Worldviews and Lifeways

This segment of the course focuses on a deepening examination of the cultural orientation each of us brings to the conversation of our collective growth and healing. We will create space to hear personal and traditional stories from three generations of the Kalapuya people native to the land on which we will be learning. Indigenous elders, teachers, and students from other regions of what we now commonly refer to as the United States and beyond will share a variety of cultural perspectives through song, story, crafts, and more. 

There will also be a segment of the course dedicated to crafting and sharing our own stories and cultural orientation as a means of cultivating mutual understanding of and compassion for our individual and collective struggles.

 Resilience and ancestral skills

Here we will learn and practice the basic skills that lead to our independence from corporate / industrial systems that so often mediate our relationships to the gifts of the earth and the labor of those who craft them into goods and resources. We will explore different methods of food preservation from pickling and fermentation of fruits and vegetables to drying and curing meats and herbs. We will also cover ethical wildcrafting and medicine making (poultices, infusions, decoctions, tinctures, and cells), clothing and shelter.

Creative arts and well-being

Alternating weekly between personal creative explorations and interpersonal wellness practices.  We will engage a fuller experience and expression through all the senses of the body through sound healing, visual arts, song crafting and somatic movement. This space will also be your opportunity to explore another level of human connection through wisdom council, Zegg forum, triads and sacred ceremony.

 Interdependent social dynamics

Classes within this segment of the course will focus on communication skills. We will explore power dynamics within group settings and apply modalities such as nonviolent and compassionate communication to support mutual upliftment and empowerment. 

We will learn to more skillfully navigate conflict throughout all levels of community, from interpersonal family dynamics and work challenges to International political dialogue through the practices of conflict resolution, restorative justice, group facilitation and mediation. We will also explore consent, consensus, and coercion within the context of self-governance and cooperative lifeways.

 Alternative Economics

How do we value one another within the context of modern economic systems? Here we will examine our core assumptions of how our economy works and look at existing alternatives. We will look at micro-businesses economics, Ubuntu, inter-community currencies, crypto currency, trade and barter systems, the gift economy and Indigenous economies of the past and in modern society.

Land & Garden

Land & Garden projects are the ideal opportunity to engage in experiential learning in the soils and forest groves that nourish both our crops and our bodies . We explore modern and ancient practices of social forestry, while restoring oak savanna through prescribed burning, biochar production, and selective thinning, learning about the webs of relationships between flora, fauna and fungi throughout our woodlands, edge zone agroforestry projects, forest, creek, and meadow gardens, and orchards. Some of the topics we will cover throughout the course include: compost teas, vermiculture, soil amendments, nutrient cycling, probiotic farming, natural localized fertilizers,mineral and biological extracts and ferments, harvesting and preservation and so much more!

Nature immersion/Wilderness Awareness

This is your opportunity to open up the wisdom and guidance of the primary teacher throughout the course of our lives, the natural world. Here we are introduced to the art and science of wilderness survival.  Through working with our senses, we learn how to identify and locate wild animals and edible/medicinal plants, how to harvest fire from the land and how to orient and navigate in the wild without maps or compass.  

As we dig deeper into these ancient practices we uncover skills and tools directly applicable to all aspects of our modern lives. Patience, strength, humility, and an ever-deepening attunement to an intelligence far deeper than our own that can only be uncovered through direct and prolonged relationship with the elements that support and sustain us.  The practices in this segment of the course open a doorway and serve as a continual reminder that our lungs are tied to the forests of this Earth no less intimately than the tree roots are to the soils that feed them.

Morning Wellness fundamentals

Qi gong, Taiji, yoga, meditation, and breathwork: Lost to much of the Western world until recent decades, the practices of aligning mind and spirit through focused concentration on movements of the body and breath help us more consciously feel the flow of energy and ecological interdependence of life. Expand the depth of your current practice or learn a new one.

Rest and digest

Rest and digest is an invitation to give your adrenals a break and honor your body's natural circadian rhythm and cortisol cycle.  Step back into deeper awareness of your inner world through dark stillness with restorative meditations, yin yoga and collective rest.