Hello Agents of Change Community!
I am very excited to share something with you that I’ve been working on for a while!
On Tuesday, May 24, from 5-6:30 pm Pacific time (8-9:30 Eastern), I am going to be running a special online workshop with my Super Nature Adventures partner and co-creator Bryna Campbell focusing on nature, wellness, and self-care.
If you've been following me in any capacity—especially my Instagram or Twitter accounts—you probably know by now that connecting with nature is something incredibly meaningful to me. In fact, it’s the major reason I started working on Super Nature Adventures and have been focusing much of my energies there since leaving my museum job.
And as I opened up about in my previous post “It’s Been Two Years Since…,” this mode of care has been a core tool for helping my spouse and I manage the ups and downs of the past couple years. I have grown my own practice of spending time outdoors through daily walks, regular hikes in nearby parks, and even gardening.
Immersing oneself in the natural environment can be one of the most powerful and effective strategies for care and healing. Through these experiences, we also build a deeper connection between ourselves and the natural world.
In this way, as author M. Amos Clifford writes in his Guide to Forest Bathing:
"we come to relate to our shared earth in a fundamentally different way."
When we connect in slow and intimate ways, engage our senses, and get in touch with our creative side, we are restoring connections that have been interrupted though the culture of stress and overwork.
In our Nature as Self Care workshop, we will guide you through a series of exercises designed to help you slow down and connect to nature in ways that can help create calm, reduce stress, and combat burnout.
You’ll learn more about how and why these exercises can be effective, and be introduced to some basic philosophies and research behind nature and self-care.
And in true Super Nature Adventures fashion, you’ll also receive an illustrated handout with additional prompts, activities, and resources to help you adapt these strategies for your own daily life.
We encourage everyone who signs up to to bring an object from nature with them (such as a plant, leaf, cone, flower, or even just a beloved house plant) for some of the activities, and to have some pencils, markers, or crayons as well as paper or a notebook for journaling and drawing.
NOTE: The cost to register is $25. Spaces are limited. We have decided to keep the workshop small because we envision this space as intimate and conversational to explore these ideas, practices, and activities together.
As part of my process of bringing together my work for museums & nonprofits with my work in nature education, place-based learning, and design, Agents of Change is partnering with Super Nature Adventures to offer this workshop. It draws on our work with Super Nature Adventures, as well as my experiences running workshops on forest bathing, creating change from within, and from the chapter in my book Museums as Agents of Change on healing and care.
We are opening these tickets up first to the Agents of Change community as well as those who currently subscribe to Super Nature Adventures packets, so if you are interested, it's a good idea to nab your ticket soon, before we share this event more widely.
“We don’t have to scale mountains or ride rapids to benefit from being outside. Being outside for a few minutes, looking at a tree, and observing the light filtering through leaves can regulate your nervous system and allow you to be more present.” -Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, founder of the Trauma Stewardship Institute
Join me! Nature As Self Care: A Restorative Hands On Workshop