An introduction to Cultural Mentoring,

and a book review of Coyote's guide to Connecting with Nature

Cultural Mentoring: To bring us to life before we die. To initiate us into the moment.

(Jon Young) 

I first encountered Jon Young at a workshop held in Portland, Oregon, on a mild March weekend in 2007.

This workshop had a long title which I have now forgotten. But it included foreign sounding words like Regenerative Design, Eight Shields Mentoring, Permaculture, and the sub-text: ‘Planning for the next 7 Generations’.

My incentive to go to this workshop was my husband’s gentle insistence that I really had to meet this man who had been such a great influence on his life.

“He saved my life’, he said, somewhat melodramatically; but as I understand later, this statement is one Jon Young hears fairly often.

This, to me, is not so much a testament of how wonderful Jon Young is (though, even meeting him only two of three times, he is now one of my greater inspirations), but an indication of the dearth of true vision in this time of accelerating change.

I do not want to go into the general blight of modern society, but suffice to say: Many people are looking for more.

The US has its own particular history, with specific responses arising from their particular issues, both cultural and environmental.

I feel privileged to have been introduced to these responses, during the twelve months I spent in the ‘Hippie-capital’ of the US - Portland, OR - and during visits to both Jon Young’s home in Northern California, and Tom Brown’s Tracker School in New Jersey.

Having returned to Ireland, I am now trying to integrate those teachings with the exciting developments going on in Ireland.

The teachings of Permaculture, Organic Growing, Green Building etc., have become more and more widely available, through dedicated teachers such as those of the Organic Centre in Leitrim, ‘ the Cultivate Centre’ in Dublin, the ‘Practical Sustainability’ course in Kinsale and the spread of the Transition Town Movement.

I am proud of the ‘Transition Town Movement’ in a personal way – Not because I had any hand in its meteoric rise (from Kinsale, Ireland, via Totnes, UK, all the way to the US and beyond), but because I had the privilege to attend the Permaculture Design course taught by its instigator, Rob Hopkins.

It is fascinating to watch people over the course of years - people like Rob Hopkins, Graham Strouts and Andy Wilson - come into their power through life-long dedication to particular concerns, which clarify and crystallize over time.

To see their progression from the person who had certain big questions, who went on to do lots of practical work -- as well as thinking, talking and writing on the subject, to people who now present their conclusions in coherent and imaginative ways -- be it a book, classes, or an eco- village -- has been more than inspiring.

The ‘Energy Audit’, recently published by the Sustainability Institute, for example, did not happen without Andy's – many years previously - cutting turf on the side of the ‘Big Hill’, and wheeling it home in a self-built handcart.

The Book ‘Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature’ is the collaboration of many people active in ‘The Art of Mentoring’ and Nature Education in the US, and three people in particular -- Jon Young, Ellen Haas and Evan Mc Gown.

Without Jon, this book, and the education programmes the book details, would not have happened.

As soon as one turns to Jon, though, he looks back over his shoulder in turn, pointing to the long lineage of what he calls ‘Coyote Mentoring’.

Jon traces this lineage, from his own teaching (first founding Wilderness Awareness School, then teaching independently) and many years of association with mentors such as Ingwe (an Englishman adopted into the Akamba tribe in Kenya), and Tom Brown Jr. (founder of the ‘Tracker School’), down to many generations of elders, from a wide variety of cultures.

Jon's inspiring presence is that of a man who knows what he stands for and who feels the light of encouragement of the elders and of the traditional knowledge he now embodies.

It is a delight to meet him in person and listen to him weaving his stories.

I still see him, laughing infectiously, turning to his audience with a reference to some nature experience familiar to all of us – Such as not noticing that a bird had been sitting there all the time, watching him, while he was unaware; -- or reverently talking of a teaching received in Hawaii, finding in their tradition of ‘Forgiveness’ a missing piece of his jigsaw; -- or, closing his eyes, picturing a story in his mind’s eye, as he transmits it to his spellbound audience.

With Jon I always have the sense of him pulling together all the teachings he has received over his lifetime, and, in bringing them together, synthesising them into something greater.

He stays rooted in traditions, expressing gratitude and humbleness all the way. At the same time he has shaped a form of education that is his own unique and important contribution to the challenges we now face.

During the workshop I attended in Portland I took copious notes, and here is a synthesis of them, together with a review of the book ‘Coyotes Guide to Connecting with Nature’ published earlier this year.

How do we know what is good for us, and what is good for our children?

