You can literally sit in nature as an occupation

[Mada_]

It just dawned on me that Bushcraft is a real occupation that people monetise. 

Being in nature to me is the most worthwhile thing in the world, I absolutely love it more than anything ever, if I could do one thing for the rest of my life, it would be to roam around a deep, lush forrest.

Bushcraft is an art, bush-"craft". An art that can be mastered. 

 

Does anyone on here do regular solo camping? Or have experience with bushcraft? If so, can you maintain spiritual practice in the wilderness? Obviously meditation would be easy, but I've always wondered whether it would be possible to do a solo bush retreat, and maintain a Hatha yoga practice. Perhaps I will take this on as my own challenge. 

[Average Investor]

I have seen some stuff like that on yotuube and I know there is TV shows on it relating to it. A few months back there was a guy on JRE who had been on a show that had some awesome stories about it. I wish I could recall his name, but maybe that would inspire you a bit if you found it. He still lives like that and had been for 20 years or so I believe. Coming to society yearly to recoup some supplies, but usually getting it delivered. 

It would be worthwhile to give it a shot. I have not tried that yet myself, abut I have wanted to. Would be a good budget way to just do a solo retreat in general too. 

[Guest SirVladimir]

My friends and I go out every few months. Especially this year will be interesting, because I'll be testing how much of it I can take. Surviving in nature ain't no cozy stay. 

On 2/22/2020 at 3:34 PM, Mada_ said:

Being in nature to me is the most worthwhile thing in the world, I absolutely love it more than anything ever.

I know. But how much are you willing to take? Building a cabin and going off-grid sounds easy until you do. Now you have to hunt, keep the fire, etc., though that would be full surviving and not bushcraft. Most people monetize it through YouTube ads and partnerships. I would love to discuss this with you more, because nature is amongst my values. Making money while being immersed in nature sounds like a dream. Apart from a YouTube channel, I didn't come up with many ideas of making it sustainable (again, not talking about full-blown survival). I also thought of being an "adventurer for hire" where people (probably richer) would hire me to go onto an adventure with them. I would have some crazy routes pre-planned to take. What about you, any more ideas?

[Roy]

On 2/22/2020 at 9:34 AM, Mada_ said:

Does anyone on here do regular solo camping? Or have experience with bushcraft? If so, can you maintain spiritual practice in the wilderness? Obviously meditation would be easy, but I've always wondered whether it would be possible to do a solo bush retreat, and maintain a Hatha yoga practice. Perhaps I will take this on as my own challenge. 

The past few years I've done deliberate solo adventures/exploration of the world locally, I have a 14 foot 1 person Kayak meant for long distances. I mostly do day trips because I've rarely had more than 1 day off in a row with my last job, but want to integrate more overnight trips in the future once I've moved to Vancouver island so I can sleep removed and undistracted from society and therefore have a chance to integrate any insights I have overnight without waking up in the regular buzzing human world.

I've never purposely done any practices or meditation during these trips because I simply find the act of doing the trips themselves is a spiritual and meditative process. I am in nature, where everything is raw, brutal, real, and unfiltered and I am completely dependent on myself for my survival. Every action I do is piercingly intentional. It let's me think the most clearly I can in life because I am connected to the simplicity of being an animal. If I want to get somewhere like across a body of water, or up to the top of a cliff I need to use myself, my body, my desire to get there. There is a tremendous satisfaction in this process for me and it's extremely peaceful.

I prefer to do roughly half existing routes with half unmapped stuff but this can be quite dangerous if you don't have basic survival and navigation skills. It takes a thoughtful mix of preparation and spontaneity to come up with an adventure so it doesn't feel like a chore or unsatisfying. These feelings can be amplified when you're in solitude so you need to consider that before doing any solo trip. I am quite confident and comfortable with being completely alone for long periods of time and when I tell people about some of the trips I've done their jaw drops or they can get quite judgmental.

