Curious about stepping into connected self-leadership and embracing everyday spirituality? Welcome to the Connection Matters Podcast, where we explore the transformative power of nature, spirituality, and personal growth. Hosted by Leona Johnson, this podcast delves into the sacred weave of cultural emergence, ecopsychology, and personal transformation. With more than a decade of experience guiding people through deep, life-changing experiences, Leona brings you thought-provoking conversations, solo insights, and actionable practices. Tune in to unlock your potential, live with purpose, and help create a regenerative culture for future generations.
Invitation:
Let's create a world where everyone is supported to live authentically and aligned with their true purpose.
With deep gratitude for all of life, this podcast is dedicated to the future seven generations, inspiring positive change for generations to come.
Email-connection@leonajohnson.life
www.leonajohnson.life
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Cultivating Connected Self-Leadership in a Disconnected World
Episode 46
Friday, March 14, 2025 • Duration 33:32
This episode explores the transformative practice of connected self-leadership through journeying through the elements of presence and self-awareness as foundations for authentic leadership. Discover how to distinguish between the voice of fear and your inner wisdom, and learn how nature connection can strengthen your self-leadership practice. We explore the research behind mindful awareness, discuss how everyday choices become spiritual practice, and offer concrete strategies to integrate connected self-leadership into daily life. Perfect for heart-centered people, seeking everyday spirituality, and anyone ready to lead from the inside out rather than be guided by external expectations.
Ready to strengthen your inner compass?
Download a host of courses and free resources to continue your journey from my website. Click https://www.leonajohnson.life/resources to access these guides and join our community of conscious leaders cultivating deeper connection with themselves, others, and the natural world.
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Don't miss out on upcoming workshops, courses, or events! Stay informed by visiting the website here for more details for details.
The Elemental Connection: How Earth, Water, Fire & Air Deepen Your Everyday Spirituality
Episode 45
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 • Duration 38:02
Through storytelling, science, and practical wisdom, we’ll uncover:
✨ The unique lessons and energies each element offers ✨ Simple, everyday practices to integrate elemental connection into your life ✨ How tuning into the elements can bring clarity, balance, and renewal ✨ Why nature-based wisdom is essential for heart-centred living
By the end of this episode, you’ll have a fresh perspective on how these fundamental forces shape your personal journey and how to cultivate their presence in your daily life.
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Mother's as Leaders with Emma Gorbutt
Episode 36
Friday, April 7, 2023 • Duration 58:17
Things we talk about in this episode
Living at Earth worm- radical routes housing co-op.
Humans as interdependent beings.
Radical Routes- National Network of intentional communities.
The importance of supportive Networks
Mother Nature Project- International Project- Mother Nature Card Decks and Mother Nature Circles- Personal growth.
A global need for gathering on circles for connection, healing and growth.
Mother Nature Journey Course. Women coming together to learn and self-facilitate.
If you are interested in any of the projects I’m involved in or are interested in one-to-one mentoring with me or joining my online or in-person courses then click the links below for more information.
https://linktr.ee/connection.matters.leona
I love to connect with people on my personal instagram here
Please support us on patreon here- www.patreon.com/connectionmatterspodcast
Join the connection matters podcast mailing list here.
I love to connect with people on my personal instagram here https://www.instagram.com/connection.matters.leona/
Our website is www.livewild.org.uk/connectionmatterspodcast
Connect with us on instagram https://www.instagram.com/livewilduk/
The music for this podcast is -Hermosa Dia by Ray Johnson https://www.soundcloud.com/visionray
Biography
Sarah is a certified trainer of Nonviolent Communication and works with individuals, families and organisations to increase compassion, understanding and connection.
