difference. And it's a difference that's always been there. But because we're we're getting better diagnostic skills and we are... just more attuned. ah You know, there were so many neurodivergent people that were just abused and ignored, crazy and ignored that we're, we're now grappling with this or in the schools, parenting. And I'm like, I, I know what's needed. And moreover, I have,
00:23:49
Speaker
executive function, which as I know from founding two different allt art spaces, many, many, if not most highly quirky people do not have.
00:24:03
Speaker
Correct. So I felt like I had all of these skills that I had been developing for all of these years, which I thought were about, you know, becoming an artist, you know, building a business, et cetera. And I'm like, there's a huge gap in systems that's ah that's shaped like all the skills I've been developing for all of these years.
00:24:29
Speaker
Right. And I didn't want to be a business owner. mean I just wanted to be alone and create things. ah But the economics gave me very little other option.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah. And and then I found the mission. So it's the creativity, it's the economics, it's the mission and the need.
00:24:56
Speaker
So here I am. i mean, yeah. I absolutely love this because I feel like another element that's happening is as more and more people feel are, are, are, are coming, are evolving out of their conditioning. In other words, as we're, as we're embracing much more of who we truly are, like you said, we've,
00:25:17
Speaker
we've had always the quirky people, all of us have our quirks and our parts, but many of us have been kind of forced into a rigid system that, um, that promoted form over function. In other words, the idea that you had to like, you know, pro this, there was this process of this is how you do things. This is how you work.
00:25:38
Speaker
This is how you do, you know, the, you have to wake up early and you have to go and do this and you have to do that in your homes. need to have this cookie cutter shape in order and your businesses have to have these cookie cutter shapes. Like I remember when I was working at Microsoft, so Microsoft at the time that I was working there had a ah philosophy which was like everybody should have an office.
00:26:00
Speaker
And I thought it was brilliant because I had come from a different company that everybody had cubicles and the cubicle for an extremely creative person sucks big time because you're normally highly sensitive, which means noise, distractions, environments, the idea that I can't close my door at any point, that I can't personalize my space enough, that I can't block other people out of it. Like I remember Intel at the time had a completely different philosophy, which was everybody had a cubicle where Microsoft was everybody had an office.
00:26:32
Speaker
And I remember every time I would have to go to Intel for something, For you know some work-related thing, I was walking around there going, I would not survive here because without that office, without the ability for me to close the door and sometimes even just sleep on the floor with my pillow and my blanket because I needed that half an hour nap or...
00:26:50
Speaker
You know, all of my toys that were in there that made me made that space mine and me and my ability to like not freak out in a good way. Like I was working on a problem and being able to like use my whiteboards and just move around and use my body and all these different aspects because I was behind a closed door.
00:27:10
Speaker
And I feel like that was really conducive at the time for a lot of creativity to come out. And I think that that's the interesting thing about what's happening today is that as more and more of us sort of unshackle ourselves from these, um of course, we have to have common traits in order to interact, but in our own spaces, whatever those spaces might be, unshackle ourselves from many of these kind of constraints and these conditionings that have been placed on us.
00:27:39
Speaker
I do think people, the work that you're doing, like you said, is mission because now I have to make a space really work for me, especially if I can do it at the early stages, like the friends of mine that I've had that have had the privilege of being able but to design their own homes,
00:27:55
Speaker
like from beginning to end has been amazing to see what they do yeah because the spaces already physically speaking, and then we'll get more into kind of like what you do in order to create a space for, for a person that is highly sensitive, for example.
Creative and Personalized Home Designs
00:28:11
Speaker
But I loved every time I go into their houses, seeing what they've created. Like I had one of my, one of my friends created, um he had a secret door that was hidden behind a hologram.
00:28:24
Speaker
He had like a holographic image and it led to his theater, which he had created because he needed. And so there's this really bright space with this gorgeous like holographic image on the wall that when you stood in a certain way, you realize was a door.
00:28:39
Speaker
And then when you come through the door, you have this super beautiful. cave-like dark space that was his theater with like really comfortable sort of lazy boy super shares and a full screen theater. And it was like for him, the contrast of, you know, this is the environment of openness and sharing and, you know, entertaining and all these types of things.
00:29:02
Speaker
And this is the space that I go to retreat. And this is a person who, You know, has really done amazing things in, you know, he was somebody really high up at Microsoft. He's done some really amazing, incredible, creative ah innovations.
