We have just closed yet another round of our introductory online course called “Rewild your Heart”. And while it is not a course easily categorized, I really like it and think it has great potential and a great future. But yes, well, haha… I am heavily biased, as it is my creation!

In a lot of ways, I am a very different kind of educator and facilitator of any human-oriented learning and growth experience. And I know that not all like, or will like, my ways, or they will simply not suit them. And that is fine. But I would feel sad to lose anyone because I am not as clear as I could be.

Which is why I want to have a go at clarifying the difference between experiential learning and symbolism.

And yet again – being clear in a process-oriented way of doing things and inviting (and challenging) to new learning and growth (in a process-oriented process…haha…) is not so easy. Because clarity is not always possible – as clarity would be a personal/individual experience and part of the goal of the process, or even part of the process of the process…

I added a new part to the online course this time around. It was a request from one of the participants. Instead of “just” meeting and reflecting on the course material (which is VERY rich) and our own experiences with different aspects of rewilding, I was asked to give more concrete invitations “to do” between our course meetings/sessions.

Since I am aware of the limitation of an online course, I hesitated. But went with it as an experiment. And I have decided to continue to have this as a part of our intro course but will also now add some discussions on how we can manage both expectations, and limitations of the medium, as well as invite to discussions about HOW we can invite to “outside the online environment concrete experiences” – as part of the learning process. We are all who offers online courses, faced with obstacles of online learning environments – and I find it interesting to experiment with what is possible.

Part of my mistake this time was to not be clear enough on what experiential learning is and what the experiential learning process looks like. And well, there are soooo many things I want to put into each course I give, because to me – it is all connected. Everything I educate on, is part of a bigger web. And one of my challenges is to know how to limit what I educate on, write about, point out etc., each and every time I open my mouth, or put a pen to paper (or more these days, let my fingers lose on the keyboard).

Stepwise Learning vs Open “buffet” Learning

To me – learning has never been about a stepwise procedure. I myself do NOT thrive in settings where things are held back from me, due to it being deemed to belong to some sort of higher level that I will not be told about right now, as I, according to most learning protocols, need to learn things in a specific order (from START to END). I learn from overview and go down on detail levels. While most learning environments cater for people who do better when they are only given a small amount of simplified building blocks, that will eventually lead to seeing a fuller picture, I do not (and of course, others with me).

I learn by immersion. From immersing myself over and over in situations, experiences, reading theories and dissecting models. Until I swim in it like a fish. I need the sea from the beginning. Put me in a glass bowl, and I will just fight the glass walls, to catch a glimpse of what is beyond, of what is possible. I need the details, but I also simultaneously need the bigger picture, and I want the freedom to oscillate between them.

I like it when I am offered learning as a buffet. Where I can pick and choose in what order I want to learn, how I want to sample the chapters, how I want to arrange my journey through the material.

Some people get angry with me for how I educate and invite to different kinds of learning and growth opportunities. To them, it feels too fuzzy, too unclear, too open, too unstructured – but also too scary and with too much own responsibility (and too much freedom and choice).

Often it is the unstructured part, the non-stepwise procedure that stands out to them. And I choose to see it as I trust in your own ability to structure your learning.

And I believe as much in openness as I do in equality. I don’t see myself as a traditional teacher (in this text I call myself an educator), but really, I am just a co-traveler. One that has been doing it for quite some time, so an experienced traveler and navigator of knowledge, wisdom, experience, growth, development etc., but not a person on a “higher level”. I dislike hierarchies as much as I dislike being held back.

But back to what I wanted to bring up here. I have met it before. The misunderstanding that experiential learning either is the same as “learning by doing” or that it is the same as working with symbolism.

Experiential Learning is broader than both. This text will of course not cover all that experiential learning is (join MiMer School as a student for more learning if you are curious).

Experiential Learning vs Symbolism

A lot of different schools and modalities work with symbolism. E.g. the market is nowadays flooded with card decks. Where a card is helping a person through being a symbol of something. But you can also of course work with concrete items. Either finding them, like a stone or a feather, or using pre-made items like small plastic unicorns, or letting clients make them themselves, in  some art related therapy (or learning) activity.

I work with all of the above.

I also work with “learning by doing”. It means that sometimes the learning is much more effective if you do not only listen, take notes, think about what I say. But are also invited to do something. Somethings, like learning how to ride a horse, is impossible without the doing part.

