Are you being unconsciously shaped by culture and being dreamed into a reality you didn’t intentionally choose?

This episode is one for the feelers, the sensitives, and those who like to go deep. Elliott sits down with herbalist, writer, and teacher Seán Pádraig O’Donoghue to explore what it means to live, teach, and heal from the heart. Woven with poetry, ancestry, plant wisdom, and lived experience, this conversation is an invitation to soften out of the intellect and return to relationship, with the Earth, with our bodies, and with the unseen threads that shape us.

Together, they explore how, in this time of cultural hypnosis and psychedelic revolution, it is more important than ever to question who, or what, we are consenting to be “dreamed by.” This episode is for anyone feeling the tension between modern life and ancestral memory, for those drawn to plants, poetry, and presence, and for anyone longing to return to a more meaningful, earth-rooted way of knowing.

In this episode, we explore:

• Sensitivity as strength, and teaching from this place of presence instead of performance
• A simple heart-centered practice for coming back into the body
• Seán’s recent heart surgery and how healing bone opened inquiry into being reshaped by land and lived experience
• Ancestry as lived relationship rather than fixed identity
• Language, poetry, and grammar as ways consciousness is shaped
• Psychedelics as elders of the Earth, not tools for optimization
• Integration vs. transformation in psychedelic experiences
• The importance of ritual, boundaries, and discernment with the use of Cannabis
• Microdosing, neuroplasticity, and how context shapes consciousness
• Cultural hypnosis, media saturation, and unconscious consent
• Herbs for connecting with our hearts, beauty and the Earth

Connect with Seán:

• Website & classes: otherworldwell.com
• Books: The Silver Branch and the Otherworld | Courting the Wild Queen

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

Aphrodisiacs aren’t just about sex. They can be utilized to help us deepen our love of life, and awaken pleasure with the world around us.

In this solo episode of The Dancing Willow Podcast, clinical herbalist, Elliott Brinkley explores herbal aphrodisiacs as allies for embodiment, pleasure, mood, creativity, and heart-centered connection, especially during the quiet, inward season of late winter. Rooted in traditional herbalism, seasonal wisdom, and nervous system awareness, this conversation reframes aphrodisiacs as plants that help us feel: our bodies, our emotions, our relationships, and the world around us.

Drawing inspiration from the Celtic cross-quarter day of Imbolc, this episode weaves together herbs, physiology, folklore, and lived experience to explore how pleasure can be a practice of presence, and how certain plants gently guide us back into sensation when life feels dull,

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why aphrodisiacs are about far more than libido, and how they support embodiment, mood, and connection
• How winter stagnation and stress can dampen desire, and how herbs help gently restore flow
• The three main categories of herbal aphrodisiacs: circulatory, nervine, and heart-centered
• How stress, depletion, and nervous system overload are some of the biggest blocks to desire
• How pleasure, creativity, and sensuality are deeply connected

Herbs explored in depth include:

• Damiana – a classic, joyful aphrodisiac for circulation, mood, creativity, and social ease
• Horny Goat Weed – a traditional Chinese herb that supports vitality and pelvic blood flow
• Warming spices like ginger, cinnamon, and clove for cold, stagnant conditions
• Milky Oats – a foundational nervine for burnout, overwhelm, and nervous system nourishment blocking desire
• Maca & Shatavari – adaptogens that rebuild reserves and restore the conditions for desire over time
• Rose – a heart-opening plant for emotional safety, vulnerability, and relational intimacy
• Cacao – a gentle, bonding aphrodisiac that supports circulation, mood, and presence

Links & resources:

• Our Herbal Aphrodisiac Collection
• Damiana Love Cordials
• Lover’s Tea
• Aphrodite’s Delight Tincture
• Milky Oat Tincture
• Damiana Tincture
• Horny Goat Weed Tincture
• Adaptogenic Honey Paste

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

What if gentle, intentional touch could realign your organs, regulate your cycle, ease digestion, and reconnect you to your body’s innate wisdom?

In this episode of The Dancing Willow, Elliott sits down with longtime friend, licensed massage therapist, abdominal therapy practitioner, and artist, Cara Sheahan of Gold Pine Wellness for an intimate, wide-ranging conversation on abdominal massage, bodywork as medicine, and the often-overlooked power of pre conception, pregnancy and postpartum care.

Cara shares her journey from an early calling toward birth work into massage therapy, where she found a path that allows her to support fertility, pregnancy, postpartum healing, and overall vitality. Together, Elliott and Cara explore what abdominal massage really is (and what it isn’t), its roots and evolution, and why this modality can support everything from painful periods and digestion to fertility, pelvic alignment, and nervous system regulation. They also explore bodywork as a whole, why deep tissue is often misunderstood and how gentle work that is in alignment with the nervous system may be much deeper.

They also discuss:

• Why postpartum bodywork is deeply needed and culturally undervalued
• How abdominal massage supports menstrual health, fertility, digestion, and pelvic balance
• The connection between organ placement, circulation, hormones, and pain patterns
• Common misconceptions around prenatal massage and first-trimester care
• Gentle versus deep work, fascia, lymph, and nervous system safety
• Self-massage as ritual, embodiment, and daily medicine
• Plant allies for bodyworkers and womb health, including tulsi, lemon balm, damiana, and mugwort

The conversation closes with reflections on fertility as life force, Cara’s plant relationships, and her hand-drawn Living Tarot deck, alongside practical guidance on who abdominal massage is for, contraindications to be aware of, and how to find a qualified practitioner near you.

Whether you’re curious about womb health, pregnancy and postpartum support, digestive wellness, or simply deepening your relationship with your body, this episode offers grounded wisdom, tenderness, and a reminder that healing doesn’t have to be forceful to be profound.

✨ A nourishing listen for anyone interested in embodied healing and gentle, effective care. ✨

Links from the Episode:

• Gold Pine Wellness (Cara’s practice): https://goldpinewellness.com
• The Abdominal Therapy Collective Directory: https://abdominaltherapycollective.com
• Dancing Willow Herbs Inner Warmth Massage Oil: https://dancingwillowherbs.com/collections/new-bath-and-body/products/inner-warmth-massage-oil-1?variant=47550052860193
• Living Tarot Deck (available at Dancing Willow Herbs if you call to place an order at 970-247-1654)

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco