“Working with plants has shone a light, lovingly, on false beliefs that have hid in my subconscious and have held me back: in my life and my career”

When’s the last time you *truly* tapped into all of the wisdom that plants have to offer us? 

From flower essences to magic mushrooms to essential oils, Career Embodiment Coach, Author, & Podcast Host Emily Smith has made it her life’s work to integrate all of the juicy plant wisdom at our disposal into helping humans to THRIVE through her platform, Guide To Wholeness.

Join me in this week’s interview as we dive into the deep end with Emily not only on plant medicine, but on how it can help us to access new realms in our career journey, our spiritual journey, and beyond.

Tell us about your journey to become a Career & Embodiment Coach and how this has intertwined with your spiritual journey.

It was really an experience of grief, of losing someone close in my family, that led me to realize that life on Earth is too short, and that settling is no way to live. It was the beginning of a journey of self exploration, a spiritual awakening, a newfound faith that everything was happening for me, and that I could grow from this and help others overcome their own insecurities. 

Simultaneously, in 2017, I was struggling with self worth and dissatisfaction, burned out at work, feeling uncertainty in my career, and in the major life transition of moving from NYC back home to Boston. But I had a desire to start healing myself. This was what prompted me to leave my full time career and take my first life coaching certification, in integrative life coaching. And as they say, the rest is history

Fast forward to today – in the last two years, I have managed a (new) full time career while coaching and this has given me an edge to coach women that are navigating their job search and uncovering a fulfilling career.

How did you come to be interested in the ancient wisdom and medicine of plants?

It seems my pain is what led me back to ancient wisdom and medicine of plants. I was always fascinated and connected to this wisdom as a child, but growing up I ‘forgot’ about this connection until I was faced with the pain of being newly sober, going through grief, uncertain about my next career move, and going through a dark night of the soul.

In a serendipitous chain of events, I found myself at a reiki studio for the first time in 2017. I was open to new healing modalities, in an effort to find inner balance and clarity in my life. As I was leaving the session, I was drawn to a row of brown, glass bottles on display. Without knowing why, I asked about them and was given a few samples of wild orange and lavender essential oils to take home. That was a divine moment, because it made me realize I was connected to the essence, the spirit, of plants. 

I learned through my essential oils certification that every plant has a different vibration and healing that it offers. The way essential oils work is so powerful because it influences our subconscious through our sense of smell which is connected to the limbic system, the seat of emotion. Since then, I have cultivated a connection with other forms of plants, including flower essences, teas, and psychedelics, and it has helped me and my clients heal and embody wholeness within.

Can you share more about plants as a powerful untapped resource that can aid in both our spiritual journey and in creating a career that we love?

What surprised me the most about working with plants was their ability to help in evolving spiritually and creating a career that fulfills. Each plant has a different vibration, and therefore healing power, similar to crystals. When we feel stuck, hurt, or lost, plants provide an inherent energy of healing, with their high vibration helping to shift out of lower vibrational states. I have seen this effect the most with essential oils.

For my first mushroom ceremony, a main theme was self worth and it tied into a vision I received from the Plant for the future of my career. I saw how I would be thriving creatively and helping companies with their branding and culture. Specific plants can connect us with our higher self so we can make better decisions in our careers and life!

Please share a few ways that you leverage plant medicine in your life that readers can lean into, too! (ie flower essences, essential oils, your diet, etc)

I eat a mostly plant based diet, with the occasional wild caught fish, so I get a daily dose of plants to support my foundation. 

I work with essential oils every day, diffusing oils that are supportive of my current emotional state and spiritual healing, taking a few drops on my tongue, or in a hot salt bath. I find that this gives me what I need in the moment to be in balance and to heal, I have a huge collection of oils in a chest that I love intuitively choosing from. 

I also take flower essences in my water when I feel called or when I’m working through some specific spiritual healing. 

On a quarterly basis, I microdose psilocybin 1-2 times a week. This really boosts my creativity, brings me back into my body connecting me to my emotions, and helps me connect with spirit to work through the vision for my business and career. 

It really helps to surround yourself with plants in your home, both alive and in artwork, to build a relationship with them, and feel more connected and grounded as a whole.

I’d love to hear more about your journey with mushrooms (we’ve done them together). How did you decide to lean into this medicine, and what has your journey with mushrooms been like?

I had a coach as a guest on my podcast, which at the time was called Plant Wisdom, and she asked if she could share about her journey with psychedelics for healing. I was intrigued and said yes, and that planted the seed of my curiosity. I hadn’t heard about the potential for embodiment healing with them and I saw the benefit of working with mushrooms. 

Outside of coaching and therapy, this would be a modality that would connect you with spirit and your body, so it was not on a mental level which I really was seeking to work through some inner wounding I had in regards to worthiness and trauma. I was prepared for the psychedelic experience with my breathwork practice and certification, which is also a modality in which you can access non-ordinary states. 

There was a lot of fear and apprehension, as I am sober, to work with this plant. So I worked with a psychedelic integration coach leading up to my first ceremony and did a ton of my own research so I could feel confident in surrendering to this plant. I have now been working with them for almost a year, and see how it’s accelerating my healing, my career and business growth, and my relationship to self and others. I’ve had other psychedelic pioneers on my podcast called Guide to Wholeness since then, check out the episode with Jonathan de Potter for a fantastic overview of the experience, how to prepare, and the benefits. There is a huge opportunity for healing with these plants in conjunction with other embodiment supports.

What have been your most profound insights that you’ve tapped into through the wisdom of plants?

Working with plants has shone a light, lovingly, on false beliefs that have hid in my subconscious and that have held me back: in my life and my career. On my first mushroom journey, I realized that I am not what others perceive me to be or project their ideas of who I am onto me. I instead can live my life with an internal locus of control instead of external, and that has changed how I show up powerfully. 

Another profound insight that I received was releasing an inner child wound, of the belief that I am a burden. I was standing next to a tree and when I leaned against the tree and hugged it, the message I heard in my mind’s eye was “how could you ever be a burden?” It was profound to receive this from the tree, in such a sweet and loving voice, and it brought me to tears as I let go of this belief I didn’t even know existed.