180. Plant Medicine, Dreams & Nervous System Healing: A Path to Self-Remembering with Lynda Samphire

Have you ever felt called toward plant medicine but weren't sure where to begin—or wondered if it was really about healing or simply remembering who you already are?

"This is not self-improvement. It is self-return." – Lynda Samphire

In this thought-provoking episode of Together We Seek, I sit down with plant medicine guide and spiritual teacher Lynda Samphire to explore the deeper purpose of plant medicine, dreams, nervous system regulation, and the journey back to ourselves. Rather than viewing plant medicine as something that fixes us, Lynda invites us to see it as a relationship—one that helps us witness ourselves with greater awareness, compassion, and curiosity.

Together, we discuss why so many people fear looking within, the importance of creating a safe container for healing, and how dreams, the body, and nature continue the conversation long after a plant medicine journey has ended. Whether you are simply curious about plant medicine or have already begun your own awakening journey, this conversation offers grounded wisdom and a refreshing perspective on remembering who you have always been.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why self-return may be more powerful than self-improvement.
• How dreams, plant medicine, and the nervous system work together to support healing and integration.
• Why creating safety in the body is essential before pursuing deeper transformational experiences.
• How curiosity, rather than fear, can become your greatest guide during periods of awakening and change.
• Why the real journey begins after the medicine, through integration, reflection, and learning to trust yourself.

Connect with Lynda Samphire

Website: https://www.lwsamphire.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynda.weavercarrougher
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lyndasamphire/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndawsamphire-301903260/

About Lynda Samphire

Lynda is a spiritual worker, plant medicine guide, and transformational teacher. For more than two decades, she has been guiding people back to themselves through the portals that matter most: dreams, the body, plant medicine, the nervous system, and the voice of the soul.

Her work integrates dream exploration, microdosing, embodiment, nervous system regulation, and the intuitive language that has always lived within us. Rather than focusing on what needs to be fixed, Lynda helps people build a relationship with what is already true, creating space for healing, creativity, and inner wisdom to emerge.

Her philosophy is simple yet profound: this is not about becoming someone new. It is about returning to yourself—and allowing the person you have always been to fully emerge.

JJ DiGeronimo is an award-winning author, speaker, and podcast host dedicated to helping women trust their inner wisdom, illuminate their gifts, and align with meaningful work. As the host of the Together We Seek Podcast, JJ creates sacred spaces to explore light, energy practices, and ancient wisdom with healers, mystics, and spiritual teachers. Through authentic conversations, she encourages listeners to embrace their unique gifts, deepen their self-trust, and remember the wisdom they already carry.

JJ is the author of four books, including her latest release, Illuminate Your Path: 6 Phases of Spiritual Awakening. Find Your Phase at: https://quiz.jjdigeronimo.com/

Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/JJ-DiGeronimo/author/B01INZ5GA2 

Website:  https://jjdigeronimo.com         
Together We Seek Community: https://www.togetherweseek.online/                                                               

