One in Nature

Weaving Voices and Visions: The Nature Talks 2022

January 21, 2022 Pamela Wirth & Kat Novotna
One in Nature
Weaving Voices and Visions: The Nature Talks 2022
Show Notes Transcript

The mission of The Nature Talks is to remedy pandemic-induced separation with a one of a kind online gathering that is designed to transmit the warmth and uplifting sense of participation one can experience at an in-person event.

The 2022 edition will explore 'The Web of Life' with contributors  from many different different fields and a wide variety of backgrounds.

 A panel of many internationally recognized speakers share topics that range from nature inspired creative arts & music, life affirming regenerative projects, research-based perspectives to somatic practices and ancient human wisdom teachings. 

Listen to this backstage conversation with  The Nature Talks creators, Manuela Siegfried, Geeta Stilwell and Pamela Wirth, who come together as a team from Portugal, Costa Rica and the US.  

The conversation topics include:

Why it's so important to spend time with like-hearted, like-minded community 
How shared experiences encourage, strengthen and support us
What does it mean for each of us to be part of the Web of Life?
How The Nature Talks are evolving

To learn more about The Nature Talks, please visit   https://thenaturetalks.com

Hosted by Kat Novotna

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Weaving Voices and Visions: The Nature Talks 2022 

Kat Novotna: Welcome dear listeners. Welcome to the One in Nature Podcast. And in this episode, I'm really honored to have three guests here with me. The guests of this podcast of this inspiring episode are, the hosts of The Nature Talks. The Nature Talks is a five day online experiential gathering that is happening, February 9th, till February 13th, 2022, and the hosts of The Nature Talks are Geeta Stilwell, Manuela Siegfried and Pamela Wirth. and I'm really delighted, really honored to have you here ladies and really excited to, to hear a bit more from the backstage of The Nature Talks. It's really a pleasure because I know that you're, you have created a beautiful platform with The Nature Talks, a platform for people to come together across the planet and share about nature connection and beyond, and inspire and get inspired. And you've also created a community that is really nourishing. Nourishing for the participants. And I know the participants  the community from last year are still talking and still in touch.

So that's an amazing, amazing, platform and initiative that you created. I'm also excited to interview you because you're all colleagues and friends of mine. And because you listeners of course know, Pamela is a co-host of this podcast. And this time Pamela is on the other side of the mic as a guest.

Pamela Wirth: thank you so much Kat. And. Hello everyone 

Kat: Thank you. And welcome Geeta and Manuela.

Manuela Siegfried: Thank you, Kat for that warm welcome that you just gave. We are really excited for being here.

Geeta Stilwell: Hi, Kat. Thank you so much for having us. I'm really happy to be here with you to share a little bit about The Nature Talks. 

Kat: I'm just curious how, where, when was the moment that the inspiration came when the seed came out, like let's create The Nature Talks.

Pamela: So in the early 2020, all three of us had this spark of inspiration, when everything was shutting down and especially, the ability to come together, and we felt this - and individually, we didn't really talk about this - we each felt this strong impulse and desire to be with people and to bring people together and to to offer a place where we can all share and when we can learn together.

Kat: Thank you Pamela, Geeta?

Geeta: So similarly to what Pamela was sharing, there was this impulse and also for me a sense of urgency and our theme for the first edition was reconnecting people and planet, now more than ever. And I think that theme stemmed very much from what the pandemic offered us as an opportunity to reconnect to nature in a more–possibly in a more conscious way. 

And to bring this conversation of nature connection beyond our own field of being forest therapy, guides and, and trainers. so it was to bring in new voices, other voices that have potentially been working in the field for many, many years, certainly for more years than I have been working in nature connection.

So there was also that curiosity and that wanting to learn from these people who have been working in nature for so, so, so many years. So that's a little bit about my experience with the seed of The Nature Talks.

Kat: Manuela. Do you have any

Manuela: well, I just want to echo what Pamela already said. Really bringing something, where people could in a way be connected, in touch with nature and with other people during the pandemic, you know, a lot of people felt very lonely during the pandemic. And this was a really nice way of finding this common ground.

This love for nature, that most of, most of the people felt that attended The Nature Talks where I would say all of them, And how much they missed being outside and being in touch with nature. So it was a way of really bringing like-minded people together and yeah, it, it just really evolved, you know, like the beginning of what we thought this would be, how it started and then it just kept evolving until it became what it is now. And I think it's still evolving and it's going to be evolving over the years. Our intention and desire is to really offer The Nature Talks once a year. 

