Using the Body and Natural World

Our history, our sense of who we are, how we relate and our patterns of movement are all inextricably linked. Our sense of who we are supports how we hold ourselves. How we hold ourselves, in a bodily way, influences how we relate to the world around us. Each of these is strongly influenced by our history.

By adding to our repertoire of what we allow our body to do, we help change the shape of the way we hold ourselves and, with that change, our capacity to relate differently to our lives and the world we live in.

This change in relationship is in turn supported by the world around us. New feedback allows us to sustain the newly created capacities we have developed. There are rewards for our change – be it reaching the goals we want, or enjoying new pleasures that were not available to us before.

We each have a relationship to the natural world, and this relationship influences how we develop. Our physical capacities develop in response to the variability of the Earth – resistance by pushing against the ground builds muscle; changes in relation to gravity develops balance; adapting to landscape orients and helps define what we see.

The natural environment provides a boundless opportunity to respond and develop new capacities, because it reveals itself on an infinite number of levels. As we grow, the environment responds to our newly developing capacities. We can be met by the natural world any time we engage it.

Developing a broader range of movement, and the emotional capacity that goes with it, creates a broader range of our ability to relate.

The Inward Wilderness ideology > Play and development > Our services >