Barefoot With Nature

No Yule!

by Chris

Categories: My Story, Spiritual

Tags: Cold, New Zealand, Out of Sycn, Winter, Yule

Comments: No Comments

Published on: January 1, 2013

Is the festive season over yet?

The Pohutukawa Christmas Flower

There was no Yule for me this year (Yule is my ‘Christmas’), Yule is celebrated at the winter solstice, which is in June in New Zealand! Bugger, I didn’t plan that very well. I do get almost twelve months of continual summer in return, so it’s not all bad.

Following the natural cycles of the Earth as I do there is something unusual, something powerful about going from summer to summer, of not having a winter, of not having that down time, having no time to lock yourself away, retreat to the warmth of the open fire.

The Winter

The winter months are a time that I use to recuperate, to reflect over the year. The winter months signify a time to wrap up warm and rest a little, a time to ponder over the year that has been and the one yet to come. It’s a kin to the night time of the year, a time to regenerate.

Conversely the summer is a time to grow and expand, to reach to new heights to experience new experiences. The summer is a time of high energy, I don’t know if it’s the longer days, the warmth of the sun as it bathes the Earth, the growth and vitality that surrounds us, whatever it is I find the summer months are high energy months. If we were solar powered then the summer time is the time that we charge up those batteries that we soak up as much energy as we can so that we can survive the on coming winter.

So what happens if winter never comes?

I guess you could say that there are those who never really experience winter and summer, those within the equatorial regions where one season drifts into another unnoticed expect for maybe a increase in rainfall. Although these people would also notice the changes that ring in a new season, a particular flower or insect say. They too would follow their seasons in their way, just as I do in my way.

Out of sync

Being in a similar country, climate wise, latitude wise, and season wise but six months out of sync is starting to feel a little odd, about now I should be wrapping up warm, moving closer to the open fire and reflecting as I stare into the flames. But I’m not, I’m approaching the middle of summer again. Please don’t get me wrong I’m most definitely not complaining, just observing.

The thought being, is there anywhere in nature where animals (humans included) just plain miss out a season, and if so what happens? Before any smarty panties say, I know that I’m not the first or the only one nor will I be the last one to travel to the other side of the world and miss out on a season. I also know that it’s not life threatening nor cataclysmic, but it is interesting, interesting to me anyway.

As I was saying

So back to the question, in case you forgot, what happens when winter doesn’t come?

That is a surprising difficult question to answer, partly because there have been so many energy shifts over the past few weeks and that I’m still mid summer, with another one to come; winter could almost be twelve months away.

The first thing that strikes me is that my energy levels have remained elevated, my body missing those natural stimulants is not cycling naturally into a winter like state. In fact it almost seems as though my energy levels are increasing, I have certainly noticed a massive increase in creative energy, hence the sudden increase in the number of posts I am making and I’m writing a book. There is also an increased sense of anticipation or expectation, but as I say we live in powerful times, and things are shifting, to attribute these sensations to a single phenomenon would be wrong. It’s more likely to be an accumulative affect.

The fundamental cycle

Spring follows winter, summer follows spring, autumn follows summer as it comes back round to winter, this is the most fundamental cycle on our planet, the seasons, the cycle that drives all others. What happens if we interrupt this cycle, what happens if we just plain miss out winter altogether?

The cynics would say nothing, nothing happens at all! Evidence shows that people can and do experience this phenomena without any adverse affects. But not all affects are instantly noticeable, some are not perceived by medical technology, some are so subtle that only an expended awareness of your own being can detect them. Changes that are so small that most would instantly dismiss them as being nothing at all. These are the changes that interest me because these are the changes that will partly make up the person that we will become.

It’s Cold Outside! – Embracing The Cold

by Chris

Categories: With Nature

Tags: Challenges, Cold, Common Sense, Emotional Release, Expanding Awareness, Meditation, Shamanic, The Woods

Comments: No Comments

Published on: January 30, 2012

Brrrr… It’s cold outside!

Well at last the weather is more fitting for the time of year here in the UK. We are coming to the end of January and are entering a period of seasonal cold! It would seem that at we finally have a more Natural Nature.

