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[Lecturer] Hello, everyone,

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and welcome to the final lecture

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in the final module,

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which is about the role
that herbalism can play

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in nourishing transformations

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at both individual collective
and planetary levels,

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and, ultimately, seed and guide

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and nurture our collective liberation.

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And we've talked about community herbalism

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and the role it can play

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in supporting sustainable, resilient,

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and healthy communities,

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and really an opportunity for
communities and individuals

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thriving in the presence of accessible,

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local, vibrant, plant-based medicine.

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And this is a vision and it's
a partially manifested vision

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in many communities.

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But part of what I
wanna talk about is why,

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and really deepening our understanding

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of how community herbalism
can nourish the transformation

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that many of us would like to see

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in our bodies and in our communities,

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and also offer some
strategies to achieve this.

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So a couple of questions that
I'd love for you to reflect on

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in a free write before you
proceed in this lecture are,

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first, given your
experiences in this class

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and in your life so far,

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how are these two questions related?

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First, what transformations are needed

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to advance herbal medicine?

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And you could consider the
Burlington, Vermont community

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or your own community.

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Second, how can personal
wellness contribute

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to effective community action and change?

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So answer these two
questions independently,

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and then explore the
interrelationship between them.

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And when you've recorded
some of your thoughts

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in your journal or on
a piece of scrap paper,

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proceed to the next slide.

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So I wanna spend some time
talking about visioning

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as an important part of any
transformational change process.

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This is an image of
the Railyard Apothecary

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when it was being renovated and converted

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into the current space
arrangement that it is now.

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And Yogi Berra is quoted as saying,

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"If you don't know where you're going,

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you'll end up somewhere else."

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And visioning is a part of community

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and social change processes
that often is left out

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or swept to the side and not
enough time is spent on there.

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So I want to guide you
through a visioning activity.

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And before the time of
COVID in this class,

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this would be a group activity

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where students would shift
out of their rational brains

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and shift more into their
intuitive and spatial brains

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and use drawing as a way to explore this.

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So it isn't about being a skilled artist,

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but using your hands to draw something

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initiates different thinking
pathways in the brain

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than thinking verbally or in writing.

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So this was an activity we did as a class.

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And it was really an exploration of,

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what's our current baseline?

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What is the community herbalism system

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in our community right now,
what does this look like?

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And this would be one thinking activity.

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And then students would switch

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and explore 50 years from now,

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how would you like it to change?

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What would you like it
to look like in 50 years?

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What is the vision for a
community herbalism system

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that you would like to see?

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'Cause 50 years is a
significant amount of time.

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It's not a lot of time,

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it's enough to be able to imagine,

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but what could that look like?

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And then of course the
most important piece

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is not what happens in 50 years
or what it looks like now,

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but what happens in between.

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So we would add a piece of paper

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in the middle of both of these drawings

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and ask students to consider
what are some first steps

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to point us in this desired direction.

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And so this is where I
want your thinking to lie.

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And as you prepare to
write your final paper,

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this is also gonna be a part
of the prompt for that paper.

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So given that, when we're
thinking about organizing,

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it can be helpful to have frameworks.

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So I've already talked
about the sustainable food

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or sustainable health systems framework

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and particularly supply chain components.

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So take a minute to practice
on your scrap paper again,

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what are examples of community
herbalism initiatives

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in each category of the supply chain?

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So what are some examples
where herbal medicines

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are being grown in the
Burlington community

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or in your own communities?

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What are examples where education
and marketing is available

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so that consumers can be aware

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of the benefits of these remedies.

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And what are opportunities, challenges,

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to that transformation to creating those,

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to growing them, and where are the gaps?

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So take a moment to do what's
called a SWOT analysis,

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a strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats,

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for the community that you are
considering in this activity

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and perhaps in your final paper.

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And the yin and yang
model has come up a lot

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because it is an ancient symbol

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for balance and health and wellbeing

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and has relevance for topics

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such as community
transformation and change.

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So I shared already
that the yin yang model

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mirrors community change processes

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or individual change processes

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in the way that planning
is an important part of it,

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action is an important part of it,

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but also nourishment and visioning

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is an important part of it.

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And just as Brendan Kelly
described how our bodies tend to,

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our bodies and the way we spend our energy

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tends to overemphasize
yang action activities

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and underemphasize yin
nourishment activities,

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I also find this in
community change processes.

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And a lot of this teaching

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comes from my experience as an activist,

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but also teaching a class.

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I taught a class cross-listed
between education,

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community development, and public health

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and natural resources for about six years

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at the University of Vermont.

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And it was a project-based
class in research methods

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for community change

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and really looking at
collaborative change models

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within communities between
universities and nonprofit

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or community-based organizations.

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So this is where a lot of
my insights are coming from

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as far as the imbalance of efforts

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in community organizing that I observed.

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And then of course we
know the yin yang model

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represents balance in the seasons,

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and we can leverage the seasons

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as models for health and wellbeing

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in a social change process.

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So if you think about
a social change process

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and to what extent you
can mirror the the seasons

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in the process, winter
when things slow down,

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particularly in a temperate
region such as Vermont,

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is a great time to be doing
the rest and the nourishment

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and the reflection and the
evaluation of what works

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and coming up with new visions,

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whereas spring and
summer can be great times

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for gathering people, doing
the planning, doing the events.

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And there's a natural
rhythm of the seasons.

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There's also a natural
rhythm of every moon cycle

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that can support or thwart
those sorts of activities,

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and this can be a way to align
your community organizing

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with the rhythm of the
seasons for greater effect.

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And this also relates to our bodies

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in the Chinese model of yin and yang.

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It doesn't just relate to external actions

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or external balance or imbalance,

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it also relates to internal imbalance.

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So if you find as a community
change maker in your process

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that you are struggling
to nourish oneself,

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the organ system to look at

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are the spleen and the
stomach for nourishment,

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that's the earth,

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or the adrenals, the
kidneys and the lungs.

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So the adrenals are about
energy and appropriate rest

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and the lungs are about grief.

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And sometimes grief is
what is holding us back

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from having the energy to move forward.

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Conversely, the liver
and the liver system,

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liver and gallbladder,

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is the wood element
associated with spring,

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and that's really necessary for
channeling that deep knowing

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that comes to us from the
water element from the winter

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into the manifestation
of the heart, the fire,

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the action, time of a process.

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And if we're finding that we are hung up

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on being perfectionists
about how the process goes

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or we're really focused
on analyzing the process

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but not actually taking action,

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those can all be signs of what
are called a wood imbalance.

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And so supporting the
liver and gallbladder

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with bitter herbs can
be an effective strategy

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for you as an individual.

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Or if it's a pattern in the
team having conversations

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about what's holding us back,

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do we not have enough of a plan

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or do we have too much of
a plan that's stifling?

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And bringing us back to other
symbols around the world.

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The Maiden, Mother, Crone comes to us

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from the goddess religions.

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This is a Celtic medallion
that depicts the rhythm

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of a woman's lifecycle,

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but also mirroring the
seasons and this process

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of planning, manifesting,
and nourishing and visioning

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as it relates to the cycle of the moon

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and the cycle of a human's lifetime.

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So speaking specifically
about the first question,

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what transformations are needed
to advance herbal medicine

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in the Burlington, Vermont
community or your own?

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I'm gonna share some specific examples,

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and specifically, strategies
because I feel that this class

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has shared a number of
examples and struggles

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and celebrated different
aspects of what's happening

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in the Burlington community,

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at least ones that myself

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and the guest lecturers are connected to.

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But I wanna talk a little
bit about strategy.

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So before I speak to it,

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you may already know what
works as an effective strategy

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for community, individual
or institutional change.

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So for this, I want you to, again,

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take out a piece of scrap
paper, your journal,

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and think about a time where you observed

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or participated in what seemed
like an effective strategy

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for a community initiative.

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And this could be at any scale,

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but ideally larger than your own family.

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And describe that strategy.

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What were some of the elements

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that stood out to you as effective

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and how might that be
extrapolated or generalized

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to other community change efforts

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that you or others might participate in?

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So take a moment to write about that

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before you advance to
the rest of the video.

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So one of my favorite
theories of transformation,

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and again, this came about
a decade into my work

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as a social activist, both
being an activist myself,

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but also teaching community change

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and democratic
participation in citizenship

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at the University of Vermont.

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And this is the four Rs,

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this was one of your
readings for this week,

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and it's a theory of
community transformation.

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And basically, it breaks it
down into four approaches

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to community transformation.

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One, and I'm gonna start in
the bottom right, resistance.

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So this is where protests
raising awareness

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of what's not working
to essentially resist

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and criticize the current system.

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This is an important part
for raising awareness

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of where systems aren't working

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so that we can move into other
aspects of the change cycle.

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There's also the reform.

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So I'm going sort of counterclockwise.

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So reform is working
within the current system.

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And I would see this if
you're thinking about

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food justice and food sovereignty.

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Food reform is the role that
many food shelves are playing

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to work within the current system

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to redistribute food
to those that need it.

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And this is a really important strategy

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as larger transitional
processes are happening

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00:12:49,093 --> 00:12:53,670
because in the case of food
and hunger and food security,

260
00:12:53,670 --> 00:12:54,750
people are hungry now.

261
00:12:54,750 --> 00:12:57,711
So even though the system is imperfect,

262
00:12:57,711 --> 00:13:02,633
these reform strategies
allow for a certain ease

263
00:13:02,633 --> 00:13:07,633
for those most affected by
inequities in our current system.

264
00:13:08,245 --> 00:13:11,370
And so the important thing to realize here

265
00:13:11,370 --> 00:13:13,170
is that we need all four.

266
00:13:13,170 --> 00:13:16,582
So resistance and reform is
just part of a larger whole

267
00:13:16,582 --> 00:13:19,923
of what it takes to create
transformation in the community.

268
00:13:20,820 --> 00:13:22,950
We also, in the next quadrant,

269
00:13:22,950 --> 00:13:24,759
have conceptualizing new systems,

270
00:13:24,759 --> 00:13:27,493
re-imagining envisioning new systems.

271
00:13:27,493 --> 00:13:30,163
And this is where our
artists and activists

272
00:13:30,163 --> 00:13:33,267
and creative thinkers

273
00:13:33,267 --> 00:13:35,823
are really important for
thinking conceptually

274
00:13:35,823 --> 00:13:37,830
about what might be possible

275
00:13:37,830 --> 00:13:40,775
and how we can transform the
system to be more equitable.

276
00:13:40,775 --> 00:13:42,688
And it may be completely different

277
00:13:42,688 --> 00:13:45,630
and should be, in many
places, completely different

278
00:13:45,630 --> 00:13:49,560
than the current system, the status quo.

279
00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:51,385
And then the last quadrant is recreating.

280
00:13:51,385 --> 00:13:54,300
So this is the actual action,

281
00:13:54,300 --> 00:13:57,600
putting our hands to the
ground, to the tools,

282
00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,751
to actually generate these new systems

283
00:13:59,751 --> 00:14:01,230
that are being imagined

284
00:14:01,230 --> 00:14:04,410
and actually moving in the
direction of transformation.

285
00:14:04,410 --> 00:14:06,404
This is when we actualize or manifest

286
00:14:06,404 --> 00:14:09,723
these imaginings of a better future.

287
00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:12,330
And what I wanna emphasize here,

288
00:14:12,330 --> 00:14:15,600
similar to the yin and yang,
this is not a hierarchy.

289
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:17,430
There's no one approach to change

290
00:14:17,430 --> 00:14:20,036
that is better or more
desirable than the others.

291
00:14:20,036 --> 00:14:23,761
The important thing is
to not overemphasize

292
00:14:23,761 --> 00:14:25,620
one or the other.

293
00:14:25,620 --> 00:14:27,120
And I have found that in a lot

294
00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:29,267
of the activist efforts that I've been in,

295
00:14:29,267 --> 00:14:34,222
there is an emphasis on getting
stuck in the resist phase.

296
00:14:34,222 --> 00:14:38,865
So focusing too much on protests
without offering solutions.

297
00:14:38,865 --> 00:14:41,282
But there can also be a
problem of offering solutions

298
00:14:41,282 --> 00:14:43,356
that aren't grounded in the realities

299
00:14:43,356 --> 00:14:45,900
of needing to actually build something

300
00:14:45,900 --> 00:14:47,790
and create something and actually move

301
00:14:47,790 --> 00:14:50,733
from the current state
to the future vision.

302
00:14:51,780 --> 00:14:53,940
So one way to think about this

303
00:14:53,940 --> 00:14:56,310
as you prepare to write your final paper

304
00:14:56,310 --> 00:14:58,631
is to think about which
one of these strategies

305
00:14:58,631 --> 00:15:01,304
most aligns with your personality

306
00:15:01,304 --> 00:15:03,300
and your approach to the world

307
00:15:03,300 --> 00:15:06,270
and your approach to
solutions and creating change,

308
00:15:06,270 --> 00:15:07,770
and getting to know yourself

309
00:15:07,770 --> 00:15:10,110
as an activist through that lens.

310
00:15:10,110 --> 00:15:13,714
And again, it doesn't mean that
if you are more of a reform

311
00:15:13,714 --> 00:15:15,321
or reimagined person,

312
00:15:15,321 --> 00:15:19,122
that you're somehow better than
someone who is aligned more

313
00:15:19,122 --> 00:15:21,509
with resistance and protest.

314
00:15:21,509 --> 00:15:25,950
It just means that you offer
that gift to the collective.

315
00:15:25,950 --> 00:15:27,930
And if you are someone that's more aligned

316
00:15:27,930 --> 00:15:29,250
with reform and reimagining

317
00:15:29,250 --> 00:15:32,520
are resistant to resistance or protests,

318
00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,040
then you may wanna be looking
to who in your community

319
00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,545
is good at that and forming alliances.

