Wild Reverence: Somatic Ecopsychotherapy

Wild Reverence:
Somatic Ecotherapy

Mode

Online Study

Qualification

Certificate of Completion

5 Months

Duration

Wild Reverence:

Somatic Ecotherapy

Everything is ceremony in the wild garden of childhood
~ Pablo Neruda ~

Welcome to the Somatic Ecotherapy Guide Training Program.

This professional training is a love letter to embodied truth—a five-month immersion into two profoundly powerful paradigms of healing and wholeness: somatic inquiry and ecotherapy.

Over the course of the program, you’ll gain practical, grounded skills to guide others in nature-based experiences that foster healing, connection, and growth. The journey weaves together psyche (mind), soma (body), and soil (earth), inviting a deep and experiential exploration of the synergy between somatic work and ecotherapy. Through this integration, a new way of being in relationship with nature—through the doorway of the body—is made possible.

This training also invites you into the art of deep listening: to the body’s innate knowing, the subtle language of the senses, the symbolic stirrings of the imaginal realm, and the quiet intelligence of nature herself. This multidimensional attunement empowers you to hold deep, spacious presence for others—always in partnership with the more-than-human world.

Rooted in the spirit of deep ecology, Somatic Ecotherapy is a wild remembering: that we are not separate from the earth, but living expressions of the web of life.
In these times of disconnection, decimation, and despair, may this program offer its own kind of medicine—in service to the more-than-human world, and to consciousness herself.

Please enquire or enroll here:

ENQUIRE NOW

ENROLL NOW

Upcoming Events

Acknowledgements

Before we begin, a few acknowledgements.

We acknowledge the legacy of deep listening that was born through the dreaming of aboriginal people: the practice of listening to self, to place, to each other and to the dreaming itself. We acknowledge that Somatic Inquiry and Ecotherapy flow in the same river, and borrow much from the wisdom traditions of First Nations.

We acknowledge the privilege and rank we hold as white, western practitioners, and that this shapes our perspective on life and healing, together with our world view. What is offered in this program is drawn from practices that have deeply benefited us and we encourage you to explore whether they work for you. Your own experience is the best litmus for what is right in your life.

We acknowledge that, for aboriginal people, deep healing must also involve reconnection with land, ancestors, family, culture and community. This holds true for us as well, and we invite you to explore whether it holds true for you.

Program Overview

The Somatic Ecotherapy Guide Training unfolds over five months through a carefully sequenced journey of 17 live classes and 3 remotely guided nature therapy walks. The course is rooted in the Five Terrains Framework of somatic ecotherapy—a unique developmental map that leads participants through ritual connection, nervous system regulation, deep sensing, relational repair, and embodied conversation with the more-than-human world.

Each terrain offers distinct practices that build sequentially, supporting trainees to guide clients with depth, attunement, and safety. While all Five Terrains are introduced as part of a visionary framework, this professional training centres

its focus on the first four: Trailhead, Meadow, Forest, and Mountain. These terrains form a robust foundation, equipping students to meet many of the most pressing challenges of our time—nervous system dysregulation, inner fragmentation, runaway busyness, grief, anxiety, and the deep ache of disconnection and not belonging.

The final terrain, Sky, opens into subtle and transpersonal dimensions of ecotherapy. It will be the focus of future professional development opportunities for those wishing to deepen the journey.

The Rhythm of Classes

The first five weeks of the program offer a deep dive into somatic inquiry tools, supporting students to reconnect with the body’s way of knowing—an embodied intelligence that is often overshadowed in a culture that privileges thinking over felt experience.

Weeks 6–9 explore foundational ecotherapy tools, including the use of ritual, sensory immersion, liminal space, and relational work on the land.

Weeks 10–14 move deeper into inner parts work, earth-based resourcing, mythopoetic mirroring, and the open-handed artistry of guiding.

Three nature therapy walks—facilitated live during the course—support students to experience and embody the work they will go on to lead. These are progressively scaffolded to demonstrate how different elements of the training can be woven into practical, nature-based invitations on the land.

Midway through the training, students begin practising by guiding their own somatic ecotherapy walks with friends or family, submitting reflections in a templated report for constructive feedback.

Attendance at scheduled, live Q&A calls offer students the chance to debrief their guided walks and to receive feedback in a supportive group setting.

Throughout The Course Students Will Learn

Guide participants to gently reconnect with their bodies through sensory meditation—meeting each person where they are.

Craft supportive, trauma-informed, nature-based invitations that awaken felt experience, sensory perception, and inner imagery.

Support clients in entering liminal spaces where a deeper sense of wholeness—beyond identity and narrative—can be encountered.

Help clients find a little slowness and presence in an age of runaway speed.

Guide clients to tend and turn towards inner wounded parts in partnership with the more than human world.

Reflect and mirror client experiences in ways that honour mystery, multiplicity, and the mythopoetic layers of the psyche.

Offer invitations that help clients rekindle relationships with the natural world and more than human kin.

