Ecowild engages people with the living world through woodland and Community Farm based activities including yoga and tai chi, foraging, natural art, natural fire making, wildlife exploration, tool and craftwork, imagination, mindful practice and deepening into our intrinsic interconnection with all life. Since early 2013 we have been taking groups of children and adults out in inspiring natural environments across B&NES, helping them find their own special connection that will stimulate curiosity, relieve tension, bring a sense of peace and connectedness, and open the door to the deep inner missing link that is our ancestral birthright; a sense of ease and familiarity in the outdoor environment. At The Farm Ecowild deliver Lakeside Wellbeing as part of the Growing Wellbeing programme, and before this had been running Lakeside Wellbeing since 2017. Over that time we have also run wellbeing courses in Fire Cooking, Singing for Wellbeing, Whittling and Woodcraft, Wild Art and Mindfulness and continue to run Willow Basketry and Deep Relaxation with Yoga Nidra. EcoWild has also been running wellbeing sessions, in partnership with The Farm, for Groundwork’s Impact Project for refugees and migrants since 2019.
Our partnership with The Farm is very important and cherished by EcoWild. We work to complement the essential and visionary action that goes on here for sustainable food systems and thriving communities of all life. EcoWild expands that core purpose by coming alongside people who aren’t necessarily called to take part in the farming side of things, but who have a sense of their biophilia. Biophilia describes the way we thrive when in proximity to a rich diversity of life. The landscape at the farm; the sweep of hills, water and sky, so expansive and opening, takes hold of us and carries us into a new sense of perspective, if we let it. When people are facing adversity, are overwhelmed or challenged by circumstance, health and life changes, being held in a safe space here has the power to enact significant change and relieve suffering. This becomes a stepping stone towards long term thriving and the self-knowledge of interconnectedness. Having a lived experience that we are part of the immense flow of life that called us into existence somehow relieves that very particular burden of the western psyche; the illusion of separateness.
Many people who come to these courses would not otherwise know about The Farm and all the good work that goes on here. Through finding support and inspiration for themselves, and by taking part in the courses, they also become connected to the land, the vision and heart of The Farm. It is a process of stepping into interbeing, or remembering our belonging as part of the cycles of water, soil, air and life. It is a practical ecopsychology, founded in the extensive bodies of work and research that have been published, and in the ancient ways of knowing that were most not.
Find out more or join one of the upcoming Lakeside Wellbeing sessions at The Farm in September.
By Emily Malik, Ecowild and Lakeside Wellbeing course leader
