Feral Mindfulness

Online and In-Person Courses

An Introduction to Feral Mindfulness


Contemplative practices such as meditation and mindfulness are rooted in ancient, sacred ecosystems. A sacred ecosystem is a specific place comprised of specific wild animals, plants, spirits, elements, humans, mysterious forces and their relationship to each other. Modern contemplative philosophy often cuts our umbilicus to these nature-based wombs–the dark animate soil that birthed the peace and stillness we seek with these practices.

Without this nature-based relationship, mindfulness becomes simply a “productivity tool” or an “anxiety cure.” Mindfulness is this, but it is not just this. Our souls and psyches hunger for deeper sustenance; hunger to bring the fruits of our mindfulness practice back onto the land from which it was first birthed for the benefit of not just humans, but the entire ecological world.

So how do we do this? “Re-wilding” is a popular term, but in truth, very few of us today were born in the nature-based cultural ecologies of our ancestors that might truly claim the word “wild.” While we may travel far into the terrain of wildness, we carry the seeds of our modern culture within us. Instead, we seek to reclaim the term “feral.”

One definition of feral is “remembering wildness.” In our scope of practice, we are focusing on liberating our mentality from preconditioned views of what mindfulness is supposed to be or feel like. We can liberate mindfulness from its limited modern use and open up to its original translation of “remembering.” We are remembering wildness through nature-based mindfulness to rekindle our capacity to achieve a “wild state.”  This wild state is inherently aligned with the essential nature of reality, and thus our essential nature.

Our offerings are an introduction to help re-seed the foundations of nature-based mindfulness within you for the greater health and harmony of you and the earth.

This course is for you if at least one of these is true . . .

  • You have a connection with nature and are interested in growing or deepening your mindfulness/meditation practice.

  • You have a mindfulness/meditation practice and are interested in connecting to its ecological roots and re-connecting your practice with those roots.

  • You are interested in the lesser-known, earth/feminine-centric stories of the spiritual history of mindfulness and meditation. 

  • You are a healer/facilitator interested in learning more about how to blend mindfulness and nature-based practice for yourself and your clients.

  • You want to walk the land in a more mindful way.


Some of what you will receive in this course is . . .

  • Understanding that popular mindfulness has ecological, contextual, and historical roots.

  • Understanding of mindfulness as a “natural” human quality, that we may embody throughout our daily lives, in connection with others, and the natural world.

  • Bringing our mindfulness practice into connection with nature, and bringing nature into our mindfulness practice.

  • Tools for bringing these practices into our daily lives:

    1. Various meditations, practices, and ceremonies for effective “entry points’” applicable to formal practice on the cushion and informal moments throughout our everyday lives.

    2. Accessible ways of opening to active relationship with the natural world including intentional wilderness wanders, guided imagery journeys, and the language of communion with the natural world.

    3. Language and safe containers for sharing our typically unarticulated and unspoken experiences of depth, wonder, and mystery with the wild around us and the wild within us.

Online Half-Day Course

Intro to Feral Mindfulness

The Essentials

May 4th, 2025

7AM-12:30MST

15:00-20:30 CET

$60 USD/€55 EU

Join us for an accessible, half-day, online introductory course in Feral Mindfulness. For about 5.5 hours, we will dive into the intellectual and experiential realms of nature-based mindfulness and meditation in the very modern context of our digital screens. Within this course, we will invite and guide practices out into whatever nature is accessible to you, as well as the wild nature within ourselves.

  • Foundational teachings on the history and context of nature-based meditation and mindfulness.

  • Guided practices that lead us into inner wildness and wilderness.

  • Guided invitations and practices to meet the “nature out there” and the “nature within.”

  • Learn accessible meditation practices that integrate nature.

  • Learn how to offer the fruits of your practice to the natural world.

  • Practice the Art of Council for creating safe communal containers for conversation around our experiences and potentially challening subjects.

  • Support for working with others in this modality.

Full Day, In-Person Course

Intro to Feral Mindfulness

The Essentials

April 27th, 2025

9AM-4:30PM, MST

Four Corners Area of SW Colorado

$90 USD with $25 Deposit

For those local to the Four Corners region of Southwest Colorado, Joe and Deer are offering a unique, in-person, full-day immersion in Feral Mindfulness. With the earth beneath our feet, we will intentionally wander through the intellectual and experiential realms of nature-based mindfulness and meditation. We will invite the wild “out there” to come within, and the wild within to come out. Here are some of the main highlights of this offering:

  • Foundational teachings on the history and context of nature-based meditation and mindfulness.

  • Guided practices, on the land and with the land, that lead us into inner wildness and wilderness.

  • Guided invitations and practices to meet the “nature out there” and the “nature within.”

  • Learn accessible meditation practices that integrate nature.

  • Learn how to offer the fruits of your practice to the natural world.

  • Practice the Art of Council for creating safe communal containers for conversation around our experiences and potentially challening subjects.

  • Spend alone time with the land both with structure and without.

  • Be with a supportive group of humans and guides to explore these often un-talked about, but felt, experiences with nature.

Meet Your Feral Mindfulness Facilitators

Some Testimonials from Other Offerings

  • "The Walking in Wild Prayer Pilgrimage with Deer Ryder, Boundless (Joe), the pilgrims who were called to join, and all the seen and unseen beings who call the Wild Mesa home completely transformed my life, and that is not an exaggeration. . . "

    -Briana Halliwell

  • "...Deer and Joe role-model this presence that they're teaching so well. It's clear they practice what they preach.."

    -Abigail Coughlin

  • "Thank you for reminding me to ask, out loud, nature for permission, support, guidance... Once I remembered this, I began to get responses. Shooting stars at just the right moment, surprise discoveries during wanderings..."

    -Chris Cottrell

  • "So wonderful! I am extremely grateful for you! I was reflecting on how safe I feel in this space - and I often don't feel that around men so thank you for the beautiful energy you put out into the world."

    -Cassidy Powell

  • "...at first I was really doubtful about two gringos giving a retreat on spiritual matters, but this was one of the first opportunities I've had to explore inside myself. I love the kindness, love and sensibility of Deer and Joe as instructors... it opened my heart to explore and dig more into my questions... Their guidance helped me to find the connection that I lost with a realm that has been my companion for many years. Thanks for making me realize how much I need this spark to light my path."

    -Memo Santos

  • "The time in silence and meditation... was delicious and life changing. I feel completely rejuvenated, refreshed, rested and clear minded. I feel more in touch with my true self than I have in a long time. So many worries and fears simply faded away as I connected to the wild..."

    -Rachel Wallace

  • "Thank you for creating such a beautiful offering to the community... The heart that each of you put into the retreat was obvious, and the space was poignant as a result. My experience was quite profound, and much of that is due to the container that you both created."

    -Stephanos Calligas

Still Have Questions? Please Message Us.