00:01:02.145 --> 00:01:04.773
Knowing that you love the earth

00:01:04.773 --> 00:01:07.400
changes you,

00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:09.569
activate you

00:01:09.569 --> 00:01:14.365
to defend and protect

00:01:14.449 --> 00:01:17.577
and celebrate.

00:01:17.577 --> 00:01:17.786
and celebrate.

00:01:21.247 --> 00:01:22.082
But when you feel

00:01:22.082 --> 00:01:25.794
the earth loves you in return,

00:01:25.877 --> 00:01:30.965
that feeling transforms the relationship

00:01:31.049 --> 00:01:33.927
from a one way street

00:01:34.135 --> 00:01:40.225
into a sacred bond.

00:03:05.518 --> 00:03:10.565
In 1972, when I started walking
and I told my parents

00:03:10.565 --> 00:03:13.735
I was walking for the environment,
they were like,

00:03:13.818 --> 00:03:15.403
What's that?

00:03:26.581 --> 00:03:27.665
I was in in

00:03:27.665 --> 00:03:31.920
San Francisco,
and these oil tankers collided

00:03:32.003 --> 00:03:35.089
and there was oil all over everywhere.

00:03:38.384 --> 00:03:39.969
It was so horrific.

00:03:39.969 --> 00:03:42.305
It was so

00:03:42.305 --> 00:03:46.726
in my face that I had to do something.

00:03:49.270 --> 00:03:52.440
I wanted to do something
to save the wildlife.

00:03:52.523 --> 00:03:57.946
And I was looking at pollution
as just the big issue.

00:03:58.029 --> 00:04:01.449
I decided that , I know -

00:04:01.532 --> 00:04:07.247
I will stop riding and driving in cars

00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:08.873
and I'm living in

00:04:08.873 --> 00:04:12.877
California, so that is crazy.

00:04:13.503 --> 00:04:16.506
You know, people said, John,

00:04:16.714 --> 00:04:18.675
you're one person.

00:04:18.675 --> 00:04:23.263
If you give up riding
and driving in automobiles,

00:04:23.346 --> 00:04:25.932
you're not going to make a difference.

00:04:25.932 --> 00:04:29.560
Pretty soon
I would be arguing with people about

00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:33.398
whether one person
could really make a difference walking.

00:04:34.315 --> 00:04:39.153
And on my 27th birthday,
I gave up speaking for one day

00:04:39.153 --> 00:04:44.993
because I talk so much,
I was going to not speak for one day.

00:04:54.711 --> 00:04:57.005
And what happened for me

00:04:57.005 --> 00:05:01.843
during that day was that
I realized that I had stopped learning

00:05:01.926 --> 00:05:05.763
because if you're going to learn, you're
probably going to have to hear things

00:05:05.847 --> 00:05:11.352
that are new to you that you don't know
or that you don't understand.

00:05:11.436 --> 00:05:16.065
So I decided I would be quiet
for another day

00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:18.026
and another day.

00:05:18.067 --> 00:05:24.824
And finally I was writing my parents saying,
you know, I'm not speaking for a year

00:05:24.907 --> 00:05:28.202
because I want to learn to listen.

00:05:28.286 --> 00:05:30.872
My mother wrote me and said, Your dad

00:05:30.872 --> 00:05:34.459
is going to be on the next plane.

00:05:34.542 --> 00:05:36.961
I guess they thought I had been co-opted

00:05:36.961 --> 00:05:40.048
by a religious cult in California.

00:05:44.260 --> 00:05:47.472
And so it really took a friend's death

00:05:47.472 --> 00:05:50.808
to convince me that

00:05:52.226 --> 00:05:53.895
we only have this moment,

00:05:53.895 --> 00:05:56.064
this moment right now.

00:05:58.191 --> 00:06:01.486
I felt inside me something they say, John,

00:06:01.569 --> 00:06:04.781
you should just keep on walking.

00:06:10.995 --> 00:06:15.041
My first journey outside of Marin County

00:06:15.166 --> 00:06:17.835
was all the way up to Oregon.

00:06:20.630 --> 00:06:24.634
I would venture into an area for weeks

00:06:24.634 --> 00:06:26.094
and not see anyone.

00:06:29.514 --> 00:06:32.809
It was just wilderness.

00:06:42.402 --> 00:06:47.031
I had gone to art school in Philadelphia.

00:06:47.115 --> 00:06:50.993
I wanted to be an artist.

00:06:51.035 --> 00:06:54.038
Walking through nature.,

00:06:54.163 --> 00:06:56.249
I had just discovered a whole

00:06:56.249 --> 00:07:00.628
other way of being, a way of learning.

00:07:02.713 --> 00:07:03.965
It was just

00:07:03.965 --> 00:07:06.843
absolutely breathtaking

00:07:08.886 --> 00:07:11.139
and mind altering

00:07:16.561 --> 00:07:21.399
to be able to experience that in silence

00:07:24.527 --> 00:07:27.905
and to hear the trees
and listen to the wind

00:07:27.989 --> 00:07:29.782
and hear the leaves.

00:07:39.292 --> 00:07:42.628
There were trees that were my friends.

00:07:43.337 --> 00:07:45.339
I would visit trees

00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:49.760
regularly and I would sleep inside a tree.

00:07:49.844 --> 00:07:54.682
And I was just warm and comforted
and taken care of by this tree.

00:07:55.391 --> 00:08:00.897
This redwood tree,
maybe a thousand years old.

00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:03.149
Such an old life.

00:08:09.572 --> 00:08:11.073
That was the pilgrimage.

00:08:11.073 --> 00:08:12.909
That was the beginning of the inner -

00:08:12.909 --> 00:08:14.577
That was the inner journey.

00:08:23.044 --> 00:08:25.671
It was my healing.

00:08:25.671 --> 00:08:27.757
And I could come out of the wilderness

00:08:27.757 --> 00:08:30.134
and there would be such a smile
on my face.

00:08:30.885 --> 00:08:33.137
There'd be such a smile in my heart.

00:08:33.137 --> 00:08:37.099
And the music that I played was that.

00:08:38.142 --> 00:08:40.061
I didn't use words.

00:08:40.061 --> 00:08:41.479
I couldn't say it.

00:08:48.986 --> 00:08:51.364
That was me.

00:08:51.364 --> 00:08:53.324
That was a self-portrait.

00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:56.035
When I didn't speak,

00:08:56.035 --> 00:08:58.579
I could be like a hermit

00:08:59.622 --> 00:09:00.915
Painting people

00:09:00.915 --> 00:09:04.293
made me go in and interact
with someone.

00:09:06.128 --> 00:09:09.966
These all represent a conversation.

00:09:10.800 --> 00:09:13.427
Even while I was silent.

00:09:15.388 --> 00:09:18.307
The thing about not speaking, though,

00:09:18.307 --> 00:09:21.269
you realize there's all this chatter,

00:09:21.269 --> 00:09:24.480
chatter going on in your mind.

00:09:24.564 --> 00:09:26.899
After about a month of not

00:09:26.899 --> 00:09:29.902
speaking, that chatter

00:09:30.111 --> 00:09:32.154
just went away.

00:09:33.072 --> 00:09:35.074
I didn't have those arguments.

00:09:35.074 --> 00:09:39.954
My communication was I was listening.

00:09:39.996 --> 00:09:42.873
So I would hear other people's voice.

00:09:42.873 --> 00:09:46.127
I would hear what other people had to say.

00:10:08.691 --> 00:10:10.484
I think spending

00:10:10.484 --> 00:10:14.322
all the years before in silence

00:10:14.405 --> 00:10:18.034
prepared me for being African-American

00:10:18.034 --> 00:10:22.163
and walking across America,

00:10:22.246 --> 00:10:26.250
which is to let all of the baggage,

00:10:26.292 --> 00:10:31.005
to let all of the reflection go

00:10:31.297 --> 00:10:32.965
and not look at people like,

00:10:32.965 --> 00:10:37.970
oh, you're the perpetrator, you're the,
you know,

00:10:38.054 --> 00:10:42.558
just to be a human being

00:10:44.393 --> 00:10:47.897
and see people as human beings.

00:10:49.523 --> 00:10:52.943
That's what kept me safe.

00:10:57.198 --> 00:10:59.867
I meditate each morning

00:10:59.867 --> 00:11:02.870
for at least a half an hour

00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:04.955
breathing,

00:11:04.955 --> 00:11:08.501
but also thinking about gratitude first,

00:11:10.294 --> 00:11:13.047
and then love.

00:11:13.047 --> 00:11:16.050
What is that feeling like?

00:11:16.175 --> 00:11:19.470
And then forgiveness.

00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:26.268
And they all kind of cease being separate

00:11:26.352 --> 00:11:29.647
and become this feeling.

00:11:37.446 --> 00:11:38.531
That's the place

00:11:38.531 --> 00:11:42.201
where I like to find myself.

00:12:16.485 --> 00:12:19.405
I discovered my farm in the Fall.

00:12:24.452 --> 00:12:27.329
It seemed full of potential and bounty,

00:12:30.458 --> 00:12:33.043
just what I was looking for

00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:35.379
as I wondered how I might reconnect

00:12:35.379 --> 00:12:37.590
with the land.

00:12:40.676 --> 00:12:42.553
I had a longing.

00:12:42.553 --> 00:12:45.431
I felt a void.

00:12:45.431 --> 00:12:47.892
My children are grown

00:12:47.892 --> 00:12:51.812
and I'm a solo entity.

00:12:51.896 --> 00:12:55.441
I needed a way to ground myself
as the world

00:12:55.566 --> 00:12:58.778
seemed to be spinning in a direction

00:12:58.903 --> 00:13:01.280
beyond my comprehension

00:13:03.741 --> 00:13:05.534
Look at that one.

00:13:15.795 --> 00:13:19.465
Sometimes you think you've harvested
the Queen of the apples

00:13:19.507 --> 00:13:22.092
and then some little critter

00:13:23.135 --> 00:13:25.513
has gotten there before you

00:13:25.513 --> 00:13:30.768
to celebrate the deliciousness of it.

00:13:31.560 --> 00:13:33.813
Like that, for example.

00:13:36.190 --> 00:13:40.236
I'm a filmmaker, and friends would ask me,

00:13:40.319 --> 00:13:43.322
Why would you buy an apple farm?

00:13:43.447 --> 00:13:46.200
How are you going to manage it?

00:13:47.076 --> 00:13:49.078
I didn't know.

00:13:49.787 --> 00:13:51.372
I hoped my hands in

00:13:51.372 --> 00:13:55.876
the earth would ground me.

00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:57.795
I needed to be somewhere

00:13:57.795 --> 00:14:00.297
that I could breathe.

00:14:15.271 --> 00:14:18.566
I began to search for stories of others

00:14:18.649 --> 00:14:23.237
who had reconnected
to nature in different ways

00:14:24.905 --> 00:14:27.199
and then brought their experiences

00:14:27.199 --> 00:14:30.661
in some meaningful way into the world.

00:14:36.083 --> 00:14:37.418
Feels good

00:14:38.252 --> 00:14:40.421
When I come back to the mountains

00:14:40.421 --> 00:14:41.839
this is where I recharge.

00:14:43.424 --> 00:14:46.635
My immune system
I feel is kind of wrecked.

00:14:47.595 --> 00:14:50.681
That's definitely
a side effect of a lot of travel.

00:14:53.601 --> 00:14:54.643
The work that I do

00:14:54.643 --> 00:14:58.772
is just physically, mentally exhausting.

00:14:58.856 --> 00:15:02.151
You know, the mental component
of working on assignment.

00:15:02.234 --> 00:15:04.111
You're kind of working really long days

00:15:05.112 --> 00:15:07.698
and problem solving all this stuff.

00:15:09.909 --> 00:15:12.369
So when I come back here,

00:15:12.369 --> 00:15:15.205
this feels like my vacation.

00:15:16.665 --> 00:15:19.710
This feels like my therapy
in a lot of ways.

00:15:20.753 --> 00:15:23.964
And it's
because I can literally go out in nature.

