The Breath of Life with Yulia Bogdanova

Yulia Bogdanova
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Biweekly

How do we step back into an Earth-centric way of being? Here we explore what is being asked of us in this transformation. What new and possibly old, forgotten ways of being human might be knocking at our awareness. How we make ourselves available to mystery, and to the intelligence of this world that is so much bigger than us. The body holds a special place in this inquiry: animal and cosmic at the same time. Porous, sensuous, able to touch and be touched by other worlds — of humans, species, beings, elements, dreams, and landscapes. Would be a great pleasure to connect: https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/  

  1. 2d ago

    Plants: From Remedies to Relationships ft Tash English and Philipp Phildius

    Yulia is in conversation with Tash English and Philipp Phildius, herbalists and hosts of the Herby At Heart podcast. We talk about what changes when plants are approached not only as remedies, but as beings we can build relationships with. Tash and Philipp share how they work with plants through herbalism, meditation, sensing, plant constellations, and long periods of getting to know one plant. We also talk about slowness, direct experience, playfulness, and learning to notice what a plant is doing rather than relying only on books, apps, or protocols. There is also the question of reciprocity: what plants give us, what we give back, and how gratitude and care become part of working with them. Tash English / Avant Garden Life https://www.avantgardenlife.com Instagram: @avant.garden.life Philipp Phildius / Power Plants Berlin https://www.hp-phildius.de Instagram: @power.plants.berlin Herby At Heart A monthly podcast exploring herbalism, plant relationships, traditional natural therapies, and mindful plant experimentation. Podscan Stay in touch → Nature Flow Lab If you’re curious about my work with teams around creativity, collaboration, change and uncertainty through nature-based learning, improv, play and breathwork, explore Nature Flow Lab. I also offer individual coaching and mentoring — send me a message for a one-page PDF. → The Breath of Life on Substack Join for weekly letters: https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Email yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/ Sound effects by LookingNorth and Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️, via Pixabay.

  2. Sep 19

    Wild Mind: Reconnecting Human Development to Earth and the Living World ft Brian Stafford, MD, MPH

    Yulia is in conversation with Brian Stafford, former professor of psychiatry and pediatrics and now a guide, Board Member, and Training Director of the Wild Mind Training Program at Animas Valley Institute. The conversation starts with some big questions: what kind of beings are humans, what drives us, and what helps us access a sense of wholeness and interconnectedness? Through the Wild Mind model, we look at human development as something deeply embedded in the web of life. Brian speaks about capacities that can remain suppressed or under-cultivated — our senses, embodied emotions, imagination, heart-centred thinking, and relationship with Earth. We also talk about wholing alongside healing: what becomes possible when our wounded parts no longer have to run our lives, and when we recover relationships and capacities that support us more fully. The conversation moves through eco-awakening, grief, wildness, vitality, and the experience of other beings as kin and available for relationship. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and Context 03:00 Exploring Human Consciousness 09:02 The Role of Culture in Human Development 11:53 The Work of the Animus Valley Institute 15:13 Experiencing the Human Psyche 26:58 Reflections on Wholeness and Imagination 33:35 Navigating Through Trauma and Development 39:46 Cultivating Wholeness vs. Healing 44:15 The Wild Mind and Its Practices 51:28 Eco-Awakening: A Shift in Consciousness 01:01:20 Practical Steps for Embracing Grief and Wholeness About Brian Stafford→ Animas Valley Institute: https://www.animas.org/ → Wild Mind Training Program: https://www.animas.org/training/wild-mind-training-brochure/ Stay in touch→ Nature Flow Lab If you’re curious about my work with teams around creativity, collaboration, change and uncertainty through nature-based learning, improv, play and breathwork, explore Nature Flow Lab. I also offer individual coaching and mentoring — send me a message for a one-page PDF. → The Breath of Life on Substack Join for weekly letters: https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Email yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/ Sound effects by LookingNorth and Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️, via Pixabay.

  3. Sep 4

    Art as a Practice of Attention, Relationship and Record-Keeping ft Rosie Whinray

    Yulia is in conversation with Rosie Whinray, Aotearovian artist & Wizard. Her work involves multiple intertwined practices—writing, photography, & folk-singing currently foremost among them—and is concerned with place, nature, observation, record-keeping, & memory. Rosie talks about ten years of daily drawing and how looking closely changed her perception; about writing, walking, photography and finding things; and how a “bespoke cosmology” develops through attention and practice. The more we pay attention, she says, the more the world speaks back. We talk about art as observation and record-keeping, and about following what is interesting and alive rather than pushing something that has run its course. Rosie also shares her long practice of traditional folk singing: songs as collective works carried through generations, oral culture and embodied memory, and knowledge that comes through doing something over time. Chapters00:00 Magic, wizardry and a “bespoke cosmology” 03:57 Attention and the world talking back 06:23 Ten years of daily drawing and learning to see 13:46 Becoming the Wizard of Wellington — place, objects and identity 24:48 Finding things, tools and the wizard’s kit 31:26 Creative practices, following what is alive and knowing when to stop 39:27 Folk singing, ancestors and collective culture 47:16 Memory, the “bonehouse” and learning through practice 55:15 Group singing, flow, safety and solitude 1:05:25 Art as record-keeping, truth, labour and knowledge through time Rosie’s Work→ Substack: Dear Magician → Website: Rosie Whinray Rosie describes herself there as an artist, writer and Wizard, and Dear Magician as the home of her writing. Stay in touch→ Nature Flow Lab If you’re curious about my work with teams around creativity, collaboration, change and uncertainty through nature-based learning, improv, play and breathwork, explore Nature Flow Lab. → The Breath of Life on Substack https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Reach out via email: yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/ Sound effects by LookingNorth and Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️, via Pixabay.

