Solo Experiences in Nature Training- Mallorca
My time in the Tramuntana mountains of Mallorca was incredible. I did a training about guiding people in solo experiences in nature, essentially how to facilitate a space and event that brings a group of people together in nature, help them connect with the land and to themselves, send them off into nature for hours or days at a time, and then when they come back helping them process their experience together with other supportive participants. It was fun and challenging and restorative and exhausting, all at the same time. I hadn't signed up to be trained in how to do it, I just wanted to do the guided solo experiences, but now I have this nice experience in my tool belt so I can introduce other people to it later!
Solo experiences can be used in a bunch of different frameworks: adventure/nature therapy, outdoor education, rites of passage, ecopsychology, or spiritual practices. In adventure therapy, solo experiences is about using land & nature as part of the therapeutic process, seeing what insights the land gives you.
The more time you spend in nature, the more the distance between "me" vs. "it" (nature) gets shorter and shorter. Solo experiences help people to understand that everything in our world is interconnected, and that the typical human experience of thinking of ourselves as separate and greater than the rest of the world is not only flawed but limits the potential of our thoughts, perspectives, and experiences. Ecopsychology operates from the view that most of our mental health issues stem from the disconnect we have with nature. This view is still new to me, so I'm not able to advocate for it just yet, but a lot of it makes sense to me.
It also ties in strongly with the idea of regenerative culture, working on "re-cultivating" a healthy environment. You can think about humans' environmental practices as a scale, with the lowest and least connected to nature being 1) business as usual, then 2) "green" practices and lifestyle, then 3) sustainable practices, then 4) restorative (doing things to nature), and finally 5) regenerative (doing things as nature). As you move up the scale, the disconnect between nature and people grows smaller and smaller. If you're interested in learning more about regenerative culture, look up Daniel Wahl. We were lucky enough to have him spend an evening with us during the training, and he's crazy smart and inspiring.
He also took us to the most sacred place on Mallorca, deep inside a cave where people started piling the ashes of their dead warriors beginning about 5,000 years ago. Afterwards we sat along a cliff and watched the sunset as we talked about regenerative culture and how solo experiences lend themselves to getting people to connect with nature and how important that is for any chance of restoring climate change. It's hard for us as humans to take on responsibility for things we don't feel connected to, which is why it's hard for people to be real caretakers of the planet and ourselves. Having that group conversation with a beautiful landscape as a backdrop and having emerged from a very sacred space in the cave was important for us to have had the experience we did. If Daniel had lectured to us in front of a powerpoint in a classroom, we wouldn't have had the same meaningful connection to the content as we did.
Our conversation with Daniel also led into indigenous cultures' perspectives of wellbeing and connection to the earth. Western cultures operate from a square-systems thinking system, like a billiards universe. Logical positivism. If there's not clear, irrefutable scientific evidence, it doesn't exist. Indigenous cultures operate from circular-systems thinking. The Māori concept of time (called wah) is that the present, past, and future is all at once. He talked about how traditionally, Māori got together and held conversations about what changes they wanted to see in the world and how they're currently experiencing it. That is at odds with the typically western way of creating change, because at the end of meetings in a western world people are like "okay these are our checklists, this is our goal, this is how we know we're creating change, this is what we expect to have accomplished by our next meeting, etc." in short: talking is not enough, actions must be taken in order to say that any meaningful work has been done. But in Māori culture, the talking, the change of perspectives, the connection we build with each other while having meaningful conversations- that's the real work and real change. Things emerge in the world based on how we perceive it to be, aka our consciousness is primary, not matter. The universe (reality) comes out of consciousness. And now we get into quantum physics! Apparently there's quite a bit of evidence in the scientific world emerging that supports that statement. Indigenous perspectives are about how having conversations changes our individual and collective consciousness, therefore changing what reality is. This is an immensely fascinating topic to me, and I'm kind of just blurting out all the tidbits I can remember onto this blog, so forgive me if it's not so eloquent and precise as it could be. I have to do some more thinking on it. It reminds me of Jung's ways of knowing: 1. thinking 2. feeling 3. intuition 4. sensing. I don't think all 4 of those things are valued to the same degree in the scientific community, which is a shame.
I think we had about 5 or 6 solo sessions total over the 5 days of training. It tested my patience with the process and with myself. But some wonderful insights came out. Here's what I wrote down in my journal about my personal solo experiences. Sylke, the facilitator, gave us an intention for each solo we did, some thoughts to frame our experiences (beside the first because that was our introduction to what a solo experience is like).
