In this blog I am going to explore some of the different reasons for being drawn into Bushcraft and Survival, and how those "Why" reasons change along the journey. As with most things in life the "Why" evolves as you progress with a subject. As a Bushcraft Instructor I have seen and experienced a wide range of reasons for individuals, couples and groups being drawn in from reconnection with childhood passion, wanting to learn new skills, mindfulness, nature connection and inspiring your children to develop a love of nature to name just a few. I have had customers who have never spent a night outdoors, to seasoned campers who want to learn new skills to travel lightly on the land. They all have one thing in common, a curiosity for learning!
We have multiple touch points to inspire us these days with the technology that sits in the palm of our hands. Facebook and Instagram can make it feel that you are learning skills without ever leaving your armchair. I prefer to follow a practical approach backed up with reading and research into the subjects that interest me. At Woodland Ways we are strong advocates for learning with a practical approach.
In this blog I will reflect on my personal journey, how my "Whys" have changed and hopefully inspire you, the reader, to consider your Why too!
My personal journey?
I was lucky enough to spend most of my childhood outside and loved nothing better than being out all day exploring the landscape around me. We used to light fires in the woods and sleep in hammocks before it was called bushcraft. My Dad gave me a penguin book called "How to Survive" by Brian Hildreth that got me started. I later migrated to the bushtucker man Les Hiddins and of course Ray Mears. In those days it did not seem that making any sort of living out of these skills was an option so I became a gardener. Several decades slipped by until I revisited the subject with a Woodland Ways Bushcraft Weekend and that was it I was hooked again. I suppose I was looking to reconnect with the simpler times of my younger years and if I am being totally honest it was escapism from my very busy work and family life. The period of acquisition of skills had begun and I continued to take courses whilst training to become an instructor with Woodland Ways. I wanted to teach the skills I was gradually acquiring. There is a saying that "When you teach something you learn it twice," I would agree with this but go further to say that you continue to learn and strive for new and engaging ways to educate.
I have always been reflective whilst learning and record my thoughts in a journal. This is a useful practice that has kept me focused on what I am trying to achieve and I guess ultimately kept the Why in the spotlight.
For me sharing different ways to connect with nature has been an important part of my why. It might be sharing a new perspective on a plant such as nettle by revealing its edible and cordage value or showing how to navigate using the stars in the night sky. These are touch points for connection and everyone has a very subjective outlook on what they consider to be nature connection. Going for a walk in the woods could be considered nature connection, as could gardening. I have often sat around the fire in the woods and had these conversations with customers. It is very important to acknowledge that these connections will be different for everyone but no less valid for the individual.
For the last few years I have been looking for a deeper connection. In 2022 I was lucky enough to attend the Global Bushcraft Symposium and spend time exploring the pedagogy of Bushcraft in the presence of many of my Bushcraft peers and industry leaders. It shifted my Why toward a deeper search for connection to bring a depth to my studies. This I believed would go onto inform my approach to teaching.
I have been the lead instructor on our Family Immersion Course for the last few years and have been exploring nature connection with families over a six month course. It has been a pleasure to teach them various bushcraft skills and watch their confidence grow. I have observed that the down time in the woods has been very nourishing and beneficial to the family groups. It has fostered growth, resilience, and a deeper connection to the environment. I feel very proud that I have been able to encourage this deeper connection.
I was very fortunate to attend John Rhyder’s Ethnobotany course last year which opened another avenue of connection. It increased my appreciation of plants and their applied uses from medicinal, edible and craft applications.
This has inspired me to begin exploring with a new lens what is the significance of the skills I have spent time acquiring and how can I find a depth to this subject that it feels is missing from my current practice. I have come to realise that the reason I am doing it is the search for the deeper connection. It has been said that "earth is the forgotten basis of awareness!"
We have been conditioned to believe in the civilized, western world that humans are the dominate species that are above the other animals and that we need to dominate the natural world. We are sentient beings as are the other animals.
We are not better than or above as Descartes would have us believe.
In the civilized, western, industrialized world the artifacts that surround us in everyday life such as cars, houses and washing machines are endlessly reiterated and as such offer a sense of homogeny. Whereas the natural world is not predictable and reiterated and as such offers endless variation and fascination that draws me toward it.
Indigenous traditions encourage connection through sensory perception and the weaving of language throughout traditions and practices. By using all our senses to participate we are encouraging reciprocity with nature opposed to separation from it. In indigenous Australian creation stories for example, dream time connects to the ancestor spirits who created the world and its natural features. The ancestral beings travelled the land shaping the landscape. These ancestors then transformed into the natural elements such as the trees, rocks and waterholes. The dream time is a continuous spiritual connection between the past, present and future. It guides lives but most importantly cements the relationship with the land.
It could be argued that the developed, civilized, westernized world with its defining, inert, mechanical, naming culture, tends to deny and deaden the senses. This can encourage a distrust of sensorial experience and ultimately a denial of reciprocity with nature. For example, you may hear a blackbird alarm calling and be satisfied to simply name it. Or you may think that is a black bird but why is it alarm calling? What is the rest of the story?
In his fascinating book Spell of the Sensuous, David Abram explores these topics in detail and shines a light on the cultural, historical philosophy that inform human interaction with the natural world.
Philosophically speaking could we explore a fusion of our senses a "Synaesthesia" to develop our sensorial perception in the natural world. In practice this could amount to a blending of our senses working together simultaneously to draw us into deeper understanding and connection. I have no doubt that we have lost our ability to read the natural world in the way our hunter gatherer ancestors would have. It is an interesting concept and one I plan to explore further and experiment with.
It is considered a form of neuro diversity in our modern world and can take many varied forms where the senses intertwine. In the case of Billie Eilish the famous musician and song writer, she experiences music as colors, shapes and other sensory perceptions. She considers it an aid to her creative process. It is however not something that she has the choice to switch on or off. Her form of it is just present in her life and she has learnt to use it.
When we engage with sensory stimuli we use something called sensory gating to filter out unwanted stimuli, allowing focus on the desired stimuli. It is my theory that this could be used in conjunction with developing use of multiple senses to achieve a deeper connection. I intend to explore this further to reach back toward our nature based Aboriginal past.
In the meantime, I hope to continue inspiring my families with their connection while in the woods with me.
What is your bushcraft Why? How can you use it to inform your next adventure?