Awakening the Senses in Nature
There is a hidden sensory potential in “modern” humans, waiting to be activated.
Nature is waiting for us to tune in. When we connect with nature, we awaken a powerful source of energy and healing in our lives.
The doorway to nature is through our senses. When we awaken the senses, we discover an expanded awareness, and a new richness of relationship with the world we are part of.
Our ancestors around the world relied on this expanded awareness to survive and thrive.
For most of human history, people lived as hunter-gatherers, sensing the patterns of nature, experiencing the moment, and feeling intimately connected with the greater flow of life and creativity.
Why? Because they had to, to survive. Some people, in pockets around the world, continue living this way to this day.
We still have this same capacity within us, even in the modern setting. Although we have adapted some of this potential into the modern setting, much is lying dormant, either not fully developed, or often, never activated to begin with.
The stress of modern living and busy schedules builds a crust over this potential, muting the senses and further distancing us from stepping into our full sensory birthright as human beings.
Mindfulness, meditation and other practices point towards this ancient potential within.
We all want more peace, more joy, and more connection in our lives - more presence, so that we can fully experience life. But, there is a disconnect between our potential, and what we experience in the modern setting. One of the key reasons is:
We are still running the same inner neurological “hardware” inherited from our hunter-gatherer ancestors - one that developed over countless generations in direct contact with the stresses and input of nature - but in our modern context of the digital era, we have lost the ancient, proven “programs” that help us to awaken our senses to their full potential, and actually activate our life-enhancing connective abilities.
We need to re-discover the original “Human Operating System” - the inner "software" that allows us to make full use of our amazing human nature.
Your brain, and sensory systems, “expect” certain input and experiences from the natural world, in order to fully thrive. Yet, this innate need is all too often overlooked today.
The term “Nature Deficit Disorder” has been coined by one leading proponent of nature connection to highlight this lack of direct connection with the outdoors.1 Sensory Process Disorder is another term that is coming into usage, as more need is being recognized for how to help people integrate their sensory experience. 
Modern research demonstrates that we need contact with nature for our well-being.
Something as simple as putting plants in an office, or even looking at images of nature on a computer screen, has been shown to have a positive impact on well-being.2 A tremendous number of other studies point towards the diverse range of health benefits associated with regular time spent in nature, both for children and adults.3
Wisdom cultures around the world have developed an intimate knowledge of place - how to survive and thrive in a region, how to know the patterns of nature, and how to fully inhabit one’s body and sensory system, realizing the oneness of Nature and each person’s role within that larger pattern. Every environment demanded specialty skills for survival.
Every enduring ancient culture has also developed ways to pass on this knowledge across the generations - mentoring pathways to connect the next generation with the nature of their place. But, to do this effectively, the older generation needs to have that connective experience for themselves in the first place [hint: this is a BIG challenge in the modern culture!].
In the modern era, many parents themselves have no longer grown up experiencing nature connection, and especially not at the deep level that our ancestors once knew. This lack of direct relationship nature is compounding in each new generation.
Many earth-based wisdom traditions around the world are increasingly at risk. Even though a culture can take thousands of years to develop, it can easily be lost, and in the last 100 years alone, many ancient lifeways have been disturbed - often intentionally - in the wake of modernization. In the process, many localized traditions of awareness and connection have been lost or distorted.
In the true story above, we can see a number of challenges that face many of us today…
We all need direct sensory connection with nature to be healthy;
Nature connection is disappearing in today's digital era;
Modern culture is not great at helping us connect with nature, but deep connection requires a supportive culture;
Stress builds up every day; Nature rejuvenates us.
These are just a few pieces of the story that we all face today, whether we know it or not. What can we do now to bring more connection in our lives, and to activate the full potential of our sensory connection system?
Meet Jon, Josh & the 8 Shields Institute
Is there a "recipe" for connection with nature? For more than 30 years, the 8 Shields Institute team has sought out best practices in nature connection.
We’ve found that YES, there are simple practices we can bring into our daily lives that awaken our human connection system to its innate, inborn potential.
These practices engage your senses, help you feel connected to nature, and are a lot of fun!
After being mentored in an indigenous model of nature connection as a youth, 8 Shields founder Jon Young has dedicated his life to distilling universal core principles of connection, and sharing how to pass these ancient skills forward in the modern world. Jon has helped over 300 communities world-wide to bring a connection-based approach into their schools, communities, and teams.
