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OUR APPROACH

A bit about what informs the way we craft & facilitate our experiences

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Relational Learning Rooted in a Place

Learning is the essence of life. Every being naturally thrives in conditions of healthy learning and growth. For humans, our natural lifelong drive to pay attention, curiously explore, imagine, create, experiment is fueled by our yearning to learn.

 

In our colonialist-capitalist culture learning has been largely reduced to rote consumption. An “industry” related to transmitting what is known from someone who knows it to someone who doesn’t. This type of learning can be helpful, even empowering - we use “how to” videos all the time to figure out how to fix our tractor or install a farm gate. 

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It's just not agile or imaginative enough for our times.

We're living in a big moment  asking something of us that's never been asked of humans.

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We're passionate about a kind of learning that inspires us to go somewhere new, somewhere that unravels what we think we know, calls us  to work in partnership with a wider field of intelligence, a space where we engage through thoughtful interactions. A kind of learning that is rooted in nature and our relationship with not only each other but the more-than-humans too.

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We need to become more intentional about enabling learning that happens in interactions with others. We need a way of learning forged in the anvil of practice, that we can use to advance individuals, groups, communities and organizations caring to make a difference. 

~ Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner
Learning to Make a Difference

Learning that calls to your brave heart

Developing Deeper Relational Capacity

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We combine radical safety with a bold call to face the challenges of our time and follow feelings of restlessness and concern to discover how to unearth and compost colonialist-capitalist patterns keeping us small and separate. We believe that if we follow this thread, using a form of nature-based social learning, we can develop the capacity to reimagine a more regenerative, loving way of being with life.

 

With no promises of assured outcomes, our approach also honours the insight and experience each participant brings. Wild Learning is an invitation to explore what it means for you to be alive today, acknowledge the fullness of this moment, and positively contribute to the challenges of these times as only you can.

Horses As Our Guide

Our approach is inspired by the curious and deeply present nature of our equine partners and their ability to attune to the mystery and intelligence of the animate world. Our relationship with the herd is the foundation and source of all we offer.

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Every day, 365 days a year, we spend hours of slow-time out with the horses, donkey, sheep, wild ones, and land exploring and inquiring with them, learning from them, sharing in what poet David Whyte calls “the conversational nature of reality” ... 11,000 hours and counting. 

 

There are also so many incredible humans we learn from. We draw from a variety of perspectives and disciplines - from trauma-sensitive mindfulness, nature-based expressive arts, equine facilitated learning, ecotherapy, cultural activism, along with our extensive expertise in relational learning. Through decades of practice and experience, we offer a shared exploration of diverse ways of being, relating and deepening our connection with self and others.

Our Human Inspiration

Our teachers, whose work both challenges and calls us to go deeper, include: 

 

  • David Abram (The Spell of The Sensuous and Becoming Animal), 

  • Linda Buzzell, Ph.D. (Ecotherapy: healing with nature in mind), 

  • Stephen Jenkinson (Orphan Wisdom School), 

  • Joanna Macy and The Work That Reconnects Facilitator team, 

  • Cathy Malchiodi, Ph.D. (Trauma-informed Expressive Arts Therapy), 

  • Bill Plotkin, Ph.D. (Nature and the Human Mind, Animus Valley Institute), 

  • David Treleaven, Ph.D. (Trauma-sensitive Mindfulness), 

  • Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner (Learning to Make a Difference).

We are also indebted to many Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, activists, scholars and friends who have chosen to educate settlers by sharing the wisdom of their culture, including:

 

  • Barbara Brant, Mohawk, Turtle Clan, Tyendinaga First Nation

  • John Henri Commanda, Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Eagle Clan, Dokis First Nation

  • Jo Chrona, Kitsumkalum First Nation

  • Aimée Craft, Ph.D., Anishinaabe-Métis, Associate Professor at the Faculty Law, University of Ottawa  

  • Teddy Johnston, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation

  • Robin Wall Kimmemer, Ph.D., Citizen Potawatomi Nation and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology

  • Arthur Manuel, Secwepemc Nation 

  • Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, University of Notre Dame

  • Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), Oglala Lakota & member of the Medicine Horse Tiospaye

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