320
00:15:37,545 --> 00:15:40,377
'Cause, ultimately, we as individuals

321
00:15:40,377 --> 00:15:42,343
are not expected to form the whole,

322
00:15:42,343 --> 00:15:46,440
but we need to be strategic
about who we form alliance with

323
00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:49,147
and how we build partnerships
and collaborations

324
00:15:49,147 --> 00:15:51,646
in order to offer whole support to,

325
00:15:51,646 --> 00:15:55,233
a holistic approach to
community transformation.

326
00:15:57,270 --> 00:15:59,370
And this comes from Joanna Macy's.

327
00:15:59,370 --> 00:16:02,730
This was actually artwork
that was given as a gift

328
00:16:02,730 --> 00:16:04,020
to Joanna Macy,

329
00:16:04,020 --> 00:16:06,930
and you all had a chance to
read Joanna Macy's article.

330
00:16:06,930 --> 00:16:11,130
And she's one of our elders
in the environmental movement.

331
00:16:11,130 --> 00:16:14,459
And she saw the community
transformation process.

332
00:16:14,459 --> 00:16:18,826
And this relates to individual
and collective change,

333
00:16:18,826 --> 00:16:22,020
starting with gratitude at the roots,

334
00:16:22,020 --> 00:16:24,900
honoring our pain, feeling our pain,

335
00:16:24,900 --> 00:16:28,103
seeing with new eyes as
we've transformed that pain,

336
00:16:28,103 --> 00:16:31,903
and then going forth in the
world as activists again.

337
00:16:31,903 --> 00:16:36,090
So it's a cycle of rejuvenation,
a cycle of healing,

338
00:16:36,090 --> 00:16:38,610
specifically related to activism.

339
00:16:38,610 --> 00:16:42,030
And what is interesting
to me about this is,

340
00:16:42,030 --> 00:16:46,110
most of this model speaks
to elements of activism

341
00:16:46,110 --> 00:16:48,558
that would happen in the
yin side of the cycle.

342
00:16:48,558 --> 00:16:53,553
Gratitude is earth,
honoring our pain is metal.

343
00:16:55,110 --> 00:16:57,720
Metal, so that's the
fall and autumn season.

344
00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:59,657
Seeing with new eyes is starting to shift

345
00:16:59,657 --> 00:17:02,447
into winter and spring,

346
00:17:02,447 --> 00:17:06,260
and then going forth is more of the fire

347
00:17:06,260 --> 00:17:08,501
or the yang aspect of the cycle.

348
00:17:08,501 --> 00:17:11,406
So again, a holistic model
for approaching change

349
00:17:11,406 --> 00:17:14,697
from Joanna Macy who's one of our elders

350
00:17:14,697 --> 00:17:17,467
in the environmental action and spiritual

351
00:17:17,467 --> 00:17:19,353
and environmental action movement.

352
00:17:21,450 --> 00:17:26,017
Albert Einstein is very
famous with this quote of,

353
00:17:26,017 --> 00:17:29,338
"We cannot solve our problems
with the same thinking we used

354
00:17:29,338 --> 00:17:31,920
when we created them."

355
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:33,778
And this, again, reminds
me of yin and yang

356
00:17:33,778 --> 00:17:37,441
and Brendan Kelly's
comments about activism

357
00:17:37,441 --> 00:17:41,917
and this assumption that I
think is really important

358
00:17:41,917 --> 00:17:43,861
to bring into this conversation

359
00:17:43,861 --> 00:17:47,010
that if the problems of climate change

360
00:17:47,010 --> 00:17:48,445
or the problems of racial inequity

361
00:17:48,445 --> 00:17:52,260
come from a very young,
dominated, and emphasis

362
00:17:52,260 --> 00:17:57,260
on overproduction, de-emphasizing
of relationships and care,

363
00:17:57,570 --> 00:18:00,615
then we cannot solve that by continuing

364
00:18:00,615 --> 00:18:03,403
to work ourselves to the bone,

365
00:18:03,403 --> 00:18:06,540
making hundreds of phone calls

366
00:18:06,540 --> 00:18:08,310
and peppering people with mailings

367
00:18:08,310 --> 00:18:12,270
and having a very yang
oriented approach to change.

368
00:18:12,270 --> 00:18:16,260
I think that what is needed
to change the current system

369
00:18:16,260 --> 00:18:19,020
is a completely different
approach, which is involved,

370
00:18:19,020 --> 00:18:21,955
which is characterized by reconnecting,

371
00:18:21,955 --> 00:18:24,759
establishing connections to community,

372
00:18:24,759 --> 00:18:29,540
and really focusing on healing
and some of the deeper work

373
00:18:29,540 --> 00:18:32,763
that's required to create lasting changes.

374
00:18:35,460 --> 00:18:37,212
And given that a lot of the change efforts

375
00:18:37,212 --> 00:18:39,960
in the environmental
movement have been led

376
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,374
by predominantly white educated males,

377
00:18:42,374 --> 00:18:44,611
I also think looking to new voices

378
00:18:44,611 --> 00:18:46,399
in the social change movement,

379
00:18:46,399 --> 00:18:49,020
and this class has sought to bring in

380
00:18:49,020 --> 00:18:50,354
many of those voices.

381
00:18:50,354 --> 00:18:54,150
Leah Penniman and Sherry
Mitchell and Lila June

382
00:18:54,150 --> 00:18:55,290
rise to the top,

383
00:18:55,290 --> 00:18:57,487
and Adrienne Maree Brown and her book,

384
00:18:57,487 --> 00:19:00,780
"Pleasure Activism," was one
of your readings for this week.

385
00:19:00,780 --> 00:19:03,126
And her book prior to "Pleasure Activism"

386
00:19:03,126 --> 00:19:05,910
was called "Emergent Strategy,"

387
00:19:05,910 --> 00:19:07,350
And here are some of the tenants

388
00:19:07,350 --> 00:19:09,865
that Adrienne Maree Brown puts forward

389
00:19:09,865 --> 00:19:14,467
as strategies for
transforming communities.

390
00:19:14,467 --> 00:19:15,609
"Small is good, small is all."

391
00:19:15,609 --> 00:19:19,140
"Trust the people.

392
00:19:19,140 --> 00:19:22,687
If you trust them, they
become trustworthy."

393
00:19:22,687 --> 00:19:24,660
"Change is constant.

394
00:19:24,660 --> 00:19:26,307
Be flexible like water."

395
00:19:27,307 --> 00:19:30,000
"Move at the speed of trust.

396
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,900
Connection is more important than mass."

397
00:19:33,900 --> 00:19:36,187
Quality over quantity.

398
00:19:36,187 --> 00:19:39,330
"There is always enough
time for the right work."

399
00:19:39,330 --> 00:19:41,430
So resist resisting urgency,

400
00:19:41,430 --> 00:19:45,607
which is a characteristic
of white supremacy culture.

401
00:19:45,607 --> 00:19:46,830
"There is a conversation

402
00:19:46,830 --> 00:19:50,310
that only the people in this
room right now can have.

403
00:19:50,310 --> 00:19:51,143
Find it."

404
00:19:52,057 --> 00:19:55,627
"Less prep, more presence."

405
00:19:55,627 --> 00:19:58,777
"What you pay attention to grows."

406
00:19:58,777 --> 00:20:02,370
"Never a failure, always a lesson."

407
00:20:02,370 --> 00:20:05,835
And again, I see a lot of these
tenets of emergent strategy

408
00:20:05,835 --> 00:20:08,443
that align more with yin aspects

409
00:20:08,443 --> 00:20:10,466
of the community change process,

410
00:20:10,466 --> 00:20:12,869
the importance of building connections,

411
00:20:12,869 --> 00:20:17,626
the importance of emphasizing
relationships before results.

412
00:20:17,626 --> 00:20:22,322
And I can tell you that the a
number of the community change

413
00:20:22,322 --> 00:20:24,840
efforts that I've been
involved in over the years

414
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,592
in climate change, social
justice, food systems,

415
00:20:27,592 --> 00:20:29,830
there is very often

416
00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:36,060
relinquishing of process and relationships

417
00:20:36,060 --> 00:20:38,509
because of this assumption that
we need to achieve results.

418
00:20:38,509 --> 00:20:40,991
And those projects
often aren't sustainable

419
00:20:40,991 --> 00:20:43,630
because if you don't
protect the relationships

420
00:20:43,630 --> 00:20:47,310
with respectful and equitable process,

421
00:20:47,310 --> 00:20:49,465
people burnout or people,

422
00:20:49,465 --> 00:20:52,710
their interpersonal conflict erodes

423
00:20:52,710 --> 00:20:54,150
the ability to achieve results,

424
00:20:54,150 --> 00:20:56,456
and ultimately, the projects fail.

425
00:20:56,456 --> 00:20:57,839
So I see a lot of wisdom

426
00:20:57,839 --> 00:21:00,483
Adrienne Maree Brown
is putting forth here.

427
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:04,440
And let's think about the second question,

428
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,613
how can personal wellness
contribute to effective community

429
00:21:07,613 --> 00:21:10,530
action and change?

430
00:21:10,530 --> 00:21:14,682
And I'm hoping that all of
you will share the musings on

431
00:21:14,682 --> 00:21:16,890
your free writes on Yellowdig

432
00:21:16,890 --> 00:21:19,626
in the class discussion as
well as in your final papers

433
00:21:19,626 --> 00:21:23,190
so that this isn't only my
voice answering these questions

434
00:21:23,190 --> 00:21:25,800
because we've been talking
about these for weeks

435
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,230
and I think you have a
lot to contribute here.

436
00:21:28,230 --> 00:21:31,440
But I'm gonna share my thoughts
about how personal wellness

437
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,833
can contribute to effective
community action and change.

438
00:21:36,180 --> 00:21:37,817
So I wanna talk about caring for ourselves

439
00:21:37,817 --> 00:21:39,245
and being our best selves

440
00:21:39,245 --> 00:21:42,522
in the context of leadership and activism.

441
00:21:42,522 --> 00:21:44,993
And when I use the word
leader or activist,

442
00:21:44,993 --> 00:21:49,993
I'm not only talking about
those that are, you know,

443
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,160
giving leaders the labels of leader

444
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:54,750
and activist in our field,

445
00:21:54,750 --> 00:21:56,848
thinking about people like Joanna Macy

446
00:21:56,848 --> 00:21:59,250
or like Adrienne Maree Brown.

447
00:21:59,250 --> 00:22:01,452
I want you to think about
leadership in activism

448
00:22:01,452 --> 00:22:04,480
as having personal agency

449
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,147
towards something that
is important to you.

450
00:22:07,147 --> 00:22:08,700
And there are many different ways

451
00:22:08,700 --> 00:22:10,703
to enact that in our lives.

452
00:22:10,703 --> 00:22:12,270
But traditionally,

453
00:22:12,270 --> 00:22:15,630
we think of leadership
and activism as radical.

454
00:22:15,630 --> 00:22:19,225
I think about images of activism
of people in the streets,

455
00:22:19,225 --> 00:22:24,119
a fair amount of aggression,
and a lot of activity.

456
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:28,374
Activism is related to the word action.

457
00:22:28,374 --> 00:22:31,872
But if we go to the roots
of the word radical,

458
00:22:31,872 --> 00:22:34,338
the etymology of the word radical,

459
00:22:34,338 --> 00:22:38,370
it actually refers to our roots

460
00:22:38,370 --> 00:22:40,989
and the roots of our social change

461
00:22:40,989 --> 00:22:44,160
and the roots of our action.

462
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:46,931
And I want to use this as a call

463
00:22:46,931 --> 00:22:49,740
to radical nourishment

464
00:22:49,740 --> 00:22:51,645
and the role that nourishing ourselves

465
00:22:51,645 --> 00:22:54,210
and nourishing our activism

466
00:22:54,210 --> 00:22:57,183
helps to sustain our
leadership into the future.

467
00:22:59,340 --> 00:23:02,250
So where do we act from

468
00:23:02,250 --> 00:23:04,620
and where does our activism come from?

469
00:23:04,620 --> 00:23:09,420
Does it come from a deep
sense of justice and care

470
00:23:09,420 --> 00:23:12,805
or does it come from a desire to belong

471
00:23:12,805 --> 00:23:16,170
and be aligned with the efforts

472
00:23:16,170 --> 00:23:20,340
and actions that our friend
group is involved in?

473
00:23:20,340 --> 00:23:22,800
There's no shame for
where you're acting from,

474
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,870
but knowing where that comes from

475
00:23:24,870 --> 00:23:26,490
and knowing if it comes from a sense

476
00:23:26,490 --> 00:23:29,850
of your own deep
rootedness and groundedness

477
00:23:29,850 --> 00:23:32,078
and your own sense of self and your gifts

478
00:23:32,078 --> 00:23:34,710
versus if it comes from a place

479
00:23:34,710 --> 00:23:37,049
of seeking, belonging,

480
00:23:37,049 --> 00:23:42,049
or trying to as so edge a
certain amount of guilt,

481
00:23:42,090 --> 00:23:44,418
these are all important motivations

482
00:23:44,418 --> 00:23:46,983
to tease out and be aware of.

483
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,753
So why self-care for activists?

484
00:23:53,670 --> 00:23:55,419
This idea of radical nourishment

485
00:23:55,419 --> 00:23:59,569
is essential not just to sustain
the work into the future,

486
00:23:59,569 --> 00:24:02,421
but also because it colors the nature,

487
00:24:02,421 --> 00:24:05,587
it shapes the energy of the action.