Be prepared to face a lot of internal and external resistance, and remind yourself to look forward to the satisfaction!

[Mada_]

13 hours ago, SirVladimir said:

My friends and I go out every few months. Especially this year will be interesting, because I'll be testing how much of it I can take. Surviving in nature ain't no cozy stay. 

I know. But how much are you willing to take? Building a cabin and going off-grid sounds easy until you do. Now you have to hunt, keep the fire, etc., though that would be full surviving and not bushcraft. Most people monetize it through YouTube ads and partnerships. I would love to discuss this with you more, because nature is amongst my values. Making money while being immersed in nature sounds like a dream. Apart from a YouTube channel, I didn't come up with many ideas of making it sustainable (again, not talking about full-blown survival). I also thought of being an "adventurer for hire" where people (probably richer) would hire me to go onto an adventure with them. I would have some crazy routes pre-planned to take. What about you, any more ideas?

@SirVladimirThanks so much for your reply; you make some really interesting points.

Some ideas I have had have been to combine bushcraft with self-help. Here are some I had been pondering:

- A bushcraftsman psychedellic integration assistant: So people love doing psychedelics in nature right? I thought you could take people into the forest, walk them through the process of id-ing the mushroom. After they ingest the mushroom you basically contextualise their trip based on their movements so that they can fully surrender to the trip e.g. They walk aimlessly into the bush, you clear their path, they stop and stare up at the trees as it gets dark; as they do this you efficiently build a fire, sleeping arrangements. The person tripping doesn't have to worry too much about surviving and can just focus on a fully immersive and integrated trip.

- I also thought you could take out school kids who are having a hard time; I know that being in nature, away from everything can really help rewire you. You could facilitate them on one night of the trip, to do one whole day and night solo, in the process educating them on positive psychological principles. Then letting them go out into the wilderness to fend for themselves, perhaps regrouping at a camp to reflect about what they are going to take back into their lives.

Obviously these are very personal ideas based on my own experiences; when I was in school it would have been incredibly valuable to have had someone to take me away from everything and give me time to ground myself.

-  Maybe documenting a pilgrimage through a massive forest, and having checkpoints where people meet you to do workshops; the pilgrimage would be the personally fulfilling, challenging, daring and captivating selling point, and the workshops would be about educating people about bushcraft, and philosophically opening people's minds to the non-conformist possibilities of how their life could unfold.

 

I am saving to do a bushcraft course in October, but if I may get enough money to do it sooner. 

Peace

Edited February 26, 2020 by Mada_

[Mada_]

@Roy Hey man, thanks for the reply.

Would you recommend any resources that would help someone become proficient at solo camping.

What are the baseline skills you need before spending long periods of time in the wilderness.

 

Peace and thanks

P.S. (long shot) If you're Aussie I'd love to go bush with you 

[Leo Gura]

On 2/22/2020 at 6:34 AM, Mada_ said:

Does anyone on here do regular solo camping? Or have experience with bushcraft? If so, can you maintain spiritual practice in the wilderness? Obviously meditation would be easy, but I've always wondered whether it would be possible to do a solo bush retreat, and maintain a Hatha yoga practice. Perhaps I will take this on as my own challenge.

In practice you will be so busy just surviving in the wilderness that you will have very little time for true meditation.

Meditation requires completely detaching from survival. So it's actually easier to do in a well furnished home where most of your survival needs are easily handled. Ideally you'd have someone else even cook your food, so you don't get distracted. Even taking a shit is a distraction.

Notice just how much survival distracts you.

Of course if you just love camping or want to do it professionally, by all means. But don't confuse that with consciousness work.

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Mada_ The wilderness trip sitter idea sounds very interesting in theory, but I haven't given it much thought in practice. It would be almost impossible to do here in central Europe in the year 2020. What if one of your customers got fucked? You wouldn't want to deal with that stuff in a country where psychedelics are illegal.