Nature Alignment with Elena Rios and Lanny Kaufer
Nature Alignment with Elena Rios and Lanny Kaufer
April 13 @ 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Join Nature & Forest Therapy Guide Elena Rios and author-naturalist Lanny Kaufer for a day of “nature alignment” in the meadows and secluded oak forest of Ojai. Just as our spines and our vehicle’s wheels sometimes need an alignment to find the right balance, so do our souls. Years of the isolation from nature that modern life imposes on most of us can lead to a lessened sense of connection to the Earth and to our fellow beings. Are you ready for a nervous system reset, for another way of knowing plants?
JUMP TO REGISTRATION
On Sunday, April 13, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nature & Forest Therapy Guide Elena Rios will join me, Lanny Kaufer of Ojai & Southern California Herb Walks, for an outdoor Nature Alignment day in the serene and beautiful Ojai Valley.
We’ll begin with a walk to “The Oak Grove” where famed Ojai philosopher and spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti gave his legendary outdoor talks from 1922 to 1985. With the permission of the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, Elena will guide us through a “Nature Immersion” on this secluded private land considered sacred to many. Krishnamurti’s teachings of mindfulness and love of unspoiled nature attracted thousands of people to the Ojai Valley and to The Oak Grove. We hope to walk in his footsteps.
You will be guided in dropping into a deeper state of connection to nature and the more-than-human world. This sensorial experience will assist you in slowing down, relaxing, and observing with all of your senses. Elena describes it this way:
“The importance of our relationship to land, plants, and place is rooted in ancestral Indigenous Knowledge all over the world. It takes shape in many ways. Join with like-minded people for a guided integrative mindfulness practice that can help you to let all of the miscellaneous fall away. Slow down and relax. Deepen connection to nature. It is more about being ‘here’ in the present moment, than it is about being ‘there.’ A kind of nervous system ‘reset’ that has the potential to remind us of the Interconnection of All Things and our relationship to the Earth. It isn’t so much about knowing all of the names of the plants, as it is about noticing which plants you feel pulled to. Experience the health benefits of Forest Bathing. All you have to do is come and be yourself! You are the medicine. Tu eres la medicina. The event ends with a sharing of tea made from native plants and some healthy snacks.”
After a lunch break on your own – with many great food options just minutes away – we’ll meet again at the neighboring Ojai Meadows Preserve under a special use permit from the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. There we’ll walk among a myriad of native and non-native plants with long histories of use by the Chumash and all our ancestors for food, medicine, clothing, building material, musical instruments and much more. Our focus will be on learning the multi-sensory language of the plants, of nature. Your questions and comments will generate interesting topics and great conversations and connections.
The cost is $75/person, due in advance by PayPal or personal check. I will have my mobile bookshop with me, including my signed book and the rest of my curated collection. Please note: Due to the nature of Elena’s process, registration will be limited to 16 participants.
ABOUT ELENA RIOS:
Elena Rios is an ANFT*-certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide, Wildland Fire Professional, Cultural Practitioner, and Inter-disciplinary Artist. As a child, she first learned about ranch, land, and fire stewardship practices from her family on Tübatulabul/Yokut territory in the foothills of Sequoia National Forest. She draws inspiration from her late grandmother, Maria Rios, who was a curandera and a huesera on Tataviam/Tongva territory in the San Fernando Valley. Elena continues to participate in inter-tribal circles of learning and ways of being that are rooted in Indigenous Knowledge.
*ANFT = Association of Nature and Forest Therapy
ABOUT LANNY KAUFER:
Lanny Kaufer has been leading Herb Walks and Nature Hikes in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and beyond since 1976, educating hundreds of locals and visitors on the flora of the area with a focus on herbs that can be used for food and medicine. As an herbal educator, Lanny also leads workshops and presentations throughout the Ojai-Ventura-Santa Barbara area on the edible and medicinal uses of California plants. He holds a degree in Biology from UC Santa Cruz and serves on the faculty of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at California State University, Channel Islands.
His conscious journey into plants and the natural world began on the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico in 1967. He acquired much of his plant knowledge in field study with well-known herbalists and ethnobotanists, including in the 1970s with the late herbalist William LeSassier and the late Chumash plant expert Juanita Centeno. He has co-led workshops, field classes and expeditions with noted experts such as the late herbalist and author Michael Moore, author-herbalist Michael Tierra, author-herbalist Amanda McQuade Crawford, Professor Emeritus James Adams of USC School of Pharmacy, Chumash Elder siblings Julie Tumamait-Stenslie and Patrick Tumamait, author-survivalist Christopher Nyerges, and others.
Lanny is the author of Medicinal Herbs of California: A Field Guide to Common Healing Plants (Falcon Guides, 2021). He hosts the biennial Ojai Herbal Symposium and serves as chief consultant on medicinal plants for the Swimmer Medicinal Garden in Playa Vista.
PLEASE NOTE: Light rain will not cancel. Heavy rain or thunderstorms will. Once you register you will receive weather updates, directions and other info about what to wear, etc. No dogs or smoking, please.
REGISTRATION
Please REGISTER HERE FIRST before completing payment below.
TICKETS
Please be sure to REGISTER above before completing payment to secure your space.
Note: Online payment includes a PayPal fee. If you prefer, when you register you can request instructions for mailing a payment of $75 for regular admission or $100 to include CEU certificate.
Cancellation policy: I will refund your payment if you notify me up to 72 hours (3 days) before the start of the event. After that I will make every effort to fill your space (and I’m usually successful) but cannot guarantee