WILD WHOLENESS I
AN Eight-WEEK JOURNEY into your wild WHOLENESS
Mondays, October 14 - December 2, 2024
5:30pm- 7pm PT
(via Zoom)
“In Western culture, we’ve enclosed ourselves within continually mended fences of excessive safety, false security, and shallow notions of “happiness,” when all the while the world has been inviting us to stride through the unlocked gate and break free into realms of greater promise and possibilities. Our human psyches possess, as capacities, a variety of astonishing resources about which mainstream Western psychology has little to say. By uncovering and reclaiming these innate resources, shared by all of us by simple virtue of our human nature, we can more easily understand and resolve our intrapsychic and interpersonal difficulties as they arise.”
~ Bill Plotkin, Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche
Class Description
Wild Wholeness I is an eight-week experiential class based the ‘Nature-Based Map of the Human Psyche’ from Bill Plotkin's book, “Wild Mind”.
This map elucidates the four facets of our innate human wholeness (as mapped onto the four cardinal directions), as well as the four 'sub-personalities’: our inner protective parts, which include our survival strategies from childhood (which are explored in greater depth and detail in Wild Wholeness II).
The four facets of our wholeness include:
• The Nurturing Generative Adult (North)
• The Innocent/Sage (East)
• The Wild Indigenous One (South)
• The Dark Muse Beloved (West)
In Wild Wholeness I, you will discover how each of these four facets lives inside of you, what precious gifts and strengths each one brings, and how to cultivate greater awareness of and access to each of them in your daily life.
But… you might be wondering, why is cultivating my wholeness important? Why does it matter?
To answer, I’ll share one personal example.
I’m someone who spent the majority of my life going to my mind for the answers. For a long time, this strategy worked really well, especially since I lived in a culture that glorifies intellectual knowing above all other ways of knowing.
However, knowing things from my head/intellect only (from the neck up, we might say) was incomplete. It didn’t include all of the other “windows of knowing” that we humans possess, such as knowing things from our bodies, our hearts, our five senses, our intuition, and our imagination.
When I consciously discovered that I had a part of myself - which we might call a Wild Indigenous One - that loves every single feeling and emotion, who’s naturally connected to her own sensual and sexual nature, who understands herself and others through her feelings, and who knows deeply her true belonging within the larger Earth community, - it was nothing short of revolutionary.
My capacity to fully feel what I knew (rather than constantly bypass my feelings with my thinking/rational mind) was restored, and becuase of this, life became much more vibrant and alive. Of course, these unearthed feelings brought with them new awarenesses and challenges, but they were awarenesses and challenges that were leading me closer to a life of authenticity and deep meaning for me.
Class Outline
During our eight weeks together, there will be readings, discussions, poems, and practices to do out on the land to explore each facet.
Here’s an overview of each week:
Monday Oct 14, Week 1: Welcome + Introduction to the Nature-Based Map of the Human Psyche + Introduction to the North / Nurturing Generative Adult.
Monday Oct 21, Week 2: Embodying the South / Wild Indigenous One.
Monday Oct 28, Week 3: NO CLASS. Solo time for North + South embodiment practices on the land.
Monday Nov 4, Week 4: Greeting the East/ Innocent-Sage.
Monday Nov 11, Week 5: Delving into the West / Dark Muse Beloved.
Monday Nov 18, Week 6: NO CLASS. Solo time for East + West embodiment practices.
Monday Nov 25, Week 7: Review. Deep Imaginal Journey to integrate facets of wholeness.
Monday Dec 2, Week 8: Introduction to the Sub-Personalities. Discussion on how we can continue to integrate our wholeness in all areas of life for ongoing healing, resilience, and living in a fully alive way.
Wild Wholeness Mandala {Creative Project}
During the class, you’ll have the opportunity to create your own Wild Wholeness Mandala, a visual/creative representation of each of your facets of wholeness. This mandala is yours to keep after the class ends. It is a living work of art to play around with, add to, and fully make your own as you continue to cultivate and embody each dimension of your wholeness.
Wild Wholeness I Benefits / Takeaways
Greater understanding of, access to, and embodiment of your own innate facets of wholeness.
Weekly nature-based practices to help you further cultivate and embody each facet of your wholeness.
Being part of a community of wild-hearted, deep-diving humans who are interested in nature, soul, and resourcing/defining themselves from their Wholeness, rather than their woundedness.
Creating your own Mandala of wholeness to keep.
Class Details
When: Monday, October 14 - December 2, 2024, 5:30pm-7pm PT
Where: Zoom, and the natural outdoor spaces around you
Cost: $295 [If this is something that speaks to you but the price feels out of reach, let’s talk.]
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"Our human psyches possess astonishing resources that wait within us, but we might not even know they exist until we discover how to access them and cultivate their powers, their untapped potentials and depths. Wild Mind identifies these resources — which Bill Plotkin calls the four facets of the Self, or the four dimensions of our innate human wholeness — and also the four sets of fragmented or wounded subpersonalities that form during childhood. Rather than proposing ways to eliminate our subpersonalities (which is not possible) or to beat them into submission, Plotkin describes how to cultivate the four facets of the Self and discover the gifts of our subpersonalities. The key to reclaiming our original wholeness is not merely to suppress psychological symptoms, recover from addictions and trauma, or manage stress but rather to fully embody our multifaceted wild minds, commit ourselves to the largest, soul-infused story we’re capable of living, and serve the greater Earth community."
- from "Wild Mind" by Bill Plotkin