The WildMind Deep Nature Immersion is an invitation to create a clearing in your life, intentionally stepping away from the myriad distractions and turning the habitual background noise all the way down.
Simple rituals help us make space for the uncommon kind of stillness that invites clarity, learning perhaps for the first time to attune to a deeper sense of presence and exploring the emergent forms of wisdom that await within.
After three months of slow and steady online preparation, we gather together, sheltering and sharing food around a fire beneath the vast sky.
Nestled amidst the Caledonian pines, rolling dunes and beaches, marram grass, heather and bright, sweet-scented gorse, the hinterland offers panoramic views across the ocean to the Highland Mountains. The eternal rhythm of the waves and the advancing and retreating tides announce our neighbours - salmon, osprey, dolphin and seal are also present along the wild coastal edge.
It's here we explore, each in our own way, what it means to be fully present, immersed in our unique nature and the mysterious journey we are on.
Findhorn Bay. Reflection, Solitude & Sunset. ©pauljhowell 2020
We give primary attention to cultivating the principles and practices that best help connect us with our deeper creative resources and the potentials they conjure - our intuitive knowledge, archetypal images, hard-won wisdom and insights, the ones we alone are called to embrace, embody and share with the world - often, it seems, countering our desire for an easier life.
We explore how we might best orient toward, trust and inhabit these often-felt and ever-present but lesser-known aspects of who we are.
Seeking to learn from them, nurture them, or allow them the space and time to speak for the first time, knowing if we do, they will continue to evolve and unfold, asking us to do the same as we make our way.
Some will experience the encounter as a full-blown initiatory rite of passage, where the understanding we have of ourselves and the world around us undergo radical shifts in consciousness - from one life stage to another, from one identity to another.
Others may realise an initiatory event has been and gone. Often we fail to recognise them as such. Ignorant of how to harness them with integrity at that moment, we might return to the psychological landscape and reclaim the latent power.
For others, the DNI becomes an invitation to realign and reinvigorate previously encountered wisdom - a further rite of passage on a journey initiated in years gone by.
In the mix, there is space to be with grief and loss, chronic illness, or addiction, to meet and claim the parts of ourselves we thought we'd lost or have neglected, or to sever from the parts we've unconsciously been carrying for others.
These nuanced motivations and the larger invitations they invoke become more evident as we prepare, revealing themselves; it seems in proportion to the trust we have in our intention to move forward with our lives like stepping stones revealed one after the other as we cross the stream treading through the mist.
Whilst the primary intention and focus are most often framed in personal terms, there are significant secondary benefits in a person's professional and/or vocational life. The same is true in reverse - ultimately, the context is you and your life.
“Seek not the ways of the ancients. Seek what the ancients sought.”
Those familiar with The School of Lost Borders and The Animus Valley Institute might assume this to be a Vision Quest in a similar vein. I have studied with both organisations and have massive respect for their approaches.
However, whilst the Deep Nature Immersion may be structured similarly to their offerings, the approach and focus I bring forward are broader, allowing for deeper insight and better supporting the essential incorporation aspect of the process.
It’s also true the term ‘vision quest’ itself has specific meanings for certain indigenous peoples, some of whom are close friends of mine. Beyond any discussion of cultural appropriation, I believe those of us whose societies have no lived experience of intact intergenerational ritual practices cannot sincerely claim this term for many reasons - but nor do we need to.
Whilst inviting the intelligence of the deep imagination is a vital aspect of the WildMind Deep Nature Immersion, having a singular potent life-changing vision is not the primary intention as is often implied elsewhere. And, though it sometimes happens, I believe that approach generates unnecessary false expectations and diminishes the multifaceted potentials inherent in such an approach to the creative unconscious, which seeks to honour many fundamental human imperatives.
“Change is a universal law, like gravity. Yet, growth, at least on the surface, seems optional for humans. Those paying attention begin to notice the pattern - of being repeatedly invited toward an invisible and uncertain edge. Here they sense risk but also a call toward enlargement of some kind. They gather their courage, wisdom and skill and step forward not out of some foolish heroic grandiosity but rather to retain their sense of vitality, curiosity & purpose - to embrace the wisdom inherent in the many initiatory thresholds we must pass through to remain whole, give our gifts, and participate in life’s unfolding mystery.”
It is essential to say the WildMind Deep Nature Immersion is not a well-ness, detox, survival or bushcraft programme. It is not a 'sheep-dip, one size fits all' experience intended to invoke intense but superficial catharsis or engender and indoctrinate euphoric 'groupthink' as a counterfeit proxy for the cultural wasteland in which we find ourselves.
Instead, it promotes the ideals of individuation, interdependence, personal responsibility, accountability and integrity - in the context of a generative community of mere humans able to witness, bless and encourage each other along the way.
