Connecting with Plants, Trusting Your Intuition, and Finding Healing with Lauren Almquist

What if the plants around you are trying to talk to you—and all you need to do is trust yourself enough to listen?

In this heart-centered episode of The Herbalist’s Path, I chat with Lauren Almquist of HeartSpace Herbals & Garden Design about the deeply personal and transformative journey of connecting with plants. From childhood rose water magic to calming the mind with Blue Vervain, Lauren shares her path and reminds us that you don’t have to “know it all” to be an herbalist—you just have to show up with curiosity, presence, and love.

🌿You’ll hear:

03:00 – Lauren’s first memory of plant magic 
07:00 – The big question: when do you get to call yourself an herbalist?
18:00 – How Lauren helps people connect with plants & trust their intuition
29:00 – Why Blue Vervain is Lauren’s go-to plant for quieting mental chatter
35:00 – Tips for growing Blue Vervain in your garden
36:00 – What to expect inside the Healing Power of Plants Summit
40:30 – Lauren’s parting words of wisdom that every plant lover needs to hear

🎧 Listen in and remember: you matter. Your voice matters. And the plants are listening too.

Get your free ticket to the Healing Power Of Plants Summit here: https://www.healingherb

If you’ve been dabbling in herbal medicine and now your friends and coworkers come to you for their health woes…
It might be time to take the next step on the herbalist’s path and become the confident community herbalist they already see you as.💚

Feeling the call? Reach out and let’s chat to see if the Community Herbalist Certification Program is right for you!🌿

Allergy Season BITES! But with WishGarden Herbs Kick As* Allergy, it's a lot cooler!
They've blended the best herbs to help get rid of those itchy watery eyes, the sneezing, the coughing, and the wheezing, so you can go outside, and enjoy Spring again! Head to this link, and use code: ALLERGY20 for 20% off Kick As* Allergy products from WishGarden Herbs!

Chapters

• 2:25 Welcome to The Herbalist Path
• 4:51 Lauren's Journey to Herbalism
• 8:49 When Can You Call Yourself an Herbalist?
• 17:24 Discovering Plants' Healing Properties
• 23:03 Connecting with Plant Consciousness
• 33:23 Blue Vervain: A Plant Everyone Should Know
• 41:00 The Healing Power of Plants Summit
• 48:21 Final Wisdom and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:34

Hello and welcome to the Herbalist Path, a podcast where you'll discover how to make your own herbal remedies at home so that you can take better care of yourself, better care of your family and better care of our planet. I'm Mel. I'm a clinical herbalist, environmental educator and mountain-l living mama with this crazy passion for teaching more mamas and their little loves how to use plants as medicine in a safe, effective and tasty way, so that there can be an herbalist in every home. Again, it's an absolute honor to have you on the journey down the herbalist path with me, so that together we can make herbalism Hashtag spread like wildflowers. Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode on the herbalist path.

Speaker 1: 2:32

I am really, really delighted and excited to bring today's guest to you. Her name is Lauren Almquist from HeartSpace Herbals and Garden Design, so, as you might guess, she is a fellow herbalist and she has this great passion for deepening the connection and the communication between people and plants, which I think is so beautiful and, of course, can go into gardening as well. She's also the host of the Healing Power of Plants Summit coming up very soon after this episode, so I will be sure to link to that in there, because there's some amazing people she has brought together to help you deepen your connection to plants. So anyways, lauren, I'm super excited about our chat today and to get to know you more through this episode. Welcome.

Speaker 2: 3:29

Thank you so much, Mel. I'm super duper excited to be here and to talk with you again.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Yeah, I know I loved having our interview together for the summit and I'm super excited for my turn to get to interview you. So let's start it off. I would love to hear a little bit about little Lauren, and or maybe she was big, full grown Lauren, I don't know but when you first started to feel a connection with plants yourself?

