What if gentle, intentional touch could realign your organs, regulate your cycle, ease digestion, and reconnect you to your body’s innate wisdom?

In this episode of The Dancing Willow, Elliott sits down with longtime friend, licensed massage therapist, abdominal therapy practitioner, and artist, Cara Sheahan of Gold Pine Wellness for an intimate, wide-ranging conversation on abdominal massage, bodywork as medicine, and the often-overlooked power of pre conception, pregnancy and postpartum care.

Cara shares her journey from an early calling toward birth work into massage therapy, where she found a path that allows her to support fertility, pregnancy, postpartum healing, and overall vitality. Together, Elliott and Cara explore what abdominal massage really is (and what it isn’t), its roots and evolution, and why this modality can support everything from painful periods and digestion to fertility, pelvic alignment, and nervous system regulation. They also explore bodywork as a whole, why deep tissue is often misunderstood and how gentle work that is in alignment with the nervous system may be much deeper.

They also discuss:

• Why postpartum bodywork is deeply needed and culturally undervalued
• How abdominal massage supports menstrual health, fertility, digestion, and pelvic balance
• The connection between organ placement, circulation, hormones, and pain patterns
• Common misconceptions around prenatal massage and first-trimester care
• Gentle versus deep work, fascia, lymph, and nervous system safety
• Self-massage as ritual, embodiment, and daily medicine
• Plant allies for bodyworkers and womb health, including tulsi, lemon balm, damiana, and mugwort

The conversation closes with reflections on fertility as life force, Cara’s plant relationships, and her hand-drawn Living Tarot deck, alongside practical guidance on who abdominal massage is for, contraindications to be aware of, and how to find a qualified practitioner near you.

Whether you’re curious about womb health, pregnancy and postpartum support, digestive wellness, or simply deepening your relationship with your body, this episode offers grounded wisdom, tenderness, and a reminder that healing doesn’t have to be forceful to be profound.

✨ A nourishing listen for anyone interested in embodied healing and gentle, effective care. ✨

Links from the Episode:

• Gold Pine Wellness (Cara’s practice): https://goldpinewellness.com
• The Abdominal Therapy Collective Directory: https://abdominaltherapycollective.com
• Dancing Willow Herbs Inner Warmth Massage Oil: https://dancingwillowherbs.com/collections/new-bath-and-body/products/inner-warmth-massage-oil-1?variant=47550052860193
• Living Tarot Deck (available at Dancing Willow Herbs if you call to place an order at 970-247-1654)

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Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

What if your New Year didn’t start with resolutions but with fire, intention, and deep relationship to the Earth?

In this expansive and intimate episode of The Dancing Willow, Elliott sits down with her Uncle David Elliott, healer, teacher, and ceremonial leader, for a powerful conversation on ritual, intention-setting, and the living intelligence of the natural world. Recorded just before the New Year, this episode invites listeners to reimagine how we mark transitions, release the old, and step consciously into what’s next.

Together, they explore David’s decades-long practice of leading New Year’s fire walks, the potency of choosing a single guiding word rather than a resolution, and why fire, especially at the winter solstice, is such a profound ally for transformation. From chanting under the stars to walking barefoot across hot coals, David shares how ceremony works on both the visible and invisible levels.

The conversation widens to include practical ways anyone can create meaningful ritual at home, working with plants, water, minerals, the directions, and the elements you already feel connected to. David also speaks candidly about cultivating reciprocal relationships with the Earth, plants like tobacco and mullein, animal allies, ancestors, and unseen support systems that guide us when we learn how to listen.

Woven throughout are personal stories, from family lineage and ancestral farming roots to weddings, dreams, and moments of unmistakable guidance, that ground this episode in lived experience.