How do we decide what is worth preserving and what needs to be changed in our modern and often hectic lives?

How do we find a way of treading lightly on the earth?

People will often tell you things like: ‘Your body knows best’, or: 'You only have to listen within yourself, and you will know the answer.'

But one needs to bear in mind that experience creates perception.

An example: The experience of eating food saturated with sugar creates the experience of finding wild, natural foods inedible. Another one: The experience of playing computer games creates the experience that a walk in the woods is boring.

Jon Young calls this intuitive knowledge the ‘body radar’ and makes the point that this radar is only as good as the information it has been imprinted with through past experience.

Only an accurately working body radar and a finely tuned intuition allow us to make appropriate decisions.

Only when we know, through experience, the different qualities of being alive -- for example, a strenuous, exhilarating outdoor occupation in contrast with the sleepy comfort of surfing the net on a couch in a coffee shop – only then are we able to make accurate decisions about what is good for us. “Ok, one more video game/ another hour in the coffee shop will be alright. But I’m aware that there will be a certain price to pay, therefore I’m limiting it to just one more.”

If, on balance, we eat more sugar-rich foods than not, how can we know that our taste-buds are giving us accurate feed back?

Our senses need to be finely calibrated in order to give accurate feed back.

Only equipped with this frame of reference can we trust our body radar.

The point begs to be made that this is one reason why people in the western world seem to make such staggeringly bad choices – from enjoying junk food, to using the TV as a babysitter, to electing blatantly incompetent politicians.

But Jon steers clear of negative rhetoric, leaving people to draw their own conclusions.

He goes on to explain ways to calibrate your own Body Radar. Thus he conveys an empowering feeling that we can actually do something - start with ourselves.

Someone in the audience asks him to name the most important practice (‘core routine’) for achieving this: “If I had to name a single one, it would be Listening for the Quietest Sound”, he replies.

Chapter two of the book ‘Coyote's guide to Connecting with Nature' gives the outlines of 13 of these 'Core Routines', which, if practised regularly, calibrate body radar and enhance awareness -- along with examples and explanations of their importance.

'Sit Spot', for example, is the practice of finding a special place in nature and then becoming comfortable with just being there, still and quiet.

Together with the next one, 'Story of the Day', these are powerful tools and can, on their own, change lives, as many other habits of re-connection will follow naturally.

'Story of the day' is about processing information received and relating it to another person or through another medium.

Jon tells of his aunt sending him out to collect something from the surrounding countryside, some herbs or similar, and then asking him many questions on his return, making him think back and assimilate information he never realised he was taking in at the time; unanswered questions making him pay even more attention at his next outing.

“These two routines, Sit Spot and Story of the Day, feed each other constantly, like call and response. ... The antidote to Nature Deficit Disorder may be this simple: get people to spend time in nature, and when they return, be there to catch their stories.” (p.31)

Other 'core routines' included are: 'Expanding our Senses', 'Questioning and Tracking', 'Wandering', 'Mapping', 'Survival Living', 'Journaling', 'Thanksgiving'.

These are routines Jon Young himself has been practising all his life, as becomes clear when he interrupts his talk to say: “Did anyone hear the song birds go quiet? That must mean there is a predator in the area. I've been listening while I was talking, and I've been waiting to see a hawk swooping nearby.”

Jon has studied with many different elders and has collected a wide array of tools to help others learn these skills. His strength lies in his understanding of the learning process involved in this process of re-connecting.

Every time we learn something, a process called brain patterning happens.

Any experience results in electrical impulses in the brain, and, if these are often enough repeated, these in turn set up patterns in the brain. Thus, a difficult activity is turned into a habit.

In: 'What we miss: The flip side of Brain Patterning’ (p.16), he says:

“If your culture’s gaze turns inside to computer screens, you won’t notice the natural world. Everything out there appears to be a wall of green. ... Brain patterns that get us to notice certain things mean, by necessity, that most everything else goes unnoticed... For many people in urbanized areas nowadays, wild nature doesn't really exist in their perceptions of the world. We find this to be an enlightening and yet also scary realization. No surprise then, that very few people notice when the landscape starts to change in response to our human actions, when rabbits lose their habitats and disappear, when frogs stop singing. Yes, a few--the scientists trained to see such things--will notice. To almost everyone else, those subtle happenings in nature are lost. As a culture, unless we can shift our focus of attention, we'll continue basing our choices on a sense of reality that doesn’t include the rest of nature.”