Whereas many offerings claiming similar motivations seem ultimately to initiate individuals into a particular group or tribal identity, the WildMind DNI, if it becomes genuinely initiatory at all, is an invitation to accept the more significant initiatory moment - the initiation into Life itself - as it is, as we are.
Base Camp. 2022.
Hence, the DNI has gained a reputation for bringing a gentle close to the tendency some might have for perpetual workshop attendance - here, we are not framing ourselves as problems to be fixed but as a unique and curious expression of Life's creative imperative.
And, whilst the Deep Nature Immersion might serve as an oasis in the psycho-spiritual desert, where we might enjoy a direct and lasting experience of that primary intelligence we each possess; that knows our authentic humanity as a part of the larger whole, the DNI is the antithesis of magical thinking.
Rooted in the body, the Deep Nature Immersion invokes the felt sense alongside the rational cognitive intellect, inviting us to cultivate and maintain an uncommon depth of presence to ourselves, to each other, and the deep imagination's revelatory offerings to the tiny but mighty expressions of consciousness we as individuals might comprehend.
Whilst it claims no particular insight or transformation, these are expected consequences amongst those who find the courage to commit to the uncertain nature of their enquiry sincerely.
In short, it is not woo woo new age hippy bs, but a millennia-old ritual, the essence of which has been honoured but remade and embellished with new understandings. It invites a diligent, ancient poetic remembering of and attunement to our deeper natures - our pre-verbal somatic 'WildMind' and an honouring of the unique potentials that flow to, through and from each of us.
The principles and practices shared as part of this intimate journey of Self-discovery are intended to support you as you prepare to fast in nature in solitude and then undergo that experience in its fullness, clarifying and articulating a deep sense of meaning and purpose - which I believe over time add up to something like fulfilment, nourishing and enriching your everyday Life, sending ripple effects out into the world around you, gently nourishing all you value.
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
Day 5 - waiting for the others still out finding their spot. August 2022.
DNI Schedule 2023
Part One - Severance // Online
19th March // 16th April // 14th May - Time: 1400 - 1600
We gather once a month to:
Get to know our companions.
Clarify our intentions.
Explore the principles & practices of WildMind Deep Ecopsychology, & shape them to the needs of our personal enquiry.
Part Two - Threshold // Findhorn
15th June - 27th June - Time: 1200 - 1200
Spread over thirteen days, this twelve day event comprises:
Four-days comprehensive preparation in primary base-camp
Four-days water fast - advanced base-camp / solitude, with minimal but adequate shelter.
Four-days comprehensive integration in primary base camp.
Part Three - Incorporation // Online
16th July // 13th August // 10th September - Time: 1400 - 1600
We continue once a month to:
Maintain the integrity of our wilderness journey upon returning to our 'every day’ lives.
Continue to discern & clarify emergent insight & wisdom.
Continue to cultivate our own generative principles & practices to support our future healing & growth.
Cost
Inclusive of Pre & Post Fast Mentoring & Online Resources, Guiding Fee, Camp Fees & Fire Wood for Basecamp.
Lower £1,495.00 pp - Upper £1,995.00 pp
Exclusive of food & water taxi to advanced base camp - approx’ £10 return.
Maximum of 12 delegate places available.
The event is supported by two experienced assistants.
Registration Process
Place are registered and confirmed on a first come basis.
Once you have requested a registration pack, your place will be held for 48 hrs before passing to the next in line.
Further registration details are included in the Registration Pack.
Since 1997 I have worked as a coach, psychotherapist, mentor, trainer, facilitator and consultant - the common thread has been growth and development, both personal and organisational. Guiding Deep Nature Connection / Vision Quests near my home; a landscape that has been my sanctuary, solace and inspiration for the same amount of time, brings all of my skills and experience down to their most essential elements. Being in deep relationship with a community of committed individual, sharing simple food and the beauty of the land whilst shedding what needs shedding and embracing what needs to be claimed; this is the most fulfilling work for me, a deep honour and a profound learning every step of the way.
Ancient Origins. Contemporary Wisdom.
Our sense of identity is organic. This is because, as with all of nature, the human psyche is designed to evolve across the arc of our lives. If this psychological evolution is thwarted, or significantly distorted, we will eventually experience regressive consequences.
Awaiting The Return 2022
We grow: from embryo to infant, infant to child, child to adolescent, adolescent to young adult, young adult to adult, adult to elder, elder to ancestor. Yet, the passing of time alone does not convey psychological and emotional maturation in humans.
Without adequate and appropriate attention, when our current identity reaches the limit of its usefulness, and our existing psychological resources are expended, who we are in the most fundamental sense will be unable to meet the demands of the life we are called to live.