488
00:24:05,587 --> 00:24:08,163
And I'll speak a little bit more to that.

489
00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:09,960
But before I do that,

490
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:11,760
I wanna talk about self-care

491
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:13,560
in the context of cultural legacies.

492
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,617
And this came up earlier in the semester.

493
00:24:15,617 --> 00:24:18,427
But knowing and honoring that self-care

494
00:24:18,427 --> 00:24:23,148
is a loaded term for many,
specifically for white women.

495
00:24:23,148 --> 00:24:27,840
And looking at histories of messaging

496
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,940
such as no pain, no gain.

497
00:24:29,940 --> 00:24:34,657
The idea that we need to suffer
in order to achieve results.

498
00:24:34,657 --> 00:24:37,680
"Pain is weakness leaving the body."

499
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,040
This is something that
I haven't always used,

500
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,892
but I've heard other activists say this

501
00:24:42,892 --> 00:24:47,892
in the sense of needing
to suffer for the cause,

502
00:24:47,963 --> 00:24:51,046
and then also I wanna center
in the work of Eleanor Hancock

503
00:24:51,046 --> 00:24:56,046
around whiteness related to self-care,

504
00:24:56,656 --> 00:24:59,733
and specifically the idea that whiteness

505
00:24:59,733 --> 00:25:04,733
is associated with lack or
a reduced sense of empathy

506
00:25:04,978 --> 00:25:07,094
and the ability to feel

507
00:25:07,094 --> 00:25:10,444
and that the urgency that is associated

508
00:25:10,444 --> 00:25:15,150
and often praised and
privileged in white culture

509
00:25:15,150 --> 00:25:17,511
and particularly in activist communities,

510
00:25:17,511 --> 00:25:22,511
is also associated with numbness
or an inability to feel,

511
00:25:22,919 --> 00:25:26,530
which allows us to and amusing us

512
00:25:26,530 --> 00:25:29,100
and we to talk about myself

513
00:25:29,100 --> 00:25:30,810
and those of us who identify as white.

514
00:25:30,810 --> 00:25:33,843
I'm not assuming that all
of us have that identity.

515
00:25:33,843 --> 00:25:36,720
That allows white activists

516
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:41,130
or those who are socialized
as white to suffer through

517
00:25:41,130 --> 00:25:43,233
and put their needs aside.

518
00:25:45,390 --> 00:25:49,166
And Parker Palmer was one
of the first white authors

519
00:25:49,166 --> 00:25:52,290
and activists that I
heard speak about this.

520
00:25:52,290 --> 00:25:55,186
And he identifies as
Christian, also Quaker,

521
00:25:55,186 --> 00:25:57,710
speaking to this idea of the fear

522
00:25:57,710 --> 00:26:02,460
of being called full of
oneself or being selfish.

523
00:26:02,460 --> 00:26:03,727
And Parker Palmer says,

524
00:26:03,727 --> 00:26:06,180
"Self-care is never a selfish act.

525
00:26:06,180 --> 00:26:10,230
It is simply good stewardship
of the only gift I have,

526
00:26:10,230 --> 00:26:13,920
the gift I was put on
earth to offer to others.

527
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,140
I found in my research
that the biggest reason

528
00:26:16,140 --> 00:26:18,270
people aren't more self-compassionate

529
00:26:18,270 --> 00:26:22,080
is that they're afraid
they'll become self-indulgent.

530
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:23,160
And I share these words

531
00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:25,230
because it resonates with my journey,

532
00:26:25,230 --> 00:26:28,080
especially in the ways
that I was socialized

533
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,170
as a white person in New England

534
00:26:31,170 --> 00:26:33,780
in a female body identifying as female,

535
00:26:33,780 --> 00:26:36,260
there's a lot of conditioning
around self-sacrifice

536
00:26:36,260 --> 00:26:40,050
and serving others
before serving yourself.

537
00:26:40,050 --> 00:26:42,150
And the only time that you take a break

538
00:26:42,150 --> 00:26:45,224
is when everyone else around
you has gotten what they need.

539
00:26:45,224 --> 00:26:47,114
So I've been in resistance

540
00:26:47,114 --> 00:26:49,671
and sort of trying to disentangle

541
00:26:49,671 --> 00:26:53,250
some of the ways that I've
been socialized in that.

542
00:26:53,250 --> 00:26:54,840
And so I share this for those of you

543
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,760
who might be coming to this
with similar backgrounds

544
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,293
or similar resistance to self-care.

545
00:27:02,670 --> 00:27:05,348
By contrast, Sherry
Mitchell who is Wabanaki

546
00:27:05,348 --> 00:27:09,056
and is the author of one of
your readings for this week,

547
00:27:09,056 --> 00:27:13,457
A foundational principle
of the Wabanaki people

548
00:27:13,457 --> 00:27:16,560
is that good self-care is necessary

549
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,770
for establishing a trusting
relationship with the self.

550
00:27:19,770 --> 00:27:23,070
And if we recognize that we
are part of a living earth

551
00:27:23,070 --> 00:27:25,290
and that everything within this sphere

552
00:27:25,290 --> 00:27:26,789
of life on earth is sacred,

553
00:27:26,789 --> 00:27:30,660
then we cannot remove
ourselves from this equation.

554
00:27:30,660 --> 00:27:32,730
As we learn to care for ourselves,

555
00:27:32,730 --> 00:27:37,173
we also teach ourselves
how to care for others.

556
00:27:38,070 --> 00:27:41,245
So this is providing a
little bit of a rationale

557
00:27:41,245 --> 00:27:44,640
for self-care and the value of self-care,

558
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,740
but also speaking about the importance

559
00:27:46,740 --> 00:27:49,247
of our cultural legacies

560
00:27:49,247 --> 00:27:52,638
and how we may have been
shaped to either value

561
00:27:52,638 --> 00:27:56,489
or devalue self-care or
feel shame around self-care.

562
00:27:56,489 --> 00:27:58,170
And that's really important

563
00:27:58,170 --> 00:27:59,640
when we're talking about self-care

564
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,753
as a really important motivating
force within activism.

565
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:06,775
Brother Wayne Teasdale,

566
00:28:06,775 --> 00:28:11,107
who's another white male
activist and mystic said,

567
00:28:11,107 --> 00:28:15,120
"People's hearts must change
before structures can change."

568
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:19,260
This change is the basis of
genuine reform and renewal.

569
00:28:19,260 --> 00:28:23,010
We need to understand to really
grasp on an elemental level

570
00:28:23,010 --> 00:28:25,020
that the definitive revolution

571
00:28:25,020 --> 00:28:28,980
is the spiritual awakening of humankind.

572
00:28:28,980 --> 00:28:30,930
So this is one perspective.

573
00:28:30,930 --> 00:28:32,967
And I've also seen perspectives

574
00:28:32,967 --> 00:28:34,889
that we need to change the structures

575
00:28:34,889 --> 00:28:37,350
before people can change.

576
00:28:37,350 --> 00:28:38,831
I think it's a combination of both

577
00:28:38,831 --> 00:28:41,217
and I think that's the
value of herbal medicine

578
00:28:41,217 --> 00:28:43,068
and what I'm putting forth here,

579
00:28:43,068 --> 00:28:46,450
is that there's an opportunity
to work at the individual,

580
00:28:46,450 --> 00:28:50,130
collective, and planetary level

581
00:28:50,130 --> 00:28:52,200
through the lens of herbal medicine

582
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:53,640
and sustainable food systems

583
00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:56,793
to achieve some of these
changes in the world.

584
00:28:58,650 --> 00:29:03,090
This is a quote from a past
student in their final paper.

585
00:29:03,090 --> 00:29:06,873
And I wanna share it because
there's so much wisdom here.

586
00:29:07,955 --> 00:29:09,371
"It is exciting to live during a time

587
00:29:09,371 --> 00:29:13,350
in which humanity is
coming back to ourselves

588
00:29:13,350 --> 00:29:15,000
and to our roots.

589
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,420
Plants, as consciousness
movers and teachers,

590
00:29:18,420 --> 00:29:21,273
are showing us how to take back our power.

591
00:29:22,860 --> 00:29:24,967
The power I speak of is
to connect deeply within

592
00:29:24,967 --> 00:29:26,940
and with other beings,

593
00:29:26,940 --> 00:29:30,000
the power to explore consciousness.

594
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,680
In taking back our power,

595
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,700
we open up to so many new
relationships and ways of being.

596
00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:37,890
To bring about this paradigm shift,

597
00:29:37,890 --> 00:29:40,410
to recreate the world I envision,

598
00:29:40,410 --> 00:29:43,860
I am beginning by cultivating presence.

599
00:29:43,860 --> 00:29:45,630
The change begins with me,

600
00:29:45,630 --> 00:29:48,270
and I am the change I wish to see.

601
00:29:48,270 --> 00:29:51,480
In developing the skill
of present mindedness,

602
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,627
I'm allowing others to do the same."

603
00:30:01,170 --> 00:30:02,643
So I wanna do a little bit of review

604
00:30:02,643 --> 00:30:04,375
around nervous system physiology

605
00:30:04,375 --> 00:30:08,456
as it relates to self-care
and how self-care

606
00:30:08,456 --> 00:30:13,260
can cultivate a responsive
and resilient nervous system.

607
00:30:13,260 --> 00:30:16,170
So as a reminder that our nervous systems

608
00:30:16,170 --> 00:30:18,685
have the ability to be in reactive mode,

609
00:30:18,685 --> 00:30:20,310
stuck in stress mode,

610
00:30:20,310 --> 00:30:22,240
I also call this kind of a fixed mindset

611
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,990
or a problem oriented mindset.

612
00:30:24,990 --> 00:30:28,410
Or we can also cultivate a
responsive nervous system

613
00:30:28,410 --> 00:30:30,960
which is more associated with positivity,

614
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:34,664
solutions seeking and
effective problem solving,

615
00:30:34,664 --> 00:30:38,116
effective collaboration,
also makes us much more open

616
00:30:38,116 --> 00:30:42,513
to relationships and partnership.

617
00:30:43,350 --> 00:30:46,300
So we tend to be less grumpy
when we're in responsive mode.

618
00:30:48,450 --> 00:30:51,328
And again, a review of
Rick Hanson's comments,

619
00:30:51,328 --> 00:30:53,998
and I invite you to
read this in more detail

620
00:30:53,998 --> 00:30:58,262
if you aren't familiar with
it from my previous lecture.

621
00:30:58,262 --> 00:31:01,223
But that reactive mode and responsive mode

622
00:31:01,223 --> 00:31:04,140
not only affect our worldview,

623
00:31:04,140 --> 00:31:06,240
they also have an effect
on health of being,

624
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:08,635
health giving. or health depleting.

625
00:31:08,635 --> 00:31:12,420
And the central experience
is drastically different

626
00:31:12,420 --> 00:31:15,990
simply depending on the
physiology of your nervous system.

627
00:31:15,990 --> 00:31:17,727
And a lot of this is related to,

628
00:31:17,727 --> 00:31:21,413
not just the autonomic nervous system,

629
00:31:21,413 --> 00:31:23,220
sympathetic, parasympathetic,

630
00:31:23,220 --> 00:31:25,590
but also polyvagal theory

631
00:31:25,590 --> 00:31:27,705
and the importance of the vagus nerve,

632
00:31:27,705 --> 00:31:32,283
which (indistinct) and other teachers

633
00:31:32,283 --> 00:31:36,630
around trauma-based activism speak of.

634
00:31:36,630 --> 00:31:39,090
And I'd like to reframe this a little bit

635
00:31:39,090 --> 00:31:42,030
to talk about not just
reactive and responsive mode,

636
00:31:42,030 --> 00:31:46,140
but survival versus thriving mode

637
00:31:46,140 --> 00:31:48,813
because this is an important
distinction to be made.

638
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:51,870
Rachel Budde from Fat & the Moon

639
00:31:51,870 --> 00:31:55,476
who's a healer and activist says

640
00:31:55,476 --> 00:31:58,470
that we, as a culture and as a people,

641
00:31:58,470 --> 00:32:00,630
she's speaking of the average American,

642
00:32:00,630 --> 00:32:03,945
have habituated the activation
of a survival response

643
00:32:03,945 --> 00:32:07,050
in our nervous systems and in our culture,

644
00:32:07,050 --> 00:32:09,757
and this is detrimental to our health.

645
00:32:09,757 --> 00:32:12,276
"When the sympathetic nervous
system is working overtime,

646
00:32:12,276 --> 00:32:14,520
we cannot thrive."

647
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,417
And this is just another
way of saying what I've said

648
00:32:17,417 --> 00:32:18,857
and others have said

649
00:32:18,857 --> 00:32:21,016
about the importance of nourishing

650
00:32:21,016 --> 00:32:24,720
and cultivating balance
in the nervous system.

651
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,180
And the sympathetic nervous
system is associated

652
00:32:27,180 --> 00:32:29,430
with a yang way of being in the world

653
00:32:29,430 --> 00:32:32,021
versus the parasympathetic nervous system

654
00:32:32,021 --> 00:32:36,450
is associated with more of a
yin way of being in the world.

655
00:32:36,450 --> 00:32:39,667
And astrologer and activist,
Virginia Rosenberg, says,

656
00:32:39,667 --> 00:32:42,796
"We thrive when we center
nourishing ourselves

657
00:32:42,796 --> 00:32:45,090
above all else."

658
00:32:45,090 --> 00:32:46,470
And I chose to put this quote

659
00:32:46,470 --> 00:32:50,070
over an image of a floral dessert pizza

660
00:32:50,070 --> 00:32:54,240
that we made at the wood-fired
pizza oven at Rock Point,

661
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,409
which is one of our
medicine teaching spaces.

