PROJECT NATURECONNECT
Institute of Global Education
A special NGO consultant to the
United Nations Social and Economic Council.

Webstrings: Nature Sensitivity Training

Ancient Native American Pottery Design Improves Stress-Management, the Environment and Wholeness   This pottery design was made almost 1000 years ago by a Mimbres person in the American Southwest. Study the image for a few moments. What do you think he or she had in mind with this drawing? Part of you full well knows the answer. Biologically this Mimbres person was identical to you, you could have had children together. The biological part of you, your inner nature, operates in conjunction with strands of the web of life, webstrings. It understands the pottery design. However, along with the natural environment, that natural webstring sensitive part of you has been assaulted, subdued and hurt. No longer in your awareness, it now lies buried alive deep within you, overlayed by the powerful nature conquering way of thinking that produces our nature separated indoor world and its runaway troubles. On average, over 99.9% of your lifetime is spent thinking in contemporary ways, consciously disconnected from nature and webstrings. Although born as par of nature, our disconnected way of knowing, teaches us to know ourselves as a different kind of being. However, it is the web of life's way of knowing and relating that produces nature's balance, beauty, purity and ability to recycle. Problems such as pollution, substance abuse and excessive stress seldom exist in nature. People who have had even one good experience in nature, or spent lengthy periods of time there, know the difference in how it feels to have your psyche in nature rather than in the stress of a shopping mall, school or workplace. Most people today have some form of money, power or technology on their mind along with the stressful relationships they inject into contemporary life. Perhaps the pottery design reflects what we have forgotten due to our separation from webstrings in nature. This ancient person seems to depict that, without the overlay of contemporary society, our being, psyche and nature are identical. Deep within us we have the inherent biological ability to creatively think and relate with the natural balance and beauty of webstrings. This is important because this way of thinking does not produce the stress and problems of modern life that continue to deteriorate the wellness of people and the environment. We can choose to let webstrings help us enjoy the benefits of our natural way of knowing and improve our relationships with self, society and the environment. To this end, try this activity: 1. Print out a picture of the Mimbres Design. 2. Go to a natural area that attracts you, backyard, park, or sanctuary. An aquarium or potted plant will do if necessary. 3. Consent to let nature there help you draw a picture of your webstring way of knowing, as of old. 4. Locate immediate attractions in this natural area, shapes, sounds, odors, colors, motions, feelings that you like. Each is a webstring. Try doing this with your eyes closed, too. Each time you find a webstring attraction, in your imagination replace the bird in the Mimbres design with that attraction, for example a leaf, brook, tree, flower, star, mountain, the wind. 5. Notice that in this activity nature itself is helping you locate and register in your awareness your webstring attraction connections and good feelings. Through this and other nature reconnecting activities, webstrings can become alive and well in your psyche. You can rely on them to help your thinking and relationships come into balance. 6. People often lastingly feel more relaxed, centered and grounded upon completing the activity. When they share the experience, they find it builds unifying relationships with people and places in new ways. OPTIONAL: 7. Write a paragraph or two about what you experienced and liked about doing this activity. 8. Email the paragraph to webstrings and send a self-addressed stamped envelope addressed to Webstring Button at the postal address below. You will receive a free, small, lapel button that is a picture of the Mimbres design (financial contribution welcome but optional.) You may pin the button to your sleeve, and repeat the activity to gain its benefits whenever you want. You can look at the button and thereby revive some of the webstrings you found during the activity. You can pin it on your shirt as a conversation piece to encourage others to better know you and your connectedness with webstrings. If you have enjoyed this activity, you and the environment will benefit from your participation in our online Orientation Course "The Psychology of Global Citizenship."    "And I just got my free Mimbres pottery design button! It's going right on my nurse ID badge for inspiration. Everybody ought to have one." "I took the Mimbres pin drawing outside and obtained nature community permission to sit and learn nonverbal webstring connections. With my eyes closed, I pictured the design in my mind. I heard the steady chirp of a cricket. It wasn't long before I realized that it was singing at the same beat as my heart. I grabbed my wrist and felt my pulse. Together we had the same rhythm. It was a very strange feeling. A jay sang one of their joyful sounding songs. I could feel the wind rise and fall. I heard the ocean sound that the wind and rocking treetops create and felt the wind tingling and caressing my face. When I looked at the Mimbres pin design with the bird, I felt not human. When I replaced the bird with the swaying tree tops, I felt comforted. When I replaced it with a falling oak leaf, I felt sheltered; with a grape leaf, I felt warm. When I replaced the bird with the purple bracelets of a beauty berry bush, I felt joyful. When I place the wind in the design, I feel the energy of the zig zags in the design. When I put the light of long shadows in the design, I feel whole and grounded."   Contact us for additional activities and courses: PROJECT NATURECONNECT Institute of Global Education A special NGO consultant to the United Nations Social and Economic Council. www.webstrings.org www.ecopsych.com P. O. Box 1605, Friday Harbor, WA 98250. 360-378-6313 Send email   For previous pages use the BACK or GO of your browser