Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fully embody being a citizen of this Earth? To have a direct connection with your food, water, shelter, and community? To truly know the potential of not only your mind but also your body and hands to create?

Modernization has brought many changes to the world. More and more, people are working on computers instead of outdoors. Though this has come with the “optimization” of many systems, is the computer really a solution to knowing our full human potential? 

In the yogic teachings, it is said that enlightenment comes not through the mind but through the body. It is through communing with our physical nature that we become more fully in touch with what we really are. The body is not something to be escaped but to be fully realized.

One reason why we created Ecoducation was to offer the full experience of knowing ourselves through communing with the land (which is like the body of the Earth). Just as the Earth is alive and breathes, so do we. Our ancestors nourished themselves through a deep understanding with the Earth– what could provide energy to the body, what could provide medicine, where the water runs clean, what certain tracks and calls of animals mean, or the significance of the rising of certain stars at specific times of the year. This connection to nature is ingrained in ourselves. The only thing that is unnatural is that we have lost touch with it. 

Minds are for finding solutions to everyday problems.  This could be how to create an efficient food forest system that provides nourishment year round; or how to build a shelter that stays comfortable during even the hottest or coolest times of the year. Words are for communicating our desires with our communities, collectively finding solutions, and how we can work together to empower one another. Bodies are for action – building, creating the solutions. Hands are for crafting and refining– narrowing large patterns into smaller details. 

Life and its meaning change when you dwell within a house that you have built; or when you eat the food you have grown from the labor of your own hands; or when you build social bridges you never even imagined possible. 

When mind, body, and spirit are in alignment, we can create Heaven on Earth. This means not just empowering ourselves, but also using cooperation to empower our communities. We are here to bring a better life not just to ourselves but to all beings. 

What is the potential of a breath? A bite of food? A hand shake? A hug? 

When we make living on the land a way of life, it’s amazing to see what gifts and capacities awaken inside of ourselves. We learn to take things slow and focus on the underlining energy we put into our work. We learn to read the landscape like a book and to find clues for deepening our understanding. We gain the capacity for deep listening. 

Together, we’re doing more than simply building houses and planting trees. We are remember what it means to be alive on this planet.

By Dorothy Morganna