Wild Nature Human Nature:
Deep sustainability through Ecotherapy

5 days, residential ‘retreat’

Dates: September 20th - 25th, 2010
Location: Venue to be confirmed (Cornwall or Devon)
Price: £TBC

This course will run in collaboration with Schumacher College in Devon and once the venue and cost has been confirmed, bookings will be taken through Schumacher College.

This is a retreat-style course set in a wild, remote and beautiful place. It's designed for anyone wishing to encourage sustainable living through a deeper level of psychological awareness. The course weaves together theory and personal experience to provide powerful inspiration for home and work.

Overview

We have come to believe that we are separate from nature: that we have, somehow, transcended our earthly biology and made ourselves an exception to ecological rules. This ‘separation myth’ has led us to live beyond our habitat’s ability to sustain us and we must deal with it urgently, if we are to survive its consequences.

‘Deep sustainability’ calls for a level of personal and cultural change that only emerges when we weave human Being directly back into the fabric of the Earth. It’s about a sense of personal identity that is seamlessly integrated into the biosphere. We respond to deep sustainability through our own deep-rooted sense of ourselves as nature, rather than through a sense of responsibility to nature as something separate.

While the practical changes we need to make to our lifestyles are essential, deep sustainability requires us to make a consciousness shift which challenges many of the familiar ways we see ourselves and the world.

This courses explores the psychopathology of the modern separation myth and how we might heal it. The quality of wildness, that ‘self-willed’ creative force that runs through the heart of all things, provides a thread that can directly reconnect us back to our ecological selves. We come to remember, beyond the realms of intellectual doubt, that we are of nature. This form of ecological therapy offers a way to re-unite personal and planetary healing.

Much of the learning on this course will be experiential in a wild and inspirational place. Through small group work, creative process, story-telling and discussion we will explore the practices and ideas of the rapidly emerging field of ecotherapy.

Programme

You will spend five days and six nights in an area of wild beauty and ancestral history and we will take every opportunity to work outside, weather permitting. At the heart of this course is the opportunity to experience ‘solo time’, which provides a rare and powerful opportunity for restoration and reconnection.

Care will be taken to minimize the ecological footprint of this course; as far as possible, food will be local and organic.

Day One
Arrival: 4pm
Settling in, introductions and course overview.

Day Two
Getting to know the place we are in, greeting the land.
Exploring the landscape of ecotherapy and other outdoor therapies.
Asking the questions: What is ecotherapy? What is the ecological self? What is deep sustainability?

Day Three
Walking (at the pace of the slowest person) and preparing for the solo time.
Some of this territory will include: synchronicity and nature; mirroring of nature; animate earth; indigenous thinking.

Day Four
A dawn to dusk ‘solo’ spent in silence. This is the heart of the course for many participants.
This is not a test of survival! Rather, this is a rare chance to simply ‘be’ in the humbling face of nature, and to be mindful of all that this may bring, outside and inside.

Day Five
Telling the stories of our solo time.

Day Six
Exploring what each of us has to offer at this time of planetary crisis.
Considering the following: designing eco-therapeutic experiences; facilitation & leadership; boundaries; reviewing; evaluation; personal activism and commitments.
Closing.

Day Seven
Depart 12.00 noon

Final content always depends on environmental/weather conditions and the aspirations of the group.

Facilitators

Mary-Jayne Rust

Dave Key

Personal Fitness

This event is not a test of endurance! It is a chance to slow down and experience, while exploring the radical and fascinating subject of Ecotherapy.
All outdoor elements will be lead by a very experienced leader with international qualifications in outdoor education, and we will always move at the speed of the slowest person and with the focus firmly on enjoying and connecting with the land.

As a guideline - you will need to be able to carry a day pack containing your personal equipment (waterproofs, spare jacket/jumper, lunch, flask, etc) for periods of up to four hours in a mountain, forest or beach environment.

If you have any doubts about your ability to take part, you should contact us before booking to talk things through.

Location & Travel

To be confirmed for 2009.

Personal Equipment

A list of personal equipment (like boots, waterproofs and clothes) will be sent to you when you book.

Insurance

It is strongly recommended that clients take out appropriate personal insurance.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it about this course.