But mostly I work with experiential learning. Where you are invited to do something and then reflect on it (can be a non-verbal reflection, like e.g. painting, sculpting, drawing, journaling – the last being verbal perhaps but not spoken out loud).

In experiential learning, it is about the doing, and the symbolism, but is also about HOW you do something, it is about the actual movement.

As an example. Let’s say you are invited to show me or build where you are at right now (as part of a check-in, or part of a status update e.g.). And you are in a pasture. I have brought some items to use (for possible symbolism, but also as a part of this experiential learning opportunity), there are “parts of nature” present and even other beings, horses, sheep, birds, bees, flies… plants, trees, flowers… and so on. To say it shorter – there is presence of “the more/other than human”.

And perhaps you build a picture of your struggle at work. You picked items that represented your boss, your co-workers, some of your work assignments e.g. And you arranged them in a meaningful way to you. Maybe you re-considered at some point and re-arranged them. Maybe you are still holding something in your hand.

And maybe a sheep knocked over your bucket of tiredness. And you move it closer to your boss (the item representing/symbolizing your boss) to lean on.

Can you see the picture I am painting?

You have to add the wind, some smells. Horses neighing in an adjacent field… There is stuff going on, on all sorts of levels, in the micro and macro environment. That you and your work with what you are building now are part of.

Symbolism is the projection of your inner world onto objects, beings, situations etc. And a way of making sense of your life and the world around you. Experiential learning is what you do with all of it – and then what happens inside of you, as well as your interaction with what is around you, when you reflect on it.

This is the experiential learning cycle by Kolb, that I have adapted to specifically center around eco-work (ecotherapy, eco-mindfulness eco-learning…). By “eco” I mean e.g. psychotherapy with an ecological approach.

Im these two followoing illustrations you first see the Kolb Experiential Learning Cyckle, with my adaptions to Eco-work and the second illustration is showing Eco-work with the SOAP mindfulness model. 

In the illustrations HP stands for Human Professional (psychotherapist, coach, social worker, mindfulness instructor etc.) and EP stands for Eco-(logical) Professional (depending on what you are working with, in equine assisted focused work, it was a person skilled in horses and their behavior, but it could be another ecotherapist, a dog person, if you work with dogs, any kind of professional working within the field you offer a service from). The point here is to work in a team taking in more knowledge than you, on your own possess. And of course, with knowledge and skills helpful to the work.

Could you be the sole practitioner? Of course. It often boils down to a financial decision. Sometimes it boils down to finding a person that you seamlessly work with. I have both worked on my own and with another human facilitation team member, and I prefer teamwork. It opens up for another kind of dynamic, adding other kinds of knowledge and skills and of course, for more perspectives.

I started out this work working in the field of equine assisted interventions. But it no longer makes sense to narrow the work down to only include equines. Therefore, I have switched to talking about eco- or eco- assisted/facilitated work, after a time of calling my work nature assisted. But I don’t like the division between humans and the rest of nature. I think we are part of nature. Or more precisely put, we ARE nature.

Back to the experiential work

You see how good I am at taking off on a tangent? I don’t do it because I lose focus, I do it because so many things are important in this work, and I see how the different topics and discussions belong together, so what I try to do is to give you an introductory overview, without becoming excessively detailed. To learn the details of this work, you have to join our courses.

So, where beings, things, situations, sensations and so on can be made to symbolize (or represent) something meaningful to a person, you can extend the work by also inviting experiential learning. Because it is in experiential learning that we can transform, change, re-learn, it is in this work where we can challenge our symbols, the meaning we attach to items, persons, situations, feelings etc.

What happens when someone “do” in this work, is both that it becomes embodied, and it invites shifts that you could not have thought out. It bypasses both verbal processes and in general, invites more cognitive processes than those centered in your brain.

And I know I can keep on talking about this difference, and it would still be unclear what I mean, because the thing with experiential learning (therapy, mindfulness etc), is that you need to engage with it, full on. With body, mind, soul, spirit, heart – or whatever parts you are made up of (no disrespect meant, but we call it different things, and I am all for letting people name things, concepts etc., for themselves).

It means you in the end must show up for an experiential experience. To try it out. So you can know in a felt sense what it means. And at times, it takes a while before it catches on to you (or you to it). But when it happens, it will forever be your tool.