00:15:24.006 --> 00:15:27.927
I can walk out of my back door,
I can go skiing, I can go hiking,

00:15:28.010 --> 00:15:31.305
and all of those things give me back
my equilibrium.

00:15:33.682 --> 00:15:36.727
It affects my creativity, how well I work.

00:15:38.771 --> 00:15:43.901
People just don't realize the power
that nature has in our own well-being.

00:15:45.027 --> 00:15:46.570
It really is important

00:15:46.570 --> 00:15:48.739
to our own, all of our well-being.

00:15:53.535 --> 00:15:54.536
I really didn't know what

00:15:54.536 --> 00:15:57.081
I wanted to take in university,

00:15:57.706 --> 00:15:59.875
but I knew I loved adventure

00:15:59.875 --> 00:16:02.127
and kind of extreme sports.

00:16:04.672 --> 00:16:06.215
Then I took a photography elective

00:16:06.298 --> 00:16:09.426
during that time, and for me
it was like lightning strike.

00:16:09.551 --> 00:16:12.805
I was like,
Oh my God, I can combine my passions

00:16:12.888 --> 00:16:15.015
of art and adventure.

00:16:17.685 --> 00:16:21.021
And I didn't know what kind of job
that would turn out to be,

00:16:21.021 --> 00:16:25.317
but I just was following my curiosity
and passions,

00:16:25.526 --> 00:16:26.944
not knowing where it would lead.

00:16:32.408 --> 00:16:34.368
It began slowly and purposely,

00:16:34.368 --> 00:16:37.413
a meandering journey that had no beginning
and no end.

00:16:38.872 --> 00:16:41.917
I frolicked in the warm waters
of the Andamans

00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:45.838
with a four ton elephant.

00:16:55.556 --> 00:17:00.019
I look at those photos
as a great representation

00:17:00.185 --> 00:17:05.107
of why I was sailing,
why I explore why I have adventures

00:17:07.609 --> 00:17:10.237
In terms of environmentally,

00:17:10.237 --> 00:17:14.450
over ten years
I saw how fast the oceans were degrading.

00:17:16.243 --> 00:17:18.287
No matter how remote

00:17:18.287 --> 00:17:21.290
we thought we were,
there'd be plastic bags

00:17:21.331 --> 00:17:25.044
or plastic bottles in all the beaches.

00:17:25.127 --> 00:17:29.798
It was just so disheartening
how carelessly we,

00:17:29.882 --> 00:17:32.926
you know, just treat the environment.

00:17:39.433 --> 00:17:41.143
When I'm traveling,

00:17:41.143 --> 00:17:44.063
things never go according to plan.

00:17:45.022 --> 00:17:46.106
In remote locations,

00:17:46.732 --> 00:17:50.903
things are always breaking down
and you can't get replacements.

00:17:50.944 --> 00:17:53.072
And you're just like,
sure, okay, no problem.

00:17:53.072 --> 00:17:54.490
Like, that didn't work.

00:17:54.490 --> 00:17:56.450
So now what can we do to make it work?

00:17:56.450 --> 00:17:58.577
You know, it just

00:17:58.577 --> 00:18:02.456
and I think that's such an invaluable
mindset moving through the world.

00:18:03.624 --> 00:18:08.378
It's  actually a Stoic saying,
Amor Fati, , which is, Love your fate,

00:18:08.587 --> 00:18:13.634
but it's written in Arabic because
of my childhood growing up in Saudi.

00:18:14.134 --> 00:18:19.181
For me, it's just a reminder, always
a great reminder that, you know, hardship

00:18:19.181 --> 00:18:24.228
and adversity, there's a lot of life
lessons and growth in those moments.

00:18:35.405 --> 00:18:36.115
I've had

00:18:36.115 --> 00:18:40.285
a lot of close calls in the outdoors
and adventure,

00:18:40.285 --> 00:18:42.579
especially paragliding.

00:18:45.874 --> 00:18:48.961
And to be honest, those moments
where you're kind of in these

00:18:48.961 --> 00:18:50.629
life or death situations,

00:18:50.838 --> 00:18:52.673
for me
anyway, it’s just

00:18:52.673 --> 00:18:54.133
100% present.

00:19:02.349 --> 00:19:04.935
After university,

00:19:04.935 --> 00:19:09.022
I had a boyfriend who died paragliding,

00:19:11.733 --> 00:19:13.902
I think, when he passed away

00:19:13.902 --> 00:19:18.949
it was a feeling that I had in my gut,
like it really in my bones almost

00:19:19.116 --> 00:19:21.994
that I don't want
to squander my life.

00:19:33.172 --> 00:19:35.382
There's these photos that I took

00:19:35.382 --> 00:19:37.926
when we got stranded on an island

00:19:37.926 --> 00:19:40.012
off the coast of Mozambique.

00:19:41.221 --> 00:19:43.640
We didn't know how long we'd
really be there

00:19:44.016 --> 00:19:46.685
or how we,
you know, how we were going to get off.

00:19:47.352 --> 00:19:51.732
But it actually didn't matter because we
were having, like the time of our lives.

00:19:53.775 --> 00:19:54.401
We had all our

00:19:54.401 --> 00:19:58.780
paragliding gear
and it was perfect flying conditions

00:19:59.239 --> 00:20:02.034
and we were like, Oh, we're stuck here,

00:20:02.201 --> 00:20:02.993
so let's go paragliding.

00:20:09.041 --> 00:20:09.374
I mean,

00:20:09.374 --> 00:20:12.419
there's no other word
to describe how I felt

00:20:12.419 --> 00:20:14.421
than it was magical.

00:20:16.882 --> 00:20:18.759
Those pictures

00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:21.386
like it's a

00:20:21.386 --> 00:20:24.389
I am so glad I took them
because I get to share them.

00:20:24.431 --> 00:20:28.310
But it was just like, yeah, this is
this is what life's all about for me

00:20:28.518 --> 00:20:29.269
right here.

00:20:29.269 --> 00:20:31.396
This is it. And it's even making me cry.

00:20:31.396 --> 00:20:32.189
So yeah.

00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:18.610
I really want to inspire people

00:21:18.610 --> 00:21:21.697
to get into wilderness,
to get into nature,

00:21:23.031 --> 00:21:26.743
to experience
different cultures, different places.

00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:31.581
really have experiences

00:21:31.581 --> 00:21:33.875
that are outside
of your comfort zone

00:21:34.167 --> 00:21:38.672
and see how that changes your life.

00:22:05.949 --> 00:22:07.659
When you know that

00:22:07.743 --> 00:22:10.704
so many people and cultures in the world,
we all have the same

00:22:11.121 --> 00:22:13.040
needs and wants,

00:22:14.499 --> 00:22:16.335
it's just like, yeah, who am I?

00:22:16.335 --> 00:22:20.047
Like, who am I to,
you know, think I'm more important

00:22:20.047 --> 00:22:21.173
than anybody else?

00:22:39.733 --> 00:22:41.860
And so that helps me on so many levels.

00:22:41.860 --> 00:22:44.529
It helps me be more empathetic,

00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:46.823
less selfish.

00:22:46.823 --> 00:22:48.992
What a gift that is.

00:22:48.992 --> 00:22:53.372
You know,
And I think I think nature, wilderness

00:22:53.455 --> 00:22:56.375
and just traveling in the world gives you

00:22:56.375 --> 00:22:57.209
those gifts.

00:23:03.131 --> 00:23:06.426
For me,
a big part of it is it's very humbling.

00:23:06.426 --> 00:23:08.011
It makes me feel small.

00:23:09.638 --> 00:23:12.140
And I think that's so important.

00:23:12.849 --> 00:23:16.311
I love feeling that insignificance
because it

00:23:16.853 --> 00:23:20.941
it makes it feel like my troubles
and the things that stress me out,

00:23:21.024 --> 00:23:25.362
really in the big scheme of things
are not that big of a deal.

00:23:25.987 --> 00:23:27.697
It just gets everything in focus.

00:23:27.697 --> 00:23:29.157
So it's like what's really important?

00:23:29.157 --> 00:23:32.452
Okay, I've only got this much time. Like,

00:23:33.662 --> 00:23:36.331
how do I want to live it?

00:23:50.512 --> 00:23:53.890
We have never been as a species,
so disconnected

00:23:53.974 --> 00:23:56.059
from the natural world as we are now.

00:23:57.644 --> 00:24:00.772
And in fact,
we are living in the middle of the largest

00:24:00.772 --> 00:24:04.693
mass migration in human history.

00:24:04.776 --> 00:24:07.446
And it's the migration indoors.

00:24:07.863 --> 00:24:12.367
It's incredibly concerning,
you know, how we have kind of replaced

00:24:12.367 --> 00:24:17.247
a knowledge of nature,
you know, with our phones basically,

00:24:21.376 --> 00:24:25.547
We are animals who evolved outside

00:24:26.298 --> 00:24:28.884
over hundreds of thousands of years.

00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:31.887
Our brain systems, our perceptual systems,

00:24:32.637 --> 00:24:36.266
they are comfortable
reading natural landscapes.

00:24:37.517 --> 00:24:40.770
They're not really comfortable
reading a traffic circle in downtown

00:24:40.770 --> 00:24:45.525
Washington, DC that's
going to subconsciously stress us out.

00:24:45.609 --> 00:24:48.111
All of us do have a nervous system
response

00:24:48.111 --> 00:24:51.323
to loud mechanical sounds.

00:24:51.406 --> 00:24:53.366
You know,
it sounds a little bit like a predator.

00:25:01.750 --> 00:25:03.543
My family up and moved

00:25:03.543 --> 00:25:08.381
from Colorado to Washington DC
and so when that happened,

00:25:08.381 --> 00:25:11.927
I just noticed a kind of mental shift

00:25:12.469 --> 00:25:14.763
for the worse.

00:25:14.763 --> 00:25:16.181
I mean, I felt stressed out.

00:25:16.181 --> 00:25:18.058
I felt anxious.

00:25:19.768 --> 00:25:23.104
As a science writer,
I'm often motivated by questions

00:25:23.104 --> 00:25:24.856
that arise in my own personal life

00:25:27.275 --> 00:25:29.110
Around that exact same time

00:25:29.110 --> 00:25:32.906
my editors at Outside
magazine asked me to write about,

00:25:32.989 --> 00:25:35.659
you know, what happens to our
brains when we're in nature.

00:25:38.161 --> 00:25:41.540
And so I was really
motivated to go find out what the science

00:25:41.540 --> 00:25:46.378
had to say about this, about the ways
in which our external landscape

00:25:46.461 --> 00:25:50.090
gets reflected
in our internal emotional landscape.

00:25:53.843 --> 00:25:55.720
There was a physiological anthropologist

00:25:55.929 --> 00:26:00.141
in Japan who was studying
what happens to our nervous systems

00:26:00.225 --> 00:26:03.353
when we're outside in the woods,
even for just 15 minutes.

00:26:10.735 --> 00:26:13.863
He was finding this,
you know, drop in stress hormones

00:26:13.863 --> 00:26:18.410
like cortisol, reduction
and respiration rate,

00:26:18.493 --> 00:26:21.913
heart rate variability changes,
all indicating

00:26:21.913 --> 00:26:24.499
that even after 15 minutes outside,

00:26:24.499 --> 00:26:27.210
there was something that was calming

00:26:27.294 --> 00:26:30.630
to our bodies about being in the woods.

00:26:32.173 --> 00:26:35.093
And I thought that was really remarkable.

00:26:49.357 --> 00:26:53.236
Being in nature and finding the awe

00:26:53.320 --> 00:26:56.698
and being able to just

00:26:57.657 --> 00:27:01.786
live in the present moment, it's
so helpful to me

00:27:01.870 --> 00:27:06.041
that I am completely confident
it will help other people.

00:27:09.377 --> 00:27:10.211
And so

00:27:10.211 --> 00:27:14.424
I just
really felt compelled to sort of walk

00:27:14.507 --> 00:27:18.303
the talk
and bring a group of women up here

00:27:18.303 --> 00:27:22.432
who are working on
some really difficult issues.