Speaker 2: 4:00

That's a great question. So little, lauren, as I think many little ones do. I definitely felt a connection with plants pretty early on again, as I think, as most kids do kids do and I do have a memory, a distinct memory, of receiving a bottle of rose water and it was in this blue bottle and I remember if I get like chills now just thinking about it I remember it was like my special potion and it like just had this visceral, you know, effect on me, like I would smell it and again it just felt magical. And you know, my grandfather helped me create a garden of vegetables, some herbs, but like helped me show, showed me how to grow, but it wasn't really until I would say, well, in my adolescence I'll start here too In my adolescence I had a lot of health issues, mental health issues, physical health issues, just a lot of issues, and so I think then that piqued my curiosity in all kinds of healing.

Speaker 2: 5:07

So you know Western medicine, but also what are the alternatives, what are natural ways of healing, what are ways of healing that don't involve, you know, either pharmaceuticals or you know doctor's visits, things like that, like what, what is possible? So that's really when I started looking at. You know I had a lot of herbalism books or books on natural healing and things like that. So I was always drawn to sort of self-taught. I taught myself a lot of herbal remedies and things like that.

Speaker 2: 5:36

And then as a adult I was drawn to this event in my area called Herbstock and I was clicking on like someone sent it to me and I was clicking on a few links and then I came to the Gaia school for natural healing and it's in Vermont and I live in Boston and I just knew that was my place.

Speaker 2: 6:02

And that's when I started formally, if you will, studying herbalism and I apprenticed there. I did three rounds of apprenticeship up there in Vermont with Sage and that was really the beginning of kind of the formal, if you will, formal and just the initiation I felt like into really having like following this calling and starting to call myself an herbalist. You know that was its own journey, but that's that's really how it started. And then I just haven't looked back. And then a few years into that journey I started growing herbs and then that just became this huge thing that I'm still growing herbs and just knowing and growing herbs is what I love to do and, like you said thank you for saying that at the beginning facilitating that connection between people and plants.

Speaker 1: 6:55

Yeah, that connection piece is so important and I absolutely want to talk about it in this chat that we're going to have.

Speaker 1: 7:02

But I also want to just backtrack on a lot of what you said with grabbing all of the books and being self taught, and that's certainly how I began, as well as a teenager like hold on, there's other things that I can do, and all the different natural healing modalities. At that point I never even realized they were such a thing as being an herbalist, you know. But I was like really curious about the things. And then you brought up the piece on, like when I became or could call myself an herbalist, and I think that this is a big topic. I was actually having this discussion with another future podcast guest who is a doctor of chiropractic, but she also specializes in healing the gut microbiome and uses herbs in that process, and she's like I don't know if I can call myself an herbalist, and so I just want to hear from you like a little riff on that, like when you finally get to that point, when you're like no, I'm an herbalist, yes, I've made it to herbalist status.

Speaker 2: 8:07

Yeah, it's such a great question. I agree it's a huge topic because it was a big deal. It didn't just happen, I didn't just start, you know, even even I think it was probably a good few years into my apprenticeship. So not year one, not even year two. Maybe the end of year two, beginning of year three are, you know, the teacher, the mentor, really encouraged us to call ourselves herbalist or to own you know what we were learning and experiencing and I think it took me a while to really feel comfortable using that title. And yeah, it's such a great, a great question Because, also, I mean there's so much information out there now that you know a lot of people can learn things and I mean they could call themselves herbalists, I think it's it's just so unique to each person.

Speaker 2: 9:07

But I think I think it took me a good several years. And then I think, when I just like looking back, like now I just know in my bones I'm an herbalist. I have so much more to learn there's. I mean I will always be learning forever. And I think there was this feeling maybe before and I don't know if other people have this of like I don't know enough, I'm not, I haven't studied enough to be an herbalist and, yeah, I think just after a certain point, especially just after years of working with herbs and then growing them and just being with them all the time, I'm just like, yeah, that's a facet of my identity. It's not only who I am, but it's definitely a part of my identity that I feel comfortable with.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Yeah, I really resonate with so much of what you said, because I also had a hard time of accepting the title, like it was this great honor for me to be like I yes, I'm, I'm an herbalist, you know, and of course I I it was well after I'd done many years of self study and then gone into more formal study and I'm like, wait, am I one? And it's really interesting to hear you having a similar perspective and holding that title in such an honorary space. And yet you know, the mom who's at home using time in her tea to help her kid with a cold is also a nerbalist. So it's, it is really unique to everybody. And I'm just kind of I'm just casual conversation, you and I trying to hash that out, like what makes that be this? Like trying to hash that out, like what makes that be this, like, oh, I'm an herbalist.

