AWARENESS CLASSES
7 ARROWS CALL TO CONSCIOUSNESS – This workshop will surpass the foundations offered in our introductory classes and we’ll dive deep into the journey of inner tracking and awareness. This is a year-long apprenticeship with no pre-requisite. Concepts that will be covered include: The visionary process, stalking our life’s purpose, personal medicine, many healing techniques, dreamwork, deep ceremony, the sacred path of the teacher, the warrior, the prophet and so much more.
ADVANCED AWARENESS WORKSHOPS – We offer these classes for those who have completed the year-long apprenticeship workshop. With our common language and collective experience in place we are able to move more intentionally into the energetic and spiritual landscape. Check workshop/classes schedule for dates and location.
VISION QUEST – The Quest is an ancient rite-of-passage practiced by all indigenous traditions and can be expressed in many forms. We adopt the simple structure of a four-day quest as passed down to us in the tradition of Stalking Wolf, Apache teacher and healer. Please refer to the ‘Upcoming Classes and Events’ section for dates and location of upcoming quests.
SACRED FIRE – This is a simple and time-tested pathway into the deeper regions of the self. The utter simplicity of this ancient ceremony can help us to gain greater clarity and vision, to still our emotions, confront our fears and be a catalyst for internal growth and balance. A Sacred Fire can be a one- hour ceremony or a lifetime journey.
THE 7 ARROWS YOUTH LEADERSHIP – This is a journey to self-realization and empowerment that employs a complete and ancient teaching philosophy. Through these 7 archetypes we can help teens through adolescence into adulthood, guide adults through debilitating grief or the spiritual seeker to clarify their vision. This deep internal work takes time, as it should, and we ask that you set aside 7 weekends for this journey Surely a big commitment for us all.
THE LODGE – Evidence of the Sweat Lodge can be found on all continents where humans existed. It is still practiced today and in some circles has retained its historical roots. Our Lodge has been handed down to us and held deeply in our hearts in the tradition of our teachers and through their blessing and training we have been sanctioned to offer this ceremony to the people.
WILDERNESS SURVIVAL SKILLS FOR ALL AGES
Whether you are a business group, school group, administrator for alternatives to incarceration, supporter for drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, we will customize a program that meets your students, employees or clients at the appropriate starting point.
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF FIRE (basic) -This class will focus on the principles of creating fire-by-friction. We’ll begin with tried-and-true technologies, increasing in knowledge of materials and helping to hone your technique.
THE ART OF FIRE (advanced) –This class will focus on additional methods of fire by friction including the hand drill, pump drill, fire piston, fire plow, fire saw, fire thong and advanced techniques in making fire under the most adverse conditions. Basic fire making class is required as a prerequisite or previous experience in primitive fire making methods.
TRACKING AND AWARENESS – Here we will cover the basics of animal tracking but we will also be tracking people, automobiles, bicycles, ourselves and even our thoughts and emotions. We will start with basic track patterns, compression shapes, sign tracking and gaits. Students will be encouraged to journal their observations in progressively greater detail.
SHELTER – In this class we will build several short term and long term shelters including debris hut, wikiup, hogan and scout pit. Also, conditions permitting we will build snow caves, quinzhees and block shelters. We will also dig into the philosophy of shelter and how these concepts apply to our everyday lives.
PRIMITIVE TOOLS AND COOKING -The students will learn to make everything they need for long term survival including bowls and spoons, baskets, primitive cooking, rock boiling, purifying water and survival food and teas
EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL PLANTS -Wilderness survival would be daunting without a firm knowledge of plants. They provide everything from the basic 4 elements of survival (shelter/water/fire/food) to medicines, tools and crafts. Class will begin with a study in plant ID and classification, uses and preparation and move into sustainable harvesting with the heart of the caretaker. We will take a 1-2 hour plant walk, harvesting along the way, examine what we’ve gathered and share a meal of wild edibles afterwards.
SCOUT SKILLS -The ancient scouts were masters of survival, tracking and invisibility. They were the eyes and the ears of the tribe and failure in their responsibilities could bring great hardship to their people. This class will focus on core skills including camouflage, stalking and movement, inner silence, advanced tracking concepts, shelters and martial arts. But the most important arrow in the scout’s quiver is his or her awareness – all other skills being much less effective without it.
FIELD ECOLOGY -This is an immersion class. The students will attend nature’s classroom to study, map, research and journal every element that nature presents – plants, animals, hydrology, geology, weather, etc.
BIRD LANGUAGE AND DEEP NATURE OBSERVATION – Songbirds are a delicacy on many a predator’s menu so they have made a tremendous evolutionary investment in their ways of communication to alert each other of danger, food sources and many other purposes. Barely an insect can move in the forest without the birds attesting to it. When we begin to understand their language, we can begin to see the world through their eyes. Like a Rosetta Stone, this simple yet profound concept opens up an entire realm of awareness that few in the modern world have chosen to listen to. We will sit quietly at dawn and dusk, and then share our observations through mapping and journaling. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned naturalist,this class will definitely hone your observation skills.
BOW MAKING -Few things feel better to hold than a well-crafted, world class hunting or archery bow made with your own hands. We will begin with a comprehensive study of trees, ethics, stave preparation and move quickly on to tools (both modern and primitive), the philosophy of the hunt and instinctive shooting. Be prepared to work steadily for an entire 8-hour day, perhaps more. If you are determined to complete your bow until it casts its first arrow, we will work with you until it shoots. You can do the cosmetics and final finishing at home.
ARROW MAKING -You’ve carved a beautiful handmade bow. Are you intending to shoot aluminum arrows? If the answer to this is ‘not likely’ then get ready for yet another art form. In this class we will make 4 arrows, and then….won’t you want a quiver to hold them?
THE ZEN OF ARCHERY – We really don’t know how long ago one of our brilliant and creative ancestors crafted his or her first bow. Suffice to say it’s been many thousands of generations. And for it’s time this was a high-tech tool which was a pivotal landmark in human cultural evolution. Here we will teach archery not as an activity, but as philosophy of how we should live our lives. If you participate with a hand crafted bow that you made in one of our workshops you will be embodying this worldview in a very real and authentic way.
TOMAHAWK THROWING – Good clean fun!
TEAM BUILDING FOR BUSSINESS GROUPS – The practice of survival skills resonates within a deep part of ourselves. We are social animals and when we work together for a common goal it connects us to our historic experience of shared purpose. We begin with first-class instruction providing all the tools necessary for success and then thrust the group into an arena of creative problem solving. We customize the experience based on the group demographics to help ensure a multi-dimensional learning experience .
MENTOR TRAINING – This class is a full-on immersion into the very nature of native teaching and learning philosophies. Mentoring is, in part, about cultivating a relationship with the students and a long-term commitment to their learning journey. Our ancestors taught in this way for countless generations and these practices are still used today among indigenous people around the world. We will focus on ‘whole-brain’ learning, teaching styles and empowering the unique gifts that each of us possesses.
MORE WORKSHOPS: Orienteering, Camp Skills, Cordage Making, Basketry, Flint Knapping, Storytelling, Drum Making and more.