Can encounters with the wild heal us? Can trauma yield discoveries that are beautiful and expansive? I talk to a psychotherapist and two licensed falconers about the surprising connections between traumatic experiences and the art of falconry. It turns out that training birds might be a little-known secret to healing. And (spoiler alert), to test out the theory, I learn to fly a hawk myself.

Guests: Rodney Stotts - Falconer, Rodney's Raptors

Dr. Kathlyn Conway - Psychotherapist and writer, Beyond Words: Illness and the Limits of Expression

Jamie Stride - Falconer, Island Falconry Services

I also discuss the work of Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk and his seminal book The Body Keeps the Score and Helen MacDonald's bestselling memoir H is for Hawk.

www.carmelmikol.com/hyacinth-podcast

Topics: falconry, trauma, dissociation, therapy, birds of prey, hawks, falcons, falconer, healing, PTSD