Transcript

Hello. Hello. JJ DiGeronimo here. Thank you so much for jumping into plant medicine with us. I'm sure so many of you have heard about plant medicine. Many of you have maybe even…did a plant medicine journey of some sorts. But I have Linda Samfire here with me today, and she's been doing this for decades. And I cannot wait to learn more about how she integrates so many components that we've talked about here on the Together We Seek podcast. So, Linda, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, JJ. I am excited and honored to be here. So before we jump in, how do you describe plant medicine
that's a beautiful question. I…describe plant medicine as a…conscious relationship…with a mirror…of what we're looking into ourselves and um, really…a teacher and a guide…That is so beautiful. I did my first plant medicine journey just last year, almost a year ago, and I was nervous. I was so nervous, but I have to say it was so beautiful. And I really can't wait to do it again, to be honest with you. I thought it was really eye opening of what is below…my conscious level…
Yeah. Isn't that that's that's the beauty of it Um, because it's about…developing that relationship within and ourselves and that's where the wisdom is, right? It's not something we're reading or researching. We're actually going within ourselves. Sometimes I like to say it's like hopping on a drone and going within and learning, um, what's happening from a perspective of something that's more grander…than just our thinking minds. We get to bypass that rational mind and, um, observe and be a witness of ourselves. And that's the beauty of it…
Well, you talk about this so beautifully. You talk about self return instead of self improvement, which I really love because I have really been on a journey of discovering who I am and why I came here. So tell me a little bit about how you shifted from self improvement to self return…Yeah. So I've always been on that mission to figure it all out. Right? And…I look at, like, self improvement kind of assumes there's something wrong with us and we need a fixing. And I look at self return begins with the premise nothing is broken, and it's a remembering. So it's the process of remembering who we were before everything, the conditioning, the expectations, the fear of everything came on to us, and we took it on. So self improvement is kind of that how do I become more and self return asks us, who have I always been? Who am I? What is it? And my biggest question, my biggest curiosity, always been what does it mean to be human? And I believe working with plant medicine is that doorway that opens it up…
So consciousness was never about something to learn or figure out. It was about…or becoming something new. It was just the remembering and what lies deep beneath the surface when all the noise is quiet…I know this all too well. I just finished my fourth book, and it's the six phases of spiritual awakening. And, really, the essence is remembering the gifts you came with. And I've met with hundreds of energy practitioners because I'm a curious soul, and my human design says I have to, like, dig through every nook and cranny…and bring back what I'm learning. And so I love the idea of sharing how plant medicine can help people on this journey of remembering because I feel like some people are afraid of it. So you you probably deal with a lot of people that do it for the first time and then many times. So what should people know about plant medicine that can help them on their remembering journey? Well, first of all um, fear. Fear is the biggest that comes forward. And it was melodoma soma that put it so beautifully was our biggest fear is not death, it's looking within ourselves. And what are we going to find? Are we bad? Is there something evil? Is there something dark? And that's the conditioning. There's also an identity that's connected to all those conditionings, like those pillars that keep us safe…
Working with plant medicine going into, like, a peak performance or a peak experience is…about witnessing…and um, being an observer of self. there's nothing bad in there. It's just the belief systems that are coming forward, and that's what's vibrating underneath the surface and wanting us to know that it's such an illusion. So…the part of it that I think becomes fearful too is then what do I do with this now? What do I do with the information? How do I put this into my life? How do I live it? what do I do with these gifts? I mean, I had spontaneous light language start speaking through me. And I was like, what am I doing with this now? And that can be the part that's so uncomfortable, and that's that threshold moment. So…I think the fear is first…
that we're gonna lose an old version of ourselves and then who are we going to be? Am I going to be different? Are my relationships going to change? And I think we kinda grip on to that uncomfortable…because it is uncomfortable…Right. I thought the journey was gorgeous, but I do think the uncomfortable piece is what if I even see something that I don't wanna see, or what if I learn something I don't wanna learn? Been there. Yeah. I work with five MEO too, and I've done plenty of peak experiences with that one. And there was a time when I came out, like,, oh, I know where ignorance is bliss comes in
However, with the mushrooms, it's not as intense. It can be. Um, but we're digging into spaces that have been really dormant. And if there's, you know, with the trauma and when that comes forward, the importance of having a container to integrate that through and…look at it and witness it with love…rather than judgment is huge. And I think that's where the container afterwards is important. Um, and then also, who's holding your space for you? Who's guiding you…
I think that's really important. Like, my best friend, Wendy, she had done multiple journeys with a dear friend of hers, and she arranged it for me. And I had such trust with with just who's holding that container. And I think that's why I love your work. You've been doing this for so long. You've done it for so many people, mostly women, which is nice. Um, but you talk about dreams, plant medicine, and body work, which I really love, encompassing all aspects so that you're not popping out being like, okay. Now what do I do with this? Yeah. That's that's beautiful. And, yes, I do work. Most people that know me know I work in the dream world, and I really look at dreams kind of being that…
