I enjoy browsing Kamana.org the way I enjoy looking through my field guides, I always come across something interesting that I wasn’t aware of before.
But then, one day while out hiking I noticed a patch of yellow “stuff” on a log beside the trail. I couldn’t find anything on it anywhere, so I turned to Kamana.org. Within a few days I learned that I had found a slime mold in the wild! A very cool learning experience.
Kamana changed my life– I’ve always wanted to know the names of the plants, birds, trees that are in my backyard. However, I didn’t expect to have such a deep relationship with everything around me. Especially the birds and tracks and the stories they tell every moment. I’m so grateful, so moved by the awareness I’ve developed through Kamana homework. I hope more people can experience this quality of connection to the beauty of the natural world.
Kamana.org is one of the few ways I have to connect with other people who are interested in developing nature awareness skills. In my busy life I often forget that it is so important to me, and since I know no one in real life who shares this interest, Kamana.org keeps this thread alive in me. An example would be this past Spring’s 30 day challenge which had me going to my sit spot every day for 30 days. I noticed subtle details about the natural world that would normally have completely escaped my attention. With that awareness I felt at home in the beauty and mystery that is the world of plants, trees, insects, animals and stars.
Kamana has been a truly amazing experience for me. I was amazed at the stuff I read in the first week or two in the program. Even as a lifetime hunter at the age of 45, I had no idea of the usefulness of birds in the hunting experience. Now in K4, I am honing in a new skill that is just incredible to me. I have had moments of intuition through the program but to be able to develop intuition is pretty incredible and I am amazed at things I discover pretty frequently. It’s kind of like magic – in my opinion. I have also had some amazing close interactions with wild animals in the couple years of my Kamana journey. I have experienced things that I never would have thought possible.
Anyone can go for a walk in the woods – Kamana brings the stories of nature alive, and reminds us of how we belong there as much as any other living being.
Having the Kamana.org site allows me to see the Kamana experience from many different perspectives. At the same time, I also see others having similar experiences and challenges, which is very helpful.
I am currently in my third year of studying with the Kamana program and I find that this study has deepened my love and awareness of this beautiful world in which we live. I thrive on the mysteries that unfold through the more “formal” path of researching the field journals and through the intimacy of my sit spot.
I am very grateful to be on the Kamana path.
I love Kamana.org and all the information on the site. The stories are great and make you think about your own experiences. The idea of the sit spot is a great learning experiences. The fox walking has been fun. It makes me feel like a little kid. Dad came by to visit and asked me where were my shoes? The nature awareness exercises have be fun games to play just having trouble picking up a pencil. It’s been a fun program, I have learned a lot. I know this is just a preview of what’s to come. I love it!
We did a lot of Kamana journals, mapping, weather journals and the like in my Residential Program year (2006-2007), but did not complete anything for Kamana credit. I had always intended to do Kamana for the certification and for my own enjoyment. But I needed a reason to get back into the habit of doing it.
Kamana.org gave me the incentive to get out the field guides and to take a look at what I’d done earlier. I’m pretty impressed with how much more I know now than just a few years ago! I’ve learned to pay attention to the birds, animals, plants and trees around me… often without realizing it.
In my own heart I felt I had a connection to the natural world. I felt that I knew something about what was happening out my door. A simple test showed me that I was right in some ways but I had a long way to go in truly knowing. I wish I would have found this years ago, but maybe, now, in my life is when I really needed it and it has changed me.
My connection to myself and the natural world gets deeper each day. I may not be able to go out and wander daily and somedays I feel like I can barely get outside for more than a few minutes. However, even a few minutes have a great impact and can energize me and calm me.
Thanks for the journey.
Comparing my limited experiences in nature before embarking on the Kamana path to the present, all I can say is that I wake up every morning feeling like a player in a great game, rather than a spectator just sitting on the sidelines. I’m sure opportunities to participate presented themselves before Kamana, but I never acted on a single one. Work on the Awareness and Resource Trails has given me a game plan and “coaches” seem to appear out of nowhere. While it’s difficult to realize how far we have removed ourselves from the rest of creation, it is gratifying to learn that there are so many others determined to reconnect. Kamana is one of the best ways to do it.
As a K4 student who has seen a good bit of what Kamana has to offer, Kamana offers plenty of room and flexibility for a student to pursue his or her specific personal goals in seeking a nature awareness education. The program is supportive of individuals’ unique experience, never judgmental, competitive, or in other ways evaluative.
The community–staff and students– works as supportive, inspiring peer mentors to each other and has made the difference between finding or not finding my motivation to continue the study over the long run. This program will also potentially help you learn about your personal experience of the natural world, your role in community and about yourself.
