Episode 5: herbalism & healing cultural disconnection

The hosts are joined by herbalist Rebekah Sze-Tung Olstad to explore her fascinating healing path to reconnect with her mixed-race Chinese ancestry. Her adventure takes us to Cuba where she learns about plants for the first time and has a mysterious remembering. Rebecca discusses how plants have helped her cultivate deeper relationships with her ancestors. She also shares her community work to organize folks longing for cultural gathering and healing through arts, cooking, astrology, and magic. Finally, Rebekah suggests practices for reciprocity and respect of the land and indiginenous peoples. At the end of the show, Rebekah leads us through a sweet plant meditation where we actually sit with plants from our home. 

Show Notes: 

• Rebekah Sze-Tung Olstad (she/her) is an herbalist and cultural organizer grounded in love for the earth. Through her herbal practice Red Autumn Apothecary she supports people in their emotional, physical and spiritual health, teaches classes and workshops, and makes herbal medicine.​​
• More about Rebekah here: www.redautumnapothecary.com​, @red_autumn_rebekah
• Info about the Ancestral Apothecary - https://ancestralapothecaryschool.com/ 
• Prayerful journey to restore salmon runs, protect water and indigenous life - http://run4salmon.org/ 
• Refinery Corridor Healing Walks with Idle No More SF Bay - http://www.idlenomoresfbay.org/
• Contribute to Shuumi Land Tax through the Sogorea Te' Land Trust - https://sogoreate-landtrust.org
• Map the indigenous lands - https://native-land.ca/
• Thank you to Lucy Saephan, audio editor, and Tosh Tanaka, sound mixer!