Rooted Healing

Veronica Stanwell

Rooted Healing heals and connects inner and outer landscapes through courses, gatherings, ceremonial retreats and our podcast. Our intention is for these conversations to nourish and heal with stories that weave us closer to our wild and inter-relational nature. Learn more at rootedhealing.org and receive a free workshop in embodied deep ecology when you sign up for our roughly-monthly nourishing newsletter. rootedhealing.substack.com

  1. Multiplicity and Wholeness in a Fragmented World with Sima Basel of Grassroots Village

    1 DAY AGO

    Multiplicity and Wholeness in a Fragmented World with Sima Basel of Grassroots Village

    Sima Basel is a Palestinian-Ukrainian therapist and the co-founder of Grassroots Village, an emerging eco-village in the mountains between Oman and the UAE. We spoke about multiplicity and what it means to hold different lineages, different histories, different griefs in one body, whilst rooted to the land we find ourselves in. About the quiet, often unnamed longing for belonging that so many of us carry. Again and again, we came back to this question of disconnection as something lived in the body, in the nervous system, in the way we organise our lives. The ways we’ve been taught to heal as individuals, while living in systems that keep us separate from land, from each other and often from our whole selves. Even the disconnection that happens between our many parts. What Sima is building through Grassroots Village feels like a response to these longings as a living inquiry into what happens when we begin to orient differently. There’s something in this conversation about remembering. About noticing where healing itself can become another identity… another thing to “do”… and gently returning to something more honest underneath. And also, something about grief. How it moves when it’s shared. How it softens when it’s witnessed. How much we’ve lost the spaces that know how to hold it. I left this conversation feeling both steadied and opened. I hope it meets you in a place that’s ready to listen. Get full access to Rooted Healing at rootedhealing.substack.com/subscribe

    47 min
  2. 20 MAR

    SPRING EQUINOX: Emergence, Balance and Ritual Ideas with Isla Macleod

    Spring Equinox greetings dear ones, In awe of the sun’s return, I’ve been marinating in the gusty sea breezes moving across the farm. Gentle wind with the occasional passionate gust has always felt like Spirit talking to place or talking to me. We named our lost baby Awel, which is the Cymraeg word for such a breeze as this. The air of spring is the kind that seems to rearrange our thinking as much as the hedgerows, blowing away the thoughts that no longer serve. After a dark, wet, harrowing winter, slow craft with hands in rhythm of thread, fibre, spindle and loom has offered a balm for my soul. Of remembering how to stay in relationship with time rather than racing ahead of it, helping me integrate the winter with tenderness. In this Spring Equinox episode, I’m joined once again by ceremonialist Isla Macleod, with another immersive episode woven with music, ritual, lore and practice, as a way of honouring the turning of the Wheel of the Year. The equinox is often spoken about as balance, as light and dark in equilibrium, but I’m not sure balance is ever still in that way. It feels more like a moment of active negotiation, a living recalibration. A threshold where forces are shifting, adjusting, testing each other. And perhaps that’s the real invitation of this time of year: to stay in conversation with what is stirring without rushing toward emergence. To notice where the land is leaning toward light, and where winter still has a voice. To sense the subtle thresholds we ourselves are crossing, sometimes quietly, sometimes reluctantly. This episode is an offering into that space of listening as a companion for attuning to the land, the body and the deeper seasonal intelligence moving through both. You can learn more about Isla’s work here, and explore what we’re tending at Rooted Healing. The music in this episode comes from the beautiful work of Bonnie Medicine, Cynefin, Telling the Bees and Ojhro - all artists who are also in conversation with land, memory and lore. If the episode resonates, we’d love to hear what is stirring for you this season. With heart, Veronica Get full access to Rooted Healing at rootedhealing.substack.com/subscribe

    27 min
  3. Palestine as Teacher: Politicised Somatics with Zeena Ismail

    26/10/2025

    Palestine as Teacher: Politicised Somatics with Zeena Ismail

    In this powerful conversation, Veronica sits with Zeena Ismail - a Palestinian somatic practitioner, trauma educator and writer - to explore what it means to belong, to heal and to stay rooted in the midst of ongoing displacement and collective trauma. Zeena’s work weaves politicised somatics with land-based practice and systemic literacy, inviting Arabs and diaspora communities into embodied repair through her six-month bilingual programme, Where Do We Begin. They explore the intersections of trauma, resistance and reclamation - how bodies hold the weight of occupation, and how safety, grief and aliveness can coexist. This episode invites us to look beyond ideology and into the body as a site of truth, where liberation and safety must include everyone. Rooted Healing’s year-long programme, Deepen Your Roots, is now enrolling for its third cohort. Acting as an incubation ground and compass toward a more beautiful world, Deepen Your Roots invites participants into a year of embodied exploration through place, body, spirit and calling - nourishing leadership and participation in the Great Turning. This cycle leans more deeply into participatory, relational learning, with co-created practice, small-group inquiry, ritual and embodied exploration, and a renewed effort to gather elders and living-tradition keepers whose presence anchors the work toward humility, continuity and intergenerational wisdom.  Learn more and join the next cohort at rootedhealing.org/deepen and use the code ROOTED10 for 10% off. . Support the show Get full access to Rooted Healing at rootedhealing.substack.com/subscribe

    56 min
  4. The Ecological Self with Deep Ecologist John Seed

    27/05/2025

    The Ecological Self with Deep Ecologist John Seed

    In this rich and timely conversation, we sit down with legendary rainforest activist, eco-philosopher and elder of the Deep Ecology movement, John Seed. For over four decades, John has stood on the frontlines of ecological protection -spearheading rainforest-saving campaigns, offering experiential deep ecology workshops, and co-creating the powerful ritual known as The Council of All Beings with Joanna Macy. We explore the concept of the Ecological Self - a radical shift in identity that sees the tree, river, stone and storm not as separate from us, but as expressions of a shared being.  As John puts it, “I try to remember that it's not me, John Seed, trying to protect the rainforest. Rather, I am part of the rainforest protecting itself. I am that part of the rain forest recently emerged into human thinking."  From blockades and biodiversity to reEarthing rituals and the resurgence of ecological consciousness, this is a conversation that bridges inner transformation with outer action. This episode is an offering for all who are seeking deeper relationship with the Earth, and it speaks directly to the heart of our work at Rooted Healing. If you're drawn to this path, you may also wish to explore our year-long programme, Deepen Your Roots, which weaves together deep ecology, animism, and community ritual.  Join us at a gathering or on a course at rootedhealing.org.  We have a space left at our signature Earth Medicine psilocybin retreat this September... You can access our free hour-long workshop in Embodied Deep Ecology here. The music in this episode is from Mae Bird, Eric Idle & John Seed, and Bonnie Medicine. Thank you Niamh Murray of Enviromentality for sending John Seed this way. Support the show Get full access to Rooted Healing at rootedhealing.substack.com/subscribe

    55 min
5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

Rooted Healing heals and connects inner and outer landscapes through courses, gatherings, ceremonial retreats and our podcast. Our intention is for these conversations to nourish and heal with stories that weave us closer to our wild and inter-relational nature. Learn more at rootedhealing.org and receive a free workshop in embodied deep ecology when you sign up for our roughly-monthly nourishing newsletter. rootedhealing.substack.com

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