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The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature
Reveals the use of direct perception in understanding Nature, medicinal plants, and the healing of human disease
• Explores the techniques used by indigenous and Western peoples to learn directly from the plants themselves, including those of Henry David Thoreau, Goethe, and Masanobu Fukuoka, author of The One Straw Revolution
• Contains leading-edge information on the heart as an organ of perception
All ancient and indigenous peoples insisted their knowledge of plant medicines came from the plants themselves and not through trial-and-error experimentation. Less well known is that many Western peoples made this same assertion. There are, in fact, two modes of cognition available to all human beings--the brain-based linear and the heart-based holistic. The heart-centered mode of perception can be exceptionally accurate and detailed in its information gathering capacities if, as indigenous and ancient peoples asserted, the heart’s ability as an organ of perception is developed.
Author Stephen Harrod Buhner explores this second mode of perception in great detail through the work of numerous remarkable people, from Luther Burbank, who cultivated the majority of food plants we now take for granted, to the great German poet and scientist Goethe and his studies of the metamorphosis of plants. Buhner explores the commonalities among these individuals in their approach to learning from the plant world and outlines the specific steps involved. Readers will gain the tools necessary to gather information directly from the heart of Nature, to directly learn the medicinal uses of plants, to engage in diagnosis of disease, and to understand the soul-making process that such deep connection with the world engenders.
• Explores the techniques used by indigenous and Western peoples to learn directly from the plants themselves, including those of Henry David Thoreau, Goethe, and Masanobu Fukuoka, author of The One Straw Revolution
• Contains leading-edge information on the heart as an organ of perception
All ancient and indigenous peoples insisted their knowledge of plant medicines came from the plants themselves and not through trial-and-error experimentation. Less well known is that many Western peoples made this same assertion. There are, in fact, two modes of cognition available to all human beings--the brain-based linear and the heart-based holistic. The heart-centered mode of perception can be exceptionally accurate and detailed in its information gathering capacities if, as indigenous and ancient peoples asserted, the heart’s ability as an organ of perception is developed.
Author Stephen Harrod Buhner explores this second mode of perception in great detail through the work of numerous remarkable people, from Luther Burbank, who cultivated the majority of food plants we now take for granted, to the great German poet and scientist Goethe and his studies of the metamorphosis of plants. Buhner explores the commonalities among these individuals in their approach to learning from the plant world and outlines the specific steps involved. Readers will gain the tools necessary to gather information directly from the heart of Nature, to directly learn the medicinal uses of plants, to engage in diagnosis of disease, and to understand the soul-making process that such deep connection with the world engenders.
315 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
233 people are currently reading
3100 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Harrod Buhner
40 books390 followersStephen Harrod Buhner is an Earth poet and the award-winning author of ten books on nature, indigenous cultures, the environment, and herbal medicine. He comes from a long line of healers including Leroy Burney, Surgeon General of the United States under Eisenhower and Kennedy, and Elizabeth Lusterheide, a midwife and herbalist who worked in rural Indiana in the early nineteenth century. The greatest influence on his work, however, has been his great-grandfather C.G. Harrod who primarily used botanical medicines, also in rural Indiana, when he began his work as a physician in 1911.
Stephen's work has appeared or been profiled in publications throughout North America and Europe including Common Boundary, Apotheosis, Shaman's Drum, The New York Times, CNN, and Good Morning America. Stephen lectures yearly throughout the United States on herbal medicine, the sacredness of plants, the intelligence of Nature, and the states of mind necessary for successful habitation of Earth.
Stephen has served as president of the Colorado Association for Healing Practitioners and as a lobbyist on herbal and holistic medicines and education in the Colorado legislature. He lives in New Mexico.
from
http://www.gaianstudies.org/Stephen.html
and
http://www.storey.com/author.php?ID=5...
Stephen's work has appeared or been profiled in publications throughout North America and Europe including Common Boundary, Apotheosis, Shaman's Drum, The New York Times, CNN, and Good Morning America. Stephen lectures yearly throughout the United States on herbal medicine, the sacredness of plants, the intelligence of Nature, and the states of mind necessary for successful habitation of Earth.
Stephen has served as president of the Colorado Association for Healing Practitioners and as a lobbyist on herbal and holistic medicines and education in the Colorado legislature. He lives in New Mexico.
from
http://www.gaianstudies.org/Stephen.html
and
http://www.storey.com/author.php?ID=5...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
May 31, 2013
After reading this book, don't try to talk to people straight away. You will sound weird.
With the kind of education curriculum around the globe, not many people will readily accept the premises offered here. People need to have some kind of background experience to be able to go through the book and not flat out dismiss it as craziness only after a couple of pages.
I find that people who experienced a kind of shock in their life (usually a tragedy), their core is the one that is literally got shaken. It made them see life with a different perspective. It is not a gradual change, but a cataclysmic one. So this book is no use to convince people, but to guide people that has been opened up to a deeper degree of understanding. Themselves, the natural world, and ultimately Spirit of God that resides within them and whole the nature.
With the kind of education curriculum around the globe, not many people will readily accept the premises offered here. People need to have some kind of background experience to be able to go through the book and not flat out dismiss it as craziness only after a couple of pages.
I find that people who experienced a kind of shock in their life (usually a tragedy), their core is the one that is literally got shaken. It made them see life with a different perspective. It is not a gradual change, but a cataclysmic one. So this book is no use to convince people, but to guide people that has been opened up to a deeper degree of understanding. Themselves, the natural world, and ultimately Spirit of God that resides within them and whole the nature.
January 30, 2009
The Secret Teachings of Plants is a book that does much more than remind us of the importance of Nature in our lives. It provides simple skills to help us make a much deeper connection to the natural world and bring our lives back into balance. Too often we get so caught up in the busyness of the human world that we become numb to ourselves. It is at times like this when we need a sage like Stephen Buhner to guide us back to the wisdom the other living beings of this planet have for us.