662
00:32:57,409 --> 00:32:59,453
And there's also a medicine garden there

663
00:32:59,453 --> 00:33:02,040
that I'd urge you to visit at some point.

664
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:07,040
And we've adorned this pizza
with borage and violets

665
00:33:07,813 --> 00:33:12,330
and other edible blossoms
such as calendula.

666
00:33:12,330 --> 00:33:15,533
And so this opportunity
to care for ourselves,

667
00:33:15,533 --> 00:33:18,570
nourish ourselves with beauty

668
00:33:18,570 --> 00:33:20,190
is not a frivolous act

669
00:33:20,190 --> 00:33:24,535
when we see it through the
lens of self-care to fill

670
00:33:24,535 --> 00:33:26,490
what may be a void

671
00:33:26,490 --> 00:33:30,180
that's created by an
overactive nervous system

672
00:33:30,180 --> 00:33:32,610
or an overstimulated nervous system.

673
00:33:32,610 --> 00:33:35,450
And again, going back to
Parker Palmer's comments,

674
00:33:35,450 --> 00:33:40,050
he speaks about the
difference between a full self

675
00:33:40,050 --> 00:33:42,180
versus an empty self.

676
00:33:42,180 --> 00:33:44,880
And that what he has seen in his work

677
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:46,590
and with the American public

678
00:33:46,590 --> 00:33:49,830
is not an epidemic of selfishness,

679
00:33:49,830 --> 00:33:53,343
but an epidemic of an empty
self that is created by people

680
00:33:53,343 --> 00:33:56,670
giving too much, not being
connected to their roots,

681
00:33:56,670 --> 00:33:59,053
not being connected to
what truly fuels them

682
00:33:59,053 --> 00:34:00,870
in a sense of purpose,

683
00:34:00,870 --> 00:34:03,000
and that is where dysfunction arises from.

684
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,660
It doesn't come from
overindulgence or self-indulgence

685
00:34:06,660 --> 00:34:07,803
in many cases.

686
00:34:09,720 --> 00:34:12,807
And I wanna speak about
the somatic intelligence,

687
00:34:12,807 --> 00:34:15,384
the body intelligence of tears.

688
00:34:15,384 --> 00:34:17,737
This is a quote from Washington Irving.

689
00:34:17,737 --> 00:34:19,411
"There is a sacredness in tears.

690
00:34:19,411 --> 00:34:22,090
They're not the mark of
weakness but of power.

691
00:34:22,090 --> 00:34:25,530
They speak more eloquently
than 10,000 tongues.

692
00:34:25,530 --> 00:34:28,200
They're messengers of overwhelming grief,

693
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:33,200
of deep contrition and
of unspeakable love."

694
00:34:33,300 --> 00:34:36,042
And I've long held this opinion

695
00:34:36,042 --> 00:34:39,510
that tears are sacred from
a spiritual perspective,

696
00:34:39,510 --> 00:34:43,273
but I wanna speak to the
practical and anatomical function

697
00:34:43,273 --> 00:34:46,981
and benefit of tears that
they are our body's only way

698
00:34:46,981 --> 00:34:49,860
of shedding the stress hormone, cortisol,

699
00:34:49,860 --> 00:34:51,780
without burdening the liver.

700
00:34:51,780 --> 00:34:54,002
The liver is responsible for breaking down

701
00:34:54,002 --> 00:34:55,744
cortisol in the body

702
00:34:55,744 --> 00:35:00,090
and breaking it into smaller
molecules for excretion.

703
00:35:00,090 --> 00:35:03,471
And other than the liver
having to work hard to do this,

704
00:35:03,471 --> 00:35:04,920
we can cry.

705
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,693
And so this idea that tears
and crying helps to shed stress

706
00:35:09,693 --> 00:35:12,735
actually has a physiological explanation.

707
00:35:12,735 --> 00:35:15,810
This is from Pip Waller
and Holistic Anatomy.

708
00:35:15,810 --> 00:35:18,480
And for those of you aren't as familiar

709
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:19,666
with liver physiology,

710
00:35:19,666 --> 00:35:23,242
the overburdening of
the liver from toxins,

711
00:35:23,242 --> 00:35:25,110
not just from stress hormones,

712
00:35:25,110 --> 00:35:30,110
but also reproductive hormones
and toxins in our food supply

713
00:35:30,621 --> 00:35:33,090
is a huge issue and often can relate

714
00:35:33,090 --> 00:35:36,600
in many health issues such
as hormone imbalances,

715
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:40,295
headaches and migraines,
skin conditions such as acne.

716
00:35:40,295 --> 00:35:45,295
So supporting the liver by
crying can be a really effective

717
00:35:45,861 --> 00:35:49,563
and somatically intelligent thing to do.

718
00:35:51,300 --> 00:35:53,467
Here's a quote from Nayyirah Waheed.

719
00:35:53,467 --> 00:35:55,290
"I love myself.

720
00:35:55,290 --> 00:36:00,290
The quietest, simplest, most
powerful revolution ever."

721
00:36:01,500 --> 00:36:02,832
So this is taking the idea of self-love

722
00:36:02,832 --> 00:36:06,810
beyond just self nourishment for thriving,

723
00:36:06,810 --> 00:36:11,040
but also bringing in the idea
of self-love as revolutionary.

724
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,980
So this is something I
also want to consider.

725
00:36:13,980 --> 00:36:16,317
And this speaks to the new science

726
00:36:16,317 --> 00:36:18,702
of intergenerational trauma.

727
00:36:18,702 --> 00:36:22,247
And this has been brought
up in previous lectures,

728
00:36:22,247 --> 00:36:25,664
certainly relevant to
discussions of herbal justice,

729
00:36:25,664 --> 00:36:28,017
not just of indigenous people

730
00:36:28,017 --> 00:36:29,700
and people of color in this country,

731
00:36:29,700 --> 00:36:31,300
but also white people

732
00:36:31,300 --> 00:36:33,840
and the history of the extermination

733
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,150
of medicine women and the witch burnings

734
00:36:36,150 --> 00:36:38,190
and the science that,

735
00:36:38,190 --> 00:36:39,960
because of epigenetics

736
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,700
and the ways that epigenetic settings

737
00:36:45,142 --> 00:36:47,764
are heritable across generations,

738
00:36:47,764 --> 00:36:51,336
they've found that trauma can be inherited

739
00:36:51,336 --> 00:36:55,620
or passed down 14 generations back.

740
00:36:55,620 --> 00:36:58,833
So stress that your ancestors experienced

741
00:36:58,833 --> 00:37:03,833
up to 14 generations ago
may be stored in your body,

742
00:37:04,290 --> 00:37:08,562
which may explain why we react
to situations with more fear

743
00:37:08,562 --> 00:37:12,345
than makes sense for that given situation.

744
00:37:12,345 --> 00:37:15,551
And the reference for this is...

745
00:37:15,551 --> 00:37:17,070
Or there's a recent book

746
00:37:17,070 --> 00:37:19,290
called "Studies of Trauma
Across Generations"

747
00:37:19,290 --> 00:37:20,842
by Fromm in 2018.

748
00:37:20,842 --> 00:37:22,080
So I'd encourage you

749
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:23,700
if you're interested in
reading more about this

750
00:37:23,700 --> 00:37:25,440
to check out that source.

751
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,669
But committing to healing legacies of pain

752
00:37:28,669 --> 00:37:33,390
and the role that self-love
plays in deep ancestral healing

753
00:37:33,390 --> 00:37:36,423
because of the trauma that we
may be carrying in our bodies.

754
00:37:37,830 --> 00:37:39,247
Marianne Williams had said,

755
00:37:39,247 --> 00:37:41,040
"Love is what we were born with.

756
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:42,750
Fear is what we have learned here,"

757
00:37:42,750 --> 00:37:44,827
or what our ancestors learned.

758
00:37:44,827 --> 00:37:47,430
"The spiritual journey
is the unlearning of fear

759
00:37:47,430 --> 00:37:50,970
and the acceptance of love
back into our hearts."

760
00:37:50,970 --> 00:37:52,140
And this reminds me

761
00:37:52,140 --> 00:37:54,390
of something I read
recently about triggers

762
00:37:54,390 --> 00:37:59,390
that a trigger is when the fear steps in

763
00:37:59,460 --> 00:38:01,830
and blocks the love.

764
00:38:01,830 --> 00:38:03,201
And I can think of many examples

765
00:38:03,201 --> 00:38:06,257
where I lost touch with
my sense of purpose,

766
00:38:06,257 --> 00:38:07,641
my sense of flow,

767
00:38:07,641 --> 00:38:10,470
because of something that triggered me,

768
00:38:10,470 --> 00:38:11,820
whether I knew that or not.

769
00:38:11,820 --> 00:38:14,040
Often, triggers are unconscious

770
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,640
until we start to map and
learn what our current,

771
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,650
what our sensitivities and triggers are

772
00:38:19,650 --> 00:38:22,410
so that we can show up more
consistently with love.

773
00:38:22,410 --> 00:38:26,670
And triggers can be healed once
we become conscious of them.

774
00:38:26,670 --> 00:38:28,877
And often it's about
feeling those feelings

775
00:38:28,877 --> 00:38:30,693
so that we can release them.

776
00:38:32,340 --> 00:38:35,880
Here's the quote again from
Candace Taylor about wholeness

777
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,238
and working on oppression

778
00:38:39,238 --> 00:38:43,387
by working on the
fragmentation in our bodies.

779
00:38:43,387 --> 00:38:45,540
"When we understand the
framework of oppression,

780
00:38:45,540 --> 00:38:47,940
we begin to recognize
how our fragmentation

781
00:38:47,940 --> 00:38:51,210
supports and sustains its systems

782
00:38:51,210 --> 00:38:53,850
and consciously working
towards wholeness."

783
00:38:53,850 --> 00:38:56,010
And this is also revolutionary.

784
00:38:56,010 --> 00:39:00,375
So self-love, wholeness, are
both revolutionary strategies

785
00:39:00,375 --> 00:39:02,758
in a world where
fragmentation and oppression

786
00:39:02,758 --> 00:39:05,408
has kept us separate from that love

787
00:39:05,408 --> 00:39:07,863
and separate from that sense of belonging.

788
00:39:09,930 --> 00:39:13,279
And I wanna share a short
video from Adrienne Maree Brown

789
00:39:13,279 --> 00:39:16,056
about her "Pleasure Activism" book.

790
00:39:16,056 --> 00:39:18,300
But an important quote from that

791
00:39:18,300 --> 00:39:19,717
that stood out for me is that,

792
00:39:19,717 --> 00:39:23,310
"Pleasure is a way that we
reclaim our whole selves,

793
00:39:23,310 --> 00:39:26,370
our real selves, our true selves.

794
00:39:26,370 --> 00:39:28,800
Once we have had that awakening,

795
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,220
we will no longer settle
for self negation.

796
00:39:32,220 --> 00:39:37,220
We will no longer settle for
suffering as a way of life."

797
00:39:37,350 --> 00:39:39,914
And I think what this is
bringing forward is the idea

798
00:39:39,914 --> 00:39:44,723
that suffering can be a learned
pattern from this lifetime

799
00:39:44,723 --> 00:39:47,670
or from our ancestors' lifetimes

800
00:39:47,670 --> 00:39:49,980
in the way that is stored in our body.

801
00:39:49,980 --> 00:39:52,946
And I think about the
Christian ethic of martyrdom

802
00:39:52,946 --> 00:39:57,946
and hard work so that you can
relax and enjoy life in heaven

803
00:39:58,124 --> 00:40:00,732
and sort of postponing pleasure

804
00:40:00,732 --> 00:40:05,580
as a part of the white
European Christian tradition.

805
00:40:05,580 --> 00:40:09,501
And I think that that has
been enforced on many bodies

806
00:40:09,501 --> 00:40:14,280
that are affected by privilege and power

807
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,253
of white Europeans and
the colonial system.

808
00:40:19,410 --> 00:40:22,413
So I'm gonna share this video
from Adrienne Maree Brown.

809
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:25,050
There's an us before the wound,

810
00:40:25,050 --> 00:40:26,700
there's an us before oppression.

811
00:40:26,700 --> 00:40:29,268
And to me pleasure is a way
that be tapped down into that.

812
00:40:29,268 --> 00:40:30,540
I'm like, well, I'm having orgasm.

813
00:40:30,540 --> 00:40:31,470
Ah, slavery.

814
00:40:31,470 --> 00:40:33,360
I'm like, you might be my slave.

815
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,233
But, you know, like in a good way.

816
00:40:35,233 --> 00:40:39,180
It's really about like,
"Oh I feel very free."

817
00:40:39,180 --> 00:40:41,070
To me the work was about
like how do we remind people

818
00:40:41,070 --> 00:40:43,260
that you were free to begin with?

819
00:40:43,260 --> 00:40:45,330
You were always free to begin with.

820
00:40:45,330 --> 00:40:47,913
(gentle music)

821
00:40:50,253 --> 00:40:51,086
For me, I was like,

822
00:40:51,086 --> 00:40:53,040
how can I bring like the
best feeling when I'm,

823
00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:55,658
it's like the best high or the
best mushroom (indistinct).

824
00:40:55,658 --> 00:40:56,761
You know, when you're on mushroom...

825
00:40:56,761 --> 00:40:58,440
How many of you have done mushrooms?

826
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,270
All right, everybody else,
just get to it, all right?

827
00:41:00,270 --> 00:41:01,233
Life is short.

828
00:41:01,233 --> 00:41:02,066
Life is short.

829
00:41:02,066 --> 00:41:03,223
And they're natural.

830
00:41:03,223 --> 00:41:04,306
Okay, good.

