The term wild woman has become a bit of a fad in the feminine spiritual uprising. But today I’m speaking with a true wild woman. Miriam Lancewood spent six years in the New Zealand wilderness with her husband Peter, hiking, exploring, hunting, gathering and living out of a tent. Miriam is also the author of the book Woman in the Wilderness where she shares the tales of her epic six year untangling. As you’ll hear, Miriam has no phone or laptop, so I consider myself pretty fortunate to speak with her and bring this interview to you.    RESOURCES MENTIONED +  Woman in the Wilderness, Miriam Lancewood   CONNECT WITH MIRIAM LANCEWOOD + Website: miriamlancewood.wordpress.com   OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS PODCAST + Listen on Apple Podcasts+ Listen on Spotify + Listen on Stitcher Radio  CONTRIBUTE TO THE CREATION OF UNTANGLED If my show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it is with humble gratitude that I ask for your support through a small financial contribution. Each Untangled episode takes me about three days in total to produce. There is also a monthly outlay for hosting and software expenses. I am a one-woman show and I do and pay for everything myself. From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.

023: I'm a wild woman living in the wilderness – Miriam Lancewood

Have you ever asked: “Is this all there is to life?” Untangled explores the lives of people who have questioned our social systems, constructs and norms and chosen to live life in a different, often unconventional way. Through honest storytelling, Untangled explores one focal question: what does it really take to untangle from society’s giant rule book, move away from the mundane and embark on a search for something more? Join host Alana Helbig as she interviews ordinary people about their choice to live not-so-ordinary lives, touching on topics such as slow and simple living, alternatives to the 9-5, sustainability, solo travel, activism, lesbianism, feminism and patriarchy, indigenous cultures, spirituality, financial security and more. These are captivating stories where we ask intimate questions about people's lives before, during and after their untangling. We look at the how, the why and the internal and external shifts required to live an untangled life.

Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Documentary

Claire Dunn says her work as an environmental campaigner left her burnt out and disillusioned about humans relationship with the natural world. So she quit her job, left her partner of 5 years and her house by the ocean, extracting herself from modern life to live in the Australian bush. While Claire learnt many skills to live off the land, built a shelter with her bare hands, navigated encounters with the wild creatures of the forest, I think what touched me most was Claire’s internal journey. Claire says she was addicted to achieving, doing, striving and proving her worth and it was the forest that brought her back into the flow of her feminine. Claire eventually realised she was not there to just learn skills or to slow down – although that was part of it – but she was there to learn how to be a woman again. Claire’s book “My Year Without Matches: Escaping the City in search of the Wild”, is her memoir of this year-long forest retreat.   RESOURCES MENTIONED + My Year Without Matches: escaping the city in search of the wild, Claire Dunn   CONNECT WITH CLAIRE + Website: naturesapprentice.com.au + Facebook: /natures-apprentice   OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS PODCAST + Listen on Apple Podcasts+ Listen on Spotify + Listen on Stitcher Radio + Subscribe by email to get untangling stories delivered straight to your inbox   CONTRIBUTE TO THE CREATION OF UNTANGLED If my show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it is with humble gratitude that I ask for your support through a small financial contribution. Each Untangled episode takes me about three days in total to produce. There is also a monthly outlay for hosting and software expenses. I am a one-woman show and I do and pay for everything myself. From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.

030: Escaping the city in search of the wild, with Claire Dunn

Terra Roam describes herself as a roamer, a traveller, a vagabond. For the last 30 years, Terra has trekked, sailed, snowshoed, skied, kayaked, cycled, hitch hiked, volunteered and worked through the most beautiful, dangerous and isolated parts of the world. Most recently she completed a 17,000km walk around Australia – being the first woman to do this alone and unaccompanied – raising awareness for mental health and suicide prevention, a cause that has personally impacted Terra in her own life. Throughout her pursuit of freedom, minimalism and discovery, Terra has embarked on a long journey of self-exploration, immersed herself in the healing qualities of nature and unlocked the power of the heart and mind to achieve her wildest dreams. A heads up: this story touches on suicide and sexual abuse, so please listen with care if you feel this may impact you.   RESOURCES MENTIONED + Sorrel Wilby + Tracks, Robyn Davidson + Wild, Cheryl Strayed   CONNECT WITH TERRA + Website: terraroams.earth + Blog: terraroamsearth.wordpress.com + Instagram: @terraroams + Facebook: /terraroam   OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS PODCAST + Listen on Apple Podcasts+ Listen on Spotify + Listen on Stitcher Radio + Subscribe by email to get untangling stories delivered straight to your inbox   CONTRIBUTE TO THE CREATION OF UNTANGLED If my show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it is with humble gratitude that I ask for your support through a small financial contribution. Each Untangled episode takes me about three days in total to produce. There is also a monthly outlay for hosting and software expenses. I am a one-woman show and I do and pay for everything myself. From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.

029: I'm a roamer, a traveller, a vagabond: Terra Roam's 30 years of solo adventure

Kate Nelson has been disposable plastic free for 10 years. You might also know Kate as the sparkly, magical Plastic Free Mermaid. Kate says she first learnt the damage plastic was doing to our marine eco-systems when she volunteered at the Ocean Futures Society. She learnt that plastics do not break down but rather break up into tiny microscopic toxic pieces which are then consumed by marine life and make their way up the food chain. Shocked and horrified by what she was learning, Kate has been advocating for and creating a plastic free revolution ever since. This is Kate’s story.    RESOURCES MENTIONED + Mermaid Retreats + Ocean Futures Society   CONNECT WITH KATE + Website: iquitplastics.com + Instagram: @plasticfreemermaid + Facebook: /plasticfreemermaid   OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS PODCAST + Listen on Apple Podcasts+ Listen on Spotify + Listen on Stitcher Radio + Subscribe by email to get untangling stories delivered straight to your inbox   CONTRIBUTE TO THE CREATION OF UNTANGLED If my show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it is with humble gratitude that I ask for your support through a small financial contribution. Each Untangled episode takes me about three days in total to produce. There is also a monthly outlay for hosting and software expenses. I am a one-woman show and I do and pay for everything myself. From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.

028: I quit plastics, with Kate Nelson the Plastic Free Mermaid

What would you do if your child told you they didn’t like school? What if they preferred to stay at home with you rather than go to the school ground? Most of us, I reckon, would explain that this is just the way life is and that everyone has to go to school. But not Susanne Kolff. When her daughter began to struggle at school, it prompted a change in the way Susanne looked at life. Taking the kids to school, going to work, rinse and repeat, day in and day out. Susanne began to ask herself: What is this life? Who tells me we have to live this way? Why do we live like this? Fast forward to today, Susanne, her husband and three young children now live a simple life in amongst a Bulgarian apple orchard, in a Mongolian yurt . And what about school? Susanne and her husband are unschooling their children or as Susanne calls it ‘life education’ – informal education where her children are encouraged to learn from their life experiences. This is Susanne Kolff’s untangling story.   CONNECT WITH SUSANNE  + Instagram: @kidsoffthegrid   OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS PODCAST + Listen on Apple Podcasts+ Listen on Spotify + Listen on Stitcher Radio + Subscribe by email to get untangling stories delivered straight to your inbox   CONTRIBUTE TO THE CREATION OF UNTANGLED If my show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it is with humble gratitude that I ask for your support through a small financial contribution. Each Untangled episode takes me about three days in total to produce. There is also a monthly outlay for hosting and software expenses. I am a one-woman show and I do and pay for everything myself. From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.

027: From The Netherlands to Bulgaria, from a house to a Mongolian yurt, from the schooling system to life education, with Susanne Kolff

Jordan Osmond became obsessed with documentaries in his late teens, struck by how they were having an impact on the world and how he lived his life. Wanting to create that same positive impact in the lives of others, yet not wanting to take on the exorbitant student loans of university, Jardan opted to teach himself how to use a camera and shoot stories by watching tutorials on YouTube. In 2015, with a small group of nine other people, Jordan moved onto a 20-acre property in Gippsland where he lived for a year documenting simple living, permaculture and natural building as a way to reduce our ecological footprint. The result was the feature-length documentary A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity. This project set Jordan’s documentary career in motion. Over the last two years, Jordan has travelled New Zealand with his partner and fellow filmmaker Antoinette Wilson, creating their latest documentary Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future. Spattered in amongst Jordan’s passion for sharing stories of simpler living, we also explore the crises facing our world today, why it’s important we share positive stories of change and how our reconnection to nature is essential to the healing of our planet.   RESOURCES MENTIONED + A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity + Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future + Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine + Robert Kenner’s Food Inc + Charles Eisenstein + The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, Charles Eisenstein + The Ascent of Humanity, Charles Eisenstein   CONNECT WITH JORDAN + Website: happenfilms.com | livingthechangefilm.com + YouTube: Happen Films + Instagram: @jordosmond + Twitter: @happenfilms + Facebook: /happenfilms   OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THIS PODCAST + Listen on Apple Podcasts+ Listen on Spotify + Listen on Stitcher Radio + Subscribe by email to get untangling stories delivered straight to your inbox   CONTRIBUTE TO THE CREATION OF UNTANGLED If my show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it is with humble gratitude that I ask for your support through a small financial contribution. Each Untangled episode takes me about three days in total to produce. There is also a monthly outlay for hosting and software expenses. I am a one-woman show and I do and pay for everything myself. From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.

023: I'm a wild woman living in the wilderness – Miriam Lancewood

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