A world where everybody sings- with Kate Valentine
Episode 34
Thursday, March 31, 2022 • Duration 01:13:33
Things we talk about in this episode
Everyone has what it takes inside them to become a song sharer
The realisation that everyone can sing including me
Singing needs to be for everybody
Vision for a world in which everybody sings
What a singing circle is like
The voice- X factor gives us the idea we are or not a singer
The power of the effect on children
Sense of unity thats created by groups
Word magic in song
Sue Heart- Baka Beyond- singing alive-complex rhythms
No Baka person ever said I can’t sing
Survival skills- singing
Singing helps in rehab centres- activities in healing- mental health and wellbeing programmes
Research on the benefits of singing
Taking parts of songs and putting them together creates something unique.
Would we survive without singing?
Mental health crisis-
Cali White- The burning times- witches - we keep ourself small
Tamara Jade- Song
Links mentioned in this episode
To find out more about Singing Mamas click
https://www.singingmamaschoir.com/
To get more info on Live Wild Soul Sounds Singing in Nature Retreat click
Please support us on patreon here-https://www.patreon.com/connectionmatterspodcast
To find out more about the yearlong deep nature connection and culture repair program Bringing it Home (based on the 8 shields model) visit here
You can also find out about the lighter touch 8 Shields course Ecological Homecoming here, which focuses on the core routines of deep nature connection that are mapped onto each of the 8 directions, also co-hosted by Sky and Peter.
For more resources on the 8 Shields there is a free video mini series you can sign up for here , there are carousel images for each direction on , and you can watch free sample videos of Jon Youngs/the 8 Shields Institute 512 project
Creating and Understanding Meaning with Sal Gencarelle
Our website is www.livewild.org.uk/connectionmatterspodcast
My personal instagram is https://www.instagram.com/connection.matters.leona/
Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/connectionmatterspodcast
Connect with us on instagram https://www.instagram.com/livewilduk/
The music for this podcast is -Hermosa Dia by Ray Johnson https://soundcloud.com/visionray
Biography
Salvatore has 30 years of mentoring and delivery of nature-based therapies and wellness practices. He has expert knowledge and experience in both ancient indigenous and modern therapies. His focus is on techniques which increase well-being for individuals, families, and communities. He has created a codified therapeutic method drawn from experiences and knowledge. Salvatore has designed and taught over sixteen courses based on this methodology and has presented these courses and seminars in 12 countries, to over 27 different cultures.Salvatore Gencarelle is the founder and current director of Helpers Mentoring Society, an international organization dedicated to supporting the revitalization of humanity’s relationship with hope and purpose, so that all life thrives.
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Womens Blood Mysteries with Jill Kettle
Episode 31
Tuesday, October 26, 2021 • Duration 01:05:53
Things we talk about in this episode
The Womens mysteries
Jane Hardwick Collins- Moon Song
Birth as a portal- rites of passage
How we as women manifest things
Blood mysteries
Welcome at the thresholds.
Women In Power- Predator within
Wild Power
Cycles of life
Working with the current
Honouring and recognising the potency to take time to process, dream, vision.
Working with the energies
Mothers and Daughters Initiations
Wounded past
Samsara tanner- Doula-grandmother
The beauty of initiation
Moon Lodge
Menopause the mother of all reckonings
Its anti-carcinogenic to have a hot flush! Di we know this is an essential process?
Min mya- under the quandong tree- aboriginal wisdom
Autumn women, harvest queen
The red school- learning to work with the menstrualone cycle
Our website is www.livewild.org.uk/connectionmatterspodcast
Connect with us on instagram https://www.instagram.com/livewilduk/
My personal instagram is https://www.instagram.com/leona.connection.matters/
The music for this podcast is -Hermosa Dia by Ray Johnson https://soundcloud.com/visionray
Biography
I am the mother of three lovely and very energetic children. I’m grateful to be living in a loving and supportive community where I find nourishment for my dreams and vision.
I am passionate about nourishing our connection to inner wisdom and natural energy. I have more than seventeen years experience as an acupuncturist which you can read about here - www.acupuncturesussex.co.uk.
This website is to share with you my path working with practices that serve the renewal of connection to life, inspired by my training with teachers from diverse contemporary and indigenous traditions. I am truly grateful for my years of study with Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese medicine and movement practices as a pathway to a lifelong interest in healing and an exploration into what that really means.