Speaker 2: 11:03

You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, Well, yeah, To follow up on what you were talking about. So I think in, you know, in many cultures, people just it's not a separate thing, it's not like, oh, I go to this person and they are an herbalist and a lot of cultures, it's just part of what people do and I think. So I do think like, maybe like Western cultures is we get a little confused with titles and what does that mean? And so one thing I was thinking as you were talking was there are many different kinds of herbalists, Like and I think sometimes people don't know that. They might, especially people not in this world. They might think, well, if you say I'm an herbalist, it means a very specific thing, but there's, I mean. So, for example, like I am not a clinical herbalist, I've done consultations and I can make some recommendations or I have, I probably could, but that's not my practice. I'm not.

Speaker 2: 12:01

If someone came to me and this has happened someone came to me and they had a really complex problem that they wanted to use herbs with, I might give some thoughts on nourishing herbs to support them, but then I would probably refer them to a clinical herbalist that has a practice like that. I consider myself more of a, you know, community herbalist. I'm, you know, out there helping people in the garden or just again, very like accessible, nourishing food, like herbs that support us that are not, you know, aren't complicated, you know, cause it can get very complicated but it doesn't have to be so. And then again, and then you have folks like you're talking about just herbal, not just, but simply they're in their kitchen and they know what herbs to use, what plants, what remedies you know in their family to to use, and they are also herbalists. So yeah, this is a great, great question, A great conversation for sure.

Speaker 1: 13:01

Yeah, absolutely, and there's no true answer. You know, just like you're saying, there's so many different paths of herbalism, like being one to grow the herbs, the farmers and the home growers and the moms who are just healing their family naturally, and you know all of those kinds of things. So, yeah, it is a fun question and you know, it's one that I think will be continued to be talked about for many, many, many years to come. Absolutely, so I would love to hear a little bit, like as you started discovering and going beyond, like the vegetables your grandpa taught you to grow and things like that, when did you start to see that these plants actually had healing properties?

Speaker 2: 13:52

And yeah, and yeah, yeah, that's such a good question, I think. So some things that come to mind are like I just have this memory, this very vivid memory. This is kind of a food herb, but garlic, for example garlic is an epic medicinal herb, by the the way.

Speaker 1: 14:15

I know.

Speaker 2: 14:16

I know Don't downplay it, no, but it's incredible. And I think I was someone that would get, you know, recurring colds and sore throats and just kind of like almost chronically sick. I felt like I could I guess I could drop of a hat and it was really frustrating. And I remember working with garlic because of things I had read and different ways of taking it, and I found that I learned to use and take it in in a way to prevent me from getting sick, like if I started to feel sick I would start to ingest garlic. And I felt in my bones the difference, like I felt it really stop and turn around my you know, oncoming infections or whatever they were, and to me, like that was incredible, it was like finding the cure to the common cold. I felt like, you know, it was unbelievable to me and I mean so that's like one very vivid, vivid example.

Speaker 2: 15:18

And then the other thing I think about or that comes to mind again is that is the rose and I don't know if I put together, if I was conscious of this, but like, looking back, I I see that connection that I had with Rose very early on and how it made me feel it may.

Speaker 2: 15:40

I mean, it showed up. It made me feel calm, protected, special, magical. And you know, again, I don't think I noticed at that time, oh, here's a plant and it's helping me feel this way. But when I think about back and think about you know, I had a lot of anxiety as a child, you know, even as an adult, anxiety, depression, like all this kind of like, kind of heavy things. And to look back and remember like, oh, but there was this plant in you know, this rose water that just lifted me up and I think of that often now. It's still a very strong memory, you know, in my adult life, going back to when I was probably like seven or eight at that time. So that also really comes through as just a very, very deep experience of the plants healing or providing that deep nourishment and support.