“We have a nervous system. We have a circulatory system. But what most people don’t realize, is that we also have a connective system.
We have an instinctive longing to connect with nature, with family, with community, and with the deepest parts of ourselves.
This need is not being met so well today.
Connection is a different process than that of education or recreation, though it relates to both of these; it is connection that we most need in the world at this time.
Its deepest expression requires (and creates) a culture of mentoring and support. A simple but powerful way to begin is by connecting with nature through awakening the senses.”
- Jon Young,
Founder, 8 Shields Institute
A Lineage Moving Through Time…
At a young age, Josh Lane felt a strong calling that led him on a journey towards the wilderness, seeking a greater understanding of the natural world and the possibilities of human perception and creative vision.
For the last 20 years, Josh has explored the mentoring skills that support powerful transformational journeys, as passed through the ancient arts of holistic tracking, bird language, Qi Gong, and other primal skills of perception.
Having experienced this deep nature connection mentoring pathway himself as a youth, Josh has since helped many others from communities around the world to explore their own unique connections with nature, within and without.
“Nature is both within and around us. The only separation is in the mind.
By arriving in the moment, we can experience this oneness, without the distraction of past troubles or future concerns.
In this way, we can relax, re-charge, shed the stress of daily life, and embrace that which is real - we can get into the greater flow of Life and bring our unique gifts into each moment.
We can get there by fully embodying our senses - and then we realize we've been there all along, we just had to remember.”
- Josh Lane,
Deep Nature Connection Mentor, 8 Shields Institute
Passing the Tradition Forward
Beyond outdoor recreation and free-play in nature, there is a little-known realm that today we call deep nature connection.
Here, the senses are deeply calibrated to the changing patterns in nature; an active and meaningful relationship has been formed with the seasons, with the land, and with the plants, the animals and the rhythms of nature.
With mentoring, the connection journey accelerates with new layers of breadth and depth.
Mentoring on this level is strategic, and draws on a vast lineage of knowledge of place and technique that accumulates over time, growing and being passed down from generation to generation.
Jon, Josh, and the 8 Shields Team have distilled a foundational set of of key deep nature connection practices based on enduring mentoring techniques.
Participants in our programs around the world, of all ages, use these sensory tools to awaken their own sense of connection with nature, whether in the city, suburbs, or even in the remote wilderness.
To help more people access these life-changing skills, 8 Shields mentoring specialists Jon Young and Josh Lane have created a special 6-week online course, Awakening the Senses in Nature.
We at 8 Shields invite you to join us for the first round of this one-of-a-kind training.
The six-week Awakening the Senses online training includes six learning modules exploring each of the senses, designed to help you connect deeply with nature through daily routines for relaxation, awareness, and presence.
Get inspired through MP3 audio training stories with Jon Young and Josh Lane, that build a supportive and engaging context for your practice;
Experience daily mindfulness practices that activate your senses in nature, to help you find your inner state of connection and centered awareness
Integrate your senses each day with Reflection Guide questions, designed to strengthen your dynamic sensory memory.
The course is structured on effective mentoring techniques that have been found in nature-based Wisdom Cultures around the world, honed by both Jon & Josh’s extensive mentoring experience.
What You'll Experience in the Course Modules:
Humans are visually dominant beings, but we often use only a fragment of our eyes’ abilities.
Learn and practice techniques that expand the field of view, hone search imagery and detail recognition, and open a doorway to deeper states of consciousness.
Derived from ancient tracking practices, these skills can help you to spot wildlife more easily, quickly achieve meditative states and access deeper relaxation, and can even be applied in sports and other modern situations for greater effectiveness and agility.
Topics include:
- Priming the Awareness Through Search Images
- Activating Peripheral Vision
- Engaging the Storyteller's Mind with the Senses, and more...
Have you ever sat at the computer so long at work, that you forgot you even had a body?
More and more today, we find ourselves facing a sedentary lifestyle that disconnects us from our most basic awareness, the connection with the body. With this lack of attention, stress and dis-ease begin to accumulate.