00:29:17
Speaker
And now I understand, like looking at his house, I was like, oh, I get it. Like, of course, the only way for you to create all of this is to have that other piece. And then he was telling me about what he was doing to look, because when I went there to his house, he was telling me what he was going to be doing to the landscaping. And he was basically turning it into ah a woodland area with a massive redwood in front of it, with in front of the house. And he was turning into this woodland because again, highly sensitive people need that connection to nature.
00:29:49
Speaker
Like that connection to nature is a reset. It's like a, oh, other beings that I can understand me that don't stress me out that like, you know, regulate me and help me kind of find clarity.
00:30:00
Speaker
And so he needed all of these different kinds and his family in general, like his, his, uh, the whole family needed all these different spaces that allowed for these different environments and these different ways of processing information. Yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
Exactly. Yes. he He is doing with his own house what I do for other people. I love it. I love it. So tell me more. Tell me like some of the things that you've done and like what are some of the experiences and that people have come to you saying, hey, I need help with this and that you've been able to craft in their space.
00:30:34
Speaker
Yes. Well, one of the first ah people that hired me was a massage client of mine was had had a catastrophic stroke ah due to eclampsia during childbirth.
00:30:51
Speaker
And i got ah I got a frantic call from her friend who um that her her friend had almost died giving birth and was that the child was okay, but her friend was paralyzed on half of her body.
00:31:10
Speaker
And modern Healthcare tends to give up on stroke victims quite early on. There's a myth that says that people can only get certain amount of function back within a certain window, three to six months. And if you don't get any more function back, we're just, you know, we're going to warehouse you.
00:31:33
Speaker
So I started massaging her regularly. and we got to be friends. i mean, and it was it was it was a really distressing situation, but but there was enough money in the household and and family and relatives that she had a lot of help.
00:31:48
Speaker
So ultimately after a few years, her family moved into a house in the suburbs with, ah and they had physical therapists coming in regularly that they, they had to, they hire and they had a live in physical therapist and a live in caregiver.
00:32:05
Speaker
And the daughter was growing up and, and my friend was, you know, trying to learn to walk again. There was, there's considerable like issues with her memory and, then and then she could only use her right half of her body. The left half was just, just not moving around.
00:32:23
Speaker
And I was with her long enough that when I would go to see her, like she's in New Jersey, which is called the Garden State, but she's trapped in her house and her family had...
00:32:39
Speaker
They were used to taking care of her. They were kind of treating her a little bit like a piece of furniture. like i walked into the bedroom and I mean she she's capable of using her right hand, but the bedroom is set up so that on her side of the bed, it's her left hand that is accessing the the bedside table with her phone, her iPad, the light, she's got to get someone else to to hand her the phone, the iPad and turn on the light when she's got a perfectly good right hand here, but she can't get to it.
00:33:14
Speaker
So i said, look, I'm starting this new business. ah Let's go. yeah And I ended up designing her physical therapy treatment room and you know, I did this huge mural. like I was still like doing the art thing. So I did this huge mural that was a lotus and it was her favorite colors. And i you know, just designed a flow path so that she could use the capacity that she had to the greatest extent.
00:33:44
Speaker
And it went from, you know, essentially like physical therapy spaces are they're triggering to the nervous system to say, believe that they look very much like torture chambers.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's not good for your healing pathways in your nervous system. So instead, her her um physical therapy room, you walk in and it was like it was like ah a lotus, like a sun rising. And it was like ah a a garden and a playroom.
00:34:14
Speaker
That she could do all the things in, you know, she could watch a movie, she could like do she could play a game, she could do her physical therapy, and like a little workout, she could be on her desktop, you know.
00:34:25
Speaker
So it was this this joyful sanctuary for healing rather than a torture chamber that she's just got to work work hard to get a little bit back of what she's lost. And that kind of informed the trajectory of what I what i do I love that. I love that. And i think that that is, again, it's so important for us to have that, to to have those spaces that really modify the way we're doing things. I
Biophilic Elements in Commercial Spaces
00:34:52
Speaker
remember I was working on a design once um when I was doing more biomimicry projects. And this design, um it was really a prototype, but it was the idea the idea of creating a rolling garden.
00:35:04
Speaker
um a rolling ah grass like inside of an office space so that um people could have, and this was like one of the projects that I think, don't remember if it was, what are their names right now? Oh, it'll come to me. It just blanked for, I can see the company, but I cannot name it for a second. It'll come back to me.
