Mindfulness-Based Nature Connection
Cultivating Awareness, Well-being, and Wisdom Outdoors
with Mark Coleman, MA
Experience the transformative power of meditation in nature. In this new course, we will take our practice outdoors as a way to deepen our awareness of the natural world while cultivating a peaceful, mindful attention that can open our hearts to delight, wisdom, and awe. Along with a wide range of nature meditation practices, the course includes short talks on various mindfulness-in-nature themes as well as prompts for reflection and inquiry.
Reflections from Past Participants
What You'll Practice
- Guided meditations to support experiential understanding
- How to begin and sustain a meditation practice outdoors
- Techniques for embodied presence and sensory awareness in natural settings
- Contemplative ways to explore our interconnection with all life
- How to bring heart qualities like gratitude and lovingkindness into your time in nature
This Course is for You if:
- Deepen their connection with nature through mindfulness
- Bring presence, stillness, and reflection into daily life
- Cultivate heart qualities like gratitude, compassion, and care
- Find refuge, renewal, and perspective amidst personal or collective challenges
What You Receive
8 hrs of video teachings
4 hrs Guided Meditations
Readings, Self Inquiry, and Integration Practices
Live Community Question & Response sessions
Interviews with Founding Insight Meditation teachers
Lifetime Access to Course
Course Syllabus
- Introduction & Welcome
- The Buddhist Roots of Nature Practice
- Introduction to Mindfulness & Nature
- Practice: Meditation Postures
- Practice: Arriving in Nature
- Mindfulness Outdoors is an Inclusive Attention
- Practice: Breathing With Nature
- Practice: Standing & Grounding
- FAQ
- Practice: Attuning to the Body & Place
- Body as Vehicle for Nature Connection
- Practice: Mindfulness of the Body
- Introduction to Moving Embodied Practice in Nature
- Receptivity
- Practice: Listening
- FAQ
- Practice: Opening the Field of Awareness
- Connecting to the Environment Through the Senses
- Practice: Sensory Awareness
- Introduction to Meandering
- Practice: Standing with Trees
- FAQ
- Interconnection: The Four Elements
- Practice: The Four Elements
- Practice: Meandering with Awareness of the Elements
- Practice: Lying Down on the Earth
- FAQ
Accordion Content
Meet The Teacher
Mark Coleman, MA
Mindfulness-Based Nature Connection
Mark has trained extensively in the Buddhist tradition, both in the Insight meditation and in the Dzogchen tradition. He is a senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught insight meditation retreats since 1997.
Mark is a life-long nature lover and is passionate about guiding people into the beauty of meditation and nature. He has led wilderness nature retreats worldwide for over twenty years. Through his organization Awake in the Wild Mark leads year long nature meditation teacher trainings in the US and Europe.
Co-founder of the Mindfulness Training Institute Mark also leads year long professional mindfulness teacher trainings in Europe and the US.
He is author of Awake in the Wild – Mindfulness in nature as a path to self-discovery, Make Peace With Your Mind, From Suffering to Peace and his recent book A Field Guide to Nature Meditation.
He lives in Sausalito, Marin and likes nothing more than hiking, biking and kayaking in the outdoors.
Select Your Rate
Payment Plan
- Guided meditation sessions with master teachers
- Hear inspiring stories from decades of teaching
- Apply mindfulness to daily challenges
- Insights from Buddhism's influential teachers
- Live Q&A with teachers
- Lifetime access to recordings
11 weekly payments of
$99
Full Payment
- Guided meditation sessions with master teachers
- Hear inspiring stories from decades of teaching
- Apply mindfulness to daily challenges
- Insights from Buddhism's influential teachers
- Live Q&A with teachers
- Lifetime access to recordings
.
$999
- Scholarships are very limited and reserved for those who are truly experiencing financial hardship. Click here to apply.
Add-ons (Optional)
You can add during checkout
Continuing Education
8 CE Credits
This program offers 8 CE credits for $80 for psychologists, California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, and may be applicable for other licenses. Please review our CEC information page for full provider information.
This program offers 8 homestudy CE credits for $80 for psychologists, and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors. Please review our Continuing Education Credit information page to determine if your association or board will accept credits offered by Spirit Rock.*
Healthcare providers can benefit from exploring the development of equanimity in their mindfulness practice as it can help them cultivate a sense of calm and balance in the face of uncertainty, fear, and sadness that they encounter in their work. By applying aspects of equanimity pragmatically in their daily life, healthcare providers can enhance their ability to navigate challenging situations, maintain emotional resilience, and provide compassionate care to patients.
This continuing education course offers valuable insights and techniques that may be shared with patients and clients.
- At the end of the program, you will be better able to:
- Describe how nature-based mindfulness and meditation can create a therapeutic environment to foster stress reduction and emotional regulation.
- Utilize practices to cultivate embodied attention in outdoor environments, helping patients reconnect with their physical bodies and alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Use practices to enhance sensory awareness to assist patients in grounding themselves and managing stress, leading to improved mental and emotional regulation.
- Utilize the concept of the interconnectedness of all life forms in patient care, promoting a holistic approach that can improve overall patient well-being.
- Utilize loving and grateful attention in natural settings to foster positive emotional states in patients, enhancing their capacity for joy, gratitude, and resilience;
- Utilize impermanence practices based on the natural world to support patients to accept and adapt to life’s transitions and health challenges.
- Apply nature-based mindfulness in clinical care to enhance resilience, self-regulation, and health outcomes.
Continuing Education content level: Introductory
*Please note:
- For full Provider information and additional CEC information, including attendance requirements, cancellation, and grievance policies, please visit our Continuing Education Credit information page.
- For those with a different license than listed above or with a license from a different board or association than listed on our CEC info page, please contact your licensing board or association directly to request pre-approval/acceptance of CE credits offered at Spirit Rock. Spirit Rock does not confirm the applicability of credit for those with licenses different than those listed.
- Co-sponsor Mindful CECs is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP17985 for 8 contact hours.
- Credit is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation if offered.
- Attendance is demonstrated through a comprehensive assessment at the end of the course, with a passing criterion of at least a 75% score. The assessment may be repeated if necessary.
- Potential Conflict of Interest Statement: This instructor may have authored publications relevant to the subjects covered in this course. The instructor might reference these publications during the course, and they may receive financial compensation if these publications are purchased.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the course format?
All of our on-demand courses are offered in a flexible self-study format, so you can access the materials whenever is good for you. Readings, video, audio, and all resources are structured for sequential access in our Online Learning Platform.
Can I participate from a different time zone?
Yes of course! We have students from all over the world participate in our courses. These self-paced study and practice courses are available wherever you are in the world, and whenever works best for you.
How long will I have access to the course?
You have lifetime access to the course and all materials.
I have more questions. Can you help me?
Yes! Please email us at courses@spiritrock.org with any questions that you might have.