Roots of Resilience: The Power of Nature Connection

This course brings nature connection, meditation and mindfulness into relationship with activism and social change. We ask: How can we draw on the power of the heart, the fire of the imagination, and the dynamism of the body to empower social change through nature connection?

Nature connection work can help us to bring forth an ecological consciousness – an empowering sense of connection and identity that affirms our solidarity with life. Deeper nature connection can be a source of nourishment, empowerment, and wisdom. It can help us to live fully present in our times. As the Shambala Mind Training Verses say: “Remember that you are the inheritor of the strengths of thousands of generations of life.”

This course will help us to remember – to regain the power and nourishment that comes from recollecting who we are and what we are part of. We understand the transformative and integrative power of immersion in non-human nature. We want to support others to re-connect with that source of nourishment, well-being, and inspiration.

This course is for activists, organisers, and people involved in other forms of social change work.It is especially suitable for people committed to action in solidarity with the earth, working for climate justice, environmental protection and a transition to sustainable societies. It will support participants to spend time out in the wilds connecting with the teachings nature offers. We use tools such as mindfulness practice and meditation in conjunction with elements of bushcraft, nature based education, systems theory and group process, as well as ecological and evolutionary learning, and solo time in wild nature.

Connection with wild nature is an important aid to developing an ecological sensibility and sense of connection with the web of life. This can support action towards a sustainable future for all. These experiences can be nourishing, enriching, and can demand that we radically re-orientate our sense of who and what we are. This course will help us to remember and refuel – to regain the power and nourishment that comes from recollecting who we are and what we are part of.

The course will be hosted at our site in Catalunya, in an extraordinary and wild place. From this supportive base, Nature Based Practice and Learning can help us step out of the human-centred world for a while – to wander deep into tangled woodland, to lie on mossy rocks, to sit in limestone caves, to traverse lofty ridges, and to loll on the edge of trickling streams. There we find something else.

Who is it aimed at?

Anyone with on-going experience of action for social change: those involved in direct action, on-going campaign work, community empowerment and anyone involved in socially engaged action addressing ecological, political and social justice issues. We embrace a broad definition of activism, including: Resistance – action preventing further damage to ecosystems and social justice; Renewal – action focused on developing and creating alternatives for healthier societies and communities; and Building Resilience – action supporting increased resilience in communities to weather the uncertain times ahead.

To support this we will be exploring and sharing a range of relevant methodologies, design principles, and specific tools. These include:

• Creating frameworks for deep reflection, analysis, and the sharing of experience.
• Learning to broaden our sphere of awareness and minimise our sphere of disturbance, so that we can learn from our natural surroundings.
• Training in techniques for observation and understanding of the natural systems we live in.
• The application of participatory and experiential learning to sustainable activism.
• Methods of opening up and holding spaces for exploring the emotional dimensions of activist experience – including strong and difficult emotion.
• Exploring group dynamics and tendencies: creating safer spaces to support deep personal learning and transformation.
• Experientially re-membering how ecological consciousness arises through relationship, as an emergent property between humans and the wider natural world.
• Explore how to read the landscape and understand its stories, revealing the deep-time processes which connect us with a vast evolutionary journey and reflecting on the human story and our own individual place in the unique times we are living though.