School of the Wild
  • Home
  • About
  • Leaders
  • Teams
  • Journal
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

Fieldwork

Team Building Away Days, Outdoor Events, & Stories From the Wild

How we made meaning from a night walk

6/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
When I started School of the Wild back in 2014, I was having a bit of a crisis. I’d spent the best part of a decade sitting in front of a screen, running an e-commerce business, and it wasn’t going too well.

Sales were declining. The pressure was mounting. I’d lost my way and my purpose… it was very stressful. In the end I opted to close that business down.

And then I discovered nature.

Spending time in the woods, and sitting around a fire was a revelation. It felt like coming home.

I noticed that my stress levels went down, my energy went up, and the barriers fell away in the woods, leading to all sorts of connections, meaningful conversations, and new ideas.



sitting around a fire was a revelation. It felt like coming home

Since those early days at the beginning of School of the Wild, we’ve run all sorts of activities, like foraging, medicine walks, making fires, whittling…

And I’ve discovered all sorts of things I’d had no idea about: like which tree bark makes the best tinder, why nettles are a great remedy for stress, and how to use nature to help you find answers to questions of how you live and work.

More recently we’ve been working with purpose-driven organisations to harness the benefits of spending time around a fire in the woods, to bring teams together and to have meaningful conversations that impact on how they work and what they do.

It’s interesting, rewarding work, and a lot of fun.

A few weeks ago, we hosted a series of sessions for the US podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, who’d brought a group of twenty of their listeners to Sussex.

On their last night, I led the group on a silent, no-torches night walk up onto the Downs.

It fit with the central themes of their programme: of being lost and finding your way, of feeling safe in dark places, of trust - in your self and other people, and helping each other.

As we entered a dark tree-lined path on the way up, pheasants flushed out of the blackness, calling noisily, surprising us all. The rest of the path up the hill is wide open and steep, we stop a few times to gaze at the view of Sussex behind us with its twinkling lights, and to feel the quietness of the land at night.

At the top, there are dark clouds but it’s not too windy.

We stop. The group leader reads a passage from a Harry Potter book. People spread out to sink into the silence - it is profound.

I have a visceral experience of stillness, of peace.

The moon appears, like a beacon of hope. Moved, someone starts sobbing.

Walking down again along a winding paved road, it’s really dark. On a solo test walk of the route, I’d totally freaked myself out on this road, imagining that someone was following me in the dark. (They weren’t.) With the group I feel that same fear but not as strong.

At the bottom, the land opens out, it’s lighter and spacious, and the fear disappears. I love seeing the hill and its familiar shape.

One more really dark bit to navigate and then we’re home.

Afterwards standing in a circle, someone says they could tune their heartbeat with the wind.

Night walks are a special experience. A chance for the burble of daylight hours to subside, and the mysteries and the sounds and smells of the night, the wind, the moon, the stars, and the land to draw you closer. And to feel what you feel, and where you belong.

We have one more night walk this year - this time closer to Brighton. There's just a few spaces left.



As autumn moves into winter, join School of the Wild for a silent night time journey in gorgeous Brighton countryside on this guided night walk, ahead of Meaning conference.

This is pretty special and a chance to experience the land at night, walking in the dark without torches as part of a group, in a safe and supported way.
​
More Details and Tickets Here.

If you'd like something similar for your team, get in touch here.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Nigel Berman, School of the Wild

    Author & Curator

    Nigel Berman is the founder of School of the Wild.

    Blog HOme

    Categories

    All
    Art In Nature
    Away Days
    Birds
    Black Friday
    Brighton
    Bushcraft
    Campfire Conversations
    Camp Fire Cooking
    Case Study
    Ceremony
    Climate Change
    Courses
    Ecology
    Eco Psychology
    Embodiment
    Environment
    Film
    Fire
    Foraging
    Headspace
    Health
    Horses
    Inner Journey
    Land Art
    Leadership
    Man's Effect
    Medicine Walk
    Mindfulness
    Natural Navigation
    Nature
    Nature Connection
    Networking
    Night Walk
    Organisations In Nature
    Outdoor Events
    Outdoors
    Plants As Medicine
    Poetry
    Quotes
    Rewilding
    Ritual
    Sadness
    School Of The Wild
    Sensory Awareness
    Shamanic
    Shop
    Sit Spot
    Solstice
    South Downs
    Survival
    Sussex
    Talk
    Team Building In Nature
    The Wild
    Trees
    T-Shirt
    Video
    Walkshop
    Whittling
    Whittlng
    Wild Cocktails
    Wild Food
    Wild Swimming
    Wine

    Archives

    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    RSS Feed

Individuals

  • Classes​

Organisations

  • ​Team Building
  • For Leaders
  • Away Days
  • ​Why Nature
  • Guest Speaker
Picture
Picture

About Us

  • About 
  • Our Story
  • Blog​
  • ​Fieldwork​
  • Team

Support

  • Contact Us
  • ​FAQs
  • Reading List
  • Privacy ​
Picture
Picture

Sign up for News from the Wild:

By subscribing you agree to us sending you occasional emails with info about our services. Unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy
School of the Wild
​c/o ONCA, 14 St George's Place,
Brighton BN1 4GB
Tel: 07764 404992
​email: info@schoolofthewild.com
© COPYRIGHT 2015-2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
  • Leaders
  • Teams
  • Journal
  • Testimonials
  • Contact