Kat: Beautiful. Thank you. That's nice to hear the three perspectives, that all come together and yet you're all adding something and it feels like the whole crisis, the whole pandemic indeed can bring something really powerful, right. Using the technology, using the online worlds to connect people for real big time. So thank you for that. 

And this year, the topic of The Nature Talks is the web of life. So I'm really excited about this topic. And, I have actually, I have a couple of questions for you ladies, so that our listeners can learn more about what this actually means. The web of life.

Can you say a little more about that?

Manuela: Yeah. I feel like this year's topic is a natural evolution of last year. So last year was the urgency now more than ever, you know, the crisis is happening and now we need to do something now. And then thinking about reconnecting people and planet and the web of life is more about opening up that perspective and raising the awareness that we're more than just connecting with nature. It's not about that connection anymore. It's about becoming aware that we're actually part of the web of life and that we just need to remember our, our relationships within that web of life. You know? So it's a natural, organic step forward. 

Kat: Yeah, it really sounds like the next step. Indeed. So nature connection with nature is one thing, but then when you broaden it to the web of life, it's like the essence of everything the whole. 

Pamela: Yeah, as we're putting together the schedule and the contributions from the incredible speakers that have joined us this year, what I sense that might happen for people is that we're coming from the concept into the body, into what this is actually really mean for us in our lives to be part of the web of life.

So we're looking at this, in many different ways, through actual nature connection practices, through conversations and through hearing from people who are doing grass roots projects and really groundbreaking new initiatives all over the world. So we want to provide a space where people can really explore that and also talk about it with each other and be in conversation.

So there's many ways to actually go as deep as someone wants through, through these different workshops and experiences. 

Kat: Thank you so much.

Geeta: I feel that I'm still touching a little bit on, on the pandemic and the evolution of, of The Nature Talks and the theme. I think one of the feelings that might have come up for a lot of people during this time, these times has been this sense of separation. And by bringing in this theme of the web of life and this awareness that we are all part of the same web of life and Inspiring each other. There are such wonderful things happening all over the world. Like Pamela was saying, To, to have the opportunity for five days to share a space with a like-hearted and like-minded people where sometimes you might feel alone in your inspirations or alone in your endeavors, or you might feel you're not strong enough to bring about change when you plug into a community of people that are really doing amazing, incredible things all over the world. 

Then it's almost like we are renewed. There's a renewal that happens. There's the creativity surge that can, can take place. And there's a. plugging into a community of people. And this is something that since the beginning of The Nature Talks, we've been really,holding that space.

Every day at the end of The Nature Talks, we hold a community circle where any participant can join, and we have an opportunity to share, to integrate the experiences of the day of that particular day and really bring our hearts and our voices together because. Many of the speakers that we have reached out to, and some which have applied to, to speak at The Nature Talks have come from what we've heard our participants say, say and share. 

So we, it's not just Pamela, Manuela and I who do this. We do this together as a community and we really listen to what our audience is looking for. So I feel, yeah, I feel we're part of a very beautiful communities.

Kat: Thank you Geeta, that sounds really wonderful. And what a great journey, beautiful journey for everyone, right? For the participants, for the community, for you as a team getting inspired and yeah, co-creating this with the community, for the speakers to get in touch with people and inspire.

One of the taglines on the website is that it's an experiential gathering. some of our listeners might be, maybe they joined last year, so they know what it means, but for those who haven't and who are considering joining The Nature Talks this year, what does it mean? An experiential gathering?

Geeta: So experiential  gathering. Well, one of the feedbacks that we heard from our audience last year was that the sessions that were most enjoyed or that people wanted to have back where the sessions where they, there was an opportunity to learn something new in an experiential way. Or there was 

some activity that the audience was invited into. So in the framework of our schedule or program, we always start every day with an embodiment session because we feel that our connection to other beings in this web of life happens through our bodies and through our hearts. So there's a tuning in every morning that we really land in this awareness of our bodies and our embodied or body-full experience of the world and each other.

And then we have halfway through the day,there's what we call this year, the artistic sessions, where we've invited poets, musicians, arts facilitators. We're going to have music from plants and so let's, opportunities to, to actually do things and not just stare at a screen and listen to one person speak for 45 minutes.

Kat: That sounds great, Manuela. 

