Some conversations take time to find their moment. This one was recorded in Mazunte, México in January 2023, just over three years ago now, waiting for the right container to release it into.

Andy and I were housemates on the Oaxacan coast. We'd wake up, walk to morning meditations at a local centre, drift down to the beach, cook together, and marvel at the plants and wildlife around our tropical setting. It was one of those rare pockets of life where everything seemed to slow down just enough to actually feel it.

Andy Vantrease is a writer, storyteller, and women's coach who has spent nearly two decades honing a craft that, on the surface, looks like writing or interviewing, but underneath is really about creating the conditions for people to be truly heard. From freelance journalism to producing the Dandelion Effect Podcast at Feathered Pipe Ranch in Montana, to one-on-one story mapping sessions, to facilitating circles for nurses in California, her work kept finding new forms while staying rooted in the same thread: helping people see their own magic. Since we recorded that conversation, Andy’s path has taken another turn. She now works specifically with women, educating on menstrual health, cycle wisdom and female body literacy. She is a student of the Blood Mysteries School and holds classes, circles and private sessions that help women come home to their bodies and understand the power of their biological design.

So while what you’ll hear is Andy as she was in early 2023, the roots of everything she's moved toward since are all here, present and growing.

We talk about what it means to build a creative livelihood without being trapped inside a label. The difference between a side gig and a calling, and the slow, unglamorous process of learning to price yourself as a whole person rather than just a finished product. The cyclic nature of life and how things, projects, relationships and chapters all want to die so something new can grow. Seva, selfless service, and why Andy isn't convinced she believes in it anymore. Through an NGO in rural Nepal where we first met, we also dove into what it taught us about reciprocity, sustainability, and the real cost of burning out in the name of devotion.

And then, near the end, I share three words from a handpainted sign I came across on a mountain road in the Indian Himalayas, while bike touring in my 30th year. Words that had been living in me for years by then, and that Andy receives with the kind of quiet recognition that tells you something has landed.

"Work is devotion."

Love you, Andy! <3

Follow Andy and her work via: https://andyvantrease.com/

Wilderness Within (WW) is an exploration of inner worlds through shared stories and lived experiences with changemakers and visionaries whom I get to call friends. The project was birthed out of the realisation of radical it is to have such inspirational people in my life, and the interest to dive beyond the superficial and into the depths of one's devotions and motivations in life.

Follow and engage: http://wildernesswithinpod.com/ @wildernesswithinpod

WW is possible due to the ongoing financial and spiritual support of patreon supporters (https://patreon.com/subtledream) and fans like yourselves. Hat tip to Scott Hanson & Carlos Militante for the beautiful soundtrack. Gratitude. See you again.

Andy Vantrease - On Following Your Heart, Work as Devotion & the Cyclic Nature of Everything (WW 08)