  4. Aug 21

    Dreaming Connects Us to Intelligence Beyond Our Minds ft Rebecca Wildbear

    Yulia is in conversation with Rebecca Wildbear, wilderness guide, trauma-informed psychotherapist, soul guide, and author of Wild Yoga. Rebecca’s work brings together dreamwork, deep imagination, body, soul, and relationship with the living Earth. We explore dreaming and imagination as ways of knowing. We speak about the dream world as a source of intelligence beyond the rational mind, about dreams as a wilderness we can enter every night. We wonder what becomes possible when we stop treating imagination as something unreal. Rebecca shares how dreams can bring back parts of ourselves that have been locked out of everyday consciousness, how nature and imagination can help us return to wholeness, and how listening to body, heart, dream, imagination, and nature may be different expressions of the same deeper listening. We also explore soul as “the mystery we’re meant to live” and our particular note within the larger symphony of the world.  Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:46 Imagination vs. Reality: A Cultural Perspective 04:06 The Connection Between Dreams and Reality 11:16 Radical Dreaming: Exploring New Possibilities 14:41 The Relationship Between Individual and Collective Dreaming 18:01 Nature's Role in Healing and Wholeness 24:49 The Power of Dreams 33:07 Understanding Nightmares and Their Messages 41:03 Exploring the Concept of Soul in Dream Work 48:26 The Process of Unfolding and Listening to the Soul Rebecca’s Work→ Website: Rebecca Wildbear → Substack: Radical Dreaming → Wild Yoga book Stay in touch:→ The Breath of Life on Substack https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Reach out via email: yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/

  5. Jul 17

    The In-Between Times Are Calling for Our Weirdness ft Dr. Scott Mills

    Yulia is in conversation with Dr. Scott Mills — educator, coach, writer, and explorer of human development. For over two decades, Dr. Mills has brought together psychology, neuroscience, contemplative practice, and systems thinking to understand how humans make sense of themselves, each other, and a rapidly changing world. Much of this conversation explores what it means to be "other." But underneath that sits a larger question: how do humans find their way when the world around them is changing? We speak about belonging, labels, neurodiversity, interest-based nervous systems, meaningful work, and community. We also explore what it takes to stay with uncertainty and complexity, and why people who experience or perceive the world differently may have an important role to play in helping us imagine what comes next. 00:00 Introduction  03:41 Exploring Otherness and Labels 08:19 The Nature of Belonging 14:35 The Paradox of Otherness 22:03 The Power of Naming and Vulnerability 30:45 Embracing Weirdness as Strength 37:16 The Complexity of Human Connection 43:13 Survival, Power, and the One Note Society 50:13 Navigating the In-Between Times 54:13 The Shift Towards Meaningful Work 58:39 Understanding Complexity in Human Systems 01:00:20 Embracing Discomfort for Growth 01:08:28 The Role of Community in Transition 01:13:27 Finding Connection in Uncertainty 01:18:44 The Power of Collective Action 01:29:45 Celebrating Our Differences About Scott’s Work:→ Newsletter (Substack): https://drscottwmills.substack.com → Website: https://drscottwmills.systeme.io  Stay in touch:→ The Breath of Life on Substack https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Reach out via email: yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/ Sound effects by LookingNorth and Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️, via Pixabay

