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Green, Accredited Nature-Connecting Online Alternative and Natural Holistic Degrees Courses and Career Training Education include life experience and prior instruction, independent thinking and environmental sustainability social networking Integrated,
Hands-On, Healing Practices and Tools for
Counselors, Coaches, Guides, Teachers, Mentors, Trainers, Therapists, Tutors and Instructors
Introduction We seldom acknowledge that our excessively indoor lives disconnect us from on the remarkable ability nature's attraction energies to grow and build balanced relationships on sub-atomic as well as universal levels. This power is a recognized essence of spirit and the life of the Universe, including our own. Throughout eternity, the balanced and beautiful ways of nature's flow have supported the health and relationships of the plant, mineral and animal kingdom, including humanity To our loss, our destructive and excessive indoor lives disconnect our psyche, thoughts and feeling from the long recognized benefits of nature's ways. We presently spend, on average, over 95 percent of our time, thinking and feeling while disconnected from nature's healing and wellness powers. ECHN empowers you to help reverse our destructive separation from nature and increase personal, social and environmental well-being “I
believe that the universe is one being, all its parts are different
expressions of the same energy, and they are all in communication with
each other, therefore parts of one organic whole. … The whole is in all
its parts is so beautiful, and is felt by me so intensely in earnest,
that
I am compelled to love it and to think of it as divine.”
-Robinson Jeffers
"Human
behavior is rooted most deeply in nature's intentions and desire. The
rhythms of nature underlie all of human interaction: religious
traditions, economic systems, cultural and political organization. When
these human forms betray the natural psychic pulse, people and
societies get sick, nature is exploited and entire species are
threatened."
-Stephen Aizenstat
Original NatureConnect Journal Entries and Evaluations by Anonymous ECHN Coaches, Guides, Mentors and Teachers "Learning from sensory nature connecting: Having done this activity several times before, I felt irritation at being asked to 'stop breathing' again so I did not do it; I decided instead to learn from sensory nature connecting using other healing senses. This refusal to 'stop breathing' I see as a manifestation of several natural attraction senses (nature connecting senses): 42 - sense of reasoning, including memory (I remembered my previous experiences) and capacity for logic and science; 43 - sense of mind and consciousness; 44 - intuition and subconscious deduction; 34 - sense of emotional place, of community, belonging, support, trust, and thankfulness and 35 - sense of self, including friendship, companionship and power. A few months ago I would not have refused to do something I did not want to do - how greatly my sense of self and trust has improved! While pondering the above I was standing outside, in the shade of a tree, just watching things. I often just stand outside and watch things. Stuart has asked me why I do that and I don't know why, I just love doing it. Then, as time passes, the things I have learnt unconsciously, while standing and watching start to surface without volition, this I see as sense 44 - intuition or subconscious deduction. I discovered that I feel a deep enough sense of belonging and trust to independently choose what is good for me and that I am able to trust my own judgment and have enough power to make my own choices. I am observing and absorbing information unconsciously all the time - better that I do that in natural surroundings than in a shopping mall or windowless room. Everything feels so alive and joyful at being alive. I feel alive and joyful and I'd shrivel up and die if these feelings were taken away from me. This activity enormously enhanced my self-esteem." ^^^ "I was struck by the example of driving the car and how it does take a lot of practice for it to become second nature. As soon as I read that I was very keen to get out and practice connecting with nature. It was night time, a warm night with a gentle breeze. The sound of a possum, the pinging of a bats sonar and the breeze across my face were instant gifts from nature that granted permission to be outside. and do this activity. I went outside with one wrangler (nature-disconnecting authority) in mind but once out there I was attracted to consider another. The one that makes me fearful of feeling things to the fullest and asks me to numb scary emotions by veging in front of the TV or eating sugary fatty foods! I was wondering how I would do the activity in the dark but I just did it looking at tree silhouettes and the night sky through the frame created by my fingers. I eventually settled on a combination of the two - a view close the the horizon that contained a single glint of star and the silhouettes of trees off in the distance. I asked mother earth if I could replace the wrangler with the beauty and perfection of this area and I felt a significant easing of the tension in my chest that I carry around with me a lot of the time. This activity for counselors has shown me a simple activity I can do anywhere when I am feeling the "numb those scary feelings" wrangler whispering to go and eat the bad stuff to feel 'better'.....In fact I would like to keep trying this activity with other wranglers. I hope to take my boy Jarrah to the national park tomorrow and try it again!! I have once again had the power of nature revealed to me. I feel stronger after doing this activity. I feel good. I feel right. My experience in nature shows me that I am a person who gets good feelings when I identify a wrangler and ask mother nature to replace the wrangler with her intelligence and perfection. I feel stronger and better about myself after allowing mother nature to replace wrangling coaches and techers that exist in me. I can be brave in the face of emotions which I find challenging when I allow mother nature's natural attractions to replace the wrangler within. I would be devastated to lost these connections (I have a strangled feeling in my throat when I think about this)." ^^^ To
destroy knowingly our life support system is a legitimate way to define
insanity. We are part of nature. To destroy knowingly ourselves also
defines insanity.
