Nature-Based Transpersonal Counseling Concentration: Centering Healing in its Rightful Place
Open a children’s book, and all sorts of life forms come spilling out—trees, dogs, lamas, and the occasional chupacabra or spirit. And, yet, when you open a psychology book, references to where we live are seldom mentioned. As ecopsychologist Andy Fisher quips, judging by all those textbooks, you might be hard-pressed to even tell on what planet we live. Clearly, relationships with animals, plants, and places are central to how we develop in the world, and they deserve more consideration. In this talk, we will explore the centrality of nature to our wellbeing. We will describe how observing, moving in, and relating to the natural world can lead to increased physical and mental health. We will discuss how reciprocal interactions with the more than human world can give rise to new metaphors and new ways of seeing ourselves, our problems, and our solutions. Finally, we will engage in a partnered exercise to draw upon and amplify our own sense of attachment to the world.
Mica Graves is a graduate of Naropa’s Transpersonal Wilderness Therapy Program and Chair of the Nature-Based Transpersonal Counseling Concentration of Naropa’s MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Having grown up on a working farm, she finds nothing more energizing than bringing groups of people together in nature. She is a licensed professional counselor and specializes in equine assisted counseling. Learn more about Mica.
