Here at Manifest House, we believe that nature has so much wisdom to share with us -- we just need to slow down enough to listen! We asked Jen Venegas, a queer non-binary writer, plant-lover, and bruje to share with us how plants can support our healing journeys.
Plants have a special place in my heart and life because of the ways that they can support our personal healing journeys. I have studied plants in an educational setting but also gained wisdom through my ancestral lines. Plants have always played a role in my family’s life, from my grandfather and my uncles picking grapes in the central valley of California to my grandmother tending her geraniums in her backyard when I was growing up.
Throughout this process, I have realized that caring for plants is beneficial for the mental and physical health of so many people. Here are some wonderful ways I have found that plants can support you in your spiritual healing.
1. Self-Soothing:
Self-soothing is vital to our ability to manage intense emotions. While there are many ways to self-soothe, some of my favorites include talking to your houseplant, or even playing music for it!
2. Mindfulness:
Taking a walk through your garden and smelling the different flowers or sages or touching the fuzzy leaves of your kalanchoe can take you out of your mind and into your senses. Consider plants that will engage your senses in different ways!
3. Learning to Listen:
Another way to take us out of our own struggles is to learn to listen to our plants. Listening to our plants is an act of love. Learning to care for them is an act of love. And yet, some plants, like a snake plant or cast iron plant, can tolerate a little neglect when life gets too big or gets in the way.
4. Responsibility:
Gardening also teaches us life skills and responsibility. Remembering which day to water your spider plant makes it that much more exciting when it shoots out a “spider” baby right? And now you’re following a schedule too!
5. Self-Compassion:
Caring for something beyond ourselves, like a plant, can teach us how to care for ourselves. This act can help us to have compassion for ourselves and nature.
6. Connecting To Natural Cycles:
Plants are low-risk and some have limited life spans. That means, if one dies, we have an opportunity to connect with death in a way that gives us space to heal and try again.
7. Cultivating Joy:
Are you missing joy in your life? Connect with your inner child and get dirty! Run your hands through some soil or get on the ground and prune, water, or otherwise take care of your plant babies.
There are many other ways that plants can support your spiritual healing, many of which will be specific to your own individual healing. Feel free to engage with any of these ways to help you find your own.
Join Manifest House
If you identify as female or non-binary and are craving more guidance and support on YOUR self-care and healing journey, you’re invited to join the Manifest House virtual membership. Receive guided intention setting, weekly live-stream healing events, community support groups, and guided reflection to help you care for all aspects of yourself unapologetically. You can learn more and join us here.
About the Author
Jen Venegas is a queer non-binary writer and bruje based in Los Angeles. They are passionate about social justice, healing, plants, and horror movies. You can find more about Jen and their healing work here.
