“Plants as Relatives and not Resources” // Caitlin Duquette
As It Goes guest and RE SELF family member Caitlin Duquette was featured in the recent issue of Loam's Climate Justice: Black and Native Attention as Miracle.
Image via Loam
Reading Caitlin’s piece was a beautiful reminder of our valuable conversation last year on herbalism. Since then, Caitlin has been working with critically endangered native Hawaiian plants and diving deeper into her herbalism practice as she spends more time in the forests.
Back in August of this year she described her work to me when catching up, “I’m just starting to get my feet wet in the professional conservation world, however am now realizing I’ve been doing this work for quite some time all be it ‘invisible.’” It conjures up the image of one of life’s most beautiful occurrences when our passions and convictions manifest outside of ourselves. Having walked away from social media after building her online community for her apothecary, Bloodroot (which I was so lucky to be on the receiving end of many of her products), Caitlin elaborated,
“Detaching from social media has brought me closer to myself, as well as the universe and all that is of it. It’s such an incredible place, our planet. Currently I’m assisting with the survival of critically endangered native Hawaiian plants and the maintenance of their natural habitats. Alongside this heavy work, I’ve been tasked with remembering the Hawaiian names of these plants through culturally appropriate research, since many of them were forgotten during the change following foreign contact.”
What a healing cycle and purposeful work to contribute to and facilitate.
Caitlin conveyed that her connection with RE SELF’s MINDSET workshop empowered her to create medicine through routine and discipline, specifically through daily affirmations; her self-dialogue being very nice these days. (Listen to Caitlin detail her experience in her own words and voice.) Without awareness and conscious nurturing, where are we? Like parents speaking to a child, one form of self-dialogue causes us to blossom while the other form causes us to contract. After all, how we think and speak to ourselves is the basis of our experience. We must tend to our inner garden before we can tend and give to the garden of our lives, others, and Mother Earth.
Meanwhile, I continue to educate myself about plant medicine (highly recommend Women Healers of the World) and expand my practice of connecting with plants in this deeply human and universal way. It is nothing short of a life-changing perspective and practice shift. While I am only beginning to understand the communal dimension (something that can feel so far from our known experience these days), as Caitlin taught us, it's as simple as cooking with herbs.
One powerful perspective Caitlin offered in her piece in Loam was that "By learning to see plants as relatives and not resources, we can reconnect to the wider worlds we are a part of."
To quote Caitlin further, "Connecting to medicine of plants is one way to respond to the sociopolitical issues we face in our communities. Returning to herbalism and plant-based care is a communal practice that is part of coming back to our homes in the land. It's an act that allows us to lovingly look at our bodies, examine our discomforts, and take action toward remedies we can graciously give and receive."
Plants offer a way for us to respond to the everyday challenges and difficulties in our lives. In short, their being empowers our being (Caitlin refers to them as allies - what an empowering relationship to reflect on and connect to). What Caitlin outlines through her discussion of plants is the continual process of conscious living and well-being that is natural for everyone (because we are each from and a part of nature):
Drop into ourselves with presence, compassion, and love
Examine our discomforts - we acknowledge and sit with our discomfort to know what it is and explore it to get to the root
Take action toward remedies (we get to try many different approaches and paths) so that we…
Graciously give and receive from wholeness because we fill our cups up through this continual process (which can expand to taking action on curiosities and ideas, not only discomfort), allowing us to show up fully and authentically
The Earth is us; we are part of this one larger organism made up of each of us as part of the diverse ecosystems, plants, and animals. The land, nature, is our home.
When we establish and nourish a relationship between Self and Earth, Self and Nature, Self as Nature, as equals, “as relatives and not resources,” we nourish ourselves in the most fundamental way.
This is how all of our ancestors once lived, though many of us have grown disconnected from this truth and their unique practices over generations. We are lucky and there is hope because of the miracle of those who continue to live in this way, exemplifying and embodying their wisdom. Hence the miracle of Black and Native Attention that is not only climate justice but also global well-being.
Harmonious evolution (what I define as true, equanimous “progress”) is balanced - a middle way in which people and planet coexist and coevolve for the good of all. It’s not only possible and clearly necessary, in the wake of the crises we face, but also natural. Look around. Look at the evolution of the universe, of life itself. Without any human interference or direction, nature evolves in a positive direction.
This offers a peaceful perspective that differs from “development at any cost,” because as my anthropology professor, Daniel Amick said, “there is always a price.” (This applies anywhere from “free shipping” to just “killing time” on things that do not serve us in making the most of our lives and contributing what it is we uniquely have to offer.)
When we feed this interconnection between Self and Nature with attention and care, we feed our unique way of contributing to not only climate justice and the betterment of our communities, but also the Good of Being - because they, we, are all one.
Finally, I’ll leave us to consider something Caitlin shared with we me recently, “Lately I’ve been working with the idea that what I ask for from Spirit has already been blessed to me.” This evokes the feeling of expansiveness; that the infinite potentials all already exist, waiting for us to tap into them, to align with them. She continued, “I’ve been noticing a sense of embodiment that comes with it and how, when I pay attention to it and feed it with good stuff, embodiment expedites the process.”
RE DO: Breathing with the Trees Embodied Experience
A Practice For All
Putting these perspectives into practice is how we integrate such wisdom into our authentic way of being. Here’s one way to connect with the plants around you:
Sit down outside in front of a tree.
Take a deep breath in, feeling yourself rooting into the ground
Deep exhale, feeling the land nourishing your being through your roots
For your next inhales, as you breathe, focus on the oxygen flowing from the tree - the tree giving you oxygen for you to inhale and be nourished
As you exhale, visualize the CO2 leaving your body - you giving the tree CO2 for the tree to inhale and be nourished
Continue to breathe, watching each of you (the tree exhaling for you to inhale, you exhaling for the tree to inhale) breathe in service and support of each other
When you feel content with your practice, take a few moments to put into words what you just experienced. As Caitlin reminds us, “Plants hold us as we navigate thresholds that can feel subtle, marvelous, maybe even earth shattering.” So move slowly, and making meaning of your experience.
Now you can facilitate this meditation for yourself anytime, anywhere there’s a tree!
Listen to our conversation with Caitlin on As It Goes
Connect with Caitlin on her new website: www.caitlinnapua.com
Subscribe to her newsletter: brindled.substack.com
And on Instagram @caitlin.napua
