Podcast Conversation with Mel Findlater at Permission to Be Human
A conversation about nature, motherhood, sensory-rich play, parenting, and what it means to live a bigger, fuller, more connected human life.
What does nature have to do with living a bigger, more fully human life?
Jena sat down with Mel Findlater of Permission to Be Human for a conversation about nature, motherhood, parenting, and the role the natural world can play in helping us experience and express more of who we are.
Their conversation moves beyond children's outdoor play and into something broader: the ways nature can support parents, women, families, and anyone trying to live with more connection, curiosity, and room to breathe.
Nature as a Partner in Parenting
Nature does not have to be another activity to plan, manage, or perfect. It can become a kind of co-collaborator in family life — offering children space to explore and regulate while giving parents room to slow down, observe, and connect.
Sensory-rich nature play gives children opportunities to move, investigate, touch, listen, imagine, and follow their own curiosity without every experience needing to be directed by an adult.
Nature can support both children and adults in becoming more connected to themselves, each other, and the lives they want to build.
Making Room for Big, Audacious Dreams
Jena and Mel also talk about what it means to have big dreams while moving through motherhood and everyday life.
Nature can offer space away from constant expectations and performance — a place to reconnect with creativity, identity, possibility, and the parts of ourselves that are easy to lose in the noise of daily responsibilities.
The conversation is ultimately about more than outdoor play. It is about how connection with the natural world can support fuller, richer experiences of parenting, womanhood, and being human.
Permission to Be Human
Listen to Jena's full conversation with Mel Findlater about nature, parenting, sensory-rich play, and making room for a bigger life.
Listen Now >
