“Sometimes you hit the bramble patches of life and, if you’re listening for where your drum beat is -your North Star- you can just keep moving towards it one little step at a time.”

This week, Jon and Sarah are joined by mentor and author Victoria Mew, the founder of Red Squirrel Resources, and a longtime student and mentor in nature connection. Victoria shares about her nature connection journey as a student, how that evolved into becoming an instructor, and later led to writing books and founding organizations to expand access to nature in the UK. She shares about her inspiration for Red Squirrel Resources where she has created over 200 video resources for parents and teachers that are teaching nature connection. She also shares about the positive impact the Art of Mentoring and the Nature Culture Network has had on her over the years and her excitement for the reimagined Nature Culture Connection Camp coming up in August in the UK. We hope you enjoy this inspiring conversation!

About Victoria

Founder of Red Squirrel Resources, Victoria Mew found her passion for nature connection and earth living skills at 12 years old and deepened this journey throughout her teens thanks to organizations including Trackways, Coyote Tracks and the Wilderness Awareness School. After extensive vocational training, she founded Cultivating Curiosity which has been running regular groups in Sussex both weekly and monthly since 2012, the year she also completed her Forest School L3. She co-authored Learning With Nature in 2015. Victoria is passionate about helping spread the breadth and depth of nature connection for our health and happiness as individuals, communities and as a whole.

https://redsquirrelresources.co.uk/

http://www.cultivating-curiosity.co.uk/

Learning with Nature book

Connection Camp - August 4th, 2024

There are still a few spots left in Connection Camp if you're interested in experiencing the incredible program that Victoria describes in the podcast.

Visit Living Connection 1st for more information about our work in nature connection and people connection.

“How am I connecting? And not just about projects but really about how is my connection journey with nature, with other people, with myself?”

Julia Talk is a pioneer, facilitator and mentor for a life and business in harmony with our inner nature, oriented towards love, vitality and joy. In this episode, Julia joins us to discuss how 8 Shields principles can be impactful in the world of business by helping to improve the culture and connection of an organization. We also discuss the elements of the Profile Journey, a way of looking at how individuals grow and evolve through different archetypes of the natural cycles over time. We also get into Julia's personal Profile Journey with her podcast, and how she has used her understanding of the journey to work effectively. Enjoy!

“I didn’t even realize that it was happening to me until I looked back and then I realized it had naturally unfolded.”

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~Learn more about the Profile Journey in Coyote's Guide

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About Julia

Julia Talk is a pioneer, facilitator and mentor for a life and business in harmony with our inner nature, oriented towards love, vitality and joy. A deep longing for healthy and vibrant ecosystems and a healthy and fulfilled human existence, has shaped her life path. Being mentored in deep nature connection, nature-based ritual work and connective leadership, Julia started to connect fields that are usually not in harmony: life and business. As a mentor, she brings together nature connection and nature-connected ritual work with appreciative business and creates spaces for connection. With her Sacred Business she provides inspiration, direction and opportunities for creating projects and new ventures with natural patterns and principles that build living systems and healthy relationships among people and with the natural world.

Podcast fürs Leben (engl. Podcast for Life)

Website

Master thesis translating the 8-Shields Model in the field of economy and business:

“Analyzing the potentials of an Appreciative Economy for creating regenerative socio-economic systems exemplified by the companies Circlewise and Sonett“

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Visit Living Connection 1st for more information about our work in nature connection and people connection.

"Gravity is not just a force of physics. It is a living force, a force in the world that shapes us. And in that way, we can think of it as an old god, or a fierce god, or a wild god. It’s something very deep that literally shapes the alignment of everything in the universe. That’s a powerful thing. And yet is an everyday and mundane thing."

In this episode, Jon is joined by Dr. Bill Sutherland as they explore the effects of gravity on motion. Together they reflect on the subtle and not-so-subtle forces that act on our movements everyday, what happens when we shift our relationship to gravity, and how our movements can effect our awareness of the world around us. This conversation is sure to effect the way you think about your own movement and relationship to gravity. Enjoy!

You can check out Bill's website here https://www.complexitymedicine.org/ or you can reach out to us directly if you're interested in connecting with Bill.

Visit Living Connection 1st for more information about our work in nature connection and people connection.

We're taking a little break this week to enjoy the summer, and we invite you to do the same. Take the time you might have spent listening to this podcast and find a quiet place to sit and listen.

Move slowly on your way to and from that place.

Open your senses and tune into to what you notice around you.

Take a few minutes afterwards with a journal and reflect: what role does pausing play in your life right now? What are the benefits you get from it? What would it be like to add little more pause into each day?

Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time.

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Visit Living Connection 1st for more information about our work in nature connection and people connection.

"Get down to the height of the fox and see through the fox’s eyes and I bet you’ll be able to find the next track."

This is the second episode in our series on the Core Routines, which Jon first wrote about in Coyote's Guide, all about Animal Forms and imitation. We share stories about how animal forms show up in the San culture and other indigenous cultures, how imitation is a natural part of human development, and about the role imitation plays in tracking, communication, movement, storytelling, sports, and even music. Enjoy!

