Description
“There is an intimate reciprocity to the senses;
as we touch the bark of a tree, we feel the tree touching us;
as we lend our ears to the local sounds
and ally our nose to the seasonal scents,
the terrain gradually tunes us in turn.
The senses are the primary way earth has
of informing our thoughts and guiding our actions.”
~David Abram
EARTH INTIMACIES
A 6-week journey into reinhabiting the animate web of Life
We are not separate from the world—we are living threads within it.
Earth Intimacies is an apprenticeship—not to an idea, but to Life itself. To the slow intelligence of soil and season, to the language of the bodies, to the subtle conversations already unfolding between you and the more-than-human world.
Together, we practice listening and intentionally re-enter relationship—with the many presences that shape and hold us.
I slowed down and bent my ear to the ground
I had to give them what they asked for…
This third round deepens the apprenticeship.
We welcome new other-than-human kin to learn from, explore the intelligence of soundscapes, and begin to cultivate the capacity of becoming emergence-aware—the living mirror of being collapse-aware.
This is not about learning about the world. It is about learning with the world.
Open your skin to the textures of life
Open your ears to the heartbeat of things…
Over six weeks, we move through a living weave of themes:
Slowing enough to notice and deeply listen (“opening all our ears”)
Re-sensitizing the body as a portal of perception
Choose (and be chosen by) beings to whom you will apprentice
Re-whoing the animate world and attuning to natural cycles
Entering into relationship—with place, pattern, change, beauty, and mystery
Becoming participants in the unfolding
By the end, this is not something you complete. It is something that begins to live you differently.
Without trying, you touch everything
and everything touches you…
Our Journey:
Week 1: Slowing into the Intimate World
Theme: Pace, presence, and the body as portal
Apprenticeship: Slug + Water
Week 2: Re-whoing an Animate World
Theme: First Conversations and Symbiosis
Apprenticeship: Lichen + Mycelium
Week 3: Living the Cycles
Theme: Seasonal attunement & natural rhythms
Apprenticeship: Moon + your landscape
Week 4: Listening Fields
Theme: Deep Listening
Apprenticeship: Soundscapes + your landscape
Week 5: Bringing Wisdoms Back In
Theme: Cross-Pollination and Council of All Beings
Week 6: Imaginal and Emergent
Theme: Transformation and Trusting what is becoming
Apprenticeship: Butterfly + Emergence
Among the Foragings:
- Deepen ecospiritual intimacy through sacred relationships with other-than-human kin (including Water, lichen, mycelium, Moon, feathered friends, emergence, and more)
- Cultivate an earth-centered, purpose-anchored, and ecosensual way of living
- Grow your creative and relational “toybox” for engaging the living world
- Expand your capacity to listen, feel, and respond
Our Way of Working/Playing:
This is an interactive, experiential space. We gather in a style that is emergent, playful, curious, and honoring.
Each sesson weaves:
- Council and shared reflection
- Naturalist and place-based practices
- Somatic and soul-centered invitations
- Creative expression and integration
- Between-session practices with the landscape where you are
What you may notice along the way:
- a more intimate relationship with your body as a sensing, knowing instrument
- a deepened capacity to stay with what is real—within and around you
- renewed connection to the more-than-human world
- a more spacious relationship with grief, beauty, and belonging
- simple, grounded practices for ongoing relationship
- a subtle but unmistakable shift from observer → participant
Hello with the belly, hi with the eyes.
Not moving, but meeting and receiving…
The program includes:
- Six 2-hour live Zoom gatherings (small group, max 10 participants)
- Sense-based and soul-expanding practices to reconnect with inner and outer wild nature
- Optional one-on-one consultation support
- Private Signal group space for connection, sharing, and integration
- Paperback earth poetry book (one of the collections – your choice)
- Ecopsychology and naturalist resources
- Discount on future Wild Nature Heart offerings
PRACTICAL DETAILS:
When: 6 Thursdays — June 25-July 30
Time: 9:00am–11:00pm PT | 12:00pm–2:00pm EST | 5:00pm–7:00pm GMT
Where: Online (Zoom) + practices with your local landscape
*Maximum 10 participants to ensure an intimate experience.
EXCHANGE:
Recommended: $239
Sliding scale: $199–$299
Register on this page
Or you can also send payment via:
PayPal.me/WildNatureHeart
VENMO: RyanVanLenning
(note: “Earth” + your email)
Returning Wild Nature Heart participants: 20% off with code EARTHINTIMACY
Contact Ryan with questions: ryan@wildnatureheart.com
COME WITH KIN:
Bring a friend or loved one and you’ll each receive $25 off.
Some forms of intimacy deepen when they are shared.
(enter “buddies” in coupon field at checkout)
CLOSING INVITATION:
If something in you recognizes this—
not as an idea, but as a longing and quiet remembering—
you are already in conversation.
Come apprentice to Life.
