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Hello Beautiful People!
I hope the New Year finds you warm and cozy, and that the winter season continues to bring you gifts of gratitude and connection. I love hunkering down in these colder, darker days as they are, where I find renewed energy and the much needed quiet time to reflect on the past year and what is to come.
Much of what I am reflecting on this winter is the decision to continue my education at the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education , which is why I am reaching out.
As many of you know my work over the past several years with Ravenwood Outdoor Learning Center in northwestern Montana has led me to northern California. Two years ago I packed my car and drove to the Santa Cruz Mountains where I immersed myself in a Deep Nature Connection Mentoring program led by Jon Young and the 8 Shields Institute . I spent nine months sinking into a new landscape, tracking mammals, learning bird language, and mentoring youth. This led me to pursue a second year further north in Sonoma County, where I now live. I made this move in order to further my relational education and mentoring skills with a similar program called Weaving Earth. The above video gives a glimpse into what the program offers. I am now in the midst of my second year.
WHY WEAVING EARTH IS IMPORTANT:
My work with Weaving Earth is embedding me in a world of connection. Although my studies of Buddhist meditation for many years taught me invaluable inner tracking skills, deep nature connection is teaching me how to bring that awareness outside, tracking patterns in nature. Now, when I go for a walk I pay closer attention to the sounds of birds, the direction of the wind, what the waters on the land are doing, which plants and trees are growing and which are edible and medicinal. The nature connection model used in this form of education, at its core, is about connecting people with nature, with themselves, and with others.
My experience in this work is hard to convey, but what I believe at this time is that our world needs nature connection now more than ever. Richard Louv’s national bestseller Last Child in the Woods brought a greater awareness to the fact that we need time in nature. Period. He coined the term “Nature-Deficit Disorder,” and statistically demonstrated for the first time that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy physical and emotional development in both children and adults. Many of us know this (and we know it from experience), yet we are still inundated by a world of technology and find ourselves less connected to each other and the natural world. We are spending an unprecedented amount of time in front of screens, and barely any on the land with the trees and birds, plants and waters. This loss of connection is creating a disconnect not only with ourselves, but also with each other, with our communities, and most devastatingly, with our planet.
This is why I am choosing to deepen into my education at Weaving Earth. By choosing to delve into deep nature connection, I am choosing a journey of identifying my gifts and listening for the ways I can offer them to the work of reconnection, and to the world.
WHAT IS DEEP NATURE CONNECTION?
Deep nature connection is about connecting, what some say is our original human instructions, with nature. It goes beyond just a walk in the neighborhood, or a ski on the slopes, or a kayak in the bay. It takes us to the next step. Through mentorship and through making the decision to connect more deeply with what’s around us all the time, wherever we happen to live, deep nature connection is asking us to be outside, in nature, with all of our senses turned on and tuned in. It is simple, and revolutionary. It’s walking in the neighborhood and noticing which birds are there everyday and which ones are not. It’s asking where does the fox or coyote live? What do they eat? What do their tracks look like? Cultural mentoring asks good questions, draws out learning through natural curiosity and teaches us that the answer is less important than a willingness to lean into the questions.
WHAT IS RELATIONAL EDUCATION AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH DEEP NATURE CONNECTION?
Relational Education is an approach to learning that builds reciprocal relationships between mentor and student that allows for a sharing of ideas to create the learning environment. This approach lends itself to co-creating knowledge outside of a teacher-centered classroom model, offering a new paradigm of learning that is fostering more connection, less separation, and helping to create healthier more vital individuals, communities and ecosystems. Combining relational education with deep nature connection draws out this connective model using the natural world as the classroom. Cultural mentoring invites and encourages deeper awareness of one’s environment by asking good questions and pulling on the edges of awareness, strengthening our ropes of connection to what is around us.
WHAT HAS THIS ALL DONE FOR ME?
In my time at Weaving Earth, the process of cultural mentoring is bringing me to an even greater sense of empathy for people and the natural world. It’s creating a deeper connection to stillness, a sense of belonging, a quieter mind, and an ability to listen deeply. Being of service to others is a strong cultural value that I aspire to and this practice is embedded in Weaving Earth. I also notice a stronger sense of vitality in my body, and an overall deeper sense of happiness and well-being.
What more do we need, right? In my opinion, we need to equip more people with the tools and skills of deep nature connection and mentoring to participate in cultural repair that is needed for happier, healthier humans.
This call to reconnect, to remember what all of our ancestors knew at one time, is louder than ever before. I feel my education with Weaving Earth is an answer to this call.
This kind of education is expensive, and Weaving Earth is a small program. I am in my third year of paying for an immersion program, with one more to go. I am asking for $8000 to help get me there. I have $4000 left to pay for this year, and the cost for the final year is $7500. While $8000 will not cover all of these costs, it will help get me closer to my goal of completing the program.
GRATITUDE
I feel immense gratitude for my friends and family who continue to support me in so many ways. For my teachers and mentors who inspire and guide me. For the beauty that is shown to me daily when I walk outside, and for the rains that keep coming to this drought stricken land. May it continue.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you can donate, please do and thank you! If not, and you are moved by any part of this story, I invite you to follow any of the links above to find out more.
For now, here's another glimpse....
