Why are we so patient with our rescue animals, yet so easily triggered and disrespectful to our human loved ones?
Most of us cherish animals. If we keep in mind that we humans are animals—Homo sapiens—we might begin to soften our hearts toward the other human animals with whom we live and work. Neuroscience has been helping mental health practitioners understand the inner workings of our behavior patterns and the triggers brought on by our past. With this understanding comes ways to calm and take advantage of the super-evolution that we humans have harnessed over time. We can settle our angst using nature-based approaches and psychotherapy to cope more effectively with the ever-intensifying landscape of our lives.
Deborah Weir, Ph.D., has been a professional mental health counselor for 30 years, and this book is an amalgamation of her approach, based on neuroscience, attachment theory, and depth-oriented “soulwork.” While in counselor training, Deb fell into a crisis that inspired her to learn wilderness survival. She combined her nature-based teachings with traditional counseling techniques, resulting in her current model. As you read, take a walk around her “Medicine Wheel” of healing and learn how to calm your inner animal, allowing access to your full evolutionary power!
Deb’s counseling approach has something for everyone—eyes-open hypnotherapy, relationship therapy, trauma interventions, addiction management, dream interpretation, calming rituals, and much more. She includes many personal experiences as she “walks her talk.” Learn about your instinctual nature so you can evolve to your highest level of human behavior!
“…we humans have an instinctual animal within, difficult to control when we feel threatened. We also have a complex system of higher-level skills which we can train ourselves to access. If you haven’t developed these practices already, now’s the time to pick a method that will help you start calming your exhausting alarms. Do some diaphragmatic breathing. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and tune into what’s inside. These inner automated responses can operate in a positive way with awareness and re-programming. It is our nature to be animal, but studies show it is also possible for us to evolve by grounding ourselves and calming, enabling us to function with our whole, gifted brains.”
Half-Earth Project
Deb has aligned herself with E. O. Wilson’s Half-Earth Project by donating partial book sales profits to the E. O. Wilson Foundation. (See Chapter 10 for more information on this.) When ordered directly from Deb, she will personally sign your book and ensure $5 of the profits will be donated.
Exploring Your Primal Nature
Therapy Cards
Exploring Your Primal Nature is an outstanding experiential group therapy process using a deck of specially-designed cards that teaches basic ecopsychology concepts while asking the reader to share related personal, interesting, and fun information with fellow group members.
The cards ensure an interesting way for groups to connect with each other, while driving home basic metaphorical themes related to living life with awareness. The use of the cards can be adapted to fit any nature-based group.
The deck includes 39 illustrated cards that feature an outdoor survival mini-lesson and related personal question to answer, spanning themes such as nature awareness, shelter, water, fire, edibles, animal totems, plant totems, phobias, disasters, outdoor recreation, nature symbolism, personal development, and current environmental issues. Included are nine blank cards that can be individualized by the group leader for a more specific group focus. Instructions include ideas for adapting the way the cards are used for variety.
This group therapy tool is small and easy to fit in any backpack. It can be used for groups of teens and adults by facilitators of nature retreats, wilderness therapy experientials, substance abuse counseling groups, and other therapeutic gatherings.
Spend a Day in Nature And Balance Your Energy Fields
"Retreats come in all different forms: a hot tub experience, a quiet jog, a touching movie watched on the sofa late at night, a day of writing at home, a girls’ weekend. It is a time to be quiet and reconnect with our inner self. Too much of it is called isolation and is destructive to our well-being. Too little of it is called being out of balance."
Are you a woman in need of a break? Do you long for just one day and evening to re-connect with who you really are? Have you been pulled in so many different directions that your energy is waning? Then it's time to indulge yourself with Women In The Wilderness: Exploring Your Primal Nature written by wilderness therapist Deborah Weir, PhD, LCMHCS.
Deb, as she is called in the field, is a very feminine wilderness survivalist and psychotherapist on a mission to help promote a more peaceful earthly existence. She idealizes that the only way to affect change is to bring feminine, nurturing consciousness to the psyche of individuals to balance out the masculine forces that have dominated us for eons of time. Since the natual world is the primary feminine setting, herein lies the key. For years she has been encouraging women to find feminine solace and empowerment in the wilderness through nature retreats and wilderness therapy, while the ever-disappearing natural world is still available to enjoy. Deb's pushing a natural drug called wilderness magic, where women (and men) can find insight, healing, and stress management by connecting with the natural world.
Based on an actual woman's retreat in a lush Florida forest, this book is designed to be a form of a retreat, simulating a woman's getaway. The soothing presentations, photos, artwork, quotes, and poetry provide entrancing suggestions to place the reader in the middle of an actual retreat. From opening the front cover and finding an invitation, to listening to the audio meditation provided, to getting to know the attendees, the reader is given a vicarious experience. Included are enticing invitations along the way for the reader to join the various activities in the form of a personal solo retreat. If you've ever considered attending a woman's group retreat, this book experience can be a safe method of exploration.