00:35:24
Speaker
But they actually implemented this, which was kind of this rolling, uh grass space inside of the building which turned out to be kind of a hangout break room type so that you were inside of the building but for your break you could be sitting on the lawn as if you were outside to kind of stimulate again that you know if they were in the middle of the city and they didn't have a park nearby you can still simulate that whole contact with nature and the fact that we're going to go sit like kind of picnic and like put a blanket off on the lawn And we're going to sit. And it was this little kind of rolling thing on the inside of the building. It was brilliant. How did they do that? What did they use? It was brilliant. They created actual grass. What they did was um they they kind of built this little hill slide piece that then matched up to a sidewalk.
00:36:10
Speaker
Then they had a garden, I think, on the other side, like a water garden type piece. So they had this walkway through the middle of it. So you can imagine the floor of a building. And instead, there was like no chairs or anything like that. One half of it or one one kind of ah side of it was this grass area with the windows so that you, therefore, the grass could grow and all those aspects of it. okay And then this walkway in the middle and then the other side had a water element, if I remember correctly. So it was like ah like a little, whatchamacallit, like a pond type thing. Okay, yeah. so then you had
00:36:42
Speaker
So you had the water element, you had different plants, and then you had the grass. And so people could sit, and it wasn't just flat grass, but because it had this sort of small hill. little bit of texture. Okay. Little texture. People could feel like they could like walk up to the top, sit there on the grass and even have a meeting and and such. But, you know, you feel like, yeah, you're not outdoors. So you don't have to worry about grabbing your coat. you don't have to worry about environmental factors like that. Like if it gets cold outside, you're still within a certain temperature control.
00:37:08
Speaker
You can bring your computers because you don't have to worry about rain or anything like that. yeah But at least it was different than sitting at my desk or sitting in a conference room to have a conversation. whether you're having a break or whether you're having a meeting. And I thought this was brilliant. And it's amazing.
00:37:21
Speaker
Like, why wouldn't other companies do things like that? Or another company that I saw back when I was working on biophilic design elements that had a fountain in the middle of the room, because water is one of the sounds that that one of the natural sounds that naturally drowns out everything else. In other words, it it kind of resets you. It focuses you in. it And it's the one that gives you the most amount of calm.
00:37:45
Speaker
um Like it's been studied that water running water is the most calming of all the sounds.
Art Influences in Design
00:37:51
Speaker
kind of like bird sounds as well, but but but water sounds is the most.
00:37:56
Speaker
yeah And so just having a water element, like a running fountain in the middle of the the the office space with cubicles around it and then the offices and piping that sound in into a system would already naturally create a more harmonious environment.
00:38:13
Speaker
And I think that that's the other element of this type of thing, which I was gonna ask you about, like you had said, the mural was a lotus. How much do you bring for yourself and or for your clients? Do you bring plants into kind of not, not just the, let me put plants in the space, but into the ideation phase?
00:38:33
Speaker
How much do you work with plants in that way? That's naturally in my artistic DNA.
00:38:43
Speaker
Uh, like, my first painting professor is like, you like organic forms. And I'm like, yeah, I just, the shape of a fiddle head, a swirl, um a helix is just, it's how my body moves. It's, it's what I want to be doing. And I'm, I'm so in love with plants. Like I have, as I've gardened my Philadelphia row home with no yard to the limits of what's physically possible.
00:39:09
Speaker
Okay. Every, strained every, every ray of sunshine that, that accesses this space, I have got a plant in it.
00:39:19
Speaker
And I sit and I look at them and I just, I like on a large scale, on a small scale and the, the, um, The shapes, it's just what I do. So if someone likes my aesthetic, that's what they're getting. They're getting organic form and it manifests in all kinds of ways.
00:39:38
Speaker
And it's it's also about the hues. It's about how light behaves. And what kinds of colors work with the natural light. You talked about the biophilic with the dappling.
00:39:53
Speaker
I spent a decade literally painting that literally painting shadows and how light moves and how it it glows and all of that, the affect that it has. in it And when I talk about the affect, it's the emotional response who to a vision. yeah,
00:40:14
Speaker
I'm whenever I'm in a space with a person, like that's my aesthetic sensibility and it's how I've trained and grown. So I'm just naturally going to observe those elements and I'm going to amplify them to the greatest degree of what, what feels good to my client.
00:40:34
Speaker
Because again, it's for them. It is not for me. And so i will often do designs that my client loves and I'm just like, It's not what I would choose, but that's great. That's fine. We're all different.
