Are You Listening When Nature Speaks? — Activities & inspiration for finding your deeper connection with nature

Booklet by Sasha Daucus and Nancy Wisser

What do you experience when you are outdoors in nature? For me, it is a life-filled experience, and like life, beyond words. The world feels alive, deep and mysterious–me and everything in it.

It’s a great feeling of harmony. I know beyond doubt that I am a part of it all, in company with all other life. Feelings of alienation and separation disappear. It feels so good, I want to share it with others.

With this in mind, twenty years ago I stared leading spring herb walks in in the Ozarks. At that time of year, the plants and woods are so beautiful and easy to appreciate. I also think that the study of edible, medicinal and other useful plants is an excellent door to enter again and again into good feelings of connection with life, especially if you work directly with living plants and the environment they grow in. For me, then, it was natural to introduce people to useful plants in the spring as a way to open the door for others to feel wonderful experiences of connection with nature.

If you are motivated by the desire for a deeper connection with nature, words are not enough. Finding plants that can help you heal, that feed you, or provide materials for making useful objects or inspiring art–all of these activities, because they are about more than words, and because they create a relationship between you and the plant, can open up the opportunity to experience this sense of connection and harmony with nature.

To eat, use or heal with a plant is to experience and affirm a connection with that plant. It takes some trust. You depend on the plant. Over time, a deeper relationship can develop. You bond with the plant and the places it grows, and like any respectful relationship, this bond can lead you deeper into life and connection.

This booklet is a little different offering to the experience of herbalism than I have written in the past. Instead of directly talking about plants, it offers some activities that highlight nonverbal, sensory connection to nature. It also offers some examples of how important this kind of connection with nature can be for you.

I hope you will use it to deepen your connection with nature and plants and to bring a special kind of attention to your work with herbs.

Sasha Daucus