Description
Then Yeses come bubbling,
Yeses arrive like worms dancing in dirt…
The Yes is already happening. You are just catching up.
Then Yeses Come Bubbling is a playshop in creative devotion, where we stop trying to “be creative” and instead learn to recognize, trust, and respond to the creative force and Yeses already moving through us. Drawing from poems and art as portals, we’ll explore what it means to commit to your own creative awesomeness and to the “Muse” (or whatever words you use) as a living force—one that asks something real of us, rearranges our lives, and invites us into deeper participation with the world.
Because the truth is: Poems are lurking everywhere…
Not just poems. But melodies. Images and Ideas. Designs. Movements. Worlds.
They arrive in the middle of our life—on walks, in conversations, in the shower, in the quiet, pre-dawn ache—and the real question is not: where are they?
but: Will you follow them?
At some point, the Yes stops being a vague feeling and becomes a relationship. A commitment.
Ruthless as any angel
you asked for a commitment…
This is where we often hesitate. Because a real Yes is not incidental or decorative. It is a force of nature. It asks something. It clarifies. It simplifies by cutting away.
I understood the terms of the agreement,
All that is not aligned must fall away…
We won’t rush past that here. We’ll meet it—with curiosity, honesty, and a species of fierce tenderness.
Through creativity practice, simple, embodied rituals of attention, and deep listening, we will allow/follow the bubbling Yes wherever it leads—into beauty, consequence, and the wild unfolding of your own voice.
In part emerging from the field of the poetry collection Then Yeses Come Bubbling (all participants will receive a copy as a part of the course), this journey invites you not into becoming a ‘better’ writer or artist or ‘more creative’, but into your own unique relationship with the Creative Yes.
Our Journey: The Ecology of the Creative Yes
Week 1: The Dawn of Yes
Theme: What’s already alive?
Week 2: The Devotional Yes
Theme: Commitment and Relationship
Week 3: The Dangerous Yes
Theme: Consequences and Cost
Week 4: The Emerging & Evolving Yes
Theme: Trust and Mystery
Week 5: The Embodied Yes
Theme: Living the Creative Yes Forward
Each gathering follows a rhythm:
- we soften into the body/senses, where something is already stirring
- we open all our ears—to whispers, pulses, eruptions
- we set down the noise that keeps us from noticing
- we meet what rises—strange, familiar, unfinished—without grasping
- we let the many voices, signals, and Yeses speak in their own tongue
- we respond—simply, imperfectly—letting something take form
- we allow cross-pollination of Yeses and modalities to see what emerges
In-between sessions: small, living invitations—ways to stay close to what is stirring, to notice what is bubbling up, and to follow the subtle Yes as it moves through your inner and outer worlds.
If a blue dragonfly comes by
asking what you’re doing,
just smile and say, ‘Experimenting.’
As a way to anchor this in the body of your life, we’ll each have an Ongoing Creative Correspondence with Yes practice and craft a Beautiful Bubbling Bowl—a small, evolving bowl where objects, words, and faint signals can gather. Not an altar of final answers, but a place to tend what is just finding its voice…and to notice what begins to rise, shift, and quietly bubble into being.
Along the way, you might begin to notice:
- A deeper trust in your creative instincts
- A clearer relationship with what is calling you
- Emergent practices you can return to again and again
- An wild commitment to follow and tend what feels true
This is for you if:
- You feel something in you wanting to move but you keep postponing it or paving over.
- You’ve tasted creative aliveness and want to trust it more deeply
- You are a writer, artist, musician, maker—or simply someone who feels something trying to come through
- You are ready—not to master a craft—but to enter a deeper relationship with the Creative Yes.
Even the fabulously defeated…
can’t help but open up again
…have a crack and hidden Yes.
JOIN THE JOURNEY
We start June 17
with a small dedicated cohort.
DATES: 5 Wednesdays, June 17 – July 15
TIME: 9:00-11:00AM PST | 11:00AM-1:00PM EST
Online | Sliding scale $125-$200
(Note: Limited to 8)
Register here
Or you can also send payment via:
PayPal.me/WildNatureHeart
VENMO: RyanVanLenning
(note: “Yes” + your email)
Ideas arrive. Energy returns. A voice begins to take shape. Our role is not to control it. Our role is to tend it.
All of a sudden it appears:
The blossom. The dawn. The courage…
This is the Mystery of Emergence.
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.
My life changed when I really started listening and apprenticing to Water and the seasons. 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. If I had to summarize our work for this time: Compost Empire and re-surface all it has paved over. I believe each of us has unique gifts that the world needs as we birth new imaginations and ways of being beyond Empire, and I love mirroring people’s stories as they deepen into their wholeness and next aligned steps.
I am a threshold guide and barbarian poet of the Great Turning (author of several collections of poetry, including 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, Moon Has a Long Memory, Kiss Me A Huckleberry, and High-Cooing Through the Seasons: Haiku From the Forest). Two new collections, Becoming Beautiful Barbarians and We Go to the Sea to Scream, will be out in fall 2026. A compost pile disguised as a book and field guide to outgrowing Empire in our bodies and imaginations, Composting the Spell of Empire: 40 Trickster Invitations for the Great Unraveling, will be released in early 2027.
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 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. My current apprenticeship is to seeds, composting, and emergence, I like cinnamon ice cream, fantastic fungi and lovely lichen, and river ottering.
Recent Appreciations:
“Thank you so much Ryan for a wonderful two months together! Your course provided so much new excitement and inspiration for me. It was really eye opening and truly deepened my sense of ecological connection. Thank you for guiding us through this beautiful course.” —Nicola Gailits, Deep Belonging (Winter 2025)
“I have worked with Ryan in different courses and contexts, both virtually and in person on the land. I find him to be a skilled guide, gentle but powerful, who creates invitations to experiences that provide safety to swim in liminal spaces where deep work blossoms into growth, all in the absence of ego. Not only is Ryan very knowledgeable but he listens deeply and provides mirroring that leaves you feeling seen and honored. The spaces he creates encourage productive struggle and growth with a healthy dose of play.” —Kim Bielmann, Deep Belonging (Winter 2025)
“Ryan’s facilitation was superb. I felt his presence like a steadfast oak, and his ability to hold and meet everything that was brought to class was refreshing. He held the space with a lot of grace and created time for us to meet the grief & pain that lives beneath all that paves over it. It was more than just being given information – he invited us into embodied states of being with the wisdom, and created a structure which offered us to meander like streams through different ideas and concepts together.” —Participant, Level 1 Ecotherapy, Spring 2025
“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)
“This course turned out to be a transformative journey that nurtured intimate bonds with fellow humans while fostering a profound connection to the earth, instilling a deep sense of belonging. Through the exploration of the perils of industrial…it gently re-awakened and inspired me to courageously offer my own unique gifts in resisting systemic oppressions and championing the Great Turning.” – Participant, Level 1 Ecotherapy Course, The Earthbody Institute (Fall 2023)
“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)
“Ryan is absolutely fabulous! He is engaging and culturally sensitive. Ryan is truly gifted. I am grateful to have had him as an instructor for this course.” — Participant, Level 1 Ecotherapy (Spring 2025)
“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, 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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