00:40:49
Speaker
Right. But I am using all of that training and personal aesthetic preference. If they want, if they hire me, they're getting all of that. So they're going to get as much of that as they, as they can welcome.
00:41:05
Speaker
Stephanie, let's just take one quick second so I can share with everyone one of our eco-conscious business partners.
00:41:14
Speaker
The first time i connected with a plant and actually received a response, I got chills. It's such an invigorating sensation when you make a breakthrough like that and realize just how connected we are and that we are nature.
00:41:29
Speaker
As a nature-inspired mentor myself, I was super excited to stumble upon the SHIFT Network and its mission to empower global network of evolutionary change agents. Talk about my kind of movement.
00:41:41
Speaker
There are so many inspiring thought leaders, healers, empaths, and other visionaries all under one roof. each one on an individual and collective mission to help you reawaken and co-create a just and prosperous world.
00:41:55
Speaker
Check out the show notes and click on the link to learn more about the SHIFT Network. Consider enrolling in a course or two. Their programs are the perfect complement to your evolving, naturally conscious life.
00:42:07
Speaker
Absolutely. And it's interesting because um I think for so many of us, there's those of us that are very close to plants, we recognize and it takes a while and I'm looking kind of off to the side a little bit because I'm looking at a specific cactus plant that I have that moves throughout the course of the day. quite a i mean, I'm sure that for somebody else, they wouldn't notice it you know if Yeah. but Like i do but I sit here and I spend a lot of time and I've realized over time, besides the relationship with the plant and seeing everything that changes in the nuances and how the light touches the plant differently throughout the course of the day, but also how much that changes me. Like there's, um, yeah,
00:42:53
Speaker
A nonverbal conversation happening that I think we translate as things like it relaxes me or it does this or it does that. Where if I was talking about a friend, like a human friend, I would say, oh, she and I talk about this, this and this. And then afterwards, i It's the same thing that's happening.
00:43:10
Speaker
This plant and I are having conversations all day. That observation is not one directional. Right. And I think that we think it's one directional because we've been taught not to listen. But the more you spend time, the more you realize that.
00:43:25
Speaker
There is a two way conversation that's happening. There is a regulation of both of our bodies that's happening in order for me to enter into this conversation.
00:43:36
Speaker
My body needs to reach certain things that we in a human term would say calm, tranquil, peaceful, ah open, like all these other things. But all of that is not because I came here to the conversation with that.
00:43:52
Speaker
It's sitting here. In my frantic, I'm trying to get 17,000 things done at the same time. The light just shifted, which then draws my attention to this plant.
00:44:02
Speaker
And so therefore, and then the plant says, oh, you want to have a conversation with me? We need to first change some stuff because this isn't going to happen with the state that you're currently in. And then in that...
00:44:13
Speaker
those very quick seconds of breath of observation, my body starts to like shift into what we call nervous system regulation, what we think of as a more tranquil state, what we think of as awe and wonder, all these different elements that we're now studying, but that this is what happens. And then all of a sudden there's a moment where my body just goes, right?
00:44:39
Speaker
And then the real conversation starts. ah huh And it, you know, of course, when you're when you're out of it, it might take you a long time to get there, which is why they say that it takes about 20 minutes of immersion in nature for your cortisol levels to drop.
00:44:55
Speaker
But when you're in it, as much as you know, we are, it happens very, very quickly. It's like all the stress that I just had, staring at you for a few minutes, for like a few seconds, all of a sudden, all of that You know, just shifts and regulates and moves and moves into different places. And all of a sudden, everything becomes much more possible.
00:45:15
Speaker
And I do, um as a person who consciously didn't understand anything about like color theory and shadowing and all that kind of stuff, I've realized how much my mind has grown and expanded Because I can now see those, those shifts.
00:45:32
Speaker
I can see all of like how the light slowly, even as we're talking right now, I can see the light changing in my room and I can feel how the day is progressing in my body.
00:45:43
Speaker
And I feel all of those connections. So, Having somebody who understands that design your space when you are not there yet, you know, I think it's like a
Impact of Spaces on Well-being
00:45:54
Speaker
boost. It's like, let me just give you a kickstart into the person and the human being that you can really be when all of this comes together for you.
00:46:03
Speaker
Yes, thank you. Because I've had clients tell me that exact thing. That's, I mean, it was a low point when I had to leave the art world. I felt like I had failed and that I had like wasted 20 years of my life.