We all carry habits of complete separation, of disconnection with the natural world.

Prime examples of this would be computer games; but also spending time with any other forms of media, or inside houses, or at work. We need to balance these habits with something equally powerful, or we inevitably lose connection with nature.

To achieve efficient and effective learning, four variables need to be present: mind focus, sensory input, curiosity and edge experience.

This means, in practice, that a person who is open and ready to learn needs to be presented with information tailored to that person’s specific interest and need, in a multi-sensory way. This information needs to be just sufficiently beyond that learner’s current level of knowledge. Too little beyond ‘the edge’, and the learner gets bored, too far beyond, and the information cannot be taken onboard. (Thus the common experience of reading a book a second time and finding ‘new’ information.)

In a rare reference to modern evils Jon concludes that this means the current educational system is “a mistake”, and, as some (in particular Richard Louv, with his work around ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’, who, by the way provides a foreword for the book) would argue, “this may not be an accident, it may be by design”.

When asked about alternatives to the current educational system Jon suggests home schooling and project-based learning.

His next statement has profound implications -- and implicitly underlies the purpose of that weekend’s workshop, as well as Jon’s life-long quest to refine his mentoring system.

“If this generation is responsible for the awareness of the next one we need to teach kids to be fully in this world.”

Awareness, in this context, means a connection to the earth and its intricate life-sustaining web, knowledge of the consequences of our actions on that web, and the response-ability to care for it.

Jon describes the journey each child needs to make in order to find what they are particularly good at, and which will lead them to excel in a field they are uniquely suited to. This journey goes from curiosity, to being passionate about something, to finding one’s gift, to becoming a visionary.

The facilitating of this process is, in a nutshell, what ‘The Art of Mentoring’ is all about.

The people I mentioned above, whom I admire in the Irish context of facing up to the coming changes, have all made a similar journey, and they found their vision by being open to all the mentoring available around them, be it from important people in their lives, or books, or practical experiences.

But how much easier is any such process - and how much faster and therefore effective - when it is nurtured in the way Jon’s teaching suggests.

We all know intuitively how empowering it is to find one’s own unique gifts and we all long to find a steady path to follow.

Legends are written on this theme. The aspirations of our culture for the expression of individuality are rooted in this, although skewed out of all recognition by consumerist pre-occupations.

As Jon says in the introduction to his book:

“At its very best, Coyote Mentoring helps individuals realize their full potential to the benefit of their community.

…The mentoring draws people gently to the edge of their knowledge and experience, and guides them to new territory. This repeats through a cyclical pattern of visits, explorations and relationship-building that allows for real connection to occur in its own organic way.”

Jon has coined various expressions for the teaching style he advocates: 'The Art of Mentoring', 'Cultural Mentoring', and now, for his latest book, 'Coyote Mentoring'.

“Coyote is known for cunning adaptability, craftiness, and ability to survive anywhere. These qualities likely led to Coyote’s mythic connotations among the indigenous people of North America.

... In Europe, (similar stories feature) Fox. ...When things go wrong and humans or animals don't know what to do, when none of the traditional approaches work, the Trickster shows up. With some wacky, out-of-the-box approach that at first seems ridiculous, Trickster cleverly makes things right. …

The worldwide presence of such stories tells us that the Trickster is a vital figure in human societies. In fact, Trickster in human form almost always causes the huge leaps in cultural change. Gandhi was the Trickster when he said he'd topple the British oppression by marching to the sea and making salt. Jesus was the Trickster when he threw the money-changers out of the temple, and when he let himself be led to death when no one else understood why. Buddha was the Trickster when he denounced the luxuries of the most sought-after position of Prince in order to free humans from suffering. Even Bill Gates of Microsoft was the Trickster when he dreamed of a computer in every home and began the selling of clunky boxes with screens and keyboards. Can't you hear the laughter aimed at these fools?

Yes, at first they seemed a little crazy, a little off their rocker, a few cards short of a deck. But Trickster is the driving force of evolution. It's the figure that changes things by doing the outlandish so well that the outlandish becomes the new accepted norm. Then another Trickster comes along to shift that norm, and on and on. …

We use a radical approach without textbooks or tests, we simply begin with the roots of nature education by engaging people in direct experience with the plants and animals just beyond the edge of their back yards. This book hopes to inspire you and coach you, the nature mentoring guide, into stretching your own creativity. We offer you a bunch of tools and strip them down to underlying principles that you can apply to your situation. Like a book on gardening, we don't know what exactly will grow in your place with your folks, but we can give you the principles and encourage you to innovate with them. Then these tools will become yours.(p.7) …

Coyote’s Guide does not call you to go backwards to nature, to run off to the woods to survive. Your teaching must embrace the solid scientific curriculum that qualifies a well-trained naturalist—such as proving facts, using technical names, and replicating results. However, a felt sense of connection and kinship will always remain at the root of Coyote Mentoring.

