Have you ever felt called to go on a retreat, perhaps even a retreat in the South African wilderness? If you’ve been listening along, you know that my Dad attended his first retreat in the South African wilderness in the summer of 2019 shortly before, as he speaks to in this episode, his life “blew up.”

This episode was recorded after my Dad returned from his second Track Your Life retreat by Boyd Varty, at Londolozi. You’ll hear my Dad share some of the key insights and invitations he received during his time there.

While we go on retreat to remember, the real purpose of taking the time and making the investment to go on retreat, especially one of this nature, is to cultivate more presence. Presence with ourselves, and — as Boyd’s retreats directly support, presence with the tracks of one’s life.

My dear friend Ksenia, host of the Weaving Your Reality podcast (formerly Ksenia Brief podcast), who was actually married at Londolozi, wanted to ask my Dad some intentional questions upon his return. So, while Ksenia wasn’t physically present with us in the recording studio, she did join this campfire-like conversation by way of the beautiful questions she sent. Thank you, Ksenia!

Key Takeaways:

• Retreats are a great way to become more present within our daily lives.

• More presence equals more aliveness.

• Reality is just as real on a retreat as it is sitting at your desk.

• Purpose doesn’t have to have a big ‘P’.

• Sometimes we go on a retreat with one intention, and we end up leaving with unexpected insights and clarity.

Resources:

Boyd Varty's Track Your Life online course

Boyd Varty's Track Your Life retreat

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Learn more about Fall Up and our podcast: visit website

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn

Have you ever felt the whispers of a calling? In this episode, I invite my Dad to share about a calling he felt emerging during a recent sacred plant medicine ceremony.

We start, as we do in each episode, by pulling power animal cards and spraying flower essences, which then leads to an intentional conversation about the importance of – you guessed it – intentional conversations.

In addition to exploring the notion of a calling, my Dad elaborates on what he shared in Episode 7 “Plant Medicine in the Garden,” about how plant medicine has helped him access healing in ways traditional methods hadn’t. We go on to further emphasize how these sacred medicines can support the release of stored emotions and – for some, connecting with a deeper purpose.

As we close, I invite listeners to reflect on how you are relating to the word “calling.”

Key Takeaways:

• Regardless of your age, if you are open, a calling can emerge at any point in your life.

• Sacred plant medicine ceremonies can help us to remember our true essence, and to open us to better understanding more of who we are, and what we are being called to do, create, and become.

• All of us have a healer and artist essence.

• Callings grow and transform as we do.

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Learn more about Fall Up and our podcast: visit website

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn

What if forgiveness is generated when we choose to create a Miracle by consciously letting go of the grievance we’ve been holding onto – either towards ourselves or towards another person? Remembering that A Course in Miracles teaches us that we can create a Miracle any time we shift our perspective from fear to love.

Join us as we explore how letting go of grievances opens the door to transformation, within ourselves and in our relationships.

In this episode, my Dad, Robert, and I have a very vulnerable conversation about forgiveness. I bring up a story from our first trip to South Africa that I had long felt ashamed of. I offer an apology, and we reflect on how humor helps us alchemize lingering grief and shame. We also discuss the choice between holding onto an old, painful story or embracing healing – what Marianne Williamson via A Course in Miracles refers to the choice between, “a Miracle or a grievance.”

My Dad shares his deep respect and admiration for Nelson Mandela, specifically his supernatural forgiveness of his white oppressors after he was freed from Robben Island.

And we touch on which tattoos my Dad said he would get, were we to, you know, one day end up in a tattoo parlor together.

We close with an invitation to reflect on what it means to release the past and create space for a new story.

Key Takeaways:

• Forgiveness is a process that invites courage, intention – and often, consistent action.
  
  
• In order to expand into the healing available in forgiveness, you have to choose, do you want to hold onto that grievance or do you want the Miracle?
  
  
• Humor can support the alchemy of lingering grief.
  
  
• Asking for forgiveness allows us to become clearer channels of love.

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast, where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Learn more about Fall Up and our podcast: visit website

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn

What if the one thing holding you back from growth wasn’t outside of you but within you?

Spring has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and, along with it, the sharing of the second half of our first Heart Gardening season. With this transition is an invitation to soften, to reflect on what we’re ready to release, and to clear space for new growth.

In our next episode, we’ll be exploring forgiveness — what it means to truly let go, how its presence (and absence), shapes our relationships, and why it’s a powerful act of healing.

Forgiveness, after all, isn’t really about others — it’s about freeing ourselves.

This journey between me and my Dad is one that has invited deep forgiveness, and, in turn, a letting go of past hurt, pain, and grief. Whether you’re listening alone or with loved ones, I invite you to pause, breathe, and feel into who or what you are being called to forgive.

Keep gardening,
Jasmin

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn

In this episode, my Dad and I welcome our first special guest, Chiqui Woolworth, into the heart garden. Chiqui was one of my Mom’s best friends, and has been an incredibly important person in my life since I was a child. She was the first person to really teach me about the mystical, and in so doing, really supported me in developing a relationship with the mystical in everyday life. Looking into the origins of the word “Mystic,” it comes from the Greek word ‘mystikos’, which means "secret, mystic, connected with the mysteries.”

