Returning from a Retreat

Monday morning, checking out Facebook I notice I’m not the only one returning from something refreshing. Many friends have taken a last chance vacation to another state—literally and figuratively. Some have gone to Dance Camp and, like me, are posing the question: how can I/we return to the same job/situation/space having just experienced a reconnection with a bigger sense of this thing we call Self? I don’t have an answer but I know that it has to do with staying connected to nature and to each other … authentically.

I’ve just “communed” in nature with eight strangers for 4 days as part of the Institute for Natural Leadership's Nature as Mentor: Caring for Self, Community and Place. We all showed up in order to learn how to let nature be our mentor and left experiencing a deep connection with one another because we all made a natural connection to ourselves. We dreamed, drummed, danced, and did dishes. We walked alone in the woods often and at night in complete darkness. We sat and shared and spoke about our experiences. We ate together and sang together and held hands. We remembered being children. In the process we found messages from grasshopper, spider, bee, lightening bug, and big mushroom-eating cricket. We even felt connected to the gunshots we heard each day from the range just outside of “our” space up on the mountain. And we knew we may struggle to stay connected to nature on our returns home.

In the informal discussions about how to be a bridge in whatever capacity we needed to be--so that we remained one, complete, whole person in each of the areas of life that we have relationships--we shared jokes and thoughts like: "should I carry a smudge stick in my briefcase?" It was interesting to see twists on reality unfold and the symbolism from the dreamspace transfer to the waking space, among other great ideas and wordplays.

One of the coolest things we did the first night after our opening ceremony seemed to occur spontaneously as we sat by the roaring fire in the middle of a field. Our wilderness guide extraordinaire, Beverly a.k.a Flo, invited all of us to give ourselves a new name that we would become for the next three days. Exploring issues of individual identity is a key component of connecting with nature and the natural state of others.

So as I sit at this computer—which at this moment feels like the antithesis of nature—I struggle. But, gratefully, I know I am not alone, even though I may often feel disconnected. And while I already have pictures of nature throughout my office, including a great picture of Moose, I’m thinking of adding a few small plants and letting other ideas germinate in the back of my mind. The real effort to successfully hold onto the connection, for me, will be in remembering that we are all very similar, just occupying different spaces moment to moment. And to remember, I will need to tell and retell stories of connection…something I am not familiar with, like unexplored wilderness.