Embodied Pathways

In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Peter Cow, a passionate advocate for nature connection and community living. Peter's work integrates permaculture design, rewilding, and the wisdom of the Eight Shields model, emphasizing the importance of both human and nature connections in our lives today. We began our conversation by reflecting on our shared experiences during the environmental protests of the 1990s, particularly the successful campaign to save an ancient woodland from ...

At Autumn Equinox I attended the final workshop of a year long process called Seasonal Alchemy. The weekend included nature connection, meditation, ritual, breathwork, dance and teaching about the Wheel of the Year. I was already familiar with most of these aspects but I was struck by how they were woven together. I was also reminded of the richness of the Wheel of the Year. I’ve been working with the seasonal Wheel for many years but had forgotten its depth and power: I’ve found it hard to h...

Thirty years ago I gave a presentation that would change my life. I was a Pagan environmental activist and had been invited to deliver a talk at an academic conference at Newcastle University. The event, ‘Paganism in Contemporary Britain’, was the first international academic conference on the subject of Pagan studies and they wanted a Pagan perspective on the environmental crisis. My presentation was called ‘Sacred Ecology’, and it led to me doing a PhD. ‘Sacred Ecology’ was subsequently pub...

In this episode, I’m privileged to speak with three Indigenous spiritual leaders. In the first interview I talk to two members of the Willkasara Medicine Family, who have been leading Plant Medicine Ceremonies and Retreats for 50 years. Wachan Bajiyoperak is from a lineage of Peruvian Medicine People. His partner Martika Gomez is a descendent of the Kogi people. They live with their daughter, Shiqwarkenty, in the Sacred Valley of the Inca in Peru. They work with powerful plants including Gran...

This is the third and final episode in a series where I explore embodiment with key thinkers in the field. In this episode, I speak to Lisa Blackman and Glen Mazis, two established and very embodied academics. Professor Lisa Blackman is a researcher in body studies, media, and cultural theory, with a particular interest in subjectivity and embodiment. Lisa is involved in mental health research and was one of the early pioneers of the Hearing Voices movement. Lisa was born with a rare conge...