  6. Jul 3

    How Do We Flow Together ft Irina Mishina and Polina Khodova of Life in Flow

    I am speaking with Irina Mishina and Polina Khodova, my friends and co-hosts of Life in Flow. For over two years we have been exploring the concept of flow, based on attunement - to ourselves, to each other, to the larger world, and to the conversation itself. We talk about flow as a lived experience, and a mode of exploration. We talk about what it takes to flow with each other, what gets in its way, what happens when a conversation starts feeling like another participant, and why trust, curiosity, and staying with uncertainty matter so much when we are exploring life's big questions together. Chapters00:00 Understanding Group Flow 08:59 The Energetics of Flowing Together 14:01 Flow vs. Good Conversation 22:27 The Emergence of Conversation 29:52 Exploring Flow in Conversations 35:41 The Role of Somatic Experience 42:11 Understanding Flow Dynamics 47:39 Barriers to Flow 56:00 Trust and Vulnerability in Conversations 01:04:01 Impact of Flow on Relationships About the guestsIrina Mishina is a creative in a permanent state of transition, exploring creativity, emergence, and human development through writing, art, and interdisciplinary inquiry. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imablumm/ Polina Khodova is a coach, pattern decoder, and guide in the art of inner alignment. Her work brings together neuroscience, Internal Family Systems, somatic awareness, energy leadership, and embodiment to help people navigate transitions, develop self-leadership, and create change.  Website: https://coachingbypolina.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/polinakhodova/ Life in FlowLife in Flow — improvised conversations on life's biggest questions. Website: https://www.lifeinflowgroup.com/ Three most listened-to conversationsHow Trance Shapes Our Lives https://www.lifeinflowgroup.com/p/how-trance-shapes-our-lives What Is Loneliness About? https://www.lifeinflowgroup.com/p/what-is-loneliness-about What To Do With the Ego https://www.lifeinflowgroup.com/p/what-to-do-with-the-ego?r=18luu7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Stay in touch:→ The Breath of Life on Substack https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Reach out via email: yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/

  7. Jun 19

    Adulting From the Perspective of Soul ft Sara McFarland of Animas Valley Institute

    I am speaking with Sara McFarland, a soul initiation guide, storyteller, singer, ritualist, and guide with Animas Valley Institute, exploring adulthood, elderhood, initiation, and the place of humans in the wider web of life. We explore what it means to become an adult, not only biologically or socially, but at the level of soul. We speak about adulthood as remembering who we are, initiation as a long journey of transformation, and soul not as what we do, but as who we be. The conversation moves through the crisis of modernity, the great forgetting of earth-cherishing cultures, psycho-spiritual adolescence, eco-awakening, and the possibility that the metacrisis itself may be calling us into a species-wide initiation.  Chapters: 00:00 Exploring Adulthood and Soul Initiation 12:44 The Crisis of Modernity and the Loss of Initiation 20:03 Understanding Initiation: The Journey of Transformation 27:42 The Role of the More-than-Human World in Healing 32:56 The Illusion of Individuality 35:06 Understanding Human Development 38:51 The Journey of Healing and Wholeness 43:56 Navigating Psycho-Spiritual Adolescence 47:21 Crisis and the Call for Initiation 52:46 Embracing Urgency and Poetic Attunement Sara’s Work: Website: www.saramcfarland.com Animas Valley Institute: www.animas.org Starter Culture: www.starterculture.net Stay in touch: → The Breath of Life on Substack https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Reach out via email: yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/ Sound effects by LookingNorth and Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️, via Pixabay

  8. Jun 3

    On Expressing and Exchanging Value Beyond Money ft Will Ruddick of Grassroots Economics

    I am speaking with Will Ruddick of Grassroots Economics about money as one tradition among many and about older, still-living ways communities have used to express value, share resources, borrow from each other, and keep life moving without everything having to pass through money. We talk about community currencies, debt, trust, protection, commons, social soil, and why so much value in a community remains locked when money becomes the only recognized way of exchange. Will brings us into examples from Kenya, Bhutan, student loans, village practices, mycorrhizal networks, and the old idea of “calling a bee” asking neighbours to come together and help. 00:00 Exploring the Concept of Money 05:32 Community Economics and Resource Sharing 11:12 Unlocking Community Resources 16:08 The Role of Value Expression 22:14 The Tradition of Money and Its Impact 28:53 The Origins of Money and Its Protective Role 31:38 The Dangers of Dismantling Monetary Systems 32:48 Designing a New Safety Mechanism 35:34 Community and Resource Sharing 39:30 Building Trust and Connections in Communities 43:43 The Impact of Money on Self-Worth 46:35 Unsticking the Debt Cycle 51:04 Future Visions and Community Engagement Will's work: Grassroots Economics: https://grassrootseconomics.org/ Social Soil Game: https://play.grassecon.org/ Substack — Journal of a Grassroots Economist: https://willruddick.substack.com/ Stay in touch:→ The Breath of Life on Substack https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova → Reach out via email: yulia(at)natureflowlab.com → Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/ Sound effects by LookingNorth and Nicky ❤️🌿🐞🌿❤️, via Pixabay

See All (33)

About

How do we step back into an Earth-centric way of being? Here we explore what is being asked of us in this transformation. What new and possibly old, forgotten ways of being human might be knocking at our awareness. How we make ourselves available to mystery, and to the intelligence of this world that is so much bigger than us. The body holds a special place in this inquiry: animal and cosmic at the same time. Porous, sensuous, able to touch and be touched by other worlds — of humans, species, beings, elements, dreams, and landscapes. Would be a great pleasure to connect: https://substack.com/@yuliabogdanova https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuliabogdanova/  

Information