00:27:25.268 --> 00:27:27.312
When I went through
my own personal trauma,

00:27:27.312 --> 00:27:30.565
I felt like I really needed to learn
how to save my life

00:27:30.649 --> 00:27:34.069
and needed to learn how to survive.

00:27:34.152 --> 00:27:35.528
Divorce is notoriously

00:27:35.528 --> 00:27:39.115
one of the most stressful
life experiences.

00:27:39.699 --> 00:27:41.743
I was really surprised

00:27:41.743 --> 00:27:45.038
by how devastating it was emotionally,

00:27:45.038 --> 00:27:48.291
but also how my body responded.

00:27:48.375 --> 00:27:50.794
Why was my immune system changing?

00:27:50.794 --> 00:27:53.004
Why was I losing so much weight?

00:27:53.004 --> 00:27:54.881
Why was I having trouble sleeping?
You know?

00:27:54.881 --> 00:27:58.802
Why did I feel like I was plugged
into a faulty electrical socket?

00:27:58.885 --> 00:28:01.930
This kind of chronic anxiety,

00:28:09.646 --> 00:28:13.441
When you have post-traumatic stress,
you're hypervigilant.

00:28:13.525 --> 00:28:16.778
And so you need to kind of close
down your senses in order to function

00:28:16.778 --> 00:28:17.987
and survive.

00:28:18.154 --> 00:28:21.408
It's hard to even
leave your house sometimes.

00:28:21.783 --> 00:28:22.992
And yet in the wilderness,

00:28:22.992 --> 00:28:25.620
you know, the opposite happens

00:28:53.773 --> 00:28:56.776
Over many days as you start
to feel more comfortable there,

00:28:56.985 --> 00:29:01.156
and as your nervous system calms down
and your senses open,

00:29:01.239 --> 00:29:03.742
you sleep better,

00:29:03.742 --> 00:29:08.204
you eat better, you start laughing,
you open your heart

00:29:08.204 --> 00:29:12.709
in some ways that are facilitated
really by the natural world.

00:29:35.648 --> 00:29:38.943
Find a rock.

00:29:39.027 --> 00:29:41.321
Find a rock

00:29:41.321 --> 00:29:42.697
that you can carry.

00:29:45.450 --> 00:29:47.952
Bring your rock slowly up to your face

00:29:47.952 --> 00:29:49.496
and see if it has a smell.

00:29:52.707 --> 00:29:55.001
It's a beautiful thing to see in people,

00:29:55.001 --> 00:29:58.213
to watch their bodies relax,

00:29:58.296 --> 00:30:01.883
to watch their senses start to wake up,

00:30:01.966 --> 00:30:06.846
to see them finding peace,

00:30:06.930 --> 00:30:09.307
at least for a minute.

00:30:09.933 --> 00:30:13.144
And if they can find peace in the moment,
then they know how to find it again.

00:30:15.438 --> 00:30:17.273
You know, when we experience awe

00:30:17.273 --> 00:30:20.276
it actually diminishes a little bit

00:30:20.360 --> 00:30:24.489
our sense of ourselves
and our sense of our own problems.

00:30:28.535 --> 00:30:29.953
There's just something
about that connection

00:30:29.953 --> 00:30:32.956
to other living things and connection
to beauty

00:30:33.081 --> 00:30:38.127
that I think can really give us some hope
and give us a sense of resilience.

00:31:02.360 --> 00:31:02.777
You know, I'm

00:31:02.777 --> 00:31:06.614
not saying that three days out here
is going to fix their problems,

00:31:06.698 --> 00:31:09.200
but I think it can help us

00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:12.996
recognize what we're capable of,
recognize the healing

00:31:12.996 --> 00:31:17.625
that we can do on our own,
especially kind of in partnership

00:31:17.709 --> 00:31:20.628
with the trees and the clouds

00:31:20.628 --> 00:31:22.255
and the forests.

00:31:27.552 --> 00:31:30.805
I wrote The Nature Fix,
and before I wrote the book,

00:31:30.805 --> 00:31:33.474
I had a very specific concept of nature

00:31:35.268 --> 00:31:37.228
and it was, you know, kind of pristine,

00:31:38.021 --> 00:31:42.567
like a mountain top
with not a lot of people and a great view.

00:31:42.859 --> 00:31:45.403
By the end of the book,
I realized I could have a much broader

00:31:45.820 --> 00:31:50.158
and more generous definition of nature
and that I could learn

00:31:50.241 --> 00:31:53.995
how to cue my senses into urban nature

00:31:53.995 --> 00:31:55.914
and into nearby nature.

00:32:02.295 --> 00:32:05.256
So I started really thinking like,

00:32:05.423 --> 00:32:09.427
if I believe that nature is important
for our well-being

00:32:09.969 --> 00:32:12.722
and that we all deserve access to it,

00:32:13.348 --> 00:32:15.475
it's our nearby nature

00:32:15.475 --> 00:32:18.061
that really needs our advocacy

00:32:18.061 --> 00:32:19.812
and our attention.

00:32:27.070 --> 00:32:31.366
You know, just being in a space
where we can

00:32:31.449 --> 00:32:34.994
kind of remember what it means

00:32:35.078 --> 00:32:37.288
to be living.

00:32:51.761 --> 00:32:54.681
Being on this land that I adopted,

00:32:54.681 --> 00:32:57.058
or rather that adopted me,

00:32:58.476 --> 00:33:05.441
began to tend that lonely, hollow place.

00:33:05.525 --> 00:33:07.151
Night and day,

00:33:07.151 --> 00:33:08.736
I was never really alone.

00:33:28.172 --> 00:33:32.510
I began to notice that all life

00:33:32.593 --> 00:33:35.930
breathes itself into you.

00:33:38.558 --> 00:33:41.144
Lots of lettuce and arugula

00:34:06.753 --> 00:34:08.838
Green smoothie

00:34:08.838 --> 00:34:10.965
and my juice.

00:34:14.427 --> 00:34:16.929
Highly intelligent,

00:34:16.929 --> 00:34:21.225
not so intelligent

00:34:21.309 --> 00:34:26.355
use of a wooden device

00:34:26.439 --> 00:34:28.900
while making green smoothie.

00:34:28.900 --> 00:34:31.903
I believe there's even some on my face.

00:34:38.201 --> 00:34:41.162
But tending takes work

00:35:01.224 --> 00:35:03.518
Not getting much mowing done.

00:35:03.518 --> 00:35:05.728
I'm getting a dirty lens, though.

00:35:08.606 --> 00:35:11.275
And more work

00:35:26.165 --> 00:35:27.041
In time

00:35:27.041 --> 00:35:30.586
I knew I wanted to share my refuge.

00:35:30.670 --> 00:35:35.091
I was hoping for community and connection,

00:35:35.466 --> 00:35:38.386
but I didn't know what
that would look like.

00:35:49.021 --> 00:35:51.649
The first time I meditated,
it was kind of wild.

00:35:52.150 --> 00:35:54.652
It's kind of revolutionary.

00:35:54.819 --> 00:35:56.946
It was the mid eighties,

00:35:56.946 --> 00:35:59.824
the time of Thatcher
Thatcher's reign in England,

00:35:59.824 --> 00:36:01.868
and so it was a very divided time.

00:36:01.868 --> 00:36:04.453
And I was very political,

00:36:04.453 --> 00:36:07.081
you know, just very attuned
to the suffering, injustice,

00:36:07.081 --> 00:36:09.125
inequality, poverty.

00:36:09.542 --> 00:36:12.545
And so I was an angry activist.

00:36:13.004 --> 00:36:13.963
And then when I

00:36:13.963 --> 00:36:16.966
heard about Buddhist teachings,
it's like, oh,

00:36:17.049 --> 00:36:21.387
you close your eyes
and suddenly you wake up to your mind.

00:36:21.470 --> 00:36:24.557
And I saw my mind just out of control.

00:36:28.477 --> 00:36:29.562
Good morning.

00:36:29.562 --> 00:36:30.479
Good morning.

00:36:31.856 --> 00:36:33.608
Probably all of us

00:36:33.608 --> 00:36:37.069
have had some experience meditating,

00:36:37.153 --> 00:36:40.698
but not necessarily doing that outside.

00:36:41.282 --> 00:36:44.285
Often our association with meditation

00:36:44.493 --> 00:36:48.247
is it's a lot of work.

00:36:48.331 --> 00:36:51.167
Anybody notice a little work,
a little effort, meditating

00:36:51.167 --> 00:36:54.921
or hard to stay focused, present?

00:36:55.296 --> 00:36:59.258
Now we're here together,
sitting in the orchard.

00:36:59.342 --> 00:37:03.054
I'm going to ask you
for about 30 seconds to a minute

00:37:03.429 --> 00:37:06.682
I'm going to ask you not to be aware,

00:37:06.891 --> 00:37:09.644
not to pay attention, no effort,

00:37:10.645 --> 00:37:12.480
and just see what happens.

00:37:19.612 --> 00:37:21.614
It started to make sense, like

00:37:21.614 --> 00:37:26.410
if we don't look at our minds and don't
actually look at the root of the pain

00:37:26.494 --> 00:37:29.413
that we're in and then acting out

00:37:29.413 --> 00:37:34.126
and causing more of,
it just keeps perpetuating.

00:37:34.210 --> 00:37:36.754
And I realized
that's where a lot of my suffering

00:37:36.754 --> 00:37:39.507
is coming from,
not from what I'm blaming out here.

00:37:41.050 --> 00:37:43.552
And so it just became a passion.

00:37:46.055 --> 00:37:48.224
What we've just done, in a way,

00:37:48.224 --> 00:37:52.144
is the essence of being aware in nature.

00:37:52.228 --> 00:37:55.064
It's a relaxed, sensory,

00:37:55.064 --> 00:37:57.108
it's embodied.

00:37:57.858 --> 00:37:59.735
It's relatively effortless.

00:37:59.735 --> 00:38:03.990
The only effort really required
is when you notice that you've drifted

00:38:04.073 --> 00:38:07.702
and then a gentle nudge back to, Oh,

00:38:07.785 --> 00:38:09.370
and now what's here?

00:38:21.173 --> 00:38:23.134
Discovering the peace that was possible

00:38:23.134 --> 00:38:27.430
through meditating and being outside
where I also felt peaceful,

00:38:27.513 --> 00:38:30.599
there was a dovetail that came together.

00:38:35.021 --> 00:38:37.815
When I am around the old trees,

00:38:37.815 --> 00:38:41.360
it takes my breath away.

00:38:43.404 --> 00:38:48.075
There's a feeling of not being alone.

00:38:52.455 --> 00:38:56.125
We share 60% of our DNA with trees.

00:38:56.208 --> 00:38:58.085
These are our ancestors.

00:39:08.179 --> 00:39:11.015
I feel at one with the forest.

00:39:11.015 --> 00:39:14.185
And yes, that sounds very corny
and cliche, but it's like -

00:39:15.227 --> 00:39:17.813
I don't feel separate.

00:39:29.116 --> 00:39:30.034
And then it's just,

00:39:30.785 --> 00:39:34.497
it's like in your heart blooms.

00:39:37.958 --> 00:39:39.460
It cuts through the alienation

00:39:39.460 --> 00:39:41.754
and the separation.

00:39:43.130 --> 00:39:45.257
And I think we're longing for that.

00:39:45.299 --> 00:39:47.593
we're longing for belonging.

00:39:47.593 --> 00:39:50.054
We're longing for a community.

00:40:00.231 --> 00:40:02.691
I am part of the landscape.

00:40:02.691 --> 00:40:04.944
I am part of  - I am nature.

00:40:05.111 --> 00:40:07.363
Just another expression of nature

00:40:08.197 --> 00:40:10.783
and not just an observer.

00:40:10.783 --> 00:40:20.209
I am part of life here.

00:40:21.669 --> 00:40:24.630
Under the sort of
Western scientific paradigm,

00:40:24.630 --> 00:40:28.008
we've retreated the earth
as Other, as a thing,

00:40:28.092 --> 00:40:29.760
as an object

00:40:30.761 --> 00:40:33.222
that we can therefore exploit.

