Embodied Connected Leadership

Healthy cultures connect us deeply to ourselves, each other as humans and to the greater world of all species and elements. Culture is kept alive and passed on through mentoring.

How can we both support each other and pass on knowledge & tradition?

‘It’s not what a culture is, it’s what it does that we should focus on’  – Jon Young

In the 8 Shields Village Building wheel the journey begins in the East with your personal nature connection, this is the first year of Bringing it Home. This personal nature connection includes a deepening journey into your own inner nature, and the experience and mapping of what a nature-based culture could be. As we move to the South-East we become fire tenders for our awakening village communities. While the first year gives a flavour of many of the different roles found in the village builder wheel, the whole wheel itself represents the full re-emergence of regenerative culture, something that many people refer to as needing seven generations to complete.

The first year of Bringing it Home is designed to give you an embodied understanding of the nature of each direction, its key associated cultural elements and the cultural healing aspect of the associated shield. Fire tenders is an opportunity to deepen into this through continued personal practice and stepping into leadership. There is a deeper commitment and accountability to self and your community.

To be a story-catcher we must have been initiated into a way of being that embodies personal nature connection.

Imagine yourself sitting at your village fire. As you sit there and tend to it being a welcoming hearth, other villagers arrive there throughout the day with stories to tell of their experiences. It is your role to both tend to the fire so that it burns bright and warm, and catch these stories through compassionate listening, curiosity and reflecting. 

The Yearlong Journey

Fire tenders is a yearlong journey that consists of two tracks, the embodiment track and the leadership track, which together support you to be an embodied leader in the role of fire tender.

It will focus on the core regenerative culture practice of story-catching and mentoring, and will have an experiential focus in connection with current students. Embodying the SE ‘Fire Tender’ of the Village Building Pathways, you will experience and learn about: 

• Cultivating your own curiosity through commitment to, and deepening of, your own nature connection journey 
• Catching stories and how it deepens connection and grows accountability
• Role-modelling nature connection and cultural repair through connection modelling
• Listening for what’s alive and learning the art of questioning and awakening it in others
• Deepening into a culture of anchoring in your own life, thereby growing through receiving support and feedback from your community, and moving towards greater understanding of your personal ‘knowledge bundle’
• Learning and partaking in the Renewal of Creative Path Winter renewal community process
• Teachings from physical fire tending 
• A deeper sense of connection with your home community

What the program includes:

• 34 hrs of teaching and group mentoring with Sky, Peter and guest teachers
• 16 hrs of peer mentoring
• The full Ecological Homecoming course
• Personal (ceremony) and community fires
• 24 hr Nature Quest
• Renewal of Creative Path regenerative community process
• Story-catching calls with Ecological Homecoming and/or Bringing it Home participants, one per direction (there may be an opportunity for more if desired)

How it Works

Fire tenders will begin in the last week of March.

Each direction will have the following elements:

• A 2 hr inspirational teaching evening call with either Sky or Peter and a guest teacher before the first EH call of that direction
• The first Ecological Homecoming call (optional and highly recommended)
• The second Ecological Homecoming call (optional and highly recommended)
• A story-catching call with Ecological Homecoming and/or Bringing it Home participants – to be fully designed when participant numbers for those journeys are finalized at the end of March.
• A 2hr group mentoring call with Peter and Sky

Additionally there will be an extra 2 hr orientation call and a personal fire ceremony at the beginning, and a fire you will hold in your community at the end.

While not part of the program, we are happy to arrange personal mentoring for you if you would like to add this to your journey.

The areas of focus for each direction are:

East: The Fire Tender Village Building Role

South-East: Cultivating Curiosity

South: The Art of Questioning

South-West: 24hr Personal Fire Quest

West: Connection Modelling

North-West: Culture of Anchoring

North: Renewal of Creative Path

North-East: Coyote Mentoring

Dates and Prices

Fire Tenders costs £850 (or €965 if you prefer to pay in Euros), payment required by the end of February.

You can alternatively pay via a 12 month payment plan at £74 a month (£888 total, 5% extra to cover the Stripe processing fees and admin)

Dates – For the 2 group calls per direction, we want to find the best evening for all the Fire Tenders, so we have included a check list of evenings on the booking form. These calls will then run through the year on the same evening of the week.

For the other calls, you lead the EH or BIH participants to choose a time that works best for you all – call fixing is an important community connection tool these days!