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

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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

What if your New Year didn’t start with resolutions but with fire, intention, and deep relationship to the Earth?

In this expansive and intimate episode of The Dancing Willow, Elliott sits down with her Uncle David Elliott, healer, teacher, and ceremonial leader, for a powerful conversation on ritual, intention-setting, and the living intelligence of the natural world. Recorded just before the New Year, this episode invites listeners to reimagine how we mark transitions, release the old, and step consciously into what’s next.

Together, they explore David’s decades-long practice of leading New Year’s fire walks, the potency of choosing a single guiding word rather than a resolution, and why fire, especially at the winter solstice, is such a profound ally for transformation. From chanting under the stars to walking barefoot across hot coals, David shares how ceremony works on both the visible and invisible levels.

The conversation widens to include practical ways anyone can create meaningful ritual at home, working with plants, water, minerals, the directions, and the elements you already feel connected to. David also speaks candidly about cultivating reciprocal relationships with the Earth, plants like tobacco and mullein, animal allies, ancestors, and unseen support systems that guide us when we learn how to listen.

Woven throughout are personal stories, from family lineage and ancestral farming roots to weddings, dreams, and moments of unmistakable guidance, that ground this episode in lived experience.

This is an episode for anyone feeling called to slow down, reconnect, and enter the New Year with reverence, clarity, and trust in the support that surrounds us.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why fire is a central teacher in winter and New Year ceremonies
• The power of choosing a single word as a life-long compass
• How intention & connection to the elements shapes our nervous system and reality
• Simple ways to create ritual and ceremony at home
• Building relationships with plants, animals, ancestors, and the elements
• Earth-based spirituality beyond dogma or tradition
• How subtle support can be more powerful than force or effort

Links & Resources:

• David’s Website- https://www.davidelliott.com/
• Free Breathwork Meditations on Spotify by David: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7lnGKrOWAuKvNoxEleY8Vm?si=FCABvuzQTwi4zWc-h2XP1A
• Freedom from Anxiety Meditation: https://www.davidelliott.com/freedom-from-anxiety/
• Intro to Breathwork Podcast with Eliza Rose Kane: Episode 3, The Dancing Willow, “Breathing with the Earth: Botanical Breathwork with Eliza Rose Kane” https://open.spotify.com/episode/250Gi4fhBSfXB4DeYQ2yEf?si=e3b53135c0af4d02

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

If you’re craving a grounding, calming episode to carry you through the darkest days of the year, this is the one to press play on. In this winter-solstice-timed conversation, Elliott takes us deep into the green heart of one of her favorite seasonal allies: pine, a plant that offers medicine for the body, steadiness for the spirit, and a gentle reminder that resilience lives in us, even during the winter season.

As evergreens fill our homes and line our snowy trails this time of year, Elliott explores why humans have always been drawn to them in winter and how their presence, fresh, fragrant, symbolic, can be powerful medicine in more ways than one.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why evergreens became symbols of hope, renewal, and resilience during solstice season
  
  
• Energetic qualities of pine: grounding amidst chaos, softening perfectionism, and cultivating self-acceptance
  
  
• How pine can help us find structure and steadiness after the frenetic holiday pace
  
  
• The role of pine flower essence in easing guilt and supporting gentler self-talk
  
  
• The immune, respiratory, and digestive benefits of pine needles
  
  
• Why pine is a powerful ally for cold & flu season
  
  
• The best ways to work with pine, including medicine making techniques and home rituals!
  
  
• The medicine of pine resin
  
  
• The story behind Dancing Willow’s pine tincture and the deeply intentional process of wildcrafting for the Elder Bear Elixir
  
  
• Reflections on Osha, respectful harvesting, and bioregional responsibility
  
  
• A heartfelt end-of-year moment as Elliott wraps up 2025 with gratitude for the community gathered around these plant teachings

Featured Remedies:

• Pine Tincture, handmade from needles harvested on Elliott’s own land
  
  
• Elder Bear Elixir, a winter ally made with local pine, elderberry, and sacred Osha
  
  

Perfect For You If…

You’re navigating holiday overwhelm, seeking grounding practices, exploring herbal immune support, or simply longing to reconnect with the evergreens in your home this time of the year.

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

If you’ve been craving a deeper way to move through winter, one that honors the mystery, the magic, and your personal inner fire, this conversation will feel like stepping into a portal.

The winter solstice brings us into the darkest days of the year — a time when many of us feel pulled between the desire to slow down and the very real demands of December. In this deeply nourishing conversation, I’m joined by herbalist, teacher, and author Marysia Miernowska to explore how we can tend our inner flame, reconnect with the Earth, and find meaning in the fertile darkness of winter.

Marysia is the founder of the School of the Sacred Wild, author of The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary, and a beloved voice in the world of earth-based spirituality and traditional plant wisdom. Together, we dive into seasonal rhythms, herbal allies, and the deeper emotional and spiritual threads that winter invites us to explore.

