The Mother Tree

Micah Mortali, author of Rewilding: Meditations, Practices, and Skills for Awakening in Nature, gives background on the rewilding movement, the effects of nature divorcement, and one accessible way you can start healing nature deficit disorder through mindfulness in the great outdoors. We also discuss how to "rewild" through the practice of ancestral skills, especially those within our lineages who lived in close relationship with the land, and the benefits to humans to rewild in this way. 

Our conversation covers: 

• An introduction to the two forms of rewilding 
• The benefits of human rewilding personally and for our planet
• Rewilding as a movement to bond with Nature through connection and love
• Research on the detrimental effects of nature divorcement, including concepts like "nature deficit disorder", "place-blindness", "species loneliness", and the "green wall"
• Research on forest bathing and its effects on human immune function
• How to reverse the detrimental effects of disconnection from nature and/or to start the rewilding process 
• Micah's go-to practice for accessible rewilding 
• An introduction to the concept of ancestral skills 
• The importance of embodiment to accessing Nature-centered inner wisdom
• How disconnection from Nature has dulled our senses
• Ancestral skills as a form of meditation
• Why this form of meditation is perfect for mothers and others with no time to sit quietly
• Why connecting with your own ancestral lineage is important when honoring the land you are rewilding with
• The human benefits of rewilding through the practice of ancestral skills

Micah Mortali is the author of “Rewilding: Meditations, Practices and Skills for Awakening in Nature”, published by Sounds True. His life’s work is reconnecting modern people with the restorative powers of nature through mindfulness in the great outdoors. Micah is the founder of the groundbreaking Kripalu School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership at the renowned Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Micah is also a 500-hour Kripalu Yoga Teacher, a Level 2 Mindful Outdoor Guide and is wilderness first aid certified. He has studied with Tom Brown Jr. at the legendary Tracker School in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, and holds a Master’s Degree in Health Arts and Sciences from Goddard College. Micah leads trainings, corporate events, wilderness retreats and seminars on rewilding and mindful outdoor leadership at Kripalu and across New England. He lives in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts with his family.

More information:

Visit Micah's personal website to learn about his work and upcoming retreats and trainings

Learn more about Kripalu's school of mindful outdoor leadership

Connect with Micah on Instagram

Research article on forest bathing's effects on the human immune system

Rachael Hägglund, a medicine woman who specializes in supporting pregnant and new parents through healing ceremony, shares the transformative power of her personal motherhood rite-of-passage and how she became a protector of lineage. She shares the importance of discerning cultural theft in the wellness industry, and through doing so, reclaiming our birthright of belonging in the natural world. 

Our conversation explores: 

• how matrescence, the transition into mothering, transformed her life and work
• why her children are her greatest healers and teachers, and why she doesn't identify as a mother
• how each of her births and perinatal periods opened her to greater consciousness and healing capacities
• why she became such a fierce defender of lineage after losing her own, and
• the necessity of reckoning with your ancestors to establish relationship with ancestors of land
• responsible ways to seek wisdom from outside lineages with discernment
• what happens to medicine when it's whitewashed through cultural appropriation
• our responsibility as practitioners and as seekers (and both) to challenge the status quo of commodification of the sacred
• how to be in discernment by looking at a practitioners relationship with the medicine
• healing intergenerational trauma by challenging entitlement to what we "want" in healing
• unlearning we can own teachings, lineage, the world and moving towards a grounded relationship with lineage
• how Rachael works with clients to come into communication with their ancestors and the spirits of  Nature
• leaving a family legacy of rich connection with ourselves as Nature, reclaiming our birthright of belonging in the natural world 

Rachael is a medicine woman upholding and protecting sacred lineages and healing traditions. She is a Mesa Carrier and has been initiated into the lineage of the Q'ero Paqo and shaman Don Alejandro Apaza. Her introduction to the healing arts began as a child when her family lived at the Satchidananda Ashram where she was given the name Rashmi, which means Divine Light, by Swami Satchidananda. As a teenager, she trained as a yoga instructor with Vimala Fields and later in her twenties, she served as a birth doula. She claims her place as a birth keeper in the community, protecting the sacred rite for families through supporting pregnant and new parents in her healing practice. Her work weaves her own intuitive wisdom and the earth-based teachings of the Q’ero to create offerings that are rich in womb healing, ancestral mending and healing through reconnecting to the rhythms of nature. She also loves self-studying herbalism and wild crafting plant remedies. Rachael is the mother of two children and along with her husband, Mattias, loves parenting from the heart and supporting their children's rich connection with Mother Nature. Her own births were wild initiations and she views her children as her greatest healers and teachers. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Virginia Commonwealth University.


More information:

Visit Rachael's website to learn more about her and explore her offerings

Connect with Rachael on Instagram and follow The Medicine Path on Instagram

Rachael is offering 15% off a 60 or 90 minute Healing Ceremony for listeners with code MOTHERING15  valid through Dec 31 2021

Connect with Allison on Instagram

Visit Allison's website

Chelsie Washington of Weird Mom Podcast, shares how she embraces her quirks, her idiosyncrasies, and her "weird" as guidance for creating a philosophy and practice of mother work that feels empowering. 

Our conversation covers: 

• Chelsie's mothering philosophy
• How her community supported her matrescence, or transition into motherhood
• The grief she worked with as a new mother and wrote about in Motherly
• How she encourages critical thinking with her son through her mothering style
• How she centers herself in her life separate from her roles to others
• Why she started Weird Mom podcast and how she sees it serving the mothering community

After a couple of years of admiring other podcasts, Chelsie Washington finally decided to take a chance and make her own. In the middle of the night one day at the beginning of the pandemic, Weird Mom Podcast was born out of the desire to shed light on the little known things people just don't normally talk about when it comes to parenting. Outside of hosting and producing her own podcast, Chelsie is a wife to her high school sweetheart and mother to one fun, four-year-old boy. Even though she holds those roles while also working a full-time job, Chelsie still manages to find time during the week to enjoy her rekindled love of rollerskating.

