Information on locations, covid, cancellation policy, scholarships, billing, and definitions

The following definitions are alive and forever evolving. They can serve as loose guides in better understanding our programs. We acknowledge that there are many definitions for each word; the definitions that we have included here are ones that we utilize.

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Ecotherapy:

"Healing and growth nurtured by healthy interaction with the earth...representts a new form of psychotherapy that acknowledges the vital role of nature and addresses the human-nature relationship. It takes into account the latest scientific understandings of our universe and the deepest indigenous wisdom. This perspective addresses the critical fact that people are intimately connected with, embedded in, and inseparable from the rest of nature."

- Linda Buzzell and Craig Chalquist, Healing with Nature in Mind

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Life Coaching:

"Partnering with clients in a though-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential...Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole...Professional coaching focuses on setting goals, creating outcomes and managing personal change."

-ICF (International Coaching Federation)

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Nature-Connected Coaching (NCC):

"A Professional Coach who strives to guide their client to greater self-awareness, empowerment, and connection to purpose. A NCC also has strong personal connection, respect, and trust in the natural world, natural cycles, and natural processes. A NCC considers Nature to be an active collaborator (or co-guide) in the work with a client...A NCC inherently looks to nature for direction, inspiration, and solutions."

- Earth-Based Institute

 

Mentoring:

A form of guidance in which the mentor has experienced a similar journey to the student, and can offer guidance and wisdom based on their own personal experience. The mentor doesn't simply give the student answers, but rather helps them uncover their own answers.

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Rites of Passage:

Rites of passage is the anchor to a healthy community and a healthy human being.

"Rites of Passage" is an anthropology term that is used to describe an ancient and essential experience to all people around the world. Rites of Passage is the "experience of symbolically passing from one life stage to the next" (Steven Foster & Meredith Little). We undergo rites of passages naturally throughout our lives, such as birth, death, puberty, leaving home, graduations, etc. However, in our modern western society, most rites of passages are not celebrated or marked in a safe container within a community. When we aren't held in community and honored for who we are, we will naturally initiate ourselves into the next stage of life, often through risky behaviors (e.g. teens engaging in drugs as a form of imitation). Modern research is now finding that "marking" these major life transitions or changes in a way that is deeply meaningful are absolutely essential to our mental, emotional, and spiritual health, as well as the health of our communities.

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Rites of passage ceremonies typically involve an experience that strips us of our old identity, and supports us in crossing the threshold into the new. We offer the Wilderness Vision Fast Ceremony (see below) as a strong container for supporting the passage of an individual.

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Wilderness Vision Fast Ceremony:

The Wilderness Vision Fast Ceremony is a type of Rites of Passage ceremony in which the participant fasts in solitude in the wilderness. By "fast", we mean practicing the art of emptiness, which can be from food, modern comforts, shelter, technology, etc. By emptying ourselves, we are able to better listen to the Earth and our self. The Wilderness Vision Fast incorporates pan cultural rituals that are used for marking life change and transition, such as solitude, fasting, and being with the Earth. We encourage each participant to "make it their own" and bring in their own ancestral wisdom. We understand that fasting from food is not supportive to every body, so we only invite food fasting if it is beneficial to the participant.

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This is a deeply powerful ceremony that involves serious preparation and integration. We support our participants through a process of severance and intention setting prior to their solo time, which may involve letting go of an old identity, role, relationship, or way of being. The wilderness solo is the "threshold" between the old and the new; the space for participants to mark their new identity or way of being in the world. Upon their return from their solo time, participants are supported and witnessed in community.

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Ceremony or Ceremonial:

A contained experience (a defined beginning and end) of conscious interaction and presence with the unknown, spirit, or mystery of life. May include an intention, such as severance, letting go, calling in, offering gratitude, celebration, acknowledgment, etc. Earth-based ceremony may include interaction with physical elements (i.e. fire, water, plants, rocks, etc) to serve as symbols, metaphors, and allies for marking intention or prayer.

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Trauma:

"The body/mind/spirit's physiological response to a life-threatening or perceived life-threatening situation that does not fully sequence [release] out of the body."

- Katie Asmus, Somatic Wilderness Therapy Institute

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"Trauma is in the nervous system, not in the event."

- Peter Levine

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Somatic:

Relating to the body, not the mind.

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Soul:

We understand the meaning of "Soul" through a combination of teachings from the Earth-Based Institute and Animas Valley Institute. EBI refers to soul as the core of who you are; your essence. Soul is not judgmental nor has preferences. Rather, Soul is your most conscious, aware, understanding, and neutral state of being. Animas refers to soul as your unique "ecological niche in the web of life" – your unique place in the world. We utilize both of these understandings of Soul.

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Spirit:

"The universal consciousness, intelligence, psyche, or vast imagination that animates the cosmos and everything in it, including us...common synonyms include [Mystery], God, and the non dual."

- Bill Plotkin, the Journey of Soul Initiation

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Community:

All beings (human and other-than-human) that make up our network of connections, friends, and family. We can refer to our larger, global community, or our more localized community.

 

Other-than-human-world:

The world of beings that are not human, such as plants, other animals, etc.