About

Throughout my life, nature has been my greatest teacher. One of my earliest memories involves standing on the edge of a great forest while visiting my grandparents in Norway and feeling the irresistible draw of the woods and mountains filling me with an intense longing and desire. I knew instinctively there were hidden treasures and mysteries waiting to be discovered. Much of my childhood was spent in the woods, playing, observing, discovering and forming deep relationships with the plant, animal and elemental beings.

As a trained medical herbalist, medical doctor and dabbler in permaculture I continue to learn from the natural world. I see no distinction between marveling at the microscopic structure of a retinal cell, the beautiful hidden internal universe of the human body when exposed during surgery, the functioning of the mind and psyche and the complexity of the wild woods, mountains or the cherry tree outside of my innercity office window. All represent the macrocosm of life on Earth within their microcosm and all are connected. We are part of that interconnected web of being too! I have seen how remembering and reconnecting with this basic truth can help people to improve their sense of wellbeing and belonging. We are not separate from nature - we are nature.

In my personal life, I have encountered many difficulties with feelings of separateness, loneliness and disconnection from the human world, sometimes to the point of wondering if I belonged here at all. Learning how to take these feelings to nature and how to use the container of ritual and ceremony I have found solace, answers and healing. The natural world is a mirror in which we can learn to see ourselves clearly and find belonging and grace. With this rootedness in the Earth as our foundation, we are better placed to connect with others.

Since going to medical school 15 years ago I have often felt I am living a double life, hiding this aspect of myself from most other people. Sneaking aspects of it into my clinical practice such as incorporating a focus on nature into mindfulness-based cognitive psychotherapy groups I co-facilitated for people with depression.

Over the years incorporating these little aspects of nature-based wisdom stopped being enough as I too often felt divided trying to operate holistically within a reductionist model. The time now feels right for me to share what I have learned in a more open way, not as a medical doctor or a herbalist or a fledgling permaculturalist, but just as a human being who has accumulated these different experiences and knowledge, in the hope it might help others too.