I have walked out the house on the past few mornings to be greeted by several degrees of frost. The ground has been covered with a blanket of frozen dew, my breath instantly freezes and the cold air makes my nose run! My feet have been a live to the tingle of the cold, it’s been great! We just need a little (or a lot) of snow now!

“The cold is really”
~ Apache saying

In The Woods

I case you didn’t know last weekend I was once again in The Woods attending a Shamanic ‘Workshop’. This visit to The Woods had us working with the cold amongst other things.

Embracing The Cold

The processes or exercises that we used to embrace the cold are really too detailed to go into great in depth here but I will outline some of the more simple straightforward techniques that we were shown.

Before I go on I will say that these exercises are not an alternative to actually wrapping up against the cold, they do raise your core temperature and you don’t ‘feel’ cold but there has to be a level of common sense applied if you are not to get hyperthermia. Also we had an experienced guide with us at all times, while we went through these exercises.

Relax

This is the easiest to do but the hardest to achieve. When we get cold our bodies instantly start to shiver, it’s a natural process that generates heat by rapidly contracting the major muscle groups of the body. However the process of shivering also brings your full attention to THE COLD, your mind instantly starts to focus on the reason why you’re shivering, which just makes you colder!

Energetically, the contracting of the muscles also inhibits the natural flow of energy around the body. If the natural flow of energy around the body is interrupted then those areas that need an increase in energy just won’t get it.

So the first step is to relax, to relax into the cold. To start with it isn’t easy to stop your body shivering but with a little practice you can relax into the cold and stop the shivers, once you stop the shivers you’ll instantly feel warmer as the energy flow around the body picks up once again.

Focus

What you focus on is what you experience; this just doesn’t apply to the cold it applies to many areas of life also. If you focus on the cold, for example you focus on the how cold your hands or feet feel (as it is your hands and feet that generally feel cold first), then you are opening your mind to the experience of this cold.

So the second step is to focus your attention on the more subtle (and NOT the cold). Very much like out of mind out of sight. This is where Expanded Awareness comes in; this is a process that I have mentioned before (and at some point will into greater detail). Expanded Awareness allows you to easily move your focus from the obvious to the subtle, in this case it may be that you move your focus from the cold to the sensation of the ground below your feet, or the sound of the wind in the trees or the feeling of your clothes on your body.

Movement

Before anyone says, ‘of course I’ll warm up if I start running!’ By movement I don’t mean major excretions of energy like jumping up and down or running, but these also will keep you warm, however how long you could maintain this level of movement is another question.

In this context, movement can be as subtle as slow walking (fox walking), by moving your body, even slow deliberate movements are enough to help ‘pump’ the energy around the body. The whole idea is to keep the energies moving around your body instead of being centred in just one or two places.

Raising Your Energy Levels

There are a number of yoga or meditation practices that are based around raising and focusing your personal energy levels. While in The Woods we used a combination of movements adapted from Qigong and Shaolin Kung Fu that allowed us to raise and focus our internal energies. We only needed to practice these movements when we could feel our energy levels dropping, which is normally at the beginning of the exercises. Once our internal energy levels where raised they were easy to maintain without having to revert back to the yoga exercises.

Playing With The Cold

So with these in mind we were presented with a couple of exercises to do both of which would allow us to embrace and become friends with the cold.

In The Woods

The first exercise was straight forward enough and not too much of a shock to the system; well it wasn’t a shock to the ego. We were sent off alone to find a space in the wood where we were comfortable, once there we went through the various exercises to raise our core temperatures, once ready, we then took off items of clothing, stripping down as far as we were emotionally comfortable with. Once at the edge of our comfort zone we then blindfolded ourselves and proceeded to move (slowly) around the woods until we had embraced the cold at which point we took off the blindfold and proceeded to move around as normal.

After being in out in the woods for an hour or so we were all summonsed to returned to camp, even back in camp we sat and stood around in tee shirts and shorts for another hour or so, totally oblivious to the temperature.

Moving around blindfolded helps the mind to focus on the more subtle, humans are extremely visual in their outlook; removing or inhibiting the vision almost forces the other senses to come alive, resulting in the subtle being experienced.

