Living the Cycle: Nature, Will & the Full Spectrum of Being Human

In this tender and wide-ranging conversation, Grief Walker Aralyn Doiron joins Marina to explore how facing death, feeling our grief and remembering our ancestors can bring us more fully alive. Topics include: First encounters with death: Aralyn and Marina share childhood memories of loss, from standing at the casket of an eight-year-old neighbour to being kept away from a grandparent’s funeral. Why death became hidden: removing death from everyday life, and handing it to professionals, removes part of our nature. Avoiding death separates us from nature, because everything in nature dies, even mountains. Death contemplation as a path to aliveness: two decades of Buddhist practice taught Aralyn that accepting impermanence isn’t morbid. It makes everything more precious. Elders at the centre of the village: in many Indigenous cultures it’s the elders, not the children, who are at the centre, the ancestors remain a living presence, and death can be an advisor, as in Mexican tradition. From Deathwalker to Grief walker: grief is the doorway to full aliveness, and the undefended heart, the one that can be broken by life, may be what saves us. Why “keep calm and carry on” costs us so much. Emotional literacy starts with adults: children learn from our behaviour, not our words. Aralyn explains feelings as energy and information, the difference between present-moment feelings and old emotional stories, and anger as pure life force (including her local “Rage Club”). One minute a day: a simple practice of being 100% okay with whatever you feel, and the story of a dying mother’s words: “For my whole life I thought there was something wrong with me. What a waste.” Art that comes through the back door: Aralyn’s image of the guarded front door and the open kitchen, how art and grief reach the heart, and her new project, Grievolution – not yet created!! A Knock on the Door: inside Aralyn’s four-day immersion where participants rehearse their death, including a Last Supper shared with an ancestor and ten minutes spent with a single olive. Aloneness and loneliness: David Whyte’s poem Everything Is Waiting for You, and remembering that the tree you lean on is leaning back. Passengers or participants: guilt versus remorse, the Hawaiian practice of Ho’oponopono, stepping into Brené Brown’s “arena”, and valuing honest feedback from the people who have your back. Rites of passage for our times: Aralyn’s work with Tides in New Zealand, and why marking thresholds such as birth, death, the seasons and friendships helps us live more consciously

In this episode I'm looking back on our Circle of Life Rediscovery 'Green Health Virtual Gathering, Embedding Nature in Practice – From Vision to Delivery'. It brought together psychiatrists, a GP, psychotherapists, nurses and NHS teams to explore one idea: nature is a co-healer alongside people, and the healing happens in relationship, with each other and with the land. Topics include: • Reflection on the gathering and what happens within the Health service! • Why "just go outside" isn't enough. The outdoors isn't the intervention; it's a partner in it. • Person-centred practice built on invitations rather than prescriptions, and why no two sessions should look the same. • Dr Hannah Sherbersky on how we already are nature, and why the work has to respect people's different histories with the land. • Contributions from Dr Shuo Zhang! • Roger Duncan's three gateways to deep nature connection, and his warning against the "green pill". • Can relational, person-centred work be evaluated? (Yes. Here's how.) Find out more about the speakers Dr Hannah Sherbersky, family and systemic psychotherapist, University of Exeter: https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/therapist/Hannah-Sherbersky-iAgk6AAC Hannah and Roger's programme at Exeter: https://store.exeter.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-health-and-life-sciences/psychology/cedar-create-eco-systemic-psychotherapy-deep-nature-connection Dr Shuo Zhang, child and adolescent psychiatrist, King's College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/clinic-to-research-tackling-mental-health-disparities https://www.acamh.org/author/dr-shuo-zhang/ Dr Ralph Mortimer Roome, Brighton GP: https://www.greenerpractice.co.uk/ Show Notes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/nature-as-healer-in-health-and-care/ Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.

In this episode, Marina looks back at the questions that came up at the *Outside for Everyone* webinar and asks why we adults find it so hard to take learning outdoors, and what we can do about it. In this episode: Why experiential learning sticks, and why we still find it so hard to take education outside "Backlinking": Juliet Robertson's idea of offering hands-on outdoor activities and linking them to the curriculum afterwards How outdoor learning fits the early years, primary and secondary curriculum, from mud kitchens and story stones to measuring trees with trigonometry Climate education in practice: soil tests, watching the weather with the Beaufort scale, plant surveys and growing food Tool use, vocational skills and confidence, and why hands-on skills matter for future careers Contribution as a core part of belonging and wellbeing What research on autistic children at Forest School tells us: the adults' attitudes can make or break a session Why our practice is about relationship, not activity: consent-based practice, mutual dignity and humility Do you need a qualification to take learning outdoors? (No, but you do need to be competent, reflect on your practice and carry out risk-benefit assessments) Worried about losing control? How routines, rituals and clear boundaries help, and how to help children explain their thinking Shaping the session around the learner, not the learner around the session, with nature as the "third actor" Starting small with five-minute activities, managing large class ratios and giving teenagers real-life experiences (including the new Natural History GCSE)

In this 100th episode of The Wild Minds Podcast, I'm in discussion with Michael James and Stefania Donzelli. We explore what Forest School and autism can teach us about difference, belonging, relationship and the ways we create environments where people can genuinely be themselves. We discuss: Why autism is far more than a diagnostic category, and what changes when we listen to autistic people’s own experiences and perspectives. Moving beyond the deficit model and questioning the assumptions of neuro-normativity. Forest School as a micro-community where relationships, trust, autonomy and belonging can create different possibilities. The triangle of trust between practitioner, participant and environment and why all three matter. The social model of disability and how barriers can sometimes sit in our environments, communication and expectations rather than in the individual. Sensory differences and the outdoor environment, including why nature itself may need to be adapted rather than treated as something fixed and untouchable. The importance of flexibility, communication and listening - recognising that the participant may be the greatest expert in their own experience. Power and authority in Forest School, and what happens when we create spaces where people can question, negotiate and do things differently. Intersectionality and Universal Design for Learning, and the value of anticipating different ways of participating, communicating and expressing ourselves. Nature as an active participant, including a beautiful story about a non-speaking child, a wisteria and the possibility of seeing behaviour differently. The importance of place, repeated encounters and embodied experience, and what the woods can offer beyond a prescribed programme of activities. Curiosity, disagreement and connection in a polarised world, and why sometimes the answer might be to go to the woods, light a fire, have a cuppa and talk.

Welcome to episode 99 which was recorded in the middle of a sleepless night. A quiet, unscripted reflection on gratitude, grief, wildness and the autumn question of what needs pruning and what is ready to be harvested. In this episode: Begins with a gratitude practice for the stillness of the night, for time, and for simply being present. Reads Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese and reflects on letting “the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” Marina sits with grief and unease about the climate crisis, noticing dry ground, stressed trees and early leaf-drop in the woods. Explores the autumn equinox as a moment of balance between light and dark, and what that might mirror in our own lives. Shares a simple woodland practice using rowan berries to notice where life feels in balance and where it does not. Reflects on grounding through the senses, including getting to know the soil while imagining a future forest garden. Uses the image of pruning an apple tree to ask what habits, patterns or inherited ways of being may need cutting back. Considers wildness not as chaos, but as something that can liberate us while still asking for care, attention and tending. Looks ahead to Episode 100, a conversation with Michael and Stefania on inclusion, neurodivergence and autism in Forest School practice.