831
00:41:04,306 --> 00:41:06,294
My name is Adrienne Maree Brown.

832
00:41:06,294 --> 00:41:09,600
I am the author of "Pleasure Activism:

833
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:11,310
The Politics of Feeling Good."

834
00:41:11,310 --> 00:41:14,718
Right now we are sitting
in Bluestockings bookstore,

835
00:41:14,718 --> 00:41:18,030
which is, forever... I
used to live in New York,

836
00:41:18,030 --> 00:41:18,990
I lived here for like 10 years.

837
00:41:18,990 --> 00:41:21,120
Bluestockings has always
been a (indistinct)

838
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:22,350
bookstore for me.

839
00:41:22,350 --> 00:41:23,850
So I'm really excited to
get to be here tonight.

840
00:41:23,850 --> 00:41:27,877
We're doing our New York
event for "Pleasure Activism."

841
00:41:27,877 --> 00:41:31,353
"We have been raised to fear
the yes within ourselves,

842
00:41:32,490 --> 00:41:34,170
our deepest cravings,

843
00:41:34,170 --> 00:41:35,310
but once recognized,

844
00:41:35,310 --> 00:41:37,061
those which do not enhance our future

845
00:41:37,061 --> 00:41:39,963
lose their power and can be altered.

846
00:41:40,830 --> 00:41:43,657
The fear of our desires keeps them suspect

847
00:41:43,657 --> 00:41:47,936
and indiscriminately powerful
for to suppress any truth

848
00:41:47,936 --> 00:41:51,120
is to give its strength beyond endurance."

849
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:52,961
Audre Lorde's (indistinct) the erotic

850
00:41:52,961 --> 00:41:55,530
is a foundational text
for "Pleasure Activism."

851
00:41:55,530 --> 00:41:57,870
And I feel like what she was saying to us,

852
00:41:57,870 --> 00:41:59,160
what she was teaching us so much

853
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:02,610
was that pleasure and the
erotic, the awakening,

854
00:42:02,610 --> 00:42:03,590
the erotic awakening

855
00:42:03,590 --> 00:42:05,700
is the way that we actually
reclaim our whole selves,

856
00:42:05,700 --> 00:42:07,590
our real selves, our true selves.

857
00:42:07,590 --> 00:42:09,780
And that once we have had that awakening,

858
00:42:09,780 --> 00:42:10,954
we will no longer settle

859
00:42:10,954 --> 00:42:13,592
or (indistinct) will no
longer settle for suffering

860
00:42:13,592 --> 00:42:15,504
as our way of life.

861
00:42:15,504 --> 00:42:17,520
Like, oh, this is just how (indistinct)

862
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:19,320
'cause we're black women.

863
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:20,153
I started asking myself like,

864
00:42:20,153 --> 00:42:21,847
"How did I unlearn pleasure?"

865
00:42:21,847 --> 00:42:23,187
"When did I unlearn pleasure?"

866
00:42:23,187 --> 00:42:24,471
When I look back it's like,

867
00:42:24,471 --> 00:42:26,111
"Oh, there's an ancestral pleasure,"

868
00:42:26,111 --> 00:42:28,440
a way that black women on this country

869
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:32,160
have been trained to be
in service with our bodies

870
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,230
rather to be in pleasure in our bodies.

871
00:42:34,230 --> 00:42:36,120
I realize that we're not the only ones,

872
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,310
that almost every human
on earth in some way

873
00:42:38,310 --> 00:42:41,210
has been disconnected from
their natural relationship

874
00:42:41,210 --> 00:42:42,210
to the planet,

875
00:42:42,210 --> 00:42:43,740
their natural relationship to themselves,

876
00:42:43,740 --> 00:42:45,720
from our natural
relationships to each other.

877
00:42:45,720 --> 00:42:48,547
And that pleasure is one
of the ways we know like,

878
00:42:48,547 --> 00:42:49,957
"Oh, god, I'm in nature."

879
00:42:49,957 --> 00:42:51,583
"Oh, god, I'm with my lover."

880
00:42:51,583 --> 00:42:53,227
"Oh, god, I'm connected."

881
00:42:53,227 --> 00:42:56,130
"I'm part of something
I belong, I'm safe."

882
00:42:56,130 --> 00:42:58,154
Pleasure (indistinct) all that, right?

883
00:42:58,154 --> 00:42:59,820
So for me I was just like,

884
00:42:59,820 --> 00:43:01,050
it's actually a measure of freedom.

885
00:43:01,050 --> 00:43:03,355
It's a way that we say,
"I have decolonized,

886
00:43:03,355 --> 00:43:07,087
I have returned to myself,
I have been healing."

887
00:43:07,087 --> 00:43:09,826
"Our acts against oppression
become integral with self,

888
00:43:09,826 --> 00:43:12,900
motivated and empowered from within.

889
00:43:12,900 --> 00:43:14,670
In touch with the erotic,

890
00:43:14,670 --> 00:43:17,790
I become less willing
to accept powerlessness

891
00:43:17,790 --> 00:43:20,070
or those other supplied states of being,

892
00:43:20,070 --> 00:43:21,960
which are not native to me

893
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:25,860
such as resignation,
despair, self-effacement,

894
00:43:25,860 --> 00:43:27,897
depression and self denial."

895
00:43:30,570 --> 00:43:32,100
-Right?
-(audience applauding)

896
00:43:32,100 --> 00:43:35,418
So Audrey is the bomb.com.

897
00:43:35,418 --> 00:43:37,667
That's how I feel like, yeah!

898
00:43:37,667 --> 00:43:39,443
Let's just give it up for Audre Lorde.

899
00:43:39,443 --> 00:43:44,128
-Yeah!
-(audience cheering)

900
00:43:44,128 --> 00:43:46,845
I was particularly drawn to the
uses of the erotic as a text

901
00:43:46,845 --> 00:43:49,418
because it was published August, 1978,

902
00:43:49,418 --> 00:43:51,987
and I was born September, 1978.

903
00:43:51,987 --> 00:43:53,820
And so I lived like my whole life

904
00:43:53,820 --> 00:43:56,250
like trying to figure out my
relationship with pleasure

905
00:43:56,250 --> 00:43:57,916
and it was like, "Oh,
someone had written a text

906
00:43:57,916 --> 00:43:59,218
a month before I was born."

907
00:43:59,218 --> 00:44:01,020
I was like, "Boom, here it is."

908
00:44:01,020 --> 00:44:02,478
And I'm like, "Oh, just like I missed it."

909
00:44:02,478 --> 00:44:03,720
There might be other people
who still are missing it,

910
00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:05,910
Who still are not getting this.

911
00:44:05,910 --> 00:44:07,710
Part of being a survivor myself

912
00:44:07,710 --> 00:44:09,810
and part of being in
communities with survivors

913
00:44:09,810 --> 00:44:12,624
is recognizing that even
when we get to good,

914
00:44:12,624 --> 00:44:13,942
even when we're like,

915
00:44:13,942 --> 00:44:15,300
"Okay, I'm not in total trauma land,"

916
00:44:15,300 --> 00:44:17,970
there's still a lot of
our lives that are like,

917
00:44:17,970 --> 00:44:20,691
I have to earn pleasure,
I have to earn rest,

918
00:44:20,691 --> 00:44:23,010
I have to do more for my community

919
00:44:23,010 --> 00:44:24,930
to get something good for myself.

920
00:44:24,930 --> 00:44:27,780
That's to me the unnatural
mythologies of capitalism.

921
00:44:27,780 --> 00:44:29,460
That's what we have bought into together,

922
00:44:29,460 --> 00:44:31,285
is like I have to earn education,

923
00:44:31,285 --> 00:44:32,635
I have to earn home,

924
00:44:32,635 --> 00:44:34,350
I have to earn food.

925
00:44:34,350 --> 00:44:36,300
Like, no, like, I'm a part of a community.

926
00:44:36,300 --> 00:44:38,357
That should all be part of what I receive.

927
00:44:38,357 --> 00:44:40,380
I also think pleasures to me

928
00:44:40,380 --> 00:44:42,300
at the same level as those things.

929
00:44:42,300 --> 00:44:44,836
So like when I'm like, "Oh,
what do I need to survive?"

930
00:44:44,836 --> 00:44:48,098
And Octavia showed that over
and over again, Octavia Butler,

931
00:44:48,098 --> 00:44:50,400
in her novels and her work.

932
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:51,960
Like, what do we actually need to survive?

933
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:55,800
It's not enough to just
have food if we're miserable

934
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,590
and shelter if we're
totally hating each other.

935
00:44:58,590 --> 00:44:59,423
There's something else.

936
00:44:59,423 --> 00:45:02,580
And almost every text that
she has, her characters,

937
00:45:02,580 --> 00:45:04,650
we're surviving apocalypse, of lovers.

938
00:45:04,650 --> 00:45:06,060
They have symbiotic communities

939
00:45:06,060 --> 00:45:07,983
that are giving and
taking care of each other.

940
00:45:07,983 --> 00:45:11,073
I think we're the same way
that we have to be doing that

941
00:45:11,073 --> 00:45:13,830
as a part of what survival even means.

942
00:45:13,830 --> 00:45:15,960
And how that connects
to political work for me

943
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:17,378
is there's this quote from Gracely Box

944
00:45:17,378 --> 00:45:19,020
who's one of my mentors that's,

945
00:45:19,020 --> 00:45:21,600
transformed yourself
to transform the world.

946
00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,510
That every oppression
of all these systems,

947
00:45:24,510 --> 00:45:26,760
they are constructed inside of us.

948
00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:30,630
And often, when we start our
work and we get politicized,

949
00:45:30,630 --> 00:45:33,690
we're like, "The bad
people are like over here."

950
00:45:33,690 --> 00:45:36,000
And we learn our organizing
by learning like,

951
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:39,239
who can we identify and point
to as the causers of harm?

952
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:41,820
And I love what Grace says

953
00:45:41,820 --> 00:45:43,440
as like this is our potential

954
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:44,850
for some radical responsibility.

955
00:45:44,850 --> 00:45:47,550
It's like, those front
lines are inside of us.

956
00:45:47,550 --> 00:45:48,937
And so again, it ties in, I'm like,

957
00:45:48,937 --> 00:45:51,630
"Oh, the front line is
inside of me for pleasure."

958
00:45:51,630 --> 00:45:52,463
Like, if I want all black women

959
00:45:52,463 --> 00:45:54,515
to be able to access pleasure,

960
00:45:54,515 --> 00:45:57,090
it really matters that
I'm experiencing pleasure.

961
00:45:57,090 --> 00:45:58,470
And actually that's been
an interesting thing

962
00:45:58,470 --> 00:46:00,090
as I've been touring this book,

963
00:46:00,090 --> 00:46:02,236
is I keep showing up to
events and I'm just like,

964
00:46:02,236 --> 00:46:05,320
I'm in a deeply fully satisfied life

965
00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,430
and it shows and you can feel it

966
00:46:08,430 --> 00:46:09,474
and keep that reflection.

967
00:46:09,474 --> 00:46:10,777
(indistinct) was like,

968
00:46:10,777 --> 00:46:12,627
"Wow, it's just amazing
to be a brown black woman

969
00:46:12,627 --> 00:46:14,280
and like free about her feelings."

970
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:16,123
And like that's not
orgasm stuff, you know.

971
00:46:16,123 --> 00:46:19,350
To me that is a huge portion
now of my political work,

972
00:46:19,350 --> 00:46:22,453
is to be a satisfied black
woman for people to see that.

973
00:46:22,453 --> 00:46:24,540
And I'm like, yes, I get angry,

974
00:46:24,540 --> 00:46:27,150
yes, I'm sad, yes, I feel
the full range of emotion.

975
00:46:27,150 --> 00:46:29,040
Fundamentally, when you ask me, I'm good.

976
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:31,230
I'm good because I made myself good.

977
00:46:31,230 --> 00:46:33,210
I'm good because I found
the right community

978
00:46:33,210 --> 00:46:34,043
to be around me,

979
00:46:34,043 --> 00:46:35,580
'cause I somehow dodged the bullet

980
00:46:35,580 --> 00:46:37,230
of like getting my life tied in

981
00:46:37,230 --> 00:46:39,216
with some patriarchal
like downfall of man.

982
00:46:39,216 --> 00:46:42,376
Like, I'm just like, good, right?

983
00:46:42,376 --> 00:46:43,560
I'm happy.

984
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:46,273
I feel like a lot of
people need to witness that

985
00:46:46,273 --> 00:46:49,200
and be that in their own communities.

986
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:52,800
And I like the idea of echo
chambers of transformation.

987
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,170
That it's like if mine sets off yours,

988
00:46:55,170 --> 00:46:56,880
just like mine was set
off by someone else,

989
00:46:56,880 --> 00:46:58,290
it's like someone else helped her.

990
00:46:58,290 --> 00:47:00,071
And like I love that idea that said,

991
00:47:00,071 --> 00:47:01,710
we just keep popping off

992
00:47:01,710 --> 00:47:04,590
until it becomes the
most compelling thing.

993
00:47:04,590 --> 00:47:06,630
You're so deeply requested

994
00:47:06,630 --> 00:47:09,060
that anyone experiencing
even a tiny bit of pleasure

995
00:47:09,060 --> 00:47:10,354
like, you were free, right?

996
00:47:10,354 --> 00:47:11,718
(audience laughing)

997
00:47:11,718 --> 00:47:13,907
You guys are laughing so hard.

998
00:47:13,907 --> 00:47:15,900
I'm like, "Am I on the wrong light?

999
00:47:15,900 --> 00:47:17,279
Am I in standup comedy?"