"This statement attracted me because it brought to my attention what crazy things people are doing everyday to destroy nature, even mentors and therapists. I relate it to throwing all the food in your pantry away and then dying of hunger. Seems crazy, yes, but we do it everyday. Since we are the dominant humans we find no problem in controlling nature, but as we do so , we cut our own lifelines. What are we thinking? I conclude that we think that everything is replaceable. We think there is a never-ending supply of everything and until that last one stares us in the face it is easier to put it out of our minds and let someone else worry about it. This, in essence, is what we do with everything in our lives. Our
troubles result from psychological addictions
This statement attracted me because I agree that our troubles are psychological addictions. But to bring it even a step further I also think they are physical and mental addictions as well. How many tutors or instructors do you know that are addicted to caffeine and sugar and cigarettes? how many are addicted to their medications? How many are addicted to their television sets? All these addictions are harmful to themselves or nature, but they continue to use these things anyway knowing full well what they are doing. We are a world of addicts for certain. Some things help improve our lifestyles, some thing are just selfish desires. It is crazy. We
experience constant cravings that we gratify artificially, even though
we're fully aware of the cravings' ruinous effects. This is classic
psychological addiction.
Our nation is full of people that need constant and instant gratification. It has destroyed us as a people and has totally changed our children. Our children have no patience and feel they do not have to work for anything in their lives. Some of our children are so out of hand they can barely make it through a day without constant rewards. It is time we took a good hard look at what we are creating for our and their future. It hurts me to say this because although I try to instill many good things in to my children, I know I am as guilty as any other mother. Through this course I hope to change both of our lives. We
have become so bewildered- meaning wilderness-separated- that we try to
resolve our problems using the same nature-disconnected thinking that
produces them.
Yet, we wonder why that doesn't work. We deny that fulfillments in nature can safely satisfy our destructive cravings and increase wellness. How backward are we? Suppose you were watering a plant and the leaves turned brown from over watering. Would we then water it more to fix the plant? This is what I feel we are doing in society. If more is better then , more and more, must be best. The question remains in my mind. When is too much, enough? It is time we take inventory of our needs and wants and just chip away at what is excessive. On
this planet, nature and Earth are identical
The Earth is just not a planet, it is our sustenance. We live in the Earth as we live in nature. We destroy the Earth as we destroy nature. As we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. As we nurture nature , we nurture ourselves. It seems like this is such a simple theory, yet it bypasses most of our thinking people today. I must conclude that since their is not a ton of money to be made in taking care of ourselves through nature, that our thinking people are thinking in another direction. pharmaceutical companies can not the trillions they make on us if we actually get up and outside everyday. Nor can they if we eat healthy and exercise. The doctors certainly won't make any money if we are healthy and then neither will the lawyers that sue the doctors and the pharmaeutical companies. It is a web I say, a web of lies that keeps the human race sick and controlled ! ...that's
what we know from the media, a sanitized, palatable, removed world.
