The Art of Tracking & The Arts of Life

John Stokes

May 7-9, 2004

(Mother’s Day) The art of tracking has been used by Native and natural peoples as a primary learning process since the beginning of time. Tracking is a way of seeing the world and all its living beings, a system of observation skills that enable us to perceive, understand, and appreciate the life forms around us. With Nature as our teacher, we open our spirits to the worlds around and within us. In the end, the quality of attention we bring to our life is the quality of our life.

Traditional communities do not relegate the art of tracking solely to the hunters, but use it as a vehicle to harmonize the energies of each individual in the community with the energies of Nature. In this way, the trackers act as teachers to ensure that their people are moving in line with the natural forces. The tracks on the ground, the stories they tell, and the wisdom and movements of the animals all found their way into the peoples’ songs, dances, stories, and dreams, forming a link between the human and non-human worlds.

Practice the Arts of Life — traditional tracking and survival skills, music, storytelling, dance, peacemaking, and natural movement. Together we will learn:

• The dynamics of hard-ground tracking, track identification, and ways that we can apply this knowledge to the inner or outer wilderness
• Tracking styles from indigenous cultures in Australia and the Americas
• Skills of natural movement, stalking, and camoflage
• How to identify and utilize edible and medicinal plants
• Awareness exercises for quieting inner turmoil and achieving inner peace
• How to enhance our creativity through our connection to Nature

John may be the best known tracker in America, so this retreat will be too big for a “hands-on, take a few people out for a walk” workshop, but it will be vital and alive. John hasn’t been here in years, and we welcome his return.

John Stokes is a writer and musician who has traveled extensively for the last 26 years, bringing awareness of the natural world and the integrity of indigenous cultures to people all over the world. He is Director of The Tracking Project, a non-profit organization he founded in 1986 at the request of traditional Native elders and community educators. The purpose was to re-connect young people to the land while practicing traditional tracking and survival skills and preserving tribal knowledge, music, storytelling, dance, martial arts, and peacemaking.His work now includes programs in Hawaii, Brazil, the Philippines, Sweden, Japan, and Australia. Working with a group of Mohawk artists, they created a book, Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World, now available in 8 languages. Find out more at his website: http://www.thetrackingproject.com