1000
00:47:17,279 --> 00:47:18,112
(audience laughing)

1001
00:47:18,112 --> 00:47:18,945
I think I might be.

1002
00:47:32,970 --> 00:47:34,680
[Lecturer] So what Adrienne Maree Brown

1003
00:47:34,680 --> 00:47:37,710
does so compellingly is teaches
us about that relationship

1004
00:47:37,710 --> 00:47:40,469
between the inner landscape
and the outer landscape,

1005
00:47:40,469 --> 00:47:42,844
and that when we are
meeting our own needs,

1006
00:47:42,844 --> 00:47:46,735
we are better prepared to notice spaces

1007
00:47:46,735 --> 00:47:49,620
where others are not
getting their needs met.

1008
00:47:49,620 --> 00:47:51,246
And this idea of pleasure activism

1009
00:47:51,246 --> 00:47:53,112
and finding pleasure within

1010
00:47:53,112 --> 00:47:56,296
so that we can create
more systems of thriving

1011
00:47:56,296 --> 00:47:59,520
and not just surviving
outside of ourselves.

1012
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:01,435
So I want us to take some time to review

1013
00:48:01,435 --> 00:48:05,610
how we cultivate wholeness,
how we cultivate resilience,

1014
00:48:05,610 --> 00:48:08,461
how we cultivate pleasure and
wellbeing inside of ourselves.

1015
00:48:08,461 --> 00:48:10,173
And again, this is review

1016
00:48:10,173 --> 00:48:12,674
of the emotional health and wellbeing,

1017
00:48:12,674 --> 00:48:15,964
but this idea that we can
actually cultivate responsiveness

1018
00:48:15,964 --> 00:48:20,310
and thriving and resilience
in our nervous systems.

1019
00:48:20,310 --> 00:48:23,280
And again, this is based
on some of the research

1020
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:25,680
on ecological resilience

1021
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:27,750
and seeing that human systems
and ecological systems

1022
00:48:27,750 --> 00:48:29,973
have very similar,

1023
00:48:31,169 --> 00:48:33,329
have things in common around their ability

1024
00:48:33,329 --> 00:48:34,737
to cultivate resilience.

1025
00:48:34,737 --> 00:48:35,670
And that ultimately,

1026
00:48:35,670 --> 00:48:40,670
it's a function of supporting
resistance of that system.

1027
00:48:41,129 --> 00:48:43,883
So the human body's
ability to remain the same

1028
00:48:43,883 --> 00:48:48,156
through a shock or following
a shock could be a stressor.

1029
00:48:48,156 --> 00:48:52,217
But also the adaptability
and the ability of the system

1030
00:48:52,217 --> 00:48:56,220
or your body to recover
function following a shock.

1031
00:48:56,220 --> 00:48:59,880
That ability to reset and
get back into thriving mode.

1032
00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:01,470
Because ultimately,

1033
00:49:01,470 --> 00:49:04,072
it's not about being in
thriving mode all the time.

1034
00:49:04,072 --> 00:49:05,854
We can't avoid stressors,

1035
00:49:05,854 --> 00:49:07,874
we can't avoid unexpected events,

1036
00:49:07,874 --> 00:49:11,580
but we can cultivate the
resilience of our system

1037
00:49:11,580 --> 00:49:14,880
to recover quickly and to sort of get back

1038
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:18,513
into thriving mode or responsive
mode following an event.

1039
00:49:19,650 --> 00:49:23,010
And ultimately, it's about
nourishment and strategies

1040
00:49:23,010 --> 00:49:25,650
or coping skills for restoring flow.

1041
00:49:25,650 --> 00:49:28,620
And from an herbal perspective,

1042
00:49:28,620 --> 00:49:30,739
we need to focus on
building and maintaining,

1043
00:49:30,739 --> 00:49:33,118
nourishing that foundation of wellness

1044
00:49:33,118 --> 00:49:35,340
to support an active and full life.

1045
00:49:35,340 --> 00:49:37,500
It's not about maintaining a foundation

1046
00:49:37,500 --> 00:49:38,985
of wellness to survive,

1047
00:49:38,985 --> 00:49:41,280
it's about maintaining
a foundation of wellness

1048
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:44,700
so that we can thrive
and have the fullness,

1049
00:49:44,700 --> 00:49:46,560
have like a vibrant life.

1050
00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:48,204
It's also cultivating skills

1051
00:49:48,204 --> 00:49:50,929
and those coping skills
that help us to restore flow

1052
00:49:50,929 --> 00:49:55,200
and allow us to experience
joy and connection

1053
00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:56,790
and get out of that trigger mode

1054
00:49:56,790 --> 00:49:58,590
that shuts us off from the love

1055
00:49:58,590 --> 00:50:02,037
and not getting stuck in
stress mode and survival mode

1056
00:50:02,037 --> 00:50:05,193
like so many of us have
become habituated to do.

1057
00:50:06,510 --> 00:50:08,250
So, the wellness foundation,

1058
00:50:08,250 --> 00:50:09,270
you've seen this before,

1059
00:50:09,270 --> 00:50:12,668
and to me it's ultimately
about what type of system

1060
00:50:12,668 --> 00:50:16,066
or how do you wanna manage
your system for productivity.

1061
00:50:16,066 --> 00:50:18,870
And again, this is using
the language of capitalism

1062
00:50:18,870 --> 00:50:20,820
because this is something
that is familiar to us.

1063
00:50:20,820 --> 00:50:23,058
But if you think about
your body as a commodity,

1064
00:50:23,058 --> 00:50:26,610
your body as a factory, your
body of producing something,

1065
00:50:26,610 --> 00:50:29,700
what type of cultivation
technique do you wanna use?

1066
00:50:29,700 --> 00:50:33,810
Do you want to use a sort of
intensive agricultural system

1067
00:50:33,810 --> 00:50:35,681
which is about rapid returns,

1068
00:50:35,681 --> 00:50:38,765
but ultimately there might be burnout?

1069
00:50:38,765 --> 00:50:41,159
Or do you wanna take more of a sustainable

1070
00:50:41,159 --> 00:50:45,480
agriculture approach, diversified,

1071
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:47,160
in line with the seasons,

1072
00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:51,600
more of an agroecological or
sustainable farming approach?

1073
00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:53,730
And I would argue that since many of us

1074
00:50:53,730 --> 00:50:55,650
have a lot of time on this earth,

1075
00:50:55,650 --> 00:50:59,010
we may want to try more
of a sustainable approach.

1076
00:50:59,010 --> 00:51:00,795
And that's certainly where more joy,

1077
00:51:00,795 --> 00:51:02,970
more attending to the rhythm,

1078
00:51:02,970 --> 00:51:06,750
and ultimately, there is
an extended productivity.

1079
00:51:06,750 --> 00:51:08,820
So it's more of an endurance approach

1080
00:51:08,820 --> 00:51:11,940
rather than the sprint
approach to getting energy out.

1081
00:51:11,940 --> 00:51:13,761
And this might be really hard
to hear as a college student

1082
00:51:13,761 --> 00:51:16,050
because ultimately,

1083
00:51:16,050 --> 00:51:20,670
the academic system is pretty much created

1084
00:51:20,670 --> 00:51:22,142
around a sprint mentality.

1085
00:51:22,142 --> 00:51:24,999
But I've also seen a lot
of burnout with that model

1086
00:51:24,999 --> 00:51:26,421
and within that system.

1087
00:51:26,421 --> 00:51:29,313
So it's something to be critical of.

1088
00:51:30,570 --> 00:51:32,084
And where do plant allies fit in

1089
00:51:32,084 --> 00:51:36,660
as far as supporting our
emotional resilience?

1090
00:51:36,660 --> 00:51:39,780
So some of the major classes
of herbs are the adaptogens,

1091
00:51:39,780 --> 00:51:42,902
as well as any herbs that help us digest

1092
00:51:42,902 --> 00:51:46,421
and help us rest and help us
connect with those around us.

1093
00:51:46,421 --> 00:51:49,530
All of the aspects of
the wellness foundation.

1094
00:51:49,530 --> 00:51:51,750
But the adaptogenic herbs are the ones

1095
00:51:51,750 --> 00:51:54,150
that really work at the
nervous system level

1096
00:51:54,150 --> 00:51:57,120
to nourish the adrenals
and protect our body

1097
00:51:57,120 --> 00:51:58,440
in terms of chronic stress

1098
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:00,825
and help us maintain that flexibility

1099
00:52:00,825 --> 00:52:03,939
and really build our
foundation for wellness

1100
00:52:03,939 --> 00:52:06,690
so that we can be resistant to stressors

1101
00:52:06,690 --> 00:52:08,280
as they come along.

1102
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:10,389
And then we also have
these aromatic nervines

1103
00:52:10,389 --> 00:52:11,790
such as lavender,

1104
00:52:11,790 --> 00:52:14,905
that really excel at
resetting our nervous system

1105
00:52:14,905 --> 00:52:16,860
out of stress mode.

1106
00:52:16,860 --> 00:52:18,240
Resetting our nervous system,

1107
00:52:18,240 --> 00:52:20,850
we get disconnected from our heart rate

1108
00:52:20,850 --> 00:52:23,404
or when our heart rate
variability goes down

1109
00:52:23,404 --> 00:52:25,921
in periods of chronic stress.

1110
00:52:25,921 --> 00:52:29,433
These are proven remedies for
resetting the nervous system.

1111
00:52:31,470 --> 00:52:33,008
And I also wanna comment about this idea

1112
00:52:33,008 --> 00:52:37,623
of challenge versus comfort,
challenge and support.

1113
00:52:38,813 --> 00:52:43,587
Resmaa Menakem says in
his On Being podcast,

1114
00:52:43,587 --> 00:52:46,837
which was assigned in the last module,

1115
00:52:46,837 --> 00:52:49,800
"Our nervous systems are in knots."

1116
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:50,633
And that's the piece

1117
00:52:50,633 --> 00:52:52,860
I'm trying to get people to understand,

1118
00:52:52,860 --> 00:52:54,870
specifically white people,

1119
00:52:54,870 --> 00:52:57,840
is that you're gonna have to
build culture and community

1120
00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:00,060
to be able to hold this.

1121
00:53:00,060 --> 00:53:02,640
Your niceness is inadequate to deal

1122
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:05,847
with the level of brutality
that has occurred."

1123
00:53:06,810 --> 00:53:09,030
And what I feel Resmaa is speaking to

1124
00:53:09,030 --> 00:53:13,590
is this intergenerational
trauma not just in our bodies,

1125
00:53:13,590 --> 00:53:15,510
but in the bodies of our community members

1126
00:53:15,510 --> 00:53:17,970
that may or may not look like us.

1127
00:53:17,970 --> 00:53:22,809
And there is a cultural
entitlement to comfort

1128
00:53:22,809 --> 00:53:26,010
that comes with whiteness.

1129
00:53:26,010 --> 00:53:30,870
So niceness is a way to achieve
a certain sense of comfort,

1130
00:53:30,870 --> 00:53:34,560
but it also is a way to avoid challenge.

1131
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:37,209
And I believe that privilege plus comfort

1132
00:53:37,209 --> 00:53:39,540
creates that white fragility,

1133
00:53:39,540 --> 00:53:42,505
which is problematic in any
sort of racial conversations,

1134
00:53:42,505 --> 00:53:44,640
but also when it comes to activism

1135
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:46,500
and challenging the status quo.

1136
00:53:46,500 --> 00:53:47,799
And then we get stagnation

1137
00:53:47,799 --> 00:53:51,180
because those with power and privilege

1138
00:53:51,180 --> 00:53:53,400
aren't wanting to engage with discomfort

1139
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:56,945
and the growth that comes
from engaging with discomfort.

1140
00:53:56,945 --> 00:54:00,572
And then we basically
maintain the status quo.

1141
00:54:00,572 --> 00:54:04,560
So it's about those of us in
power, those of us with power,

1142
00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:07,255
those of us who are
choosing to align with power

1143
00:54:07,255 --> 00:54:09,235
to get uncomfortable.

1144
00:54:09,235 --> 00:54:12,450
And this idea that deep lasting healing

1145
00:54:12,450 --> 00:54:16,050
really requires yin forms of activism.

1146
00:54:16,050 --> 00:54:20,070
So I shared in the herbal
justice that anti-racism work

1147
00:54:20,070 --> 00:54:21,930
is shadow work activism.

1148
00:54:21,930 --> 00:54:25,156
It's working on our inner fragmentation,

1149
00:54:25,156 --> 00:54:28,818
our inner triggers, to
address what's inside

1150
00:54:28,818 --> 00:54:31,170
so that the work that we do in the world

1151
00:54:31,170 --> 00:54:33,900
isn't informed from a triggered place,

1152
00:54:33,900 --> 00:54:34,890
but is actually informed

1153
00:54:34,890 --> 00:54:37,173
from an integrated and balanced place.

1154
00:54:38,970 --> 00:54:41,684
So cultivating resilience
is not just about comfort

1155
00:54:41,684 --> 00:54:45,060
and not just about seeking support.

1156
00:54:45,060 --> 00:54:47,481
Obviously, too much challenge
will hinder health and growth,

1157
00:54:47,481 --> 00:54:50,208
but too much comfort and support

1158
00:54:50,208 --> 00:54:53,550
also hinders health and resilience.

1159
00:54:53,550 --> 00:54:56,945
So being in an environment
that is safe and coddling

1160
00:54:56,945 --> 00:55:01,890
and not challenging can
actually be harmful as well.

1161
00:55:01,890 --> 00:55:03,896
And I believe that our bodies are made

1162
00:55:03,896 --> 00:55:06,000
and they're made to be shaped

1163
00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:07,260
through challenge and adversity,

1164
00:55:07,260 --> 00:55:08,973
they're made for growth.

