GlobalWalkabouts is a project very much inspired by Australian Aboriginal culture. Many years ago I had an epiphany crossing a street in the middle of midtown NYC. It was the realization that the Songlines and the idea of the Dreamtime was not limited to Australia but extended to the whole planet. In contrast to indigenous awareness of the land, we post-modern day people have lost a connection to this. The heart of this understanding was the importance of helping people revive our sensibility about how the land is alive with stories and how each of us can and even have an obligation to connect to these stories in order to keep alive the Creation; the Dreamtime. So I developed an experiential workshop format to assist people in uncovering their own walkabout.
In a sense the GlobalWalkabout is a ritual enactment process that can be engaged in as often as deemed necessary to help reconnect us to our life myth or journey and how it is related to the spirit of the places we inhabit and pass through. When initiating a GlobalWalkabouts process we, in deed, re-story our landscapes filling them with significance and inspire ourselves to care for them.
I have found that doing such walkabouts can also assist in problem solving and clarifying your goals. You might say that the GlobalWalkabouts is a prescription for the health of our Souls and by extension for Mother Gaia. Doing such walkabouts can be as long as an epic journey over months to other parts of the planet or as brief as a stroll to the post office to mail a letter. Long or short, important treasures can be unearthed about what we are working on in our lives and what is being asked of us from the Earth.
When taking extended walks in Nature many have already uncovered the spirit of what I am talking about. In relation to what I have described, a powerful question to hold in your awareness as you walk is to ask when being drawn to a particular place or location, “What is the story that belongs in this place?” I use to do this with my daughter when she was young and we took walks in the wilderness with some amazing results. The world quickly transformed into these magical and vibrant places.
Someone recently asked me how I help (or want to help) people to experience what I am describing about the GlobalWalkabouts.
The primary way I offer this is as a workshop that can range from a half day to a full weekend format. Initially I facilitate and guide attendees through a series of experiential exercises that are designed to heighten awareness and develop skill sets to actually do a solo journey. This is followed by people actually going out into whatever environment the workshop is based in (it can be in a city or out in the country side accordingly). When attendees return from this solo journey, work is done to help integrate, share and celebrate their experiences. This is done through map making, journaling, story telling and the development of action plans. Facilitation is given to support people to tell their stories and encourages others to participate in this. When doing this as a group experience it can be very powerful and is a way to build community.
I also do this on an individual basis and modify it to coach people on finding their “own” path in life. I have also found this to be an interesting way to work on problem solving. I have done this for myself many times and have always been surprised at what I uncover about my self and the directions I am taking in my life. I am also convinced there are many other treasures this process can reveal. That is why I so much wish to have more people be exposed to this way of working. It is both simple and profound and is very much in alignment with the many wisdom traditions we find on this planet.