Our media has a powerful effect on our lives ! We see it in print, we believe it. We see it on T.V., we believe it. I have started telling my children to always question what they read and think who could benefit from the story. To keep it in the back of their minds. Not to make them paranoid, but to make them question authority in a gentle way. To keep in mind the balance of nature is essential to young minds. i tell them that what we are told is usually the cleaned up version, the sanitized version because that is what a lot of us not only expect but approve of. Who would buy a newspaper full of the real truth. We don't like that which makes us uncomfortable. So we sugar coat a lot of what is true to make it easier going down. I feel uncomfortable and disconnected with some of the things I do and wish I could do them in a more natural way. I don't always know the things that I can do to improve my connections and actions. I wish for help in all ways to be a better nature-centered person. At this point, attending this school and learning is the best thing I can do. The
group concluded that Earth and its people increasingly suffered from "
cut- string" disintegration, but that, nonetheless, they continued to
cut the strings of the web of life.
This is my guilt. This is my frustration. Yes, we do suffer from cut string disintegration, so how do we change? I am thirsting to make many changes so that I am no longer in this cut string group. I , like many others here, need guidance. i hate to think that everything I can do and every change I can make will cost me too much money. Sure , I would love to live off solar power, but could never afford to make that change. I would love to do so many things, but find my self poor and disabled at present. I need the help of my nature center friends for suggestions on how to improve my life and I will be the first one to admit it and the first one to share it with everyone that I know. Scientific
research is based on the idea that everything that takes
place is determined by laws of
nature, and therefore this holds for the action of
people. - Albert Einstein
My interpretation of this quote is that all scientists that are doing research do so in accordance with how nature works. They understand the way things naturally happen and they determine if something is right or wrong, healthy or sick by comparing them to natures rules. Do what humans do, their actions, coincide with the laws of nature? I think not. So why do we have one standard for some form of life and another for us. Prejudice is the best word I can come up with." ^^^ "I was attracted to doing this activity sitting on a wall between two gardens as I had been exploring shortcuts through derelict properties so that I could find a more attractive way to the shops in contact with more nature. Sitting there with my eyes closed enhanced the sound of the leaves moving in the wind. This allowed me to know that I wasn't alone in this experience and gave me a sense of companionship. I found myself more conscious of the temperature of the wind as it caressed my face and with every touch I felt a great sense of peace. Opening my eyes I was still aware of all these things but I became more conscious of other natural attractions so that everything blended into a sense of wholeness with my sense of colour and awareness of the beauty of nature in all its many aspects (the grass, the trees, the flies, the flowers) activating my sense of appreciation. From doing this activity I sense that I too am special in nature. The wind caresses me like it does the leaves of the trees. I am not excluded from its affections. Knowing that I am part of a greater community, comforts me. This is the answer to a question that I have been exploring all this week in relation to my family dynamics. I feel a greater sense of peace but with it also an awareness that I need more and more contact with nature. Instead of having daily contact I understand that I now need to be connected with nature on regular intervals throughout the day. This activity led me to feel as I do as my sensory connections with nature sought out the appropriate natural attractions to connect to so that my thoughts and questions during the week could be answered. I have had many abortive attempts to do this exercise. When I had gone out in nature, natural attractions had led me away from the exercise and taught me other things. This in effect forced (although I was happy to oblige!) me to return again and again so that one day without conscious connection with nature gave me the awareness of my need to return to nature. "Your breath helps to sustain all
other forms of life. It is one of your gifts to them"
