Moment of Mind Fall 2024

Moment of Mind

Welcome all,

This is our third event in this festival of ode-to-forest-bathing and today we’re looking at the question of why have a guide?

Do you *need* one? No.

Just like you don’t *need* a coach to gain skills, teachers to learn things, facilitators to support flow in meetings, or counselors to process feelings. Forest bathing, and nature connection, books abound.

As I brought up in the last newsletter, being outside, slowing down, and using your attention in an intentional way that doesn’t block your sensory connections to what is happening in the natural world are the basic building blocks.

If you’ve watched a toddler go outside and wave at a bird, follow an ant trail, paddle a floating log in a small swimming pool, or make art from found materials, you’ve witnessed the basics in action. Some of my favorite experiences are also co-guided, meaning a group comes together and each member contributes something to a ritual or ceremony. With the recent full harvest moon this week, a lunar eclipse, and the equinox this weekend my first invitation is for you to consider what harvests are ripe in your life – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or even metaphorically.

And in this invitation, notice if a guide can be a major support for expanded growth and options? 

For me the answer is yes.

Forest bathing guides are deep listeners.

They’ve practiced listening to the beings in the environments around them including the creatures of the air, the ground animals, the insects, the animals of the water, the plants, the trees, the rocks, the sun, the moon, the wind, and so on. Their environmental awareness is high. 

They’ve also practiced listening to their body’s sensory experiences, and how being in communication with the more than human world contributes to changes inside. This includes listening to how they might give back, whether that’s in contributing to a habitat in some way, expressing gratitude, or simply shared company. For example, I’ve walked into spots and felt strongly the nudge to turn around, to not bring people into a specific spot. The area looks fine, smells fine, nothing seems to be amiss, and the signal internally is unmistakable. So I listen.

In my guiding practice, it feels to me like my body is an instrument that has frequencies that shift, align, and shift again. In desk jobs many external senses feel less utilized, they can become a bit out-of-practice. And through forest bathing we get to exercise the latent sensory skills that aren’t getting utilized for tracking, foraging, hunting or meeting our basic needs using the immediate resources in our local environmental habitats. This is what evolutionarily, we are built to do – the way our pre-civilization ancestors (more than 10,000 years ago before agriculture sprang up and required more fixed settlements to support resource storage), and many current human groups, do….usually requiring beaks from 9 to 5 jobs.

Guides can also support the connection among a group of people who’ve come together to share this experience. It’s normal to feel all kinds of ways. Grief comes up for me as frequently as joy during forest bathing. Holding a space for supporting that unfolding process is part of the role, part of the listening.

If you’d like to join me on one of the upcoming workshops, head to the next section.

Until then, I invite you to notice where in your life having a guide has expanded what you thought was possible.

I’d love to hear what you notice.

Love for Your Inner Science Activist Nerd

I recently joined a group gathered by Heather Burns of Alderroot Healing & Renewal called The Connectvertising Collective comprised of women and non-binary folks who own small businesses based in the Pacific Northwest that support healing, empowerment, holistic health, community building, creativity, anti-racism, social justice, and ecological well being. As part of the mission to support and lift up other businesses with similar missions and share each others’ offerings with our communities because we believe in abundance for everyone, I’m sharing offerings from fellow members here. I’ll weave these through the quarterly newsletters as we turn into a new year.

The Eco-Spiritual Facilitation Training & Certification is for practitioners and healers such as therapists & coaches, yoga & somatic teachers, and nature connection guides, who want to learn how to design and facilitate transformative and inclusive group experiences that invite and honor ecological and spiritual connection. In today’s world of increasing anxiety and disconnection, we need wise guides who can support healing and well-being on behalf of earth-life. This training offers new perspectives, skills, and tools for growing your ability to facilitate groups in ways that support deep ecological and spiritual connection, and transformative change. This training is designed for gaining confidence in holding transformative space for others, knowing that you’ll have the tools and skills to be an intuitive and impactful facilitator of shared sacred spaces. This is a mostly virtual program with one in-person retreat, so folks don’t have to be in Portland to participate. This training starts in January 2025.

Wintering, an in-person 6 month small group mentoring experience offering regular and grounded guidance for attuning to the rhythms of winter. Emerge renewed and inspired after a season of slow, restful, transformative guidance. Be the leader, educator, change-maker you aspire to be by learning to tap into seasonal connection, earth-based support, and Self-leadership with a wise circle of like-minded leaders. Bring a new groundedness, confidence, and slower pace to your leadership and change-making work by learning to be in connection with the season and your own wisdom. Wintering starts in October.

The 1:1 Vessel Mentorship supports leaders and changemakers through the distillation and creation of their signature offerings, word-weaving and copywriting; and guiding folks through curriculum design and space-holding as they develop retreats, workshops and classes.

Get Your Park Groove On

This month’s adventure potential is outside of the urban center. If you’d like a relatively flat, soft, and well kept trail that wraps around a lake with mountain views consider either Timothy Lake on the south side of what is now called Mt. Hood. Or, on the north side of the mountain, Lost Lake, which is smaller and just as gorgeous and has ADA accessible trails. Both are in the Mt. Hood National Forest. Both lakes have a trail that walks the perimeter, fishing, bird watching, and water related activities. Both have clear water and a view of the mountain (different sides) above each lake.Note that Lost Lake is smaller, closer to a major city (Hood River), and has less capacity than Timothy which can make it crowded on weekends. It’s operated by a private company on behalf of the US Forest Service. Day use passes are $15.

On a recent weekend day the park and all of its sites filled and by 1pm the campground operators had people parking on forest roads about a half mile from the entrance. Timothy is a 1,500 acre lake, and its respective campgrounds, are managed by Portland General Electric. The lake has a public dock and related parking spots ($10 day pass or the NW Forest Pass) if you don’t want to camp. There are limited open parking spaces on the North arm, which is where we went to swim because motorized boats aren’t allowed in that stretch. On a recent adventure there we saw salamanders (Rough skinned newts) doing their breeding moves in the lake. Regardless, if you’re looking for an adventure before the snow arrives, Timothy Lake closes at the end of September and Lost Lake closes in mid October, so make your plans soon!

Upcoming Events & New Offers

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