239. Returning to Our Birthright Relationship with Nature: A Conversation with Julie Brams

Our guest today on this week's episode is Julie Brams — an earth-centered psychotherapist, certified forest therapy guide, meditation teacher, and the author of The Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves. Julie states that her work is in helping restore the human mind to its rightful place within the living world. She is also co-founder of Elemental, an earth-centered learning community helping participants heal the division between humans and the rest of nature. This is a rich, unhurried conversation — the kind you might want to take on a walk, or sit with under a tree. We hope it meets you right where you are.

In This EpisodeJulie's path from 34 years as a licensed marriage and family therapist into earth-centered psychotherapy and forest therapy guidingWhy she moved away from the term "ecopsychology" to "earth-centered" and "re-rooting."The idea of "the rest of nature" — and how this small language shift addresses the human/nature divideHow Western civilization's model of extraction and domination differs from cultures built on kinship and reciprocityThe historical roots of mind/body/earth separation — from ancient Greek philosophy through Descartes and the EnlightenmentWhy our bodies "cannot be separate from Earth" — from the air we exchange with plants to the physiological toll of space travelGloria Steinem's phrase "linked, not ranked" as an alternative to hierarchyThe story of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight and the moment it reshaped Julie's thinking about sustainabilityWhat forest therapy actually looks like in practice — and Julie's own humbling first encounter with a treeA story about a jumping spider that became an unexpected lesson in love versus ownershipReflections on grief, reciprocity, and the idea that the more-than-human world may be missing us as much as we miss itLanguage, indigenous wisdom, and the book Sand Talk as a guide to non-divisive ways of thinkingWhy unlearning this division is, in Julie's words, "a group effort"Resources & Links MentionedThe Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves by Julie Brams (2026 Nautilus Gold Award winner)Elemental, the Earth-Centered Learning Community co-founded by Julie BramsThe Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, where Julie was certified as a guideThe Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom HartmannMolecules of Emotion by Candace PertSand Talk by Tyson YunkaportaPaul Hawken, author of Carbon: The Book of Life— refer