This is an episode for anyone feeling called to slow down, reconnect, and enter the New Year with reverence, clarity, and trust in the support that surrounds us.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why fire is a central teacher in winter and New Year ceremonies
• The power of choosing a single word as a life-long compass
• How intention & connection to the elements shapes our nervous system and reality
• Simple ways to create ritual and ceremony at home
• Building relationships with plants, animals, ancestors, and the elements
• Earth-based spirituality beyond dogma or tradition
• How subtle support can be more powerful than force or effort

Links & Resources:

• David’s Website- https://www.davidelliott.com/
• Free Breathwork Meditations on Spotify by David: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7lnGKrOWAuKvNoxEleY8Vm?si=FCABvuzQTwi4zWc-h2XP1A
• Freedom from Anxiety Meditation: https://www.davidelliott.com/freedom-from-anxiety/
• Intro to Breathwork Podcast with Eliza Rose Kane: Episode 3, The Dancing Willow, “Breathing with the Earth: Botanical Breathwork with Eliza Rose Kane” https://open.spotify.com/episode/250Gi4fhBSfXB4DeYQ2yEf?si=e3b53135c0af4d02

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

If you’re craving a grounding, calming episode to carry you through the darkest days of the year, this is the one to press play on. In this winter-solstice-timed conversation, Elliott takes us deep into the green heart of one of her favorite seasonal allies: pine, a plant that offers medicine for the body, steadiness for the spirit, and a gentle reminder that resilience lives in us, even during the winter season.

As evergreens fill our homes and line our snowy trails this time of year, Elliott explores why humans have always been drawn to them in winter and how their presence, fresh, fragrant, symbolic, can be powerful medicine in more ways than one.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why evergreens became symbols of hope, renewal, and resilience during solstice season
  
  
• Energetic qualities of pine: grounding amidst chaos, softening perfectionism, and cultivating self-acceptance
  
  
• How pine can help us find structure and steadiness after the frenetic holiday pace
  
  
• The role of pine flower essence in easing guilt and supporting gentler self-talk
  
  
• The immune, respiratory, and digestive benefits of pine needles
  
  
• Why pine is a powerful ally for cold & flu season
  
  
• The best ways to work with pine, including medicine making techniques and home rituals!
  
  
• The medicine of pine resin
  
  
• The story behind Dancing Willow’s pine tincture and the deeply intentional process of wildcrafting for the Elder Bear Elixir
  
  
• Reflections on Osha, respectful harvesting, and bioregional responsibility
  
  
• A heartfelt end-of-year moment as Elliott wraps up 2025 with gratitude for the community gathered around these plant teachings

Featured Remedies:

• Pine Tincture, handmade from needles harvested on Elliott’s own land
  
  
• Elder Bear Elixir, a winter ally made with local pine, elderberry, and sacred Osha
  
  

Perfect For You If…

You’re navigating holiday overwhelm, seeking grounding practices, exploring herbal immune support, or simply longing to reconnect with the evergreens in your home this time of the year.

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

If you’ve been craving a deeper way to move through winter, one that honors the mystery, the magic, and your personal inner fire, this conversation will feel like stepping into a portal.

The winter solstice brings us into the darkest days of the year — a time when many of us feel pulled between the desire to slow down and the very real demands of December. In this deeply nourishing conversation, I’m joined by herbalist, teacher, and author Marysia Miernowska to explore how we can tend our inner flame, reconnect with the Earth, and find meaning in the fertile darkness of winter.

Marysia is the founder of the School of the Sacred Wild, author of The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary, and a beloved voice in the world of earth-based spirituality and traditional plant wisdom. Together, we dive into seasonal rhythms, herbal allies, and the deeper emotional and spiritual threads that winter invites us to explore.

