Cultural Humility and Listening with the Heart: Nina Simons & Apache Plume

Welcome back to the Mother Tree Network! In today's episode, we have the incredible Nina Simons joining us to share her wisdom, experiences, and insights.Nina starts off by discussing her unique practice of creating an altar around a tree to protect her New Mexico home from wildfires, which led her to deepen her relationship with the land and feel a sense of sacredness. “And there was a huge wildfire, the biggest in New Mexico's history.   I reached out to a friend and she said:. Make an altar around a tree that you love. And that became my practice. Putting flowers around the base of the tree and feeding it with water and sometimes with wine and with prayer.  And sending the prayer down into its roots and up into its branches. Nina then dives into her book "Nature, Culture, and the Sacred," focusing on women's leadership and racial equity and justice.She passionately emphasizes the importance of strengthening the feminine within everyone, not just women, as the repression of the feminine has had a profound impact on society as a whole. Together, Aminata and Nina explore the significance of diverse leadership and racial equity, discussing the challenges and lessons learned from convening diverse groups. They delve into the importance of creating safe spaces, discomfort resilience, and the need for love and acceptance in racial justice work. Cultural humility is also a key concept highlighted, acknowledging the embedded white supremacy and implicit bias that exist in society.Nina shares her personal experiences with cultural humility, the conflict in Israel and Palestine, and the importance of listening with the heart. But the wisdom doesn't stop there. Nina shares her profound experience with a plant mentor, Apache Plume, and the lessons she learned about revealing beauty, camouflage, fertility, and growing in community. The conversation takes a personal turn as Nina discusses her transformative process in her 60s, recognizing her white privilege and conditioning, and the importance of slowing down and making deliberate choices.Nina's deep connection with nature and its capacity to heal and regenerate shines through as she shares her journey of finding solace and stability in nature. This episode is filled with deep wisdom, personal experiences, and a call to honor the feminine in ourselves and the world. You can learn with Nina by checking out her Every Woman's Leadership online class in 2024.  https://www.bioneerslearning.org/everywomans-leadership-nina-simonsNina’s BioNINA SIMONS is Co-founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Bioneers, and leads itsEverywoman’s Leadership program. Throughout her career spanning the nonprofit, social entrepreneurship, corporate, and philanthropic sectors, Nina has worked with nearly a thousand diverse women leaders across disciplines, race, class, age and orientation to create conditions for mutual learning, trust and leadership development. Support the showMother tree Network Podcast--Where  Earth Wisdom Meets Racial Justice and Women's Leadership. Want to become your unlimited self and evolve the planet?Go here to get the Mother Tree podcast + Show Notes sent to your inboxhttps://www.dramandakemp.com/podcast