No matter how many times we try, we simply can’t function as we used to, or indeed, need to. Our current maps and models of reality no longer reflect our experience, or facilitate our onward travel in a way that feels congruent to us.
Ancient cultures evolved over thousands of years. Central to this process were life affirming rituals and ceremonies, which supported their sense of coherence and cohesion as a tribe. Their best attention went to supporting a person in meeting these ‘thresholds passages’ providing a bio-psycho-social bridge to the next stage of development.
These rituals were not just for mere entertainment but the deep living roots of cultural evolution, incorporating the core values and wisdom traditions and expressing them in stories and meaning-making mythologies, encoded in symbols, crafts and all artistic and creative expressions of a people's consciousness. The natural world was honoured as the primary life-giving resource and source of inspiration, infusing cultures with a sense of nature's cycles.
The WildMind Deep Nature Immersion is a contemporary rite of passage; a generative process guiding you to attune to your deeper nature and cultivate a sense of courage and curiosity as you explore your inner landscape.
It is iterative and invites you to listen, reflect, and respond to the deeper realms of your knowing. It supports you in creating simple rituals that are meaningful to you to honour what has been, ones that mark your readiness to face and embrace the emergent, larger, yet more deeply rooted sense of self necessary for the next stage of your journey. Importantly, it invites you to cultivate daily practices that continue to evolve to support you in remaining creative, curious, resourceful and resilient into the future.
The WildMind Deep Nature Immersion is a unique approach to what some call a vision quest - an ancient pan-cultural ritual born of bio-psycho-social-origins over millennia, to serve an ancient human need.
Offered with diligent contemporary guidance and practical support it gathers and creates a generative context in which delegates may enter into an extraordinary and deeply personal dialogue with nature, psyche and culture - each in their own way, according to their unique intentions and needs.
It’s far away from the numbing comfort and convenience of computer-screen consumer culture as you could get. By skilfully and respectfully invoking the Deep Wise Self; our unencumbered authentic nature, we are granted access to the somatic and symbolic layers of awareness which reside beneath and before our rational intellect. We restore trust in our intuition, and come to appreciate how nature is the original mirror of the human psyche.
Silence at Dawn. Threshold 2021.
The deep structure of our personal consciousness is rooted here within the realm of the resonant felt-sense, awaiting our attention in stillness, beneath our racing thoughts and turbulent emotions in a state some call presence.
When we return to our centre and attune our sense, practice curiosity and patience this state reveals to us in both sensation and story the nature of what we are called to tend - the unique desires, gifts and purpose that belong to us and which are ours alone to steward.
As both a solitary and shared adventure it enlarges our fundamental sense of belonging, whilst revealing our own unique inner guidance systems.
During this powerful encounter with our deep nature, witnessed by others and held mindfully in the realm the natural world; the primal midwife of the human psyche - we begin to truly know ourselves, remembering and restoring all we forgot, whilst gaining clear sight of all we are called to become. It’s simultaneously a home coming, and a readying to go out anew.
TJ’s Rendering of The Deep Nature Immersion 2021 - ©pauljhowell
The elemental dance of nature forms the larger part of this invitation. For thirteen days we gather in a small select community, (which continues beyond the event during ‘incorporation’) sharing stories around a fire, alongside the banks of the wild river, next to the ocean, amongst pine forests and golden dunes flush with heather and gorse - a landscape first inhabited by the Picts 5000 years ago. The sky is big, the air clean, the light crystalline, the beaches long, the water clear.
Basecamp Embers. DNI 2022 ©pauljhowell
It’s a unique experience for everyone but in broad terms one which rises from same sincere intention: to reawaken and honour our primary relationship with nature, that being our own deep nature as witnessed by others, and the wild natural world. These connections provide the ancient weave of connections hard wired into our psyche, flowing back and forth between our deep imagination, the natural world and the cultures we create and inhabit. It’s generative, and systemic, reconnecting and recalibrating our primal and primary relationships simultaneously - the ones between head and heart and the ones between the deep resonant wisdom of the body and the wild natural world.
A walk in the Scottish Highlands gives you an overview of my approach.
Ultimately it's about you, stepping out of the conventional civilised world and seeking out the latent potentials of your own life. It's an invitation to meet yourself as you actually are, to honour where you've been, and make some deep vows about where you are headed next.
It’s not a survilaist workshop nor a bushcraft or psychotherapy programme. It offers no guarantee of any specific healing, development or growth, nor any particular revelation. It is not a magic pill or miracle cure, and it’s definitely not for everyone. And yet, people who show up to this event wholeheartedly, find it changes their lives in profound ways, both radical and subtle.
If I were to describe it poetically I might say it’s a long deep drink from the alchemical cup of becoming, a surrender to humility, and an exercise in trust - that you will be met by that which you most need to meet within yourself, and the world around you.