About the Facilitator:
My name is Ryan Van Lenning, Founder of Wild Nature Heart, and I am an earth-lover with a deep desire to be of service in the work of re-connection, re-membering, and re-inhabiting the animate web of life. I started Wild Nature Heart to support people at a crossroads to re-connect with the wisdom of both inner and outer wild nature, to live their soul callings into the world, and to assist in the work of repairing broken belonging. I am a threshold guide and barbarian poet of the Great Turning (author of Re-Membering, From Inside These Wild Ones, One Bright and Real Caress, An Ambitious Silence, Trust the Ceremony, F*ck the Ceremony, and Trust the Ceremony, Then Yeses Come Bubbling, Within the Cave Something Pulses, and High-Cooing Through the Seasons: Haiku From the Forest. I am trained as a rite-of-passage/wilderness ceremony guide through the School of Lost Borders, certified as an Ecotherapist through The Earthbody Institute, where I teach the Level 1-3 ecotherapy courses, and am a Certified Wilderness First Responder through Foster Calm. Prior to moving to California 18 years ago, I taught Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Environmental Ethics at Sinclair College in Ohio. I live among the forest and rivers in northern California, ancestral Wiyot and Yurok land. I like cinnamon ice cream, fantastic fungi, and river ottering.
Recent Appreciations:
“Ryan created a welcoming environment that fostered a culture of connection, curiosity, and creativity. I so appreciated the passion that Ryan offered in his facilitation; he models to us the possibility of bravely taking steps to live our callings!” – Gemma A., Participant in Threshold: Earth Intimacies (Spring 2024)
“There were soo many valuable things. Encouragement and validation for my deepening relationship with the rest of the natural world. It took me deeper into myself and my connection to everything wild and breathing and alive… and I loved being in a small group of wilderness lovers and poetic travelers.” – Sky, Participant in Threshold: Earth Intimacies and the Great Turning (Spring 2024)
“Thank you for your dedication to this work and for modeling new/old ways of being in leadership and community! I gained a sense of companionship on the journey of exploring some of life and death’s biggest questions. The community formed in the group gave me a glimpse into how we can come together to unlearn, deconstruct, remember, and create more natural and balanced ways of being and relating. One of my biggest take-aways is understanding belonging as something inherent rather than “found” or “earned”. Being witnessed and witnessing others after our solo time on the land was very powerful and deeply meaningful to me on my/our journey.” —Leslie Hammer, Deep Belonging in the Great Turning (Fall 2022)
“Ryan is an amazing human being and teacher. This course will nurture your soul, challenge you, and open up new ways of seeing yourself and our wonderous planet. I will definitely be signing up for another Wild Nature Heart experience!” —Rob Daroff, MD, Deep Belonging in the Great Turning (Fall 2022)
“I loved this course! This is the second course I’ve taken with Ryan and both times I felt affirmed and supported as he led us on a journey delving into themes of belonging, being, grieving, healing, and growing. Ryan encouraged us to engage with the more-than-human-world on an intimate level of discovery and connection thus cultivating a more earth-centered life. I highly recommend this course to anyone seeking a deeper connection with self and with the natural world.” —Cecelia Futch, LPCC, Deep Belonging in the Great Turning (Fall 2022)
“Ryan was FANTASTIC. He was knowledgeable and most importantly, a great listener and guide. I greatly admired his mirroring skills, which have clearly been learned from Mother Nature herself. I have learned so much from Ryan and look forward to incorporating his techniques into my practice as well.” — Participant in Spring 2021 Earthbody Institute Ecotherapy Certificate Course
“I find myself repeatedly touched by the depth of your caring for Earth and all her beings and by your dedication to practice and evolving new pathways of relationship and culture. I am moved by the presence that you bring to deep listening and your willingness to explore different perspectives. Your ability to express through poetry and action what’s in your heart and your desire for healthy relationship among all beings is a source of inspiration for me.” —Marianne B. Rowe, MS, LMFT, Summer 2022 Level 3 Ecotherapy Training, Earthbody Institute
“Ryan’s well-designed course on Deep Belonging for the Great Turning was just what I needed at a stressful time in life. The facilitation, knowledge and materials shared were generous and truly a gift to enhance my nature connection and learn about myself. This course also provided support for a solo experience which was rich and rewarding. I appreciated being in a group and connecting with other like-minded people.” — Lezlie Scaliatine, Psy.D, California, Deep Belonging for the Great Turning Course Participant
“Ryan is a very thoughtful and sensitive instructor. His background in teaching and poetry, along with his ability to effectively “mirror” our stories about our journeys make him an excellent facilitator. Ryan helped us to organize our thoughts and feelings in this politically and environmentally challenging time, gave us hope, and guided us towards developing a personal plan for coping with the future of our planet.”
— Nan S., California, Deep Belonging for the Great Turning Course Participant
“Thank you again Ryan for your mentorship prior to this quest of mine. You empowered me to trust in myself, in the wild, and in the ceremony and it seemed so fitting to receive these gifts of yours just prior to a decent. I love and am sincerely grateful for your poem. It certainly helped give me courage to unflinchingly make those leaps over trees and off every known cliff and will continue to do so. I feel super motivated to continue on this path of mine and stay open to all the wild mysteries that present themselves within myself and within this more-than human world of ours. And to taking the next steps in unfurling my own gifts and presenting them to the world.”— Brady W., Wisconsin, 1-on-1 Ecotherapy Client and Course Participant
“This course is a deep-dive across 6 weeks. Ryan’s skill and generosity of spirit has guided me through a variety of themes and practices that have been both thought-provoking and empowering. I’ve valued this time immensely, and the abundant materials provided will keep me moving through this journey for a long time to come. I’ve developed a richer relationship with my Urban Wild environment in very unexpected ways, and for that I am so very grateful.” —Claire (United Kingdom)
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