The book is based on a wonderfully insightful concept of the “intelligence of the heart.” Recent discoveries in neuroscience have proven that more than 50% of the heart is comprised of neural cells. It is from our hearts that we process our energetic connection to everything we come in contact with. The problem is that we have cut ourselves off from this connection by allowing ourselves to be caught up in our rational, analytical minds.
Buhner explains that the knowledge of plant medicines that ancient and indigenous peoples have, comes, not through trial and error experimentation, but is directly transmitted from the plants themselves. And while this may seem like a stretch to the rational, analytical mind caught up in the post-industrial, television-based world, deep within all of us this truth awaits rediscovery.
The first part of the book contains scientific explanations and linear analysis. The second part is a stream of consciousness, full of quotes and practices for enhancing our relationship with plants. When I first started the book I loved the first part and was a bit skeptical of the 2nd half. But once I began reading that part, I realized that the first half was merely setting the stage and the second part is where the real understanding lies.
The consciousness of plants may be vastly different from our understanding of consciousness. Interacting with plants is not simply about talking to them. It is much more about opening the lines of communication with them on an energetic level and sharing our lifeforce. By opening our hearts and experiencing nature in its fullness we can begin to realize this connection.
Personally I have been cultivating my relationship with plants for many years, yet while reading this book I found my experience reaching a deeper level of understanding, to the point of profound wonder at this world we live in. See for yourself….read the book.
in peace,
Aaron
The book is based on a wonderfully insightful concept of the “intelligence of the heart.” Recent discoveries in neuroscience have proven that more than 50% of the heart is comprised of neural cells. It is from our hearts that we process our energetic connection to everything we come in contact with. The problem is that we have cut ourselves off from this connection by allowing ourselves to be caught up in our rational, analytical minds.
Buhner explains that the knowledge of plant medicines that ancient and indigenous peoples have, comes, not through trial and error experimentation, but is directly transmitted from the plants themselves. And while this may seem like a stretch to the rational, analytical mind caught up in the post-industrial, television-based world, deep within all of us this truth awaits rediscovery.
The first part of the book contains scientific explanations and linear analysis. The second part is a stream of consciousness, full of quotes and practices for enhancing our relationship with plants. When I first started the book I loved the first part and was a bit skeptical of the 2nd half. But once I began reading that part, I realized that the first half was merely setting the stage and the second part is where the real understanding lies.
The consciousness of plants may be vastly different from our understanding of consciousness. Interacting with plants is not simply about talking to them. It is much more about opening the lines of communication with them on an energetic level and sharing our lifeforce. By opening our hearts and experiencing nature in its fullness we can begin to realize this connection.
Personally I have been cultivating my relationship with plants for many years, yet while reading this book I found my experience reaching a deeper level of understanding, to the point of profound wonder at this world we live in. See for yourself….read the book.
in peace,
Aaron
February 22, 2018
It definitely was not what I was expecting.
The first part of the book is about the systems of the body. For anyone that has taken any biology course, most of it will be redundant. However it is explained in such a way that is so vague and abstract that it makes it very hard to grasp, even though when boiled down, the author is not explaining complicated ideas.
He repeats a lot of phrases and takes paragraphs to explain what could be done in a few sentences. There were perhaps one or two new things I learned but overall, it was very dry and I felt very unimportant towards the whole point of the book.
The second half of the book is all about perceptions of the body and listening to those subtle perceptions to find plants that heal and to look inwardly to heal yourself and others. I liked this part but again, I felt like there was a whole lot of extra "floof" that only repeated what the author had already stated. This made it dry and boring again.
Thirty percent of the book consisted of quotes from other people which I felt rarely contributed towards the overall helpfulness of it.
Overall, it had interesting perspectives in it that I liked and I do think that I would like to practice the art of talking to plants more however, it was very dry and I felt that it could have been reduced to about 1/4 of the original and it would have been a better read. Sometimes less is more impactful.
The first part of the book is about the systems of the body. For anyone that has taken any biology course, most of it will be redundant. However it is explained in such a way that is so vague and abstract that it makes it very hard to grasp, even though when boiled down, the author is not explaining complicated ideas.
He repeats a lot of phrases and takes paragraphs to explain what could be done in a few sentences. There were perhaps one or two new things I learned but overall, it was very dry and I felt very unimportant towards the whole point of the book.
The second half of the book is all about perceptions of the body and listening to those subtle perceptions to find plants that heal and to look inwardly to heal yourself and others. I liked this part but again, I felt like there was a whole lot of extra "floof" that only repeated what the author had already stated. This made it dry and boring again.
Thirty percent of the book consisted of quotes from other people which I felt rarely contributed towards the overall helpfulness of it.
Overall, it had interesting perspectives in it that I liked and I do think that I would like to practice the art of talking to plants more however, it was very dry and I felt that it could have been reduced to about 1/4 of the original and it would have been a better read. Sometimes less is more impactful.
April 13, 2019
Some great concepts here, but a lot of unnecessary, repetitive waffle too - quite a disjointed read with the incessant quotations and quite rambling writing style. I feel like this could have been drastically edited to make a really powerful long essay and that it’s essence is very diluted by its unnecessary length.
January 25, 2016
I love the concept but the format of the book was not for me. It went from text to the author's journal entry on the text with quotes mixed in. The quotes were interesting but did not add to the material in a helpful way. Once I skipped the quotes the reading went a little smoother.
