I wrote this piece from my van, while stuck in a snowstorm in Crested Butte, Colorado. I was cleaning snow off of my Starlink dish every hour, and feeling deep gratitude for my trusty heater.
I can’t think of a better setting to write about integrating the wisdom of wild nature into our modern lives.
My foot was slipping.
I was alone, high in the Sierra. I stood midway through a swollen creek, with historic levels of snowmelt threatening to pull me off my feet.
Before I knew what I was doing, I lunged to my left. I desperately bear-hugged a boulder near the far bank, and slowly pulled myself out of the water. I’d lost half my trekking pole in the current. My pack was dripping (but thankfully waterproof). I was alive. I felt alive.
I looked up at the granite peaks around me, the seemingly infinite expanse of forested slopes, and the sweet beckoning invitation of a winding trail.
I laughed until I cried.
I felt so close to the fundamental heart of things, the ever-present poetry of wind, stone, water, and life. I felt the elation of three days behind me, and three more ahead of me. I felt the exhaustion in my legs, and heard the song in my heart.
I kept walking.1
VIVIFY
I’m a wilderness guide. I feel most myself, most alive, and most connected to the tapestry of life in the high places of this world. I feel wild. And I’m convinced that a reconnection to that wildness, supported by community and integrated through consistent practice, is a powerful pathway to living a full and meaningful life in our modern world.
That’s why today, I’m launching the VIVIFY Regenerative Leadership Program.
VIVIFY is a transformative journey for adventurous professionals and leaders. Blending 4 months of online leadership coaching with a unique 8-day off-trail backpacking expedition in the High Sierra, VIVIFY supports members in stepping into vibrant aliveness and service.
VIVIFY is for those who long for a deeper life. It's for those who yearn for adventure, and are willing to step outside their comfort zones. VIVIFY is for those who want to leave a legacy their grandchildren would be proud of. And it's for those who seek balance, aspiring to a life with flourishing relationships, meaningful work, and a thriving connection with nature. It’s designed to be a small part of the spiritual infrastructure so needed in our world.
VIVIFY is a pathway towards navigating the many crises we face, including the meaning crisis, the attention crisis, and the ecological crisis. Too many of us feel disconnected, overwhelmed, burned out, distracted, disillusioned, or uninspired. We spend 90% of our days indoors, behind our screens - isolated from the world of leaves, wind, and sun. From my experience, we know that a more beautiful life and world is possible. But many of us feel stuck.
In my work as a coach and guide, I’ve consistently seen the power of an integrated approach that weaves the wisdom of the natural world into our daily experience. VIVIFY is designed to offer the tools, community, and adventure needed to step into a new, enlivened way of being. We gather online as a group for four months, supporting each other as we reclaim our attention and explore the deepest questions we each hold. I coach each member of VIVIFY 1-1, supporting them with applying the curriculum to the challenges and opportunities most present in their lives.
We cultivate a foundation of rapturous presence, to offer our attention consistently to what matters most. We ground ourselves in integrated wildness, bringing the clarity and vitality that comes with immersion in the natural world into our daily lives. And we commit to radical agency - to embracing the crises of our times and taking action with courage, creativity, and a renewed sense of service.
Then, we walk into the wild.
THE HIGH SIERRA
“Enter the wild with care, my love, and speak the things you see”
- The Lost Words Blessing, Spell Songs
The High Sierra is my favorite place on this Earth, full stop. I’ve never been anywhere as enchanting. I’ve spent years living in and around the Sierra, and weeks wandering the high country with just a backpack. When designing VIVIFY, I knew I wanted to build it around a unique 8-day expedition in these incredible mountains.
Regular immersion in nature is not a luxury - it’s essential to our well-being. Neuroscientist Rachel Hopman describes the benefits of the “nature pyramid” - a minimum of 20 minutes in nature per day, a 5 hour chunk per month, and a deeper immersion of over 3 days at least once a year.
These thresholds fit with my experience - after 20 minutes, our mind and senses begin to open, and the initial layer of stress and busyness begins to melt away.
When out for over 5 hours, I start to fall into the rhythm of movement, and my mind settles enough to attend fully to the interconnected details of the world around me.
And on the third day of a longer trip, something profound shifts.
Thoughts of my life back in town fall away. I begin to cherish and feel connected with each carefully selected item I’ve brought with me. I start to get a glimpse of what it is to be wild, to live without separation from the other species and ecosystems of this planet. My perception of time shifts - from chronos to kairos, a subjective experience where moments of stillness expand and miles of trail melt away without a thought. My breathing shifts and my gaze lifts. I return to myself.
VIVIFY offers each of these key doses of connection with nature. Throughout the program, we regularly enact small rituals in the natural landscapes near to us. We take “wanders” - longer half-day periods of open exploration on the land that act as a bridge between our daily rhythms and the wild lives calling to each of us. Finally, we set out for a week into the Sierra.
We connect with our wildness, and we integrate it back into our lives
After our journey in the Sierra, we continue to gather as a group. I continue to support members through 1-1 coaching. We make sure that whoever emerged in the high mountain meadows has the support to navigate the often harsh environment of our modern world.
A WILD LOVE FOR THE WORLD
The word “vivify” means “to endow with life, or renewed life”.
I believe that in order to be in our deepest service to life, we must enliven ourselves. We must awaken our senses and our wildness. We must find our way out of distraction back to rapturous presence. And we must step into the radical agency required to live fully in these mythic, pivotal times.
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." - E.B. White
I don’t think we should choose. I believe in order to be in service to this world, we must first fall more deeply in love with her.
I believe we need to bring the aliveness of the wild into our daily lives, so that we can be of deeper service.
I’m looking for 12 adventurers who agree.
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If the vision of VIVIFY speaks to you, reach out.
VIVIFY is a 4-month transformative journey for adventurous professionals and leaders, beginning April 21st. For more information, check out the link below:
I’d like to clarify that I shouldn’t have crossed that creek while alone. I don’t share this as a celebration, but as a window into the experiences and emotions that often come in the high country
Such an amazing story to drop people into the idea behind the program.
I love the idea of a nature pyramid. I'm going to totally figure out how to bring that rhythm into my life. Really nice mental model to work towards.
Excited to dive deeper into the program and hear about all the amazing leaders who are joining you on this journey!