I especially wish to advertise this service in Communities Magazine because I've learned so much from my time at communities in the past--Earthaven, Quail Springs, and permaculture gatherings (SE, SoCal), and Frank Cook in particular.
Group size: 1 to 6 participants
Length: 24 hours to 2 weeks
What this may look like:
We select a place in the wilderness were we can sit relatively undisturbed for the length of the solo. We hike to a central point in the woods/desert/beach together. We may camp and eat together the first evening. The next morning we select spots out of sight but perhaps within sound of each other. We go to those spots. I remain at a central point in case you have difficulties or first aid needs. You can also shout your name and others can shout your name once they hear you and I can help you that way. I can also bring you food, uncooked or cooked (you provide food, big enough pot, etc. to do the cooking) or reading/writing material at intervals throughout the solo.
When solo is over, we meet and return to town/city/village perhaps after or while sharing stories about some of what happened or what we noticed during our solos.
Coming someday:
Why you'd benefit from my help with your solo:
I also especially enjoy planning and doing solos where we can get to the solo site without using cars--so by hiking, biking, kick scooter, or bus or train.
I have facilitated solos from 3 hours to 72 hours in the San Juan Islands, Joshua Tree National Park and San Juan National Forest (the Colorado Plateau). I continue to explore the country and world and may already know of a good place for solos near you.
Why do this? You'll learn and practice that wherever there is wilderness you have a home. (and other reasons)
related links:
Check my map / calendar for where I might be. Please give me the chance to serve.
Let me know you want to do this and let's see if we can get something scheduled!
12/2/2011: Here's the ad I placed in _Communities Magazine_:
Spend time alone with others in the woods! 24hrs to two weeks. Solo / sit spot support by Colin. j9k.org/solos 805 699 6411
I've also considered advertising in _Adventure Cycling_
The following quote by Dimnet speaks to my motivation for doing and facilitating solos:There is in every man a feeling of enmity to things whether they happen or only exist. We hate the crowded, confused lumber-room where no motion is free, we want to push rubbish out of our sight and reduce objects to a minimum as the Carthusian does in his white cell with just a plain black cross on the wall. The notion of a vacuum is repellent to us, but let enough appear round us and above us to create the idea of a shelter and we breathe freely and happily. We "find ourselves" as the phrase goes, our poor, neglected self, dearest of friends, yet dragged along everywhere like an ill-treated dog, hardly every spoken to or taken notice of, going where it listeth not, till at last the unnaturalness of it all appears, and, for a few hours, we live instead of just being alive. (_The Art of Thinking_, Ernest Dimnet, p. 92, 1928)