00:40:35.766 --> 00:40:38.519
One of the hard things about

00:40:38.644 --> 00:40:40.521
living today,

00:40:40.855 --> 00:40:46.068
you can't help seeing the devastation
that's happening all around us.

00:40:46.152 --> 00:40:50.114
[radio] As the winds swirl around,
you could still have more fires up there...

00:40:50.197 --> 00:40:53.492
Every system on the earth
is under duress,

00:40:53.492 --> 00:40:55.202
stress,

00:40:55.286 --> 00:41:01.709
and it's very painful, very painful.

00:41:01.792 --> 00:41:02.626
And when we feel

00:41:02.626 --> 00:41:05.337
the pain of the earth and species,

00:41:05.713 --> 00:41:09.383
we can also tend to harden, shut down,

00:41:09.425 --> 00:41:10.259
numb out,

00:41:13.387 --> 00:41:16.140
not only numb out the pain,

00:41:16.599 --> 00:41:18.976
but we also know about the joy
and the love

00:41:18.976 --> 00:41:20.436
and the care.

00:41:21.854 --> 00:41:22.897
And this is where I found

00:41:22.897 --> 00:41:25.900
my practice really helpful in mindfulness
practice.

00:41:26.150 --> 00:41:29.737
It's actually about coming
radically into the moment,

00:41:29.820 --> 00:41:34.783
facing what's here,
whether it's beauty or sorrow or,

00:41:35.117 --> 00:41:37.912
you know, love or fear,
like whatever's here

00:41:37.912 --> 00:41:39.955
the invitation is to be with it.

00:41:45.127 --> 00:41:49.423
And so when we start to wake up to

00:41:49.507 --> 00:41:52.718
the living earth and our

00:41:52.801 --> 00:41:56.055
inextricable, intertwining

00:41:56.472 --> 00:41:59.808
nature with the earth

00:42:00.226 --> 00:42:02.853
then we have a very different
relationship.

00:42:03.187 --> 00:42:08.150
And everything we do
has an influence, has a ripple.

00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:10.194
Then what ripples,

00:42:10.444 --> 00:42:18.369
what wake are we leaving through our actions,
through our words, through lifestyle?

00:42:19.328 --> 00:42:21.080
What are we doing

00:42:21.080 --> 00:42:25.000
if our life isn't in some way
supporting regeneration

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:27.044
in some small way?

00:42:30.965 --> 00:42:36.470
We can be part of that
regenerative movement

00:42:36.554 --> 00:42:38.055
or not.

00:42:51.944 --> 00:42:53.904
Climate change

00:42:53.904 --> 00:42:56.907
change really doesn't convey
what's going on.

00:42:57.074 --> 00:43:00.911
This is the mother of all emergencies -
that and nuclear war

00:43:01.078 --> 00:43:05.666
are the two things
that threaten human survival.

00:43:05.749 --> 00:43:07.167
And I'm an emergency physician.

00:43:07.167 --> 00:43:12.172
I'm used to, you know, jumping in.

00:43:12.214 --> 00:43:13.215
I wouldn't be here

00:43:13.215 --> 00:43:18.345
if my ancestors hadn't heeded the warnings

00:43:18.429 --> 00:43:22.391
in 1933, Germany.

00:43:22.474 --> 00:43:26.395
They heeded the warnings
that my grandfather received

00:43:26.395 --> 00:43:30.524
because he was a prominent
physician in Berlin.

00:43:31.066 --> 00:43:36.071
My father made it into this country
just before the doors closed in 1939.

00:43:36.447 --> 00:43:39.450
And here I am.

00:43:39.575 --> 00:43:40.909
So the notion

00:43:40.909 --> 00:43:45.914
that worst case scenarios can happen
is deeply embedded

00:43:45.914 --> 00:43:50.961
in my mind and my soul.

00:43:51.045 --> 00:43:52.838
It can happen.

00:43:56.675 --> 00:43:59.261
In the summer of 2006,

00:43:59.261 --> 00:44:03.265
like many people,
I saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth.

00:44:04.600 --> 00:44:07.603
Let's take another picture of the Earth.

00:44:08.020 --> 00:44:11.065
You see that pale blue dot?

00:44:11.106 --> 00:44:12.858
That's us.

00:44:14.109 --> 00:44:16.987
It's our only home.

00:44:16.987 --> 00:44:21.450
And that is what is at stake.

00:44:21.533 --> 00:44:24.536
Our ability

00:44:24.662 --> 00:44:27.873
to live on planet Earth.

00:44:31.543 --> 00:44:33.170
I believe that is true.

00:44:33.170 --> 00:44:35.964
And that's what motivates me.

00:44:36.757 --> 00:44:40.094
We're looking down the barrel of a gun

00:44:40.177 --> 00:44:41.679
that's pointed at our head.

00:44:45.724 --> 00:44:48.102
So we have got to reduce our dependance

00:44:48.102 --> 00:44:51.146
on fossil fuels
and we have the alternatives.

00:44:51.146 --> 00:44:53.023
They've proven themselves.

00:44:55.025 --> 00:44:56.944
As long as fossil fuels’

00:44:56.944 --> 00:45:02.116
true costs to societies
are completely divorced from their price,

00:45:02.449 --> 00:45:04.702
they're going to be used.

00:45:05.244 --> 00:45:07.246
If those are consumed,

00:45:08.080 --> 00:45:09.373
I think the chances

00:45:09.373 --> 00:45:13.293
of our civilization being around in
the future are very, very low.

00:45:16.463 --> 00:45:18.549
Now I know we're up against

00:45:18.549 --> 00:45:22.261
the most powerful industry
in the history of money.

00:45:24.096 --> 00:45:26.348
What must we do right now?

00:45:26.348 --> 00:45:28.600
And what can you do?

00:45:28.600 --> 00:45:31.603
I found CCL Citizens Climate Lobby.

00:45:31.812 --> 00:45:35.691
And so what Citizens Climate Lobby does is
we lobby.

00:45:35.774 --> 00:45:37.901
We lobby our elected representatives.

00:45:38.318 --> 00:45:42.531
The fossil fuel industry
has spent billions making sure

00:45:42.614 --> 00:45:46.243
that we don't do
what I'm about to tell you we have to do.

00:45:47.077 --> 00:45:51.540
Make these fuels more expensive

00:45:51.623 --> 00:45:54.334
and you'll decrease their demand.

00:45:54.334 --> 00:45:56.628
Like anything else in economics,

00:45:56.879 --> 00:45:58.213
raise the price,

00:45:58.213 --> 00:46:00.758
you lower the demand. Look at cigarettes.

00:46:00.758 --> 00:46:03.886
Cigarette tax - less smoking.

00:46:04.261 --> 00:46:07.139
The way to get people to accept

00:46:07.139 --> 00:46:11.810
an increase in the costs
is to give all those revenues

00:46:11.894 --> 00:46:15.814
right back to everybody so that their budgets
can stay on the level.

00:46:15.939 --> 00:46:22.112
You can't solve this crisis on the backs
of people who are struggling to survive.

00:46:24.573 --> 00:46:25.783
That's why

00:46:25.783 --> 00:46:29.870
we have to harness the economy itself

00:46:29.953 --> 00:46:32.873
to achieve those goals.

00:46:33.081 --> 00:46:37.753
That's why a carbon price

00:46:37.836 --> 00:46:40.005
is the only thing that's going to do that.

00:46:54.019 --> 00:46:57.523
The good news is that the percent
of the American population

00:46:57.523 --> 00:47:00.734
that's alarmed or concerned
about climate change is going

00:47:00.734 --> 00:47:02.778
up, up, up.

00:47:04.446 --> 00:47:08.909
If you look at the costs
of these climate disasters,

00:47:08.992 --> 00:47:13.455
imagine living in a small, poor country
that's hit with these calamities.

00:47:14.039 --> 00:47:17.835
And those are probably the people who have
contributed the least to the problem.

00:47:18.043 --> 00:47:21.505
One of the things we haven't talked about
is justice.

00:47:21.547 --> 00:47:23.549
Yeah. And injustice.

00:47:23.549 --> 00:47:29.680
They're intertwined because really
the theme of separateness, you know, is

00:47:29.763 --> 00:47:33.642
what what leads to the divisiveness

00:47:33.684 --> 00:47:38.605
we have societally, politically, racially.

00:47:38.689 --> 00:47:42.734
And then the division between,
you know, nature being Us and Them,

00:47:42.776 --> 00:47:45.195
the same mentality.

00:47:45.279 --> 00:47:48.282
So, yeah, you know, those are all issues

00:47:48.490 --> 00:47:52.411
that are very much worth considering.

00:47:53.495 --> 00:47:56.999
But we don't have time to solve

00:47:57.082 --> 00:47:59.793
racism or xenophobia

00:47:59.793 --> 00:48:02.421
or otherness and separateness,
that sort of thing.

00:48:02.421 --> 00:48:03.171
We've got to get this.

00:48:03.171 --> 00:48:04.631
We got to survive first.

00:48:11.805 --> 00:48:14.808
We are the leader
and we're the most culpable.

00:48:14.892 --> 00:48:20.647
And if we lead, others
will probably follow.

00:48:20.731 --> 00:48:24.526
But for sure, if we don't, they won't.

00:48:25.360 --> 00:48:26.737
The preparation

00:48:26.737 --> 00:48:29.740
for action, I think, begins with oneself

00:48:29.781 --> 00:48:33.660
looking inside to be prepared

00:48:33.744 --> 00:48:36.663
to go and do battle,

00:48:37.497 --> 00:48:39.791
go into the

00:48:39.791 --> 00:48:44.755
the gladiator pit, basically,
which is politics,

00:48:44.838 --> 00:48:49.134
because that's
what controls the economics.

00:48:50.427 --> 00:48:54.473
If you don't get the money right, I don't
see how we fix this climate problem.

00:48:54.556 --> 00:48:57.351
And if you do get the money right,

00:48:57.351 --> 00:49:00.062
we might - might

00:49:00.145 --> 00:49:02.022
have a chance.

00:49:13.116 --> 00:49:15.243
It is dawn.

00:49:15.243 --> 00:49:18.163
The sun is rising in the sky

00:49:18.163 --> 00:49:23.043
and my grandmother and I are singing
prayers to the horizon.

00:49:23.126 --> 00:49:27.005
This morning she's teaching me
the meaning of Hózhǫ́

00:49:27.214 --> 00:49:31.510
Although there's no direct translation from
Diné bizaad, the Navajo language,

00:49:31.510 --> 00:49:32.511
into English,

00:49:33.011 --> 00:49:36.848
every living being knows what Hózhǫ́ means.

00:49:36.932 --> 00:49:40.227
for Hózhǫ́ is every leaf on every tree.

00:49:40.310 --> 00:49:42.354
It's every drop of rain.

00:49:42.354 --> 00:49:44.356
It's your every eyelash.

00:49:44.356 --> 00:49:47.734
It's every feather on the
bluebird’s wing.

00:49:48.610 --> 00:49:54.533
Hózhǫ́ is undeniable beauty.

00:49:54.616 --> 00:49:56.827
And my grandmother knows this well,

00:49:56.827 --> 00:50:00.372
for she speaks a language
that grew out of the desert

00:50:00.372 --> 00:50:04.668
floors like red stone arms
reaching into the sky

00:50:04.751 --> 00:50:08.755
and praising creation for
all of its brilliance,

00:50:12.884 --> 00:50:14.261
Hózhǫ́ is remembering

00:50:14.261 --> 00:50:17.472
that we are a part of
the Earth's brilliance.

00:50:17.806 --> 00:50:23.645
It is remembering that humanity is
an expression of the Earth's brilliance.

00:50:35.824 --> 00:50:38.201
Hi, sweeties.

00:50:38.201 --> 00:50:40.120
What I'm doing here

00:50:40.120 --> 00:50:42.497
is I'm trying to be close to the earth.

00:50:44.583 --> 00:50:47.586
I have my sheep, I have my puppies,

00:50:47.586 --> 00:50:50.047
I have the bluebirds.

00:50:51.923 --> 00:50:54.217
We're building our
traditional architecture,

00:50:54.217 --> 00:50:56.178
which is green building.

