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Protected: Why I’m going on a 13-day vision quest and fasting alone in the desert for 4 days in July

Protected: Why I’m going on a 13-day vision quest and fasting alone in the desert for 4 days in July

July 2, 2019July 2, 2019 Tam

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Next postBack from my Vision Quest and YOU are part of my incorporation!

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Today in over 22 countries, 90+ forest bathing walks will take place as part of the second annual International Forest Bathing Day. Hundreds of people will be guided in awakening their senses and finding authentic connection with the more than human world as well as with other humans and themselves in ways that support leaning into the sensation of being alive. So wherever you are today, I invite you to go outside. If you can’t go outside than perhaps open a window and look, listen, smell, and notice what you sense. Consider that the natural world before us is checking us out in ways we may not understand but perhaps we can remember how to participate in these relationships, the way our ancestors did, re-membering that we all belong, we all have a place and we are all interconnected in this vast web on interbeing. Pic by @mx.clement #InternationalForestBathingDay #IFBD

Join me and fresh new cohort #45 of Forest Therapy Guides as they guide their first public walk! Get guided on a free walk while supporting these new guides in training with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy on this incredible land at Bethel Farms. #foresttherapy #foresttherapyguide #foresttherapyguidettaining #forestbathing

Deep bow to these first year students starting their Masters Of Divinity program at Boston University. What a lovely way to start off the semester with a Forest Bathing Walk. And deep gratitude to @muddyriverherbals for these beautiful marigolds and mountain mint which offered up a very pleasing forest tea 🍵 🌲🧚🏻‍♂️☺️ #forestbathing #foresttherapy #easternhemlock #creekstories

I can’t stop thinking about this forest and these sculptures and how incredibly heart opening it was to guide forest bathing @chesterwood_studio with @handshousestudio I was surprised by my former professors Rick and Laura Brown who came on the walk with their awesome grandkids who captured my heart. Pure joy dropping into liminality with this more-than-human world and these breathtaking sculptural transformations of trees. If you are able to get to Stockbridge and check out “One Impulse From A Vernal Wood”, there are a few more programs coming up as part of the their “Voice Of The Wood” series and you can also just go see the sculpture and walk in this forest on your own! What an honor to be a part of this series. #mohicanland #forestbathing #stockbridge #hemlockforest #elderwhitepine #sculpturereciprocity #morethanhumanworld #whatsinmotion #wearenature

THIS Sunday, August 25th, from 10-12, I will be out in Stockbridge, MA @chesterwood_studio guiding forest bathing as part of a series called “Voice Of The Wood” to engage visitors with “One Impulse from a Vernal Wood”, an exhibition by Rick and Laura Brown of @handshousestudio All events are free with regular admission and set in the woodland walks and gardens at Chesterwood. Space is limited. Please register @ toadstoolwalks.com #forestbathing #foresttherapy #stockbridge #chesterwood #treereciprocity #morethanhumanart

It’s been 3 weeks since I left Wild Mountain Ranch. 3 Sunday’s ago we closed our circle and I hugged all these dear ones with whom I shed many tears and laughed hard. I’ve heard it said and read about how incorporation is the hardest of the 3 stages. It’s weird and confusing to return from something like this. I’ve been grateful for the close people and places in my life with which I’ve been able to share pieces of this with so far. Thank you to those who have been curious and took the time to ask thoughtful questions. These folks who genuinely want to know about my experience have helped me process it. I’m still sitting with what to share and what to keep to myself and how not to lose the sacredness of my experience while also bringing my vision back. 1. The sweetest group of queer fasters❤️ 2. Me sandwiches between our brilliant loving guides Pedro & Roo❤️ 3. Our incredibly supportive, dedicated and loving assistants @meikoelias & @mx.clement ❤️ 4. The whole wild bunch of us❤️ 5. Sunsets for lifetimes❤️ Groups can be hard. I am so deeply grateful how the dice rolled with this group. What a loving, peaceful, open minded, honest, wise and vulnerable group of incredibly inspiring people who I can honestly say I genuinely love and care about. Thank you for all these amazing pictures by @mx.clement #queerquest #schooloflostborders #wildmountainranch #uteterritory #ritesofpassage #visionquest

Thank you for the thoughts, prayers, blessings, etc.. My time in Colorado attending “Queer Quest” with School Of Lost Borders was incredible beyond words. Still processing it all and moving slow as I begin to incorporate. Thank you for the support. It definitely kept me going during my 4 day solo fast and I am deeply grateful. Met some truly sweet, inspiring, and loving people & amazing guides who I’m holding deep in my heart as we all make our way back into the tamed/chaos worlds and bring our gifts back. Considering a vision quest? Consider the School Of Lost Borders. If Queerness is part of how you walk thru the world, than you are very lucky cuz Queer Quest has to be one of the most connecting, healing and deeply sacred & profane circles I have ever had the privilege of sitting and witnessing in. What a gift to be in ceremony without the reinforced internalized phobias and micro aggressions that can insidiously stifle me from being my authentic self. So much laughing, crying, healing and discovery made possible by this space. Now, on to the part of bringing it back!!! #schooloflostborders #queerquest #visionquest #visionfast #sacredmountain #incorporation #liminality

