Deron D.

Spending a week immersed in nature with the Kripalu School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership was really profound for me. I’m a two-time stroke survivor, I’ve had open-heart surgery, I’ve gone down a very dark road of addiction and I’ve spent the last decade learning how to heal—how to heal myself and also how to bring healing into the world. I’ve been in search of healing tools, exploring different traditions, and this week took that to another level.

I’m the founder and executive director of a center called Toivo in Connecticut, where we bring mind/body practices to prisons, psychiatric hospitals, homeless shelters, and schools, working with police departments to teach stress-mitigation tools, and we realized we weren’t doing a lot in nature. We wanted to do more to support people in connecting with nature and make that part of the healing process, which we have come to learn is very important. We searched for a training that would fit our needs, and this one has completely delivered. I love the balance between lecture and experiential—being in nature, mindful walking. Micah and Mark bring such depth of wisdom and knowledge, and it’s such an honor to learn from both of them.

I’m excited to bring this back to people with addiction, people who are struggling with their mental health, or people just looking for better ways to balance the nervous system and to show up for themselves and for their families. This is going to be a key part of the work we do going forward.