In The River

The following day we were to put these exercises to the test, a swim in a local river, in mid January!

Yes you did read that correctly! The idea being that we would gradually enter the river allowing the water to slow rise up our bodies and NOT to plunge straight into the water.

I will not lie this was a challenge, especially when the water level reaches your genitals and mid-rift! However by applying the same principles as in the woods (minus the blindfold) we all embraced the cold, in fact we all became friends with the cold.

For me, and everyone else agreed, the whole experience was that of a physical, emotional and spiritual cleansing, a truly enlightening moment. I have never felt so a live as I did when I got out of the water. I truly understood what the Apaches meant when they say ‘the cold is really’.

Again after getting out of the river we stood around on the river bank in shorts and tee shirts chatting about the experience, without even the smallest consideration for the air temperature.

A Funny Story

One thing that I haven’t said is that the visit to the river was an unscheduled event and as such none of us had any swimming costumes with us, so in the true sense of living in the woods we wore our birthday suites!

Also, because of the time of the year and the rainfall over the previous week, the river was quite high and fast flowing, something that I should have taken note of when entering or more accurately exiting the river. We entered the river in a secluded spot, not obvious to those passing by, and it was at this point on the river bank that I got undressed and left my clothes. After swimming in the river for a while I allowed the current to take my about 20 or 30 meters down steam, what I didn’t realise was that the current was too strong for me to swim back up river, so I was left with no option other than getting out where I was. So I dragged myself dripping wet and in my birthday suite up onto the river bank, only to be greeted by a group of anglers heading off for a day’s fishing! A cheery ‘Good Afternoon Gentleman’ was all that I could muster as a strode along the river bank back to my pile of clothes as if a January swim in the buff was a perfectly normal pastime!

At least it gave them something to talk about that night in the pub

Un-Natural Nature

by Chris

Categories: With Nature

Tags: 2012, Changing Seasons, Cold, Nature, Time, Walking, Winter

Comments: 2 Comments

Published on: December 30, 2011

“Un-Natural Nature” is somewhat of a paradox, as surely Nature must be the inherently natural.

If, like myself, you spend time outside, with Nature, observing the seasonal changes, taking note of what going on you will have noticed that Nature does seem to be more than a little out of sync at the present, almost un-naturally so, at least this is the case here in the middle of England.

Autumn Before Autumn’s Due

There were a few raised eyebrows not just from myself but others I know also, when at the end of the summer the trees had all but lost their leaves, the Oaks, Chestnuts, Beach and Hazels had all cast the fruit way before the ‘official’ start of autumn. I like many others took this a sign that we would be in for a very long very cold winter.

Spring Before Spring’s Due

Dog Rose and Rose Hips... together in December

As the autumn took hold and the nights started drawing in, the temperature starting to drop, it did indeed start to feel as though a long cold winter was going to be upon us.

Then it all seemed to stop, the temperature stopped dropping, the frosts didn’t really come the snow has yet to arrive, and winter still seems to be moth-balled at the back of Natures cupboard.

HOWEVER what has arrived are Blackberries on the Brambles, Daisies and Purple Clove in the fields, the bright yellow flowers of the Gorse (not just a smattering of flowers but full blown spring blooms). Also the Daffodils are starting to come up not just poking the theirs heads above the soil, but we’re talking 15 plus centimetres of growth, not to mention various other plants that shouldn’t be in bloom at this time of the year and what’s more it’s the end of December!

It isn’t just the plants that seem to be a little confused, when out in the early mornings I’m hearing the spring dawn chorus, the early hours of the winter months are normally a quite affair but not at the minute. I’ve seen Wasps and Bumble Bees around, in December, this just isn’t right!

Winter? What Winter?

It would seem that Nature has skipped winter this year… or has it?

There has been, and still is much talk about the significance of 2012, and if you follow the patterns of Nature it would seem that there is still much to talk about. What are the implications of the unseasonably seasons, what affects would a sudden very cold period have on the flora and fauna, not to mention the farmers crops? What would be the affects if we just don’t get a winter, there are many species that are naturally culled by the cold winter weather, if this doesn’t happen are we going to be in for a summer of epidemics and plagues?