00:51:02.142 --> 00:51:05.437
I went to Stanford at age 17.

00:51:05.979 --> 00:51:08.356
I just finished my Ph.D.

00:51:08.356 --> 00:51:09.608
In the Ph.D. research

00:51:09.608 --> 00:51:13.945
I was really looking at
indigenous fisheries,

00:51:14.029 --> 00:51:18.200
Indigenous fire management,
Indigenous soil management,

00:51:18.283 --> 00:51:23.121
and also the value system,
the language, the stories.

00:51:23.205 --> 00:51:26.333
What I learned was reading
some of the literatures

00:51:26.333 --> 00:51:29.669
that the native folk say

00:51:29.753 --> 00:51:31.963
the most important part of the harvest

00:51:31.963 --> 00:51:34.966
is not what you take
but what you leave behind.

00:51:35.217 --> 00:51:41.264
That is what will perpetuate life.

00:51:41.348 --> 00:51:44.768
Greetings, my relatives and my people

00:51:44.851 --> 00:51:47.354
[speaking in Diné bizaad]

00:51:47.354 --> 00:51:49.064
My name is Lyla June.

00:51:50.065 --> 00:51:52.734
[speaking in Diné bizaad]

00:51:52.734 --> 00:51:58.365
I come from the  [Diné bizaad]
matrilineal clan of the Diné nation

00:51:59.658 --> 00:52:04.079
In the TEDx speech I gave recently,
I talked about how during the pandemic

00:52:04.162 --> 00:52:06.832
nature seems to flourish more

00:52:06.832 --> 00:52:10.085
and the logical leap
that many observers seemed to make

00:52:10.085 --> 00:52:14.756
was that the Earth would
be better off without humans.

00:52:15.423 --> 00:52:19.594
I reject that leap.

00:52:19.678 --> 00:52:21.555
The Earth may be better off

00:52:21.555 --> 00:52:24.683
without certain systems
we have created,

00:52:24.891 --> 00:52:27.394
but we are not those systems.

00:52:31.606 --> 00:52:34.442
In terms of biodiversity loss

00:52:34.442 --> 00:52:37.612
in terms of the climate crisis,

00:52:37.654 --> 00:52:41.074
if we're going to solve this issue,
we're going to have to break out

00:52:41.074 --> 00:52:44.995
of our indoctrination, myself included.

00:52:46.872 --> 00:52:48.373
It's not our fault

00:52:48.373 --> 00:52:52.043
that we've been systematically
divorced from our mother.

00:52:52.127 --> 00:52:54.838
There's an incentive
on behalf of the corporate world

00:52:54.838 --> 00:52:58.884
I would say, to keep us
in our isolated state,

00:53:00.218 --> 00:53:03.221
to keep us distanced
from the amount of violence

00:53:03.221 --> 00:53:07.267
it takes to feed us, the violence
to the land, violence

00:53:07.267 --> 00:53:11.479
to other people, violence to the
water, violence to sentient beings.

00:53:11.563 --> 00:53:16.026
And so it's extremely important
to reconnect

00:53:16.109 --> 00:53:20.113
and also to give ourselves a little bit
of compassion for not being connected.

00:53:27.037 --> 00:53:30.040
Growing up, you know,
I had a mixture

00:53:30.040 --> 00:53:33.418
of like a lot of good teachings
and a lot of hardships.

00:53:34.628 --> 00:53:37.172
I started doing drugs when I was 11.

00:53:37.589 --> 00:53:41.635
I started drinking at age 12.

00:53:41.718 --> 00:53:45.305
I experienced a lot of abuse of every form

00:53:45.388 --> 00:53:49.059
that a woman or a child can go through.

00:53:50.393 --> 00:53:52.020
And I blamed myself for it.

00:53:53.605 --> 00:53:54.773
You stay Booboo, stay.

00:53:58.693 --> 00:54:02.030
I think what catalyzed
my healing was the elders.

00:54:02.113 --> 00:54:04.991
You know, they're the ones
who have the information

00:54:04.991 --> 00:54:07.994
and sometimes literally
all you need is information.

00:54:08.119 --> 00:54:09.704
Got some hay for you.

00:54:09.704 --> 00:54:14.542
You just need to know simple stuff
like you are sacred.

00:54:14.584 --> 00:54:17.462
You know, no one told me that.

00:54:23.009 --> 00:54:24.636
So this is an endangered

00:54:24.636 --> 00:54:28.098
breed of four-horned sheep.

00:54:29.474 --> 00:54:31.685
They're the old sheep

00:54:31.685 --> 00:54:36.481
we used to have back in the day
mixed with the Spanish sheep.

00:54:36.564 --> 00:54:37.148
So you'll see

00:54:37.148 --> 00:54:40.443
they have four horns,
the males, the rams.

00:54:41.111 --> 00:54:44.864
This is “Dzih”.
Hi Dzih!

00:54:46.408 --> 00:54:48.243
Isn’t he amazing?

00:54:50.829 --> 00:54:53.123
I am now ten years completely sober,

00:54:53.707 --> 00:54:58.044
and so my journey
is one of wanting to serve the Earth,

00:54:58.128 --> 00:55:00.255
but also having to heal myself

00:55:00.255 --> 00:55:02.007
in order to be a good servant.

00:55:04.718 --> 00:55:07.721
And be a warrior
who fights with the heart

00:55:07.762 --> 00:55:10.557
and with the spirit and

00:55:10.557 --> 00:55:14.436
is there to protect and to serve all life.

00:55:14.519 --> 00:55:17.439
That includes all people,
even the people who have roots,

00:55:17.439 --> 00:55:21.151
even the people who have wings,
who have four legs, etc.

00:55:21.234 --> 00:55:22.736
They're all our people.

00:55:22.736 --> 00:55:24.487
And so

00:55:24.487 --> 00:55:27.907
really getting sober
was my way of being a warrior

00:55:27.907 --> 00:55:30.827
for the earth
and a warrior for the community.

00:55:34.122 --> 00:55:36.583
They're extremely smart

00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:40.045
and they're like searching for
the weakness in every part of the fence.

00:55:40.045 --> 00:55:44.049
And they're like, you know, clearly

00:55:44.132 --> 00:55:47.218
having all kinds of conversations
with each other.

00:55:47.302 --> 00:55:48.011
And it's like

00:55:48.011 --> 00:55:51.973
when I come back, they're like,
Oh, she's coming, act natural!

00:55:59.022 --> 00:56:00.231
Go ahead.

00:56:01.274 --> 00:56:02.442
Go ahead.

00:56:02.692 --> 00:56:04.027
You can go

00:56:20.502 --> 00:56:23.380
You know, the word Nature is interesting.

00:56:23.380 --> 00:56:27.592
I think we only have that word
because we live in a society

00:56:27.592 --> 00:56:31.012
that has removed itself from reality.

00:56:33.723 --> 00:56:36.601
To me, healing yourself
in association with nature

00:56:36.601 --> 00:56:39.979
is not about going for a walk
in the woods or whatever.

00:56:40.230 --> 00:56:43.066
It's about being in reality.

00:56:44.442 --> 00:56:47.153
It's about being our true selves.

00:56:49.030 --> 00:56:52.325
It's about walking
into a web of relationships

00:56:52.325 --> 00:56:56.579
that predates us by billions of years,

00:56:56.663 --> 00:57:00.792
and we are just a part of it.

00:57:00.875 --> 00:57:03.670
We share the same mother
in the same father

00:57:03.670 --> 00:57:07.966
with all of the rest of the animals,
plants, insects, birds.

00:57:08.049 --> 00:57:12.303
We then are all relatives
because we have the same father of the sky

00:57:12.303 --> 00:57:13.680
and the same mother of the earth.

00:57:17.642 --> 00:57:18.977
And so

00:57:18.977 --> 00:57:22.772
when we step back into reality,
when we step back into nature,

00:57:22.856 --> 00:57:25.942
it's not just a mechanism, a machine.

00:57:27.944 --> 00:57:30.363
It's part of something sacred.

00:57:30.363 --> 00:57:33.658
It's part of something intentional

00:57:35.535 --> 00:57:39.456
and seeded within that is love.

00:57:42.459 --> 00:57:45.044
You're going to learn about

00:57:45.044 --> 00:57:49.340
non-human centrism when you are in service

00:57:49.424 --> 00:57:52.218
to the larger migrations of plants
and animals

00:57:52.218 --> 00:57:53.386
that need to continue.

00:57:57.056 --> 00:57:58.141
We believe

00:57:58.433 --> 00:58:01.686
everything has a reason,
everything has a purpose.

00:58:02.479 --> 00:58:05.565
Every star has a purpose for being there,

00:58:05.648 --> 00:58:10.361
every deer, every rock and every human.

00:58:10.445 --> 00:58:13.072
And so when the elders told me
that, I'm like,

00:58:13.072 --> 00:58:16.242
okay, well, humanity has a purpose here.

00:58:16.242 --> 00:58:17.827
It's just that we've forgotten it.

00:58:19.871 --> 00:58:23.541
When we step back into
our purpose as stewards,

00:58:23.541 --> 00:58:28.671
as warriors for creation,
then we will no longer be a pest.

00:58:28.671 --> 00:58:34.344
We will be a gift.

00:58:34.719 --> 00:58:37.805
it's not
just about reconnecting with nature

00:58:37.805 --> 00:58:40.934
so that we can care for it, but

00:58:40.934 --> 00:58:43.937
so that it can care for us.

00:58:44.270 --> 00:58:49.692
[singing in Dine bizaad]

00:58:55.365 --> 00:58:59.827
And so to me, that's what I'm doing here
is I'm just trying to live in reality.

00:58:59.911 --> 00:59:01.955
And of course that's going to heal you.

00:59:03.831 --> 00:59:04.749
What are we doing

00:59:04.749 --> 00:59:07.418
when we buy into this definition
of civilization,

00:59:08.002 --> 00:59:10.505
when really the most important thing

00:59:10.505 --> 00:59:13.967
that makes someone civil is their heart,

00:59:14.050 --> 00:59:16.344
how they treat the earth,
how they treat each other.

00:59:17.345 --> 00:59:19.889
And so long as they have that,

00:59:19.889 --> 00:59:23.810
they can be doing some of
the most important work on the planet.

00:59:23.893 --> 00:59:25.728
And all we have to do is

00:59:26.604 --> 00:59:28.940
take our place within that system

00:59:28.940 --> 00:59:32.193
as gently and humbly
and lovingly as we can.

00:59:32.277 --> 00:59:35.071
And the song will go on if we do that.

00:59:48.543 --> 00:59:52.046
Am I now living in reality?

00:59:53.840 --> 00:59:56.342
A more seasoned,

00:59:56.342 --> 00:59:59.178
intelligent farmer

00:59:59.178 --> 01:00:02.181
probably would not be

01:00:02.307 --> 01:00:04.851
on this ladder.

01:00:04.851 --> 01:00:07.854
Suspended above the ground

01:00:07.937 --> 01:00:11.024
basket, clutched between my knees.

01:00:13.109 --> 01:00:13.985
I'm learning

01:00:13.985 --> 01:00:17.155
that our local resources are diminishing.

01:00:21.034 --> 01:00:24.329
My neighbor's
well ran dry after a large winery

01:00:24.329 --> 01:00:27.415
took out the dry farmed orchard
and covered the land

01:00:27.415 --> 01:00:29.250
with grapevines.

01:00:37.258 --> 01:00:39.969
I installed a well to ensure this land

01:00:39.969 --> 01:00:42.889
I occupy would continue to flourish.

01:00:46.100 --> 01:00:48.144
Wildfires are a yearly threat

01:00:48.144 --> 01:00:50.104
to our communities.

01:00:54.817 --> 01:00:57.654
The one local processing plant

01:00:57.654 --> 01:01:00.948
purchases mostly
apples from Washington State.

01:01:01.032 --> 01:01:04.035
I'm told it's only 10 to 15%

01:01:04.035 --> 01:01:09.582
that are purchased from our local farmers

01:01:09.666 --> 01:01:12.794
and soon
they will move their entire operation

01:01:12.794 --> 01:01:14.504
to Washington.