July 17, 2012
I think this is a pretty important book and certainly a classic in its genre. It is a very good introduction to the art of direct perception of nature. I've read others in plant spirit healing (e.g, Montgomery and Cowan) that are very obtuse or difficult to grasp if you've never considered it before. Buhner does an excellent job in holding your hand and explaining it to you, over and over, from different angles and perspectives. I loved his use of quotes from others thrown in at just perfectly appropriate places to enhance the reader's understanding. I have a strong science background so I'm a hard sell on this topic. His book definitely enriches my experience of nature and how I'm introducing my son to our world. An eloquent, well presented book!
November 28, 2014
at times this was a slog, but there was a lot with which i fundamentally agreed. nature is the universal truth. linear thinking versus non-linear natural patterns are out of touch. still, i have to be a mite skeptical of its plant and healing guidelines. while i encourage the practice, i wouldnt bank on it if i was suffering from disease. but then again, i have had friends who had similarly shamanic people identify things: cancer in their thyroidm when they werent aware of it,for example.
who knows.
"to examine things in isolation kills the living entity itself"
definitely agree with that. we are part of a universal tapestry. but it is defintely challenging for me to think of creatures, objects, etc as massed system of electromagnetic impulses. maybe i need to step up my belief and my shamanic game
there were definitely some worthy passages in this bog, but overall, repetetive and long and the physilogical focus of the first hundered and fifty pages was tough for me to navigate.
who knows.
"to examine things in isolation kills the living entity itself"
definitely agree with that. we are part of a universal tapestry. but it is defintely challenging for me to think of creatures, objects, etc as massed system of electromagnetic impulses. maybe i need to step up my belief and my shamanic game
there were definitely some worthy passages in this bog, but overall, repetetive and long and the physilogical focus of the first hundered and fifty pages was tough for me to navigate.
April 20, 2025
A well-informed and much-needed look at the untapped or forgotten powers of the human heart to sense and gain knowledge of the world, and the application of this power to the healing properties of plants. Ancient and indigenous cultures took this kind of knowledge for granted; the author presents a path to acquiring it for the modern Westerner. The book is poetic, sometimes repetitive and, for this reader, overlong. But the message is vital, and the potential benefits vast for those prepared to do the work. For work is certainly required--but hey, this is your heart and your health we're talking about!
June 19, 2020
If possible, pick a different book to read.
As far as I can tell, his information is generally accurate. My biggest wish is that for every time he quoted Thoreau (practically every page), he quoted an indigenous person instead and drew from their knowledge rather than white settlers.
Beyond that, I think he is careless in suggesting people ingest unknown plants and dismissing learning to distinguish the poisonous ones as something only for the truly anxious. It's negligent and potentially dangerous.
This entire book is very unscientific, even antiscience at turns.
As far as I can tell, his information is generally accurate. My biggest wish is that for every time he quoted Thoreau (practically every page), he quoted an indigenous person instead and drew from their knowledge rather than white settlers.
Beyond that, I think he is careless in suggesting people ingest unknown plants and dismissing learning to distinguish the poisonous ones as something only for the truly anxious. It's negligent and potentially dangerous.
This entire book is very unscientific, even antiscience at turns.
May 3, 2020
He repeats a lot of phrases and takes paragraphs to explain what could be done in a few sentences.
November 9, 2020
The first section was very sciency and pretty hard for me to grasp. I had to set it aside for awhile and when I returned to it make sure that I was able to focus on it in a quiet, relaxing atmosphere. Once I waded through that I was able to connect with the other information much more easily.
August 21, 2024
lol. 2.5 round down.
mostly crackhead nonsense but of the ilk that kind of resonates with me
mostly crackhead nonsense but of the ilk that kind of resonates with me
April 2, 2019
Book Review: Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Rochester, VT: Bear & Co., 2004.
I was drawn to reading the “Secret Teachings of Plants” after reading Stephen Harrod Buhner’s earlier book, “The Lost Language of Plants,” and I found “Secret Teachings” especially enlightening. It opened me to the power of the heart beyond being just the pump for moving blood. The heart also produces an electromagnetic field that reaches beyond the body to receive messages from other electromagnetic fields of other life and substances of the Earth. These perceived messages are emotional in nature, and the heart’s direct neural connection with the brain and especially with the hippocampus carries this emotional input from the outside world to the hippocampus where it is interpreted to give this input meaning.
Buhner’s book provides powerful insights into the calling of spirit guides, especially the guiding spirits of plants. The electromagnetic communication, whether from animal or plant, offers us the avenue for communing with these spirits. This communication is a two-way dialogue between the caller and the called. Before answering a caller, the spirit guide may want to know if you are really calling from your heart and if the answers you seek will come to you though your heart. This two-way communication was very much part of the lives of our hunting-gathering ancestors, but it is something that has been denied or ignored for the last several thousand years during the time in which we have been taught that talking to spirit guides is a sign of mental illness, or at best a superstition.
During this time we came to believe that the brain is the only place of memory and learning, and that the heart is no more than a pump for pumping the blood through the 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. Buhner describes a number of other physiological features of the heart that facilitate the flow of blood: the vacuum that is created within the vortex of the spiraling flow of two or three streams of blood through the vessel, a spiraling flow that is facilitated by a twisting action of the vessel. In addition, the composition of the blood with heavier blood cells at the center of the vortex facilitates the vacuum that pulls the blood through the vessels. Thus the heart as a pump is only a limited part of the process. Buhner then continues in leading the reader on this amazing journey through the heart, a heart that is also an endocrine gland that produces a number of hormones that affect the functioning of the heart, brain and the entire body to protect the neurons that directly connection the heart to the hippocampus, and to protect the arteries from atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and strokes. Others hormones inhibit pancreatic cancer cells, regulate blood pressure, improve memory and learning, and have an effect on Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases among other things. The heart is directly connected to the central nervous system with neurons that extend directly to the amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus and the cortex, the brain centers concerned with emotional memories and processing; sensory experience; memory, spatial relationships and interpreting the meaning of sensory inputs; and problem solving, reasoning and learning. Then there are the pacemaker cells throughout the heart that work together electromagnetically to regulate the contractions of the heart. The electromagnetic field and each section of the field no matter how small contains all the information encoded within it, information that is communicated to and from the external world as well as within the body through the electromagnetic impulses.