It’s food for thought, following the patterns of Nature can teach us so much including when to be prepared, after all it was following these very same patterns that allowed our ancestors to not just survive but thrive. Like our ancestors we would be wise to sit up and take note when the patterns deviate so much from the norm, the one thing Nature has always done is given us warnings when she’s going to throw a curve ball our way.

I would really be interested to know if you have noticed the same in your area, or is this just isolated to this small corner of the Planet we call England?

Barefooting – The Dangers

by Chris

Categories: Barefooting

Tags: Bare foot, Barefeet, Barefooting, Challenges, Cold, Common Sense, Expanding Awareness, Five Finger Shoes, Vibram

Comments: No Comments

Published on: December 19, 2011

Isn’t It Dangerous Being Barefoot?

This is normally the opening statement that I am presented with whenever anyone approaches me to talk about why I have no shoes on. Because this does seem to be the main concern that stops people going barefoot I thought that this would be a good place to start when talking about barefooting.

Both the city and the country have a number of different challenges when being barefoot but at the end of the day if you apply a little common sense then you’ll be fine. Here are some of the concerns that have been raised to me, and my usual replies.

Unhygienic

It’s true you don’t know what germs and bacteria are lurking around on the pavement or the floor of the wood. However the skin on your feet WILL protect you from these nasties. That’s provided you don’t have any open cuts or sores – use common sense, if you have a cut or a sore then it’ll probably be best to put something on your feet.

This is more of a city issue than a country issue, in the country the main problem is animal faeces, especially those left by inconsiderate dog owners (a pet peeve of mine). Leaf mould and grass are both astringents and both mildly antiseptic, and there are a host of other plants that you can use to clean your feet off should you wish.

Generally speaking I’ll wash my feet off when I return home, and if I do happen to step in something unsavoury then there is nearly always some water somewhere (or plants, leaves and grass) that can be used to clean your feet.

Obviously going barefoot and chewing you toe nails is NOT a good combination

Disease and Parasites

I have had people ask about parasites, from what I have found it would seem that Hook Worm is the main culprit here. In countries with good sanitation Hook Worm is NOT be a problem (I am referring to human Hook Worm).

Hook Worm does invade the host by burrowing through the skin on the feet to enter the blood stream and believe that you can feel this happening. For those who are constantly barefoot the skin on the sole of your feet would be too thick and tough for the larva to penetrate, they can however burrow in through the skin between your toes.

In order for the Hook Worm larva to reach the point where they start needing a new host they require very specific conditions to grow, mainly warm moist environments (the cold, heat and dry or very wet will kill the larva) and they take around 5 days to mature from being past out of the host. They also ONLY come from human faeces!

So, unless you’re standing still on a spot where an infected person defecated within the last 5 days, you’re safe. Modern sanitary conditions have all but eliminated human Hook Worm; it is no longer considered an issue in the majority of the world.

As regards diseases, most diseases of the foot are as a result of wearing either poorly fitting or inappropriate shoes! And most, like Athletes Foot, only thrive in the warm damp conditions provided by socks and shoes.

I would say if you are a regular barefooter (or even if you’re not) then it’s not a bad idea to keep your Tetanus shots up to date.

Sharp Stones and Glass

Sharp stones are more of an issue in the country and broken glass more of an issue in the city, but both can have the same affect!

Personally I have found neither to be too much of a problem. One of the things that you develop as a regular barefooter is a more tuned in awareness. An awareness of where you’re going and what is on the floor in front of you. I have often found myself unconsciously wandering around a patch of broken glass or exposed sharp stones.

Also the more you walk barefoot the harder or more durable the soles of your feet become, offering some protection against glass and sharp stones. I wouldn’t purposefully walk over broken glass, but I have accidentally walked through a patch of broken glass with no adverse effects, but it’s not something that I would consciously try again!

