Description
WITHIN THE CAVE SOMETHING PULSES is a 6-week interactive experience to slow down, apprentice to the season of darkness, and dive deep into the caverns of our Whole Self in order to discover what emerges in the fruitful darkness.
What if the darkness wasn’t an obstacle but the doorway?
Dates: December 20 – January 31 (no gathering January 10)
Time: 9am-11am PST | 5-7pm GMT
Where: ONLINE – Zoom
Note: Class limited to 8
What if we allied ourselves to the energies of the season?
What if we dove into the silent dark and welcomed the wholeness of who we are?
What dreams are a fire in the dark?
What if our shadow was an offering, and monsters were actually the secret password?
What emerges in your fruitful darkness?
The season is turning, both outside and within. Autumn’s march toward the deep dark womb of winter invites an Underworld transformation. A cave comes beckoning. We go to the cave to find renewal and our own sacred. We go to the cave for the descent into ourselves, to rest, to embrace the wounds and monsters, but also uncover the shimmering treasures to bring back as a gift to the world as medicine. We go to the cave, not ultimately to disappear, but return to the world and show up fully in our unique way during this Great Turning. This is not a Cave full of gadgets and toys or things to make you beautiful. This is the Cave of the Deep Self and Season. You are done with distractions. You are done with destruction and self-punishment. You are ready to know yourself in all its grand ripples, all its wounds and powers. You are investing in rest. Then ready to be of service to people and your purpose.
This experience is for you if any of the following describes you:
- You feel the tug of the underworld when the season cools.
- You want to ally yourself to the season’s energy to spelunk into your fruitful darkness.
- You long to apprentice to shadow, dreams, slowness, and the quiet animals of your psyche.
- You are curious about befriending Darkness, Dreams, and Apprenticing to Slow & Silence.
- You are walking the Labyrinth, inner or literal, and want companions for the turns.
- You are ready to embrace your shit and get real with all aspects of your wholeness.
- You’re ready to bring your shadow and monsters into the Circle of your Whole Self.
- You are exploring, or want to explore, your inner wilderness and open to expanding your toybox of exploration.
This course/journey is one container to deepen into the next turn of our spiral and where we can meet each other, stay with the awe and the trouble, and be transformed. The style is emergent, playful, curious, awkward, vulnerable, and honoring. Over 6 weeks we will explore through Online Gatherings, Council Circle, Poetry, Dream Tending, Somatic & Soulful Practices, Creative Expression & Integration activities:
- Deep Listening and a Sacred Pause
- Honoring the Darkness & Living the Seasons
- Dream Work/Play and Tending the Inner Fire
- Shadow Work/Embracing Monsters/Holy Shit
- Lessons From the Labyrinth
- Rite-of-Passage and Self-Generated Ceremony (Including Death Lodge)
Potentional Sacred Apprenticeships:
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- Slug & Snail (Slow Sensitivity, Decomposition, Slime Magic, Beyond the Binary)
- Inner Composting: Invoking Your Inner Worms/Fungi
- Bear Wisdom: (Fierce Presence, Power, Protection, & Purpose; Hibernation; Omnivore; Hunting/Gathering Your Wholeness; Unleashing Your Growl)
- At the Feet of Our Brutal, Beloved Teachers: Death
Participants get an early glimpse of the new collection Within the Cave Something Pulses.
In addition, ALL participants in ANY Wild Nature Heart course series receives:
- One-on-one consultations about the course material
- Private Online group to connect, share, learn, and ask questions
- Discount on future Wild Nature Heart Courses and Wilderness Programs
Recommended Investment: $199
Other options: $179-$249
Register and pay course fee below, Or Email: ryan@wildnatureheart.com with your interest & send registration fee to PayPal.Me/WildNatureHeart. Scholarships available for BIPOC and LGBTQ2+
Class limited to 8 participants
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 Ambition Silence, Trust the Ceremony, F*ck the Ceremony, and Trust the Ceremony, 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.
Testimonials:
“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 2025
“A reconnection and remembering … of my trust in nature as a guide and teacher ….. and the feeling of being held by Ryan throughout the experience as an awesome guide and wise mentor. Feeling blessed by the experience.” –Paul Barker, UK, Within the Cave Something Pulses (Winter 2022)
“Your course has been a spiritual lifeboat to me during this time.” — Verna Lim, Within the Cave Something Pulses (Winter 2022)
“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 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. Special thanks to you, Ryan, for shining your light on us and welcoming us into deeper belonging.” —Leslie Hammer, Deep Belonging in the Great Turning (Fall 2022)
“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
“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
“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. Special thanks to you, Ryan, for shining your light on us and welcoming us into deeper belonging.” —Leslie Hammer, Deep Belonging in the Great Turning (Fall 2022)
“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)
“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 and the Great Turning, (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)
“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, Deep Belonging for the Great Turning Course Participant (Fall 2020)
“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 Siringer, California, Deep Belonging for the Great Turning Course Participant (Fall 2020)
“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 (Fall 2019)
“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, Course Participant (Fall 2019) More Testimonials
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