More information:

Visit Chelsie's website to learn more about Weird Mom Podcast

Connect with Chelsie on Instagram

Liz Hummer, holistic psychotherapist and intuitive guide, shares her personal exploration of her motherline after the birth of her son. 

Our conversation covers:

• an introduction to her understanding of the motherline
• how the motherline helped her reframe the initial burden of motherhood and shift her personal struggle with anxiety
• the tools she used to explore her motherline
• the familial lore and wisdom she uncovered through her exploration
• how connecting with her pre-Christian roots helped her find a greater sense of belonging
• how her indigenous roots helped connect her with ancestors of the land in a new way
• and how the motherline can help us understand and address personal and collective intergenerational trauma
• how the motherline concept helped her in her mothering of herself and others
• why the motherline is relevant to all people (hint: we're all born of mothers)
• how the motherline can be a portal for spiritual awakening and growth
• how she works with the motherline concept in her private practice
• the free e-book she developed for you to explore your motherground, or map the landscape of your motherline through journaling

Liz Hummer is a holistic therapist and intuitive guide for the parenthood journey who weaves the mystical back into mental health. With her therapy practice, Wild Awaken, she grounds inclusive spiritual practices and ancient wisdom in the latest science of neurobiology, epigenetics and inherited trauma to help parents heal generational wounds and claim their unique soul-aligned lives for themselves, their families and our world. As a mama herself to a 3-year-old spirited old soul, Liz believes awakening to what we carry, what we can let go, what we can reclaim, and what we want to pass down can free us to live with intention, expand our souls, and nurture a healthier reality for our next generation. She lives in a small mountain town in the Pacific Northwest, ancestral lands of the Klickitat people, with her partner, son, wise old dog and three wacky alpacas.

More information:

Connect with Liz through her intuitive guidance practice Wild Awaken

Follow Liz on Instagram and Facebook

Resmaa Menakem's book My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

Tami Lynn Kent's book Mothering From Your Center: Tapping Your Body's Natural Energy for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting

Johanna Lynn draws on epigenetics to explain how your family stories are your stories – in every way our ancestors live on within you. The challenges you face and the gifts you have in life are not yours alone, they are shared across multiple generations.

We discuss what she calls emotional inheritance and how we can shift how we hold that past within us. Epigenetics shows us that our ancestors are a part of our wilderness that we can remember and explore as a path towards greater wellness, shifting from one of separation to one of wholeness.

Our conversation covers:

• an introduction to epigenetics
• how our ancestor's life experience affects our own through our DNA
• how we can shift painful patterns explore mysterious and stubborn symptoms
• the ways we are resourced by our families histories
• how our children can guide us towards what is unresolved in our family lineages
• how ancestors of place, or our mother lands, are a part of our family systems too 
• and how we can forge a creative belonging by taking into account our whole selves 

Joanna Lynn is a clinical therapist focusing on epigenetics or how our family story is our personal story and the way that it lives on within us. As she says, science tells us that our biography becomes our biology. She works with clinicians and coaches to integrate the wisdom of epigenetics and sees clients in her international practice so you can work with her individually or as a family to shift painful patterns, or to explore mysterious and stubborn symptoms.

More information:

Book a session with Johanna

Connect with Johanna through her website

Hear more from Johanna on other podcasts episodes

Paper on the role of epigenetics in mental health

Rachel Roberts helps us reclaim the mother-centered wisdom of "matrescence" (Dr. Aurelie Athan), a word that represents a mother's developmental rite-of-passage into mothering. 

We discuss how a concept like matrescence, the developmental transition of motherhood, can help mothers shift through this rite-of-passage with greater grace, humor, and even ease... because knowing the process of becoming a mother can illuminate a path towards the creation and integration of oneself as Mother.

Our conversation covers: 

• the term's history and progression in motherhood studies led by Dr. Aurelie Athan of Columbia Teacher's College
• a definition of the term from a mother and professional standpoint
• what the process looks like for many mothers
• patterns and themes in the process for mothers
• opportunities within this period of change

Rachel Roberts is a Family and Relationship Mentor, a certified Soul Modes Mentor, and accredited Mama Rising Facilitator. She works directly with individuals, couples, and families, with a focus on self-discovery, relational patterns, anger management, and translating the masculine and feminine for more loving, meaningful connections. She's also well versed in typing frameworks (including the Enneagram) and archetypal exploration and will meet you exactly where you are in your journey to discover What Your Soul Holds (WYSH).

More information: 

Get in touch with Rachel Roberts of What Your Soul Holds

Connect with Rachel on Facebook and Instagram

Dr. Aurelie Athan's website, expert on matrescence as a developmental period

What kind of mother do you want to become? How does that differ from mainstream motherhood norms? How can we challenge the norms that contribute to mothers feeling lost, isolated, and alone? How can we reenvision mothering to help mothers feel rooted, connected, and revitalized? How can we extend mother work to include ourselves, our communities, and even our planet!?

Welcome to Mother Praxis, a podcast for mothers challenging norms and reenvisioning motherhood for themselves, their families, and our planet. 

I’m Dr. Allison Davis, a counselor, educator, and researcher of perinatal and maternal mental health and a mother walking this path with you. Join me in this second season to explore mothering theory/practice that includes mother work that nurtures personal and planetary wellness by protecting the knowledge and resources that sustain all life on our planet.