Main Themes
Syntropics - Garden Design layout and building.
Bushcraft - Fire until everyone can do a bow drill fire effectively
Emotional Fluency - Mapping our parts.
What to bring
- Closed-toed shoes
- Layers of warm clothes
- Change of clothes
- Hat
Term 3 2025
🌈 10-Week Energy Centre & Maramataka Journey
Integrating the Hakomi Cycle of Sensitivities + Syntropic Gardening
Natural Leaders Guiding Hakomic Principles:
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Mandi's Additional Pragmatic Bits-
- Leave people, places, and things better than you found them.
- Don't die or seriously hurt yourself. Have fun and stretch yourself, but leave dumbassery at the door.
We don't coddle. Natural consequences are the greatest teacher. This ultimately makes kids safer as teens and adults. Students have a responsibility to look after their own wellbeing, especially when on quests. We only intervene if we observe a threat of serious bodily injury and believe the child may not be up to the stretch they have chosen for themselves.
Weekly Core Themes: Gratitude, Interoception, and Blessing
Each week we intentionally embed opportunities to develop our capacity for:
- Gratitude – noticing and naming what nourishes us
- Interoception – tuning into our inner sensations and body wisdom
- Blessing – learning how to offer care and reverence to people, places, and things
Philosophical Inquiry Practice: Each week includes a shared philosophical reflection inspired by the story or theme. This includes:
- A guiding question that invites wonder and discussion
- A community of inquiry moment (small group or full circle)
- A reflective prompt that may live in journals or circle dialogues
Each week follows this core structure:
DAILY FLOW:
- Contemplation
- Respect: Karakia
- Connect: Circle Sharing
- Reflect: Story + Skill/Teaching + Mindfulness/Imaginal Journey
- Action
- Direct: Students choose & complete their mini quest (stretch goal)
- Garden & Bushcraft: Practical work based on seasonal or site needs
- Celebration
- Reflect: What worked and what didn’t
- Connect: Circle Share
- Respect: Gold Star & Goose Egg Trophy Awards (carve initials in a shared stick)
- Rest
- Mindfulness Meditation
Wed 16 Jul 2025
Week 1: Orientation – Remembering Wholeness
Philosophical Inquiry Question: Is healing found by being strong, or by being humble enough to listen? Energy Centre Focus: Whole system overview
Maramataka: Waning Gibbous (letting go, reflecting on fullness) – Wed 16 Jul 2025- Introduce energy centres, Maramataka, and Hakomi cycle
- Group agreement & shared intentions
- Story: The Water of Life (Full Story Link)
The Water of Life (Grimm Brothers) A king is gravely ill, and only the Water of Life can heal him. His three sons set out to find it. The older two, proud and dismissive, ignore the wisdom of strangers and fail. The youngest son, kind and attentive, listens to those he meets—old men, mysterious guides, animals. He follows their cryptic directions, solves riddles, and braves enchanted trials to reach the hidden fountain of the Water of Life.
He brings the healing water back, but is betrayed by his brothers. Though cast aside, the youngest eventually triumphs—not through force, but because of his steadfastness, humility, and willingness to learn from the world around him.
Reflection Prompt: What is the "Water of Life" within me right now? Who or what in my life has offered wisdom that I overlooked or ignored? What journey am I ready to begin?
- Art Activity: Body Map or Earth-Body Connection drawing
- Garden Activity: Bless the whenua. What part of myself—or of the land—feels the most energetic where does it feel like the energy is low? What could we do to raise the energy in yourself and in the land?
- Art Activity: Body Map or Earth-Body Connection drawing
Wed 23 Jul 2025
Week 2: Root Energy Centre – Belonging to Earth
Philosophical Inquiry Question: How do we know when we are truly connected to a place? Energy Centre: Muladhara (Root)
Maramataka: Waxing Crescent (new beginnings, planting energy) – Wed 23 Jul 2025- Story: The Stonecutter (PDF Link)
- Skill: Grounding, barefoot walking, Physical Whakapapa and ancestor mapping exercise.
- Quest: dig the lines.
- Garden: Begin planting woven willow fence – protection, structure, edge creation
Wed 30 Jul 2025
Week 3: Sacral Energy Centre – Flow & Feeling
Philosophical Inquiry Question: Can emotions be trusted like a compass, or do they sometimes mislead us? Energy Centre: Svadhisthana (Sacral)
Maramataka: Waxing Crescent (continued growth, emergence) – Wed 30 Jul 2025- Story: La Llorona (Latinx) – grief, flow, emotional release
- Skill: Emotional attunement, water play, somatic sensing
- Quest: Express a hidden or stuck emotion through art or action
- Garden: The school helps finish off the fence. We map out or rows.
