What science is beginning to understand is something that healers and mystics have long intuited and practiced. It is this: we are nature and live in a sentient world.
Intuitive herbalism is the practice of slowing down and listening to a plant with all of our five senses and being with what comes up as a reflection of our inner and subconscious worlds. Plants are wonderfully uninterested in human feelings. Which make them the truest mirror, to see within ourselves. This body-based, limbic brain approach to meeting a plant connects us to our animal bodies and sensual nature, revealing both the shadow and light qualities that make us utterly and remarkably human.
When asked why I offer the work I do, Anaïs Nin’s words came swimming into my head. ‘We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.’
We have cultivated a singular intelligence in the form of thought - our mental capacities.
Feeling and intuition, the second kind of intelligence, having been reviled and at best, forgotten. The Feminine in both these ways of being in and with the world have long been suppressed and banished and is now asking to be reclaimed.
How we unconsciously see the world shapes the storyline of our lives and the agency we perceive in how we affect it too. Our wounds protecting us from further hurt, shields us in habits that narrow vision. This reflects in a brittleness that reflects how we perceive, and respond to the world. One being the mirror of the other. Seeing things ‘as we are’ with the first kind of intelligence, of only our mental capacities, has meant that we walk with the forgetting.
Coming into balance with ourselves asks us to practice being with our ever-crumbling intelligent bodies and the Earth, in a lemniscate, an infinity loop, where the inside mirrors the outside. In remembering connection to intuition, what is beneath the conscious mind, the second kind of intelligence that Nin describes, rituals have been my bridge. Seasonal rituals of foraging and brewing a tea , infusing an oil with medicinal autumnal flowers, and growing some of the herbs I've worked with, connects the seemingly mundane with the mystical. Drawing on the disciplines of gardening, listening to plants and the intelligence of the human nervous system, creates a place of deep listening.
Who am I and why did I come to this work?
Over a decade ago I trained and practised growing food as a bio-dynamic gardener. Learning to follow the lunar cycle to plant, tend and harvest herbs, fruit and vegetables opened me up to syncing with the cycles of the cosmos. I deepened my ability to listen by working with kinesiology to 'talk' to the plants. Co-creating with the spirits of both the plants and the land, helped me steward the gardens I tended. And allowed access to my own inner cosmos and rhythms.
Four years ago, I began listening to plants as a student of the School of Intuitive Herbalism. This time, deepening my connection to the universe contained within my skin as I met a range of herbs local to the place I call home, in semi-tropical Goa. I've been learning to meet myself by listening to the reflection and mirroring that the incredibly sentient world of plants has to share with us. If only we pause long enough to listen to our bodies and by extention the Earth.
How do you know if you are the right fit for Intuitive Herbalist sessions?
If you find yourself transitioning in any area of your life, business or creative practice working with the plants and your own inner knowing could be a pathway (one of many) to cultivating that insight.
Transitions can be times of regeneration. If we allow the churn, the crumbling and the depth of silence that accompany them, to throw up possibilities that the normal cadences of lived responsibilities hide from our view, without letting the overwhelm shut us down. I have found that connecting to oneself to be with what is, and allowing it to unfold with support creates an environment conducive to life's challenges. A conversation that includes the plants, create the space that you need to listen deeply to yourself, accompanied and witnessed by both the human and more-than human world. In intentionally creating the space for accompanied reflection and fierce compassion I hope that you will meet both the shadow and the light within you, to listen for your internal truth meter.
In a crisis-filled world, tapping into our ancient intelligence, both body and land, is a feminine practice that we needs practiced remembering.
How will the plants speak to me?
Each session looks different for each individual. The plants 'speak' to us through sensations, colours, textures, images and emotions. We listen and translate its meaning through the fog of language and our own conditioning, perspectives and shadows. You are the expert on your own life. The depth and meaning that these journeys take, are described by how deeply you are able to travel within. If you'd like to explore this somatic-plant world connection, I'd be delighted to walk the landscape with you...
How do 1:1 sessions work?
The invitation is to cultivate a deeper understanding of You, in the safety of the space that I create, as witnessed by the chosen plant. In this case, Rose. We sip a warm infusion of Organic Kashmir Rose Water allowing it to take us on a journey. Which is a ritual that can be practiced to meet yourself, thereafter, often.
How often do we meet?
Three 1:1 accompanied sessions, 1.5 hours each, spaced three weeks apart.
How do we meet? In-person in Goa or online.
The Exchange? A sliding scale contribution of INR 2500 - 3500/- per session
How does a group session work?
They are similar in tenor to the 1:1 session. Tailored to the group and what Rose asks to invite into the room. No small - group session is the same and can be curated for 5-13 people. Email me at quillandfern@gmail.com to chat, if a small-group session calls to you.
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The piece below was written, having listened to the Mangroves in the backwaters close to home...
On reaching for Courage: A Lesson by Mangrove
Both came from the watery darkness.
Courage and the wee-one.
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When I first dove to meet your roots, waves of claustrophobia took a hold of me as the brackish water and fine mud closed over my head. I was meditating with a piece of Mangrove-root held in my hand. The darkness was suffocating.
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Sitting on the kayak balancing the oar as I held onto you - a low hanging branch grazing the water, I noticed how little I had thought of your roots. That is where the invitation to go to kept coming from…
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Fear was in the air. And pain. And euphoria. In taut cycles. There was only one way out. We had to move through it. That was the only way this baby was arriving, earth-side.
Both came from tending liminal spaces: birth-portal. Fear of darkness.
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Seated behind her on my toes, my knees touch the curves of the ceramic tub. I loop my forearms under hers and then again to support her head. Wave after wave of contraction came. Wave after wave of fear and pain. And euphoria.
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Miles of tangled root lay beneath my bobbing kayak. Clear as mud. I had only to stop being seduced by the fresh green leaves under a blue tropical winter sky, to reach for Courage.
Testimonials
Nomita led me through a meditation and healing session with the spirit of Rose, a plant I have had a long association with although I did not know it.
Our session felt very deeply peaceful. I felt my heart opening to receive the blessings of Rose.
My session with Nomita led me to an acknowledgement of grief that has been held in my body for forty years. It eased some physical symptoms and brought an awareness which helps me every day, as I continue the process of acceptance and healing. We followed up the meditation with a beautiful ritual which continues to give me comfort and joy.
~ M, Goa
1:1 Sessions
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This was my first experience with Somatic Plant healing and it definitely exceeded any expectations I had. It was a deep and revealing experience, a lot was met and released and it stayed with me for days after. I'd also say that the way Nomita guided us through meeting and interacting with Rose was equally important. I've always used essential oils and herbs for healing and calming, but this was something else altogether. With the way Nomita designed the workshop, I was able to meet Rose very deeply and have it show me so much. I was able to see, feel and integrate deep-seated grief from my childhood, certain things I probably didn't have enough support to heal all by myself before, but with Rose and Nomita holding a very nurturing protective, safe space, it was safe to be released. I'm also an artist and ever since I began a more inward journey, my art has come to me in visions and intuitions and I saw how Rose came through so beautifully on the canvas. It was truly alive in me. I see that being a fully expressed leader means healing these wounds, otherwise you're leading from the unhealed child, ever so often, and not from love, compassion or even your Divine power.
~ Anushya, Bangalore
Workshop attendee
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I felt a lightness, a weight lifted off my shoulders. As I went deeper into the experience, I felt this sense of infinite possibilities ahead! It maybe, gave me some confidence.
~ Manisha, Bangalore
Workshop attendee