Speaker 1: 16:36

I love that and I love how you mentioned like the rose of being a protector of you when you're dealing with the anxiety and things like that, and I just think about the thorns on the rose shrubbery protecting it and like how beautiful that is. I love that and do you find yourself still having such a deep relationship with Rose now as a grown woman?

Speaker 2: 16:58

Yes, 100%. I often have Rose paddles with me. I often sprinkle them on top of my tea I did right before this conversation. I bring them on workshops. I definitely have that connection with Rose, I think too, and I teach on it too.

Speaker 2: 17:16

I bring it into some of my workshops and I'll talk about Rose and it's interesting because sometimes people will say, oh yeah, you know, I, I never really you know Rose. It's almost so cliche like, oh yeah, rose is Rose love. Valentine's day it's become very commodified and and you know, in our culture and I love exploring like beyond that, like I get that you know. And yeah, rose love, but like that, that, those boundaries, the protection of the thorns and the fierceness, like I always think of roses, like this very soft, loving plant and an incredibly strong and protective, wonderful plant. And and then and then the love. I mean all kinds of love. It's not just romantic love, it's self-love, it's friendship love, it's love for people. That maybe piss you off finding some kind of love. It's going to look different, but but yeah, so so yeah, rose is definitely with me all the time.

Speaker 1: 18:21

I love that and I love love. So that's really beautiful. Um, I have you ever heard of the book of birthdays? No, it's a fun little astrology book and, like you can go on your whole, like your specific birthday and my day is the day of high romance and in it it describes like it's not just like the romantic love affair with your partner or partners, but it's the romance of mother nature and the romance of travel and like all of the things.

Speaker 1: 18:52

So that's what I thought of when you were like not just that love, but like all of the things. So that's what I thought of when you were like not just that love, but like all the love. Yeah, so many different loves to have and share. That is really, really beautiful. And as I listened to you speak about the energies of Rose from such deep personal experience and connection with that plant, and knowing that you really do such great work in helping facilitate that connection between people and plants, I'd love to just hear a little bit about like what does that mean and what does that look like?

Speaker 2: 19:31

Yes, thank you for that question, and it's often difficult to put into words or to answer. I will surely attempt to answer. You've done a great job so far. Learn, start to learn to trust our, our own experience. And well, trust our own experience, trust ourselves. And why?

Speaker 2: 20:00

Why I bring that in now is because it the connection between a person and a plant, or people and plants, is so individual, and so I can't tell someone you need to connect to this plan and this is how you do it. I can support someone in what they're feeling, the nudges they're feeling, support someone in like, yeah, listen to that, what did you hear? What did you feel? What did you see? What are you feeling? What sensations are you feeling in your body? So I mean, the connection with plants is so individual and so for me, like helping people you know, helping people have that connection or deepen that connection or develop that relationship, is really a lot about encouraging, supporting and really encouraging folks to be present. Number one observe themselves and the plant, or in their sensations. If the plant is not physically present, because you know, we're also talking about the energetic level and sometimes it may not be physically present and again it really looks different for everyone. So so the trust piece is a is a big thing, and I think for me, why I always kind of come back to this connection, this relationship, is I often liken it to. Well, it's a little bit like people, right, so like you can meet someone for the first time, let's say, and maybe you might feel an instant connection. You're like, oh, my God, like I feel, like I've known you all my life and you might. You might feel like that and you might meet another person and be like I don't know, like I'm not quite sure, I don't, I don't really know how to relate to this person, or we didn't really have a lot in common. And what's interesting is that I feel like plants are very similar.

Speaker 2: 22:04

And then it's also like, if you keep coming back to the plant like I never say like, oh well, I don't connect with that plant, so I'm never going to connect with it. Like I'm like, oh, I don't connect with this plant right now. Or you know, I'm, I'm really feeling um into this plant, um, and like that's the only plan I'm ever going to feel connected to. It's like, it's like a moment by moment exploration. That's why it's also so fun. That's why it's also so rewarding because it's it's ever expanding. I'm never going to know all the plants I mean I wish, but like I'm never going to know all the plants I mean I wish, but like, yeah, so there's that, there's that piece, and then so it's very similar to people and relationships.

