The Wild Minds Podcast

In this episode of Wild Minds, I’m honoured to be in conversation with John Seed — a true elder of the environmental movement and one of the most influential voices in deep ecology.

He influenced my own journey into environmental education in the late 1980’s so it was a real privilege of sharing this conversation with him.

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-61-john-seed-podcast/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

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In today’s episode, Marina is exploring the 7 Sacred Attributes – also known as the Attributes of Connection. These teachings, rooted in Lakota tradition and carried into the Deep Nature Connection movement by Jon Young, offer a powerful framework for individual and community healing.

In this episode, Marina explores:

• The 7 attributes and share how they relate to connection and the regeneration of healthy culture.
• Sacred = Connection.
• The 7 Sacred Attributes, or Attributes of Connection, originate from the Lakota Woptura lineage. These teachings were preserved and shared by Gilbert Walking Bull, a respected Lakota medicine man and grandson of Moves Camp, a Lakota Sacred Man.
• Jon Young, a key figure in the Deep Nature Connection movement, integrated these attributes into the 8 Shields model after recognising their profound impact on fostering connection and healing.
• The attributes serve as a measure of an individual's internal and external relationships, indicating the regeneration of healthy culture. As more individuals embody these qualities, communities become stronger and more resilient.

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-60-sacred-attributes-of-connection

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

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Today, I have the honour of speaking with Jon Young - a pioneering researcher, mentor, naturalist, wildlife tracker, author, storyteller, and leader in deep nature and people connection.

In this episode we discuss:

• How gratitude supports us to ‘go up the spiral and not down – it elevates us and is dependable
• Jake and Judy swamp – the thanksgiving address
• Nature connection verses deep nature connection
• The uniqueness of Jon’s work – the 4 key categories of relationships with nature
• The generation of the ‘Last child in the woods’ – before and after Television
• Gilbert Walking Bull and the 7 sacred attributes
• The power of wilderness & naturalist skills
• The creation of true leadership
• Taking your ideal scene to the ancestors and future generations – time is running out
• Don’t play small (see below the steps)
• Nature connection in danger
• How our nervous system has the instructions that we need
• 512 Project – 64 cultural elements that generate connection than disconnection
• Tracking connection Podcast: Living Connection 1st
• Tom Brown’s 7 steps to your Ideal Scene

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/jon-young

Tracking our Roots in Nature - Buy Jon Young's Audio Series for only $27:

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!

This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

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Mentioned in this episode:

Free Course in Forest School Activities

Try our online training for free: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/free

A rich and soulful exploration of the season of spring, and our deepening connection to self, others, and the natural world. Marina invites us to slow down, listen more deeply, and reconnect with the cycles that shape our inner and outer lives.

In this episode, Marina:

• Explores the relationship between our social self and wider ecological self.
• Looks at how communication goes beyond words and into our bodies, our subtle cues, the looks we might get and our imagination.
• Dives deeper into the Spring and our own inner cycles of renewal – with reference to the Tree Calendar and Hawthorn!
• Wonders about the power of the imaginal sense and its link to healing.
• Invites listeners to treat their inner child with the same love, care and hope we’d give a newborn baby!
• Touches on how slowing down can allow deeper forms of listening, noticing, and sensing to emerge.
• Celebrates the joy, silliness, and direct experience that come with spring and a well-resourced self.

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-58-the-ecological-self

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

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Mentioned in this episode:

Free Fire Webinar

Watch my free mini-webinar on working with fire: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/fire

Welcome to Season 8 of The Wild Minds Podcast!

My guest today is Sam Lee, a renowned folk singer, a Mercury Prize-nominated and BBC Folk Award-winning singer, a passionate conservationist, activist, author of the novel, The Nightingale, and a guardian of traditional songs with his latest album, Songdreaming. 

Sam has spent years weaving music with the natural world. In this episode, we dive into his journey, the role of music in rewilding our hearts, and, of course, the captivating song of the nightingale.

