The Wild Mind Intensive
November 11-15, 2024
An Animas Valley Institute event
Artwork by Doug Van Houten
A residential, face to face, fully catered intensive held at Raven’s Nest camping retreat centre at Venus Bay in Victoria - 2 hours south east of Melbourne.
Program Fees - Soulcraft ANZ is a not for profit, volunteer association:
Early Bird: $1,495 (paid in full at registration - there are 10 early bird places available)
Full Price: $1,650 - with a $500 minimum deposit to hold your place - (paid in full by October 31, 2024).
Concession: $1,295 limited places available - with a $500 minimum deposit to hold your place (paid in full by October 31, 2024).
We encourage you to pay the full price if you have the means to do so. This will enable us to cover costs and offer concessional places to those in need. If you are challenged financially, please contact us to discuss.
Based on Bill Plotkin’s book, Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, this 5-day intensive is an experiential exploration of our human psyches as unique expressions of the universal forces and patterns of nature. We will work with what we call the Nature-Based Map of the Human Psyche, which is, among other things, a comprehensive inventory of what can be right about a person, a “shadow” version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), mainstream psychology’s list of what can go wrong with people.
Our wild minds possess astonishing resources, untapped potentials and depths that we might not even know exist until we discover how to access them, cultivate their powers, and eventually integrate them into our everyday lives. In this intensive, we’ll access these depths and potentials — which we call the four facets of the Self, or the four dimensions of our innate human wholeness — and also the four sets of fragmented or wounded subpersonalities that form during childhood.
Rather than attempt to eliminate our subpersonalities (which is not possible) or to beat them into submission, we’ll cultivate the four facets of the Self and uncover the gifts of our subpersonalities. Our goal is to fully embody our multifaceted wild minds, commit ourselves to the largest, soul-infused story we’re capable of living, and serve the greater Earth community.
Discover:
how to recognize and consciously cultivate the four facets of the Self — your innate human wholeness
how to identify the subpersonalities that supported you in childhood and adolescence to adapt to the challenges of family and social life, but ultimately became barriers to your full and authentic humanity
practices and guidelines for cultivating relationships between the Self and your subpersonalities, enabling you to heal your subpersonalities, discover their gifts, and foster Self-actualization
how each facet of the Self provides essential resources for the underworld journey (the descent to soul), its radical transformation of personal identity, and for living as a visionary artisan of cultural evolution.
We’ll explore the landscape of the psyche through a variety of practices, including creative expression, self-designed ceremony, solo exercises while wandering on the land, group work, movement, voice dialogue, journaling, and deep imagery work.
Venue:
Raven’s Nest retreat centre is located in beautiful Venus Bay (Bunurong & Gunai Country) on the South Eastern Victoria coast - 2 hours from Melbourne. It offers 14 acres of private & wild Eucalyptus and Tea Tree bushland, camp sites and sand dunes. Situated along the Tarwin River estuary, it has direct access to tidal beaches, an expansive inlet, with walking tracks to a national park, ocean beach and wild bush.
Your Guides:
Brian Stafford: Brian is a guide to the wilderness of nature, wildness, and soul. Called out of academic medicine to serve as a guide to the depths and to serve as an agent of cultural awakening and transformation, he guides with humour, playfulness, fierceness, compassion, discernment, and a deep remembering of the fullness of what each human life can, should, and was meant to be.
A native of Colorado and the former holder of an endowed chair and professor of psychiatry and paediatrics, he is currently a guide, Board Member, and Training Director of the Wild Mind Training Program at Animas. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute, as well as an expert in psychedelic preparation and integration. He is an avid outdoorsman, teacher, writer, mentor, partner, and parent. He delights in helping individuals rewild and ensoul their lives by assisting in the dissolution of their current life so that they may discover and live from their deeper life, their soul-life. Brian currently makes his home in Ojai, California.
Laura Gunion : Laura believes that humans have tremendous potential, much of it hidden and unconscious. As a mentor, wilderness guide and naturalist, it is both her privilege and responsibility to support others as they encounter their true nature. She feels it’s essential that we grow, not only for ourselves, but also to create cultures that will benefit future generations. She insists on bringing the soulful and sacred into daily living. Her curiosity, acute listening, and precise questioning support people in living boldly and courageously. Laura has been a mentor at Wilderness Awareness School since 2002, and continues to love instructing at their 9-month adult program, Anake Outdoor School. She lives in the woods above Duvall, Washington where she shares land with Bewick’s Wren, black bear, and many other wild ones.
Food and Accommodation:
The program is fully catered, providing hearty vegetarian food. We will pass on any dietary restrictions advised by you at registration. If you have not already let us know of any dietary restrictions that apply to you, please forward to us as soon as possible.
Lodgings and bedding requirements:
This is an all-camping program. Participants are responsible for bringing their own personal camping equipment, and for personal transportation to and from the program. Campers will have access to bush showers.
More info here