first original journey. So when we're looking at all three and how they work together, we can look at, our body is sensation. Like, we learn through sensations. Our dreams really speak to us through, um, symbols. And the plants give us the experience. And I think we need all three of those to, um, really integrate and shift and,
I guess reach who we're who we're wanting to become, though really, again, it's just the remembering. So I use a lot of dream work and plant medicine really brings that forward. It, becomes a living dialogue for us at night. That night intelligence, I like to call it. And my dream world has always been very vivid, but that just opened it up and I was able to integrate a lot of my experience through my dream world. And when we start working with plant medicine, the beauty of the forest and the earth and the roots that come in
is it begins working with us before we enter into the journey. And so many of my clients will begin working with our dreams prior to the journey. And I've had several say, I actually dreamt last night I was in the journey. I don't remember it was, but it was magical and I didn't want it to end. And I've had others say they remember and they wake up and, like, wait, did I do my journey? And then when they move into their journey, they're navigating it, um, a little bit more…with ease…because there's awareness. And they'll say, it was just like my dream. And then afterwards, we can integrate what's coming up and working with the dreams. It's an innateness of our own human experience so they can amplify afterwards…
That is beautiful. And I feel like for so many…it makes it so much more…engaging for them because they know, like, okay. I'm gonna do this, and then I'm gonna keep working through this, which I think is so powerful because so much comes through so fast and you're like, how do I get this all to integrate and how do I make sense of it all? Yeah. That's well said because it does. It comes through and and many people are like, well, I remember this, will I remember this? And this is like journaling. And I have found that the unfolding afterwards, like, the journey is just a little part of it in a way. I mean, it's a big experience, but it's the unfolding afterwards. And so it will come through in our dreams or even our waking state where like, oh, yes, I remember. And so what arises in that time is,
this moment where we're in this…in between, this threshold, and that is where our freedom lies, that is where our power lies. And we have this…opportunity at that moment to…begin remembering and…stepping into this new version of ourselves…and being a little uncomfortable and being okay with it…That makes so much sense. So I'm sure one day you were just, like, sitting at your desk and like, okay. I'm gonna be into plant medicine. I'm gonna help people do these journeys, and they're gonna return to self, and they remember why they're here Yeah. For me, always being curious about being human. Um, it took me a moment to work into it. Like, it was in the back of my mind and…I kind of just put it out there. And I remember I had a woman I did a session with and she would develop kinda yoga, uh, programs for where you're at to open up. She said, I don't know why, but I just keep saying psychedelics. She was, so I'm just going with it. And so I started doing all this work with yoga and movement in the body, using the sensations, and then it just all of a sudden came flooding in. So I feel it's an invitation, however it comes to you. And, I think there was a curiosity for me already. However, I needed the safe space and that was the most important part. And once that, that just kind of showed up. And then the unfolding came from there. And so I worked myself with it for, oh, a year with different medicines. And then I started introducing it to my practice and some of my clients and working with it that way…
Yes. I'm smiling because, you know, oftentimes, we hit a crossroads, then we get curious, and then we start seeking. I mean, those are the first three phases of your spiritual awakening. And to your point, it's an invitation. We are not, like, brought over to what we're supposed to be doing. We get ideas, suggestions, things bubble up within us. So it's exciting to hear that…you frame it as an invitation because we can do anything we want with our time. But…
leaning into things that may seem a little bit odd for what we're doing, but we still do it is so powerful. So did you have fears or doubts when you started this…It's funny. No. I was the one standing out by the mailbox waiting for the medicine. Um, I started microdosing…And so I always feel…with these medicines to develop a more feminine relationship first before rushing through to that peak is really important. So I think we're gonna navigate, um, through the journey…because like I said, it's an invitation. So we can have the invitation to explore plant medicine and then there's the invitation for the larger peak performances. So I started with microdosing. Um, I found a woman, a medicine woman that I studied with for four years and she really guided me through it. We introduced some different medicines to work with and I'm not gonna say it wasn't uncomfortable, but when I went into those peak ones, yes, I was a bit a bit nervous…