In this episode we discuss:

• What is a folk song?
• Sam’s journey with trying to re-find songs from the British Isles & recordings made of Gypsy, Scot, Irish and English Travellers,
• His apprentice to Stanley Robertson and introduction to a whole other way of singing!
• Sam’s interest in conservation not preservation.
• How songs hold important truth and how they support us to remember ourselves as a culture and as responsible stewards of the earth.
• How songs hold an incredible activation of knowledge from the singer's world, and their love and pain.
• The cascade of impoverishment when songs stop being sung.
• Ornithology as a form of storytelling & Singing with Nightingales: https://www.singingwithnightingales.co.uk/tickets
• Making music with Nightingales – the decorators of silence.
• Accepting silence as a beautiful thing

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-57-singing-with-nightingales-folk-songs-and-the-wild/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!

This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

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Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Free Course in Forest School Activities

Try our online training for free: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/free

This is our final episode of the season, and today, I’m asking: What really matters?

As we approach the Spring Equinox, a time of balance, renewal, and reflection, I  dive into the different dimensions of health - physical, mental, social, environmental, and spiritual, and ask: Are the values we live by truly our own?

Do we give ourselves time to reflect, to listen, and to follow what truly matters?

In this episode, Marina:

• Reflects personally on how the natural seasonal cycles represent our own opportunity to re-parent.
• Considers how Nature acts as a "third teacher," alongside parents/carers and educators.
• Explores the importance of reclaiming our own internal values—when we lose touch with our inner world, we struggle to set boundaries, leading to saying “yes” when we mean “no.”
• Recognises that true learning happens in relationships and through co-creation, not by filling children as empty vessels or leaving them entirely to their own devices.
• Acknowledges that quick fixes, like adding Forest School once a week, do not resolve systemic issues in education.
• Challenges the dominant measures of success—productivity and status—by valuing creativity, relationships, and emotional intelligence.
• Engages with the idea that learning is not just about acquiring knowledge but also about how we relate to the world and each other (Nora Bateson's "Warm Data").
• Recognises the role of creativity, play, and experimentation in helping us develop a deep sense of what feels right for us in life.
• Highlights the importance of slowing down, listening deeply, and creating the right conditions for people to be who they truly are.

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-56-what-really-matters/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

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Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Free Course in Forest School Activities

Try our online training for free: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/free

Today I am speaking with Debi Keyte-Hartland, a passionate Early Childhood Consultant, trainer, author and speaker, who’s experienced in developing creative environments that invite rich learning and complex thinking. 

I so enjoyed the depth of thinking and permission to re-evaluate the image of the child and development of pedagogies of observation, listening and reflection!

In this episode, Debi pulls together so much of her own creative thinking to enable us to really bring new possibilities to our teaching practice as well as enabling us to value children’s capacity to learn and think for themselves, when given the attunement and listening of a supportive adult.

In this episode we discuss:

• Debi provides an extensive dive into a wide range of pedagogy – from the current thinkers (see all the resource links) to Loris Malaguzzi as a huge influence on early childhood pedagogy.
• We discuss the importance of following what matters to children and how this inevitably leads to a much richer educational experience, one which an educator can link to the Early Year curriculum without any effort!
• Debi presents the image of the child informed by various perspectives – offering us the listener to consider how each image deeply implicates the kind of education we support and offer young people – this has a huge impact on the child, the adult and how we value ourselves as unique learners.
• This conversation presents a deep dive into the relationship between humans and the natural world, influenced by the great thinker Gregory Bateson (see below) and many others. Once again Debi helps us understand how much the vitality of materials influences our learning and opens us up to the possibility of relationships that are influential and change how we perceive the world around us.
• We both share the desire for an ecological, educational paradigm that begins with adults valuing our direct participation in the world around us and how this creates an empathy for all of life.
• She effortlessly describes how an adult’s attunement and observation creates a permissive container for a child to discover the life of a woodlouse and develop their own thinking, which as a side impact creates vast amounts of valuable more traditional knowledge.
• We get a real sense of the value of playful inquiry and the place of art and creativity in both education and our lives.
• Finally Debi introduces us to ‘Warm Data’ developed by Nora Bateson (see below) and follows an inquiry into what we measure really matters!

