Nature
Helps Me Know Who I Am:
the
Natural Systems Thinking Process:
Orientation
Course Evaluation
The concept of webstrings
introduces a person to the possibility that we are indeed all connected
and at many different levels. This connection is not just simply poetic
but literal in the sense of our interdependence with our natural world.
That we are not merely spectators on planet Earth, but must become
active participants of life expression. Just like nature-oriented
cultures whose life rhythms are parallel to those of nature itself, we
must find and listen to our greater internal rhythms if we are to live
in a sustainable way, responsibly, authentically, and from a loving
space. Without the nurturing support of the natural world, we often
feel alienated, traumatized and distrustful of the world around us. We
all are harboring many psychological wounds that shut us down from the
ability to fully engage with the world at large. Reconnecting with
nature, is a powerful way to start to heal those wounds and find out
how we can be supported and nurtured in the here and now regardless of
our past. We then can become more responsible citizens of the Earth and
encourage an attitude of caring and respect.
Exercises that
spoke to me in the introductory course were in part: perceiving our
environment at a non-label level, asking for consent or permission from
a natural area to be there, the breath exercise, being aware of natural
attractions, and the introduction of 53 senses instead of the typical
5. I also loved that many of the exercises stated, "now let the earth
teach," within the instructions.
Concepts that I
found rewarding from participating with this course included: natural
sensations and feelings guide us; trusting and belonging are part of
the way that nature speaks to us; ways in which we validate our senses
and experiences; nature produces no garbage; and in a very significant
way the sharing that occurred between the participants of this course.
" I sense, therefore I am."
Being a feeling-type human,
or one who knows the world through the senses, I felt a lot of support
and validation that the world participates with us through our
experiences within our body. Since our biology and psychology are
intimately wrapped up together, when not traumatized, our relationship
with the world and other people can come from either a place of
attraction, dignity and respect or abuse, violence and distrust. It
depends upon the level to which we can participate through our body to
genuinely connect to our natural world. Therefore our ability to
connect to the natural world, not only influences our ability to
connect within our own nature but also affects the way in which we
perceive ourselves and the world we live in. For this reason, I
particularly resonated with the concept of having 53 senses instead of
the typified 5. It makes sense to me that we have allowed our natural
abilities to communicate directly with the wild world atrophy with
devastating effects to the planet as an outcome.
Asking for
permission or consent from a natural area was powerful for myself as
well as many of the course participants.
"Upon entering the park area I
silently asked if this is a good place for me to be. I felt peaceful
upon entering the area." Judy.
"I had been many times in this park
before but after receiving permission I felt more surrounded by it.
Ayla.
"As a result of sitting down on their level and asking them if I
stay there with them for awhile, I felt more a mutuality and a bonding
& I feel safer when I bond with my environment." Renais.
" I
have never before considered asking nature for permission to enter. As
a result of doing so this weekend, I feel I have a whole new
relationship with nature. I feel that the Earth is there to nurture me
and also wants to be nurtured by me. I definitely feel more connected."
Bobbi.
Non-labeling is
potent in terms of rediscovering one's natural connections from an
essential place, the wordless place. People are affected by the rewards
system of the prevailing culture, consequently we have learned to cut
ourselves off from the feeling place of nature's rhythms and replace them with
destructive behaviors and activities. As we enter into the state of
non-labels we enter into an authentic connection of self-discovery,
being rewarded by life attractions once again.
"I stop cognizing the
experience ( labeling the outer: wave, light, trough, bow, sun, sand,
toward, away from) and start feeling it (sensing the inner: calm
heartbeat, brain floating in skull, expanding sense of self beyond
body, lightness of being & " I am not a separate closed system,
I am part of Nature." Renais.
"When I closed my eyes and covered my
ears and tried to just be with the tree, I could feel its presence with
my whole body somehow." Bobbi.
I know that when a
person is disconnected from their body, they also create tendencies
that may harm themselves and others through abusive acts and actions.
Helping a person discover they are disconnected in the first place is
another story. For many people, the severing had been so long ago that
they no longer have the links to find their way back to full
embodiment. The numbing and the distorting of communication within has
become so severe, that only a severe disruption of that pattern ie
through illness or tragic personal loss, creates enough of an opening
to establish new possibilities in relating to oneself and others.
But there are other
ways of creating a interruption to the inner distortion pattern. One is
through interfacing directly with the physiology of the body such that
it reduces the level of fight/flight that persists in the neural and
spinal structures thereby influencing the body as a whole. In this way,
the body can establish new strategies as it seeks out more
life-affirming choices. I help create this interruption of high tension
patterns through specific sequenced contacts along the spine and
directly interfacing with the body language.
The other way that
appears quite potent as a wake up call or reminder to a wide range of
individuals is by doing nature connecting activities as created by
Dr. Michael Cohen. These activities are so deceptively simple when one
starts, that there is no need to put up further defenses or create more
protection within the body/mind. The person then has the opportunity to
experience nature at a level of intimacy that may have been unavailable
to themselves had they thought this same exercise out. This intimacy
then turns itself inward, so that before one knows it, one is exploring
oneself in a non-confronting and actually highly rewarding way.
As I believe that working with what s right with a
person, not with what s wrong with them leads to greater healing and
wholeness; I believe that this nature connecting method of
self-discovery and exploration leads to healing and wholeness and can
assist many people within a large consciousness range.
-Judy.
Project NatureConnect