Grounding your awareness into your body opens a path to clear this stagnation and experience more aliveness and vitality. Also overlooked today is the inherent wisdom of the body, which knows a lot more than we often think it does…
This module explores movement and spatial awareness, drawing on Animal Forms, the tracker’s art of imitation and role playing, as we explore movement patterns inspired by nature that will enliven and activate the body.
Included is an Animal Forms movement sequence that gently opens all the joints of the body for more vitality.
What’s that little bird saying out the window?
Yes, it’s true, there is a common language spoken in nature, and birds are the broadcasters of danger through their alarms and calls.
Yet, before we begin to learn the language of the birds, there is some “basic training” to do… this module focuses on different ways to engage the sense of hearing, not only to sense what’s happening around us in the natural world, but also as a doorway toward the Quiet Mind.
What do we hear when we begin listening beyond the internal dialogue? Be prepared to experience the soundscape in a whole new way.
Topics include:
- Deep Listening as a Doorway to the Quiet Mind
- Spatial Location of Sounds
- Linking Hearing with Gut Sensing Through Bird Language & More
The senses of taste and smell are closely linked.
One of our most ancient senses, the sense of smell is often overlooked today (in fact, we barely have any words in English that speak directly to it - “oversmelled”, perhaps???).
Wake up your nose with fun activities and games, and explore how scent is linked to memory, emotion, culture, and even intuition.
The Taste section of this module invites you to refine your palette with fun (and tasty) sensory exercises that will bring you into the moment through the gustatory experience. Dinner will never be the same after this module.
In Module 02, we explored the body’s sense of motion and place in both time and space through Animal Forms.
Now, we will awaken the tactile system and explore the sense of touch for interpreting subtle detail in the environment, from tracks on the ground to air currents and more.
Enlivening the sense of touch helps center the awareness in the midst of daily distractions, and provides a direct and intimate level of connection with nature. This module also increasingly fuses together the earlier practices as we move towards the final module, Synthesis.
Topics include tracking through touch, sensing the weather, animal forms, and more.
Having awakened all of the senses, this sixth week culminates the course as we invite you to bring together all of your sensory systems into a deeper state of presence and awareness.
As one Wisdomkeeper told us, “Activating the five primary senses awakens the sixth sense, that of intuition.”
Explore “Blink” moments of rapid cognition, gut sensing, the Storyteller’s Mind, more complex Animal Forms movement meditations, and peek into the wisdom of the body’s innate sensory knowledge potential.
Each Module Contains:
Daily audio MP3s with inspiring stories and exercises for exploring the senses, that easily integrate into your life. The modules include activities you can explore in your yard, at the park, and even in your home. Experience 1 module of training each week for 6 weeks.
Complete, fully edited transcript PDF for each module, for those who prefer visual learning (totaling over 300 pages of engaging stories and practices!). These transcripts are from Josh & Jon's recording sessions, and make a great supplement to the audio.
Reflection Guidebooks with sensory integration questions to complete after each day’s exercise. Includes 6 months access of personal email responses - one response per module - from an 8 Shields mentor. Reflection is key to integrating sensory experiences, and we've designed this process based on proven mentoring patterns.
Sensory Integration: A 400,000 Year Old Mentoring Process
There is a pattern language to the journey of deep nature connection… and there is an in-breath and out-breath to the process. To fully integrate a sensory experience in nature requires reflection, which is empowered with skillful questions.
In many traditional hunter-gatherer cultures, a person’s sensory experience would be shared and supported in the village by a mentor or elder, who would ask questions to help the person reflect and deepen their connections.
Through regular reflection and ongoing experiences, a person’s awareness and connection with nature grows to new depths. This was likely a major pattern of human learning for hundreds of thousands of years - an essential process that the brain and sensory system still longs for.
Because this connection process is gradual and often subtle, it's easy to overlook, because the effect is cumulative over time. In fact, this kind of mentoring seems almost invisible to the untrained eye.
Jon and Josh have drawn upon their years of mentoring experience to develop a special set of daily reflection questions to help you get the most out of each day’s sensory practices.
Also included is 6 months of access to your own 8 Shields personal course responder, so that you can send in your reflections from each module via email and receive a response from one of our 8 Shields mentors. It’s so essential to reflect, to tell your story, and to be witnessed as your connection journey unfolds; this moves your learning and connection to a deeper level.
