Second year Outdoor Education students from the University of Cumbria wended their way to and from Camas on a self directed journey, their module which formed the week had it's own trajectory which looked like an alive version of this:
Towards the end of the journey they were challenged to stay up all night exploring the theme of intent on a static solo experience, whilst team Camas tended a hearth for them from dusk until dawn, in a reoccupied shieling in the heart of the Ardfenaig township.
The next day, they blew our minds with some themed reflective presentations, based on their lived experience at Camas. Here's a transcript one such group presentation on the theme of 'Challenge' in this weeks Guest Blog...
Challenge.
Challenge is used in outdoor
education as a tool for personal development. This can be a physical,
emotional, or mental challenge. Barnes and Sharpe (2004) say that “outdoor
education heightens awareness and respect for ourselves often through the
meeting of challenges in the natural environment”.
We are going to consider the different
perceptions of the challenges that we have faced and explored through our time
at Camas. Starting with a poem;
The Challenge of time.
Time is a challenge for me,
It’s taken me Camas to see,
How so often I rush,
With no time for hush,
How can that possibly be?
Time is a challenge for me,
Oh how I long to be free,
Of the ever repeating days,
And such linear ways,
Oh how can that possibly be?
Time is a challenge for me,
New sequences are the key,
For our true human self,
To come out from the shelf,
Oh how can this possibly be?
Time is a challenge for me,
To follow a new trajectory,
Instead of moving so fast,
And skimming the past,
Oh how can this possibly be?
Time is a challenge for me,
I can finally be free,
To spread from the pack,
And get back on track,
With what nature intends us to be.
-
Lucy Allan
This poem expresses how our
everyday lives have drifted from “our species original intimacy with the
natural world and from our uniquely individual natures”(Plotkin, 2008).
“Given that we as humans are as natural as anything else, what might these archetypal patterns, like the rhythm of the sun and earth, suggest about how human life is meant to unfold?” (Plotkin, 2008, pg. 14).
These natural patterns do have
slight repetition, but not always the same each year. The shifting dance
between nature and culture is one of the dynamics that makes us human. Yet, a
lot of people have lost the balance and have become controlled by a linear time
structure in our days. E.g. Getting up for work at 9am every day. French politician, Henri Lefebrve, believes
that the rhythms of our culture and society are unhealthy for us, and are
oppressing us. We need to be freed!
Berry (1999) suggests this
balance as the time development model.
His point is that we must use both a familiar nature-rooted cycle, as well as
allowing an evolutionary trajectory for our species to unfold. Which together
he suggests creates a spiral progression between space and time. After all we are mere dust in our planets
exuberant evolution. Plotkin (2008) says
“we will either become a life-enhancing element within the greater Earth community…or we will not”.
My challenge of time at Camas,
has allowed me to embrace a more relaxed time structure, creating a better
balance between my natural and cultural time pattern.
Going Without...
Challenge is needed for personal
development and one of the challenges faced was that we had no electricity.
Appliances and lighting that id usually take for granted at home we had to do
without at camas. It was a new/different way of living which opened my eyes.
This is something I will take back home with me as I won’t be using electricity
just because it is there. As Greenaway (1990) says
“new skills of any kind open up more choices and chances”,
Not using electricity as much, is a new skill for
me and is defiantly as valuable as the other skills I learnt on the trip.
To me the outdoors is a place to be.
I would now like to explore how the absence of challenge can
be what challenges your perceptions.
I have found that the stay at Camas has not necessarily been
a place where I have faced and explored too many challenges. They have been
present, but for me Camas has been a place that has allowed me to develop by
finding a way to learn how to feel comfortable with what I may have already
known about myself, and particularly about my preferred approach to outdoor
education.
This in some ways reflects my background from friluftsliv in
Norway. To those who are not familiar with friluftsliv I have condensed
“visitnorway”’s definition of friluftsliv:
“Friluftsliv means spending time outside and experiencing nature first-hand. It offers the possibility of recreation, rejuvenation and the benefits of increased physical activity and reduced stress levels through a connection with nature and quality time with friends and loved ones” (Johnston, 2015).
Since moving to England two years ago I have found myself
introduced to a more activity centred approach to the outdoors.
One benefit to a residential is the opportunity to fully
immerse yourself and give yourself time to consider an approach that might be
new to you. The Camas approach to me seems quite similar in many ways to the
friluftsliv approach, compared to what I have previously been introduced to in
England. Immersion into the program here has helped me challenge and find peace
with my personal preferred approach.
Wurdinger (REF) said something about a similar discovery:
“For some the challenges of everyday life might be enough to discover untapped potential. It is not necessary for people to overcome physical challenges to discover their inner strengths”.
As we have discussed, challenge is necessary for personal
development. But, whilst challenges can be found in the outdoors, the outdoors
can also be used to face and deal with inner challenges, not just physical.
Colin Mortlock talks about his ‘journey inwards’ and how he used the outdoors
as a facilitator for this journey, in his book ‘Beyond Adventure’.
The challenges you yourself are facing, will also change.
Camas didn’t provide me with the challenges I faced during my stay, rather I brought my challenges with me.
Camas, the incredible
outdoor space that it is and the community I was able to be a part of, has
allowed me and provided me with the opportunity to face and deal with my
already existing challenges. I often find my mind is haunted by the big
questions: what is the meaning of life? Etc. I arrived on Friday with my
thoughts bogged down by these very questions, the questions I have come to
reason with whilst being here.
The opportunity Camas has given me is one of freedom. The
opportunity to be fully present and surrounded by the tranquillity of nature has allowed me to understand and accept that the
answers to these questions are fluid and will change. Just like the challenges
you yourself are facing, will also change. But right now, we are here,
acknowledging our different challenges and this very moment and thanking them
for allowing personal development to occur.
References
Berry, T. (1999) The Great Work: Our way into the future
(New York: Bell Tower) pp. 162 – 63 and 198-99.
Plotkin, B. (2008) Nature and the Human Soul. California:
New World Library
Greenaway, R. (1990) More than
activities. 1st ed. Glasgow: The save the children fund.
Johnston, S (2015) ‘Stark correlations between the changes
within Norwegian friluftsliv and British outdoor practice’. Horizons. (70) Summer. PP. 8-11.ent
Mortlock, C. 2001. Beyond Adventure: An Inner Journey.
Cumbria: Cicerone Press.