Deep Nature Connection and Culture Repair with Jon Young and Looby Macnamara
Episode 30
Monday, October 11, 2021 • Duration 01:18:49
Things we talk about in this episode
Why are there certain groups who are not connected?
Jon's story about family and connection observations
Research project-
Tom Brown jar- Apache teacher
San Bushmen of the Kalihari- oldest Culture on the planet- the cradle of connected culture
Common Elements of connection
Gratitude Customs
Connection Practices
Creation of The Art of Mentoring
Connection is a different pathway to cognitive development/learning
Biography Klaudia grew up at the edge of a village in the south of the Netherlands, considering the fields her playground. An urge to garden led to creating several small gardens around the house.
Doing a degree in Environmental Science after moving to the UK and having two daughters, brought things together and she realised she couldn’t think of anything better to do than work for the environment she loved and has continued to do ever since.
In addition to the degree, she did many trainings in the fields of business, permaculture, education & teaching, facilitation, management, sustainability skills and personal development.
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Biography Emma has had a varied career working for organisations supporting and creating community projects working for positive social and environmental change in the UK, including the Permaculture Association, a Women’s Centre and delivering Children and Young People's activities for borough councils. Since 2011 she has been living and working at Earthworm Housing Co-op, Herefordshire UK helping to develop their housing and land to be more environmentally sustainable where she also began her exciting mothering journey. In 2018 she joined Looby Macnamara working for Applewood Permaculture Centre. In her spare time Emma volunteers widely in her village , is on a learning journey of Cultural Emergence and is nourished by gardening, cooking vegan food and nature connection practices All these threads both manifest and feed Emma's continuing passion for creating community resilience to climate change and social inequality and bringing about positive social change
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Don't miss out on upcoming workshops, courses, or events! Stay informed by visiting the website here for more details for details.
Sarah was a founder member of the NVC UK Conflict Transformation Weave, and draws on her lived experience of co-creating a restorative system in a large cohousing project in the North of England. Website: www.sarahludford.co.uk
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Don't miss out on upcoming workshops, courses, or events! Stay informed by visiting the website here for more details for details.
Kate Valentine is founder and network director of Singing Mamas CIC
Kate is a registered nurse who has grown and developed the Singing Mamas movement for over a decade, reaching thousands of women. She is gifted in nurturing people, noticing the unique gifts in each woman, teasing them out, allowing people to feel their worth, find their voice and take their place as a leader.
Kates passion for singing and for songs continually deepens as the years roll on.. she feels that she is meerly scratching the surface of the treasures.. if the natural state of voices, songs and singing were woven into the fabric of our human experience.. we would recognise singing truly is for our survival.
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
The training program Sky talks about its here- https://weavingearth.org/about-us/
https://www.facebook.com/WeavingEarth/community
Our website is https://www.livewild.org.uk/connectionmatterspodcast
I love to connect with people on my personal instagram here; https://www.instagram.com/connection.matters.leona/
Connect with us on instagram https://www.instagram.com/livewilduk/
The music for this podcast is -Hermosa Dia by Ray Johnson https://www.soundcloud.com/visionray
Biography
Sky- Maria Buitenhuis has extensive experience supporting people to deepen their connection to nature, including our own inner nature as part of the larger natural landscape. She is the co-founder of GIFT (Global Institute of Forest Therapy) and the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. Aswell as designing and directing the organizations training programs, she has personally trained and mentored 100s of people to follow their passions of becoming forest therapy guides. She is currently the co-host for the Bringing it Home program, a yearlong journey of deep nature connection and culture repair based on the 8 Shields model.