01:01:16.923 --> 01:01:18.675
So the reality

01:01:18.675 --> 01:01:21.678
of managing the bounty produced here

01:01:21.719 --> 01:01:25.973
for all apple farmers
has become the challenge.

01:01:28.393 --> 01:01:31.020
The farm is like a child.

01:01:33.231 --> 01:01:35.108
Just when you think

01:01:35.108 --> 01:01:37.151
you have everything tended

01:01:37.985 --> 01:01:41.614
another need crops up

01:01:41.698 --> 01:01:45.243
Some days I wonder how long I will last.

01:01:47.412 --> 01:01:51.124
And then I'm reminded to tend myself.

01:01:52.834 --> 01:01:55.086
The forest is calling me.

01:02:04.095 --> 01:02:05.513
Come on, Ayla

01:02:05.513 --> 01:02:06.848
let's go.

01:02:23.906 --> 01:02:25.283
You're going to stay.

01:02:25.283 --> 01:02:27.076
I know,

01:02:27.076 --> 01:02:28.536
I know.

01:02:28.536 --> 01:02:34.625
Very sad.

01:02:34.709 --> 01:02:38.337
Oh, what a gorgeous fall day.

01:02:38.421 --> 01:02:41.215
We've just passed peak.

01:02:41.591 --> 01:02:44.427
Now everything really will start to fall.

01:02:46.971 --> 01:02:49.599
The Wissahickon is a 2500

01:02:49.599 --> 01:02:52.268
acre natural urban park.

01:02:53.561 --> 01:02:56.564
When I meet with somebody new,

01:02:56.564 --> 01:03:00.443
I often ask them
if they've ever been in therapy before.

01:03:00.485 --> 01:03:04.989
And I'll ask you, because maybe
you've done some therapy in your life.

01:03:05.239 --> 01:03:07.658
No, never. Never.

01:03:07.658 --> 01:03:09.786
I don't need therapy.

01:03:10.953 --> 01:03:12.455
How is this how does this feel?

01:03:12.455 --> 01:03:13.956
What are you right off the bat

01:03:13.956 --> 01:03:19.212
notice that feels different
than a typical therapy session.

01:03:20.087 --> 01:03:23.716
Well, there's a camera on us,

01:03:23.800 --> 01:03:25.301
and I've never had that

01:03:25.301 --> 01:03:27.720
in a therapy session before.

01:03:28.721 --> 01:03:30.515
Let’s pretend there's not
a camera on us.

01:03:32.016 --> 01:03:33.851
I would say

01:03:33.935 --> 01:03:39.023
cool air on your face
and coming in your nostrils.

01:03:39.106 --> 01:03:42.109
And then the light
being bathed in the light.

01:03:42.193 --> 01:03:44.320
And it's just it's uplifting.

01:03:44.320 --> 01:03:45.738
It really is.

01:03:47.698 --> 01:03:50.785
By checking in, by tuning in

01:03:50.785 --> 01:03:55.164
I like to say that our bodies
in a way, are like an instrument,

01:03:55.248 --> 01:03:58.626
and we're going to use our senses

01:03:58.626 --> 01:04:01.003
to tune the instrument.

01:04:05.550 --> 01:04:06.133
They've looked

01:04:06.133 --> 01:04:09.387
at the neuroscience
of being out in nature.

01:04:09.470 --> 01:04:14.058
We spend all this time talking about
attention deficit disorder, ADD -

01:04:14.100 --> 01:04:16.727
it's really NDD nature deficit disorder.

01:04:18.104 --> 01:04:21.065
A lot of what this work is about
is helping people

01:04:21.065 --> 01:04:26.821
to reclaim their true
nature through being in nature.

01:04:27.905 --> 01:04:31.784
This is my spot where I often sit

01:04:31.868 --> 01:04:34.745
and I have these little sit pads.

01:04:35.079 --> 01:04:38.249
I like people to feel safe and

01:04:41.794 --> 01:04:43.004
comfortable.

01:04:43.004 --> 01:04:46.966
So I do things like this.

01:04:47.049 --> 01:04:47.675
First question

01:04:47.675 --> 01:04:50.344
people always ask me,
What do you do about the weather?

01:04:51.345 --> 01:04:55.266
Well, we go outside!

01:04:55.391 --> 01:04:58.561
You know, we plan to
we we dress accordingly.

01:04:59.729 --> 01:05:02.857
I use it as a wonderful metaphor
for life

01:05:02.857 --> 01:05:06.777
that the weather is not always perfect
and that conditions of our lives

01:05:06.777 --> 01:05:12.700
are not always ideal, not always
the way we'd like them to be.

01:05:12.783 --> 01:05:16.996
So and how do we respond
when they're not that way?

01:05:17.079 --> 01:05:22.043
How do we learn to adapt?

01:05:23.336 --> 01:05:25.588
Now, if you like,
you can even close your eyes.

01:05:25.588 --> 01:05:28.132
But it's going inside a little bit

01:05:28.132 --> 01:05:32.261
and noticing what you're,
what you're feeling on the inside.

01:05:34.221 --> 01:05:36.015
What do you notice?

01:05:36.015 --> 01:05:39.226
I feel this kind of like energetic,

01:05:39.310 --> 01:05:42.313
tingling in my body

01:05:42.438 --> 01:05:44.690
a kind of flow of life.

01:05:47.652 --> 01:05:50.947
I'm noticing just a kind of joy.

01:05:51.030 --> 01:05:53.532
I feel it when I'm with clients,

01:05:53.532 --> 01:05:56.535
but I feel it, especially with with you.

01:05:56.661 --> 01:05:58.955
You know,

01:05:58.955 --> 01:06:01.791
I've been doing outdoor sessions
for a long time.

01:06:01.791 --> 01:06:03.668
It was well before the pandemic.

01:06:04.085 --> 01:06:07.088
I hardly ever see people indoors anymore

01:06:07.088 --> 01:06:10.883
because I see how well it works

01:06:12.510 --> 01:06:15.304
and how much they get from it
and how much fun.

01:06:15.596 --> 01:06:18.516
I mean,
who goes to therapy for fun?

01:06:19.058 --> 01:06:21.185
Some people come in, they're like,
Let's go.

01:06:21.185 --> 01:06:23.229
And they're like, off and running.

01:06:23.229 --> 01:06:27.566
Like, okay,
maybe we want to just just notice that.

01:06:27.608 --> 01:06:28.442
Yeah.

01:06:28.442 --> 01:06:31.153
Are you
are you moving in that fast in your life?

01:06:31.153 --> 01:06:35.199
Because and then, like I said to you,
slow down a little bit,

01:06:35.366 --> 01:06:39.578
maybe even stop and notice
what you're able to see,

01:06:39.662 --> 01:06:42.289
depending on how fast
or slowly you're moving.

01:06:44.083 --> 01:06:47.211
So often I have this little

01:06:47.253 --> 01:06:50.506
really lovely poem about in order
to move forward -

01:06:50.506 --> 01:06:51.674
Do you have it with you?

01:06:51.674 --> 01:06:53.134
I do actually.

01:06:53.134 --> 01:06:56.804
It is written by Kai Siedenberg.

01:06:56.887 --> 01:06:59.890
“If you want to move forward skillfully,

01:07:00.057 --> 01:07:03.394
slow down, breathe,

01:07:03.477 --> 01:07:08.441
allow your body
and mind to settle peacefully,

01:07:08.524 --> 01:07:11.986
effortlessly, like a soft feather

01:07:12.069 --> 01:07:15.072
floating down through layers of busy

01:07:15.072 --> 01:07:18.617
thoughts and actions until at last

01:07:18.701 --> 01:07:23.706
you find yourself resting
in that deep still place

01:07:23.789 --> 01:07:26.500
where you can sense wisdom flowing

01:07:26.500 --> 01:07:29.503
like an underground river,

01:07:29.587 --> 01:07:32.590
sit by the river, drink deeply

01:07:32.798 --> 01:07:34.759
and your path will be clear.”

01:07:40.723 --> 01:07:45.561
I had my own experience
of the healing power of nature,

01:07:45.644 --> 01:07:50.483
when my father was suddenly killed
in a highway accident at age 50,

01:07:50.566 --> 01:07:52.860
and I was 25 at the time.

01:07:57.823 --> 01:08:00.743
I did a two day vision quest

01:08:00.743 --> 01:08:03.412
where I went out
into the wilderness by myself

01:08:03.829 --> 01:08:09.210
with only a tarp and a sleeping bag
and a bivvy sack and a pack of matches.

01:08:10.544 --> 01:08:12.838
And I heard his voice in the wind,

01:08:12.922 --> 01:08:15.091
and I saw him in the trees.

01:08:19.220 --> 01:08:20.805
And I listened.

01:08:20.805 --> 01:08:24.016
I just I just heard him.

01:08:24.100 --> 01:08:26.352
He just kind of spoke to me

01:08:26.352 --> 01:08:31.440
very, very deeply about -
that he was okay

01:08:32.149 --> 01:08:34.151
and that he was with me.

01:08:34.151 --> 01:08:36.112
He would be with me forever.

01:08:43.160 --> 01:08:45.454
That is part of what I love

01:08:45.454 --> 01:08:48.457
about being out in nature is that I feel

01:08:48.499 --> 01:08:52.044
not only connected to the trees

01:08:52.044 --> 01:08:55.589
and the flowers
and the birds and the bees,

01:08:56.799 --> 01:09:00.970
but I feel deeply connected to him always

01:09:05.391 --> 01:09:08.227
I think so much of the value of this work

01:09:08.227 --> 01:09:13.274
is literally the movement of the body.

01:09:13.357 --> 01:09:18.487
When people come to therapy,
they often say, I feel stuck.

01:09:18.571 --> 01:09:21.699
I say, I keep thinking the same things
over and over.

01:09:22.241 --> 01:09:25.369
I get out of this place.

01:09:25.494 --> 01:09:27.246
Sounds familiar.

01:09:27.705 --> 01:09:31.876
Doing it outside, you have to
you have to breathe a little bit harder.

01:09:31.959 --> 01:09:34.962
You're your blood is getting oxygenated.

01:09:35.171 --> 01:09:39.216
It allows for a loosening of the grip

01:09:39.300 --> 01:09:42.303
of what is like what's got you.

01:09:44.096 --> 01:09:46.599
Do I have to go into it?

01:09:48.893 --> 01:09:52.396
But one thing
I think about in terms of healing,

01:09:52.521 --> 01:09:56.192
healing often implies that there's

01:09:56.275 --> 01:10:00.404
something that needs to be

01:10:00.487 --> 01:10:01.655
fixed.

01:10:03.157 --> 01:10:04.575
But what I think a lot

01:10:04.575 --> 01:10:07.578
about is really growth and movement

01:10:07.661 --> 01:10:10.372
and that that is healing.

01:10:12.458 --> 01:10:13.876
Many of us have a tremendous

01:10:13.876 --> 01:10:18.005
resistance to change and

01:10:18.088 --> 01:10:22.426
in being out in nature,
you kind of release your resistance

01:10:22.426 --> 01:10:26.388
because you realize
just how natural a process it is.

01:10:26.472 --> 01:10:31.560
This this experience of change is so vivid

01:10:31.769 --> 01:10:33.187
right now.

01:10:39.568 --> 01:10:43.906
So welcome to my office,

01:10:43.989 --> 01:10:46.158
my outdoor office

01:10:49.036 --> 01:10:51.580
where we have some

01:10:51.580 --> 01:10:53.999
little heaters

01:10:53.999 --> 01:10:59.880
and you can just have a seat
wherever you're comfortable.

01:11:00.339 --> 01:11:01.882
This place

01:11:02.132 --> 01:11:04.802
has been a dream for many,
many, many years.

01:11:04.885 --> 01:11:08.931
I've always wanted to create
little office,

01:11:09.014 --> 01:11:12.893
so to speak, outside
attached to my property.

01:11:12.935 --> 01:11:16.480
My vision is, is that, you know, within 5
to 10 years, people will say things like,

01:11:16.480 --> 01:11:19.817
wait, you only though
you only see your therapist indoors.