"It tells you its desire for you to participate in life" "In that community, every member, including you, knows that it is very important. In some way, every member is naturally attractive, loved and included" All these quotes highlighted for me the importance as an individual that we have in nature. Nature includes us, loves us and finds us attractive if we choose to listen to its language (lesson one for me). "Natural Attractions are nature's language and essence" For me this emphasised that nature tells us everyday we are loved through the wind. It is how it touches us without us initiating contact. In this way we cannot hide from the love of nature, even if we do not recognise or understand its importance. "This is important becuase without contact and support, in our nature-disconnected society, our nature connections often don't have enough energy to remain in our thinking and we revert to our destructive ways." The fact that I needed to return again and again reinforces this for me. I also find it hard being around nature-disconnected people and ensuring that I can contain nature in my mind. I have to make deep fundamental changes in my life or my self-destructive ways will continue. During this week, less contact with nature meant more sugar. When I am in contact with nature I don't need sugar. Sugar is a substitute for love but in nature I have that love. If nature contact was taken away from me I would feel lost and lonely. In nature I am not alone ever. I trust nature more as it shows me that I am valued. I am treated like an equal in nature. Only with a direct experience of nature can we truly understand its power." ^^^ "I tried several times to be outside and be appreciative but it was so cold that I had great difficulty staying out for more than a minute or two and then I’d feel chilled for the next few hours. I decided that I am attracted to the warmth. That realization made me feel like a wimp…after all Mike sleeps outside under the moon…does he really do that year round? I sat there last night…not the least bit interested in watching tv so I picked up the latest Oprah magazine which used to inspire me (yes, I know how lame that sounds) but instead of inspiring me, this time, it only served to irritate me..and to think I spent 25 years in a mass media career! What a waste! By that time I was so irritated that I had to get my couch potato butt up and I began doing Qi Gong (which means energy work) in the living room. After about 20 minutes I was calming down and feeling peaceful. In one exercise I slowly bend down from the waist with my arms hanging down…as I did this, both my dogs (Moki little white fluffy dog, and Lucy, big shepherd/chow mix) came over to me and began nuzzling my head and licking my face. I realized that nature was nurturing me, loving and protecting me…. They took all my pain and irritation away in that moment and I whispered “Thank you my babies, thank you.” So the dogs and I did that exercise a few more times with hugs and laughter and wet kisses. And I told them I’d start going outside with them at night when it was cold so they could do their business and get back in where it’s nice and warm." Now I know what the author meant when he wrote “…thankfulness for moment by moment sensory fulfillment.” There’s nothing like it. “Can you take a physical gift from it to help you remember it?” I took the little dog to bed with me and let the big dog sleep next to my bed…. “Why do I deserve to have this gift?” Not sure I really do…but I’m so grateful that nature in the form of my dogs was there for me. Even when I wasn’t sure how to connect with nature…it was sure of how to connect with me….Hell yeah I trust it." ^^^ "We are having snow storms, about 2-3 inches a day. But it cleared up enough for me to walk down the snowy path, thanking the area for its moisture and cleanliness. The coolness of moist cold air against my face and my hair surrounded me as I walked through thick fog. A light nimbus softly glowed, showing snow draped branches of pine trees. The ducks who live nearby were silent but geese honking high above could be heard. Such quiet. The snowstorm slows the traffic and its absence was another blessing. I appreciated the storm's now silent aftermath. I thanked it for its silence. I also thanked it for its contrast. It is both soft and hard... powder and shell... wet yet dry. Each state has its place and purpose. Each state brings a contrast in motion, gravity, space, touch, temperature. Thank you, snow, for preserving moisture for us. It reminded me of another contrast that happened today in my "garden" at school. A first grader who has been twice to my office returned. He was crawling under tables, running from the teacher and having a fun time being busy with things he wanted to do, designed to keep the teacher's attention upon him. He stayed and finished some of his work and then I returned to my office to work, inviting him in while the other children were at recess. He chose several plants for the garden and asked them if they trusted him and would join him in the garden. After they agreed, I had him put his stool in front of them. I opened a deep drawer that held children's books and invited him to choose a book to read either to himself or to his "friends," the garden. He chose a book and read to the green plants. When he finished the book he had trouble choosing another. I went over to look and picked up a fourth grade science encyclopedia with pictures. I commented that it was difficult to read but he took it and explained that plants liked science and all they really wanted was to have the pictures explained so they could understand. He then sat down and showed them pictures and explained the science to them. It was time to go and he jumped up, starting for the door. Then he stopped and said, "I forgot." He stepped back