|  There’s a different beauty of the land, a deeper and far more lively beauty, that we have largely forfeited. To know this beauty requires more than eyes alone and can’t be done at a distance. It takes legs and sweat, hard breathing and time. It requires that we approach the land on its own terms, that we enter it respectfully and yield ourselves to its presence. The beauty I mean is not prettiness or sublimity, not grace or loveliness of form necessarily, but simply the land as it is in its singular wholeness, as nature made it and is making it now. . . All of us feel some stirring for it, some twitch or flood of yearning. On film or in words like these, it fades and cheapens. Only the wild land itself can give us its full measure, and renew our love for it, and show us how it lives within ourselves.
— John Daniel The following are briefer workshops and seminars presented by Wilderness Drum, Inc., around the Chicago area and elsewhere. Check the home page for announcements of times and places.  Wilderness Survival Learn to come back alive. A lot of things can go wrong in the woods; you can become injured, sick, lost, or trapped by nasty weather. In most cases, when you don’t return when scheduled, all you need to do is stay alive for the seventy-two hours it takes to be found. This presentation, lasting about ninety minutes, covers what you need to know – survival equipment, skills, and attitudes – in order to stay alive in the wilderness.
Introduction to the Vision Fast Are you looking for the next step in your personal growth? The contemporary vision fast has become an important means of personal growth and healing. This hour-long presentation sets out the basics of the contemporary vision fast or vision quest – how it works, why people do it, its potential risks and hardships, and what you can get out of it. Daily Life as a Vision Quest Bring the wilderness into the everyday. You don’t have to fast for four days and nights in the wilderness to undertake a vision quest. You can do it anywhere you can carve out sacred time and space for solitude in nature. Even more, it is possible to turn your everyday life into a vision quest, seeking contact with the spirits of the place where you happen to be, and using the lessons of the vision fast in your daily work and relationships. This hour-long presentation shows how to turn your daily life into a quest and an adventure. Playing the Native American Flute The spirit can be carried on wind and wood. You can take lessons in playing this hauntingly beautiful instrument, from beginning to advanced, in workshop format – breathing, centering, fingering, ornamentation, finding the music inside yourself, letting the spirit of the flute play through you. Carrying Council Learn to listen with your soul. The idea of council is very simple, and can be described in a few sentences. In council, people sit in a circle, and pass around what is called a talking stick. Whoever holds the talking stick talks, and everybody else listens. There are no interruptions, no questions, no challenges, no comments. People speak one at a time, in turn, honestly from their hearts, and listen devoutly from their hearts to each person who speaks. The effect can be miraculous. This workshop covers the basic procedures for creating council wherever you are, and how being a carrier of council can become a spiritual path. Closer to the Earth The wilderness will sing to you when you learn to listen to its music. This two-day workshop is a series of presentations, discussions, and experiential exercises on nature awareness and appreciation, in which we develop our observational skills, expand our senses, develop ecological understanding, enter into dialogue with the natural world, come into contact with the spirits of the wilderness, form a deeply personal relationship with nature, and find our true place among the creatures of the wilderness. Medicine Walk Take a one-day journey into the heart of nature. This workshop can be as short as a day or as long as three days. The medicine walk is a day's journey upon the face of the earth, a way to reconnect ourselves with the living presences around us, retrieve lost and hidden aspects of our life stories, and learn to receive the messages sent to us by the spirits of the wilderness. The medicine walk is a mirror which reflects signs and symbols of our inward journey. Rituals, ceremonies, and shamanic journeys help us purify our intentions, seek out right relationships, and gain skill in listening to our best selves. The medicine walk is an exercise of balance and attunement. As you walk, you maintain connection with the beauty of life and the reality of death, as reflected by the world of nature; your experiences tell a mythic story in which you can discern your choices and your gifts. |