1st solo ~1 hour
dusk
climbed lots of rocks
got somewhat lost on the way back
hugged a tree (and it smelled really nice)
2nd solo ~2 1/2 hours
intention: connect to the land
climbed to top of nearby rock formation, 360 degree beautiful view
wind talked to me, told me to stop avoiding thinking about/talking to my dad
had one-sided convo w/ dad, felt good about it
walked down into forest, looked for goats, no goats to be found ): even though I could hear them
found mossy circle & laid down, watched the trees in the wind
breathing & meditation practice
3rd solo ~2 1/2 hours
intention: be a kid
looked for sunny spot, didn't work
short writing about grandma Mary, but then got distracted
tried to draw, got frustrated instead
deep-dive into self-criticism land
walked more, found cool rocks and mini waterfall for fairies
Disappointed with myself during the solo because I wasn't good at being a kid, lol
4th solo ~2 1/2 hours
intention: what is the sea telling you about who you are?
started off in bad mood, when I got to my spot and sat down I felt great
sat on rocks by the sea, took forever to climb down the cliff, pretty dangerous whoops
singing songs: swing low, sweet chariot (thought of grandma Mary), choir songs
watching waves and colors
built rock pagoda
nice, accepting thoughts
5th solo ~ 1 hour
intention: make land art, share with the land how I got to this point, then ask the land why it wants me to lead solo experiences for others
morning + tea= cozy
story time & sculpture (mostly a pile of stuff, wasn't invested in the art part of it)
talked to land immediately upon sitting down, it was easy connecting with the tree in front of me
land answered back
6th solo ~1 1/2 hours
intention: make a ritual to say goodbye & thanks to the part of yourself that is holding you back from leading solo experiences
didn't connect with Sylke's intention of letting go of what's stopping me, made my own intention kind of, or decided instead that i wanted to keep everything and add more insights and experiences and integrate them
@ Don't Starve campsite I found (jason and lindsey will understand this reference)
supposed to do a ritual but I didn't really want to, braided some grass instead, maybe that counts as integration
Walk 'n talk reflections
it's much easier to share personal story while walking because peoples' eyes aren't on you the whole time, not face to face, not as intimidating
maybe it's harder to listen
great for young populations or people with trauma, bad experiences with office therapy, or who have stigma about seeing a therapist.
Wow- I've learned so much in the past week that I could write a separate blog post/paper on each concept I was introduced to. Someone remind me eventually to write more in detail about: rites of passage, regenerative culture, and ecopsychology, why I haven't intentionally incorporated sustainability & regenerative culture into my year, someone's feedback on one of my solo experiences: I'm going about my year in a very practical & logical way- how do I feel about that?, I often don't feel excited/compelled to do things that always end up with me feeling good and healthy, what's up with that?, why am I hesitating to fully embrace the idea of me being an outdoor guide/adventure therapist as a career instead of a traditional therapist that does work in the outdoors?
<3 Andi
Solo experiences can be used in a bunch of different frameworks: adventure/nature therapy, outdoor education, rites of passage, ecopsychology, or spiritual practices. In adventure therapy, solo experiences is about using land & nature as part of the therapeutic process, seeing what insights the land gives you.
The more time you spend in nature, the more the distance between "me" vs. "it" (nature) gets shorter and shorter. Solo experiences help people to understand that everything in our world is interconnected, and that the typical human experience of thinking of ourselves as separate and greater than the rest of the world is not only flawed but limits the potential of our thoughts, perspectives, and experiences. Ecopsychology operates from the view that most of our mental health issues stem from the disconnect we have with nature. This view is still new to me, so I'm not able to advocate for it just yet, but a lot of it makes sense to me.
It also ties in strongly with the idea of regenerative culture, working on "re-cultivating" a healthy environment. You can think about humans' environmental practices as a scale, with the lowest and least connected to nature being 1) business as usual, then 2) "green" practices and lifestyle, then 3) sustainable practices, then 4) restorative (doing things to nature), and finally 5) regenerative (doing things as nature). As you move up the scale, the disconnect between nature and people grows smaller and smaller. If you're interested in learning more about regenerative culture, look up Daniel Wahl. We were lucky enough to have him spend an evening with us during the training, and he's crazy smart and inspiring.
He also took us to the most sacred place on Mallorca, deep inside a cave where people started piling the ashes of their dead warriors beginning about 5,000 years ago. Afterwards we sat along a cliff and watched the sunset as we talked about regenerative culture and how solo experiences lend themselves to getting people to connect with nature and how important that is for any chance of restoring climate change. It's hard for us as humans to take on responsibility for things we don't feel connected to, which is why it's hard for people to be real caretakers of the planet and ourselves. Having that group conversation with a beautiful landscape as a backdrop and having emerged from a very sacred space in the cave was important for us to have had the experience we did. If Daniel had lectured to us in front of a powerpoint in a classroom, we wouldn't have had the same meaningful connection to the content as we did.