According to Buhner, learning to listen to the spirits of plants from your heart takes commitment and patience. Opening or listening to your heart requires quieting your mind while focusing on your heart reaching out electromagnetically to the plant’s electromagnetic field. With honest commitment in doing this the plant spirit will respond and come to you. If you are seeking a particular plant to heal, whether for yourself or someone else, the plant that comes to you will know what you are seeking, and what to do as it selects from the very large number of chemicals that it has available to find the appropriate medicine to meet you need. To communicate this need, in the same way that you opened your heart to communicate with the plant, you need to open your heart to listen to the problem for which you are seeking help. In this process rigorous self-examination is important to release you from the issues, moral and otherwise, that can distract you from listening to the plants and the problem of concern.
From my personal experience with clinical hypnosis and ecstatic trance, quieting the mind and listening to that which is from beyond consciousness is quite directly accessed through these states of trance. Listening to and receiving that which is from beyond you has become an expected experience in our ecstatic trance groups when others in the group have an experience very similar to yours. Also, in using clinical hypnosis I realize as the therapist how aware I am of what the client is experiencing while we are both in trance. In these two settings listening through the heart is most evident.
Buhner’s writing gave me the feeling that if I was able to continually listen through my heart as did my hunting and gathering ancestors that I could live in health forever, or at least to a ripe old age. The answers are not found in the simply and linearly prescribed medicinal herbs to heal particular problems but are found by listening through the heart to the spirits of the herbs, the problem to be addressed and to what the spirits have to say.
The book is divided into two halves. The first half, The Systole, is of when the heart contracts, forcing the blood outward to all parts of the body. It is the analytic part of the book to explain the how and why of the functions of the heart. The second half, The Diastole, is of when the heart relaxes and the heart again fills, filling the heart with emotions, of what needs to be expressed in our current world. In the last thousand years of our so called rational or scientific thinking, our thinking has become linear. We seek to understand Nature by breaking it down into small segments for study that leads us to experiencing it as lifeless. This era of enlightenment through rationality should be call the era of endarkenment. The emotional aspects of life perceived through the heart from the world around us have been ignored, thus we have been receiving only the lifeless information perceived by the brain.
Life is self-organized. The living cell is composed of lifeless atoms and molecules. This jump between the lifeless and life has not been explained by the linearity of science. The cells self-organize into more complex life forms, the amoeba, bacteria and more complex microbes. These organisms come together and organize themselves into more complex life forms. As these organize into more and more complex life, the life of the organs of the body and the body of a particular species are formed. But this is not the end. All of a particular species and then the complexity of the interdependence of all living species in its entirety come together and self organize in the complex system of life. Within this complexity there is communication between all levels, communication in the form of chemical, hormonal, electromagnetic, gravitational, behavioral and verbal messages. Breaking this complexity down into its component parts for study is like breaking down a sentence into its grammatical parts to understand the form of a sentence. With this analysis the message of the sentence is lost. This communication and response system between all levels of life is continuous and instantaneous, constantly changing, making adjustments for the health of Gaia, and for life to continue this communication and response needs to be cooperative and not competitive.
Some time ago from my reading I wrote a summary of five features of the coming New Age: a sense of oneness with the Earth; a sense of community with each other; a sense of harmony and peace; a sense of curiosity and continued learning; and a sense of creativity. There are likely others, but this is a beginning. One source was Carl Calleman who suggests that the world of dualities will dissolve, that our need to define such dualities as that which is good and that which is bad, or that which is beautiful and that which is ugly, will end, and we will find value in and appreciation for the diversity that we all have to offer. This dissolution of dualities would lead us to greater peace and harmony, but I have had a difficult time trying to imagine what a world without such dualities would be like. Stephen Buhner’s image of the “Secret Teachings of Plants” has clarified this ending of dualities in his description of a world in which “the entire system and all its parts are cooperative and not competitive. They make up one system. They are whole.” (p. 39). As we return to our rightful place within the evolution of all that which is of the Earth, a place where we are cooperative in supporting this system, we will with necessity be non competitive. We will be just one of all its parts, sensitive to and in communication with all the other parts. All life will respond in their own ways to deal with hot and cold, or to deal with health supporting or pathogenic microbes. Dealing with such dualities will be done with cooperation and without competition. Each level of life in this complex system of life will respond in its own way to minute changes in its environment that impinge upon it, responding rapidly to maintain its health and ability to procreate, grow and to maintain the sustainability of all in this complex system.
Among the forms of communication Buhner elaborates on two, electromagnetic and magnetic communication. Animals such as the shark and other fish have extremely sensitive receptors to picking up electromagnetic signals that can tell them the kinds of fish, how many and where there are available for a meal. Birds and bees are highly sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic field to orient birds in their migration and give the bee direction to flowers and back to the hive. Most interesting is the fact that within the hippocampus of the human brain are sense receptors for magnetic waves, magnetic signals for interpreting spatial relationships, meaning and the health of the heart, carrying information internally regarding blood pressure, immunity, pain and stress. Its effect on stress as regulated by cortisol impacts the immune function, memory, insulin sensitivity, tissue repair and a sense of well being.