Speaker 2: 22:43

And then the other thing I was going to say is, just to me, connecting with plants, or whether it's energetically or physically or however you do that, what I find is so healing and so profound about this connection with plants is that I always feel like I'm witnessed in my whole being, and what I mean by that is like it's not just, you know, the happy face I put forward or the sad face, whatever face I put forward, it's like.

Speaker 2: 23:16

So I think my teacher said in one of the interviews that we did for the summit she's like you can come to the plants crawling with your bad day and your bad mood and you're not even sure what this is. You can come to them that way and they will accept you. And for me that that's just such a I mean just like my shoulders drop down, I feel calm, I feel accepted. So I mean that's what it means to me a lot of the time and it might mean something different to other people at different times. So it's a long-winded way of just saying there's like no one way. But I love, love, love seeing that spark when people start to connect in their own way. Whatever that is, and they like, get it and they feel it and I'm like, oh yes, it's the best thing ever to witness.

Speaker 1: 24:11

Yeah, I love so much of what you just had to say. Like I kept writing notes like, oh, talk about that and talk about that. And I really, starting off, you were talking about that trusting yourself and your experience, and, gosh, personally, it triggered so much for me, even not in the plant world, just as a human today and as a woman, and like learning that it's okay for us to trust our intuition. And it also brings me back to all of the years that I've studied plants and learned in this fashion, whether it's sitting with the plants or growing the plants or harvesting the plants, or listening to some brilliant herbalist teach me about the plants, and like the different levels that that has been throughout my life and how long it took me to learn to trust that. Like, oh, yeah, that's real. Or how many times I did have the plants just shout at me hey, you, maybe they had to shout at me like 1015 different times on one particular walk to just be like, hey, I'm talking to you, I'm the one that you need right now. And that brings me back to that like where you're like, oh, I don't connect with that plant. I don't connect with that plant now, because the plants do have that brilliant way of just showing up right when you need them. Yep, if you let them right, yeah, yeah, 100%.

Speaker 1: 25:49

It brings me to the quote that I'm not sure if it's Rosemary's quote or if it's the one that just somebody through United plant savers, but the, if you listen, they will teach you one. Yeah, it's actually on my computer, right in front of your face right now, on this screen. So, um, so I love that one. So, so, so, so, very much. And and when people work with you, how? How do you work with them? Do you work with them online or do you work with them a little bit of face-to-face, in human flesh?

Speaker 2: 26:25

Yeah, so it it really varies. So, uh, I do both. I work with people in person and I also work with people online, and so I I do help people create gardens, or even simply I sometimes don't say that because then people think, oh well, I don't have a big backyard and I can't grow a garden. It's like when I'm talking about growing herbs, you can grow a few. I know, you know this, but I'm just saying for everyone out there, you can grow a few in some pots on the deck, on your steps, all of that. So, um, and the reason behind that is that I really want people to have that experience, that that like lived experience of being with a plant. So, yeah, I help people on um, definitely help people um, grow herbs in. You know, face-to-face. I love going to people's areas or houses or community gardens and supporting them with, like creating a space that has plants that they love. I mean, that's just like the best job ever. And I also help people can do. We can certainly do that online. So I definitely do that online. And then I've also been moving into really kind of a mentorship position of working with people that maybe they're new, maybe they're on their you know a little bit further into their herbal journey and really focusing on this piece of trusting and developing the deeper relationships with plants.

Speaker 2: 27:49

Because, as you were talking, as you were reflecting back to me, I'm thinking to myself, yeah, like it took me a long time to trust and it's a daily thing, I still, you know, and so it's not like I reached some point. You know, as we know, it's like not linear, it's not like, oh, you've reached the end and now you're? You always trust no, and so again, it's, it's a practice, it's a. It's something I'm always coming back to. And something else you mentioned.

