Reflections from a Practitioner

Reflections from our outdoor practitioner - Nature Beats By Agnes Ashbell

We spent every Wednesday for six weeks under the firs in Rough Close, creating a homely woodland camp together, complete with hearth for us to gather and warm ourselves around. Everyone learned new skills, developed new friendships, and experienced the joy of achieving things they never thought they would achieve. We listened to each other, supported each other, shared our stories, made music, cooked over the fire, ate good food, played games, and witnessed each other growing in confidence and a new sense of possibilities. We also took regular time out to sit quietly by ourselves, to tune into the natural surroundings, to reflect, and consider the various ways in which we relate; with others, with the world, and with ourselves. One of the surprising things was just how much everybody got into making music together, even though most people had no prior experience at all. The track that the group made together was brilliant, and really brought the atmosphere on our last day, the winter solstice, just before Christmas. We had a delicious feast of Thai curry, fresh fish (which we gutted ourselves), rice, mince pies, and bananas roasted on the fire full of melted chocolate. We played our own tunes on a stereo hanging from the branch of a tree, enjoyed live musical accompaniment, pulled crackers, told jokes, generally made merry, and celebrated all our achievements of the course. Amazing.