Visit Living Connection 1st for more information about our work in nature connection and people connection.

"Tracking is like dancing because your body is happy. You can feel it in the dance. It tells you the hunt will be good."

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“You want that part of you that can feel the dance to be in the driver’s seat, and the thinking mind in the passenger seat.”

This is the first episode in our series dedicated to discussing the Attributes of Connection. We look at the Quiet Mind. What do we mean by having a quiet mind? How can we tell when we're in the quiet mind? What are the benefits of a quiet mind? How do we practice and deepen our ability to have a quiet mind?Jon, Sarah, and Aidan share stories of their own experiences and get curious about these questions. You won't want to miss this one.

"Tracking is really just us having questions that are coming from that core childlike place inside of us."

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Bird Language is one of the best ways to develop a quiet mind. Jon shares about bird language in the 512 Project videos (link below), and gets really in-depth in his book What The Robin Knows.

Check out the 512 Project Ring 1

This 8 part video series features Jon Young teaching and sharing stories about Sit Spot and seven other Cultural Elements - ways in which healthy cultures foster and promote connection to nature and other people.

1. Greeting Customs

2. Errands

3. Peer Bonding

4. Sit Spot

5. Culture of Allowance

6. Wiping Off the Road Dust

7. Sensitive Conduct

8. Bird Language

"Start to become aware of the need to be aware"

This is the first of several episodes where we will explore the Core Routines for Connection. Today, we look at the sit spot routine, which may be the most important routine of all. Jon, Sarah, and Aidan reflect on their own experiences of going to their sit spot, the challenges they faced, the lessons they learned, and what they have taken with them from those experiences.

"When I first went to my sit spot, I didn't even know there was a chipmunk. Then when I slowed myself down, and learned to move from the animals, I would see that chipmunk in the distance run down its hole and make a noise. Then over time he wouldn't run away, and sometimes I would arrive at my sit spot and he would be sitting there eating."

We also provide some ideas for how to establish the routine for yourself, whether you live in an urban setting, have limited time, or are trying to include your children in the routine. Sit spot can take many forms, and the long term benefits you get from committing to making space and time for the routine are worth it.

“The way that I started back into the rhythm of [sit spot] as an adult was I said 'I'll just go there for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, however long it is,' and over time it became a very organic unfolding of the true desire to be there.”

Interested in Learning More About Sit Spot?

Check out the 512 Project Ring 1

This 8 part video series features Jon Young teaching and sharing stories about Sit Spot and seven other Cultural Elements - ways in which healthy cultures foster and promote connection to nature and other people.

1. Greeting Customs

2. Errands

3. Peer Bonding

4. Sit Spot

5. Culture of Allowance

6. Wiping Off the Road Dust

7. Sensitive Conduct

8. Bird Language

Visit Living Connection 1st for more information about our work in nature connection and people connection.

“We need to build a bridge between where we are and where our future generations need us to be.”

In this episode, Shore Charnoe shares how growing up in connection with nature led to her developing the attributes of connection, and how she supports others to develop them as well. She tells us the four core practices that she believes lead to the most connection over time, practices that each of us can start today. Shore also gives us a behind the scenes look into the design of her summer gathering, Rekindling Connection, which is based on 8 Shields principles and has evolved to maximize the opportunity for participants to experience a culture of connection firsthand.

“Shift your attention to a place of curiosity and receptivity. Go in there adventuring the same way that those children could experience it, and let’s just see what happens.”

About Shore Charnoe

Shore has had a private counseling practice since 1994. As a traditional counselor, helper, and social worker, she has directed several community clinics and many highly-effective community helping programs. These programs have focused on at-risk youth and have included suicide prevention, apprehension prevention, parenting skills, lifeskills, adoption facilitation and short- and long-term foster care. She has helped foster, raise and mentor over 100 children. She is a mother of eleven adopted and biological children and a grandmother of six. A number of her adoptive children were born with fetal alcohol syndrome and came from abusive homes where they were victims of severe abuse, neglect, and trauma. She has been a consultant for child welfare organizations.

She credits much of her effectiveness to the lessons she has learned from over 20 Indigenous Elders. To name just a few specifically:

She studied for 10 years under the Odawa Medewin Elder Eddie King.

Shore’s husband and partner, Richard Szponarski, was a student of Eddie King for over 30 years.

She took her degree in Indigenous Social Work through First Nations Technical Institute under the direction of Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell) , an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Elder; Katsitsiase, also known as Betty Maracle, a Bear Clan Grandmother of the Mohawk Nation, Elder and Wisdom Keeper, and Ben Carniol, who was a Holocaust Survivor, social activist and author.

Shore also studied language and traditional stories with Basil Johnson, an Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) Elder.

Shore’s unique gift and skill is her ability to make the lessons she learned from these and many other Elders accessible to others. She has a deep gratitude and love for all the Elders and their teachings.

Learn more about the Rekindling Connection gathering

Show Notes

You can view the full show notes on our Living Connection 1st site

Visit https://www.livingconnection1st.net/ for more information about our work in nature connection and people connection.