I find that this description of communication through electromagnetic fields is parallel to Ervin Laszlo’s description of the holographic matrix that contains all information from the beginning of time that is received by the cytoskeletal structure of the brain. This information as described by Buhner though is of the emotions perceived from the outside world and received by the heart. Though, “because we are trained to ignore these particular kinds of sensory cues and the information they contain, most people do not consciously utilize the heart as an organ of perception. Most of the information received is thus processed below conscious levels of cognition,” (p. 95). This is exactly why I use and teach ecstatic trance, a trance state that opens us to information from outside the body, from outside the brain and heart, information that is received below the level of consciousness. It has become expected that the ecstatic trance journey experiences within a group are sufficiently alike or similar thus reflecting what we might call “mind reading,” providing us with examples of receiving information through the heart from beyond ourselves.
I was drawn to reading the “Secret Teachings of Plants” after reading Stephen Harrod Buhner’s earlier book, “The Lost Language of Plants,” and I found “Secret Teachings” especially enlightening. It opened me to the power of the heart beyond being just the pump for moving blood. The heart also produces an electromagnetic field that reaches beyond the body to receive messages from other electromagnetic fields of other life and substances of the Earth. These perceived messages are emotional in nature, and the heart’s direct neural connection with the brain and especially with the hippocampus carries this emotional input from the outside world to the hippocampus where it is interpreted to give this input meaning.
Buhner’s book provides powerful insights into the calling of spirit guides, especially the guiding spirits of plants. The electromagnetic communication, whether from animal or plant, offers us the avenue for communing with these spirits. This communication is a two-way dialogue between the caller and the called. Before answering a caller, the spirit guide may want to know if you are really calling from your heart and if the answers you seek will come to you though your heart. This two-way communication was very much part of the lives of our hunting-gathering ancestors, but it is something that has been denied or ignored for the last several thousand years during the time in which we have been taught that talking to spirit guides is a sign of mental illness, or at best a superstition.
During this time we came to believe that the brain is the only place of memory and learning, and that the heart is no more than a pump for pumping the blood through the 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. Buhner describes a number of other physiological features of the heart that facilitate the flow of blood: the vacuum that is created within the vortex of the spiraling flow of two or three streams of blood through the vessel, a spiraling flow that is facilitated by a twisting action of the vessel. In addition, the composition of the blood with heavier blood cells at the center of the vortex facilitates the vacuum that pulls the blood through the vessels. Thus the heart as a pump is only a limited part of the process. Buhner then continues in leading the reader on this amazing journey through the heart, a heart that is also an endocrine gland that produces a number of hormones that affect the functioning of the heart, brain and the entire body to protect the neurons that directly connection the heart to the hippocampus, and to protect the arteries from atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and strokes. Others hormones inhibit pancreatic cancer cells, regulate blood pressure, improve memory and learning, and have an effect on Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases among other things. The heart is directly connected to the central nervous system with neurons that extend directly to the amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus and the cortex, the brain centers concerned with emotional memories and processing; sensory experience; memory, spatial relationships and interpreting the meaning of sensory inputs; and problem solving, reasoning and learning. Then there are the pacemaker cells throughout the heart that work together electromagnetically to regulate the contractions of the heart. The electromagnetic field and each section of the field no matter how small contains all the information encoded within it, information that is communicated to and from the external world as well as within the body through the electromagnetic impulses.
According to Buhner, learning to listen to the spirits of plants from your heart takes commitment and patience. Opening or listening to your heart requires quieting your mind while focusing on your heart reaching out electromagnetically to the plant’s electromagnetic field. With honest commitment in doing this the plant spirit will respond and come to you. If you are seeking a particular plant to heal, whether for yourself or someone else, the plant that comes to you will know what you are seeking, and what to do as it selects from the very large number of chemicals that it has available to find the appropriate medicine to meet you need. To communicate this need, in the same way that you opened your heart to communicate with the plant, you need to open your heart to listen to the problem for which you are seeking help. In this process rigorous self-examination is important to release you from the issues, moral and otherwise, that can distract you from listening to the plants and the problem of concern.
From my personal experience with clinical hypnosis and ecstatic trance, quieting the mind and listening to that which is from beyond consciousness is quite directly accessed through these states of trance. Listening to and receiving that which is from beyond you has become an expected experience in our ecstatic trance groups when others in the group have an experience very similar to yours. Also, in using clinical hypnosis I realize as the therapist how aware I am of what the client is experiencing while we are both in trance. In these two settings listening through the heart is most evident.
Buhner’s writing gave me the feeling that if I was able to continually listen through my heart as did my hunting and gathering ancestors that I could live in health forever, or at least to a ripe old age. The answers are not found in the simply and linearly prescribed medicinal herbs to heal particular problems but are found by listening through the heart to the spirits of the herbs, the problem to be addressed and to what the spirits have to say.
The book is divided into two halves. The first half, The Systole, is of when the heart contracts, forcing the blood outward to all parts of the body. It is the analytic part of the book to explain the how and why of the functions of the heart. The second half, The Diastole, is of when the heart relaxes and the heart again fills, filling the heart with emotions, of what needs to be expressed in our current world. In the last thousand years of our so called rational or scientific thinking, our thinking has become linear. We seek to understand Nature by breaking it down into small segments for study that leads us to experiencing it as lifeless. This era of enlightenment through rationality should be call the era of endarkenment. The emotional aspects of life perceived through the heart from the world around us have been ignored, thus we have been receiving only the lifeless information perceived by the brain.
Life is self-organized. The living cell is composed of lifeless atoms and molecules. This jump between the lifeless and life has not been explained by the linearity of science. The cells self-organize into more complex life forms, the amoeba, bacteria and more complex microbes. These organisms come together and organize themselves into more complex life forms. As these organize into more and more complex life, the life of the organs of the body and the body of a particular species are formed. But this is not the end. All of a particular species and then the complexity of the interdependence of all living species in its entirety come together and self organize in the complex system of life. Within this complexity there is communication between all levels, communication in the form of chemical, hormonal, electromagnetic, gravitational, behavioral and verbal messages. Breaking this complexity down into its component parts for study is like breaking down a sentence into its grammatical parts to understand the form of a sentence. With this analysis the message of the sentence is lost. This communication and response system between all levels of life is continuous and instantaneous, constantly changing, making adjustments for the health of Gaia, and for life to continue this communication and response needs to be cooperative and not competitive.
