40 Nature Communication as Cultural Repair with Saskia von Diest

Humans and Earth

Dr. Saskia von Diest has been communicating with various forms of nature for the last ten years, much of which she spent researching how intuitive interspecies communication can be used in agriculture. She holds a PhD in plant pathology from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and her research has investigated subtle agricultural techniques and technologies that use sound, electromagnetics, catalytic substances and human intuitive abilities in decision making on farms. In 2021, she founded Ecofluency to consult, teach, and facilitate nature communication. As a South African of Caucasian and Indian descent, she is committed to healing the internal, ancestral and socio-cultural damage that privilege, sexism and racism cause in the world through her work of helping people connect to their more-than-human relations in the natural world. Find her at www.ecofluency.org

Hear us discuss:

• Saskia’s definition of Ecofluency as “the science, the art, and the magic of communicating with nature” in ways that benefit all beings.
• Saskia's discovery: “I’ve not met a single person who can’t do it: it’s just a matter of willingness…all of us are born with this ancient skill of two-way dialogue with more-than-human nature.” Our intuitive abilities are just as much a part of us as our physical senses.
• How to have a collaborative and respectful conversation with an other-than-human being with Saskia's signature focus on ethics, boundaries, and safety for all participants.
• The support a person can gain from communicating with other-than-human beings, who often are “bigger, older, wiser, stronger, cleverer, and kinder” than we are and very willing to uphold us in our growth and contributions. The first insight she gained when she first experienced nature communication was “I don’t have to feel alone anymore.”
• Nature communication invites stepping away from the over-stimulation of our world, calming your nervous system, and allowing yourself to lean on powers that are greater than your conscious self. Nature communication is grounding and centering as it connects you to the network of life, which can feel especially good if you are experiencing loneliness.
• How hearing nature’s voices can alleviate your pain about the state of things in our world.
• How nature communication carried her through a spiritual/mental health crisis, and how it is an act of cultural repair.

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