E24 | Darcia Narvaez | Our Need for Nestedness: Nurturing Children and Community the Natural Way
“We all need nestedness throughout life.”
Here is an audio version.
A video version can be found below.
Drawing from her personal experiences, research, and insights, Darcia invites us to rethink relationship, reimagine kinship, and rediscover child-rearing through an ecological lens. We discuss her research on “the evolved nest” and how it can inspire more balanced, harmonious ways of living and growing together.
We explore the layers of nestedness—communal, intergenerational, and cosmic—revealing how these deep connections shape our well-being and the health of our communities. Darcia illuminates the contrast between Western and Indigenous wisdom traditions, offering a path back to the kinship worldview that can guide us toward balance, compassion, and a deeper sense of Belonging.
From the magic of breastmilk to the restorative power of play, and from the significance of the perinatal experience to the reverberations of morality throughout the Web of Life, this conversation calls us to rethink our place in the world and how we care for ourselves, one another, and all of Life, beckoning us toward a more balanced, interconnected, and nurturing way of Being.
Find Thematic Show Notes Below
TICKETS TO DANCING WITH DARKNESS
Connect with Darcia:
EvolvedNest.Org
DarciaNarvaez.com
KindredMedia.org
The Nested Pathway
Worldview Literacy
Connect with WHR:
WHR Instagram
Coyotei Counsel Instagram
Tei’s Instagram
Email - whr.link@gmail.com
Thematic Show Notes
The Beginnings of Darcia’s Path:
Darcia reflects on her earliest memories and their profound connection to her life path, work, and research.
Understanding Nestedness:
The concept of the ‘evolved nest’ and the lifelong need for nestedness.
“When you don’t provide the evolved nest, you become abnormal, dysrhythmic, disregulated.”
Three levels of nestedness: communal, intergenerational, and cosmic.
The Perinatal Experience and Indigenous Wisdom:
The significance of soothing and supportive birth and child-rearing practices.
The wisdom of Indigenous traditions versus the constraints of modern medical approaches.
“The Western wisdom tradition is about compassion for humans, while Indigenous traditions embrace compassion for all of life.”
The Vital Role of Play:
Play as a foundational practice for both childhood and adulthood.
“We are social mammals, and like other social mammals, we are intended to play.”
Insights from hunter-gatherer societies where play is woven into daily life.
Reclaiming Kinship and the Web of Life:
Restoring a kinship worldview through traditional ecological knowledge.
“We are dynamic systems in a dynamic, flowing world . . . We share our vibratory beingness with others.”
The moral responsibility of living in a web of relationships: “Every thought, feeling, and action reverberates across the world.”