Reconnecting With Nature

Renewing our relationship with nature is an essential component of regenerative leadership practice.

Sandwood Bay Beach, Scotland with Sea stack, Am Buachaille in the distance

Leaning heavily to one side and perched precariously on the forward edge of a Torridonian gritstone outcrop of rock that reached into the sea like the gnarled talons of an outstretched dragon’s claw, I crouched down further on to my haunches for a more intimate view and slowly took in the scene in front of me.

The salt bristled inside my nostrils as I inhaled the pure sea air that whispered around me as the waves capitulated on the stoic, white sands of the beach which remained unmoved as they came ashore.

The warmth of the late Spring sunshine accompanied the onshore breeze that gently ruffled the tufts of Lyme grass like a mother affectionately runs her fingers through the hair of their child to let them know everything is as it should be in the world.

And it was, just as it should be, as nature had always intended.

This was the Northwest Highlands of Scotland dazzling more brightly than any jewelled, sun kissed cove that the Caribbean could possibly offer¹.

And in that moment, I was smitten. An invisible, visceral connection to the land and the sea was fashioned in the foundations of my heart.

I was an awkward 14 year old boy, a long way from home learning how to take my first faltering steps in self reliance and independence on an outward bound adventure course. I had been pushed a considerable distance outside of my comfort zone.

The upland landscape of the North West Highlands of Scotland

We’d yomped for the best part of a day through hills and heather bogs to arrive at Sandwood Bay armed only with a piece of cheese, a fishing hook and line, a box of matches and a bin liner. The expectation was that we would survive for 24 hours at the beach and then yomp back to the land rover pick up point to take us back to base.

I had, to put it mildly been challenged to get here but that bubbling cauldron of anxious feelings at that particular moment was now becalmed.

As I became increasingly interwoven with the enchanted fabric of this wild landscape, all the feelings of home sickness, tiredness and hunger dissolved. For the first time since I arrived in this wilderness, at last, I felt safe, content and no longer alone.

I found shelter in a sun trap among the Lyme grass, lay down somewhat wearily, fidgeted my way into a comfortable position and fell asleep.

I couldn’t tell you, then or now, why I felt that way but I knew then, as I know now, I was part of this ethereal place and, on that day, through osmosis, it had become a part of me.

I felt held.

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Why am I telling you all this? After all, I’m supposed to be writing about leading and teamwork aren’t I? Do bear with me. There is a point to this story.

A couple of weeks ago the SELF camp team travelled to Heartwood, a farm, just outside Matlock in Derbyshire (UK) to make the camp ready for June 14th. Using only available materials from the land and recycled wood from skips and rubbish dumps, we were able to build the all important compost toilet and field kitchen.

An example of a compost toilet

SELF is an annual initiative organised by Indigo Brave that caters for teenage boys and girls similar in age to me when I first visited Sandwood Bay. They’ve been doing this work successfully since 1996 earning a hat full of plaudits and awards along the way and I feel privileged to be invited to co-lead this year’s inaugural Boys SELF Camp.

A SELF camp is a fully interactive, fun and challenging experience set in nature, which can provide essential learning experiences to support and encourage the active development and growth of Emotional Intelligence and Social Interaction capabilities, which have been lacking through and since the global pandemic over the past few years. 

Unknowingly, the SELF camps have been teaching the principles of regenerative leadership before the term entered the lexicon of leadership and management.

Regenerative Leadership - The Book

Regenerative leadership practice, as defined by Laura Storm and Giles Hutchins, requires that we work to renew four important connections that have through history become disconnected.

These connections are:

• Humans and nature

• Masculine and feminine energy

• Mind, body and spirit

• Logic and emotion

This year’s SELF camps will work to provide teenage boys and girls with an opportunity to learn about and fall in love with the land that will be their temporary home for 3 days. They will explore and work with the land and the natural rhythms of the day to live and thrive nestled in nature.

It’s an opportunity to make a small dent in the Universe² and create a ripples of impact, - the ROI of the SELF camp - where 36 teenagers will carry their lessons and enthusiasm to encourage and enroll others into reconnecting with and being held by nature. We all need to so we can making a contribution, however small, to renewing and regenerating the five spheres that support all life on Planet Earth for life to thrive.

It’s been 45 years since I last visited Sandwood Bay and it is on my list of places to revisit with my wife, Tina. May is often the best time of year as there are no midges or black flies to contend with and, if the jet stream is flowing as it should, sunshine makes an extended appearance taking temperatures comfortable into the 70s (F)/ 20s (C).

We’ve missed it this year. Family medical challenges have made an 11 hour trip north unrealistic and unachievable just now.

When I think about my formative experience in that landscape I still feel the same. The feeling has never left me. My hope for this year’s SELF camps is that our young participants get to experience reconnecting with, learning about and falling in love with being a part of nature rather than separate from it.

Perhaps their experiences will leave similar lasting impressions.

If you know of anyone in your network who may be interested in finding out more about this year’s SELF Camps, please do share this article with them using the button below and encourage them to consider clicking through on this link.

If you would like to book a place for your teenager on one of the upcoming SELF camps in either Derbyshire or Surrey (UK) please email Joanna@indigobrave.com.

1. Having been several times and lucky enough to travel extensively through my previous corporate career, I still hold this assertion to be true.

2. Source: Noah Wyle originated this phrase while playing Steve Jobs in the 1999 made for television movie Pirates of Silicon Valley