The Story Behind the Four Winds Center for EcoPsychology
About fourteen years ago, I was in a forest of Sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park with a friend. We sat down for lunch on a rock with a single flower blooming right out of a crack in the rock. Then we heard a mysterious sound. I tried to figure out what it was. At times it sounded like a bird, and, at other times, it sounded like a frog. I looked up and saw a large black bird with a purple sheen sitting in one of the Giant Sequoias. As we sat there, the bird circled us, moving from one tree,to another, and so on until it had completed a circle around us. I sensed that this was a spirit birt with a message for me, and the message would be about a new direction I would be going in my life. This new direction would in some way combine my love of nature and the outdoors with my interest in psychology. In the years that followed I found myself learning about about this new area that had to do with our relationship with the Earth. Frequently, I would have synchronistic experiences that would bring to me just what I needed to learn at that time. Some time later I heard the historian and author Theodore Roszak use the term "ecopsychology" and I said to myself, "yes, that is a name for what I have been learning about."

One summer I was backpacking in the High Sierra in and just outside of Yosemite National Park. I camped at a site at around 11,000 feet not far from Koip Pass. Then I took a day hike up to the top of the pass. On the way up and on the way back, I was impressed by the views of Mono Lake. Coming back, I sensed that I was being called by the Lake. I returned to camp,and decided to hike out a day early and go down to Mono Lake. When I arrived at the shores of the lake it was just getting dark and the sky was lit up like it was on fire! Three-quarters of the sky was a brilliant red. I was impressed by the power of the place and the ability of the Lake, mountains and sky to work together to create this outstanding show of color and power. I knew that this place, this lake, was the center of the power that would guide my work in ecopsychology. Eventually, this led to the formation of the Four Winds Center for EcoPsychology which was a way of sponsoring wilderness trips that would help bring people into closer relationship with the natural world and that would help heal our relationship with the Earth.

Acknowledging Those Who Have Helped Me Along the Way
There have been a number of people who have been my teachers and guides along the way. Here I would like to acknowledge and thank them. First, there was the Raven who appeared to me in Sequoia National Park as a "spirit bird" who brought me the message about the new direction my life was about to take. I also want to acknowledge and thank Stephen Foster and Meredith Little who taught me about the vision quest and who were my teachers and guides on my first vision quest. I also want to mention Fred Tejien who taught me about shamanic journeying and helped me with my own healing and personal growth. Then there is John Perkins, whose books and tapes added to my learning about shamanism. At one of his workshops gave me a special energetic blessing to help restore my health. Then there are Malidoma and Sobonfu Some' who taught me much about ritual, the culture of the Dagara, and the knowledge and wisdom they have to share with those of us in western countries. I also want to thank the Spirit of Mono Lake which has been the primary inspiration, guide, and teacher in my work in ecopsychology. I want to acknowledge all those many places and spirits in the wilderness who graciously agreed to help me in this work. With honor and respect, I give my heartfelt thanks and blessings to all the spirits who are assisting me.

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