01:11:19.858 --> 01:11:24.029
You don't go outside
with your therapist. How's that work?

01:11:24.113 --> 01:11:26.573
Why wouldn't you go outside right.

01:11:26.740 --> 01:11:28.492
It’s so obvious!

01:11:49.179 --> 01:11:52.683
When I first came out onto the trails,
I was getting over drug addiction.

01:11:53.517 --> 01:11:55.936
I was addicted to cocaine.

01:11:56.020 --> 01:11:59.982
I was also still successful
doing nightlife.

01:11:59.982 --> 01:12:02.985
People knew about
Drum Like a Lady, and it's growing.

01:12:03.152 --> 01:12:07.281
And I'm like, You're going to
that same place of where all your success

01:12:07.364 --> 01:12:10.743
still which you take pride in,
but you still don't like you.

01:12:14.496 --> 01:12:18.042
When they all leave and everyone
stops clapping, you don't like you.

01:12:18.125 --> 01:12:24.715
So go and figure that out.

01:12:24.798 --> 01:12:27.801
I've been in pain since I was a child.

01:12:27.801 --> 01:12:30.137
I always felt pain in my legs.

01:12:30.137 --> 01:12:32.139
I didn't understand it.

01:12:32.139 --> 01:12:35.392
And when I was diagnosed bipolar,

01:12:35.476 --> 01:12:37.811
it was because my legs
had finally stopped working.

01:12:37.811 --> 01:12:40.689
I'm a professor.
Everything I had worked for is happening.

01:12:40.689 --> 01:12:44.610
I am a year away from my ten year
at like 30.

01:12:44.693 --> 01:12:50.491
Now I'm in a nursing home.

01:12:50.574 --> 01:12:53.827
I was on five different medications,
just psych medications.

01:12:53.827 --> 01:12:55.871
We're not even talking
about the medications for the fact

01:12:55.871 --> 01:12:58.874
that I have a degenerative spine
and I have neuropathy,

01:12:58.916 --> 01:13:00.751
and cervical discs that are mess.

01:13:00.751 --> 01:13:02.836
We're not even talking
about those medications.

01:13:02.836 --> 01:13:06.131
We're just talking about the things
for what's wrong with me.

01:13:06.882 --> 01:13:10.010
But I was always attracted to all of this.

01:13:14.056 --> 01:13:17.267
Our bodies have a way of wanting us to go

01:13:17.267 --> 01:13:18.852
where it can be fed.

01:13:22.481 --> 01:13:25.359
So I started doing these walks.

01:13:27.986 --> 01:13:29.613
I didn't even know
what was going on

01:13:29.613 --> 01:13:31.865
with my body until I was in nature.

01:13:35.077 --> 01:13:38.205
I didn't understand
that I could actually supplement

01:13:38.205 --> 01:13:43.127
some of the medications I was taking
with other forms of natural therapies.

01:13:43.210 --> 01:13:45.963
But here's the issue I ran into.

01:13:45.963 --> 01:13:48.465
I'm a depressed person
and a therapist says

01:13:48.465 --> 01:13:51.677
you should go get some sun

01:13:51.760 --> 01:13:55.055
because now your vitamin D deficient
and they want to give me a pill for it.

01:13:55.347 --> 01:13:57.975
And I said, I'm on enough pills.

01:13:57.975 --> 01:14:01.937
It's no way you're going to give me a pill
for something that's right there

01:14:02.020 --> 01:14:03.188
that doesn't make sense.

01:14:03.188 --> 01:14:04.982
Why would I do that?

01:14:04.982 --> 01:14:08.110
And it's interesting because mother knows
how to teach you whatever

01:14:08.110 --> 01:14:12.698
questions I have, If I bring them to
mother, I can find an answer.

01:14:14.908 --> 01:14:15.951
I can find an answer

01:14:15.951 --> 01:14:17.327
on how to change my pace.

01:14:18.412 --> 01:14:22.124
I can find answers about my stress,
about what needs I have.

01:14:24.751 --> 01:14:27.546
And when I needed canes,
I would have my cane,

01:14:28.464 --> 01:14:29.882
and I would be like, Legs!

01:14:29.882 --> 01:14:31.091
You do this work.

01:14:31.425 --> 01:14:33.051
Go. Let's do it.

01:14:33.260 --> 01:14:35.721
Then when they stopped working,
I would have to sit on the ground

01:14:35.721 --> 01:14:37.431
upset and with attitude.

01:14:37.431 --> 01:14:38.682
If you saw me on a trail,

01:14:38.682 --> 01:14:42.436
you wouldn't talk to me
because I was out there just like

01:14:42.519 --> 01:14:43.937
I was upset.

01:14:47.691 --> 01:14:54.072
[singing]
Every time I feel this way

01:14:54.531 --> 01:15:00.120
this old familiar saying came

01:15:00.412 --> 01:15:06.627
I will lay my troubles down by the water

01:15:06.960 --> 01:15:12.674
where the river will never run dry

01:15:13.550 --> 01:15:23.810
Hallelujah
I’m gonna let myself be lifted

01:15:24.102 --> 01:15:26.688
by and by

01:15:26.855 --> 01:15:33.070
I will lay my troubles down by the water

01:15:33.278 --> 01:15:38.992
where the river will never run dry

01:15:40.035 --> 01:15:42.746
I went out alone for three years

01:15:42.829 --> 01:15:44.665
and now I have so much trust

01:15:44.706 --> 01:15:48.126
within my body of what she can do,

01:15:48.210 --> 01:15:50.712
of where she can go.

01:15:50.712 --> 01:15:55.300
I used to have so much fear
housed in me -

01:15:55.300 --> 01:15:57.803
fear of the future,
fear of what I can do.

01:15:57.844 --> 01:15:59.930
What if my legs stop working again?

01:15:59.930 --> 01:16:02.266
You know what I'll do
if they stop working again?

01:16:02.266 --> 01:16:04.059
I will still have fun

01:16:04.142 --> 01:16:06.937
because I know all kinds of trails
I can still get to

01:16:06.937 --> 01:16:08.647
if I was in a wheelchair.

01:16:11.108 --> 01:16:13.360
This is my life forever now

01:16:15.070 --> 01:16:18.740
Forever.  Anywhere I move
anywhere that I have to live,

01:16:18.949 --> 01:16:22.869
I have to then look at the map
and find my new safe spaces.

01:16:22.869 --> 01:16:24.621
I seek them out .

01:16:24.621 --> 01:16:27.457
So you have to really trust yourself
in nature.

01:16:27.457 --> 01:16:29.084
You have to trust God there.

01:16:29.084 --> 01:16:31.753
You have to trust mother to do her work.

01:16:49.855 --> 01:16:54.318
I know bridges to sit under
and watch sunsets.

01:16:54.401 --> 01:16:56.486
I know of places where I can

01:16:56.570 --> 01:17:00.115
scream and let my echo go to the trees,

01:17:00.198 --> 01:17:04.870
whether it's about my pain
or my joy, my love.

01:17:06.038 --> 01:17:08.415
I know places where I can be out for hours

01:17:08.415 --> 01:17:13.587
and never run into another soul
other than the deer and the squirrels.

01:17:14.504 --> 01:17:15.464
I made a commitment

01:17:15.464 --> 01:17:18.133
to stay in nature every season.

01:17:19.301 --> 01:17:20.552
And you know, on the East Coast

01:17:20.552 --> 01:17:24.348
we get the spring fall, we get winter,
we get that hot summer.

01:17:24.431 --> 01:17:27.893
And I had to decide that all
that was good,

01:17:27.934 --> 01:17:31.104
that I had to seek the beauty in it all.

01:17:36.360 --> 01:17:38.236
And I'm a tall woman about six three

01:17:38.236 --> 01:17:42.824
and I in most spaces I am big.

01:17:42.908 --> 01:17:46.870
I take up space
and no matter how big my problems are,

01:17:46.870 --> 01:17:51.083
when I get around these trees,
they are far bigger than me.

01:17:51.083 --> 01:17:53.251
They've been around far longer than me.

01:17:54.002 --> 01:17:58.423
They've seen people like me
come around and die

01:17:58.423 --> 01:18:02.052
and come around and go
and they are still there.

01:18:02.886 --> 01:18:06.890
All they ask us is to make sure

01:18:06.973 --> 01:18:10.852
that we don't do
the things that humans do,

01:18:10.936 --> 01:18:12.771
like it over do it,

01:18:13.605 --> 01:18:15.065
over consume,

01:18:17.025 --> 01:18:18.151
take.

01:18:20.737 --> 01:18:22.656
I learned how to listen better now.

01:18:23.073 --> 01:18:27.494
You know how attentive you
have to be to hear a chipmunk?

01:18:28.245 --> 01:18:31.248
Like, a little one going across the trail.

01:18:31.331 --> 01:18:36.503
How quiet and still and self aware
you have to hear the [knocking]

01:18:36.586 --> 01:18:38.338
and know that's a woodpecker

01:18:38.588 --> 01:18:42.592
and keep listening and say
well where is it?

01:18:43.218 --> 01:18:44.928
And find that joy

01:18:50.517 --> 01:18:51.643
In that quiet

01:18:51.643 --> 01:18:55.313
hearing those leaves and those streams,

01:18:55.397 --> 01:18:57.441
I began to make that my music.

01:18:57.441 --> 01:19:02.779
And in that music I started to love me.

01:19:02.863 --> 01:19:04.573
I knew that I had a gift.

01:19:04.573 --> 01:19:08.326
After three years
of doing that to share it.

01:19:08.410 --> 01:19:10.412
I call this radical adventures in wellness

01:19:10.454 --> 01:19:12.330
the RAW method.

01:19:12.372 --> 01:19:15.959
I use the word radical
because if I said fun adventures

01:19:15.959 --> 01:19:18.795
and wellness,
people would know how tough it can be.

01:19:19.129 --> 01:19:21.757
Radical simply means grasping something

01:19:21.757 --> 01:19:24.968
at the root, getting to the root of it.

01:19:25.051 --> 01:19:29.097
It's hard to get to the root of something
while you still feel confined

01:19:29.097 --> 01:19:33.185
in a space, in a room to couch a chair.

01:19:36.605 --> 01:19:39.733
These spaces are for us

01:19:40.859 --> 01:19:44.488
People who contact me,
they’re people of color,

01:19:44.863 --> 01:19:46.573
and they don't feel comfortable

01:19:46.573 --> 01:19:48.200
in the Wissahickon

01:19:49.868 --> 01:19:52.788
Is someone going to ask why I’m there?

01:19:52.788 --> 01:19:54.581
Do I need permission?

01:19:57.542 --> 01:20:02.506
Our fear is not just about
just the outdoors.

01:20:02.798 --> 01:20:07.427
It's knowing
that someone can do something to you.

01:20:07.511 --> 01:20:10.847
That mindset is being with black people
in America since slavery.

01:20:10.931 --> 01:20:12.098
You go on the wrong land

01:20:12.098 --> 01:20:14.059
You can die.

01:20:14.059 --> 01:20:16.478
Someone sees you in their back
yard, you're shot.

01:20:21.399 --> 01:20:25.362
I have to remind them that nothing's
going to hurt you here.

01:20:25.445 --> 01:20:28.865
I have to also remind them
that people that come to nature

01:20:28.949 --> 01:20:31.368
are probably the best
people you’re ever going to meet.

01:20:32.661 --> 01:20:36.498
We can't always allow
fear to be the guide.

01:20:37.749 --> 01:20:38.375
There's something

01:20:38.375 --> 01:20:43.463
so little, so simple,
so delicate in us that needs to be fed

01:20:43.505 --> 01:20:46.299
by something that doesn't cost a thing.

01:20:46.299 --> 01:20:48.593
That's something that's always been there.

01:20:48.593 --> 01:20:50.428
But we have to go to it.