I love Kamana. Throughout my journey with the program, my connection and knowledge of the natural world as grown tremendously. I find that I know things that I can’t remember learning. My curiosity about nature lives with me daily. Through Kamana I have gain an insider’s look into the natural world, learning how to see beneath the surface, and look through the eyes of the animals and plants in my area. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in nature become a part of the Kamana family!
The Kamana Program taught me how to be in the woods. I cannot imagine a better education for a naturalist, or a person who wants to be one. Because I have learned to be quiet, observant, and literally become part of the fabric of the setting, I have seen many, many things that friends of mine with advanced degrees have never even heard of. No matter the setting, woodland, desert, or beach, I have learned to tune myself to the environment. I am at home in the woods in the dark, in the rain, in the snow. This intimate, first hand knowledge of the woods is by far the greatest gift Kamana has given me.
Kamana is quite simply the most fulfilling, holistic and beautiful undertaking that I have ever engaged in. It is an initiation into the heart of our human nature. I am a happier, calmer and balanced person than I was when I began the Kamana program more than 10 years ago. I can’t deeply enough express my gratitude for this journey.
I would recommend Kamana to everyone. It is so great to connect to life around me. So necessary in this frantic time. It has given me a greater sense of stillness and adventure at the same time. I love it!
I started the Kamana program two and a half years ago when I lived in Michigan. I loved my daily sit spot and all I learned from the daily lessons. The method of teaching was fun and easy. I looked forward to each day’s adventures. I moved to Virginia 7 months after starting the program and even though I love being outside, I have not been able to “hear” the woods calling me like when I lived in Michigan. After having set the Kamana book aside for almost a year, I somehow found my way back to it and feel that it is one of my best friends. A familiar voice in an unfamiliar land.
Thank you for putting the energy into the program that will call people back to their self!
Kamana was an incredible experience for my family! I home school my kids, and we embraced this program a few years back. It helped to connect us to and gain a reverence for our environment. It helped us all to see the beauty of nature everywhere…even in the most unlikely places. It has made every one of us more grounded, connected and spiritual. And–it helped us to see the best in ourselves and in others. I am grateful that we found this path! Thank you!!
Currently in Kamana 2, as with Kamana 1 I have found a place for me in the quiet outdoors. I have been able to apply the quietness to the daily activities I face at work. It is hard but I am working on it.
I have been able to go inside of my thoughts and express feelings along with mapping those feelings.
I have received more knowledge of my local plants and animals, which I share with my five year old. It is common now for her to spot a red tail hawk, certain flowers and her favorite trees.
When we go to the local lake beach, to track, my daughter will spot a new life and we go back to discover what it is and its function.
Thank you for your programs and your monthly letters by email.
Kamana has awakened my awareness to the natural world. It has given me the tools to ask the right questions.
I’ve lived where I currently live for 26 years. I never thought I could tell the difference between the birds, or the plants.
After learning what questions it was that I needed to ask, I not only can tell the difference between all the birds or plants, but I’ve learned the birds songs, can tell their territory, and I know more about the traditional uses of my native plants.
To deepen your awareness of the place you live, Kamana is the answer!
My experience with Kamana was brief, but amazing, and I can hardly wait for when my schedule opens up next year so that I can immerse myself in it again. One incredible thing was developing my sit spot and my skills at seeing and hearing. I am a city girl and was at first apprehensive about sitting out in nature. But as I sat at my sit spot, I learned that my sense of hearing was attuned to what was around me and I felt safe from intruders knowing that I would be able to hear them and could easily move to safety. I delighted in moving from the deer running away from me to noticing them standing and watching me! And it was an eye opener – and awe inspiring to watch the spice bush beside me develop from bare branches to full leaves. What a lot of work nature goes to to go through the seasons. Thank you for the many gifts of ‘wow’ and ‘aha’ and for the lessons on what to beware of as well as be aware of. You’re program is super!
Hi there! As an international Kamana Student from Europe who has just finished Kamana 2, here’s what I have to say: This program has taken me on a journey deep into nature and deep into myself. It brought greater awareness and stronger connections than I ever experienced before.In just a few months time I learned more about nature than in many years at school. Like in any journey, there were ups and downs for me, but one thing I know for sure: Kamana is one of the experiences in my life I do not want to miss! Best regards!
I’m only getting ready to start with Kamana II right now, but Kamana I has already had a grand impact. It’s not so much been that one experience, that leaves you humbled. For me it has been that steady, sweet, beautiful flow of continuous excitement, dedication and improvement that left me with a child’s sparkle in the eye, and an everlasting desire to know more. Thank you Kamana! Looking so much forward to losing a big chunk of my busy life to the next part, the next adventure.
I’m currently a Kamana One student and I already know that I’ll be taking the rest of the courses once I finish. Kamana offers exactly what I’ve been looking for and I can already feel that my awareness has increased dramatically and that I am becoming more acquainted with the natural world. I greatly appreciate all the time and energy that has been put into creating this course. Thank you.