With over 30 years of experience in deep nature connection mentoring, 8 Shields has refined a suite of patterns and best practices that can help you to powerfully develop your personal connection with nature; we’ve seen these core routines bring more energy, aliveness, and meaning into people’s lives, over and over.
How Do I Get Started?
Choose from our one-time or payment plan options below, and click the Get Me Started link below. After registration with our secure payment portal, you'll quickly receive an email with your login to the course. (All course materials are digital; good internet with a modern web browser are required).
You can begin right away with the Orientation and Module 01: Awakening the Sight. You'll receive a new module each week, and all the bonus materials will be released with Module 06. You'll also have long term access to the course, and all the course materials are downloadable for your personal use. Read on further below if you are also interested in going deeper with upcoming mentoring options with Josh & Jon.
Save over $50 this week through Wednesday, November 2 with promo Code AWAKE on checkout (for one-time payment option only). Click below to get started today.
Need to pay via Paypal? Just email our team at [email protected] for a custom order form.
Our Awakening the Senses Online Course comes with a 30 day risk free guarantee.
If you're not satisfied with the course for any reason, just email us within 30 days of purchase and we'll give you a complete refund.
Bonus Materials
Bonus 1: Games & Activities Guide ($27 value) Included
Included with Module 6 is our downloadable Awakening the Senses Nature Activity Guide. Learn games that effectively introduce sensory awareness practices in both partner and group formats. Each sense is paired with activities that a variety of ages will enjoy.
After going through the Awakening the Senses in Nature course yourself, with the help of this guide you'll have a great sense for how the principles behind these activities can be adapted for various settings to encourage connection and fun!
Bonus 2: Advanced Bird Language with Jon Young Audio Series Download ($47 value) - Included
Released with Module 6, Jon Young shares over 8 hours of engaging stories with true tales highlighting the universal language of nature. Learn what birds have to say about unseen animals, how they can help us to expand our awareness, and even what they have to say about us as we move across the landscape! This series has been a favorite and opens a new view into the hidden realm of nature just outside the door.
6 months of 8 Shields Course Responder Feedback ($97 value) - Included
It's not enough to have a sensory experience in nature - reflection and sharing your story are key components to the integration process.
We've included 6 months of access to one of our 8 Shields course responders, who will review each of your Module Reflections and be a helpful support as you share your unfolding experiences via email. While making use of this option isn't required to join the course, we have included it for everyone with the course because sharing your stories and being heard is so essential to the connection process.
Is This For Me?
Awakening the Senses is designed for those who want to deeply connect with nature, by learning simple practices that release stress and tune the senses. No previous experience with the outdoors is required, though you will need access to a backyard, local park, or anywhere you can explore with your senses. You'll also need a decent internet connection and modern browser, as all course materials are digital.
What if I already have some nature connection experience, such as participating in Kamana or other outdoor trainings?
Though you may encounter some familiar practices, Jon and Josh have structured the course in a way that will build a further appreciation of the "fine points" of each sensory experience; guided sensory meditations, stories and facts that lead to further understanding of application, and - especially - daily practices and reflections that generate embodiment through sensory experience will all enhance any existing practices you may have undertaken.
If you need new inspiration, want a daily "kick in the pants" to jumpstart your journey again, or desire some additional perspectives to support your mindfulness and sensory practices, we feel this course will be of service.
Ready to Get Started?
Course registration is open until Wednesday, November 2nd.
Click the registration link to get started now and go to our secure checkout page.
You'll receieve an email with login instructions to the course portal after completing payment.
The Online Course includes a full 30 day money-back guarantee - no hassle, no worries. If you're not fully satisfied, just email us for a full refund.
“If you focus on connection, you will get awareness, information, and knowledge all together in one sweep.”
- Jon Young
What Past 8 Shields Participants Are Saying:
"Mentoring with Josh helped me to transition from gathering information about nature to building relationship and connection.
It allowed me to directly experience a much older and tremendously more powerful way of learning than what I experienced growing up. It helped me remember some of the childhood magic that got buried as I prepared for the "real" world.
The connection journey helped me begin to see how everything is connected and responding to everything else. It helped me to realize the concentric rings I create, and how the world around me changes when I change how I conduct my energy. The process helped me shed the weight of so much stuff that had been placed into my backpack as I grew up without me even realizing it." - Brock
Going Further...
