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Earth Time Autumn 2024Bird Language and Expanded Awareness
9-week exploration (drop-ins welcome)
Mondays 3:00-5:15pm
Starts 22nd April
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Bird Language Deep Dive
This term, we turn our attention to birds.
Birds: vocal, colourful and abundant even in the city, these charismatic backyard buddies are also powerful guides to the more subtle layers of nature observation.
At any moment of the day, bird activity, or lack of it, allows us to sense what is happening in the landscape beyond what we can directly see or hear. Attuning to birds' voices and behaviour, we can deduce the presence of other animals, predators, plants and seasonal changes. We pick up the more subtle ripples of energy moving through the landscape, invisible like the wind, but just as real. To others it can seem like magic, but the information is all there, waiting for us.
With practice we can be in this state all the time, with a sliver of awareness tuned to the movements of currawong, wren, python and fox. Becoming more diffuse, we feel the earth as an extension of our body. The mind stills and quietens. This natural state is our birthright.
To reach this point we need to engage in the 'four windows of knowing': sensing, feeling, imagining and thinking.
And so we will be learning about birds and the local ecology through a combination of observation, record-keeping, research, discussion and embodiment. And we will be quietening our minds and expanding our awareness through practices that are effective at bringing us into a deeper silence and greater relationship to the natural world.
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About Earth Time
Now in its third term, Earth Time is a weekly pause point, a community committed to showing up, observing, enjoying and connecting to nature, together.
It is a rare gift in the modern world to find time to sit, undisturbed in nature. To step out of the gushing torrent of middleworld tasks, and sink back into that other, more ancient stream. Earth Time.
We know we are wired to experience indescribable awe and wonder at the natural beauty of the wild, to 'revel in the now' as Tom Brown describes. It can feel like the easiest and most natural state in the world. Other times, frustratingly unreachable.
The discipline to keep up a practice takes work. To carve out regular Earth Time in our culture is a radical act, and a challenging undertaking. Too often it is squeezed between other commitments, or exchanged for sleep, social time or exercise. Or it is sacrificed for something else we 'should' be doing. Perhaps worst of all, is to emerge from a powerful encounter in nature with no one to share it with.
What if we didn't have to do it alone? What if we didn't have to choose between the precious timelessness of sitting in nature, and the bustle of community, celebration and belonging?
It doesn’t happen overnight, but consistent commitment to these practices changes how we show up in the world. We become a part of our local environment rather than a visitor to it. Wilder. More attuned. We smell the change of season before we see it, and feel the arrival of a raptor before we hear it. Becoming a ‘walking sit spot’, we go through life with increased awareness, a quieter mind, more motivation, focus, empathy and compassion.
Are you ready to add some regular Earth Time to your week?
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Program info
3:00-5:15pm, Darebin Parklands (note, we start half an hour earlier than last year)
We meet rain, hail or shine, by the barbecues/toilets at Darebin Parklands.
This is for adults or older teenagers. Babes in arms welcome.
Please arrive from 2:50pm as we will start promptly at 3:00pm.
Schedule: (updated April 21st)
April 22: Birds as messengers of the forest (Sold out)
Pause: No class April 29
May 6: Quiet mind and expanded awareness (Sold out)
May 13: Threads of connection and recognition (Sold out)
May 20: Baseline and concentric rings (Sold out)
May 27: Deepening awareness (Sold out)
June 3: Observation, inference and intuition (Sold out)
Pause: No class June 10
June 17: Seasonal variation (Sold out)
June 24: Group awareness and mapping (Sold out)
July 1 (new date): Wrapping the bundle
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Cost:
✨✨✨ Drop-ins are welcome (unless sold out) and occasional attendance could be ideal for those wanting some more nature time in their week.
✨✨✨ Attending the whole series will allow a much deeper dive and is recommended for those committed to improving their bird language skills.
✨ Single session: $25
✨ Half Term pass: 4 sessions: $90
✨ Full Term pass: 9 sessions: $180
✨✨✨ Passes must be used this term.
Facilitator:
Emily has been a part of Nature's Apprentice since 2021 and remains grateful for the opportunity to share with the world her bubbling passion for deep nature connection, ancestral skills, and soulcentric nature practices such as Vision Quest. She is particularly drawn to practices that awaken full sensory awareness, quieten the mind, and enliven body and Soul, and feels that a reweaving of these capabilities back into our culture is essential medicine for these times in which we live. Emily's teachers include master tracker Tom Brown, nature connection expert Jon Young and Australian bird language teacher Andrew Turbill, as well as multiple sit spots she has come to love over the years. Emily has a diverse background including dance, philosophy, maths, environmental activism, policy, renewable energy modelling, software development and counselling. She has been described as a patient, generous and inclusive facilitator, who encourages play and curiosity.
For more info and bookings see https://www.naturesapprentice.com.au/events/earth-time-bird-language
Photo credit: Martin Stringer Photography
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Darebin Parklands, Northcote, Australia
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