The Wild Minds Podcast

In this final episode of Season 13, Marina looks at how the endings of autumn invite us to slow down, honour our ancestors and grieve together, and why sharing our feelings in community, human and more-than-human, can help us feel more alive and connected.Why being busy keeps us from feeling (“you can’t hit a moving target”), and why slowing down is one of the keys to connectionThe end of October as the close of the Celtic year: a natural time for endings, reflection and asking “what can I let go of so that new things can grow?”Endings in nature are not really endings. They are change and transformation.Remembering our ancestors: making an ancestor table, lighting a candle, and noticing the patterns and unresolved grief we inheritWhat stays unreconciled in our lives and cultures, and what we might be passing on to future generationsThe problem with “connecting with nature”: how the phrase assumes we are separate, and the move towards feeling that we belongArne Naess, deep ecology and the ecological self, plus John Seed’s idea of experiencing yourself as “the forest protecting itself”How feeling deeply connected changes the way we feel loss, and grief as an expression of our capacity to care, not a weaknessTherapy, ecotherapy and wider healing: where trained professionals are needed, and where communities can hold therapeutic spaceBeing listened to without being fixed: the healing power of groups gathered by a river or in a woodland, and of rituals and ceremonyElders at the centre of the village, and a culture that hides away ageing and deathModelling for children and peers: how we handle fear, disagreement, sadness, anger and repair teaches more than our words doShow Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/104-the-grief-that-connects-usMusic by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.

In this tender and wide-ranging conversation, Grief Walker Aralyn Doiron joins Marina to explore how facing death, feeling our grief and remembering our ancestors can bring us more fully alive.Topics include:First encounters with death: Aralyn and Marina share childhood memories of loss, from standing at the casket of an eight-year-old neighbour to being kept away from a grandparent’s funeral.Why death became hidden: removing death from everyday life, and handing it to professionals, removes part of our nature. Avoiding death separates us from nature, because everything in nature dies, even mountains.Death contemplation as a path to aliveness: two decades of Buddhist practice taught Aralyn that accepting impermanence isn’t morbid. It makes everything more precious.Elders at the centre of the village: in many Indigenous cultures it’s the elders, not the children, who are at the centre, the ancestors remain a living presence, and death can be an advisor, as in Mexican tradition.From Deathwalker to Grief walker: grief is the doorway to full aliveness, and the undefended heart, the one that can be broken by life, may be what saves us. Why “keep calm and carry on” costs us so much.Emotional literacy starts with adults: children learn from our behaviour, not our words. Aralyn explains feelings as energy and information, the difference between present-moment feelings and old emotional stories, and anger as pure life force (including her local “Rage Club”).One minute a day: a simple practice of being 100% okay with whatever you feel, and the story of a dying mother’s words: “For my whole life I thought there was something wrong with me. What a waste.”Art that comes through the back door: Aralyn’s image of the guarded front door and the open kitchen, how art and grief reach the heart, and her new project, Grievolution – not yet created!!A Knock on the Door: inside Aralyn’s four-day immersion where participants rehearse their death, including a Last Supper shared with an ancestor and ten minutes spent with a single olive.Aloneness and loneliness: David Whyte’s poem Everything Is Waiting for You, and remembering that the tree you lean on is leaning back.Passengers or participants: guilt versus remorse, the Hawaiian practice of Ho’oponopono, stepping into Brené Brown’s “arena”, and valuing honest feedback from the people who have your back.Rites of passage for our times: Aralyn’s work with Tides in New Zealand, and why marking thresholds such as birth, death, the seasons and friendships helps us live more consciouslyShow Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-103-elders-at-the-centre-with-aralyn-doiron/ Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.