00:46:17
Speaker
And I spent those 20 years paying attention to those things. Like sitting in a room, watching the light move, noticing the patterns, the shapes, and figuring out how to really reproduce that in a way that it felt real, that it's not a depiction, that it's actually giving you that, that affect.
00:46:43
Speaker
And that felt like such a ridiculous waste of time in terms of capitalism. It's like, I have no resume. just draw one.
00:46:55
Speaker
Just pick a picture and be like, here's my resume. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so to realize that I had been developing skills that people needed was a revelation. And it gave me back to myself in certain ways when I was able to take clients by the hand and lead them through this process that I had been spending the last 20, 25 years learning. And realize that I could point out things differently
00:47:28
Speaker
i could point out things that they were already perceiving on some level or then could recognize when I pointed them out. Right. That it wasn't just me like being in La La Land for 20 years, that I was perceiving something real that could benefit people and that I could take them by the hand and lead them through that process. And then they would experience an enlarged, enriched life after I was done. I mean, I had a client, she she texts me every weekend, she's in Edinburgh and she's like, you know, people need this so much. You're going to help so many people. And I'm like, really?
00:48:11
Speaker
know what we did? Just, it just seemed fun to me. And she's like, it changed my life. And I said, really? And she said, yes, ah yes. Yeah.
00:48:22
Speaker
Yeah. And it's so subtle. Like, that's the thing about it. It's so subtle. I am living here in Dominher. We live in our what we call nucleos, our shared households. And I remember, you know I've lived in multiple of these and each one of them. It's been interesting to me because I see it.
00:48:40
Speaker
from the perspective of, so premise was that a lot of the houses that we have, we originally bought when, you know, the company, that company the community didn't have a lot of money.
00:48:51
Speaker
um we haven't had a lot, we work a lot in the temple spaces and on like things that are happening outdoors. And so kind of the inside has been a little bit neglected. It's been more functional than, you know, anything else.
00:49:03
Speaker
And I remember in one of the houses, when I moved there, I started to make these little changes that to make the space kind of like you said functional but yet functional with more and it was amazing to see especially i was able to change the furniture and the way that we had ah set up one of our group spaces one of like our our kind of it's not really a living room it's more like a big family room that we had and it was amazing to see the quality of our meetings, how they changed when I changed, you know, some basic elements, you know, with, with the knowledge that at the time that I had, I mean, had I done that today, I would add even more to it. But like, for example, just modifying the couches, creating a more uniform look, making them in a way comfortable with certain elements
00:49:54
Speaker
Knowing that we would be sitting there for two, sometimes three hours during, you know, our our weekly family meeting, um the elements all the way around us. And it's interesting because we have a person in the house that is but i amazing artist.
00:50:07
Speaker
ah She's really beautiful, but she's way more about like how something looks. rather than what it does for you. And she makes beautiful things, which luckily where she, where she focuses most of her work is amazing and perfect because she makes clothing and it's really beautiful.
00:50:24
Speaker
But when she tried to do like ah interior designer type elements, she doesn't have the depth because she does a completely different kind of artwork. Right. And so it was in, it was interesting to watch, like, where do we bring that depth in? Where do we bring that relationship with, you know, other kin in? How does that change? And I, I got to see it firsthand because in one part of the room is one part of the house is very stark and it's, it's become a through way, even though it's a beautiful space with lots of natural light, but everything else about it makes it
00:51:02
Speaker
a through way that doesn't get used. The dining room is very functional and it creates a certain amount, but it can't hold space because of the way that it's set up. And then the the back room can hold for certain aesthetics, like company, like meetings, like family meetings. And it's just fascinating. was fascinating to me now as I've moved on, you know, my, I have a master's degree in plant social innovation and design. So more that I got into the design side of it, I was like oh, now I get it. Like I understand why it is. And I watch people who do not recognize that their spaces, it's not about beauty or not beauty. That's one element of it, whatever you define as beauty.
00:51:48
Speaker
But you do, like I have another friend of mine who's like, his nervous system is out of control. And I just keep looking at his space going, this doesn't help you. it's It's beautiful, but it doesn't help you i think you know hu Yeah, it's it's about connecting the the needs where they need to go.
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's just, and, and, you know, again, those elements, like you said, of getting to know the person and designing with that person in mind. Like if you're a really nervous person, then you need one thing. And if instead you're a person that like doesn't have momentum and needs support, then you need a completely different design.
