Ecotherapy and ecopsychology help us see and define both the wound of our severed belonging with earth, and enable its repair. Though we are not truly severed, as anyone who eats and breathes knows on some level, still, there is a growing perception of loss in terms of our place on earth, as well as identifiable physical loss to the organic worlds of plants and animals--the "more than human world." This absence of contact and connection has created a sense of not-belonging anywhere--and of not being part of the ecological systems of the earth. In this way, humans fail to sense the impact we have on our ecosystem--even as we sense the psychic loss and act out in its wake.

Unrelated to our ecosystems, we spin in a self-absorbed cocoon, with our isolated selves at center, looking for what is wrong with us. We reach and grab and ignore how all such attempts to fill our growing chasm of loss actually just increase its depths. Ecotherapy and its academic relative, ecopsychology identify and name our perceived severed belonging, describe it, and then bring into practice real skills to re-establish our place in the ecological systems in ways that sustain and heal both ourselves, and our environment. 

What you will experience

For individual clients, we share six sessions together. In these sessions you will work through each of the six primary "root" senses and their domains (the sixth sense is the mind--it's domain is thinking). We will find ways to engage with three main areas of practice in each of these sense domains. (Contemplative, Active, and Service). For instance, Contemplative Immersion will include sense awakenings and outdoor sitting, Active Immersions may include meditative walking, writing, plein air drawing, natural movement, and Service Immersions can include conscious political engagement, and earthgrief. We will pull from your own life and aptitudes the areas you work with best, and help you come up with a plan for regular, sustained contact with the more than human world.  In our camping retreats, we do the same work, but are able to build energy more quickly to complete three of the domains. The second set of domains can be completed in a second retreat.