A day in the life of 'Nature Beats' - The beginnings...

A summary of activities on the first day of course nine - Nature Beats 

The first course of 2017 started in January, on a beautiful cold clear day in the woodland of Rough Close, on the outskirts of Coventry. We took some time out on arrival to sit each of us by ourselves somewhere among the trees, to settle down, listen to our own breathing, and tune in to the sights, sounds, smells and sensations of the natural world. We also each went with a question, to ask of ourselves: What would I like to leave behind me as I step in to this brand new phase of my life? We were told it could be something quite simple, like not eating so many crisps, or it could be something a bit deeper, maybe more complicated, like a difficult relationship, or perhaps a whole way of being that is not helping us in our lives anymore. We circled up together and some people shared their reflections, while others chose not to. There was no pressure to say anything if we didn’t feel like it, but it was interesting to hear one or two members of the group who felt able to to trust open up and say a few words about their experience.

After this, we sat down together to create a group agreement, with rules about how we are going to behave towards each other on the course, and about what being treated with ‘respect’ means to us.

We then split into two groups and worked on setting up the camp using a big camouflage tarp and ropes, and making a fire with the materials we found in the woodland around us. Both groups really focused on learning the new skills needed for both these tasks, and achieved them successfully through cooperation and hard work. When we sat down around the fire together at lunchtime, with cups of tea and cans of soup cooked over the fire, and it was amazing to see how comfortable we had managed to make ourselves, in such a short space of time, using skills we had never practised before that day.

In the afternoon, we spent time playing games to help us learn each others names and get to know each other a bit better. One game was called Blind Ninja, and it involved sneaking up on a blindfolded person, using a special stalking technique called fox-walking. If the Blind Ninja heard you moving, s/he squirted you with a water spray-gun.

At the end of the day, we went out by ourselves again to sit quietly, and then gathered around the fire to share our reflections. This time a few more people spoke up, because we had been having a laugh together all day by then, and had begun to feel a bit more comfortable around each other. The atmosphere was really friendly and we all went home feeling like we’d achieved something really amazing.