Landed in Colorado this morning for “Queer Quest”, a 12-day Vision Quest program with School Of Lost Borders after a 1.5 years in the making. We “officially” begin tomorrow but today I will make my way to Buena Vista where I will meet my guides along with the other 9 participants and we will head into the backcountry, spending these first 5 nights camping in the backcountry, being in circle together, and preparing for the next stage by sharing our intentions and going over some logistics and safety protocol. Requesting prayers, blessings and thoughts during 7/14 - 7/18, during which time I will be alone in the high desert with nothing but water, a tarp, a journal, and a few basic items. I will be fasting and performing my own ceremony using my own symbols, my own prayers, and my own songs in ways that are relevant to my own life, situation and existential questions. Why? Because I don’t want to stumble and suffer through my life passages like a victim, a burden to myself and others so I may reduce the harm I cause myself, others and Earth and I don’t want to let the typical ups and downs of being human keep me in a constant state of panic, hysteria, shock, anxiety, depression, addiction, self hatred and sickness. Because I believe ceremonial practice supports finding meaning in the inevitable transitions of life and I am committed to re-membering this ancient wisdom of a rite of passage. Because I believe our collective co-created visions can be realized and support all beings. Because the gap between humans and our natural environment widens by the moment and living in modern industrialized civilization can dull my senses, clouding my ability to make sense of my life. Because I want to strip down to my heart, lean in to the sensation of feeling alive, allowing myself to fall into rhythm with the land. I want to know what it’s like to cry for a vision and then learn how to let go of the stories I am attached to and allow my myth to be realized so that I may bring it back. #schooloflostborders #queerquest #visionquest #visionfast #solofast #sacredmountain #riteofpassage #severance #threshold #incorporation #liminality #mythsystem #ancestralhealing

After an incredibly sunny and connecting forest bathing immersion on Peddocks Island with @bostonharbornow the ferry got us back to Long Wharf just in time. Thank you to @flourbakeryandcafe for packing us the most delicious and fun lunches! Join us for the next forest bathing retreat on Peddocks Island on Sunday, August 11th! Sign up soon as the next one is already half full! #bostonharbornow #bostonharborcruises #peddocksisland #forestbathing #naturetherapy #naturebathing #oceantherapy #islandtherapy #morethanhumanworld #forestbathingretreat #giftforthesea #oceanreciprocity #beachstories #heartmapping #treasure

We don’t need to go far to have a deep journey and we don’t need to have a deep journey to go far. Scouting Peddocks Island which is one of the Boston Harbor Islands, in preparation for our Forest Bathing Retreat with Boston Harbor Now! Join us Saturday, July 6th OR Sunday, August 11th. Ferry leaves from Long Wharf at 9am and returns by 5pm. Box lunch option available. Tix and more info in the link on my bio page 👉🏻 🏖⛴🐾🌲🌸 #forestbathing #foresttherapy #naturetherapy #oceantherapy #islandtherapy #islandretreat #negativeions #peddocksisland #bostonharbor #urbanwilderness #liminality #toadstoolwalks

What a festive day to turn 41 and celebrate my life with my Forest Therapy Guide training team; “The Forest Five” as well as the trainees and Christine the incredible cook who is a food magician making the most nourishing vegan and gluten free meals with lettuce picked daily from the field here at Bethel Farms. My day stared with a scavenger hunt orchestrated by my beloved stashing clues with my team since I’m away. Then I was led on a blissful Forest Therapy Walk, guided by Trainer Jackie thru a meadow of wild flowers. I came upon a patch of wild strawberries and felt moved to lie down with my face very close to a perfectly ripe one and then I ate it right off the vine. 😆🍓 My fellow guides sang me many songs and brought me lots of gifts of gathered flowers, tiny bouquets and stones. Then I went for a swim in this beautiful pond before lunch. After a long afternoon of content sessions, Christine made us the most amazing vegan mac and cheese with red lentil pasta among other delicious things and then some rhubarb crumb. Then I got to snuggle with my friend, Canyon, this sweet adorable dog. Thanks to all my peeps who blew up my phone with all the birthday love reminding me that “I’m a gift from the Earth. I’m so glad I’m alive. Bless this day of my birth 🎶 And happy birthday to you!❤️☺️🧚🏻‍♂️🍓🌲

New Hampshire bound to help train a new cohort of forest therapy guides on another weeklong intensive training with The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy! If you aren’t too far away, register for our public walk and come out and support these new guides! #foresttherapyguide #foresttherapyguidetraining #shinrinyoku #foresttherapy #forestbathing #naturetherapy #naturebathing #morethanhumanworld #wayoftheguide #reciprocity #natureconnection