"There's a moment, as a mentor, where you have to recognize, 'I'm more interested in this than they are. And in that moment, if you push, you can actually push them in the opposite direction.'"

In this conversation, Jon, Sarah, and Aidan reflect on what it means to be "tracking connections." They share about what connection feels like in different situations, how to notice it in others, and the benefits of prioritizing connection in our work, family, and personal lives. They also share some stories about what can happen when we don't prioritize connection and the impacts that disconnection can have.

"He said to us, 'I have never seen a team come together with such unity, such creativity, so much ingenuity, and such productivity; you put these other company cultures to shame. Now I see the value in connecting first.'"

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

In this conversation, Brian Knittel shares stories and design principles learned from his ten years at the Bay Area Tracking Club. Brian shares what it was like to experience the 8 Shields principles at work from the student perspective in the beginning, and then his observations as he grew to be a station guide and then leader of the club. We hear from Brian and Jon about the finer points of using the Art of Questioning to facilitate the tracking journey, including how it relates to how the San people still train trackers to this day. If you are interested in tracking, or interested in starting any sort of group based around learning nature together, you won't want to miss this episode.

"That was really the biggest draw for me; turning that curiosity on and getting people excited to learn more.”

About Brian Knittel

Brian Knittel’s professional career was as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. He has been on a lifelong journey of spiritual exploration and nature connection.

His journey deepened when he started searching for ways to explain spirituality to his young kids and found Tom Brown Jr.'s books, which sparked a series of "Aha!" moments. He resonated deeply with Tom's teachings and has been training at the Tracker School since 2000. Once he found Jon Young’s work he trained intensively in the Kamana Naturalist journey and the 8 Shields model. He is a long time wildlife tracker and helped lead a vibrant Tracking Club on the California coast for close to a decade.

He is deeply involved in these lineages, taking classes, mentoring others, and has been on a path towards Elderhood. Helping people learn about the essential nature of core routines, community building, and living in harmony with nature brings him immense joy. He has been a leader of groups within the Mankind Project, mentoring heart-centered men on a personal growth path, which has further shaped his beliefs about the importance of cultivating a state of personal peace.

Today, he uses many healing methods – Shamanic, elements of power, nature connection, and more – to help others find their own paths to peace and well-being. His vision is to create a world filled with love, healing, deep connection, and a deep respect for Mother Earth.

He lives in Mendocino, California with his amazing partner Amanda, who shares his passions for healing and nature. They have a blended family of four wonderful children, and when he's not exploring the natural world or helping others, you might find him practicing martial arts – something he's been passionate about for over 30 years.

He's excited to share his experiences with others, exploring the world of spirituality, nature connection, and living a life of purpose and joy together.

About Bay Area Tracking Club

Bay Area Tracking Club meets on the second Sunday of each month from 8am-11am. Locations change based on where the great tracks can be found, although our home base and most consistent venue is at Gazos Creek State Beach on the San Mateo County coast.

Connect with Bay Area Tracking Club on Facebook to learn more

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

Learn more about what Joël is up to:

Connect with Joël by email: jdubois@csus.edu

"Acorn Assembly" Backyard Naturalists https://acornassembly.wordpress.com/

This is the very simple wordpress site we use to inform people about our local “Backyard Naturalists” meetings, mentioned in the podcast, which also has a way for people to contact me. (FYI, the name “Acorn Assembly” was proposed by a group member who had no knowledge of the Acorn terminology used for team-building/facilitation at 8 Shields events—an interesting synchronicity!)

Online portfolio of classroom activities https://portfolium.com/jdubois/portfolio

This is the site I use to model for students how to showcase their work with the kind of hands-on activities I mentioned in the podcast; the “Connections” tab links to students' own representations of their work.

Internal Family Systems Trainings https://ifs-institute.com/practitioners/all/96565

This is my practitioner listing for Internal Family Systems (IFS) on the IFS Institute site, which also links to resources about this method of working with parts and self. I didn’t go into much detail about this way of working during the podcast but thought I’d provide it as a reference—unless you think this might be best left for a follow-up podcast at some point.

Book - Hidden Lives of Brahman https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-Hidden-Lives-of-Brahman

My academic book, “Hidden Lives of Brahman,” showcases my research in traditional Brahmin schools in India, mentioned briefly at the outside of the podcast. My ethnographic approach to the topic actually has a lot in common with the way I approach village building!

Laurence Cole

When speaking of the power of music to draw people together, I reference Laurence Cole’s website (http://www.laurencecole.com/album/) and thought others might want to draw on it.

Braver Angels (braverangels.org)

​Braver Angels provides community facilitation tools to host gatherings that provide a welcoming space and prompts for conversation between people on opposing sides of the political spectrum. At first glance this probably seems like the opposite of what’s needed to build connection, yet the emphasis on focused listening to each other's' life experiences, with pauses for reflecting back what one hears, is one of the most powerful forms of "culture of allowance" that I've experienced, which also benefits from work drawing on 8 Shield archetypes for facilitation.

https://sites.google.com/braverangels.org/fieldops/field-leadership/alliances

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