Some time ago from my reading I wrote a summary of five features of the coming New Age: a sense of oneness with the Earth; a sense of community with each other; a sense of harmony and peace; a sense of curiosity and continued learning; and a sense of creativity. There are likely others, but this is a beginning. One source was Carl Calleman who suggests that the world of dualities will dissolve, that our need to define such dualities as that which is good and that which is bad, or that which is beautiful and that which is ugly, will end, and we will find value in and appreciation for the diversity that we all have to offer. This dissolution of dualities would lead us to greater peace and harmony, but I have had a difficult time trying to imagine what a world without such dualities would be like. Stephen Buhner’s image of the “Secret Teachings of Plants” has clarified this ending of dualities in his description of a world in which “the entire system and all its parts are cooperative and not competitive. They make up one system. They are whole.” (p. 39). As we return to our rightful place within the evolution of all that which is of the Earth, a place where we are cooperative in supporting this system, we will with necessity be non competitive. We will be just one of all its parts, sensitive to and in communication with all the other parts. All life will respond in their own ways to deal with hot and cold, or to deal with health supporting or pathogenic microbes. Dealing with such dualities will be done with cooperation and without competition. Each level of life in this complex system of life will respond in its own way to minute changes in its environment that impinge upon it, responding rapidly to maintain its health and ability to procreate, grow and to maintain the sustainability of all in this complex system.
Among the forms of communication Buhner elaborates on two, electromagnetic and magnetic communication. Animals such as the shark and other fish have extremely sensitive receptors to picking up electromagnetic signals that can tell them the kinds of fish, how many and where there are available for a meal. Birds and bees are highly sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic field to orient birds in their migration and give the bee direction to flowers and back to the hive. Most interesting is the fact that within the hippocampus of the human brain are sense receptors for magnetic waves, magnetic signals for interpreting spatial relationships, meaning and the health of the heart, carrying information internally regarding blood pressure, immunity, pain and stress. Its effect on stress as regulated by cortisol impacts the immune function, memory, insulin sensitivity, tissue repair and a sense of well being.
I find that this description of communication through electromagnetic fields is parallel to Ervin Laszlo’s description of the holographic matrix that contains all information from the beginning of time that is received by the cytoskeletal structure of the brain. This information as described by Buhner though is of the emotions perceived from the outside world and received by the heart. Though, “because we are trained to ignore these particular kinds of sensory cues and the information they contain, most people do not consciously utilize the heart as an organ of perception. Most of the information received is thus processed below conscious levels of cognition,” (p. 95). This is exactly why I use and teach ecstatic trance, a trance state that opens us to information from outside the body, from outside the brain and heart, information that is received below the level of consciousness. It has become expected that the ecstatic trance journey experiences within a group are sufficiently alike or similar thus reflecting what we might call “mind reading,” providing us with examples of receiving information through the heart from beyond ourselves.
June 9, 2023
One of the best books I ever read. It left a huge emotional imprint on me by digging deep in topics of the ever-presenr conaciousness of plants, trees, stones, rivers. At the same time it is very dense with technicalities and I am definitely coming back to it as I feel there's a lot I missed.
July 28, 2020
This book finally came good in the end, though there were some ups and downs whilst reading it which was largely due to the sheer volume of quotes of other authors that peppered the book; mostly of which I found disruptive to the flow of meaning that the author was attempting to impart. Though once I chose to breeze past these interspersions I could hear more fully what Stephen Harrod had to say.
& what he has to say is somewhat refreshing and insightful that leads you into another way of seeing things; not through the lens of reason but through opening into and reconnecting to the world around us through the heart - a metaphor for reclaiming our underused intuitive capabilities that have been in the shadows of reason since Descartes and the enlightenment age.
When we choose to perceive the natural world around us through the heart what we find is a world full of hidden meaning of higher purpose and potential of which can move us forward in our own evolution and healing. By aligning ourselves with the truth inherent in nature we re-attune ourselves and our organ systems to function in a healthy and organic way.
For anyone that's a frequent visitor to the mountains will find one of his earlier descriptions of a journey to the high alpine region of Colorado mesmerising, putting into words what I could only dream of describing so wonderfully; capturing the voice of nature itself. The book alone is worth reading just for this one paragraph.
I also found myself quite often practicing some of the techniques used to disengage from our overused and limiting analytical mode of perception into a more heart based or direct sensory perception of the experience. A practice that can take a life time to retrain ourselves with - this lost mode of cognition and understanding.
All in all an enlightening and enjoyable read.
& what he has to say is somewhat refreshing and insightful that leads you into another way of seeing things; not through the lens of reason but through opening into and reconnecting to the world around us through the heart - a metaphor for reclaiming our underused intuitive capabilities that have been in the shadows of reason since Descartes and the enlightenment age.
When we choose to perceive the natural world around us through the heart what we find is a world full of hidden meaning of higher purpose and potential of which can move us forward in our own evolution and healing. By aligning ourselves with the truth inherent in nature we re-attune ourselves and our organ systems to function in a healthy and organic way.
For anyone that's a frequent visitor to the mountains will find one of his earlier descriptions of a journey to the high alpine region of Colorado mesmerising, putting into words what I could only dream of describing so wonderfully; capturing the voice of nature itself. The book alone is worth reading just for this one paragraph.
I also found myself quite often practicing some of the techniques used to disengage from our overused and limiting analytical mode of perception into a more heart based or direct sensory perception of the experience. A practice that can take a life time to retrain ourselves with - this lost mode of cognition and understanding.
