Start / SOUNDFOOD / Flora fauna forest communing with plants and the restorative powers of the earth with molly helfend

FLORA, FAUNA, FOREST: Communing with Plants and the Restorative Powers of the Earth with Molly Helfend

93 min • 3 juni 2021

Today’s episode is humming with knowledge, living nutrients, ecology and joy.

We welcome interdisciplinary healer and ally of the natural world, Molly Helfend. Originally from the Santa Monica Mountains, she now calls the cliffs of New Zealand home but makes Nature itself her official residence. Her commitment to mother earth began at a young age: protesting the Keystone XL pipeline and interning with Greenpeace and working with Rainforest Action Network to develop campaigns against palm oil plantations in the Sumatran Rainforest. Later, Molly’s environmental work and activism took a serendipitous turn into ethnobotany, herbalism, and education.

Molly now works across the globe as an ethnobotanist, herbalist, natural health practitioner, creative, content director, visual artist, educator, world traveler and writer. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Holistic Health from the University of Vermont, Masters of Science in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent, and researched her Masters thesis in New Zealand studying the correlation between the Maori concept Kaitiakitanga translated as “guardianship of nature and plant life”. She has endeavored to embody that philosophy in her work as a herbalist and naturopath, as well as in her personal life, while maintaining a commitment to indigenous cultural competency and responsibility.

In our conversation, Molly graciously opens up to us about intimate, life changing experiences such as fighting a parasite she developed from the Cook Islands and experiencing copper poisoning from an IUD that led her on a healing journey working with natural remedies. These experiences have inspired her to educate others on all the powers of plants, herbs, and holistic medicine. She shares her insights with us in an open, transparent and informative dialogue that reminds us of our innate interconnectedness with Earth and the healing potential within the ecological lens. Thank you Molly for sharing your wisdom and light with us!

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Infinite gratitude!

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