March, 2026
Full newsletter
For the past few years, I’ve been holding therapeutic groups and retreats. As this work builds, my conviction about the benefits of doing our “personal work” in group settings grows stronger. So many of us are challenged by experiences of disconnection from people, place and Self in our day to day lives. Group work offers us opportunities to explore, in an intentional and compassionate space, our own unique ways of connecting. In witnessing each other’s journeys and sharing pieces of our own lives and selves, group work also affords us opportunities to experience our shared humanity. Nature-based group work invites us further into remembering our interconnectivity and inherent belonging not just with each other but with the wider living world.
As my mentor Lisa Hartwick so poignantly reminded me last summer, our original attachment wound is with the Earth. We can get so busy working out our experiences with our early caregivers and in our families of origin that we can overlook the impacts of our separation from our bigger holding environment – the Earth – who unwaveringly nourishes and sustains us.
We can hold immense and often unconscious pain and grief around our disconnection from the Earth; we can also access an incredible amount of healing by reconnecting with the living world and by affirming our own places within it.
Many of us enjoyed awe-inspiring, imaginative, mystifying, alluring and joyful connections with nature as children. We can be quick to forget about the ways in which our relationship with nature may have been thwarted by the structures and demands of the over-culture. We can also be so attached to an image of ourselves as civilized and cultured (apart from nature) that we forget about how closely we lived to the Earth for the vast majority of our history.
I personally love to daydream about the emergence of ancient algae from fresh water onto land, rooting into the earth with the support of mycelium. This earth-changing relationship enabled the incredible and beautiful range of biodiversity we know today. With all due respect to my biological mother, when I see large bodies of water, I often acknowledge them as my (our) original womb.
What’s more, Buddha’s enlightenment came to him when he left the palace (culture). Sitting beneath the Bodhi tree, facing the fierce attacks of Mara in the forms of fear, illusion and self doubt, he places his hand on the earth and looks up to the sky. In connecting his hand with the land, the Buddha affirms his devotion to the reality of the present moment. In an embodied way, he returns to the nature of his interconnection within the living world and the cosmos. In response, the energy of Mara transforms and the Buddha attains enlightenment.
When we remember the truth of this living Earth as our home and we affirm our place within it, when we reclaim ourselves as expressions of nature, woven in relationship with all other beings and life forms, we can tap into a kind of belonging and liberation that is deeply nourishing.
As the weather warms and the more than human plants and animals spring to life, may you find yourself outside more and in deep connection with places where you feel held, places which inspire a sense of awe and re-membering.
If you’re curious about how to find or strengthen a sense of connection with the land, the offerings listed below are designed to help guide you deeper in. In my own experience, the container that a group provides has enabled me to go far deeper and to learn so much more than I could have on my own or within individual therapy. When the group is held by the land, the container is even more alive, resourcing and spacious.
Landing is a 4 week ecotherapy group for all bodies launching in June. We’re offering two opportunities in April to dip your toes in and see if this way of working calls to you.
Warm wishes as we enter into Spring,
Kalen
UPCOMING GROUPS AND RETREATS
– please see my offerings page or email me for more details –
Landing – Ecotherapy Group supported by James Pratt (Thursdays in June @ PKOLS) – 2 drop in opportunities April 23 & 30 (1-4pm)
Transmission Process Group with Beckham Ronaghan (Tuesdays online, rolling registration)
Landing in Queer Magic – Retreat with Beckham Ronaghan (June 19 weekend, Cowichan)
Build Your Own Retreat with Michael Hall (August, Cowichan)
The Art of Dreaming on The Land with Lisa Hartwick (September, Cowichan)