When we embrace fact with imagination, and combine logical evidence with intuition, we develop intellectual understanding through first-hand experience.” (p.10)

Reading this book from a European perspective can, at times, be a frustrating experience, because of the different context for Nature Education in Europe.

During my stay in the US, I realized that ‘Wilderness’ has a place in the North American psyche which cannot be equated to a European sense of ‘Nature’.

We in Ireland cherish our green environment, but are aware of it having been influenced by thousands of years of cultivation, in the context of which ‘Wilderness’ is something deliberately left uncultivated – either out of lazy neglect, or romantic idealism. Thus, wilderness is something returning from a cultivated state to something more expressive of its unique untamed nature.

In the US, ‘Wilderness’ is an idealized state of natural being, almost of innocence. It is felt to stem from a time when European settlers had not yet spread to every corner of that vast land, a time when hunter-gatherer societies lived in harmony with untamed nature. This is, as I say, an idealized sentiment, but it is one that inspires many people to conserve nature and become more aware of the few precious scraps of nature around them

Even though North Americans have been incredibly efficient at destroying wild ecosystems, they still have many wild places left, and so many species of mammals and birds in particular, that, in comparison with Ireland, one can experience ‘wilderness’ in the US in a way we in Ireland can only dream of.

Thus it is not easy to transfer some of the suggested exercises into an Irish context.

A game of finding as many different species of plants as possible is not terribly exciting in a Sitka Spruce plantation. And try to play hide-and-seek in it!

‘Survival living’ (p.250) describes the challenge to be in Nature with a minimum of modern conveniences. But why bother trying to make fire with (possibly wet) wood, when in Ireland, since times immemorial, anyone stuck for a light for his pipe could just walk into some neighbours’ house and take a light from their fire?

Another very important tool that nature provides to the nature educator working in the US is the presence of hazards. It is true that we in Ireland are glad not to have to deal with bears, cougars and poison ivy, but these potentially dangerous presences are an important motivation for people to pay attention.

Is it really necessary for us to look around with ‘Owl Vision’, and listen with ‘Deer Ears’ (p.227), when the worst that can happen in Ireland is that you may miss seeing a hare?

This is quite a problem for anyone wishing to use Jon’s mentoring model in a European environment. Important motivating factors (variety of rare and exciting wild life, hazards, real possibility of getting lost in a remote place) which he uses routinely are simply not present here.

Without these motivating factors, teaching is still possible, but relies more on already existing stores of enthusiasm in the student.

During the weekend workshop, Jon suggested building community on his cultural mentoring model, thus creating spaces for ‘the next seven generations’ to flourish.

Important aspects of this community building would be Commitment, Cultural Mentoring/ Nature Education/ Awareness training, Elders as facilitators, the principles of Peace Making, facilitating the emergence of visionary leadership, and the principles of Permaculture.

I like the way Jon is opening up the process of Nature Education towards what is its ultimate higher goal:

Bringing out the best in people, teachers and learners alike, while working towards preserving the natural world.

Thus it makes sense to re-think his approach for a European context, and include anything that would serve that purpose.

As the Irish natural environment is influenced hugely by human intervention, it is necessary to take account of that fact and, rather than promoting a hands-off approach to nature preservation, actively guide towards a more sustainable land use practice.

In our own teaching approach, as well as teaching from a Coyote Mentoring Perspective, we incorporate the principles of Permaculture as a way of re-creating beneficial relationships, and, through the way we use our land, pass on this knowledge by teaching through example.

The information contained in ‘Coyote's guide to Connecting with Nature' is well presented, but incredibly dense. It will need many different readings, at many different stages of development - both of mentors and mentored - to be fully appreciated.

The book is divided into two sections: ‘Mentor’s manual’ and ‘Activity Guide’

In the first, Core Routines are explained, as I have mentioned above.

Then follow chapters on Child Passions (using these as teaching tools, as well as using the art of questioning, story-telling and music-making).

Book of Nature lists the various elements of the natural world which wait to be discovered, such as Hazards, Motivating Species (“Things to Catch, Eat, Climb and Tend”!), Plants, etc, together with commentary and resources lists.