Manuela: this is also very much aligned with this year's topic, the web of life, where we really want to, support people connecting and relating to each other. And this happens easily when you offer experiential sessions where people can actually share with each other and are not just listening to someone speak and.

Yeah, it's going to be a great opportunity for people to interact with the speakers, with each other in smaller groups and really learn, and not only from the presenters, but also from each other. 

Kat: Thank you, Manuela. And Pamela, 

Pamela: I think what's different about The Nature Talks is that it is for the purpose of experiencing the conference. It's like going to a conference. It's not because, it's it's for marketing or promotion or anything like that. It's actually like going to different presentations, going to different workshops and experiencing  the nourishment from that.

So. It's not just a teaser, there's many ways to actually go as deep as someone wants through, through these different workshops and experiences. 

Kat: And Geeta.

Geeta:   The Nature Talks last year was held in a web conference. And if you know what that means, when you join a web conference, all you see is the speaker. You don't see the rest of the audience. And this year we felt, okay, you know, this is the web of life.

We want to bring people together. So we're going to be able to see each other and, you know, unmute ourselves and ask questions. So it's going to be a, a lot closer experience than the experience last year.

Kat: Thank you. And I really liked that. yeah, like the typical conferences where you have one screen and just see the speaker. It may be a PowerPoint presentation that feels like watching something on the television, right. That you're just a consumer of some content usually pretty mind based, pretty heady. So it feels very different with, with  The Nature Talks as I'm listening to you. I'm just wondering, is there anything else that has changed since last year that does evolve as you were reflecting and co-creating it with, with the participants.

Pamela: Yeah. I think one thing that Geeta already mentioned is, we really felt strongly that, expressive arts, you know, artistic expression, creative expression, Was really important to us to bring that in. And so that's going to be part of every day, so that's really, new.

Kat: So it sounds like the lines between different disciplines are also disappearing. It's a web that is really interconnected and one discipline flowing into another.

Manuela: I also feel that this year, we're having this evolution throughout the five days. So we start with stories from the web of life, and then reweaving our relationships. Maybe based on the stories that we hear, then we offer the day three, we offer everything around the topic of regeneration. And then reciprocity and the last day is about reinvisioning our role in the web of life. 

So I feel it's like a very gentle way of taking people through these five days to end up re-envisioning and really finding our place or remembering our place in the bigger web of life.

Kat: Reinvisioning, that's a beautiful, beautiful word, beautiful concept, beautiful invitation. So I'm looking forward to that. 

So is there anything else that you would like to add? Anything that feels that it needs to be said about The Nature Talks?

Maybe you have an invitation for our listeners. 

Pamela:  we really invite people to join us live as much as possible. of course, as before all the sessions will be recorded and they're already included. So within 48 hours, all the participants have access to these recordings forever.

But, there's a lot of aliveness and momentum and spark in the live sessions. So we hope that people can make time, even if it's not for the entire five days, but to at least dip in and, come to the circles, come to the morning movement classes and, join us.

Geeta:  Yeah, I'll just add that. in The Nature Talks 2021, we had over 700 attendees from 17 different countries. And I think one of the qualities that really emerged was this opportunity to meet people not only in your own country, possibly what happens if you go to a more local conference, but from all over the world.

Manuela: So there was, there's this, incredible opportunity to really expand our own webs and to include, people from different parts of the world and making friends from different parts of the world. Yeah, 

I just want to also invite everyone to join us and maybe also explore what the web of life means for each of you and in your own heart and head and mind and yeah, maybe just, taking the opportunity to explore that in a little bit more depth in The Nature Talks. So I would really love to see you all there.

Kat: Thank you Manuela. And my heart is really opening when I listened to that. So it's going to be an amazing week with The Nature Talks, with the family all around the world and people connecting. 

 Thank you so much, ladies, for joining me on this podcast and for sharing some backstage, back ground information about an The Nature Talks and I'm really excited. 

So I'm looking forward to, to this year's event, So just to our listeners, if you're curious, if you would like to join The Nature Talks, you can save the date:.

That's February 9th to 13th, and you can get your tickets at thenaturetalks.com.

Manuela: Thank you. 

Pamela: Thank you. 

Geeta: Thank you so much Kat for all of your beautiful questions and for giving us an opportunity to share about The Nature Talks. It's been a pleasure. Thank you.


Kat: Thank you for listening to this episode of One in Nature Podcast. 

Our mission is to spark heartfelt connections between people and the world of nature.

Pamela: If you like to support us, you can find us at patreon.com/oneinnature