The Power of Somatic Awareness in Herbalism
For the first few years of becoming an Herbalist, I spent a lot of time feeling inadequate. I faked it through parts of herb school, pretending to think in linear pathways, and to perceive herbs as bottles of phytochemistry, lacking in personality.
But my experience of herbs is so much more colourful than that.
They visit me in dreams, talk to me through song, move through me as if I were receiving body work.
For me, Herbalism has never been a linear experience. I rely equally on the wisdom of my body and my intuition while working with herbs as I do my mind and the knowledge I’ve acquired through years of dedicated study.
When I practiced Herbalism with solely a scientific lens, it felt void, hollow and I didn’t get the results that I knew were possible.
Over the years I’ve layered Somatic & Relational Therapy into my work, a body based modality that recognized the wisdom held in the body. This coming together of modalities has given me the tools I needed to create a practice that feels true to me, where mind, body and spirit could show up in the room and be equally held.
Below is a post I wrote for Instagram that I wanted to share here. Enjoy!
There was a time in Western culture where feelings were deemed unimportant. Emotional and body awareness was buried, caged, hidden. The mind lived on a pedistoole, along with science, logic, and linear pathways. A sanitized version of reality. Part of our humanity was erased. We detached from the grounded wisdom of our animal bodies.
People are becoming dissatisfied with this approach to health and healing. We are craving layers, texture, depth. We are craving the integration of mind, body and spirit. This is the magic of somatic awareness - body awareness, tuning into the language of the body.
Even in Herbalism, arguably one of the most Earthy modalities one could practice, somatic awareness is often lacking. There is so much pressure to validate herbalism that the magic, nuance and feeling tones are often lost, the esoteric insights and teachings of plants left behind.
Becoming somaticly aware means noticing how you feel, and making choices based on the wisdom of your body.
When it comes to herbalism, this looks like taking the time to notice how the herbs you’re taking feel in your body, and allowing this to inform the way that you work with them.
If an herb doesn’t feel right for you, you don’t have to take it. This is a practice of l-i-s-t-e-n-i-n-g, not to the books, not to other people, but to yourself. Your body. Your felt sense of what’s true for you.
Book learning is wonderful, but it’s only one part of the journey.
Tap in. Slow Down. Notice.
This is a commitment to trusting your capacity to feel and know beyond logic. The mind has its place in the world, but it’s only part of the equation. What does your body want to tell you? What does your heart know to be true?
