Location: Yosemite National Forest, California, USA

Record date: 3/25/26

Release date: 4/15/26

Hosts: Amber Martin and Natasha Morisawa

Edited: https://www.studiosymbiotic.com/

Natasha and Amber join you from the banks of a babbling spring in Yosemite National Park, to talk about De-centering ourselves in relationship to Nature.

They explore what is required of us to answer the dire call of Nature, through necessary and difficult paradigm shifts. They invite this topic into our consciousness and further ground their exploration in the work of Jeanine Kante in her book “Returning the Self to Nature, Undoing our Collective Narcism and Healing Our Planet.” Amber and Natasha explore how Jeanne Kante takes the DSM definition of Narcissism (a maladaptive personality disorder) and applies it to our industrialized western society.

They discuss what happens when individuals in a society begin to take on narcissistic traits through a “habit of mind” and how we can move from an anthropocentric or ego-centric point of view to an eco-centric and sustainable relationship to Nature.

Amber and Natasha begin to unpack this complex and important topic through many different perspectives, aimed to help us all consider what it might take to better care for Nature.

Additional areas related to De-Centering Ourselves explored in this episode include:

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how we can flip this triangle to center community actualization and cultural perpetuity
• First Nations, Blackfoot wisdom as more expansive in relationship to Nature
• Kinship Relationally
• Transformational learning through disorienting dilemma’s
• The work of Kristin Neff on Self Compassion
• Exploring the Rights of Nature movement through Robert McFarlane’s book, “Is a River is Alive”

Explore more about Ponder While We Wander

A soothing podcast for trying times.

https://ponderwhilewewander.com/

https://ponderwhilewewander.substack.com/

https://ponderwhilewewander.com/wander-well/

https://www.instagram.com/ponder_while_we_wander/#

Episode Resources Links:

https://californiavalleymiwok.us/

https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/historyculture/yosemite-indians.htm

https://www.npca.org/articles/7475-reclaiming-wahhoga

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/tribal-land-yosemite/

https://pinetreemarketwawona.com/

https://www.shambhala.com/returning-the-self-to-nature.html

https://www.ciis.edu/profiles/jeanine-canty

https://www.juliebrams.com/books

https://self-compassion.org/

https://self-compassion.org/kristin-neff/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218569826-is-a-river-alive

https://atmos.earth/podcast/robert-macfarlane-on-embracing-flow-and-letting-rivers-heal-us/