Speaker 2: 28:18

You mentioned like, yeah, it was talking about trust with plants, but also not having to do with plants just like in our lives, and for me, this work is is we talk about it? I talk about it in terms of working with plants, but for me, it it just goes everywhere. So, yes, trusting your intuition with plants, it's absolutely going to help you trust your intuition period and, um, so that's also the beautiful thing about working with plants, but yeah, just that, I just wanted to mention that, like as someone that you know, without plants, I'd probably be up in my head most of the time, and I still am, and it's the plants and connecting with plants that helped me draw myself out of my head. You know, our brain can serve us, but in kind of limited ways many times. And I mean I love your brain and there's so much more, so much more.

Speaker 1: 29:18

Yeah, so yeah, I love all of that so much. It makes me so excited to learn more from you and to listen more from you, so I feel like we could dive really deep on everything that we have already talked about, but I also want to hear a little more about plants, like if there were a plant that all of the listeners right now needed to know about, what would you say it is?

Speaker 2: 29:51

That's such a good question and it's like a trick question because it's so hard to pick just one. It is totally a good question.

Speaker 2: 29:56

And it's, it's, it's like a trick question Cause it's so hard to pick just one, but I will, um, well, I'll talk about I'll talk about two different ones, because or I'll mention two different ones and I'll talk about one a little bit more. But, um, let's see, and I feel like. So I want to talk about, mention a nourishing herb, like something that is just, it's almost like a food. So things that come up for me when I think of that are like violets, violet leaf. That's a really nourishing, nourishing plant and it's kind of everywhere and in some cases this really surprised me. But some people see it as a weed and don't like them, but anyway, so I'm not judging you if anyone listening thinks that violet as a weed and don't like them and like, but anyway, so I'm not judging you If you, if you anyone listening, thinks that violet is a weed or isn't, I'm totally judging you medicine and food open the mind.

Speaker 2: 30:44

No yes, violet is just such a sweet, loving, nourishing plant. That's like everywhere or in a lot of places. But the one that I always want to tell people about and that I think they should know about and that I'm deeply connected with almost all of the time, is blue vervain, um verbena hastata. And I'll just say I'll say like a little goes a long way, meaning you don't need a lot of the plant to feel its effects. And for me I was primarily drawn to it I alluded to before. I'm like often in my head and you know, kind of circling, cycling around, and blue vervain has this ability to just calm the mental chatter. If I'm spinning, it just kind of calms it down and, and again, a little goes a long way. So, and I don't feel necessarily altered you can be pretty altered if you take too much, which I've also done by accident and it was not a very pleasant experience. But but yeah, so that's how I initially was drawn to it for this ability to calm this mental chatter and it's gone so much deeper. But the other reason I like to mention it is because it's just such a beautiful plant to have around. It's a beautiful pollinator plant, the bees love it, it's just an excellent plant to have around in the garden. It's very. It can be very tall and stately and provide just that visual interest. It has purple flowers Purple is one of my favorite colors, so it's just such a beautiful plant all around.

Speaker 2: 32:29

And as the more and more I work with it, I mean it also has so many more qualities. I mean it can help with digestion because it's very bitter Um, it's not a super nice tasting herb, it's pretty bitter, Um, which is also why I say a little goes a long way. But, um, yeah, just as far as a plant that I could literally talk about forever and I'm like so obsessed with it's blue for vein for sure, um, and that's just really like skimming the surface. I think that, again is the longer that I've been working with blue vervain or just simply around blue vervain, it's been speaking to me even more deeply in ways that I don't fully understand yet, like ways of like multi dimensional integration. Like I'm not even sure what that exactly means yet, but I'm listening, I'm curious.

Speaker 1: 33:22

So I love that, and I love how you're talking to how many different levels in which these plants can teach us, and to always be open to listen, to hear what they have to teach us. That's so, so beautiful, so I'd love to know what does blue ravine like to grow in optimal conditions?

Speaker 2: 33:47

Great question and I have found personally that, once established, I have found that it really can grow almost anywhere. That's my experience. I know that it is sometimes referred to as swamp, so the Latin name is Rubina Hastata. Some of the common names are blue vervain, swamp vervain that's one of the common names because it does grow well in like kind of almost swampy, moist conditions. That's what I've read and I've heard people that live in like areas that are like kind of moist or swampy, that there's like blue vervain is just growing.

