we spend less time outside in nature, and more in the confines of our homes, work place or classroom.

we’re taught that it’s not safe to venture into the wild, and so we peer out the window, longing for something more.

My soul yearned to walk a different path - it sought the road less travelled!

Throughout life we’re offered ‘way-markers’ - significant events, people or perhaps even a book - that help guide us on our journey home, to self.

One such way marker came to me in the form of a book, given to me in my early 20’s by a dear friend.

This book was Paulo Coelho’s, ‘The Pilgrimage’.

I remember reading the last few pages and deciding then and there, I would walk the Camino de Santiago - an 800km trek across Northern Spain.

I loved exploring new places and meeting new people, but this was more than that - I felt like there was something missing.

What the Camino offered was so much more than an outward adventure. It became an inner journey back home to myself.

While I set out with my friend, I soon realised that I needed to walk this path alone.  Naturally, this brought up ALL my stuff – my deepest fears, pain and trauma.

There was no way of escaping it so I walked with it all.

I had conversations with my fear. I let loneliness engulf me and I let the earth hold me as I broke down and sobbed.

When I took my final steps into Finisterre – the end of the Earth – I experienced for the first time what it felt to be fully connected to all of life.

Being in nature - walking, sitting, sleeping - brought me a deep gratitude for the natural world, for the Earth herself.

Each region offered a mirror into my inner landscapes - guiding me to slow down and listen deeply.

I learnt how to pay attention to the way-markers along my path.

On my return to Australia, I continued following these way-markers - leaving behind my teaching career and exploring the things lit me up.

I studied kinesiology and energy medicine, shamanic healing, deep nature connection, plant spirit medicine, ceremony and ritual.

Teachers, mentors and guides appeared just at the right time - gently guiding me in my work.

My partner and I (along with our 2 young children) moved to an intentional community on the mid north coast of NSW - Patanga.

It didn’t take long to fall in love with the land - 200 acres of mountains, forests, creeks and rivers - and within 6 months we’d purchased a share.

For the last 6 years, I’ve been an apprentice to the land and it’s perhaps been my wisest teacher.

I’ve spent days and days exploring the forests, I’ve sat in vision quest, and I’ve listened to what the land had to share.

My work is not separate to nature, it’s in nature - in partnership with the land.

What I offer today is based on the land I live. I don’t ‘teach’ others how to reconnect - I help them remember what’s already within them.

I see our connection to nature as a birth rite - a way home and also a way forward for all of life on Earth.

As Richard Louve shared in his book, Last Child in the Woods:

‘We cannot protect what we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see, or hear, or sense’.

• I live in an intentional community in NSW - sharing 200 acres with 13 other shareholders

• I have two little people who are ‘wild schooled’ and have the best teacher on Earth - nature herself

• My favourite place to be is on the edge - peering into the unknown with a mix of fear and excitement

• I love swimming naked, dancing wildly and singing at the top of my lungs

• I also love quiet spaces and hiding in the forest with a good book and a cup of tea

• The one thing I couldn’t live without is coffee - some say its addictive, I say its sacred

• My favourite item of clothing is my gumboots - I cannot live without them!

• One day I’d like to build a shelter and experience what it really means to be wild