1165
00:55:10,020 --> 00:55:11,887
And I really like this quote.

1166
00:55:11,887 --> 00:55:13,980
"Every time I witness a strong person,

1167
00:55:13,980 --> 00:55:18,630
I want to know: What darkness
did you conquer in your story?

1168
00:55:18,630 --> 00:55:22,350
Mountains do not rise
without earthquakes."

1169
00:55:22,350 --> 00:55:24,390
And this has been my experience too.

1170
00:55:24,390 --> 00:55:27,001
There's often a shaming of trauma

1171
00:55:27,001 --> 00:55:30,540
or a sense that we don't want to identify

1172
00:55:30,540 --> 00:55:32,100
with the more troubling or challenging

1173
00:55:32,100 --> 00:55:33,420
parts of our path,

1174
00:55:33,420 --> 00:55:35,844
but many of us will find that our gifts

1175
00:55:35,844 --> 00:55:39,540
and our contributions to society

1176
00:55:39,540 --> 00:55:42,270
come through the healing that occurs

1177
00:55:42,270 --> 00:55:44,190
when we go into that darkness.

1178
00:55:44,190 --> 00:55:46,500
And it may not be our own darkness,

1179
00:55:46,500 --> 00:55:49,323
it may be our ancestors'
darkness, for example.

1180
00:55:50,520 --> 00:55:52,777
And Rick Hanson again says,

1181
00:55:52,777 --> 00:55:56,040
"The goal is to learn
how to resource yourself

1182
00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:58,020
so that you can feel
compassionate and open

1183
00:55:58,020 --> 00:55:59,760
to the sorrows of the world

1184
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:02,257
without being overwhelmed by them."

1185
00:56:02,257 --> 00:56:06,000
And there is a way that we can,

1186
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:06,990
when we have privilege,

1187
00:56:06,990 --> 00:56:09,508
we can distance ourselves
from the sorrows of the world

1188
00:56:09,508 --> 00:56:12,600
because we have access to that comfort.

1189
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:16,529
And the challenge is
taking care of ourselves

1190
00:56:16,529 --> 00:56:19,590
in community as Resmaa Menakem says,

1191
00:56:19,590 --> 00:56:23,060
also with proper
nourishment, with resource,

1192
00:56:23,060 --> 00:56:26,460
so that we can show up for
that and stay connected

1193
00:56:26,460 --> 00:56:27,480
and feel the feelings

1194
00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:29,700
because until the feelings are felt,

1195
00:56:29,700 --> 00:56:33,270
then they can contribute to
that stagnation and the blockage

1196
00:56:33,270 --> 00:56:35,010
to actually moving towards healing

1197
00:56:35,010 --> 00:56:36,903
both individually and collectively.

1198
00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:40,020
And those coping skills.

1199
00:56:40,020 --> 00:56:43,199
Resetting ourselves to responsive
node are really important.

1200
00:56:43,199 --> 00:56:45,384
And I mentioned the aromatic nervines,

1201
00:56:45,384 --> 00:56:50,384
but mindfulness meditation,
walks in nature, yoga, exercise,

1202
00:56:51,117 --> 00:56:55,261
these are all strategies that
I hope you all have developed

1203
00:56:55,261 --> 00:56:59,291
and no one strategy is
better than the other.

1204
00:56:59,291 --> 00:57:01,546
Certainly thinking about
the the resource usage

1205
00:57:01,546 --> 00:57:04,170
of your strategies as
one is one consideration.

1206
00:57:04,170 --> 00:57:06,880
But finding what works for you

1207
00:57:06,880 --> 00:57:10,331
to shift yourself out of that
stuck in stress survival mode

1208
00:57:10,331 --> 00:57:12,692
so you can get back to thriving mode

1209
00:57:12,692 --> 00:57:14,730
is not only going to serve you,

1210
00:57:14,730 --> 00:57:17,611
but also serve the
projects and communities

1211
00:57:17,611 --> 00:57:20,283
and initiatives that you're working in.

1212
00:57:22,620 --> 00:57:25,703
So I wanna speak to transformative healing

1213
00:57:25,703 --> 00:57:28,740
and I wanna speak to
the power of sweetgrass

1214
00:57:28,740 --> 00:57:32,640
because Robin Wall Kimmerer
has been a companion to you all

1215
00:57:32,640 --> 00:57:36,651
throughout the course in her
book "Braiding Sweetgrass."

1216
00:57:36,651 --> 00:57:40,708
And I want to end with her comments

1217
00:57:40,708 --> 00:57:43,890
on transformative healing

1218
00:57:43,890 --> 00:57:48,720
through her passage in the
"Defeating Windigo" chapter.

1219
00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:51,213
So it's a little bit of
story time for you all.

1220
00:57:53,700 --> 00:57:56,793
So Robin Wall Kimmerer in the
"Defeating Windigo" chapter.

1221
00:57:57,697 --> 00:57:58,860
"In the spring,

1222
00:57:58,860 --> 00:58:01,980
I walk across the meadow
toward my medicine woods

1223
00:58:01,980 --> 00:58:03,450
where the plants give their gifts

1224
00:58:03,450 --> 00:58:05,910
with unstinting generosity.

1225
00:58:05,910 --> 00:58:08,820
It is mine, not by deed, but by care.

1226
00:58:08,820 --> 00:58:11,340
I've come here for
decades to be with them,

1227
00:58:11,340 --> 00:58:14,073
to listen, to learn and to gather.

1228
00:58:14,940 --> 00:58:17,940
The woods are adrift of white
trillium where the snow was,

1229
00:58:17,940 --> 00:58:19,860
but still I feel a chill.

1230
00:58:19,860 --> 00:58:22,080
The light is somehow different.

1231
00:58:22,080 --> 00:58:25,027
Across the ridge where
unrecognizable footprints

1232
00:58:25,027 --> 00:58:28,020
followed mine in last winter's blizzard,

1233
00:58:28,020 --> 00:58:30,750
I should have known
what those tracks meant.

1234
00:58:30,750 --> 00:58:31,800
Where they were,

1235
00:58:31,800 --> 00:58:34,770
I now find the deep
redded prints of trucks

1236
00:58:34,770 --> 00:58:36,750
headed across the fields.

1237
00:58:36,750 --> 00:58:40,050
The flowers are there as
they have been beyond memory,

1238
00:58:40,050 --> 00:58:41,970
but the trees are gone.

1239
00:58:41,970 --> 00:58:44,470
My neighbor brought in the
lagers over the winter.

1240
00:58:45,450 --> 00:58:47,670
There are so many ways
to harvest honorably,

1241
00:58:47,670 --> 00:58:49,830
but he chose otherwise,

1242
00:58:49,830 --> 00:58:51,420
leaving only diseased beech

1243
00:58:51,420 --> 00:58:54,600
and a few old hemlocks
worthless to the mill.

1244
00:58:54,600 --> 00:58:57,720
The trillium, bloodroot,
hepatica, bellwort,

1245
00:58:57,720 --> 00:59:00,300
trout Lilly, ginger, and wild leeks

1246
00:59:00,300 --> 00:59:02,626
are still smiling their
last into the spring sun,

1247
00:59:02,626 --> 00:59:04,821
which will burn them out when summer comes

1248
00:59:04,821 --> 00:59:07,530
to a forest without trees.

1249
00:59:07,530 --> 00:59:09,690
They trusted that the
maples would be there,

1250
00:59:09,690 --> 00:59:13,350
but the maples are gone,
and they trusted me.

1251
00:59:13,350 --> 00:59:15,029
Next year, this will all be brambles,

1252
00:59:15,029 --> 00:59:17,429
garlic mustard, and buckhorn,

1253
00:59:17,429 --> 00:59:21,570
the invasive species that
follow windigo footprints.

1254
00:59:21,570 --> 00:59:23,850
I fear that a world made of gifts

1255
00:59:23,850 --> 00:59:27,510
cannot coexist with a
world made of commodities.

1256
00:59:27,510 --> 00:59:29,939
I fear that I have no power to protect

1257
00:59:29,939 --> 00:59:32,403
what I love against the windigo.

1258
00:59:34,500 --> 00:59:37,500
I throw myself on the
ground pounding my fists

1259
00:59:37,500 --> 00:59:40,050
and grieving the assault
on my medicine woods.

1260
00:59:40,050 --> 00:59:42,471
I know how to defeat the monster,

1261
00:59:42,471 --> 00:59:45,360
or I don't know how to defeat the monster.

1262
00:59:45,360 --> 00:59:46,980
I have no arsenal of weapons,

1263
00:59:46,980 --> 00:59:48,300
no legions of fighters

1264
00:59:48,300 --> 00:59:51,060
like those who followed
Nanabozho into battle.

1265
00:59:51,060 --> 00:59:52,830
I am not a warrior.

1266
00:59:52,830 --> 00:59:54,360
I was raised by strawberries

1267
00:59:54,360 --> 00:59:56,703
who even now are budding at my feet amid.

1268
00:59:56,703 --> 00:59:59,605
Amid violets and yaro
and asters and golden rod

1269
00:59:59,605 --> 01:00:01,526
that are just emerging

1270
01:00:01,526 --> 01:00:04,443
and the blades of sweetgrass
shining in the sun.

1271
01:00:05,310 --> 01:00:08,253
In that moment, I know
that I am not alone.

1272
01:00:09,210 --> 01:00:11,400
I lie in the meadow surrounded by legions

1273
01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:13,470
who do stand with me.

1274
01:00:13,470 --> 01:00:16,350
I may not know what to do, but they do,

1275
01:00:16,350 --> 01:00:18,030
giving of their medicine gifts

1276
01:00:18,030 --> 01:00:20,853
as they always do to sustain the world.

1277
01:00:21,810 --> 01:00:24,990
We are not powerless against
the windigo, they say.

1278
01:00:24,990 --> 01:00:28,800
Remember that we already
have everything we need

1279
01:00:28,800 --> 01:00:30,843
and so we conspire.

1280
01:00:31,860 --> 01:00:33,480
When I get to my feet,

1281
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:35,100
Nanabozho has appeared beside me

1282
01:00:35,100 --> 01:00:38,001
with resolute eyes and a trickster grin.

1283
01:00:38,001 --> 01:00:41,070
'You have to think like the
monster to defeat him,' he says.

1284
01:00:41,070 --> 01:00:43,230
Like dissolves like.

1285
01:00:43,230 --> 01:00:45,210
He points with his eyes
to a line of dense shrubs

1286
01:00:45,210 --> 01:00:46,950
at the edge of the woods,

1287
01:00:46,950 --> 01:00:48,660
'Give him a taste of his own medicine,'

1288
01:00:48,660 --> 01:00:50,610
he says with a smirk.

1289
01:00:50,610 --> 01:00:52,260
He walks into the gray thicket

1290
01:00:52,260 --> 01:00:55,680
and laughter overtakes
him as he disappears.

1291
01:00:55,680 --> 01:00:58,080
I've never gathered buckthorn before.

1292
01:00:58,080 --> 01:01:00,660
The blue blackberries stain my fingers.

1293
01:01:00,660 --> 01:01:01,980
I've tried to stay away from it,

1294
01:01:01,980 --> 01:01:03,630
but it follows you.

1295
01:01:03,630 --> 01:01:06,930
It is a rampant invader
of disturbed places.

1296
01:01:06,930 --> 01:01:08,370
It takes over the forest,

1297
01:01:08,370 --> 01:01:10,773
starving other plants of light and space.

1298
01:01:11,670 --> 01:01:13,254
Buckthorne also poisons the soil

1299
01:01:13,254 --> 01:01:16,500
preventing the growth of
any species but itself.

1300
01:01:16,500 --> 01:01:18,900
Creating a floristic desert.

1301
01:01:18,900 --> 01:01:19,860
You have to acknowledge

1302
01:01:19,860 --> 01:01:22,590
that it's a win winner in the free market.

1303
01:01:22,590 --> 01:01:24,269
A success story built on efficiency,

1304
01:01:24,269 --> 01:01:28,020
monopoly, and the creation of scarcity.

1305
01:01:28,020 --> 01:01:30,218
It is a botanical
imperialist stealing land

1306
01:01:30,218 --> 01:01:32,133
from the native species.

1307
01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:35,760
I gather all summer
sitting with each species

1308
01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:37,255
that offers itself to the cause,

1309
01:01:37,255 --> 01:01:40,230
listening and learning its gifts.

1310
01:01:40,230 --> 01:01:42,273
I've always made teas for
cold, salves for skin,

1311
01:01:42,273 --> 01:01:44,730
but never this.

1312
01:01:44,730 --> 01:01:47,520
Making medicine is not undertaken lightly.

1313
01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:50,190
It is a sacred responsibility.

1314
01:01:50,190 --> 01:01:52,560
The beams and my house are
hung with drying plants,

1315
01:01:52,560 --> 01:01:55,260
shelves filled with
jars of roots and leaves

1316
01:01:55,260 --> 01:01:57,270
waiting for winter.

1317
01:01:57,270 --> 01:02:00,120
When it comes, I walk the
woods in my snowshoes,

1318
01:02:00,120 --> 01:02:03,360
leaving an unmistakable trail toward home.

1319
01:02:03,360 --> 01:02:06,210
A braid of sweetgrass hangs by my door.

1320
01:02:06,210 --> 01:02:08,725
The three shining strands
represent the unity of mind,

1321
01:02:08,725 --> 01:02:12,093
body, and spirit that makes us whole.

1322
01:02:13,080 --> 01:02:16,320
In the windigo, the braid is unraveled.

1323
01:02:16,320 --> 01:02:19,950
That is the disease that
drives him to destruction.

