Weekly

15

TO JAN 17

Information & inspiration to save the world

This course is designed to help us create a sustainable life for ourselves and the planet. From how to process ecological grief to wilderness-based mindfulness and meditation, this is a place to learn how to save ourselves and the world in community with circles of support.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
mahatma gandhi

Psychological resilience for ecological crisis:

Creating a safe space to come together, support, and inspire one another with themes & offerings, including:
  • Skills for processing Ecological Despair & Learning More
  • Writing & Sharing Earth-Based Prayers as a form of Co-Creative Healing
  • Creating Healing Images from Dreams in Art to Gain Deeper Ecological Insight
  • Ecological Alchemy of the Forest & Nature as a way to Commune with Earth as a Soul
  • Contemporary Rites of Passage Experiences to gain a new Name, Calling & Identity
  • Finding Your Activist Path into the World . . . & sharing it with others

Tree Learning

Nature is awesome. To look at a rainbow or snow-clad peak is to be in awe of the majesty & mystery of the world. This is about connection not information.
  • Learning about our inner nature from non-human nature
  • Communing and communicating with different intelligences
  • Growing rings of community through sharing and support
  • Rooting through local action and branching for inspiration
  • Creating ecological healing practices for resilience & restoration
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We can do it!

We all know the power and presence of the forest. Innately we understand what science now tells us: we are transformed by time in & with nature. As we walk over soft decomposing leaves & under the canopy of the forest, we come to life. Let's give the gift of life back.
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Who is this path for? 

This path is for people who love nature and want to help protect the earth. It is a healing path on which healing ripples out through us into our families, communities, and world. It is a path that is different for everyone, on which we offer the unique gifts of ourselves and lives. As an artist creates art and a scientist studies, we all have our gift to contribute to help tend the world.
  
"It is our collective and individual responsibility . . . to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live." Dalai Lama

Nature is the instructor and healer 

Nature heals us and so we return to our roots be returning to the forest. Each week you will explore your nature in nature in ways that are simple, practical, mystical and magical. By entering the forest you are returning to your past to reimagine yourself and your future. You are remembering your connection to nature and your nature.
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." John Burroughs

Heather Taylor-Zimmerman

Playful Activist

Heather loves nature and walks daily in a cove forest by her home where she is surrounded by the inspired beauty of cathedral trees, mountain peaks, and lapping waves. Her activism is born of this connection to nature as well as the creativity of human nature. With a doctoral degree in what she calls eco-art & play therapy, she weaves ancient wisdom and archetypal practices with modern science into an activism which connects human nature to nature.

Tree Teachers

Experts in the Field

From environmental scientists to artists and mycologists (mushroom experts), a variety of expert interviews, podcasts, and classes will be shared with a new addition added monthly. Additionally, video links and other links to new and informative content will be included. Please reach out to Heather if you would like to contribute, including dream imagery, a painting, inspirational quote, or question to ponder. This is a collaborative offering.

Learn

The skill you need to become an eco-activist (including coping skills).

Explore

Connect with the land in your way & play. Let go & be free . . . natural.

Help

Make a strategic difference in creative activism & honest dialogue.

Pick a forest & tree

Week 1

Find a tree friend. (or?)
A. Tree Healing & Listening

Start a journal

Week 2

Create a nature journal.
A. Observe & Reflect

Ground Yourself

Week 3

Get down to earth.
A: Grounding Practice

Imagine within

Week 4

Imagine into a tree. 
A: Tree Meditation

Animal Guide

Week 5

What animal guides you?
A: Symbolism & Teaching

Tree Teaching

Week 6

Commune with a tree.
A: Tree Active Imagination

Be at tree

Week 7

Connect roots & branches.
A: Rooting Activity

Create ritual

Week 8

Offer self-generated ritual.
A: Offer Earth Prayer

Tree Embassador

Week 9

Connect to family tree.
A: Branch out to others

Champion a . . . ?

Week 10

Connect with a part of nature
A: Eco-Activism Outline

Terra Psychology

Week 11

Connect with the Land
A: What is your calling?

Persevere

Week 12

Continue your path.
A: Creative Activism Goals

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Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Activism requires action & activities.

Activities take our learning into the world to foster deep listening, looking, and learning. This is a path of eco-activism rooted in an embodied understanding.

The first activity is to begin to look and listen more deeply. Whether you are present to the power of a fern in the forest or in your home, this is an invitation to enter into our nature and the stillness of the natural world.

"Allow nature to teach you stillness." Eckhart Tolle

Healing done naturally your way. 

Whether you are called to express your activism in a nature mandala, hike, or litter patrol you are healing yourself in healing the world. One of the best and most ancient ways to facilitate this healing is through self-generated ritual or ritual done your way. Combine prayer, chanting, meditation or reflection with traditional elements like incense or sage to create meaningful ceremonies.

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed." John Burroughs

You plant a tree, we will too

"Sometimes a tree tells you more than can be read in books." C G Jung

Return home to yourself & nature.

Each week you will walk on stepping stones that connect your nature to nature through the seasons and the changes in the natural world. These steps vary without a set schedule. You will get an email when new content comes and you can engage with it or not as you feel called. 

Walk alone

Enter the forest

Walk in nature.

Pick a partner

Enter partnership

Befriend a tree or a rock.

Gather a circle

Enter a group

Create a community.

This is a trailhead to your healing

As you walk you open to the symbolic guidance of synchronicity, dreams and visions. You are dreaming yourself awake and learning to see the waking world as if in a dream. Through symbolic sight and insight or the archetypal lens of the soul, you will take steps in your life that are a part of your inner path, realizing that this path is moving outward as well. As you move in your world, each week's lesson will "show up" in your life.

Tools for your journey . . .

Each week is designed to lead you further into yourself and the forest. Because you are surrendering to the emergent nature of nature, the weeks are not outlined as they are in other classes. Forest Bathing does begin with the same introduction, asking you what you are willing or wanting (called) to leave behind, and it ends with the same conclusion to provide containment and integration. It is its own rite of passage. 

Coursework and play . . .

Each week yours content drops down below. 

Ecological + Activism = + Change Inside & Out

Deep Healing
Forest bathing heals us from the depths of our being. 
Walking in the forest heals us, increasing our immunity, cognitive capacity and happiness while decreasing our stress, depression and confusion. So we walk, sit and rest.
Deep Breathing
Breathing with the trees we breathe deep.
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Bathing in the energy of the forest we exchange carbon and oxygen, drinking deep in exchange with our forest friends. Breathing is as important as walking in forest bathing.
Deep Listening
Amidst the trees we listen deeply to the forest song.
Forests are still but trilling with life. You just have to slow down and be in relationship with the life around you-- Whether it is an ancient cedar tree or a small salamander..
Deep Seeing
We look into the depths and see the invisible in the forest.
Practice techniques and guidance that support financial self-care to earn what you’re worth, give generously, spend consciously, reflect your values and build a legacy.

Barefoot Ethic

Bridging head and heart, this course leads you into the forest to remember your nature and past ways of being. Embrace more.