I have only had two shards of glass stick into my feet; the first time was in the first month of going barefoot when my soles were still soft. This didn’t hurt and was easily pulled out with my finger nails, no bleeding and no pain. The second time was more recently and the only thing that alerted me to the fact that I had something stuck in the bottom of my foot was that feeling of walking with a small stone in your shoe. This was a little trickier to remove, but again it was pulled out with my finger nails and no bleeding and no pain. Interestingly both times I have had a glass encounter it has been in the arch of my foot where the skin is thinner and not so tough.

Cuts and Bruises

Cuts and bruises generally come from being careless or not considering your feet.

Bruising is normally an issue in the early days of barefooting or after a very long walk on a hard surface. The bruising is caused by continual heavy foot falls, as your feet harden off bruising becomes less of a problem, the muscles and flesh of your feet and lower legs become used to the impact from being barefoot. Remember that your shoes cushion the bottom of your feet, so when starting out take it easy and build up slowly.

Also trying to walk toe to heel instead of heel to toe, it takes some getting used to, but it does lessen the impact of being barefoot on both your feet and legs and will help reduce bruising.

Chilblains or Frost-bite

I do love to be barefoot, and do try to be barefoot as much as possible. BUT when I can’t feel my toes I know that’s time to put on my Vibrams. It’s just common sense!

Is It Against The Law?

There are no laws prohibiting being barefoot in public in the USA or UK, and this includes driving. Obviously this doesn’t apply to the work place; there are certain work places that require employees to wear shoes or boots of one sort or another.

There are also no general laws that prohibit barefooters from going into restaurants or other shops and stores, however each individual premises or company is entitled to refuse admission based on the their own dress code or barefoot policy, this does give them the right to stop you going in but it doesn’t make being barefoot illegal.

The Barefoot Lifestyle

The barefoot life style is no more dangerous than any other life style so long as you apply common sense. If you walk around with a gapping cut on the bottom of your foot it will most likely get infected. If you run head long through a bramble patch you will most likely get thorns in your feet. If you walk around for hours in sub-zero temperature you most likely will get frost-bite.

I tend to carry my Vibrams around with me if I’m going on a long walk or a major excursion into the city, only just in case… you never really know what you’ll encounter… but that’s part of the fun!

If you have anything to add please feel free to use the comments below, or if you feel that I’ve missed something out, or just to let me know how you’ve got on being barefoot.

Five Finger Shoes – The Test Walk

by Chris

Categories: Barefooting

Tags: Bare foot, Barefeet, Barefooting, Challenges, Cold, Five Finger Shoes, Frost Bite, Moccasins, Nature, The Woods, Walking

Comments: No Comments

Published on: November 25, 2011

This is a follow on or review from this post

I have invested in these to protect my feet against the cold (frost bite etc) primarily when walking on concrete or tarmac. (I nearly said when walking the streets but that would just bring up the wrong imagines!) Concrete and tarmac has a considerably lower temperature in the winter than the grass, soil, and the leaf beds of the wood floor. When walking in nature I will remain barefoot, unless the temperatures drop right down low and then I will be wearing the Moccasins that I had in the summer.

I would prefer to be barefoot all the time but in the interests of staying out of hospital and not losing any toes I felt that these were a good halfway house between barefoot and shoes for use on concrete and tarmac surfaces.

The Design

This design (there are several different designs, for different purposes made by Vibram) is the FLOW Five Finger Shoe, they are designed for trekking, walking, running, water sports, climbing; basically they are designed for the active outdoor person in cold weather.

The upper is 1.2 mm think Neoprene with two Hypalon straps with Velcro fasteners, one round the back of the foot and one across the top and the sole is 2mm Vibram TC-1 performance rubber with an antimicrobial microfiber foot-bed.

The Fit

They fit like gloves! Which is what they are meant to do, the whole shoe wraps around your foot, the sole is moulded in the general shape of your sole, including fitting into the arch of your foot. The upper it a tight fit, not unlike that of a wetsuit (the uppers are made from the same material).

They do require a ‘knack’ to get them on; they are most definitely not the type of shoe to just slip on! Fortunately a side-effect of walking barefoot is that your feet and toes spread which makes putting the Five Finger Shoe on a little easier. The only way that I can describe putting them on is like putting tight gloves on your feet.