Speaker 2: 34:26

In my experience, though, again, once it takes root, once it's established, it's pretty hardy almost anywhere. So I would maybe say, if you're just establishing it, um, that maybe it's more on the kind of moderate water needs. But again, this is just my experience. I mean, I've seen it grow in pretty like dry-ish, hot conditions too. So again, that's why I always encourage people to be very observant and present with what is in front of you. So yeah, so it's definitely talked about as something that is more likes the moister soil conditions, soil conditions, um, and I think you know it's. That's true, and once established, I've seen it grow almost anywhere.

Speaker 1: 35:20

I love that. It sounds nice and easy. Does it like a lot of sunshine?

Speaker 2: 35:25

Um, I think so. I've seen it. Like I said, I've seen it grow in full sun and also part, part sun.

Speaker 1: 35:32

Perfect. I just have the perfect spots in my garden for it. So I recently went and got a whole new array of great plants to start for this year from actually the first person I ever took a botany class from like 15 years ago, and he runs Medicine Garden just outside of Portland Oregon and has all kinds of lovely medicinal starts. And anyways, I did not pick any vervain up and I was also on the hunt for starts of meadow sweet. So maybe I'll go back and grab some and I just think about the calming, the mental chatter, how lovely that would be, and knowing that it'd probably be a really beneficial herb for my daughter as well, and she loves purple too.

Speaker 2: 36:14

So yeah, yeah, and you really don't need a lot. I made the mistake of ingesting a lot of it, like the first time I took it, after we took it in class, and I know that my teacher said, like you know, you don't need that much, but I was so excited about it that I made this incredibly heavy brew. That was not necessary and I definitely, like, felt pretty altered and zonked out and so, again, just a little bit goes a long way and it's, it can be really divine. And then about growing it, I would just also mention too, like sometimes mine gets a little scraggly as the season goes on, so I would encourage you to, like you know, harvest along the way so that you can get some nice leaves that aren't all scraggly by season's end.

Speaker 1: 37:02

Good tip, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. This is really fun and I love talking with you every time I get to, and most recently I got to talk while you were interviewing me for the Healing Power of Plants Summit, and I want to start talking about that because I know that anybody listening to this show is going to be like, yeah, I want to go to that, so tell me all about it.

Speaker 2: 37:28

Yeah, yeah, it was definitely a labor of love and I'm super excited about it, and it was so much fun talking with you and interviewing you. I'm so glad that you were able to participate. So, yeah, it's a four-day online interview series that I interviewed 15 amazing, amazing people, of which you were one. But basically I'm calling them because they are visionaries in the fields of herbalism, plant medicine, plant care and the focus of it. You know, the title is the Healing Power of Plants, but the focus is on connecting with plant consciousness, trusting your intuition and developing those deep relationships with plants. And I talk to a lot of people that are like, well, I don't, I don't know enough or I don't have time or I want to experience that, but I haven't yet, so I'm not really sure how.

Speaker 2: 38:25

And so, in a lot of ways, this summit and these conversations are like extending a hand to kind of say come on. Like just take that first step, just start. If you're feeling that pull or that call or that curiosity, even take that first step. What plants are you thinking about? What plants are you noticing Things like that? So there's like three or four interviews that come available each day and they really focus on different aspects of the things I just mentioned the trusting, the connection, the relationship, and it's such a wonderful lineup Like we have people. We have someone talking about indoor plants, like just plant tuition, which is so cool.

Speaker 1: 39:19

I'm looking at the lineup right now and just some fabulous names of herbalists that I do know and some have been on this show before and some that I've wanted to have on the show. So feel free to drop names and titles of the classes and things like that if you want.

Speaker 2: 39:29

So yeah, yeah, so yeah. In that vein, I mean, there's people that many might recognize, like Pam Montgomery, robin Rose, Bennett, deb Sewell, maria Noel Groves and my teacher, sage Maurer, which I was so thrilled that she was able to talk with us. People like yourself, like yourself, and then folks that maybe people might not be as familiar with. Benoit talks about psilocybin mushrooms as medicine, which I heard him speak and he knows so much, and also, I just know him and he's just a delightful human being and I was like, oh, I need this perspective and I'm not going to be the expert talking about it, so, um, and like, uh, lois or Lola, the plant lady who, um, is in the Boston area as well and she talks about plant tuition, and that was such a delightful conversation and I know I'm leaving people out.