In this episode, we explore:

• The winter solstice as a portal into fertile darkness
  
  
• How to navigate the tension between inner winter and outer world demands
  
  
• Practical ways to stoke the inner flame during the coldest months
  
  
• Warming herbs and lifestyle practices to support circulation, vitality, and mood
  
  
• The role of plant spirit meditations in opening intuition and connection
  
  
• Reclaiming voice and power, healing the witch wound, and trusting ourselves as leaders
  
  
• Why January can be reclaimed as a true month of rest and dreaming
  
  
• The beauty of tending hope, innocence, and inner inspiration through seasonal practice

This episode is heartfelt, grounding, and enlivening- a balm for anyone moving through burnout, seeking clarity, or wanting to feel more connected to themselves and the cycles of nature during the winter season.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Follow Marysia Miernowska:
  Instagram: @marysia_miernowska
  Website: https://www.marysia-miernowska.com
  School of the Sacred Wild: https://www.schoolofthesacredwild.com
  Sacred Rituel skincare: Use code sacredwild20 for 20% off
• Dancing Willow Herbs Holiday Gift Collection
  Thoughtful, handcrafted herbal offerings for loved ones (and yourself)
  https://dancingwillowherbs.com/collections/holiday-gifts
• Dancing Willow Herbs Fire Tea: https://dancingwillowherbs.com/products/fire-elemental-tea?_pos=1&_sid=5f311ba5c&_ss=r&variant=44951396516129

10% off all Dancing Willow Herbs products through December 18th with the code podcastfam at checkout

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

The holidays are nearly here, and so is the opportunity to transform how we show up with the people we love- with more regulation, presence, and real connection.

In today’s conversation, Elliott is joined by Eliza Rose Kane to explore her new offering, Family Breathwork, a program designed to bring families together through nervous system regulation, emotional attunement, and being truly witnessed by the people closest to us. Whether you’re parenting young kids or teens, navigating dynamics with your partner, or wanting to build more connection with your parents, this episode offers meaningful tools to support real transformation within the home.

We dive into:

• What co-regulation and self-regulation look like inside the family unit
  
  
• How breathwork can help us move from chaos to connection
  
  
• Simple practices to root into the physical world while holding expansive creative vision
  
  
• Tools for soothing the nervous system in overstimulated times
  
  
• Breathwork as a pathway to purpose, especially for teens
  
  
• Healing the inner child through parenting and partnership
  
  
• Protecting innocence and strengthening bonds in a tech-driven world
  
  

Eliza’s passion for supporting families shines so brightly in this conversation, and I know you’ll walk away feeling inspired and empowered to build new rhythms and rituals in your home.

Links & Resources:

Listeners receive 20% off Eliza’s Family Breathwork course with code THEDANCINGWILLOW20. https://elizarosekane.com/family-breathwork-course

Connect with Eliza:

Eliza’s Substack can be found here: https://substack.com/@elizarose

Instagram: @elizarosekane

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

What if the key to lasting health isn’t the next super herb or supplement but removing what’s quietly draining your vitality?

In this illuminating conversation, herbalist and teacher Paul Bergner joins Elliott Brinkley to explore the foundations of true healing through vitalist therapeutics addressing lifestyle, nutrition, and the spiritual dimensions of wellness. With over five decades of clinical experience and a lineage of teaching that has shaped generations of herbalists, Paul shares both timeless wisdom and modern clinical insight into what it really means to heal.

Together, Elliott and Paul trace his journey from early work in lifestyle medicine to decades of supervising herbal teaching clinics. They discuss what sets vitalist herbalism apart from symptomatic herbal medicine, why sleep and digestion form the bedrock of health, and how simple herbs can support the body’s innate intelligence when lifestyle patterns are restored.

The conversation dives deeply into:

• Sleep debt as an overlooked epidemic and how restoring circadian rhythm transforms vitality
  
  
• The role of digestion and food intolerance as core obstacles to healing and why even the smallest amount of an offending food can trigger systemic inflammation
  
  
• The importance of observing results over relying on theory or trend
  
  
• Using herbs to support natural processes rather than to fix conditions
  
  
• How emotion, grief, and spiritual stagnation surface during healing, and how Paul integrates flower essences and spiritual heart herbs into that work
  
  
• A powerful story about the golden currant bush that shaped Paul’s understanding of lineage and legacy in herbal medicine

By the end, you’ll walk away seeing health through a new lens one rooted in simplicity, observation, and reverence for the body’s wisdom.