The Feel

These ‘foot gloves’ are generally very comfortable once you get over the initial feeling of having your toes separated! The moulded sole fits perfectly around the sole of the foot and the two Velcro straps hold the shoe firmly in place. Although they really aren’t needed because the overall fit is so snug but I should imagine that as they wear in they could become looser.

Once on, with your toes in their individual ‘sleeves’ you have all the natural movement you would have with bare feet. You can move and wiggle your toes, bend and flex your foot, pretty much the shoe moves with the foot, which does look a little strange, especially with the metallic appearance (This design also comes in black if you don’t want to look like Metal Micky!) Despite the tight fit I didn’t find that they rubbed or became uncomfortable in anyway, in fact the tight fit makes them more a part of your own foot.

The Walking Experience

The thin soles do mean that you get much of the same sensation as walking barefoot. You can feel the ground beneath your feet, the change in textures, the change in the type of surface (you can feel the difference between concrete and tarmac and grass and soil). You also get all the sensations of what you are walking on, especially stepping on small stones and pebbles; you can even feel the cracks in the pavement!

The rubber sole and foot bed do provide some insulation against the cold of the ground. However these shoes are designed for active outdoor use and not just sitting or standing around. I found that when I was sat around (outside) that my feet did start to get cold but once I started moving my feet soon warmed up.

Although the soles do offer a level of thermal insulation I found that I could still feel the temperature change when moving from tarmac to grass and back again. My feet didn’t get cold but there was a noticeable temperature change.

The Neoprene upper is not waterproof so walking through water or wet grass does get your feet wet. On the plus side they then start acting more like a wetsuit and once the body temperature warms the water held in the Neoprene they keep your feet toasty warm!

Energetically the rubber soles do insulate you from the Earth, which does mean that you have less of the transfer of energy between you and the Planet. That said they are considerably better than wearing walking boots but not a good as my Moccasins (I will talk about my Moccasins at some point).

The Conclusion

Overall the Five Finger Shoes are really well made, they are comfortable and warm, they are a good alternative to being barefoot when the temperatures drop below freezing and are especially good for walking around town, on concrete or tarmac (surfaces that would destroy my Moccasins). Walking in The Woods and with Nature I feel that Moccasins are a better alternative purely based on the energetic transfer, however if this isn’t an issue for you then a pair of Five Finger shoes would be a great all round shoe.

One of the things that I like is that Vibram have a number of different designs in different colours, each tailored to a specific use so spending a little time looking at their website and you’ll find a pair that fits your need. So much so I many invest in another pair (they do a pair that are wool lined) for those times in the winter months when I’m sat around outside enjoying the company of others.

Barefoot In The Winter – Five Finger Shoes

by Chris

Categories: Barefooting

Tags: Bare foot, Barefeet, Barefooting, Challenges, Cold, Five Finger Shoes, Frost Bite, Vibram, Walking

Comments: 2 Comments

Published on: November 23, 2011

One of the biggest challenges to being barefoot is not walking on concrete or tarmac, nor is it avoiding glass and other sharp objects that have been discarded by the general public, the biggest challenge comes in the winter months when the temperatures drop.

Cold Feet

As the air temperature drops so does the temperature of the ground. This hasn’t presented me with too many issues whilst on the move, so far. As I have found that when walking, no matter how slow I walk my feet seem to maintain a comfortable temperature. But when I stop, the temperature does become an issue, and I’m sure that once we start to get constant freezing temperatures and snow then the temperature of the ground will become more of an issue as will chilblains and frost-bite!

Vibram Flow Five Finger Shoes

Having done a far amount of research and talking to other barefooters, I have decided to invest in a pair of Vibram Five Finger Shoes, Flow design in Grey/Camo (don’t they look cool?). With the intention of preventing the loss of any toes this winter due to frost bite!

I will be test walking them later today so I’ll have to come back with an update on how they are.

First impressions are very favourable, they are warm and comfortable although they do initially feel a little strange with your toes all separated. They really do feel like a pair of gloves for the feet. The one thing I have noticed is that they are not the easiest pair of shoes to put on, but as they wear in and I get used to them I’m sure that my toes will find their sleeves on their own

Rather bizarrely they do give the impression that I have metal feet!

