Mission: To teach people of all ages how to understand nature while helping them find connection to their calling in this life.
We do that by introducing people to their natural neighbors. The Plants, Animals, the four directions, the night, the stars, fire, themselves, each other and all things natural.
We teach many different programs from pre-school to elderhood and everything in between.
Where do we come from?
When I was 11, I met a man named Ingwe (born M. Norman Powell) from Kenya. He was invited to Lincoln, Vermont, by Jim Dobkowski, a man who would later have a great effect on me and many other kids and adults (and still does). I sat next to Ingwe at a fire he was watching over as a band of local boys were out on the land sitting and experiencing for the first time what it feels like to be alone in nature. I had walked into this crowed of boys as they were being sent out on their mission. Ingwe told them about the bravery it takes to walk out there and of the first times he went into the wilderness alone, and then he sent them out. I went and sat as well, by a tree, but didn't stay for long because I wasn't really sure what it was I was supposed to be doing. I went back and sat by the fire and Ingwe joined me soon after.
"Why didn't you go out with the other boys?" He asked in his British-African accent.
I shrugged my shoulders. Most of the boys had been much older than me. I poked at the fire.
"Do you know about the man-eaters of Tsavo?" I asked.
I had been interested in them since I had seen a movie about them called The Ghost and the Darkness. Two lions had killed 135 men working on building a railroad in East Africa. It was a very dramatic and true story.
"Oh, of course I do, the last lion was killed on my father’s farm!"
I was shocked and amazed. I would later hear of this man’s adventurous life and vision for the future of the earth and its people. He was my introduction to a world of people centered on living in harmony with the earth: trackers, storytellers and naturalists. I soon joined Jim Dobkowski's "Tracking Club" and found myself (a TV- obsessed kid) falling in love with nature and its mysteries. I learned to walk quietly in the woods using "Fox Walking." I found a "sit spot" and eventually challenged myself to walk in the forest alone.
Jim learned from Tom Brown, Jr., at the Tracker School and Jon Young, Tom Brown's first student. Tom and Jon are now both educational leaders in the world of nature connection, tracking and culture repair.
Numina Wilderness School is an extension of the beautiful things that have been passed down to me, that I can't help but pass on through classes and programs for children and adults.
Many Thanks,
Maurice Bissonnette
