Welcome to day 2!
There are many reasons that students take our programs and decide that they want to learn naturalist, wilderness, traditional and self-sufficiency skills. Some would like to be able to survive and flourish in the wilderness, others want to experience the peace and beauty of connecting more deeply with earth. There is no right or wrong path, passion or dream. Sometimes the journey starts in one place and moves to another. Whatever brings you to this path is a real gift but the ‘subject’ is so vast that you may find you are led to new passions and experiences that you can hardly dream about.
In the following videos, students of nature and wilderness programs from across North America share something of their journeys. Very inspiring stories…
Today you will go to your sit spot again, but before you go, we will introduce you to two ‘skills’ that will help augment your awareness skills and enrich your experience of the natural world….. ‘fox walking’ and ‘wide angle vision’. Here survival Student and Instructor Paul Sheiter of Headgehog Leatherworks in Missouri shares his perspective on these two ‘skills’ and offers a great place to start…
How The Skills Fit Into The 8 shields Model
diagrams: the eight shields model used to show the eight directions, the eight times of day and eight activities in our programs.
The 8 Shields can be seen to represent the 8 directions. You can think of this online program as being stories (videos) in the north west that you watch in the evenings. The early morning (Dawn) between the north-east and east is a good time for sit spot and practicing wide angle vision and fox walking. Ideally starting the day will continue these skills for the whole day long.
Today’s Exercise
Head to your ‘sit spot’ today using ‘wide angle vision’ and ‘fox walking’. Don’t worry too much about getting it right. Just slow down and enjoy varying your vision and walking gait and notice how it makes you feel. When you arrive at your sit spot you will spend 5 minutes facing each of the four directions, North, South, East and West. If you can find the directions from the sun and the time, that would be good. The sun is roughly in the East at 6 am, in the South at noon and in the West at 6 pm. Don’t concern yourself with magnetic and true north right now, just approximate. Use a compass if you have one. If you cannot find the directions then just face four different directions, right, left, forward and backward. As you spend 5 minutes facing each direction, notice what catches your eye, what sounds and smells attract you. In particular, find a tree or plant, one for each direction that seems to draw your attention. Notice everything that you can about that tree or plant from your sit spot. It can be near or far. By the end of your sit spot time you should have in your mind a picture of the four ‘landmarks’ (trees and/or plants).
When you get back to your desk, take your map and draw in the landmarks and make notes about what you noticed. Do you know the species or not? What was it about them attracted you?
When you are done, blog your sit spot experience and if you like briefly tell the story of what led you to this course and program. If you can, photograph and upload your map with the landmarks added.
See you on day 3…..