With my heart full of love & gratitude,
Ann
I hope the New Year finds you warm and cozy, and that the winter season continues to bring you gifts of gratitude and connection. I love hunkering down in these colder, darker days as they are, where I find renewed energy and the much needed quiet time to reflect on the past year and what is to come.
Much of what I am reflecting on this winter is the decision to continue my education at the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education , which is why I am reaching out.
As many of you know my work over the past several years with Ravenwood Outdoor Learning Center in northwestern Montana has led me to northern California. Two years ago I packed my car and drove to the Santa Cruz Mountains where I immersed myself in a Deep Nature Connection Mentoring program led by Jon Young and the 8 Shields Institute . I spent nine months sinking into a new landscape, tracking mammals, learning bird language, and mentoring youth. This led me to pursue a second year further north in Sonoma County, where I now live. I made this move in order to further my relational education and mentoring skills with a similar program called Weaving Earth. The above video gives a glimpse into what the program offers. I am now in the midst of my second year.
WHY WEAVING EARTH IS IMPORTANT:
My work with Weaving Earth is embedding me in a world of connection. Although my studies of Buddhist meditation for many years taught me invaluable inner tracking skills, deep nature connection is teaching me how to bring that awareness outside, tracking patterns in nature. Now, when I go for a walk I pay closer attention to the sounds of birds, the direction of the wind, what the waters on the land are doing, which plants and trees are growing and which are edible and medicinal. The nature connection model used in this form of education, at its core, is about connecting people with nature, with themselves, and with others.
My experience in this work is hard to convey, but what I believe at this time is that our world needs nature connection now more than ever. Richard Louv’s national bestseller Last Child in the Woods brought a greater awareness to the fact that we need time in nature. Period. He coined the term “Nature-Deficit Disorder,” and statistically demonstrated for the first time that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy physical and emotional development in both children and adults. Many of us know this (and we know it from experience), yet we are still inundated by a world of technology and find ourselves less connected to each other and the natural world. We are spending an unprecedented amount of time in front of screens, and barely any on the land with the trees and birds, plants and waters. This loss of connection is creating a disconnect not only with ourselves, but also with each other, with our communities, and most devastatingly, with our planet.
This is why I am choosing to deepen into my education at Weaving Earth. By choosing to delve into deep nature connection, I am choosing a journey of identifying my gifts and listening for the ways I can offer them to the work of reconnection, and to the world.
WHAT IS DEEP NATURE CONNECTION?
Deep nature connection is about connecting, what some say is our original human instructions, with nature. It goes beyond just a walk in the neighborhood, or a ski on the slopes, or a kayak in the bay. It takes us to the next step. Through mentorship and through making the decision to connect more deeply with what’s around us all the time, wherever we happen to live, deep nature connection is asking us to be outside, in nature, with all of our senses turned on and tuned in. It is simple, and revolutionary. It’s walking in the neighborhood and noticing which birds are there everyday and which ones are not. It’s asking where does the fox or coyote live? What do they eat? What do their tracks look like? Cultural mentoring asks good questions, draws out learning through natural curiosity and teaches us that the answer is less important than a willingness to lean into the questions.
WHAT IS RELATIONAL EDUCATION AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH DEEP NATURE CONNECTION?
Relational Education is an approach to learning that builds reciprocal relationships between mentor and student that allows for a sharing of ideas to create the learning environment. This approach lends itself to co-creating knowledge outside of a teacher-centered classroom model, offering a new paradigm of learning that is fostering more connection, less separation, and helping to create healthier more vital individuals, communities and ecosystems. Combining relational education with deep nature connection draws out this connective model using the natural world as the classroom. Cultural mentoring invites and encourages deeper awareness of one’s environment by asking good questions and pulling on the edges of awareness, strengthening our ropes of connection to what is around us.
WHAT HAS THIS ALL DONE FOR ME?
In my time at Weaving Earth, the process of cultural mentoring is bringing me to an even greater sense of empathy for people and the natural world. It’s creating a deeper connection to stillness, a sense of belonging, a quieter mind, and an ability to listen deeply. Being of service to others is a strong cultural value that I aspire to and this practice is embedded in Weaving Earth. I also notice a stronger sense of vitality in my body, and an overall deeper sense of happiness and well-being.
What more do we need, right? In my opinion, we need to equip more people with the tools and skills of deep nature connection and mentoring to participate in cultural repair that is needed for happier, healthier humans.
This call to reconnect, to remember what all of our ancestors knew at one time, is louder than ever before. I feel my education with Weaving Earth is an answer to this call.
This kind of education is expensive, and Weaving Earth is a small program. I am in my third year of paying for an immersion program, with one more to go. I am asking for $8000 to help get me there. I have $4000 left to pay for this year, and the cost for the final year is $7500. While $8000 will not cover all of these costs, it will help get me closer to my goal of completing the program.
GRATITUDE
I feel immense gratitude for my friends and family who continue to support me in so many ways. For my teachers and mentors who inspire and guide me. For the beauty that is shown to me daily when I walk outside, and for the rains that keep coming to this drought stricken land. May it continue.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you can donate, please do and thank you! If not, and you are moved by any part of this story, I invite you to follow any of the links above to find out more.
For now, here's another glimpse....
With my heart full of love & gratitude,
Ann