Creating Personal Sanctuaries
00:52:27
Speaker
Yes. And I think we don't, we don't think about that when you go to Ikea.
00:52:31
Speaker
Oh no, no. I mean, and it's, uh, In my work, it's way more about designing processes than it's designing end result. o Because it has to be a process.
00:52:44
Speaker
It's it's an an integrative one. Because to your point of all the things you were saying, All of those skills are different skills. Making a piece of art is very, very different from making ah space that has a certain effect on people's nervous systems.
00:53:03
Speaker
And that was one of the things I learned as running an art space that really understanding how a space is affecting people and how it's affecting how people perceive your art is something that a lot of artists cannot do.
00:53:22
Speaker
I mean, I had this little gallery and so I bring in some artists, they'd be like, oh, I want this wall. And they would take this tiny little subtle piece and they put it on the biggest wall with the longest sight line. And I'm like, your your piece just disappeared. It it might as well be a piece of trash that just flew against that wall.
00:53:42
Speaker
No one's going to see it. Right. And then I have someone with this huge piece. It's like, oh, this will fit here. And they would jam it in to a ah wall with no sight line. And I'm like, this is going to give the viewer claustrophobia. like They can't see your piece.
00:53:58
Speaker
Right. Because they they could only take in their own little tunnel. they go They're looking at their piece. They're not looking at all of this. And being able to see all of this is a different perceptual skill. Right. Right.
00:54:13
Speaker
Do you find that there's like, I guess, as as we start to wrap up, is there a one tip you could like somebody who wants to start to, you know, they they want to kind of test things out before they give the phone, where they before they call you and be like, can you come over to my house right now? Or can I just do a Zoom call with you and walk you through the whole house? Like, is there like one place or one tip that you would tell them to start with?
00:54:38
Speaker
I, okay I have several. i i'll I'll try to, I'll try to like condense it down. ah First of all, find one thing, one object that you just love.
00:54:56
Speaker
One thing. i mean, I like find a, find a s thing here. um And just focus on that. Notice what the elements are that you really like and create some space around it.
00:55:12
Speaker
We have so much stuff. We have so much clutter. It's all competing for our attention. Physically clear some space. And pick an element of this thing. It's like, what do I like about this? How does it make me feel in my body? Right.
00:55:32
Speaker
You do that with color. You do that with form. And when you've cleared the space around it, then you can start to see how that element is charging the space around it.
00:55:46
Speaker
And you can start to create like a very small sanctuary that has the vibe that you resonate with. It can be tabletop.
00:55:59
Speaker
It can be a corner of a room. It can be a single wall or part of a wall. But if you can
00:56:10
Speaker
clear it first of all, and then bring one element in and start to perceive how is this affecting me, how it's affecting me in my body visually.
00:56:24
Speaker
emotionally what memories does it bring up um what are the aesthetic things about it that i like you know maybe i like the weight of this cup maybe i like the the um the form maybe i like the color and let that let yourself have a conversation like you would have with your cactus right spend some time And when you can get that very small space set up so that you can be in that space and and have that conversation and start to real feel out what it's like when a space is resonating with you enough that it can bring you into yourself, then you can just start to expand that outward.
00:57:10
Speaker
It's like a crystal. it's It's creating its form and then you can grow. I like that. I like that so much. I especially like it because I think what you said that I really enjoyed was it's not even just about the object.
00:57:26
Speaker
It's about learning what are the elements of that object that end up giving you different sensations like and it's funny because you chose a tea you know the your your tea cup um or your mug and for me like i have different ones for different types of tea because i'm a big tea drinker and my different types of tea have different types because they're different feelings they're different sensations that come with it and i do agree with you that i mean
00:57:58
Speaker
I get that some people's mind works better in clutter, but there is still a kind of clutter that is conducive rather than, you know, ah clutter that enhances your sort of spaciness or difficulty in type of things.
00:58:13
Speaker
But what I really loved about what you said is that it's more about learning what are the elements of that particular object so that you can then, like as a fractal reproduce elements of that in other areas.
Intentional Use of Houseplants
00:58:27
Speaker
So is it the weight? Like, do you have things that need to have kind of a feeling of weightlessness? Because maybe you feel like you're airy, maybe you feel like you're up in the air, and therefore having things that kind of in a way where you weigh you down? Or is it instead something that's fragile and that needs to kind of give you space to be able to explore? Is it things that need to be a little bit more industrial because maybe you feel more fragile? Or is it, you know, like really figuring out which things reflect who you are or which things are the ones that give you comfort and sense of safety because they maybe provide an element that you're missing.
