Salmon Skins + Finding Belonging
It was a cold, wet, rainy weekend. I packed up my car: change of clothes, camping gear, extra shoes. I brought my warm jackets + a few snacks just in case, as well as my head lamp batteries. It feels like a lot of effort to pack up + yet there is always a seed of curiosity of what the weekend will bring. I choose to follow the anticipation, joy + mystery of the weekend...
Once I am in my car, I feel excited to see friends who have become like a family to me. They enjoy taking risks in nature, learning about edible plants, crafting, finding good ways to stay warm on wet days + are loving, passionate individuals who I feel I can be honest + playful with.
What a joy it is to gather + play games together as adults, to remember the sense of laughter + movement in our bones + body. What a joy it is to sing together, to share instant harmony + diversity through uniting in song, breath and joy of music. What a joy it is to learn new ancient skills that our ancestors must have engaged in long ago.
This month it was making leather from Salmon Skins. Wow..when everyone is busily working away around the fire, the sense of belonging heightens for me + I can sense a feeling of village + family in a way that is also perhaps ancient. These experiences feed my soul, my spirit, my heart + my mind. I am grateful for these experiences that invite me to discover new things about my self, and that helps me to connect to my ancestors, the land, animals + the world around me in myriad of ways.
During my weekends at Wild and Alive, I truly feel a renewed sense of aliveness. I enjoy participating in the lake ritual of going in the cold waters first thing in the early morning. What a gift to share these experiences with others. It it is no small task to show up for these weekends, with our gear and no small task to show up for ourselves and others in the circles, and activities. What we get out of the weekend is what we put in…how open we are, how willing, how curious…these are all ways of helping ourselves to remember that we indeed all belong. That belonging is in fact our birth rite, as is singing, dancing, eating etc. And yet, we humans often struggle with feeling that we belong.
Attending such a weekend focused on Deep Nature Connection is a true gift to oneself in so many ways. It is a gift to to witness the vulnerability of others who share their personal struggles with the sense of belonging, it somehow helps us to know we are not alone in this feeling. It is also such a profound gift to find ourselves in quiet reflective moments or rousing village laughter when we suddenly sense our selves open to a shared experience of being a village, even for a short time, and feeling that we do indeed BELONG and that everyone is important and needed for us to live in a good way.
Written by Cari Burdett (Nature Mentor/Mother/Song) about her experience at Wild + Alive