- Bushcraft: Learn to collect, filter, or respect water
Wed 6 Aug 2025
Week 4: Solar Plexus – Fire & Power
Philosophical Inquiry Question: Does true power come from doing, from knowing, or from trusting? Energy Centre: Manipura (Solar Plexus)
Maramataka: Waxing Gibbous (ripening energy) – Wed 6 Aug 2025- Story: Vasalisa the Wise (Slavic) – intuition, fire, transformation
- Skill: Gut-listening, fire circle setup, simple cooking or fire-starting
- Quest: Do one bold, gutsy thing that challenges fear
- Garden: Begin planting support species & nitrogen fixers
- Bushcraft: Fire safety, tool sharpening, knife handling
Wed 13 Aug 2025
Week 5: Heart – Compassion & Connection
Philosophical Inquiry Question: Can love survive fear, and can connection grow from what has been broken? Energy Centre: Anahata (Heart)
Maramataka: Full Moon (Sturgeon Moon – harvest, connection) – Wed 13 Aug 2025- Story: Skeleton Woman (Inuit) – love, grief, intimacy
- Skill: Heart coherence, partner mirroring, breathwork
- Quest: Offer kindness or reconciliation in relationship
- Garden: Planting fruit trees or flowering companions
- Bushcraft: Cordage for binding/support, knots for care
Wed 20 Aug 2025
Week 6: Throat – Truth & Voice
Philosophical Inquiry Question: If you lose your voice, do you lose your power—or can silence be stronger than speech? Energy Centre: Vishuddha (Throat)
Maramataka: Waning Gibbous (integration, truth-telling) – Wed 20 Aug 2025- Story: The Girl Without Hands (Grimm) – voicelessness, inner truth
- Skill: Storytelling, karanga/kōrero, expressive arts
- Quest: Speak a truth or reclaim a silenced story
- Garden: Begin staking, pruning, naming plants
- Bushcraft: Signal fires, making whistles, communicating across distance
Wed 27 Aug 2025
Week 7: Third Eye – Vision & Inner Sight
Philosophical Inquiry Question: When should we trust what we feel in our body over what we think in our head? Energy Centre: Ajna (Third Eye)
Maramataka: Last Quarter / Waning Crescent (distillation) – Wed 27 Aug 2025- Story: Bluebeard (French) – seeing hidden truth, intuition
- Skill: Dream tracking, guided visioning, symbol collage
- Quest: Create a personal symbol or prophecy image
- Garden: Observe changes, document patterns, sketch visions for full forest
- Bushcraft: Quiet tracking, animal sign, night vision
Wed 3 Sep 2025
Week 8: Crown – Spirit & Surrender
Philosophical Inquiry Question: Can we ever know where we truly come from—or where we’re going? Energy Centre: Sahasrara (Crown)
Maramataka: First Quarter (emergent action) – Wed 3 Sep 2025- Story: The Ugly Duckling (Andersen) – soul destiny, spiritual identity
- Skill: Silent walk, celestial awareness, solo time
- Quest: Let go of an old role or mask
- Garden: Interplanting, final canopy layers, release to succession
- Bushcraft: Natural shelter, foraging with reverence
Wed 10 Sep 2025
Week 9: Integration – Reweaving Self
Philosophical Inquiry Question: What part of us stays the same, even as everything else changes? Energy Centre: All
Maramataka: Full Moon (Corn Moon – illumination, gratitude) – Wed 10 Sep 2025- Reflection: Pair share our Journal with another.
- Quest: Revisit and transform a story or pattern
- Garden: Mulching, composting, replenishing soil for future
- Bushcraft: Honouring tools, making gifts from natural materials
Wed 17 Sep 2025
Week 10: Celebration & Continuation
Philosophical Inquiry Question: Is something complete because it ends, or because we say thank you? Energy Centre: All – Embodied Wisdom
Maramataka: Waning Gibbous (completion, letting go) – Wed 17 Sep 2025- Final Circle: storytelling, gratitude, offering
- Quest: Make a personal whakataukī or motto
- Garden: Ceremony for the space, blessing & rest
- Bushcraft: Student choice