00:59:03
Speaker
And I think that's really also an important aspect to do, to work with when you're working with houseplants. I think many people buy houseplants based on what they go to a store and they see and they say, I like that. But I think it's really important. Like, for example, many of my houseplants are succulents and they're succulents on purpose. It's like started off as a thing. And then I started to look at the trend and I started to understand that I don't actually keep my house that warm. And yet these are all kind of warm climate plants. So that's why they're all near a windows.
00:59:35
Speaker
But I realized that it was an element of me that was missing because I'm in the mountains and I'm usually a person from the beach. I come from a tropical environment. There's elements of me that that grow like succulents. And therefore, I was I'm replicating this. And therefore, my relationship with these plants is very different. because it gives me an opportunity.
00:59:56
Speaker
Like I do have a few much more delicate plants that are growing in other parts of my house. And those are also different relationships, like a peace lily that's more shade that needs more water is in my bedroom. And it's, and, and key is the first plant I see every single morning. And there's a relationship that's there about that delicate side of myself, that more shaded side of myself, that part of me that needs to find that space to to be more private, to be more internal. And therefore, that's why he lives in my bedroom.
01:00:28
Speaker
He has tried to live in different parts of my house hasn't worked. Bedroom is the only one near my bed. i yeah It's interesting. And I think that that whether you're talking about your relationship with a plan, or whether you're talking about a different kind of element, I do think it's really important for us to give ourselves that space to figure out what it is,
01:00:46
Speaker
that that helps me with that. Stephanie, this has been a fantastic, kind you know, fantastic conversation. How do people find you? Practicalsanctuary.com.
01:00:58
Speaker
Perfect. And we will definitely include that in the show notes and so that everybody can find you. And do you only do things local? Do you also do things remote? I work with people all over the world.
01:01:10
Speaker
cut I have helped people move from Australia to Germany to you know, from Des Moines to Scotland, I can work remotely with anyone. It's a little different when we're working remotely, but it's, it's ah it's the same process. so Exactly.
01:01:25
Speaker
Beautiful. Any last words for everybody? Thank you for listening. the I love it. I've talked enough. Yes. It's been really fun.
01:01:37
Speaker
I think it's fantastic also because again, this is the type of thing that we don't even realize exists. I think we think of interior designers as like, Ooh, I want to make my house all fancy. And it's like, yes, but not only.
01:01:49
Speaker
That is the one last thing I want to say. Yeah. It does not have to cost a lot of money. That is the thing. it does You do not have to have a huge budget. you start We start with what you have, where you are now.
01:02:02
Speaker
And I do not encourage you to buy things. i incur i I really work with people on reusing, replacing, refinishing, just moving things around, getting rid of things.
01:02:15
Speaker
People do eventually end up buying a few things, but that is not the basis of my business. I do not exist to sell you a pile of things at a markup. or to get you to contract someone to build a ah mountain in your living room.
01:02:31
Speaker
ah Right, right. yeah It's lovely if you have the budget, but if you don't, it's okay. You can start where you are. I love that. That's the perfect place to end.
01:02:42
Speaker
Thank you so much. And to everybody listening, I hope you have really enjoyed this episode. One day I will figure out why my video jumps from place to place because it it still does this. I keep i keep laughing for who watch this. I don't know why it's this thing that my video likes to do. like Just give you the wide view and then let me bring it back. to but Anyways.
01:03:04
Speaker
So, but thank you so much. And for those of you that are listening, please check out Stephanie's work. all Everything that you need is included on the show notes. And again, if you feel like there's something that you need to express in your space and you're not having a chance, please reach out to her.
01:03:19
Speaker
And if there are things in your life in general, your relationship with yourself, with your natural space, with your relationship with other kin that you want to explore, you know that the Naturally Conscious Community is the place where we're having all of these conversations.
01:03:33
Speaker
I'd love for you to come and join us there. And if there's anything that I could do to support you on your own journey to better understand yourself and to help you flow with the life that you really want, please reach out to me.
Episode Conclusion
01:03:45
Speaker
All the information you need, again, is in the showboats. So that's it for this episode. Remember to resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance. Bye.
01:03:57
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.
01:04:12
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.
01:04:32
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.