In this episode I'm looking back on our Circle of Life Rediscovery 'Green Health Virtual Gathering, Embedding Nature in Practice – From Vision to Delivery'. It brought together psychiatrists, a GP, psychotherapists, nurses and NHS teams to explore one idea: nature is a co-healer alongside people, and the healing happens in relationship, with each other and with the land.Topics include:• Reflection on the gathering and what happens within the Health service!• Why "just go outside" isn't enough. The outdoors isn't the intervention; it's a partner in it.• Person-centred practice built on invitations rather than prescriptions, and why no two sessions should look the same.• Dr Hannah Sherbersky on how we already are nature, and why the work has to respect people's different histories with the land.• Contributions from Dr Shuo Zhang!• Roger Duncan's three gateways to deep nature connection, and his warning against the "green pill".• Can relational, person-centred work be evaluated? (Yes. Here's how.)Find out more about the speakersDr Hannah Sherbersky, family and systemic psychotherapist, University of Exeter:https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/therapist/Hannah-Sherbersky-iAgk6AACHannah and Roger's programme at Exeter:https://store.exeter.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-health-and-life-sciences/psychology/cedar-create-eco-systemic-psychotherapy-deep-nature-connectionDr Shuo Zhang, child and adolescent psychiatrist, King's College London:https://www.kcl.ac.uk/clinic-to-research-tackling-mental-health-disparitieshttps://www.acamh.org/author/dr-shuo-zhang/Dr Ralph Mortimer Roome, Brighton GP:https://www.greenerpractice.co.uk/Show Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/nature-as-healer-in-health-and-care/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.

In this episode, Marina looks back at the questions that came up at the *Outside for Everyone* webinar and asks why we adults find it so hard to take learning outdoors, and what we can do about it.In this episode:Why experiential learning sticks, and why we still find it so hard to take education outside"Backlinking": Juliet Robertson's idea of offering hands-on outdoor activities and linking them to the curriculum afterwardsHow outdoor learning fits the early years, primary and secondary curriculum, from mud kitchens and story stones to measuring trees with trigonometryClimate education in practice: soil tests, watching the weather with the Beaufort scale, plant surveys and growing foodTool use, vocational skills and confidence, and why hands-on skills matter for future careersContribution as a core part of belonging and wellbeingWhat research on autistic children at Forest School tells us: the adults' attitudes can make or break a sessionWhy our practice is about relationship, not activity: consent-based practice, mutual dignity and humilityDo you need a qualification to take learning outdoors? (No, but you do need to be competent, reflect on your practice and carry out risk-benefit assessments)Worried about losing control? How routines, rituals and clear boundaries help, and how to help children explain their thinkingShaping the session around the learner, not the learner around the session, with nature as the "third actor"Starting small with five-minute activities, managing large class ratios and giving teenagers real-life experiences (including the new Natural History GCSE)Show Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-101-the-children-are-ready-are-weMusic by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.

In this 100th episode of The Wild Minds Podcast, I'm in discussion with Michael James and Stefania Donzelli. We explore what Forest School and autism can teach us about difference, belonging, relationship and the ways we create environments where people can genuinely be themselves.We discuss:Why autism is far more than a diagnostic category, and what changes when we listen to autistic people’s own experiences and perspectives.Moving beyond the deficit model and questioning the assumptions of neuro-normativity.Forest School as a micro-community where relationships, trust, autonomy and belonging can create different possibilities.The triangle of trust between practitioner, participant and environment and why all three matter.The social model of disability and how barriers can sometimes sit in our environments, communication and expectations rather than in the individual.Sensory differences and the outdoor environment, including why nature itself may need to be adapted rather than treated as something fixed and untouchable.The importance of flexibility, communication and listening - recognising that the participant may be the greatest expert in their own experience.Power and authority in Forest School, and what happens when we create spaces where people can question, negotiate and do things differently.Intersectionality and Universal Design for Learning, and the value of anticipating different ways of participating, communicating and expressing ourselves.Nature as an active participant, including a beautiful story about a non-speaking child, a wisteria and the possibility of seeing behaviour differently.The importance of place, repeated encounters and embodied experience, and what the woods can offer beyond a prescribed programme of activities.Curiosity, disagreement and connection in a polarised world, and why sometimes the answer might be to go to the woods, light a fire, have a cuppa and talk.Show Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-100-forest-school-and-autism/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.