Wilderness Minds - Mindfulness training in the outdoors

 Do you want to explore dramatic, wild places and learn practices which help bring more focus and awareness to your experience?

 Are you feeling the stresses of life and want to take time to slow down and  engage with the environment around you in a way that can bring more calmness and clarity of awareness?

Are you familiar with mindfulness and would like to practice in  natural  outdoor settings with the knowledge and safety of a qualified guide?

 

 About Wilderness Minds

Wilderness Minds offers a variety of mindfulness-based outdoor experiences as well as more standard programmes. These range from single day guided walks exploring the beautiful mountains of Snowdonia to longer residential courses, wild camping and sea kayaking trips. The aim of our courses is to explore a calmer, more focused way of being by spending time in the wild along with guided mindfulness practices.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a state of mind which arises when awareness is deliberately brought to the present moment in a non-judgemental way. Many people find that they spend a great deal of the time occupied by thoughts about the past or worrying about the future and miss the present moment altogether. Mindfulness practices help us to notice when the mind is elsewhere and bring it back to the present moment. This can lead to a deeper sense of awareness and connection to whatever we are experiencing and make us more conscious of our habitual patterns of mind. Mindfulness practices have been most fully developed through Buddhist meditation but can be practiced in a fully secular way. There has been an explosion of interest in the benefits of mindfulness practice in recent years, with mindfulness programmes now being delivered in the NHS and schools and several hundred scientific research articles being published each year on the subject.

 Mindfulness in the outdoors

Mindfulness practice can bring a different quality to the experience of being in the outdoors and nature. Allowing the mind to settle into the direct experience from moment to moment can lead to a vividness of awareness which is often masked when the mind is preoccupied. The sense of space and calmness that can naturally arise when in the natural world is also conducive to the practice of mindfulness so the relationship is very much two way.

Wilderness Minds courses

We aim to run courses which are suitable for people with a range of mindfulness practice experience and of physical abilities. Our residential courses provide the opportunity to experience stunning landscapes while providing a high standard of accommodation and catering and are more tailorable to varying degrees of physical ability. The wild camping, sea kayaking and trekking courses take you further into the wild and back to basics, living in a tent and cooking on a stove or fire. These courses do however require a certain level of physical fitness. Previous experience of mindfulness practice is not necessary for any of our courses as guidance will be provided. Equally, we feel the courses provide a fantastic opportunity for people who have experience of mindfulness meditation who wish to undertake an adventure in a way which supports their practice.

Please get in touch if you would like any help  in deciding if one of our courses  is right for you.