As a whole, the course invites a participatory and relational view of nature therapy—where guides and participants alike are shaped by their interactions with beings on the land, and by the ongoing dreaming of the earth. Learning to guide in this way means cultivating the capacity to listen: not just to inner parts or feelings, but to the voice of the land, the wind, the stillness between things.

By course end, students will have designed and delivered their own somatic ecotherapy experiences, with a solid foundation in embodied, nature-based guiding. A full weekly schedule, complete with topics, learning outcomes, exercises, and resources, is provided separately as part of the course materials.

Information Talk

Who is this course for

This course is specifically designed for those wishing to certify as somatic ecotherapy guides. It is open to therapists, counsellors, coaches, educators, and other professionals committed to guiding others in reconnecting with the natural world for healing and transformation. It will appeal to those who are passionate about addressing personal, cultural, and ecological healing through embodied, nature-based practice.

For some, this training will open a new professional pathway, enabling them to offer somatic ecotherapy walks, sessions, and retreats. For others, it will serve as a powerful enrichment of their existing therapeutic or human development work—introducing fresh ways to support client transformation in partnership with the more-than-human world.

Somatic ecotherapy offers a meaningful response to the challenges of our time—from the silent extinction of species to the widespread epidemics of trauma, disconnection, and spiritual drift. You’ll learn to guide others back into embodied relationship with Self and earth—supporting processes of healing and wholeness that can radiate beyond the individual, contributing to wider cultural and ecological repair. In a time of global uncertainty, this work helps us return to ground, offering earth-based medicine that flows from the land herself.

Please note: this training does not license or qualify you as a therapist. Rather, it equips you to guide others as a somatic ecotherapy practitioner—skilled in holding safe, embodied spaces where healing can unfold in relationship with the more-than-human world. In this work, it is the participant’s own awareness, in dialogue with the deep intelligence of nature, that becomes the true therapist, healer, and alchemist.

Paradigms Explored

This training draws inspiration from a breadth of healing lineages. While we do not claim to teach these systems in their entirety—nor do we offer certification in them—we acknowledge their profound influence on us and respectfully draw on select practices and ideas to shape this modality. Students are warmly encouraged to engage with these lineages directly, should they wish to go deeper.

First and foremost, this program acknowledges and honours the deep, place-based wisdom traditions of indigenous peoples worldwide, whose relationship with land and spirit continues to shape the heart of ecotherapy. In particular, Gundungurra Elder, Uncle David King for sharing some of his wisdom with us.

In addition:

Process Work (Arnie Mindell)
Nature Rites of Passage and Council Work (Meredith Little & Steven Foster)
Mythopoetic & Archetypal Psychology (Carl Jung, James Hillman)
Eco-Phenomenology (Maurice Merleau-Ponty, David Abram)
Animism & The Anima Mundi (Sharon Blackie, Carl Jung, David Abram)
Focusing (Eugene Gendlin, Anne Weiser Cornell, Jo Kennedy)
Ecopsychology (Theodore Roszak, Andy Fisher)
Forest Bathing (Shinrinyoku) – (Amos Clifford)
Deep Ecology & The Work That Reconnects (Joanna Macy, Arne Naess, John Seed)
Grief work (Francis Weller)
Wild Mind (Bill Plotkin)
Somatic spirituality (A. H. Almaas)
Polyvagal theory (Stephen Porges
Mindfulness practices (Kagyu & Nyingma Tibetan Buddhism; Australian College of Meditation and Mindfulness)

Scope of the Course

The five-month Somatic Ecotherapy Guide Training is a rich and immersive experience. It is intentionally intensive, requiring not only attendance at weekly classes but also time dedicated to practising on the land, integrating material somatically, and showing up in guided and reflective roles.

The training includes:

Weekly live Zoom classes covering key content and practices

Practical exercises to take onto the land between classes, helping you embody the theory and deepen learning through direct experience

Dyad partnership sessions to refine somatic listening and reflective presence

Reflective journaling to support inner integration of experiences

Three remotely guided nature therapy walks

A supervised co-guided walk, in which students guide each other

Two 1.5-hour live Q&A debrief sessions, offering a supportive space to receive feedback and deepen your skills as a guide

Experiential practice on the land is integral to embodied learning. Students are strongly encouraged to set aside regular time in nature between classes, as well as during the scheduled break weeks, which are included in the program structure to allow for integration and deeper practice.

As the course progresses, students begin guiding somatic ecotherapy walks with friends or family. Each of these walks is followed by a templated written reflection, inviting thoughtful integration and offering a basis for personalised feedback and mentorship.

Course Logistics

Duration: 5 months

Format: Weekly Zoom sessions, practical invitations to take onto the land to embody class theory, dyad practice sessions, and reflective journaling

Nature-based application: 3 remotely guided nature therapy walks

Integration practice: 1 supervised nature therapy walk where students co-guide each other

Applied learning: Students also guide at least 3 walks with friends or family, putting their learning into real-world practice

Mentoring: Live Q&A walk debrief sessions for feedback, integration, and support

While some reading is included, the emphasis of this course is on experiential, embodied learning in relationship with the land. As such there is not an extensive reading load, but a recommended reading list is offered for those who wish to explore the material more deeply.