Awakening the Senses Distance Mentoring Series
Are you ready to dive deep into the nature connection experience? Josh & Jon are offering a limited number of seats in the new Awakening the Senses Distance Mentoring Series. 10 spots are available now for focused individuals to join us for this transformative 6 month journey.
Through group training calls, monthly field practices, individual projects, and customized personal mentoring, we'll guide you through establishing a strong set of core routines that will help you feel more connected and in tune with nature, and with your own centered being, that you can continue to deepen for the rest of your life.
What You'll Need:
- Reliable Phone service & Good Internet
- Several hours a week at the minimum for field exploration & personal projects
- Passion for exploring nature, both on the outer and inner landscapes
Mentoring Calls With Josh Lane:
Experience a monthly hour long mentoring call with Josh Lane, every month for six months. In these calls, Josh will help you to focus on your goals & vision for your deep nature connection journey, and customize the core routines that best meet your current needs. You'll also be given specific practices for in-between sessions, and part of each call includes sharing your stories and experiencing sensory integration through the Art of Questioning. You'll also go through a complete 8 Shields assessment process before your first call, that is designed to help you look at your own nature experience, goals, and blocks.
Group Call Training Topics include:
Each 1.5 hour group call will explore Core Routines that enhance mindfulness and connection, and address the Barriers to Connection that commonly block this process from its fullest expression. Group Calls include time for integrating the past month's learnings, and inspiring training stories and experiencing mentoring with Jon and Josh. Learning with a focused group is a powerful way to accelerate the connection process.
Group Call Dates: Mondays at 1:30pm PT/4:30pm ET Nov. 14, Dec. 12, Jan. 16, Feb 6., March 6, Apr. 17
Month 1
Core Routine: Edge Experiences & The Sit Spot as a Rite of Passage
Barrier: Access to Nature & Entering the Mind of Nature
Month 2
Core Routine: Bird Language Routines for the Sit Area
Barrier: Getting Rooted - Addressing Lost Connection From Moving
Month 3
Core Routine: Connecting Questions & The Art of Journaling
Barrier: Working with the Primary Fears of Nature
Month 4
Core Routine: Timelessness & Wandering
What Barriers are coming up?
Barrier: Examining Inherited Attitudes & Fears
Month 5
Core Routine: Animal Forms
Barrier: Social Stigma & the “Criminalization of Free Play”
Month 6
Core Routine:
Barrier: Empowering Social Connection - Healing Fear of Connection with Other People
Village Talk Option - An optional package is available for also experiencing Village Talk, our weekly "virtual connection dojo" group call series, an ongoing conversation in topics and practices related to connection, mentoring, culture, and nature. Each week, Jon Young shares a keynote topic with practices and insights, and small group breakouts provide you an opportunity to share your experiences and learnings with other community members from around the world.
Use promo code ALIVE on checkout to save $603 on either full payment option through October 31st.
*The 30 day money back guarantee applies only to the online course component. Refund Policy for for mentoring series: 90% refund up to the date of the first session of participation including Village Talk. 75% refund if you cancel within 30 days of your first session. No refunds available after the first 30 days.
From a Past Mentoring Participant:
"8 Shields helped me to build an incredibly strong foundation for a healthy and connected life. From the very first call, I felt very deeply welcomed and accepted for who I was by every person I came in contact with, and though I have never met most of them in person, the community and friendships built through these calls still support me one year later.
What's more, I know the impact has spilled out to help those around me as well. I would recommend that anyone who feels the need to grow into their gift at the moment come be a part of this beautiful group of people. It rooted me immensely to have people outside of family to practice nature connection with.
The practices of the quiet mind, deep listening and full awareness impacted my work, my life and my relationships immensely. They gave me the ability to grow any other skills I needed. At a time when I was looking for challenges, for new experiences, and for growth, all of nature was offered." - Janani
References:
1. Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder. Workmen Publishing Company, 2005.
2. Deltcho Valtchanov, Kevin R. Barton, and Colin Ellard. "Restorative Effects of Virtual Nature Settings". Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. October 2010, 13(5): 503-512. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0308.
3. Children & Nature Network Research Library (https://www.childrenandnature.org/research-library/)