Our conversation with Daniel also led into indigenous cultures' perspectives of wellbeing and connection to the earth. Western cultures operate from a square-systems thinking system, like a billiards universe. Logical positivism. If there's not clear, irrefutable scientific evidence, it doesn't exist. Indigenous cultures operate from circular-systems thinking. The Māori concept of time (called wah) is that the present, past, and future is all at once. He talked about how traditionally, Māori got together and held conversations about what changes they wanted to see in the world and how they're currently experiencing it. That is at odds with the typically western way of creating change, because at the end of meetings in a western world people are like "okay these are our checklists, this is our goal, this is how we know we're creating change, this is what we expect to have accomplished by our next meeting, etc." in short: talking is not enough, actions must be taken in order to say that any meaningful work has been done. But in Māori culture, the talking, the change of perspectives, the connection we build with each other while having meaningful conversations- that's the real work and real change. Things emerge in the world based on how we perceive it to be, aka our consciousness is primary, not matter. The universe (reality) comes out of consciousness. And now we get into quantum physics! Apparently there's quite a bit of evidence in the scientific world emerging that supports that statement. Indigenous perspectives are about how having conversations changes our individual and collective consciousness, therefore changing what reality is. This is an immensely fascinating topic to me, and I'm kind of just blurting out all the tidbits I can remember onto this blog, so forgive me if it's not so eloquent and precise as it could be. I have to do some more thinking on it. It reminds me of Jung's ways of knowing: 1. thinking 2. feeling 3. intuition 4. sensing. I don't think all 4 of those things are valued to the same degree in the scientific community, which is a shame.
I think we had about 5 or 6 solo sessions total over the 5 days of training. It tested my patience with the process and with myself. But some wonderful insights came out. Here's what I wrote down in my journal about my personal solo experiences. Sylke, the facilitator, gave us an intention for each solo we did, some thoughts to frame our experiences (beside the first because that was our introduction to what a solo experience is like).
1st solo ~1 hour
dusk
climbed lots of rocks
got somewhat lost on the way back
hugged a tree (and it smelled really nice)
2nd solo ~2 1/2 hours
intention: connect to the land
climbed to top of nearby rock formation, 360 degree beautiful view
wind talked to me, told me to stop avoiding thinking about/talking to my dad
had one-sided convo w/ dad, felt good about it
walked down into forest, looked for goats, no goats to be found ): even though I could hear them
found mossy circle & laid down, watched the trees in the wind
breathing & meditation practice
3rd solo ~2 1/2 hours
intention: be a kid
looked for sunny spot, didn't work
short writing about grandma Mary, but then got distracted
tried to draw, got frustrated instead
deep-dive into self-criticism land
walked more, found cool rocks and mini waterfall for fairies
Disappointed with myself during the solo because I wasn't good at being a kid, lol
4th solo ~2 1/2 hours
intention: what is the sea telling you about who you are?
started off in bad mood, when I got to my spot and sat down I felt great
sat on rocks by the sea, took forever to climb down the cliff, pretty dangerous whoops
singing songs: swing low, sweet chariot (thought of grandma Mary), choir songs
watching waves and colors
built rock pagoda
nice, accepting thoughts
5th solo ~ 1 hour
intention: make land art, share with the land how I got to this point, then ask the land why it wants me to lead solo experiences for others
morning + tea= cozy
story time & sculpture (mostly a pile of stuff, wasn't invested in the art part of it)
talked to land immediately upon sitting down, it was easy connecting with the tree in front of me
land answered back
6th solo ~1 1/2 hours
intention: make a ritual to say goodbye & thanks to the part of yourself that is holding you back from leading solo experiences
didn't connect with Sylke's intention of letting go of what's stopping me, made my own intention kind of, or decided instead that i wanted to keep everything and add more insights and experiences and integrate them
@ Don't Starve campsite I found (jason and lindsey will understand this reference)
supposed to do a ritual but I didn't really want to, braided some grass instead, maybe that counts as integration
Walk 'n talk reflections
it's much easier to share personal story while walking because peoples' eyes aren't on you the whole time, not face to face, not as intimidating
maybe it's harder to listen
great for young populations or people with trauma, bad experiences with office therapy, or who have stigma about seeing a therapist.
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| my new friends, plus Per who took this photo! |
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| watching the sunset after walking up from the cave of death! |
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| found a nice viewing spot after lunch one day |
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| on top of the rock formation during my 2nd solo |
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| one of the other participants and I stayed in a mountain refuge ~15 min walk away from the monastery because we're cheap, and it was very rainy one morning. this is on the walk to Lluc |
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| looking up to the entrance of the cave of death |
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| frantically taking notes on what Daniel (left) was saying, sorry that his face is cut off, i didn't take this picture clearly |
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| post-life changing discussion |
Wow- I've learned so much in the past week that I could write a separate blog post/paper on each concept I was introduced to. Someone remind me eventually to write more in detail about: rites of passage, regenerative culture, and ecopsychology, why I haven't intentionally incorporated sustainability & regenerative culture into my year, someone's feedback on one of my solo experiences: I'm going about my year in a very practical & logical way- how do I feel about that?, I often don't feel excited/compelled to do things that always end up with me feeling good and healthy, what's up with that?, why am I hesitating to fully embrace the idea of me being an outdoor guide/adventure therapist as a career instead of a traditional therapist that does work in the outdoors?
<3 Andi
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