to the garden silently stopped before each plant, touched its leaves and then went to each plant, silently thanking it for allowing him to appreciate. I asked him how he would have felt if he invited a plant to spend time with him, the plant said yes, and then the plant wouldn't. He said it would have made him sad. I asked him how his teacher felt when he said he would learn with her and then he crawled under tables and ran around the room instead. He said she would be sad and that he would go say sorry and show her that he could appreciate her too. We are filled with contrasts: He is a child and more egocentric than some children his age; he is a child and compassionate, capable of understanding relationship. Both the egocentric and the compassionate child are beautiful and part of the whole. The teacher is egocentric and compassionate, both are part of the whole adult. The teacher is capable of understanding relationship. Nature teaches appreciation, opening the door to relationship and balance between thesr two aspects of our beings." ^^^ "I am sorry there is grieving in your life. I am dealing with a wrangling ex landlord this week and it is reminding me of how far into our psyches loss, other people's gain can go. Sending you webstrings of warmth and NNIAL. And I do like it that you are feisty and pissy in your transition. I get moany and self pitying. Whine, whine, moan, moan. I think feisty is probably healthier. It's clean, moves through you and then can get sent to compost. My favorite part of your email was when you said nature found you even when you couldn't find nature. This has happened to me too. When I am in too much distress even to care to reach out. Some little thing like wind, a bird, colors, reaches in and touches me. Today I was really in pain. I looked through my kitchen window and there were three deer, sitting so quietly in the meadow. I loved seeing that. An hour later, they were still there. This is unusual to find them sitting that close to our house for so long, at any time of the year. I felt webstrings of silent community solidarity. That I am one of their own, and they sense me and accompany me in pain as well as respectful sensory co reception. The pain today is so much about how it damn, damn hurts when my fellow humans are blind to the webstrings of shared reality and slash and cut in order to preserve self. That always makes me feel like there is no room for me, even in my own body. Because it feels like a threat to all of life. The abiding of the deer just gentled me so much. And this gave me the breathing space to have a less wrangled response to my pain." ^^^ "First things first, me and the boys walked around looking for just the right tree branch for their swings. These swings are the basis of their mental health and learning capacities so they are a priority. We found just the right trees. I taught the boys how to ask and receive permission for these trees to be their playmates in swinging. Asking permission and showing gratitude...should be in the Parenting 101 book. Then they went off to play. I walked the four corners of the yard. I appreciated every step. I thanked the earth, thanked the rocks, thanked the trees, thanked the plants, thanked the rock walls. I just felt so grateful. This yard will be my home and the home of my spirit and mothering for the foreseeable future. What wealth, what gifts. A piece of ground to stand upon, gentle, love, be held by, hold back. Home. This is what the earth gives me every day. Home. Thank you. NNIAL and bliss. mmmmm I feel the turning of the wheel in this. Things in our culture are miserable and will definitely get worse. Yet in Albuquerque, and here in this yard, I have been seeing filtered visions of a global tribe of people who use suburban Gorilla acts of kindness and community and shared property and shared child rearing, within healthy boundaries, and in peaceful non-participation from the death machine. We will survive, and go forward, and help this planet enter an age of gray neutrality in which it seems there is mostly stagnation and deterioration. But underneath this compost, we will be growing grass roots human species evolution toward an eco fluent understanding that will make our current learning in PNC deeply and eerily prophetic. This vision brings a gratitude that is not just personal, but global, and feels as big as the earth. Down-on-my-knees grateful. Can't wait to get my hands in the dirt in the yard and express my thanks :)" ^^^ "Funny how when I first read the green/green and green/orange thing it drove me nuts. It was like, yo duh, ya think? But as I go on in the courses - this G/G (in tune with nature connection) feels right. It expresses exactly the embeddedness of NNIAL in balance. It feels G/G to have property used in a way that minimizes ownership, dominance, conflict and allows a little more breathing room for community and nature. It feels G/G to nurture my boys on nurturing land. It enhances my self worth, reassures my self worth, to share earth with like minded folk. It re-educates the part of me that felt so homeless in my own body and on my own planet for so long." Visit a press release about this page that you may read or distribute.
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