Show Notes
It is Victoria Loorz’s mission to help people not just care for the earth, but to fall in love with it.
What would it look like to move beyond appreciating nature, even past protecting her, to loving her? And realizing, perhaps, that we are already a part of her?
Join us on the Spiritual Wanderlust podcast to learn about: 🔸The forgotten heritage of the Judeo-Christian world and its deep relationship with nature 🔹How to re-wild your spirituality, wherever you are 🔸3 things we need to Unlearn in order to reconnect with the land, other creatures, and ourselves 🔹Victoria’s longstanding friendship with a deer named Mary 🔸How our connection and conversation with nature (and each other) *is* Christ.
Victoria Loorz is an "eco-spiritual director" and co-founder of the Wild Church Network. Her book, Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred is a deeply personal invitation for everyone to re-member themselves back into intimate, sacred relationship with the rest of the living world.
From the book’s prologue: "This is a story about a land where the trees talk and the waters croon and the people fall in love with birds, who love them back. This is a story about an enchanted forest hiding in plain sight, invisible until, somehow, the veil drops—and what was unseen can suddenly be seen. You may catch a glimpse when you cross the threshold on the far edge of the abandoned field, or when, just for a blinking instant, you notice how the brambles of the blackberry bush connect you to everything..."
Learn more about Victoria, the Wild Church movement, and her book at www.victorialoorz.com. Leave us a voicemail at https://www.spiritualwanderlust.org/ask for the chance to have your spiritual question answered live!
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Have you ever been struck by someone’s depth of presence? Like when you meet a wise, holy person. The depth of their presence overwhelms us, floods our body with their peace. Have you ever wondered what's going on on a biological level when this happens? Or, wondered why it's so much easier to feel grounded when we meditate with others vs. on our own? Or maybe been curious about how life's traumas impact the contemplative life? Get ready, everyone - this is one of my FAVORITE intersections. 🤩🤩 Neuroscience and the contemplative life. Embodiment and spirituality. The mystical and the muscles, minerals, and membranes. In today’s episode I speak with Dr. Bonnie Badenoch, who specializes in precisely this intersection. Bonnie is an interpersonal neurobiologist *and* a contemplative! She has spent decades researching how that connection, and most importantly, presence, impacts our bodies. You might think of her as the Brene Brown of presence-- combining lots of heart with accessible research.