Hi all

 

Welcome to Day 5 of the program. You may be wondering why going to your sit spot is the cornerstone of your progression as a naturalist and (as we are going to learn today) as a tracker. The main activity you will do at your sit spot is track. We use the word tracking in its widest and most inclusive sense to mean taking in information from all around you, asking questions and using the art of deduction to find answers and probably more questions. It is detective work and will train both your senses and your brain.

In our programs for both youth and adults, tracking is something we do everyday and everything we do involves some tracking. In the short video below, we see how tracking fits in to our day as a specific activity of looking at tracks made by animals, but all activities that involve using the senses, questioning and deduction are using the tracking mind.

The Sit Spot

In the video below, Bill Marple discusses the importance of a sit spot for tracking.

You may be happy with your sit spot but you may also decide to pick a new spot. It may take a few weeks for you to finally settle on the right sit spot or you may have already found it. Either is good.

The Nature Journal

The nature journal will continue to be a the main tool for you to use as an aid to focus your attention (not just your sight but all your senses) and record what you have noticed. Sounds, smells, tastes and the sensations you feel on your skin can all be recorded with words and drawings.

Through the course and in future studies we will work on journaling, drawing and storytelling techniques and your nature journals will get richer and more detailed and become works of art. Don’t worry about your ability at this point. You are learning many things at once and it isn’t easy.

You are learning the discipline of going to your sit spot and being still and quiet. You are learning to open up your senses which may feel like exercising unused muscles. You are learning the language of nature and tracking and also learning how to record your observations!

Take each day at a time and if you manage to spend at least 20 minutes at your sit spot each day, 20 minutes recording your observations and 20 minutes researching new information to increase your knowledge base then you have made an amazing step along this path. Just doing it is a success!

Before you go to your sit spot today, take a look at this video on drawing techniques. These techniques will help you notice more and begin to give you a wider range of tools to record your observations

In this next video (which is much longer!) Muir goes into greater detail with techniques for drawing trees. If you decide to watch this video, make yourself comfortable, make a cup of tea and imagine spending time with a master. This would be a good video to watch in the evening, the day before you go to your sit spot. Remember, these techniques are meant to inspire you and not make you feel bad about what you can do right now. Be inspired.

For day 5, when you go to your sit spot, question the spot you have chosen. If it feels good then approach it from a new route (even if it is only a little different). If you choose a new one, then really notice how it is different (even if it is only a few feet away). As usual, spend at least 20 minutes noticing what is happening in all directions with all your senses. Again, find the tree or flower that most catches your attention. As you sketch and make notes in your journal about that plant or tree, note down the weather, the smells and sounds, even the feeling of the day. Note down and sketch what is happening around that seems important to you. Begin to create a story of your observations and you sit spot. Remember that the times you are not making marks in your journal but noticing with all your senses is the most important time!

Tracking and Investigation

The art of tracking has many applications. Honing your senses and questioning and deducing capacities will make you not only a great naturalist, survivalist and tracker, but also enrich your life and capabilities in many areas. If you have time, the video below about the character and Master Investigator Sherlock Holmes will show how this facility is used in solving crimes.

Goodnight and see you on day 6 when we will start to get deeper into animal tracking!