As a nature connection guide, she draws on her trainings as a Work-That-Re-Connects (as founded by Joanna Macy) and an 8-Shields (a pan-cultural model for deep nature connection and cultural repair) facilitator as well as many other influences and her own on-going personal journey of remembering and embodying her most enlivened natural state of being, and continues to actively learn from indigenous cultures and wisdom-keepers,. As a facilitator, her passion is to offer people the experience of 'coming home', that is remembering that as a human we are embedded in this complex and infinitely diverse web of life on our beautiful planet Earth. She is deeply moved and nourished by supporting and witnessing others having this embodied, innately human, experience of returning home to wholeness.
Within her nature connection work she also has a deep passion for supporting women's journeys of returning to the wisdom of their bodies through teaching fertility awareness/natural family planning and womb wellness.
Sky loves to get elemental! What makes her feel most vital is communing with the Earth in various ways, such as wild-crafting with her hands, tracking animals, wild swimming and sitting quietly and listening out on the land. She really enjoyed getting her Level 2 Track & Sign cybertracker evaluation with the San people in Namibia. She also loves to dance, to sing and catch songs, and reading and writing poetry.
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Don't miss out on upcoming workshops, courses, or events! Stay informed by visiting the website here for more details for details.
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Don't miss out on upcoming workshops, courses, or events! Stay informed by visiting the website here for more details for details.
The first thread that took me from working exclusively with acupuncture and bodywork and beginning to explore honouring rites of passage and recognising the value of attending to our cycles was working with birth as a doula. This was a real doorway for me and a personal initiation into finding out more about my vision in life.
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Jon Young Jon Young is the founder of the 8 Shields Institute. He is an acknowledged expert on mentoring especially with respect to deep nature connection and culture. Jon was mentored himself by numerous Native Elders from traditional cultures of Europe, Africa and North America. He is also an inspirational storyteller who has been invited all over the planet to share his vision of a truly regenerative and peaceful world. Jon is author of What the Robin Knows, and co-author of Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature. . www.8Shields.org
Looby Macnamara Looby Macnamara is a pioneer of permaculture and co-founder of Cultural Emergence. She is an author, facilitator, designer, gardener, mother. She has written 4 books; Cultural Emergence, People & Permaculture, 7 Ways to Think Differently and Strands of Infinity. Looby has been deeply immersed in the permaculture movement since she came across it in 1999. She has been a trustee and chair of the Permaculture Association and is a senior diploma tutor. She has been teaching since 2002 and has run many courses including a dozen teacher trainings. In 2016 Looby set up the Applewood Permaculture Centre with her family, where they run courses and grow food. Looby is also part of the Mother Nature project - to support mothers in their process of personal transformation.
Jon and Looby
Jon and Looby have been collaborating since 2016. They have been working together to emerge new tools and wisdom with the Cultural Emergence toolkit. Looby also mentored the 8 Shields Institute in design. Jon and Looby have taught many courses together including Cultural Emergence Leadership Training, an online Cultural Emergence Design course and both the Activating Cultural Emergence (ACE) and Peace Empowerment And Cultural Emergence (PEACE) courses.
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
Don't miss out on upcoming workshops, courses, or events! Stay informed by visiting the website here for more details for details.
She gathered many skills through training and practical experience: gardening, preserving, foraging, basketry, living willow structures, strawbale and cob building, bushcraft, herbal medicine and more.
Once she started on the permaculture path, she got hooked and also started teaching and consulting on permaculture. This led to a particular social permaculture interest.
In recent years she’s been involved with Extinction Rebellion, mostly focussing on regenerative cultures and deepening her curiosity for ceremony, herbal medicine and plant connection.
Thank You for Listening!
I am so grateful to you for tuning into this episode of Connection Matters Podcast. This is my passion and where I share my hope for a better world. If you enjoyed what you heard, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the podcast on your preferred platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners and spread the message of connection, healing and growth!
Stay Connected:
Join the Community: Be part of our growing community by signing up for my newsletter here. You'll receive updates on new episodes, resources, and exclusive offers!
Read the Blog for all the actionable tips, journal prompts and a deeper read of my thoughts and perspectives on connected self-leadership.
