Featured Rewildologist: Mia Bosna
Hi, Mia! Thanks so much for sitting down with the Rewildology community today. Tell us, what do you do?
I am an illustrator that has created a set of cards to help connect people with the threatened species that live in their region. I would like to stimulate people’s curiosity about the species that may even live in their back yard that need their help. This kind of help relies on new skills that are rarely recognized but could act as a powerful unseen force behind the shift in consciousness around environmental concerns. There is great power in pooling our energies together through meditation, shamanic journeying, and other spiritual practices.
There are so many of us who have been overwhelmed by the destruction and loss of habitats and species. There are many of us who are not physically or financially able to contribute and can easily fall into a state of apathy around these concerns. We know that the change that is needed to happen will require as many of us engaged in rewilding as possible. It is also clear that we won’t be able to solve this crisis through the material world alone. I also believe in the law of resonance which states that the frequency of our thoughts, emotions, and experiences will attract similar things in the outside world vibrating at the same frequency.
Wow, what an inspiring mission. How did all of this come to be for you?
I love hiking and somewhere along my travels, I ended up with a debilitating case of Chronic Lyme. The medical community was slow to understand this kind of bacterial infection and I ended up spending many years trying to find a solution to regain my strength and stamina. I was no longer able to contribute any energy or time to the environmental causes that I deeply cared about.
In many ways, I was learning to rewild myself by allowing a natural process of healing to take place. It took nearly seven years to regain my full health. As I asked myself what I could do to help others who may have fallen into a similar health crisis, I turned to a deep resource that was free and didn’t require my physical strength. I am also a shamanic practitioner and I have journeyed to each of the animals represented on these cards to ask the simple question: “How can I help?” The responses were incredible and I wanted to share this information as well. Even if there are those who don’t understand where this information comes from, they will be able to see that each species shared important information and potentially shed some light on the myriad of ways we can engage in helping the living beings in their own neighborhood.
The suggested meditations and journeys in the book focus on the positive envisioning of healthy habitats and abundance of species. These are really calming and rewarding to do and help to counterbalance the grief (over habitat and species loss) that is in need of processing.
Talk about a moment of destiny! That’s an incredible story. What advice would you like to give the Rewildology community?
I truly believe we all have special gifts that we can use to help shift our thinking to a more comprehensive plan that supports the interconnection of all living beings. There is a way that we can all be valued for our natural gifts as artists, gardeners, plumbers, roofing contractors, baristas, biologists, house cleaners, conservation experts, poets, dancers, or lawyers to name just a few. Everyone has a special gift that can help shift us toward a healthier and sustainable world. The Journey to Rewilding Card set and booklet is a doorway for those who may have thought they had nothing to offer.