LEARNINGS FROM THE ANIMAS VALLEY INSTITUTE : WILD MIND INTENSIVE

Today I feel 2 things: urgency and trust.

As we are well aware, in our Western world, our culture, ecology, and psyches are shaking right now, more than ever before. I feel urgency because in my work I see pathology, anxiety, suicide, use of pharmaceuticals to numb us out, are at an all time high, and our disconnection from our bodies and nature isn’t far behind. And yet, I am trusting because I believe we, as human beings, are whole, not broken! It is just that we are going about exploring our wholeness in a really broken way. I KNOW there is the possibility for us to live in harmony and connection with our planet, with other humans, animals, plants, fungi and ourselves, so here’s what I’ve got…

The veins of the waters below the Earth, are the same veins that run below our skin. We often want to be held by culture or people but we are often let down and become wounded. We start to live from this wounded place which informs the way we grow. We fracture off certain parts of ourselves and we keep living as if we are broken. What if… we were not broken? What if we were whole? What if we trusted our belonging to the Earth and that were enough? I feel an urgency because we must re-connect to our wholeness right fucking now or we die.

In my work with the Animas Valley Institute, I became clear with some answers, and so I felt called to share my findings! On this 5-day nature immersion in Golden Gate Canyon, Colorado, a group of 15 of us sat in the changing yellow and orange aspen leaves, while reading and exploring the teachings from Bill Plotkin’s book, Wild Mind - a field guide to the human psyche. We used nature’s seven directions, North, South, East, West, Up, Down and Center to look our psyches as they connect with the Earth, something I believe we all should have the opportunity to do. This time in the woods, felt like the start to a rights of passage, something I see our culture is yearning for!

When using this Map to the psyche, we must be humbly bold, fierce, compassionate, soft and inviting. We cannot think our way into this wholeness. We must ask questions, looking with curiosity, while opening ourselves to the journey of the Spirit and Soul. We must remember Earth is our primary place of belonging.

Below is a description of the compass rose, definitions about each direction and how it relates with a different part of the psyche, details about each sub personality and an invitation to connect with these parts of ourselves to cultivate our “right for wholeness.


​For a visual, see Map 1 below.

Horizontal plane—
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​The four cardinal directions represent the horizontal plane of our innate human potential. The North, South, East and West facets represent the Self, the seasons and times of day. There are also subpersonalities (or subs) that are each directional aspect in their immature form. These subs are created from our wounding or fragmented parts of ourselves which serve as protectors.
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​the Self: an integral whole which exists at birth but only as possibilities that, we may or may not learn to access, actualize and embody.

Subpersonalities: our inner victim, rebel, critic, tyrant or addict, which attempt to protect us from further injury. These are often times formed in childhood and are the source of what Western psychology understands to be our psychological symptoms and illnesses.


Vertical axis—
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​Spirit: in an upwards direction towards the upper-world where mystery lives. “This is universal consciousness, intelligence, psyche, or vast imagination that animates the cosmos and everything in it- including us… When consciously attuned to Spirit, we experience a profound connectedness with all things or oneness.”

​Soul: reaches down into the depths where we find our deepest individual identity, known as the fruitful darkness. “Soul is the particular ecological niche, or place, a person was born to occupy but may or may not ever discover or consciously embody.”
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​The Center—

the Ego: the intersection of the horizontal and vertical. This is our natural habitat or the middle world of conscious awareness within the human psyche.


     1. The North- The Nurturing Generative Adult

time of year - winter

time of day - midnight

Compassionate, courageous, loving, caring, warrior. This facet is noble, asking the question, “how should we live for the sake of 7 generations to come?” This part uses heart-centered thinking and is proactive instead of reactive.

Subpersonality — loyal soldiers that say things like “who are you to think you can be _________?” There is an inner critics that keep us small, playing by the rules and “living in the box”.

Invitation to work with this facet — connect with your North facet by writing a letter from your soul to your human self from complete and unconditional love. Watch for those inner critics…. and be kind to yourself when they come up!


     2. The South- The Wild Indigenous One
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time of year - summer

time of day - high noon

Emotive, erotic-sexual, sensuous, instinctive, and playful. This facet is embodied emotion, knowing there is nothing we cannot handle. This aspect questions what we value and is animalistic, expressive, and can of course be angry because we are wild human beings. The South always remembers that we belong to the Earth.

Subpersonality — the wounded child, the victim, questioning of worthiness

Invitation to work with this facet — connect with your South facet by embodying what it feels like to be a wild animal, moving from body-based instinct, for we can never be “too much” or disavowed by our Mother Earth.


     3. The East- Innocent/Sage

time of year- spring

time of day- dawn

Innocent, wise, clear-minded, light hearted and extroverted. This facet lives fully with the beginners mind, is full of lightness, laughter and paradox. They are filled with presence from their senses with a lightheartedness, as if they have no wounding at all. They believe that the world is just a cosmic joke anyway!

Subpersonality - escapists and addicts, “who can’t get enough of anything that almost works.” This sub knows disassociation or only bliss.

Invitation to work with this facet — wake up and spend the first 2 hours of the day consumed with childlike wonder. Everything is magical!
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     4.​ The West- The Muse-Beloved
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time of year- fall

time of day- dusk

Imaginative, erotic-romantic, visionary, adventurous, attuned and introverted, savoring the darkness of the shadow. This facet reveals the Self in dreams, mysteries and holds aspects we bury or deny. The West is a well of inspiration, studying yogic traditions and meditation. It is cryptic, multifaceted, alluring, creative, fleeting and cannot be domesticated.

Subpersonality - the shadow side. This is where monsters and Gurus live and it can be hard to tell the difference.

Invitation to work with this facet — use your limitless imagination to find a portal in nature that can take you to the underworld of the Soul. Explore what is on the other side of the portal in the darkness.
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​Since I got home from this trip a few weeks ago, I have been using this map of the human psyche with my nature therapy clients outside, actually standing in the cardinal directions and embodying what each part of this wholeness feels like somatically and energetically in the body. It has been so powerful for all of us! Even just using the language of the directions and their “subpersonalities” as they relate to our wholeness and addressing how and when they show up for clients (and friends), gives them a different understanding of how these subs have actually served them a great deal in the past. Historically, the subs have kept them safe from harm, so providing love and gratitude instead of getting upset with them, is really helpful. My clients are now saying to their subs, “Thank you for trying to protect me like you did in my past. I am an adult now and no longer need you right now. You can stay back, so I can step into my wholeness.”


​This is just skimming the surface!

Read Wild Mind or send me a message if you’d like more information!