Links & Resources:

• Explore Paul’s full curriculum or dive into specific topics with his audio courses and lectures at https://www.naimh.com/
• Dancing Willow Herbs formulas for digestive support: Tummy Tea, Digestive Repair Powder, Tummy Calm Tincture

Listen now to reconnect with the foundations of healing and remember what medicine has always known: nature, rest, and nourishment are the truest forms of cure.

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

As the wheel turns and the nights grow longer, we step into the liminal season of Samhain or Halloween- the Celtic New Year and the sacred threshold between worlds. In this solo episode, Elliott explores the herbal allies of protection and boundary-keeping that support us as we descend into the dark half of the year.

From Yarrow and her tightening, astringent magic to Hawthorn’s thorny guardianship of the heart, these plants teach us how to hold our energy close, honor our sensitivity, and navigate the unseen with steadiness and grace. Elliott also shares personal stories- from early experiences with overwhelm and energetic boundaries to finding grounding through relationship with these plants and the cyclical wisdom of the seasons.

The episode explores:

• The roots of Samhain and its connection to modern-day Halloween
• How Yarrow, Hawthorn, Rose, and Elder act as protectors- physically, emotionally, and spiritually
• The role of aromatic herbs like rosemary, cinnamon, and sage in uplifting our spirit and filling our space with light
• Rituals and reflections for honoring the ancestors, shadow, and inner flame
• How herbal practice becomes a form of protection, remembrance, and connection to the self

This is a nourishing listen for anyone feeling the pull to slow down, create sanctuary, and honor the deep medicine of the season.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dancing Willow Herbs single-plant tinctures: Yarrow, Hawthorn, Elderflower, Ginger
• Elderberry Syrup
• Rooted Heart Elixir
  
  
  

Extra Medicinal Mulling Spices for autumn rituals and cozy kitchen magic

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco

Two besties, a pot of strong herbal decoction, and a year that tested their roots, this is a conversation about finding magic in the mess.

In this deeply personal and heart-centered conversation, Elliott welcomes back one of her best friends and fellow “witchy sister of the West,” Katie Ramos, for an honest exploration of herbal magic, spirit dosing, resilience through hardship, and the power of rooting into authenticity.

From childhood broomstick flights to modern-day herbal rituals, the two reflect on how their relationship with plants, ritual, and each other has supported them through burnout, health challenges, and big life transitions. Katie shares her journey navigating endometriosis, connecting with Mugwort, and Holy Basil on a spiritual level, and reclaiming her body’s wisdom after years of not being heard in medical spaces. Elliott opens up about her own year of reckoning with cystic acne, surrender, and self-acceptance.

Together, they weave personal stories with practical herbal insights—like working with Wood Betony to unlock expression, or using spirit doses to build intimate, intuitive relationships with plants. This isn’t a how-to episode. It’s an invitation to slow down, root in, and remember that healing is multifaceted, magical, and entirely your own.

In this episode, they discuss:

• The attraction to the magical from a young age, from broomsticks to moon rituals
• What “spirit dosing” herbs looks like in practice
• Wood Betony as a bridge between the gut, solar plexus, and voice
• Navigating health journeys with endometriosis & acne
• Finding power through surrender and daily energy alignment
• How plants can wait for us and meet us when we’re ready
• Building trust in the body’s innate ability to heal

Tune in if you’re craving real talk about healing, magic, and finding groundedness in hard seasons. Whether you’re deep into herbal work or just starting to explore, this conversation will make you feel like you’re sitting at the table with two dear friends and a pot of strong decoction.

Links from the episode:

• Katie's first appearance on The Dancing Willow Podcast, where we discussed all things lavender and her story.
• Call Dancing Willow Herbs during business hours to place an order for our single herb extract tinctures of Holy Basil/Tulsi, Mugwort & Wood Betony. 970-247-1654, 10-6 MST Mon-Sat.
• Mesa Verde Lavender website
• Mesa Verde Lavender instagram

Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share with others who would love it.

Support the podcast by making a purchase with Dancing Willow Herbs!

Website: www.dancingwillowherbs.com
Instagram: @dancingwillowherbsco