This has been one of the best nature courses I have ever taken!
The Kamana program has really opened my eyes to my own backyard. It has helped me to slow down and really take everything around me in. It’s really just enhanced everything in my life and made me really excited to learn more about nature, myself and everything! Oh and it’s help me a lot in taming that little voice in my head that get’s in the way sometimes. I have really enjoyed the sit-spot and quiet mind. But yes basically it’s the coolest program ever and has enriched my life! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Kamana is like a companion, a friend, the bird in the canopy calling to me.
I began Kamana One as part of the chosen independent study for my graduate Environmental Education curriculum.
I also had to do several other nature studies curriculum’s and compare them to my chosen Kamana.
Many of the wilderness education programs were excellent with creative and varied approaches.
Kamana was the one that brought me most to my childhood passions, got me out of my head, gave me the most teaching insights and sensitized me the most.
A friend told me that Kamana makes him so sensitive it is even hard to walk on the Plantain with shoes. I understand.
Years later I am going back to Kamana. Now, I am over 50, and the way I experience it is wildly and mysteriously even more enriching than before.
~Migwitch~
How can I express my thanks? What miracles arise from a sit spot? What does it mean that now I am always in the company of my friends — the juncos, chipmunks, jays, robins, finches, squirrels, wrens, and turkeys? They are all my friends, and I listen and await them. The wind is my friend. The trees are my friends. The shrubs are my friends. The insects are my friends. The earth is my friend. These are some of the blessings visited upon me by Kamana and its friends. And for these and other blessings I am grateful.
When I was a kid I spent many hours alone in the bush and on the waters of Ontario. Later in life I discovered field guides and followed a passion for plants and mushrooms. I thought I knew the natural world. The only reason I signed up for Kamana was because I understood that this program would make me a more effective elder in the Wilderness Awareness School community. What a gift it has turned out to be! I have discovered new richness and depth in my relationship with both the natural and human worlds through what I have learned, and my own life has become more meaningful in all dimensions as a result of my Kamana experience.
This past year has been one of change for me in my life. Kamana has helped in this change by giving me that little bit of “extra”centered-ness to help keep me focused on what I feel to be real for my life. I am fortunate to live in an area of Europe with plenty of wilderness and wildlife. From Kamana I have gained not only a greater awareness but also respect for the inhabitants of the wild that surrounds me and for this, I am thankful.
I have found the adult homestudy Kamana program to be a huge help. I do volunteer work at the local conservancy and wish to become involved with other local environmental efforts. I have for some time wished I was a better naturalist. Took the MD Master Naturalist training but that lacked much (its a new program and they are feeling their way.) But through Kamana, especially Kamana 3, I am learning a lot about local flora and fauna. A lot of reading, yes, but it supplements greatly what I already know. I hope to become a real naturalist and able to have adult as well as children (my current volunteer work) walks to show them nature and help develop an appreciation for what we have. Thank you for the opportunity.
Wow! The Kamana One program opened the door to life changing experiences. I spring out of bed early in the morning to read the story or activity of the day and in just a short amount of time have exercises in awareness and connections that carry throughout my whole day. I’m curious and playful in and out of the woods with new insights and plenty more questions that feed and fuel my passion for nature.
Just having the invitation and some direction to head into the woods has me witnessing intricacies and mysteries that astound, yet all start to make sense.
I’ve always spent time in the woods, but this program helped me focus and quiet my mind so that I was present enough to see and hear from where all the sounds of nature that have surrounded me have been coming and to develop habits of awareness to help me understand these findings and want to discover more.
Kamana has been wonderful. Not just for me, but for my kids as well. The more I learn, the more I teach them. I knew it was a great thing to be involved in when my 5 year old daughter saw some doe tracks while hiking and knew what they were and then wanted to follow them into the forest. So we did and found where the doe had bedded down earlier in the day. It has also done wonders for me just being out in the forest and knowing what certain birds are doing and a better idea of what might be going on out of my field of vision because of it. Tracking and stalking while bow hunting has also gotten better and will just improve as knowledge and experience moves on with time and practice. I seriously recommend this program to anyone that has a spare 5 minutes in each day. It is truly a life-enriching experience relearning how we come alive in our true, natural state we were all designed to operate in.
I had so much fun doing Kamana and becoming part of a community I never would have otherwise…and I had 2 wonderful experiences which I will never forget and forever will be grateful for..one was with a red fox in my sit spot and the other was discovering a lovely flower I had never seen before nor since as I was mapping my community…I have also become much more aware of my surroundings and more in tune with nature.
Kamana has been a life-altering experience and worth every step along the journey!