Meeting Your Nature – is an evening course I’ve created, which will start to bring the worlds of nature connection and mindful awareness together.

It will be a 6 week course, taking all the good things I’ve learned and continue learning from – the things that keep me grounded, aware and curious about what’s going on at – what I would call – a Deeper Level.

Through the weeks we’ll explore mind and body and the connection between what we have and who we are, in relation to our experience of both every day life and our relationship with the natural world.

This course is for you if:

• You are interested in exploring your relationship with nature in a deeper way
• You are curious about the more subtle ways we communicate with and relate to the natural world
• You are interested in increasing your awareness and choice within your mind activity.
• You wish for a way to find a more connected, peaceful way of being
• You feel there is more to life than your work/study/everyday routines
• You have always wanted to explore this deeper relationship, but in a non-religious, non-dogmatic way.

We will explore elements such as:

• ways to connect with your mind and body in a grounded way
• techniques to spend time in nature in a more connected way
• ways to move your consciousness into natural world awareness
• eco-anxiety and how to be with it
• finding the right way for you to connect with the natural world

This 6 week evening course will start on Thursday 13th October, between 7.30 and 9pm GMT and will continue until 17th November.

The price is on a sliding scale, depending on your financial situation, between £150 and £600 for the course

Please register your interest in the form below. thanks!

Training in mindfulness has been one of the best things I ever did. I still call it my ‘cleaning the glass’ moment, where I was finally able to remove the filter of worries and anxiety and see that the world was beautiful and natural outside.
Previously, I had a strong belief that I was no good, not quite worth it. It wasn’t a strong and overriding belief, but more of a quiet little critical voice, keeping me low, helping me stay in a place of mistrust and anxiety about what was happening for me.

I’ve done a lot of mad stuff over the years to try and shift things. I’ve sat on mountains for several days in one spot without food, I’ve walked hundreds of miles, I’ve kayaked across the Irish Sea, I’ve slept out in the open in freezing conditions, I’ve meditated, tried to meditate, felt like I couldn’t meditate, ACTUALLY couldn’t meditate and within it all I’ve felt some level of struggle, pain, resistance and, of course, fun (Type 2 fun, most of the time)!

For sure, I haven’t done a lot compared to many, but I try to look at my needs and follow that urge to go deeper. And although a lot of what I’ve listed above are outdoorsy ‘doing’ things, the reason for ALL of it is my own mission to be happy in my life, to feel satisfied and to explore the traumas and depression I carried with me for decades.

I consider this stuff all part of my inner journey. I am a person in the world, yet I have this whole massive inner experience I spent so much time ignoring through getting angry at other people and the state of the world. I am doing my best to contribute to the bigger picture, but at the same time I know that unless I explore my own inner world, I feel rubbish about the rest of it.

Life, for me, is in two parts – the inner and outer experience. We do stuff ‘out there’ and that affects us ‘in here’. I have to feel healthy inside, (and I’m not necessarily talking about food, here) if I’m going to have a healthy outlook. I have grappled with social conditioning, personal conditioning and judgement to get to a point where I feel like I can hold space well for others to explore theirs.

That is why I do mindfulness and nature connection stuff – because it’s worked so well for me. In my opinion we will never save the world – to me, even the very idea of saving the world is ridiculous – an overblown, egotistical fantasy, putting our redemption at some point in the future, when we have the right tech/attitude/people.

Changing the world starts within. It starts with changing our attitude to right and wrong, good and bad. It starts with actually looking at WHERE WE ARE NOW rather than some future place of ‘being saved’.

Don’t change yourself, be yourself. To me this means accepting who you are, even the shitty bits you don’t want others to see. You are not bad, you are perfect how you are. Everything is perfect.

We are fed layer upon layer of story about how we are broken and need fixing, how there’s stuff wrong with us; problems, addictions, mental health, threats to our health.

For so long I believed I was wrong, that things I did were wrong and that I was unfixable – that’s how I conditioned myself. Society was not in a place to support people to be themselves and see that they are OK, even with the hurt, the fear, the mental health problem. Social conditioning tells us we’re sick, the world is sick, that we are bad. Social conditioning tells us not to trust, that we will get hurt, to protect ourselves. Look where that got us.

My wish is for everyone to love and feel loved, to support and feel supported, to be in a space where they experience compassion, especially when making mistakes. I have made mistakes, I have hurt people, whether I know it or not. I wish to let that go, to let it be known that I was only another person trying to survive, in a society that often felt unsupportive and unkind.

I wish to grow compassion. I work on putting compassion into everything I do, and by doing that I am changing the world. The natural world needs love and connection and understanding by spending time there, in a quiet, open, connecting way, the people around you need love and connection and compassion by you being open. YOU need love and connection from others being open and compassionate. I need love and connection. It’s not reserved for a certain group, it’s for ALL.

We each have our light and dark side. You can have BOTH. Open up to both.

There is no such thing as a bad person. Open up to that.

2022

Forest Bathing Day – 7th May Hebden Bridge

Spending time among trees makes us feel good. But did you know that there are scientifically proven reasons which explain why forest bathing (‘shinrin-yoku’ in Japanese) is so good for you? 

During the 1980s, the Japanese government conducted research into why spending time in forests was beneficial. They concluded that focused time spent in a forest offered a range of benefits including improved blood pressure, concentration and memory. 

They also discovered that time spent in a forest exposes us to something called ‘phytoncides’. These are chemicals naturally produced by trees which have an immune-boosting effect on our bodies. 