That's wonderful. I think for anybody listening, hopefully, you hear through the interviews of the different, light workers, healers, and mystics that there was an invitation, as Linda said, and we get to choose. And there's sometimes there's nerves with it. Sometimes our family might think it's a little odd or we might, you know, we might not talk about it with our friend group because we're just getting curious. And I encourage anyone if you're getting that invitation to get curious. And maybe having a plant medicine session will help you unlock what's ready to come forward. And I think that's so beautiful, and I love that you start with dreams because so many of us do get for dreams, and I love your intelligence system of what is happening in your dreams. So tell me a little bit. I wanna talk a little bit more about the knowing of plant medicine and the healing, but tell me a little bit about how people work with you. Is it only people that live near you in Seattle, or can they work with you from all over the world? No. I'm actually working with people all over the world right now, and one of the things I love to begin with is I feel like…there's a restoration that needs to happen in the body with our nervous system. Because if our nervous system is, in so much chaos, is kind of amped up. It's not we're not grounded. I think I feel that when we begin experiencing things, the sustainability of it can sometimes not hold. And so it's working with our nervous systems first, where I work with Amanita Muscaria that works directly with the central nervous system, soothing and calming. And then from there, opens up ourselves to receive, like, maybe psilocybin or another medicine that we're a little more open for it and we feel safe. Like, the the body feels safe to receive…I love that because I'm a big believer in the nervous system, and so many of us jump to various different disciplines or practices or modalities, but they don't really work on the nervous system. And so as you're saying, like, you get a hit, but you don't it's not sustainable. And I think that is a beautiful way to start whether or not people go into the plant medicine journey or not. It's really working on your inner operating system that really controls and manages so much of your energy…Yeah. Because I mean, when we look at it, everything, dreams, medicine…
us being human is about receiving. And if our bodies are not feeling safe, if we're in a place of, kind of discombobulation…and angst, we're really not in that space of receiving and then we're looking for a fix. And if we're looking for a fix, that's where we can get, well, it's not working, this is happening, and we start blaming the medicines rather than really what needs to happen is maybe we just start with DreamWork. Maybe we just start with movement or yoga and just getting that…nervous system where it needs to be beginning with Amanita to muscaria for…the first thirty days to settle the system. And then from there, moving into something a little more larger so that we are ready to receive so that we do feel safe and we have this vessel and home to return home to if we have a peak experience…This is really resonating with me. I feel it, like, in my heart chakra. It's like, yes. I feel this. And I'm I'm doing some cleansing now, and I feel like that nervous system is probably the next piece. So it's very likely I will call you. So it's interesting because you talk a lot about the system, the nervous system, and so much of our health care system and science has so much to say around this, but it really seems like you lean towards the knowing of the plants, the healing of the plants. So what have you learned working with the plants and their ability to heal…
So and I think science is so important because science is the mind. Right? So we're figuring everything out…Plants heal. Medicine heals. However, it opens up and shows us and guides us. We're still doing the work. It's not gonna do it for us. So…the plant ally I see, the medicine creates awareness…for us. And once we witness ourselves and the awareness, then we get to choose, and that's the healing. And so psilocybin kind of knocks on those doors and says, are you ready to look at this? it will meet you where you are at. It will never push you or force you or expect you to be anything other than just who you are right now. And we're asking con with consciousness to…expand our awareness a little bit. So…we are leading. We are still in charge.
and that's where that transformation happens…Your energy is so soothing. I love it. I guess, you know, as we wrap up, if you have any words of advice or any wisdom that you've tapped into now that you're on this journey for almost two decades now? You know, what has come forward for you, or what do you wish you would have known a little sooner? Well, I always figure things come forward when they're supposed to. Right? Right? When they're meant and when you're ready to receive. But…I feel like we spend so much of our life searching outside of ourselves, um, for the next answer. And, really, we're being invited into relationship with ourselves, with our body, with our dreams of nature and plants. And I feel that…with this we're such a society of instant gratification. We need it right now. and really sitting in those in between moments, the threshold, in the nothingness, I like to call it. And that's kind of where you're at in a medicine journey is in the nothingness, that there's this power and this awareness and to let your curiosity rise up instead of judging it and needing it to be something. I remember being in a journey once and I was they're like, so, Linda, you wanna figure it all out? And I'm like, yep, I do. I do. And all this stuff that just came riding at me is overwhelming. I'm like, oh, stop. And they're like, this is what it looks like when you're trying to figure it out. It's a dog chasing its tail. So slow down, observe, witness, and just listen…
I can't think of better words to end on, Linda. This is beautiful. I can see you've done the work. I can feel the calmness you have in your aura, and I feel like it's just very inspiring to be with somebody that uses so many different components to help people really emerge from the inside out…Thank you so much, JJ. You know, I love always talking about all of this stuff and consciousness, so I appreciate…the, um, space to do so. Thank you. Oh, easy. Easy stuff. And all of Linda's links are below. I hope you reach out to her, get on her newsletter, see of the events she's hosting, and her one on one offerings. For everyone listening, you know, I think knowledge is power and just learning about the different modalities and experiences you can move through as you're learning to remember who you are is so powerful. So thank you, Linda, so much for joining us. Thank you