Speaker 2: 40:27

I mean I could just mention everybody, but it's, it was. It's such a um, just the. The group is so varied and exciting and I'm just Every single person I talked to I just had the best time talking with. So I'm super excited to bring it to everyone. I'm jumping out of my seat, I'm literally that excited and that's yeah, it's a good feeling.

Speaker 1: 40:50

Yeah, I'm feeling that excited about it too, as I'm looking at the lineup and honored that I'm in a piece of it, but just amazing people in there and I know what it takes to put on a summit and the hard work that goes into that. But what a beautiful combination and collection of human beings loving plants, loving people and loving the planet. So I'm super jazzed about it and we'll definitely be linking to it in the show notes here and hopefully, if you're listening right now, you take advantage of it, because you're going to get a lot more Lauren and amazing other herbalists to learn from, so and healers and just beautiful beings.

Speaker 2: 41:34

So good job thank you, thank you. Thank you so much for being a part of it. It really is a co-creation of of all of us, and the plants definitely come to come through as well. There's definitely some plants that came up in multiple interviews which I found very interesting, so listen up for those curious as to what they are.

Speaker 1: 41:53

We can't spoil it here, though, but I'm like Ooh, what were they? That's exciting, yeah, yeah. So we'll definitely link to that, but I would love for you to also share Well before we share where people can find you. Can you drop just a little bit of lovely Lauren wisdom on people? If you had one thing to say to the listeners right now to encourage them to carry on with their journey of herbal learning and growing and experience and all of that what would you say?

Speaker 2: 42:57

Oh, so good, and what's coming up just in this moment?

Speaker 1: 42:57

is you matter and whatever is coming up for you matters, and so if you're whether that's a plant related thing or something else is being sparked within you, that matters, and we need you and we need everybody's voice, so voice, so, so, use that voice, even if it's scary. Oh, I love that. It made me smile, like in different stages of smile, until my smile couldn't get any bigger. So, um, that was a beautiful, beautiful piece of wisdom, thank you. Um, okay, I hate to cut it because it's so much fun to talk with you, but where can people find you out in the world?

Speaker 2: 43:20

so, um, I am, I guess my website and ig. So my website is wwwheartspaceherbalscom, so like heart and space, but one word heartspaceherbalscom. And then I'm also on Instagram. It is heartspace, underscore herbals. And I'm around Facebook a little bit. I actually do have a Facebook group. I drop in every every week, so face. Drop in every every week, um so face. I forget what that is Facebook. Heart space herbals is the um or that's the page. And then I have a little Facebook group called um from seedlings to sanctuary, but I would say website and IgE. I'm probably most active.

Speaker 1: 44:09

Cool. Well, I'll definitely be sure to link to all of that in the show notes and all of that jazz. So thank you, Lauren, for taking the time to chat with me when you're in the middle of being very busy putting together the incredible Healing Power Plants Summit that you put together. So I know how busy that time is and I really appreciate you for taking time out to chat with me again.

Speaker 2: 44:32

Thank you so much. Mel and honor was all mine. I was so stoked to be invited to be on your podcast.

Speaker 1: 44:39

Thank, you All right, see you soon.

Speaker 2: 44:42

Okay, bye.

Speaker 1: 44:49

Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the Herbalist Path. Being on this journey with you is absolutely incredible. If you dig this episode, please leave me a review on your favorite podcast player and share it with your friends so that together, we can make herbalism hashtag spread like wildflowers. On another note, I must mention that, while I know you're getting some good info here, it's important to remember that this podcast is purely for entertainment and educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. While the information in this podcast is absolutely relevant, herbs work differently for each person and each condition. That's why I recommend you work with a qualified practitioner, whether that be another herbalist, a naturopath or your doctor. So thank you again. I am truly honored that you're tuning into these episodes and on the path with me to make sure that there's an herbalist in every home. Again, don't forget to share this episode with your friends so that we can make herbalism Hashtag spread like wildflowers.