The Natural Cycle introduces Jon’s way of using the eight points of the compass as metaphors for natural cyclical processes, and how this applies to the learning/mentoring process.

Indicators of Awareness uses that same ‘Eight Shields’ model to elucidate the learning journey and genuinely asses progress: Starting with Common Sense in the East, to Aliveness and Agility in the Southeast, Inquisitive Focus in the South, and so on, down to Quiet Mind in the Northeast.

Wrapping the Bundle is aimed at facilitating the transition from theory to practice: There’s a review of the ideas presented so far, and then an analogy borrowed from ‘primitive’ fire making:

“These Layers of intention…may behave as the starter materials – like shredded cedar bark, cottonwood bark, or thistle seed fluff – for weaving together a nice, tight tinder bundle. All that’s needed is the coal of action. That’s where you come in and what the rest of this book is about. Each Activity combines specific layers of intention meant to produce specific results of nature connection.” (p.216)

This first half closes with an invitation to make this way of teaching your own:

“Eventually, momentum builds, the ideas actualize into your own brilliant, unique mentoring style – and the fire burns into magnificent shapes no one could predict.” (p. 218)

Part two, the ‘Activity Guide’, offers a huge palette to choose from.

Going back to the Core Routines, it explains ways to let students experience them. After these follow activities for Setting Up the Learning Landscape (Four-Directions, Fire Keeper, Nature Museum, etc.), and activities for increasing sensory awareness, and games where students take on animal forms.

Tracking, Plants and Wandering, as well as Trees and Survival Activities follow.

Community and Ecology Activities, such as Wildlife Survey, Exploration Team and Ideal Ecological Vision complete the list.

Each activity is explained in detail, often illustrated by a story. There’s a ‘how to’ section, clearly written from a perspective of having tried and tested these activities a hundredfold. There always follows an ‘Inside the Mind of the Mentor’ section helping to clarify what mental processes the mentor is hoping to evoke in their students.

A section on ‘Alternatives and Extensions’ gives helpful hints on making this exercise suitable to individual circumstances, such as age and state of awareness.

“As you choose activities for your lesson plan, you can consider which Core Routines are practiced through the activity, which Child Passions are tapped into, which parts of the Book of Nature are emphasized, where the activity fits in the Natural Cycle, and which Indicators of Awareness are being cultivated. This interweaving of theory and activity will allow you to create, adapt, or otherwise "cook" your own activities in your own local ecosystem.

Once people break out of their indoor comfort zones, develop lively habits of awareness, and realize their own fascination and inner drive to learn more, the Book of Nature will teach the rest. Coyote Mentoring is ultimately about stepping out of the way, so that people can find the Coyote within themselves."

The production and appearance of this book is of a piece with its philosophy:

It is a versatile tool kit which comes with sound theoretical footings.

The information is presented in a wide variety of ways, giving a kind of multi-faceted (almost multi-sensory) reading and learning experience.

Sidebars add comments and additional information throughout,

Beautiful pictures and drawings add colour, inspiration and a touch of magic.

There are tabs all along the sides of the book making it easier to find chapters.

The book closes with a list of Coyote Mentoring organisations from all over the world, and a list of books for suggested reading.

In a beautifully written afterword, “Coyote in Context”, Jon widens the focus to shine a light on the interplay of mentoring with the culture it is invariably embedded in.

“Culture is inevitable. It happens, one way or another. It is the vessel in which our thoughts, perceptions, and emotions are formed through the subtle, recurrent influences of our everyday.”

He talks about his own teaching experiences and about the importance of working on improving the culture the teaching takes place in.

“Your journey as a mentor to facilitate nature connection in children and adults alike is just beginning. As your powers grow, you will discover a need to foster a village culture that holds, protects and integrates the accumulated understanding of what it means to be a human in deep connection with nature.”

“We do this”, he concludes, “because we believe in the urgent necessity of embracing everything we’ve learned up to this moment as human beings on this planet. Then, together, we can form a vision of a diverse, abundant, and lasting web of cultures where many generations can thrive and grow to their greatest potential. Here coyote can again work the edges of the fields and meadows of our awareness. And the soil, once hard-pan and cracked, will become a soft, rich loam so coyote can leave a trail where our children may freely follow.” (p.377)

Coyote’s Guide to connecting with Nature by Jon Young, Ellen Haas & Evan McGown is available at: www.coyotesguide.com