Even the board of directors had a difficult time early on, understanding my vision forMountain Spirit Institute. I'm the product of working for Outward Bound and guiding internationally. My vision grew from putting miles on the trail with Outward Bound, wondering how I could improve on OB founder Kurt Hahn's groundbreaking ideas on experiential education by adding more of a holistic approach, adding meditation, yoga, whole foods and wilderness or cultural immersion to the curriculum.
I wanted to bring more heart and spirit to wilderness experiential educational. Oh, it happens all right, with OB courses, but not's not mentioned anywhere in the literature, or made a focall point. It seems to happen haphazardly, depending on the makeup of the student group, and staff pairings.
A natural outgrowth of bringing heart into the wilderness seemed to address broader spiritual and ethical issues that effect our world. That of course led to a hybrid organization, where we also run "frontcountry" workshops, and even lecture/author series. It's all an outgrowth of spiritual experiential education.
The Hybrid Model: A continuum:
I-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I
Experiential Wilderness Education jf doifu doifu doOIOIO Holistic Learning Center
Or...
Experiential Education<------------------------------------------------------>Spirituality
Our Mission:
We run backcountry programs, and also sponsor musicians from Peru. We will run a wilderness Inner Work program. We have been on the Lakota Rosebud Reservation, and run a film series. A Peruvian shaman give a two year study program in the US.
All these programs have this in common: Experiential education with applied spiritual component.
On the continuim, sometimes there are equal elements of both spiritual development and outdoor (and foreign culture) immersion in one program, such a s backcountry meditation, trekking in Peru or Wilderness Yoga. At other times, the focus may be study in a weekend workshop.
I have observed, there are those who profess spirituality but fail to walk the talk. A good example might be this: A group from the US travels to South America to study shamanism. While there, they fail to pick up trash at their campsite, do the dishes, or fail to communicate deeply about group dynamics. Sun Bear once said, "If it doesn't grow corn, I don't want to hear about it." This is what makes MSI a hybrid organization. We put the model in place to really go deep in whatever we do.
Then, there are experiential outdoor programs that don't adequately facilitate the joy and peace one may feel from being with community, and the earth - the power of place.
MSI outcomes is to address these two needs in our society. We are best positioned to do this because of our unique skills and background as an organization.