Be With The Landscape

When we slow down we see that there is so much going on ‘in the moment.’ This day retreat will bring you that experience – together we will walk within woods, sit in relaxed contemplation, slow down and experience the woodland as never before – literally breathing it in.

For a chance to deeply relax and let go, join me in beautiful woodland near Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire for what will be a nourishing day.

Lunch included

Forest Bathing Day

£65.00

Foraging and Grounding Day Workshop – 5th June

Connect with plants, place and the roots of experience.

On this one day workshop, join me and foraging instructor Leonie Morris to connect with traditionally used plants in a beautiful, supportive woodland setting, near Hebden Bridge.

Learn about plants, how we can use them for our well being and for food, whilst connecting more deeply with those plants and their setting through natural mindful practices.

This is a way to experience foraging and the plants themselves as our ancestors may have – with gratitude and reverence, taking into account our roots as farmers and foragers, who relied upon their appearance for both sustenance and maintenance of the wider eco system.

On this day we’ll allow ourselves to really connect with the plants, to sit with them and find which speak to us, opening up to the possibility of a deeper connection with the surrounding woodland, opening senses and, altogether, giving a fulfilling, grounding and connecting experience.

The day will include:

-Mindful breathing exercises

-Quiet solo reflection time

-Tasting wild plants and getting ideas about how to cook them

-Learning about plant folklore and medicinal uses

-Slowing down and noticing

Foraging and Grounding

£65.00

Weekend Retreat 8, 9, 10 July Hebden Bridge

This is one for those of you looking to go a little deeper into nature connection.

A retreat over three days near Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, limited to 6 places only.

This will be a camping only (tent, bivvy or hammock) weekend, with full immersion in the outdoors.

Phones will be off (I’ll be the emergency contact) and you’ll have the opportunity to get away from the stresses and distractions of your everyday life.

There will be nourishing food, including locally grown produce – communally cooked and hearty conversation and sharing around the camp fire. The space will be held for you to explore what you feel will bring you closer to and change your relationship with the natural world. This starts by bringing you into a relaxed frame of mind, with grounding and connecting practices.

The key part of this weekend will be the ‘solo time’ – an opportunity to be alone in a spot of your choosing, where you feel safe, for a prolonged amount of time. This is an opportunity to slow down enough to perceive what’s happening around you in a new way and begin to develop a more wonder-full and child-like your relationship with the natural world. Solo time is a practice very likely used by our ancestors to mark rites of passage or some other significant event and it could also have this function for you.

The weekend will leave you feeling relaxed, connected and being more in a place of union with natural surroundings – closer to your nature.

Camping and all meals included

Weekend Nature Retreat 8, 9, 10 July

Starts 12pm on the Friday, finishes 2pm on the Sunday

£195.00



Befriend Thy Brain

This is an 8 week course designed to get you to a place of acceptance, empathy, compassion and kindness

More info on this page https://endless-river.org/create/befriend-thy-brain/ or email befriendthybrain@gmail.com

Through the weeks we explore various practices which will connect you with your direct experience in the present moment, helping you to go beyond doubt, make stronger choices, increase your focus, appreciate the little things, be grateful and let go of long held fears and worries. This is a powerful course.

Where Mind Meets Nature 10^th July 2021

On this day we’ll explore where mind meets nature, giving you a chance to slow down in a held space, in a beautiful piece of private woodland in the magical Calder Valley in West Yorkshire.

We will slow to the pace of trees, slow enough to notice where we are, to watch the busy mind, take it from the busy world for one day, and open up to what’s around us.

Combining mindfulness and nature practices, the space will be held to explore a deeper connection. We start with how we each interact with the world, planting our feet firmly on the ground in our own personal experience of ourselves, and our place in the natural world.

Inner and Outer Nature

The inner working of our mind can act to both collaborate and compete with itself, just as the underground networks of plant life and creatures do. We often have thinking patterns that pull us this way and that, (away from natural processes and) into the grip of unhelpful thinking habits. These habits can lead us to being distracted and feeling disconnected. It can be difficult to see clearly when we are living life this way.

Open Up

All it takes is a little time to tune in, to give ourselves a break and let ourselves be.

Our minds can be open, it is possible to reconnect when we see that the only blockage we have to being open is with ourselves. We can work with our natural way of ‘being’, just as easily as being caught up in the thinking patterns that hold us back.

To reserve your place please use this link

To pay £60 for this retreat please use this link

Connecting with Stillness 14^th August 2021

The Universe is always moving, and our body and mind are also always active in some way, yet we have this idea of stillness, this something that is unmoving, eternal perhaps.

On this one day retreat we’ll explore the idea of stillness and what it can bring us, when we take ourselves into nature.

Starting with simple, connecting meditative practices and movement, we’ll begin to slow the body down, to open to stillness.

Opportunity to Slow

Life is super-busy and on the face of it, slowing right down can feel impossible, especially when we’re in the thick of it. On this day, we’ll take our time slowing down, and exploring the many ways in which we can tune into our own version of stillness. We will experience this slowing in a natural place, a place where our vibe meets and mingles with the vibe of the woods.

Deepen

Experiencing the possibility of stillness means opening up to a deeper part of our nature. Opening to both what’s around us, and what lies within – if we can accept the inner and outer as they are, without judgement – we are then connected. That’s where we will be heading on this day.

Find Space

The space will be held for you in an open, non-judgemental way.

If you are willing to be still, to be open, your nature will open up to you. You have all the answers already, you just have to be open to the question “Do I want to be still?” The space you need is there for you.

To reserve your place please use this link

To pay £60 for this retreat please use this link