1324
01:02:19,950 --> 01:02:21,060
The braid reminds me

1325
01:02:21,060 --> 01:02:23,430
that when we braid the
hair of mother earth,

1326
01:02:23,430 --> 01:02:25,530
we remember all that is given to us

1327
01:02:25,530 --> 01:02:29,640
and our responsibility to care
for those gifts in return.

1328
01:02:29,640 --> 01:02:31,874
In this way, the gifts are
sustained and all are fed.

1329
01:02:31,874 --> 01:02:34,113
No one goes hungry.

1330
01:02:35,010 --> 01:02:37,650
Last night my house was
full of food and friends.

1331
01:02:37,650 --> 01:02:40,680
The laughter and light
spilling out on the snow.

1332
01:02:40,680 --> 01:02:42,660
I thought I saw him pass by the window,

1333
01:02:42,660 --> 01:02:44,370
gazing in with hunger.

1334
01:02:44,370 --> 01:02:48,270
But tonight I am alone
and the wind is rising.

1335
01:02:48,270 --> 01:02:49,648
I heft my cast iron kettle,

1336
01:02:49,648 --> 01:02:51,180
the biggest pot I have,

1337
01:02:51,180 --> 01:02:53,940
onto the stove and set the water to boil.

1338
01:02:53,940 --> 01:02:56,730
I add to it a good
handful of dried berries.

1339
01:02:56,730 --> 01:02:58,200
And then another.

1340
01:02:58,200 --> 01:03:00,360
The berries dissolved to a syrupy liquid,

1341
01:03:00,360 --> 01:03:02,220
blue, black and inky.

1342
01:03:02,220 --> 01:03:04,050
Remembering Nanabozhos' counsel,

1343
01:03:04,050 --> 01:03:06,753
I say a prayer and empty
in the rest of the jar.

1344
01:03:07,860 --> 01:03:09,030
Into a second pot,

1345
01:03:09,030 --> 01:03:10,938
I pour a pitcher of pure spring water,

1346
01:03:10,938 --> 01:03:12,688
and onto its surface,

1347
01:03:12,688 --> 01:03:14,848
I scatter a pinch of petals from one jar,

1348
01:03:14,848 --> 01:03:17,520
bark shreds from another,

1349
01:03:17,520 --> 01:03:20,010
all carefully chosen each to its purpose.

1350
01:03:20,010 --> 01:03:22,170
I add a length of root,

1351
01:03:22,170 --> 01:03:24,900
a handful of leaves, and
a spoonful of berries

1352
01:03:24,900 --> 01:03:27,930
to the golden tea tinged with rosy pink.

1353
01:03:27,930 --> 01:03:30,543
I let it simmer and sit
by the fire to wait.

1354
01:03:32,130 --> 01:03:33,822
The snow hisses against the window,

1355
01:03:33,822 --> 01:03:35,838
the wind moans in the trees.

1356
01:03:35,838 --> 01:03:37,800
He has come.

1357
01:03:37,800 --> 01:03:41,190
Followed my tracks home
just as I knew he would.

1358
01:03:41,190 --> 01:03:43,500
I put the sweetgrass in my pocket,

1359
01:03:43,500 --> 01:03:46,320
take a deep breath, and open the door.

1360
01:03:46,320 --> 01:03:47,820
I'm afraid to do this,

1361
01:03:47,820 --> 01:03:51,300
but more afraid of what
happens if I don't.

1362
01:03:51,300 --> 01:03:52,740
He looms above me,

1363
01:03:52,740 --> 01:03:56,250
wild red eyes blazing against
the hoarfrost of his face.

1364
01:03:56,250 --> 01:03:57,581
He bears his yellow fangs

1365
01:03:57,581 --> 01:03:59,947
and reaches for me with his bony hands.

1366
01:03:59,947 --> 01:04:01,856
My own hands tremble as I thrust

1367
01:04:01,856 --> 01:04:03,810
into his bloodstained fingers

1368
01:04:03,810 --> 01:04:06,780
a cup of scalding buckthorn tea.

1369
01:04:06,780 --> 01:04:08,100
He slurps it down at once

1370
01:04:08,100 --> 01:04:09,780
and starts to howl for more.

1371
01:04:09,780 --> 01:04:13,620
Devoured by the pain of
emptiness, he always wants more.

1372
01:04:13,620 --> 01:04:15,540
He pulls the whole iron kettle from me

1373
01:04:15,540 --> 01:04:16,795
and drinks it in greedy gulps,

1374
01:04:16,795 --> 01:04:21,240
the syrup freezing to his chin
and dripping black icicles.

1375
01:04:21,240 --> 01:04:23,880
Throwing the empty pot aside,
he reaches for me again,

1376
01:04:23,880 --> 01:04:26,257
but before his fingers
can surround my neck,

1377
01:04:26,257 --> 01:04:28,800
he turns from the door
and staggers backward

1378
01:04:28,800 --> 01:04:30,063
out onto the snow.

1379
01:04:30,930 --> 01:04:34,830
I see him doubled over,
overcome with violent retching.

1380
01:04:34,830 --> 01:04:36,960
The carrion stench of his breath

1381
01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:38,730
mixes with the wreak of shit

1382
01:04:38,730 --> 01:04:41,400
as the buckthorn loosens his bowels.

1383
01:04:41,400 --> 01:04:44,040
A small dose of buckthorn is a laxative,

1384
01:04:44,040 --> 01:04:46,080
a strong dose is a purgative,

1385
01:04:46,080 --> 01:04:48,423
and the whole kettle, antiemetic.

1386
01:04:48,423 --> 01:04:50,130
It is windigo nature.

1387
01:04:50,130 --> 01:04:51,600
He wanted every last drop,

1388
01:04:51,600 --> 01:04:54,282
so now he is vomiting up
coins and coal slurry,

1389
01:04:54,282 --> 01:04:56,325
clumps of sawdust from my woods,

1390
01:04:56,325 --> 01:05:00,810
clots of tar sand and the
little bones of birds.

1391
01:05:00,810 --> 01:05:05,220
He spews salve waste, gags
on an entire oil slick.

1392
01:05:05,220 --> 01:05:07,920
When he's done, his
stomach continues to heave,

1393
01:05:07,920 --> 01:05:11,343
but all that comes up is the
thin liquid of loneliness.

1394
01:05:12,210 --> 01:05:14,040
He lies spent in the snow,

1395
01:05:14,040 --> 01:05:15,930
a stinking carcass,

1396
01:05:15,930 --> 01:05:18,123
but still dangerous when
the hunger rises to fill

1397
01:05:18,123 --> 01:05:20,250
the new emptiness.

1398
01:05:20,250 --> 01:05:22,007
I run back in the house for the second pot

1399
01:05:22,007 --> 01:05:24,000
and carry it to his side

1400
01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:26,520
where the snow has melted around him.

1401
01:05:26,520 --> 01:05:28,944
His eyes are glazed over, but
I hear his stomach rumble.

1402
01:05:28,944 --> 01:05:32,580
So I hold the cup to his lips.

1403
01:05:32,580 --> 01:05:35,430
He turns his head away
as if it were poison.

1404
01:05:35,430 --> 01:05:37,980
I take a sip to reassure him,

1405
01:05:37,980 --> 01:05:41,160
and because he's not the
only one who needs it,

1406
01:05:41,160 --> 01:05:44,040
I feel the medicine standing beside me.

1407
01:05:44,040 --> 01:05:45,450
And then he drinks,

1408
01:05:45,450 --> 01:05:49,050
just a sip at a time
of the golden pink tea,

1409
01:05:49,050 --> 01:05:51,810
tea of willow to quell the fever of want

1410
01:05:51,810 --> 01:05:53,583
and strawberries to mend the heart.

1411
01:05:54,600 --> 01:05:56,680
With the nourishing broth
of the three sisters

1412
01:05:56,680 --> 01:05:58,828
and infused with savory wild leeks,

1413
01:05:58,828 --> 01:06:02,340
the medicines enter his bloodstream.

1414
01:06:02,340 --> 01:06:05,820
White pine for unity, justice from pecans,

1415
01:06:05,820 --> 01:06:08,160
the humility of spruce roots.

1416
01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:10,740
He drinks down the
compassion of witch hazel,

1417
01:06:10,740 --> 01:06:14,370
the respect of sea cedars,
a blessing of silver bells,

1418
01:06:14,370 --> 01:06:17,370
all sweetened with the maple of gratitude.

1419
01:06:17,370 --> 01:06:20,940
You can't know reciprocity
until you know the gift.

1420
01:06:20,940 --> 01:06:22,833
He is helpless before their power.

1421
01:06:23,910 --> 01:06:27,810
His head falls back,
leaving the cup still full.

1422
01:06:27,810 --> 01:06:29,730
He closes his eyes.

1423
01:06:29,730 --> 01:06:32,910
There's just one more
part of the medicine.

1424
01:06:32,910 --> 01:06:34,740
I am no longer afraid.

1425
01:06:34,740 --> 01:06:38,700
I sit down beside him on
the newly greening grass.

1426
01:06:38,700 --> 01:06:42,570
'Let me tell you a story,' I
say, as the ice melts away.

1427
01:06:42,570 --> 01:06:44,776
She fell like a maple seed,

1428
01:06:44,776 --> 01:06:47,217
(indistinct) wedding from the autumn sky."

1429
01:06:55,230 --> 01:06:57,360
So what I hope you gather from the story,

1430
01:06:57,360 --> 01:06:59,403
there's so many layers to it,

1431
01:07:00,270 --> 01:07:03,027
but that the knowing of what ourselves

1432
01:07:03,027 --> 01:07:04,918
and our community needs is in us,

1433
01:07:04,918 --> 01:07:08,700
with support of these plant allies.

1434
01:07:08,700 --> 01:07:10,920
And Robin Wall Kimmerer also says

1435
01:07:10,920 --> 01:07:13,471
that many indigenous people
share the understanding

1436
01:07:13,471 --> 01:07:16,209
that we are each endowed
with a particular gift,

1437
01:07:16,209 --> 01:07:18,450
a unique ability.

1438
01:07:18,450 --> 01:07:19,800
It is understood that these gifts

1439
01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:21,150
have a dual nature, though,

1440
01:07:21,150 --> 01:07:24,420
a gift is also a responsibility.

1441
01:07:24,420 --> 01:07:26,034
Asking what is our responsibility

1442
01:07:26,034 --> 01:07:29,910
is perhaps also to ask what is our gift

1443
01:07:29,910 --> 01:07:31,353
and how shall we use it.

1444
01:07:33,300 --> 01:07:35,400
So my hope is that through the guidance

1445
01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:38,400
of the lectures and the
readings and the authors

1446
01:07:38,400 --> 01:07:42,060
and the videos and my
words and the plants,

1447
01:07:42,060 --> 01:07:44,940
that you all have started
to get a clearer sense

1448
01:07:44,940 --> 01:07:46,710
of what your gift is.

1449
01:07:46,710 --> 01:07:48,630
Perhaps you came in knowing what it is,

1450
01:07:48,630 --> 01:07:50,601
and so you're further honing it

1451
01:07:50,601 --> 01:07:52,740
or you're still exploring.

1452
01:07:52,740 --> 01:07:55,419
And I hope that you'll
continue to share with me

1453
01:07:55,419 --> 01:07:59,340
and with your communities
what those gifts are

1454
01:07:59,340 --> 01:08:01,440
for the world that really needs us

1455
01:08:01,440 --> 01:08:06,440
to step into our thriving
and heal together.

1456
01:08:08,760 --> 01:08:11,640
I'm gonna end with this
quote from Guido Mase,

1457
01:08:11,640 --> 01:08:15,300
who certainly started me
on my journey in many ways.

1458
01:08:15,300 --> 01:08:16,133
Guido says,

1459
01:08:16,133 --> 01:08:18,415
"I have great faith in the
power of herbal medicine

1460
01:08:18,415 --> 01:08:20,490
to heal not only people,

1461
01:08:20,490 --> 01:08:23,670
but also culture, species and ecology.

1462
01:08:23,670 --> 01:08:25,200
It's really pretty simple:

1463
01:08:25,200 --> 01:08:27,060
we need plants in our lives,

1464
01:08:27,060 --> 01:08:29,100
even only a little bit.

1465
01:08:29,100 --> 01:08:31,499
And once their green tendrils
begin to grow in our hearts,

1466
01:08:31,499 --> 01:08:34,020
like the first pea vines of spring,

1467
01:08:34,020 --> 01:08:35,790
there is no turning back.

1468
01:08:35,790 --> 01:08:38,877
Thank goodness, thank greenness."

1469
01:08:40,770 --> 01:08:42,930
So I wanna close this lecture

1470
01:08:42,930 --> 01:08:45,270
with a bit of, sorry, not sorry,

1471
01:08:45,270 --> 01:08:47,850
because I imagine that there are some ways

1472
01:08:47,850 --> 01:08:51,450
that the plants have
gotten into your hearts

1473
01:08:51,450 --> 01:08:55,890
and you found your passion in
this exploration of plants.

1474
01:08:55,890 --> 01:08:59,517
And I hope that you'll
continue to share your journey

1475
01:08:59,517 --> 01:09:00,960
and your curiosity with me,

1476
01:09:00,960 --> 01:09:04,590
even as this course comes to a close.

1477
01:09:04,590 --> 01:09:07,590
And I just wanna thank you
all for your commitment

1478
01:09:07,590 --> 01:09:09,450
to learning and curiosity,

1479
01:09:09,450 --> 01:09:11,691
and also showing up for the challenge

1480
01:09:11,691 --> 01:09:14,280
that a lot of this course material

1481
01:09:14,280 --> 01:09:15,993
may have brought up in you.