Truly alive18thMarch
At a recent taster day at Lost Valley Education Center the gray sky poured buckets of rain. In the early morning all our instructors looked laconically outside, wondering how new students would fare through the deluge. Tasters are supposed to be about inspiring people. They're the first step in a courting process, one where we see if Trackers immersion is a good fit for you and if you're a good fit for us. We do foundational primitive skills, collaborative work, martial arts and tracking. There was so much rain, the downpour was so heavy, that it was a little bit like taking that first date to a punk rock show. Cool, but maybe a little intense.
One of the first things I did was ask that we invite the wind and rain into our circle. Now you know us at Trackers, we're deceptively secular to be decidedly inclusive. This was not your run of the mill homage to the forces of nature. It was not a forced preamble to a sunny day or a way of cajoling everyone to believe the same mythology. This was a survival strategy. We needed people to act fully alive. We needed them to embrace the intensity of the circumstances. We needed them to be unstoppable. Huddled people that focus on being cold and wet will live for being cold and wet. Let the ran in with a grin on your face, accept you'll get the same soaking with either a bad or good attitude, and you'll be able to move with true grace under pressure.
Maybe you've been to one of those "gatherings" where the master of ceremonies forces us to welcome in all the nature sprites. I'm certain that everyone reading this felt that kind of imposition at least once. Whether it be grandstanding or grace for a practice that is not yours, we have all sensed the awkwardness in a leader asking others to think exactly like them and the masses. We are not saying those people are doing anything wrong, in fact we are ardent supporters of the idea that everyone is, "doing the best with the information they have." Instead I want to illustrate how on that taster day we invited in the wind and rain for very different reasons. It was meant to open people's eyes and change attitudes related to a realistic and immediate need. The goal was help them find a necessary, immediate relationship with the inclement weather. Crises builds community. Its amazing how a little bit of appreciation can dramatically change your interactions with anyone or anything. Good craftspeople know this. When you respect your elements of wood and iron, circuits and code, you snap into a zone of attentive awareness and methodical creativity. This includes everything from art to auto mechanics, surfing to gardening and tracking to wilderness survival. That's the value of seeing everything you work with as animated. When it feels alive, you more easily work from the artist's spark.
The hunter-gatherer doesn't necessarily revere a plant or rock in the varying philosophies caricatured by our culture. Instead, there exists an intricate relationship of survival. In order to feed their family they need to know that plant well, as intimately as their brother or sister, mother or father. It always helps to make things more familiar (or familial). You learn faster with these intimate relationships. At that taster day we saw fox tracks in the sopping moss. We built fires with cedar wood in the wind and rain. We did martial arts and found fidelity with our training partners in the pouring down, the absolutely cold and wet. We truly did weather the day. Not simply by getting by, but with gusto and bravado. All in all, it was a good first date with the rain as a chaperon.
Food fermentation: real food, from a real pantry
Chris Musser still has a few openings in her absolutely awesome class on lacto-fermentation. This ancient food preservation technique enhances both the flavor and nutrition of food.
Learn more or register here
Classes at Lost Valley Education Center May 30-June 4, Overnight
TrackersNW is very excited to be working with Lost Valley and its ecovillage community. Lost Valley Education Center is one of the most beautiful places on the planet because of the working permaculture farm and the community of people that reside there. It is the ideal place for our Nature of the Village program: one week where we come together to recreate a living village. Because we use open space meeting technology, we foster a level of competency, communication and autonomy rarely found in programs that facilitate community organization.
Our goal: Learn how we can recreate the village.
What we will be doing: tracking, primitive skills, homesteading, team development, wildcrafting, wilderness survival, social entrepreneurship, permaculture, folk craft and much more.
All this for only $295 for a week long tuition, food and lodging cost may vary. May 30-June 5, 2009
Learn more or register here.
Foundations in Wilderness Survival and Primitive skills: Taught by Shaun Deller at Lost Valley the weekend of May 9-10. Learn more or register here.
ReWild Eugene: I also want to give a shout out to our sister program in Eugene. They do free skills shares and more intensive classes. Check you their blog @ ReWild.com.
