How do we enable connection with nature from a deep understanding that we too are part of nature? How might we co-facilitate with the places we work in? How does presence and connection in ourselves change how we work with groups?

This workshop introduces creative practices and simple inquiries to help open deeper connections within the natural world. The day will include some basics for working with groups in this context, as well as opportunities for finding your own approach to facilitation in this field. Looking at outdoor and indoor settings, we will explore how to lead a group into a more vital and inquiring relationship with ecology, place and sustainability. 

We will explore themes such as:

• Cultivating awareness, curiosity and connection

• The role of language, feeling and sensation in shifting perspectives

• Balancing structure and emergence

• Making connections with other themes through the work

The day will include:

• Simple frameworks for designing sessions

• Tips on presence, preparation and how to be more able to respond in the moment

• Specific exercises that can be adapted for any session: from a 1 hour walk to a weeklong wilderness quest

• Opportunities to practice

• Time for discussion about how to tailor these approaches to your specific work context

This course is for you if:

• You are passionate about reconnecting people with the natural world and want simple ways to facilitate this

• You have some basic facilitation or group experience but are starting out and want to gain confidence and ideas

• You are an experienced trainer want to refresh you practice to be more experiential, ecological and inquiry based

• You work with adults or young people in almost any context and wish to integrate outdoor connection in an embodied way

• You want to explore your own embodied connection and curiosity in how you facilitate with and as nature