This blog is based on an extract from a chapter that I am in the process of co-writing with two other dramatherapy collegues.

In this blog, I will reflect on “nature” as a conscious participant and co-facilitator in constellation and nature retreats that I facilitate.

We walk in single file up the rocky path, across the grassy field, under the boughs of the magnificent blue gum tree. We walk in silence. We are invited to connect with our senses, moving from the sight of the light reflected off the leaves, to the sound of our feet crunching on the dry grass, to the smell of the Karoo bush, to the feeling of the wind on our skin. We rest in each sense experience before moving on. The invitation is to become fully embodied, to awaken to the world as it presents itself. Walking through this pristine landscape it is easier to be intentional about moving out of the busy mind and into the body. This is facilitated by developing a relationship with the natural world around us in the present moment. Restoring the body mind Nature connection enables the awakening of intuition or access to “inner wisdom”. We arrive at the rock labyrinth laid out on a plateau after a short scramble up a little hill. The lion-shaped mountain rises to the north and the Sneeuberg Mountain range stretches out to the west. The view is expansive. The experience of opening the senses is key to awakening our inner knowing that we are not separate from this natural world we inhabit.

The first person enters the labyrinth and begins her journey following the rocky outlines that mimic the Chatre Cathedral. I find a warm rock to sit on to witness as each takes their turn to travel to the center of the labyrinth and then back out again. The vast landscape is barely disturbed as the humans turn in circles first one way then the other. We walk back in silence, savouring the experience. We continue to hold the silence as we reflect in journals and with the art materials to express what has just transpired. Then, we share stories about the deep and profound connections, challenges, affirmations and reminders encountered on the journey.

The processes I am describing here are part of a retreat that I have been facilitating on our farm in the Karoo since 2015. Over the years I have woken up to the experience of co-facilitating with Nature.

When I was asked by my parents 14 years ago to return to the family farm in the Karoo, to take over the responsibility of custodianship of the land I had to reimagine my dramatherapy practice. Growing up in this place, I sought refuge and comfort in the environment. Very early on, I understood the healing power of this landscape. I knew this place to be as related to me as my parents and siblings. And so I dreamed into this collaboration for healing.

As a farmer I am totally dependent on the natural environment for my wellbeing, I need to become highly attuned to its great wisdom. I am humbled by the droughts, floods and the earth’s magnificent potential for growth against the odds. I must refine my observation skills to learn from both the immense and the miniscule teachers that surround me. Family Constellations teaches us to work phenomenolgically, to work towards seeing “what is” and allow for a direct sensory experience of the world (https://www.theinnerprocess.com/family-constellations-phenomenology-and-therapeutic-streams.html). As a farmer, the animals in my care depend on my ability to see “what is” and to respond in the moment to what is needed right now. I cannot afford to see what I think could or should be true, nor to develop a theory about what I see, I must respond in the moment to things as they are. Who knew that farming would teach me about constellations!

Likewise, the knowledge that all things are connected is indesputable to me in my role as farmer. Every element impacts the other, the seasons impact the plants, impacts the animals, impacts the predators, impacts the yield, impacts the humans, impacts the animals, impacts the seasons, and around and around. When the predator arrives in the herd everyone knows at almost exactly the same time. Perhaps due to acute observation skills and perhaps also due to knowing through connection. Thus the “knowing field” is not a strange concept to my farming self. The field is that which we include in our observation of “what is” and the knowing is the interconnection between the elements therein. Animals use this “knowing” for their survival and thus, I believe, this sense is perfectly tuned. This “knowing” in humans looks like madness because we cannot tolerate being awake to all this information all the time, so as constellations practitioners we need to learn how to turn it on and off.

I trained as a family constellations practitioner in 2017, though my relationship with family constellations started in 2003 when I first experienced the modality in Bubbles Levinson’s house many years ago! I immediately incorporated some of the principles into my dramatherapy practice. Psychodrama (a tool used by dramatherapists) significantly influenced Hellinger and the development of family constellations, which allowed for easy cross polination of family constellations principles into my practice.

Later, on the same the retreat I facilitate a family constellation process. We work under the great willow tree, with the grass under our feet. The willow is enrolled as the clients’ “healthy ancestor”. Other group members and parts of the landscape are also enrolled. Even the sheepdog is enrolled as “a child” as she moves through the scene, bringing an unpredictable but profound teaching to the process. We notice the wind picking up or the sun hiding behind a cloud. These elements are invited into the “field”. Afterwards, when the process is done and a few drops of rain fall to the dry earth we cheer as if the rain itself is celebrating and acknowledging where we have travelled.