In this episode, we explore:

• The winter solstice as a portal into fertile darkness
  
  
• How to navigate the tension between inner winter and outer world demands
  
  
• Practical ways to stoke the inner flame during the coldest months
  
  
• Warming herbs and lifestyle practices to support circulation, vitality, and mood
  
  
• The role of plant spirit meditations in opening intuition and connection
  
  
• Reclaiming voice and power, healing the witch wound, and trusting ourselves as leaders
  
  
• Why January can be reclaimed as a true month of rest and dreaming
  
  
• The beauty of tending hope, innocence, and inner inspiration through seasonal practice

This episode is heartfelt, grounding, and enlivening- a balm for anyone moving through burnout, seeking clarity, or wanting to feel more connected to themselves and the cycles of nature during the winter season.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Follow Marysia Miernowska:
  Instagram: @marysia_miernowska
  Website: https://www.marysia-miernowska.com
  School of the Sacred Wild: https://www.schoolofthesacredwild.com
  Sacred Rituel skincare: Use code sacredwild20 for 20% off
• Dancing Willow Herbs Holiday Gift Collection
  Thoughtful, handcrafted herbal offerings for loved ones (and yourself)
  https://dancingwillowherbs.com/collections/holiday-gifts
• Dancing Willow Herbs Fire Tea: https://dancingwillowherbs.com/products/fire-elemental-tea?_pos=1&_sid=5f311ba5c&_ss=r&variant=44951396516129

10% off all Dancing Willow Herbs products through December 18th with the code podcastfam at checkout

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

The holidays are nearly here, and so is the opportunity to transform how we show up with the people we love- with more regulation, presence, and real connection.

In today’s conversation, Elliott is joined by Eliza Rose Kane to explore her new offering, Family Breathwork, a program designed to bring families together through nervous system regulation, emotional attunement, and being truly witnessed by the people closest to us. Whether you’re parenting young kids or teens, navigating dynamics with your partner, or wanting to build more connection with your parents, this episode offers meaningful tools to support real transformation within the home.

We dive into:

• What co-regulation and self-regulation look like inside the family unit
  
  
• How breathwork can help us move from chaos to connection
  
  
• Simple practices to root into the physical world while holding expansive creative vision
  
  
• Tools for soothing the nervous system in overstimulated times
  
  
• Breathwork as a pathway to purpose, especially for teens
  
  
• Healing the inner child through parenting and partnership
  
  
• Protecting innocence and strengthening bonds in a tech-driven world
  
  

Eliza’s passion for supporting families shines so brightly in this conversation, and I know you’ll walk away feeling inspired and empowered to build new rhythms and rituals in your home.

Links & Resources:

Listeners receive 20% off Eliza’s Family Breathwork course with code THEDANCINGWILLOW20. https://elizarosekane.com/family-breathwork-course

Connect with Eliza:

Eliza’s Substack can be found here: https://substack.com/@elizarose

Instagram: @elizarosekane

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 the key to lasting health isn’t the next super herb or supplement but removing what’s quietly draining your vitality?

In this illuminating conversation, herbalist and teacher Paul Bergner joins Elliott Brinkley to explore the foundations of true healing through vitalist therapeutics addressing lifestyle, nutrition, and the spiritual dimensions of wellness. With over five decades of clinical experience and a lineage of teaching that has shaped generations of herbalists, Paul shares both timeless wisdom and modern clinical insight into what it really means to heal.

Together, Elliott and Paul trace his journey from early work in lifestyle medicine to decades of supervising herbal teaching clinics. They discuss what sets vitalist herbalism apart from symptomatic herbal medicine, why sleep and digestion form the bedrock of health, and how simple herbs can support the body’s innate intelligence when lifestyle patterns are restored.

The conversation dives deeply into:

• Sleep debt as an overlooked epidemic and how restoring circadian rhythm transforms vitality
  
  
• The role of digestion and food intolerance as core obstacles to healing and why even the smallest amount of an offending food can trigger systemic inflammation
  
  
• The importance of observing results over relying on theory or trend
  
  
• Using herbs to support natural processes rather than to fix conditions
  
  
• How emotion, grief, and spiritual stagnation surface during healing, and how Paul integrates flower essences and spiritual heart herbs into that work
  
  
• A powerful story about the golden currant bush that shaped Paul’s understanding of lineage and legacy in herbal medicine

By the end, you’ll walk away seeing health through a new lens one rooted in simplicity, observation, and reverence for the body’s wisdom.

Links & Resources:

• Explore Paul’s full curriculum or dive into specific topics with his audio courses and lectures at https://www.naimh.com/
• Dancing Willow Herbs formulas for digestive support: Tummy Tea, Digestive Repair Powder, Tummy Calm Tincture

Listen now to reconnect with the foundations of healing and remember what medicine has always known: nature, rest, and nourishment are the truest forms of cure.

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