All in all an enlightening and enjoyable read.
May 31, 2011
There are few books that I feel I could read over & over again - not just for the pleasure of it, but also to glean something new. This is one of those books. The story of the heart and its relationship with the world unfolds delicately, poetically. Interwoven in the story (in two parts) are thoughtfully chosen quotes from deep ecological & philosophical thinkers (eg, Masanobu Fukuoka, George Washington Carver, Thoreau, Kabir).
I picked up this book because of the premise that our ancestors and indigenous cultures learned the uses of plants through intuitive means, using their hearts. I really hadn't thought about what it would reveal to me, personally. This book, and the work of the author, has the potential to open a new way of communicating with nature while also revealing one's deepest self, to heal the spirit (and in turn, the body) through heart-centered awareness. It is essential reading for healers of every ilk. Herbalists, shaman, yogis, acupuncturists, even (or maybe especially) Western healthcare practitioners and their patients could benefit from following the approach of direct perception.
I picked up this book because of the premise that our ancestors and indigenous cultures learned the uses of plants through intuitive means, using their hearts. I really hadn't thought about what it would reveal to me, personally. This book, and the work of the author, has the potential to open a new way of communicating with nature while also revealing one's deepest self, to heal the spirit (and in turn, the body) through heart-centered awareness. It is essential reading for healers of every ilk. Herbalists, shaman, yogis, acupuncturists, even (or maybe especially) Western healthcare practitioners and their patients could benefit from following the approach of direct perception.
May 20, 2014
I was turned on to this book from reading Holistic Anatomy by Pip Wallen. Buhner is a mystic. His path to the sacred is through his study/relationship of/with plants. He writes poetically but scientifically about learning himself, nature (and God) through meeting an communicating with plants. People he cites who have entered that world as well include: Goethe, Thoreau, Luther Burbank. Masanobu Fukuoka George Washington Carver and others. It heartens me to think that as a creature of evolution I am, we all are, able to communicate with other species of being on this planet. It heartens me to think that, in so doing, we make the world better for all people and species. I can't recommend this book enough.
March 9, 2016
This book took a while for me to read because it was so deep that I had to keep stopping to digest what I'd just read. I think it's a really fantastic book for anyone interested in plants, plant spirit, herbalism. The way it was laid out was nontraditional, but I liked it, perhaps because it's the way I too communicate. I loved all the quotes. I realized that a few of the people he quoted have more wisdom to offer than I originally realized from my limited exposure to them.
Overall, the book is an in-depth analysis of plants in relationship to humanity and the world and is very much worth the read.
Overall, the book is an in-depth analysis of plants in relationship to humanity and the world and is very much worth the read.
August 8, 2018
This is a powerful book no doubt. The reason I don't give it 5 stars is because I think the first part feels rushed and is thoroughly unreferenced. All the points made in the first part I completeley agree on, but that's preaching to the choir. If I was someone in need of convicning, sentences that make no relation where they draw their conclusions from would not cut it.
The second part is really where the strength of the book is. The techniques are clear and described in different ways and on different levels. Little room is left for doubt. An excellent starting point for the beginner herbalist and plant communicator.
The second part is really where the strength of the book is. The techniques are clear and described in different ways and on different levels. Little room is left for doubt. An excellent starting point for the beginner herbalist and plant communicator.
April 23, 2020
This is heavier going than I expected, and pretty old-fashioned. I found it quite enlightening and relaxing to listen to, but I didn't learn about any specific plants. It was more about getting in touch with your inner self and connecting psychologically with the plants so they can tell you their healing powers. Unfortunately, I don't have the patience or inclination to try that, but it's given me a newfound respect for plants and nature.
December 13, 2015
A really beautiful book that explains, often in scientific terms, why you need to start listening to nature. And they mean truly listen, with your heart, to which you will get a response (this books shows the studies that proves it). Its what shamans and medicine men and women have known for centuries, but this book wonderfully explains the body / heart / nature world connection.
December 13, 2020
What I enjoyed most about this read was how Buhner described in specific detail how to connect with plants and how to begin discerning which plants are needed to aid in the healing process of others. The Appendix in the back of the book also provides 5 take-away exercises for the reader. Overarchingly Buhner hits home the importance of leading with heart and becoming childlike with plants.
November 13, 2018
Anti-science nonsense. This guy is probably an anti-vaccer.
September 28, 2020
For everyone who is trying to develop their intuition to be in touch with the plant realm, who wants to heal people, ... This is a necessary read. Thank you Mr Buhner!
June 5, 2021
For those who have an inkling that there is an organ of perception almost no one has these days, perhaps because they have been through a crisis that cracked them open, or because they had an unconventional education from someone who has more of an intuitive, heart-centered perception of nature, or they grew up in the wilderness away from society, or some other rare occurrence, this book can be a mind-blowing revelation or a return to what they know to be so. For those who are locked into the current snapshot of human perception--where we see the world as its parts instead of as a whole-- to take a sudden plunge into heart-perception of nature will no doubt sound a little "out there". This is not a "look at nature under a microscope" sort of book, it is the opposite of that. The author often uses artistic presentation, maybe because art is a language of the heart and bypasses--for the purpose of this book-- the intellect. I had a sense of coming to a new understanding of our relationship with plants; with a revelation that humans, plants and all things are a single organism in constant communication (if we would only stop blocking our awareness of this), in a constant state of balancing, rebalancing and expansion. I took the point that only through direct perception and not through, for example, reading a book can we truly have an experience of this. For me this is a book about the spirit of life that runs through all, truly astonishing.
