Secrets of Transformation through Nature

 The first step in teaching a student in wilderness or earth skills in a deep and transformative way, whether they are 5 years old, or 50, is to build a meaningful relationship. This means spending time with them, giving them your full attention. It means showing them who you are, the real you, the person behind the mission statement or the company line. It means showing them it isn't isn't just all about you and your thing, but that it's actually about them.
This can be done in a lot of ways, and it doesn't have to take a ton of time, either. But it is absolutely essential to creating transformation.

Without a real relationship, there is no trust. 

Without trust, there is no safety. 

Without safety, there is no breakthrough, because that breakthrough is hidden away, behind the walls of your student's carefully protected heart.

If you show they you care about them, that you appreciate them, that you aren't about judging them, or being better than them, that's the first step.   You have to show that you care about them enough to keep them safe and really 'seeing' who they are, and where they are 'at'.   When that happens, you will help unlock those gates of protection. Each thing you do with them will build connection, and it will help you create a space for them to transform and shine their own inner light into the world.

It is a privilege and an honor to do work like this. It's hard work. It takes a dedication to our own inner emotional connection, and our own passion and our love for nature and helping people.

We have to let go of our internal baggage, for the time we are with them, and just be in the moment, with them, in nature, or wherever we are.

Sometimes, working with kids in nature is wonderfully clearing for our minds.   It just washes everything that doesn't matter away, and leaves a fresh, clean feeling inside.  There are good things happening, and all the gunk that usually clogs our constant chatter can begin to drift away too.   Creativity is enhanced.  Problem solving, too.   Even our decision making becomes almost intuitive, and our inner awareness gets a boost as well.

When it works, it's incredible....

And that is just the first step.   

Today's youth are changing, and things that used to work ten or even five years ago aren't working as well as they once did.   The stories are different.  The attention span is different.   The timing is different.   Heck, even the jokes are different!

The good news is that there are lots and lots of ways to innovate, and reframe our programs to help kids or adults get the power of these skills and nature.   

If you are working with kids or adults and you want help with tweaking your program to make it even more powerful or transformative, or you just want to get a fresh way to see your work and get support, please schedule a time to chat with me. I'd love to see if there is a way I can help!

Just go to my website and click the link at the bottom called 'Schedule a Call'. It's 100% free and I will do what I can to help you out!

Be ready, though! I will give you little assignments and tasks to do, too! So, make sure you really want this!

www.GetTheNaturalAdvantage.com

Earth Skills, Intimacy and Becoming a Transformational Instructor

Hawk Circle Instructor Eli Martz spends time teaching Daniel about carving, and following the grain of the wood.   2003

The process of learning a new skill like tracking, or fire, or shelter, or wild edibles, takes time, patience, and a lot of attention to details. You have to develop an intimacy with wood, or stone, or plants or animals, etc. and build a relationship with those elements, and be willing to learn and grow.

It's a process, not an event. It's about building lots of little skills of dexterity, awarenesses, tiny habits and practices that lead to understanding and mastery. 

For many students, this journey to learn will fail unless you find someone to help you through that maze, and give you the gifts, the tools and the understandings that will lead to success.

Think of the old, authentic fairy tales.

I know it might be a weird analogy, but it's actually very much spot on!

You don't get to have the princess or prince, and the kingdom, or reward, until you slay the dragon or the ogre. You can't slay the monster unless you have the Blade of Steel and Perfection. You can't get that Blade until you have passed the test by the Hag of the Ruined Castle, which are high above the Cliffs of Doom. So, you have to conquer your fear of heights, and unknown riddles, and weird mystical people, and pass all these tests, to achieve your goals and your objectives. You have to have friends in high places. You have to have the ability to see the deep inner gifts that those friends have, and create a relationship with them where they will offer those gifts freely. Or sometimes you have to steal them, in some tales! But in any event, having a mentor or source that you can gain wisdom or insight is key to knowing your next step.

That's the kind of mentor you have to be if you want to add this layer of transformation to your work.   And your students shouldn't be a job or a means to an end (paycheck), but someone who will be a lifelong friend and someone you will be proud to know for your whole life.

So, to be this kind of mentor, you kind of have to go through this experience yourself, and figure out how to get around these challenges and mountains, valleys, everything.  You have to do it alone, and you have to do it with a mentor sometimes too.  If you're really lucky!

If this isn't what you are all about, or you are unsure, go work at Starbucks. Go mow lawns, or wait tables at the Olive Garden, or do whatever it is that makes you happy. Not saying it's bad to do those things, because they are important jobs too. But what I am saying is that if you are in the business of transformation, you have to be the real deal. There is no faking it...