Benefits of the Program

By enrolling in this program, you will gain:

A clear developmental framework for holistic healing on the land that supports both personal insight and professional application

Practical tools to guide others in cultivating a deeper sense of wholeness, self-acceptance, and connection

Somatic invitations that empower guides to meet people wherever they are and however they are showing up—from experiences of shame, grief, and self-criticism to the deep pain of not belonging

Experience in guiding gentle inner parts work on the land

Practices to help clients connect with their own inner guidance, intuitive knowing, and somatic signals

A repertoire of nature-based practices to foster ecological connection, belonging, and grounded presence

Techniques for supporting nervous system regulation and safety through sensory and land-based practices

Creative approaches to designing personal and group ceremonies of insight, healing, and transformation

Practices to help others reconnect with a sense of wonder, aliveness, and meaning in their lives

Whilst this is ostensibly a training in how to guide others, the nature of the course also provides ample opportunity for personal growth as students bring what they are learning onto the land.

Investment

Type	Fee
Full Price	$5,520
Early Bird Price (10% discount)	$4,968
Alumni Price (15% discount)	$4,692

Metavision alumni: 15% discount available to graduates of our 1-year or 2-year program (not applicable in conjunction with early bird discount)

An early Bird discount of 10% is available to students who enroll before the 30th April 2025

Non-refundable Deposit is required to secure your place in the course $1500 - (a credit card fee may be applicable)

Payment plans are available

Payment plans are available enabling students to pay fees in monthly instalments.

Timings

2025	Start Date
Course	31st July - 18th December
Weekly Zoom Class	Thursdays 6pm - 8.15pm
Student-guided walk	Saturday 29th November 10am - 12.30pm
Guided Nature Therapy Walk 1	Saturday 13th September 10am - 12.30pm
Guided Nature Therapy Walk 2	Saturday 15th November 10am - 12.30pm
Guided Nature Therapy Walk 3	Saturday 13th December 10am - 12.30pm

Your Guide

Rob Engels

My calling as a guide to the inner wilderness began in childhood, and was forged through big, life-altering traumas that led me to believe there was something inherently wrong with me. As a young adult I wandered aimlessly, seemingly without purpose, carrying a deep-seated sense that I did not belong in the world. I moved through bouts of depression, imprisoning myself in a tight complex of deficiency stories that felt like despair. In my late teens I turned to meditation to transcend my suffering rather than face my demons head on.

At some point, however, Mystery called me to turn inwards to heal. This launched a lifelong pilgrimage of deep self-inquiry and spiritual wandering as I learned to question everything I had taken to be true about myself. Aided by plant teachers, human elders, Jungian writing, the profound wisdom of nature and, in time, the inner teacher, I tended my wounds, called in the lost, forgotten and disavowed parts of myself, and awakened a deep sense of wholeness.

With Animas Valley Institute, I embarked on a long journey of nature connection, Soulcraft, and Wild Mind work. This culminated in a vision quest in the wilds of Wollemi, during which time I underwent an earth-shattering initiation with soul: the mythopoetic remembering of my ultimate place and purpose in the web of life. This seismic encounter shook the foundations of my being and propelled me into a life of service, guiding others through the inner wilderness to the truth at their centre.

I am now a PACFA-certified psychotherapist and counsellor, working at the intersection of depth psychology, somatic inquiry, and spiritual ecology. My approach is trauma-informed, soul-rooted, and grounded in embodied presence.

I also facilitate nature-based programs that support people to reconnect with their essential wholeness. As a certified nature and forest therapy guide and co-founder of the Wild Edges program in the Blue Mountains, I work in partnership with the land—supporting others to call home the lost, forgotten, and disavowed parts into the family of wholeness. These offerings bring together the alchemical power of human awareness with the vast intelligence of the natural world, creating a potent container in which healing, reconnection, and transformation can unfold.

As a certified meditation teacher, I support people in developing mindful awareness and somatic self-inquiry practices, facilitating deeper self-understanding, personal growth, and transpersonal exploration. I am also a trained facilitator of the Kiloby Emotional Repression Inquiry—a groundbreaking somatic approach to treating depression, anxiety, trauma, and addiction. Honouring my commitment to embodied listening and community, I am co-founder of the Blue Mountains Men’s Group.

In 2024, I founded the School of Awareness to honour my deep belief that the body is a profound doorway into healing, wholeness, and transpersonal discovery. The School offers a sanctuary amidst the noise of modern life, reconnecting people to the innate intelligence of the body, the healing power of the natural world, and the sacred dimensions of Being. Rooted in a holistic model that spans psyche, soma, soul, earth, and spirit, the School's programs empower individuals to become their own healers—through somatic inquiry, nature-based practice, and earth-based spirituality. The School supports deep inner work as a gateway to personal transformation and collective renewal, for those seeking to live in service to life and the more-than-human world. The School is a love affair with the wild earth, a remembering of our own wild wholeness, and a communion with the inner sacred.