At the beginning of the episode, we reference one of the founders of the French surrealist movement, Paul Éluard, with his insight, “There is another world, and it is inside this one.” We start from this place, because we believe this sentiment encompasses the foundation of mystical awareness. Moving into an intentional conversation about the mystical, we then share about how we have each come to develop a relationship with the world inside this one.

Key Takeaways:

• We can all connect to the mystical in our lives.

• Being open to the mystical in everyday life can awaken us to the infinite connection between souls, especially those souls who are no longer physically present with us.

• Having an intentional relationship with the mystical, can help us in our grief healing journeys through offering us peace and wonder, in moments of synchronicity.

• To deepen into a relationship with the mystical, it is important to express gratitude to the Divine, when you have those moments of mystical connection.

• The more open you are to the mystical, the more you can co-create in Miracles with the Divine.

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Learn more about Fall Up and our podcast: visit website

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn

In this bonus solo episode, I invite you to pause and reflect on the invitations that my Dad and I have shared with you, in episodes one through eight of Season 1, of our Heart Gardening podcast.

You’ll hear me share my personal reflections with these invitations and how I am integrating with them in my life.

Because each episode is its own sort of medicine ceremony and we know we’ve already covered a lot of ground within Season 1, I wanted to take this intentional pause to reflect before we embark on the remaining episodes for this season.

I hope my reflections support you in getting more connected and aligned to your unique path forward with the eight invitations we’ve offered to you and your heart gardens thus far.

Keep gardening,
Jasmin

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Learn more about Fall Up and our podcast: visit website

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn

Have you ever thought about your first memory with grief?

Is there a story that you created from that experience that is still playing out now, in terms of how you relate to your grief – or, to your heart?

In this episode, my Dad and I have a heartfelt conversation about our earliest memories with grief and loss. (Listen for my Dad’s sweet reflection on Jiminy Cricket!)

You’ll hear my Dad speak to the sudden losses of his father and brother and the impact that had on his entire family. We go on to talk about the loss of my Mother and the healing that we both received through the support of our community – especially the Wheaton Academy high school community.

Towards the end of the episode, we discuss how we continue to navigate the universal human experience of grief – including the importance of allowing ourselves to feel our emotions, and how crying is indeed healing.

Key Takeaways:

• In light of your first childhood memory of grief, there may be an insight into how you currently relate to grief, based upon the message you received from a family member or caregiver, in response to your feelings.

• There is healing to be had in having intentional conversations with family members with whom you’ve shared in a loss, because you each had different relationships and experiences with that person.

• Grief is meant to be welcomed into the garden of your heart, as soil for the evolution of your soul.

• Don’t ask people who are grieving what you can do for them, just take a loving action on their behalf – whether with a call, organizing a Meal Train, sending flowers, or any other supportive actions.

• Remember: your consistent presence is the greatest gift to give to someone you love who is grieving.

• Prioritize remembering birthday anniversaries and death anniversaries of the people (and pets) your family, friends, and loved ones have lost.

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Learn more about Fall Up and our podcast: visit website

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn

How can plant medicine support healing? Plant medicine, through the grace of The Divine, got us here into the heart garden. (Thank you plant medicine!)

We keep hearing from listeners that they want to hear about this topic: our initial resistance to plant medicine, how it has supported our healing journeys — both individually and as a father and daughter, and the importance of preparing for your own ceremony and integrating with the invitations you receive.

In this episode, we share:

• Gratitude to the Indigenous keepers of these sacred medicines, and of course to the medicines themselves.

• The story from my first plant medicine ceremony.

• The catalyst for my Dad attending his first plant medicine journey.

• My Dad’s integration invitations.

• An invitation to you, the listener, who may be curious about how to best support or encourage a loved one, to attend their first plant medicine ceremony.

Key Takeaways:

• In the right set and setting, plant medicine can be a powerful healing modality for personal growth and transformation.

• Plant medicine can help us meet that which was previously met by fear, with love. (Thank you, Stephen Levine).

• Listening to and acting upon the invitations received in sacred ceremony space can guide us into deep healing.

• “Emanate love, not fear.” (Thank you, Ram Dass).

For this episode we selected these two Lotus Wei flower essences: Divine Truth Elixir and Sacred Heart Anointing Oil

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Heart Gardening, a father-daughter podcast where Jasmin and Robert explore the transformative power of open, honest dialogue in healing relationships – especially in families. Hosted by Jasmin, this podcast tells the story of their reconnection journey after nearly 15 years apart.

To support our journey, before each episode we choose a flower essence from Lotus Wei and a card from Alyson Charles’ Animal Power Deck: 75 Animals to Awaken Your Personal Magic.

Follow our podcast on Instagram @heartgardeningpodcast

Read more about Jasmin here and Robert here

Learn more about Fall Up and our podcast: visit website

Music: “Open Doors” by Trevor Hall (licensed from Trevor Hall)

Hosted on Libsyn