Here I feel the Nature working as my co-facilitator. I feel the support, the occasional challenge and the constant invitation to remain awake to all that arises. When we work indoors “the field” is that which is inside the walls of our practice space. This includes what is felt and experienced by the representatives, witnesses and facilitator. Occassionaly this may also stretch to include the unexpected intrusions or signals from non-human participants. However, containment of the space and elimination of interuptions is what keeps the process safe and manageable. When we work outside, in the natural environment this “field” opens up exponentially. We may need to be selective in what we attend to and creating safety and containment must be even more thoroughly ensured. We sometimes need to mark a space or time for the constellation.

In my work as a dramatherapist and consellations practioner I am enriched by the lessons that are provided by observing “what is” around me all the time. When I engage with the natural world in this way the possibilities are infinite, profound and transformative

Ronan Burger (also a dramatherapist) describes how Nature becomes the dynamic and active third participant in the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist. At times the role played by the natural environment is central and other times secondary (2015). Walking the labyrinth, I am the supportive co-facilitator and witness of the group as Nature takes the central role in holding the participants process. The central dynamic is that which is taking place with the participants as they respond and interact with the natural environment. Each time I invite the participants to step listen deeply within and without, I step back and allow Nature to take the central role. Whereas, during the family constellation I am supported by Nature as my co-facilitator.

Nature is not a conscious and benevolent co-facilitator of my process, however what arises can be used to deepen insights and awareness if we pay attention. This is true in any projective process. As a dramatherapist the use of projective techniques are important tool. For example, in an exercise I invite a client to choose an object from a collection of random objects to represent herself. She chooses one and describes how the smooth, round object has holes and is non-descript which is how she feels about herself. I invite her to blow on it and she discovers it makes a beautiful sound of a flute. Tears spring to her eyes as she recognises that she did not see the object for what it was and its true value lay in the sound hidden within. She recognises the parallel in her own life. When we invite clients to use the natural evironment to represent parts of themselves, their family and their story, the richness reveals itself each time.

I step out with my client into the literal field where some cattle are grazing. My client enrolls the cow and her calf as parts of herself. The bull and young heifer are given roles in this parts-of-self constellation. We observe them moving about in the field oblivious to their new roles. Yet when the calf drinks from her mother and the bull preens and the heifer prances, my client is filled with deep insights about parts of herself that she has kept hidden and seeing them here in the field she is able to develop a love and compassion for these parts.

Thinking of Nature as my co-facilitator helps me and the client to move away from the oppressive story of, “the individual striving against the odds,” towards a sense of connection and interdependence with the world around us (Berry, 2023). We find our own potential for growth and our orientation towards life is reflected back to us because we are awakened to the fact of our interdependence. We honour the seasons, night and day, the significance of cycles of regulation and the centrality of death as a source of life. “The patterns, codes and lessons of nature are stamped into our genetic and cultural DNA. They are inherent in the way our minds work” (Berry, 2023, p.95). Capaldi et al (2015) describe how there is growing evidence to support the idea that exposure to nature has a significant positive impact on both physical and mental well being and “flourishing in life”. Burls (2007) speaks of how interacting with the natural environment leads to having an increased capacity to regulate responses, improve a sense of intenral control and to develop self-awareness.

As we wake up to our relationship with Nature, eliminate the boundary between ourselves and Nature and recognise our oneness with the natural world, so we connect with an ever present, life sustaining resource.

Join me on The Rest in March from the 20 to the 24th or in the last week of November 2025 to reconnect with Nature within and without. Or contact me to find out about solo retreats and other offerings coming up.

by Paula Kingwill – https://karoorest.com


References:

  1. Flourishing in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting with nature and its application as a wellbeing intervention, in International Journal of Wellbeing 2015, Capaldi, C; Passmore, H; Nisbet, E, Zelenski, JM
  2. People and green spaces: Promoting public health and mental well-being through ecotherapy; Journal of Public Mental Health, 2007, Burls, A
  3. The well-evidenced benefits of ecotherapy. Counselling Australia, 2023, Berry, G
  4. Ronan Burger (I cannot find his article and I’m out of time will keep looking).