Read my review here.

Saturday 22 October 2011 – Day 1!

by Chris

Categories: Back To The Basics

Tags: Back To The Basics, Challenges, Cold, Nature, Sleeping with Nature, The Woods

Comments: No Comments

Published on: November 5, 2011

I am sat on the edge of The Woods watching the Sun get out of bed, casting an orange glow across the field and over the trees to my far right. As the tentacles of the day stroke the trees into life I can hear The Woods starting to move… all except the others in the camp!

Sleeping with Nature

Last night I took the decision to sleep on a leaf bed with the tree as my tent and with the stars watching over me. I had forgotten how liberating and freeing it is to sleep with Nature. The simple fact that there is no canvass between you and Nature seems to develop a deeper connection with The Woods as you sleep, quite magical. Before you ask, yes it was cold, but I was wrapped up well and once my body warmth heated my sleeping bag and blankets I was cosy sleeping with nature. The leaf bed was a good 8 inches think and gave me more than enough protection from then damp and cold of the bare ground, as well as being almost as comfortable as a mattress.

During this visit to The Woods there are nine of us in total from all around the country, Ben, our guide and Shaman, Paul, Silvie, Carol, Nick, Olly, Jamie, Matt and myself. I thought best to introduce them in case I mention them in later posts.

The Shifting Energies

Last night before dinner, we as group shared stories, the story of our lives since the last visit to The Woods. A little bit of group therapy! After all it’s good to talk and share, once you’ve put it out to the world and those who are listening, your troubles and worries, it really does lift a weight off your shoulders, as they say a problem shared. The energies of the past couple of months have been very intense and we all had a story to tell. Everyone’s story was different but everyone’s story had a common theme, the energies are shifting, there is change underway. It manifests differently for each story told but the underlying theme was the same. The intensity is increasing and we are all being challenged to make changes in our lives, changes not just for our greater good but for the greater good of humanity or that is the way it appears.

If I had any doubts that I wasn’t doing the right thing, they have gone, magically whisked away by The Woods to leave me with a calm and peace that is nurtured by Nature. The Woods have a wonderful way of doing that, I’m so glad that I came back to The Woods, to start my 10 day adventure in this place.

Monday 17 October 2011 – 4 days before

by Chris

Categories: Back To The Basics

Tags: Back To The Basics, Challenges, Cold, Nature, No Time, Technology Free

Comments: No Comments

Published on: November 1, 2011

I must say that I’m finding myself thinking more and more about this up and coming 10 days. I have mixed feelings about it; part of me thinks GREAT a whole week of not having to get up at 5.30 every day! Part of me thinks SHIT what am I going to do with myself!

To be honest it’s the latter that I seem to be thinking about more. Probably in a more positive light as in what can I do, because there is nothing to do? Like for example, I’ve already told myself that I will be meditating or Journeying at least twice a day, once at sun up (if I’m awake, if not, then when I wake) and once at sun down. With nothing else to do that’s easy no pressures, no phone calls, no e-mails to answer, and I’m looking forward to this, I can’t wait. But then after sun down, what is there to do, I can still go to the Woods, and most likely will, but the outdoors becomes less appealing should I say and at this time of year and colder too. So with no Tech what is there to do, well I’ve told myself I can read, write, I have some Tarot readings to catch up on, and friends to visit… and there comes another challenge. Tech at other people’s houses.

Although in a way even though I worry about having so much time I also know that I won’t get the time to do half of the other things that I want to do. Bit of a paradox really, but it’s interesting me, after all this 10 days is about me so I best start examining myself!

The temperature is something that I am thinking about, I haven’t had the central heating on this week and the outside temperature is dropping and my place is getting cold, then there’s the standing in the kitchen bathing in the sink (no running hot water), something else that I’m not looking forward to. But on the other hand these challenges and all the others associated with it will be fun at the very least; after all if they’re not going to be fun then what’s the point?

Challenging myself, both physically and emotionally is something that I am looking forward to, it has been a long time since I placed so many challenges of so many differing type in front of myself and I’m eager to know how I manage. I also want to know if I can do this, it doesn’t sound like much after all it’s only 10 days!

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