A 9-week experiential exploration of the deep connection
between our human psyches and wild nature,
and the potential for wholeness and self-healing
that is available when we actively attend to this connection.

Our wild minds possess astonishing resources, untapped potentials and depths that we might not even know exist. When we discover how to access them, cultivate their gifts and capacities, and integrate them into our everyday ways of thinking and being, our lives – and the world we live in – can be enhanced and enriched.

Accessing and cultivating the primary facets of our innate wholeness — and coming to understand both the limitations and gifts of our wounded, fragmented, or shadowed parts — are essential steps in the personal journey to a mature, soul-centered life and reciprocal relationship with the living world.

In this group, meeting four full Saturdays over nine weeks, we’ll explore the landscape of the psyche through a variety of practices including time alone in nature, ritual and ceremony, group inquiry, embodied movement, voice dialogue, journaling, and deep imagery work. We’ll work experientially with the model and concepts described in Bill Plotkin’s book, Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, a profound new understanding of the human experience that supports us to more fully step into our magnificent wild potential.

You’ll learn practices to for whiling and self-healing in nature by:

• immersing in wildness and beauty, and deepening your personal relationship with wild nature and the more-than-human world
• accessing and developing the inner resources of four essential aspects of your wholeness
• identifying and cultivating healthier, conscious relationships with the fragmented, shadowed or wounded parts of your psyche
• engaging in specific practices for using this nature-based model to deepen your exploration between sessions and to support your ongoing inner work

YOUR GUIDES:

Gene Dilworth, MA: Gene is dedicated to the project of rewilding the human spirit as an essential dimension of being fully alive and fully human in these challenging times. By nurturing meaningful relationship with the more-than-human world and facilitating deep inquiry into the mystery of one’s true nature, he supports individuals to discover, re-member and live from the center of their soul-rooted sense of belonging to the world. With degrees in ecology and ecopsychology, Gene has been teaching and guiding groups and mentoring individuals in transformative nature-based experiences for over 30 years. He currently guides wilderness retreats for Animas Valley Institute and is founder of the Wild Heart Center for Nature & Psyche.

Lauren Golten MS, MA: Lauren is a nature-based therapist and group facilitator, grounded in many years of working in nature and a long-time practice of mindfulness meditation. Lauren currently works with groups and individual clients in private practice, and is a trainer and facilitator with the Matrix Leadership Institute. She holds graduate degrees in Wilderness Therapy and Field Biology, and is certified by Animas Valley Institute as a Wild Mind Professional Facilitator.  She facilitates clients’ connections with themselves, others, and the natural world in her Boulder office and in the mountains near Lyons, CO.

PROGRAM DETAILS

• SCHEDULE:  Four daylong intensives on the following Saturdays:
  • October 16, 10:00-5:00
  • October 30, 10:00-5:00
  • November 20, 10:00-4:00
  • December 11, 10:00-4:00

• OUTDOORS: These programs will take place entirely outdoors, rain or snow or shine!  (We have outdoor shelter for rain, and indoor bathrooms are available.)

• COMPREHENSIVE: Group meetings and nature immersions will be complemented by suggested practices to facilitate your own explorations in wild nature between group sessions. And for more in-depth reading, you’ll get your own free copy of the book, Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, by Bill Plotkin.

• 1:1 MENTORING: Program includes one personal mentoring session with either Gene or Lauren. (Additional mentoring sessions are available at additional cost.)

• LOCATION: Wild Tinaja Ridge, private land northwest of Lyons, CO (15 mins drive from Lyons; 35-40 mins from Boulder).

• GROUP SIZE: To ensure the best possible experience, we keep our groups small and intimate, limited to 8 participants, plus 2 guides.

• COVID SAFETY: We’ll gather safely in accordance with current Covid-19 protocols (outdoors, physically distanced, masks as appropriate/recommended, sanitizer, etc).

 REGISTRATION

Group size is limited,
so save your spot by signing up early!

Please note, a $100 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your spot.
Full payment is due by Oct 16.

Early registration (by Oct 1): $497

Standard registration (after Oct 1): $547

To register, please send a brief email expressing your interest to Lauren at lagolten@gmail.com, and use one of the payment methods below.

• Venmo to @Gene-Dilworth (preferred)
• PayPal to genedilworth @ gmail.com
• Check mailed to Wild Heart Center, 2195 Spring Gulch Dr., Lyons, CO 80540

If you need more info or have any other questions, please reach out by email or phone, lagolten@gmail.com or 303-641-6333.