01:20:50.804 --> 01:20:53.849
[singing]
I am willing

01:20:53.932 --> 01:20:57.060
I will do my part

01:20:57.352 --> 01:21:03.066
where the river will never run dry

01:21:03.567 --> 01:21:12.826
Hallelujah
I’m gonna let myself be lifted

01:21:13.285 --> 01:21:15.871
by and by

01:21:16.872 --> 01:21:23.086
I will lay my troubles down by the water

01:21:23.295 --> 01:21:29.009
where the river will never run dry

01:21:30.594 --> 01:21:35.307
where the river will never run dry

01:21:36.558 --> 01:21:41.271
this river will never run dry.

01:22:29.402 --> 01:22:31.321
Oh, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.

01:22:31.988 --> 01:22:35.659
In four years,
I have learned at least this,

01:22:35.700 --> 01:22:37.369
that there is a delicate balance

01:22:38.536 --> 01:22:39.871
between effort

01:22:40.205 --> 01:22:42.415
and letting go.

01:22:44.459 --> 01:22:45.585
Nature is

01:22:46.044 --> 01:22:48.296
the reminder that we can't let fear

01:22:48.421 --> 01:22:49.923
be our guide.

01:22:50.799 --> 01:22:53.093
Earth...

01:22:53.134 --> 01:22:56.179
air...

01:22:56.471 --> 01:22:59.474
fire...

01:22:59.516 --> 01:23:02.686
water...

01:23:03.228 --> 01:23:05.021
ether.

01:23:06.189 --> 01:23:09.943
Sometimes we are
just at the whim of nature.

01:23:13.863 --> 01:23:16.449
The power is out again

01:23:18.493 --> 01:23:21.496
and the basement is flooded.

01:23:25.000 --> 01:23:28.420
I don't know what the next season
will bring,

01:23:28.503 --> 01:23:32.090
but each step reflects how my actions

01:23:32.298 --> 01:23:35.385
might affect my microcosm.

01:23:38.054 --> 01:23:41.391
It's just that, you’re just dancing
with the landscape

01:23:42.183 --> 01:23:46.646
I’ve learned that there's
an innate necessity

01:23:47.188 --> 01:23:52.444
to just be quiet and still

01:23:53.194 --> 01:23:56.698
and to listen.

01:24:00.201 --> 01:24:02.495
Spring comes

01:24:02.495 --> 01:24:05.498
with blooms and hope

01:24:05.582 --> 01:24:08.585
and possibility.

01:24:12.964 --> 01:24:17.052
Maybe I'm right where I need to be

01:24:21.431 --> 01:24:23.475
Amor fati

01:24:25.310 --> 01:24:28.980
Love your fate.

01:24:54.923 --> 01:24:57.675
You know, I never expected to have a

01:24:57.675 --> 01:25:03.473
a PhD, be a UN Goodwill ambassador
any of those things,

01:25:04.224 --> 01:25:06.976
I could reach more people

01:25:06.976 --> 01:25:09.813
if I got in a vehicle

01:25:09.813 --> 01:25:13.817
and and traveled by air and car

01:25:15.110 --> 01:25:16.444
and that's what I decided.

01:25:16.444 --> 01:25:20.949
I would still come back
to where I left off and and walk,

01:25:21.032 --> 01:25:25.036
which I did across the length
of South America.

01:25:29.791 --> 01:25:32.710
I ended up going to school not speaking

01:25:32.710 --> 01:25:36.631
to receive a master's degree
in environmental studies.

01:25:37.507 --> 01:25:42.679
I didn't know
I was going to not speak for 17 years.

01:25:42.762 --> 01:25:45.557
And finally I got to the East Coast

01:25:45.557 --> 01:25:49.310
and that's when I started talking again

01:25:49.394 --> 01:25:52.230
because I felt I had something to say.

01:25:56.860 --> 01:26:00.989
I had formulated
that how we treat each other

01:26:01.072 --> 01:26:06.786
is really what is affecting
the environment, our physical environment.

01:26:06.786 --> 01:26:11.207
So if pollution is happening,
it's not just because

01:26:11.416 --> 01:26:17.380
we put stuff in the water,
but because the way we treat one another

01:26:17.630 --> 01:26:21.259
allows us to put stuff in the water.

01:26:24.012 --> 01:26:26.681
The way that we think about each other

01:26:26.681 --> 01:26:31.269
allows us to exploit each other.

01:26:33.688 --> 01:26:36.065
But we're forgetting that

01:26:36.065 --> 01:26:39.569
we've just despoiled this
and it's going to come back

01:26:39.569 --> 01:26:41.696
on all of us.

01:26:46.993 --> 01:26:50.872
Seeing that connection and going,
Oh my God, I can see it,

01:26:50.914 --> 01:26:52.207
why it's like this.

01:26:52.207 --> 01:26:55.001
Like, pollution -

01:26:55.001 --> 01:26:57.170
we could solve that

01:26:57.253 --> 01:26:59.088
loss of species and habitat.

01:26:59.088 --> 01:27:01.216
we could solve that

01:27:02.383 --> 01:27:04.802
except why don't we?

01:27:04.886 --> 01:27:08.097
Well, because the environment
then is about human rights

01:27:08.097 --> 01:27:12.227
and civil rights
and gender equality and economic equity,

01:27:12.310 --> 01:27:15.772
all the ways that we relate to each other.

01:27:16.022 --> 01:27:19.817
And what can you do as a human being

01:27:19.901 --> 01:27:22.987
to mitigate that?

01:27:23.404 --> 01:27:25.698
We need to be kind to each other.

01:27:25.698 --> 01:27:28.660
If we were kind to each other,

01:27:28.660 --> 01:27:33.623
we would think differently
about what we do to each other.

01:27:33.706 --> 01:27:36.125
Well, you know,
the country's founded on slavery.

01:27:36.125 --> 01:27:38.169
Let's have that conversation.

01:27:38.169 --> 01:27:41.673
But in the process of having it,
let's be kind to each other.

01:27:42.257 --> 01:27:44.592
Now.
Let's be kind to each other.

01:27:44.592 --> 01:27:46.761
Let's do this.

01:28:30.096 --> 01:28:31.055
During my walk,

01:28:31.055 --> 01:28:37.437
I've always get to the place
where I go, I can't do this.

01:28:37.520 --> 01:28:38.563
This is just

01:28:38.563 --> 01:28:41.858
too much for me to do.

01:28:44.819 --> 01:28:47.822
And I find that somehow

01:28:47.864 --> 01:28:51.868
through the kindness and
generosity of others,

01:28:52.243 --> 01:28:55.163
that I do continue to walk.

01:28:58.750 --> 01:29:01.002
I've always wanted to come to Africa.

01:29:01.002 --> 01:29:05.673
That's the last continent
that I’ve walked on.

01:29:07.091 --> 01:29:08.676
Being an African American,

01:29:09.761 --> 01:29:13.014
I feel my roots are here.

01:29:20.605 --> 01:29:24.650
Tanzania is the cradle
of our ancestors.

01:29:28.738 --> 01:29:32.950
The first people to walk was really the

01:29:33.034 --> 01:29:38.539
the basis of me being to walk
when I started in California.

01:29:38.539 --> 01:29:43.086
So returning on that journey,
I'm really part of that journey

01:29:43.086 --> 01:29:45.004
that started here

01:30:07.860 --> 01:30:09.821
I've been learning a lot

01:30:09.821 --> 01:30:14.033
from a lot of people,
from a lot of situations,

01:30:14.033 --> 01:30:18.704
a lot of places,
a lot of geography geography.

01:30:43.521 --> 01:30:47.150
The Hadza people find it hard

01:30:47.233 --> 01:30:50.528
to keep maintaining their ways of hunting

01:30:50.528 --> 01:30:51.446
and gathering.

01:30:59.120 --> 01:31:01.205
The only thing
that they've been complaining

01:31:01.205 --> 01:31:02.582
is selfishness.

01:31:17.889 --> 01:31:21.642
When one has a source of food,

01:31:21.642 --> 01:31:23.519
it is a thing to share.

01:31:33.488 --> 01:31:35.406
They have the feeling that

01:31:35.406 --> 01:31:37.783
everybody belongs here.

01:31:38.743 --> 01:31:41.704
I think have that is so special.

01:31:41.704 --> 01:31:43.623
That is so special

01:32:20.284 --> 01:32:22.286
My name is Marius

01:32:22.453 --> 01:32:24.121
My name is John

01:32:25.581 --> 01:32:29.085
What an incredible journey.

01:32:29.168 --> 01:32:32.421
I mean first I see an oil spill.

01:32:32.505 --> 01:32:35.174
I don't have any education

01:32:35.174 --> 01:32:38.803
and I say, well,
I'm going to get out of my car

01:32:39.011 --> 01:32:42.473
and start walking, you know, east

01:32:42.557 --> 01:32:45.560
and that in like ten years

01:32:45.810 --> 01:32:51.274
when I get there, you know,
I will be able to write oil pollution

01:32:51.274 --> 01:32:56.028
regulations and oil transport
regulations for the industry.

01:32:56.112 --> 01:32:57.071
Yeah, Yeah.

01:32:57.071 --> 01:32:59.740
It's like, wow, thank you.

01:32:59.740 --> 01:33:03.786
It's one of those
I feel gratitude moments,

01:33:04.620 --> 01:33:11.168
grateful that I'm here, that I'm alive,
that I'm in this experience.

01:33:16.799 --> 01:33:20.511
I, I want to love everybody
that I can love.

01:33:20.511 --> 01:33:23.556
I want to loved by everyone
that can love me.

01:33:23.806 --> 01:33:26.851
I want to forgive anyone
for whatever it is,

01:33:27.018 --> 01:33:28.561
I want to forgive you for that,

01:33:28.561 --> 01:33:33.274
I want to forgive me for
that because we are learning.

01:33:40.489 --> 01:33:44.660
What I've learned is that
we are a species

01:33:45.828 --> 01:33:48.122
worthy of survival,

01:33:49.540 --> 01:33:52.543
survival of those who cooperate

01:33:52.710 --> 01:33:54.962
and care and love each other.

01:34:02.219 --> 01:34:03.179
When you fall in love

01:34:03.304 --> 01:34:06.724
with the wilderness and nature
and you see the power in it,

01:34:07.516 --> 01:34:09.852
you're more inclined to protect it.

01:34:09.852 --> 01:34:12.396
Because we do protect what we love.

01:34:18.569 --> 01:34:19.570
What great training

01:34:19.570 --> 01:34:22.156
for this ecological crisis time

01:34:22.156 --> 01:34:25.660
we're living in,
to have trained how to be present.

01:34:26.160 --> 01:34:29.121
That gives you tenacity, balance.

01:34:29.121 --> 01:34:34.293
It gives you ability to feel the sorrow
or the loss

01:34:34.377 --> 01:34:37.046
and also to be able to respond.

01:34:45.596 --> 01:34:47.640
Why try to control the earth

01:34:47.640 --> 01:34:51.519
when you can work with her?

01:34:51.602 --> 01:34:54.480
Why hoard for your own species?

01:34:54.480 --> 01:34:57.858
When you can
you can live to serve all life around you.

01:34:59.193 --> 01:35:00.194
Protect and

01:35:00.194 --> 01:35:04.949
augment the very things that give us life
instead of extracting

01:35:05.074 --> 01:35:06.283
and destroying them.

01:35:23.718 --> 01:35:26.262
Living in reality

01:35:26.262 --> 01:35:29.265
is living in uncertainty

01:35:29.348 --> 01:35:31.726
and not letting that defeat us.

01:35:33.853 --> 01:35:36.731
Telling these stories has become

01:35:36.731 --> 01:35:41.068
the necessary conversation and opportunity

01:35:41.152 --> 01:35:44.488
to share how we might tend ouselves,

01:35:44.572 --> 01:35:48.367
each other and our environment

01:35:49.326 --> 01:35:51.829
through reconnection to the earth.

01:35:53.664 --> 01:35:56.375
It might be our only hope

01:35:56.375 --> 01:36:00.963
for a deeper understanding of ourselves

01:36:01.046 --> 01:36:04.759
and this awe inspiring planet

01:36:04.842 --> 01:36:06.552
that we call

01:36:07.386 --> 01:36:08.137
our home.