July 3, 2025
This book really stands out as one of the best I have read in quite a while! Not always does a book contain such a generous amount of original thought and understanding that clearly is the result of the author's dedication to investigate the subjects of this book over many years. You can tell when someone has really explored their field extensively and speaks from real, integrated knowledge. It brought me eye-opening insights in more than one area. It changed the way I relate to my own heart in a very beautiful way and clarified my understanding of plant communication (as well as communication with the body, in order to understand disease). I imagine I can read this book a few more times and still find new understanding that did not quite sink in the first time around.
I literally do not have any points of criticism, which is rare. At first I thought it was a bit annoying that the author uses a lot of quotes, but pretty soon found that it actually flowed well with the way the text was written. Many of the quotes were from the same people, which helped to maintain coherence.
If you are interested in working with plants for healing and plant communication, I absolutely and whole-heartedly recommend this book!
I literally do not have any points of criticism, which is rare. At first I thought it was a bit annoying that the author uses a lot of quotes, but pretty soon found that it actually flowed well with the way the text was written. Many of the quotes were from the same people, which helped to maintain coherence.
If you are interested in working with plants for healing and plant communication, I absolutely and whole-heartedly recommend this book!
June 23, 2023
I initially gave this 4 stars, but have changed it to 3.
I learnt a lot from this book, and I am going to continue thinking about its implications, and perhaps using the techniques it describes. However, for a book called 'The Secret Teachings of Plants', it spoke very little about plants themselves. You must use the technique of the direct perception of the heart that is described to discover the 'secret teachings' for yourself. Fair enough. But the title is somewhat misleading.
Also, there was a huge amount of repetition, especially in the second part. The same things were repeated over and over, with very similar wording, without much progression or complexity being added to the ideas. Perhaps this was deliberate—a mode of nonlinear communication, circling back over the same ground, making sure the linear mind gets out of the way—but I found it irritating. The book could have been substantially shorter, and both easier and more enjoyable to read, had there been less constant reiteration of the same points. So, despite the fascinating ideas that were being described, it was something of a slog to get through the second half.
I learnt a lot from this book, and I am going to continue thinking about its implications, and perhaps using the techniques it describes. However, for a book called 'The Secret Teachings of Plants', it spoke very little about plants themselves. You must use the technique of the direct perception of the heart that is described to discover the 'secret teachings' for yourself. Fair enough. But the title is somewhat misleading.
Also, there was a huge amount of repetition, especially in the second part. The same things were repeated over and over, with very similar wording, without much progression or complexity being added to the ideas. Perhaps this was deliberate—a mode of nonlinear communication, circling back over the same ground, making sure the linear mind gets out of the way—but I found it irritating. The book could have been substantially shorter, and both easier and more enjoyable to read, had there been less constant reiteration of the same points. So, despite the fascinating ideas that were being described, it was something of a slog to get through the second half.
August 19, 2025
The title of this book is somewhat misleading, as it suggests a focus on plants, which is not the primary content. Despite this, the concepts presented are thought-provoking and can inspire readers to view the natural world in a new light.
It offers a unique perspective on understanding the natural world through the technique of direct perception of the heart; the idea that the physical heart is much more than blood pump, but almost a secondary brain (which science is just beginning to acknowledge has neural cells of its own) that receives input from the world around us, but which our educated minds mostly ignore. The author introduces intriguing ideas that encourage readers to explore and uncover the teachings of plants on a personal level. This approach provides a refreshing take on connecting with nature, making the book an interesting read for those open to new experiences.
The second half of the book tends to be repetitive, with frequent reiterations of the same ideas, making the content feel tedious at times.
All in all, the book introduces fascinating concepts and encourages a deeper connection with nature.
It offers a unique perspective on understanding the natural world through the technique of direct perception of the heart; the idea that the physical heart is much more than blood pump, but almost a secondary brain (which science is just beginning to acknowledge has neural cells of its own) that receives input from the world around us, but which our educated minds mostly ignore. The author introduces intriguing ideas that encourage readers to explore and uncover the teachings of plants on a personal level. This approach provides a refreshing take on connecting with nature, making the book an interesting read for those open to new experiences.
The second half of the book tends to be repetitive, with frequent reiterations of the same ideas, making the content feel tedious at times.
All in all, the book introduces fascinating concepts and encourages a deeper connection with nature.
July 3, 2019
This is not a book to be taken lightly. It requires digestion and processing. I feel that it will be necessary for me to reread at least parts of it in the near future. The information contained within will subtly change the way you look at the world. Mr. Buhner even acknowledges that it is very difficult for a person living in our age, after several centuries of linear thinking on the part of the Western mind, to return to what he suggests is the way humans interacted with the world for most of our existence. There are still pockets of people who are like this, so with their inspiration I am happy to find Buhner's work to add to their knowledge. Essentially, the mind was never meant to lead our way of being. It is known now that neurons exist in the heart, and this is confirmed by indigenous peoples who still lead their lives through their hearts. Some of us have retained a deep knowing of the wrongness that mind/ego can come to, so it is liberating to know we were right, and not only that, there is something we can do about it.
November 29, 2021
Like so many others who hand reviewed this book, I agree there is a lot that us repeated & that, in turn becomes redundant... but maybe that's the point? A lot of emphasis is placed on the human need to open ourselves to different means of perception through sensations, intuition & non-linear, non-cognitive intelligence. I began this book years ago & simply didn't 'get it' until my recent pursuit of an MA degree & working with plants led me to want to understand how humans perceive & interact with the world around us. With this grounded understanding of some theory of phenomenology, I was able to more fully dive into this book & enjoy it. I began to practice communicating with plants even though I don't have plans to become a healer. This kind of intelligence is a means of understanding & interacting with the world that has become lost to most people...especially white, westerners. What Buhner writes about here is common wisdom shared by many Indigenous people. This kind of wisdom is one that humans must remember & re-learn to be in right relationship with our living world.
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