101. Plant Wisdom for Changemakers: Ecosystems, Conflict, and Finding Your Role with Tigrilla Gardenia

A multi-passionate journey from music engineering and early internet tech to circus life, esoteric teaching, and finally a plant-centred practice in Damanhur—an intentional community in northern Italy described as “Hogwarts meets Oz”—opens into a surprising toolkit for changemakers. This conversation with plant advocate Tigrilla explores how plants can shift the way we understand purpose (by recognising your underlying “pattern” rather than fixating on a single passion), how awe and the five senses offer a grounded gateway into plant connection, and what ecology teaches us about waste, belonging, and using every trait as information rather than a flaw. Along the way, you’ll hear practical ways to approach plant wisdom with or without “woo”, plus powerful lessons on ecosystem relationships, conflict as adaptation, and why community living accelerates personal evolution—because you can’t grow in isolation the way you can in a living web.About Our Guest: Tigrilla is a plant communicator, life coach, and long-time resident of Damanhur—one of the world’s largest spiritual communities in northern Italy—where she’s spent more than 15 years exploring what it looks like to live your mission as a daily practice. With a background that spans music engineering, electrical engineering and early internet tech, as well as event production and teaching esoteric studies, she now bridges science, creativity, and spirituality through her work in plant advocacy, biomimicry, and “inner ecology” coaching for multi-passionate people. Through the Naturally Conscious Community, the Plant Wisdom Book Club, and her Plant Consciousness Commentary library, Tigrilla offers grounded (and optionally “weird and woo”) pathways for reconnecting with nature as mentor, model, and partner—so we can navigate change, relationships, and purpose with more presence and resilience.📰 Read the accompanying article for this podcast episode here.💬 If you find this podcast valuable, it would really help us out to leave a rating & review wherever you're listening.Social Change 101 ⁠FREE course & The Changemaker In You ebook⁠.Follow HCN on Instagram ⁠@humanitarianchangemakers⁠Follow Tiyana on Instagram: ⁠@tiyanaj⁠Changemaker Q&A is a Humanitarian Changemakers Network podcast. Ask a question via Spotify, or head to ⁠humanitarianchangemakers.net/podcast⁠. If your question is answered, you’ll receive some Changemaker Co goodies on us!The views expressed in this podcast are those of Tiyana J and are not reflective of all members of the Humanitarian Changemakers Network.