When we think about nature, or we talk about spirituality, it’s easy to see it as something ‘other’. Something disconnected from the modern world that we have to live in, day to day.

We save it for the weekend or for our morning meditation sessions, and we view the wisdom of the ancients as something quaint – but certainly not something that we should bring into the office.

But this cultural disconnect could actually being doing us more harm than good. By turning our backs on nature, and creating lives that are more processed than ever in terms of what we consume – both into our bodies and our minds – we are making ourselves ill, or at the very least, living lives that are lacklustre and dull.

What if, instead, we were to find a way of connecting with the spiritual wisdom of nature, of ancient cultures, and bring into our daily lives – in a way that didn’t seemed perfectly, well, natural.

This week I’m speaking with Ben LeVine, he is a herbalist and co-founder of Rasa. It is a coffee alternative made with adaptogenic plants, mushrooms and herbs. Designed to nourish our nervous systems, enhance and balance our energy, and calm our stress, it is based on a relationship with nature that is not exploitative as in most western industries, but instead reciprocal. It’s about flavour and feeling – spiritually, emotionally and physically – as a form of communication between ourselves and our bodies, and the natural world around us.

I chatted with Ben about the science behind our relationship with plants, and how we can enter into dialogues with them that are beneficial to everyone – you, me, and the planet we live on.

To find out more about Rasa, and what they’re all about you can find them at wearerasa.com, and listeners to the podcast can get a discount of 15% on their first order – just enter the voucher codes LIVING15