And I can say it has been quite addictive to me. I love the growth potential it contains. I use it over and over, go deeper and deeper. And I these days weave it together with theories and hypotheses, models and modalities and all kinds of approaches. All forming the ecotherapy and eco-mindfulness services I offer. As well as how I educate, mentor and supervise, as well as how I design programs and develop my work.

And keep on growing, learning, developing myself.

Become a Student of MiMer Centre – Engage with Us?

If you feel curious about trying this out, getting the introduction online, we will run the introductory “Rewild your Heart” online workshop again in the beginning of next year. And we invite you to come and try it out in person, during Easter in Finland. Keep your eyes of for dates (they will e.g. be published in our Rewild your Heart group on Facebook.

And then of course, you can sign up to our EATIC course online (we are practically giving it away right now, as a self-paced study course – for 160 euro – as it will be redone to cover our transition from equine assisted to eco-assisted). So for now, EATIC still stands for Equine Assisted Trauma Informed Care (applicable to all sorts of equine assisted therapy, learning and growth work), but it will also eventually be switched over to be an ECO Assisted Trauma Informed Care education.

And when we make that transition – we will also move away from being a training anyone can buy – to being a training where we handpick our students. Just because of what I have mentioned above – our trainings are for the ones who want this kind of open learning, that does not include a stepwise process. And what I have learned as our main educator in MiMer, is that our courses, workshops and other events/offers are really not for everyone. So, to avoid disappointments, as good as we can, we want to set up an interview with people before they buy anything. To make sure as good as we can that we are a good fit for you. And to be truthful, that you are a good fit for us. It is a reciprocal situation, we are doing a great deal of co-travelling (in mind, body, spirit, soul, heart…).

It means the process to sign up to our offers and services will be a bit more complicated. But then again, the complicated and complex is our area of expertise (said a bit jokingly, it does not mean we think others are not offering complicated and complex trainings, workshops and courses, it just means we as an organization is becoming more and more self-aware and know our strengths).

It also means you get a bespoke training, a training tailored to you and your needs, wishes and desires (as good as we can – we are not magicians, and we do have limited resources at hand). And it means you get to influence your training, learning, development – or whatever reason you have for signing up to our offers.

It means we are initiating some bold moves. It means we will not adapt to “the market”, it means we will not compete with any other deliverer of trainings. It means we will stay true to our hearts. As we want to support you too, to do.

It means that new ways of inviting to learning, growth and development will come from us, from our hearts, to you.

It means we invite you to a more co-creative experience.

It does not mean we will dodge any responsibility that is ours. But it also means we will not take responsibility for your experiences, or your needs, wants and desires.

I usually put that like this: Our courses will be as good to you as what you put into them. They may not always give you pleasant experiences. Learning, growing and/or developing can at times be very uncomfortable, even unpleasant. But we in MiMer are confident you can take charge of your own learning.

There will be solid frames, but how you “move around” in the learning space, in what tempo, and in what order, will be up to you.

Follow us for more writings on rewilding, horses, nature, humans, learning, therapy, mindfulness, expressive arts, paths forward, courses, workshops, webinars, think-tanking…

Join us in our future courses, workshops, webinars, seminars, conferences, exchange writing with us through commenting on blog posts FB post, join our groups to post yourself, read our material, watch our free webinars on YouTube and join other online and in-person event etc., etc.

And perhaps, you will find out what “Rewild your Heart” means to you, as a felt knowing. The only thing I think I know, is that it will definitively not be exactly the same as it means to me – or anyone else in MiMer, or on our courses and other offers. And isn’t that beautiful? In this way, by meeting and learning, experiencing together – we can inspire each other, support each other. Walk side by side for whatever time period we want. Out on this grand adventure called life.

Or you will find out what kind of facilitator you want to be, or what your next adventure will be, or…

I for sure want my life and my heart more rewilded. To me it makes all the sense in the world to follow the trails I see that lead me to a deeper connection with “the more than human” (and in that way – also to myself, and other humans).

Welcome to Rewild your Heart with us! And I hope my effort to make a distinction between using symbolism and inviting to experiential learning made some sense to you. If not, that is fine, if it did, feel free to use it. And if you want to know more – reach out to me!

Katarina, Director of MiMer Centre

Text and Pictures are copyright protected © Katarina Felicia Lundgren, MiMer Centre, 2024