Nature Quest

On Request

48H SOLO (NATURE QUEST)

Nature Quest is a guided wilderness experience built around a Solo time alone in nature. It’s a contemporary version of the ancient ritual of going into nature alone for contemplation, renewal, and realignment. Retreating alone in wild nature and sharing your experience with other participants, provides a powerful opportunity to step back and reflect on your life and work while reconnecting to nature. It opens up to an experience of a deep relationship with the natural world, which can enrich your own life and others as well as give a deeper understanding of nature as a whole.

WHAT: a unique opportunity for you to GetWild in a Nature Quest by being alone with yourself overnight in the Archipelago. WHY: To give yourself a ”gift” – a unique and transformative, deep experience by reconnecting to nature.
WHO: One that wants to calibrate one’s inner compass and re-connect to inner-, outer and true Nature.
WHERE: In our Nature Quest, we are visitors to a nature reserve. The Stockholm Archipelago offers a unique nature with well-preserved habitats, flora, or fauna, which gives you the opportunity to have immersive nature experiences. But it also means that you must be extra cautious when you visit there. The forces of Nature shape the Archipelagos. Including erosion and rising or falling sea tables, as dynamic landmasses, archipelagos tend to offer dramatic scenery and breathtaking view. The location is only 45 minutes from central Stockholm by car or bus. It is not only close to Stockholm and opens onto the beautiful and wild nature in the archipelago.
BASE CAMP: Värmdö
Surrounded by water on two sides, Värmdö is a great starting point to discover the archipelago and is the base camp for our Nature Quests.
DURATION: 48 hours
MINIMUM NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 4

The price includes teaching, awareness training.

Nature Quest is a sense-based experience in nature
Busy rhythms in life make it essential to regularly step back and re-evaluate the paths we walk. Nature Quest is a guided wilderness experience built around a Solo time alone in nature. It’s a contemporary version of the ancient ritual of going into nature alone for contemplation, renewal, and realignment. Retreating alone in wild nature and sharing your experience with other participants, provides a powerful opportunity to step back and reflect on your life and work whilst reconnecting to nature. It opens up to an experience of a deep relationship with the natural world, which can enrich your own life and others as well as give a deeper understanding of nature as a whole.

The retreat
The core of the retreat is the Solo, time alone in nature. It creates a setting for you to relax, find balance, and establish a deeper under­standing of your inner self and a deeper sense of interconnectedness with the natural world. Before and after the Solo you will be engaged in group processes with your co-participants, campfire dialogs, and meditation practices to prepare yourself for the Solo and to support you to integrate the experience of the Solo before returning to your everyday life. During the Solo, you will find a special spot for yourself in nature and stay there during the Solo time.

Sensing
Researchers have identified two forms of attention: focus and non-focus. Focus attention is put into use in everyday life and is very demanding because competing stimuli must be eliminated. This brain frequency appears mainly in the left hemisphere. Over-using it creates mental stress, dysfunctions, and reduced tolerance for disappointments and misfortunes. Non-focused attention generates creativity, curiosity, and rapture. It comes spontaneously with pleasing sights, sounds, and smells. Non-focused attention seems to be a distinctive feature of the right hemisphere. Consciously entering into the non-focused attention frequencies is one of the central skills that we practice at our Nature Quest programs. Our aim is that all our participants will be more creative and balanced after having rediscovered and exercised their senses, thus enabling them to enter into the different domains and facets of their consciousness, all according to the demands of the situation.
Read more: This is your brain on nature, National Geographic

Sleep and eat
Walking distance ca 5 km to the Solo spots.
For the Solo, you fast or bring your own food as well as your own tent or tarp as shelter.
Before and during the Solo (time alone in nature) we propose a light fast that clears both the mind and body, although this is a voluntary choice.

The broad outline of the program
Before and after the Solo, you will get introductions to awareness practices to deepen your experience. Some of the tools covered are cultivating and refining the perceptions and senses, body scanning, meditation as well as wilderness skills. The exercises, as well as sufficient time for sharing before and after the Solo, will help you to prepare and integrate the experience in yourself and re-entering your daily life.
Friday 10 am – the program starts. Teaching, awareness exercises, sharing, and preparation for Solo. After lunchtime, the participants find a retreat spot and start the Solo
Saturday Solo day at the spot.
Sunday Coming back from the Solo to the base camp in the morning. Sharing, awareness exercises, and support to integrate the experience from the Solo before ”re-entry” back home. The program ends by lunchtime.

Fasting
During most Nature Quests, we suggest but do not insist, that you fast during the Solo period. We have had great success with the ‘Master Cleanse’ as our method of choice. Master Cleanse instructions will be included in the packing list. If you choose to fast, your diet on the days prior to and after the solo should be light and easy to assimilate. If you do not fast, we suggest that you keep on a light and simple diet, with only two meals a day, and that you progressively reduce the amount of food eaten (particularly heavier foods) the longer you are out on the Solo. Be sure to drink at least half a gallon of water each day, even if fasting. If you are eating, you will bring your own food during the Solo. Read what the science says: Fasting can help against brain diseases, The Guardian

Your safety
Your safety and well-being during the Nature Quest are of our utmost concern. Participating in a Nature Quest is as safe as going on a hike. Daily checks allow verifying the safety of everyone involved, while still honoring your solitude. In addition, a base camp is located nearby, and a call brings an adjoining solo partner or guides into your site shortly. During the Solo, no reading, writing, or campfires are recommended. You may fast or eat simple foods of your preference and enjoy the comforts of your own tent. When you remove the demands, habits, and trappings of everyday life, the essence of yourself can be revealed.

from SEK 3,750.00