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-55-debi-keyte-hartland-podcast/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

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This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

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In this episode, I explore the deep connections between nature, energy, and the way we live and learn. Although navigating the hidden costs of our modern lives often weighs heavily.

I reflect on how we can develop greater awareness and resilience together and here are some of the areas I discuss:

• How our daily lives are built on fossil fuels, from transportation to everyday products, making us deeply reliant on resource extraction.
• While electric vehicles seem like a solution, their production still depends on intensive mining, impacting both communities and ecosystems.
• Different perspectives, such as those shared by Nate Hagens, offer insights into energy, society, and the challenges of systemic change.
• Coming to terms with how true sustainability difficult to achieve, without a massive and unlikely shift in our structures and belief systems.
• How Nature teaches us about sustainability, balance, and resilience, offering models like biomimicry to guide our choices.
• Lasting change requires both external actions and an internal shift in mindset, aligning with what Stephen Bruner calls the "internal climate of mind."
• Education often ignores the complexity of real learning, which thrives on sensory, interconnected experiences rather than rigid structures.
• Deep learning and meaningful connections with people or nature require time, space, and presence.
• Thriving systems are built on balance, reciprocity, and leadership that values nature, relationships, and community over endless growth.

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-54-lessons-from-the-natural-world

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Free Course in Forest School Activities

Try our online training for free: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/free

My guest today is Rob Hopkins, cofounder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network, and the author of The Transition Handbook, The Transition Companion, The Power of Just Doing Stuff, 21 Stories of Transition and most recently, From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want.

In 2012, he was voted one of the Independent’s top 100 environmentalists and was on Nesta and the Observer’s list of Britain’s 50 New Radicals.

In this episode we discuss:

• The power of mass movements (e.g., Civil Rights Movement, COVID-19 responses, wartime efforts like Dig for Victory).
• The need for a more cohesive and alternative narrative to the dominant one.
• Moving beyond cheap energy – implications for food, education, and the economy.
• 2024 CO₂ levels surpassing 1.5°C threshold (10th January 2025).
• The need to shift the burden from individual carbon footprints to corporate accountability (e.g., Chevron, Exxon).
• The need for structural wake-up calls – governments and corporations driving large-scale change.
• Example: Concrete alone accounts for 9% of global emissions.
• The economy’s success is measured by its size, but should we use different metrics?
• The Degrowth Movement – shifting focus from GDP to wellbeing and sustainability.
• Fridays for Future – reflections on organising and impact.
• What did our towns look like before global energy dependence?
• Proof that governments can listen to science and find funding overnight.
• ‘The Greta Effect’ – a measurable drop in air travel and meat consumption.
• A mayor’s radical food system redesign: 80% of food grown locally at the same price as imports.
•  The importance of rethinking, reimagining, and equipping ourselves with better models for sustainable futures.

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-53-rob-hopkins-unleashing-the-power-of-imagination/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!

This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Free Fire Webinar

Watch my free mini-webinar on working with fire: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/fire

Welcome to Episode 52!

In this episode Marina talks about her online course 'The Advanced Certificate in Forest School and Outdoor Learning'.

• Why Forest School and Outdoor Learning is a game changer for educators
• Insights from masterclasses on sensory integration, mental health and deep nature connection
• The support from the UK Health & Safety Executive for well-managed risk
• How access to the outdoors brings so many physical, cognitive and emotional benefits as well as developing a healthy psychological 'attachment' to nature.
• Our online training that packs sessions underpinned by research across the seasons - the one stop place.
• Topics included in the 16 Masterclasses
• The benefits of spending time outdoors for self regulation
• How to manage risky activities with your groups

Show Notes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-52-my-advanced-certificate-online-training

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!

Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. 

Mentioned in this episode:

The Advanced Certificate in Forest School and Outdoor Learning

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/certificate/