STUDY GUIDE Coyote’s Path: Mentoring as Nature Connection

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About Coyote Mentoring

Coyote Mentoring is a relational approach to learning that follows the rhythms of nature, curiosity, and connection. Rooted in the Eight Shields model and inspired by regenerative, land-based cultures, it emphasizes mentoring over teaching—modeling attentiveness rather than delivering information. Coyote Mentors guide through story, mystery, and well-timed questions that awaken awareness rather than explain.

At the heart of this approach are core routines like Sit Spot, Bird Language, and Wandering—practices repeated over time that build deep relationship with place. These routines cultivate the attributes of connection: quiet mind, empathy, resilience, aliveness, and love for the Earth.

The mentor’s role is to remain largely invisible, listening deeply and guiding with humility. Coyote Mentoring honors each learner’s natural genius and encourages self-discovery, not performance. Over time, this practice supports the growth of whole humans—attuned to the land, to their own gifts, and to the unfolding story of community and culture.

With deep gratitude to Jon Young and his work across so many programs and communities—for inspiring me, the children I teach, and the wider circle of mentors walking this path. His teachings have shaped not only the routines we return to, but the way we listen, question, and build culture rooted in connection.

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Table of Contents I. Introduction & Vision II. Foundations III. Core Routines of Deep Nature Connection

I. Introduction & Vision

At its heart, this work is about remembering relationship. Nature Connection is not a concept to be taught, but a way of being—rooted in direct experience, sensory presence, and reverence for life. The Mentor steps into this field not as an authority, but as a servant to connection, guiding invisibly and modeling a life of curiosity and care. As these threads take root, a Culture of Nature Connection begins to form—where gratitude, story, and shared rhythms become part of daily life. Through this, we engage in Cultural Repair, quietly reviving the invisible school of intergenerational wisdom and belonging.

Who is Coyote?

Coyote is the trickster, the edge-walker, the one who teaches without teaching. In Indigenous and mythic traditions, Coyote doesn’t give answers; he stirs the pot, disrupts the obvious, and provokes new ways of seeing. He might show up in disguise, throw you off course, or make you laugh right before you learn something you didn’t expect.

In Coyote’s Guide, mentors are encouraged to take on the role of the trickster—not as jokers, but as quiet catalysts for learning. Instead of leading from the front, the mentor stays just outside the spotlight—observing, listening, and stepping in with a well-timed question or prompt. The goal isn’t to explain everything, but to spark curiosity and help learners make discoveries on their own.

What Is Nature Connection—and Why It Matters

The Practice

Nature connection is not simply being outdoors or learning about ecology. It is a living relationship—a felt sense of belonging with the Earth that awakens through repeated, direct experience. It grows slowly, like a tree putting down roots, and deepens through curiosity, awareness, gratitude, and love. You know it’s alive in someone when they care without being told to, when they pause to listen to a bird alarm, when they notice the shift in wind or the tracks that weren’t there yesterday.

In the Coyote Mentoring model, nature connection is the foundation. It’s what the routines and mentoring practices are designed to cultivate—not information, but relationship. A child who feels at home in the natural world will learn, notice, and care in ways no curriculum can force. The goal is not to teach about nature, but to help learners remember that they are nature.

Why does this matter?

Why does it matter? Because we live in a time of ecological disconnection—of cultural forgetfulness. Nature connection restores what has been lost. It creates resilient, empathetic humans who act with humility and reverence. It lays the groundwork for a regenerative culture rooted in place, story, and gratitude. This is where cultural repair begins.

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What It Might Look Like

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The Role of the Mentor

The Practice

The mentor in Coyote Mentoring is not the center of the circle—they are the rim. Their role is not to deliver answers, but to kindle questions. A good mentor listens more than they speak, models rather than explains, and trusts that real learning happens in the spaces between instruction. They walk beside the learner, not in front, always watching for the spark of curiosity—and then fanning it gently.

What makes this role powerful is its humility. Mentors practice the “art of invisibility,” stepping back so the learner can step forward. They don’t teach nature connection; they embody it. They live the core routines—Sit Spot, Wandering, Thanksgiving—so that their presence quietly invites others into relationship. In this way, the mentor becomes the bridge between child and land, question and discovery, self and story.

Why does this matter?

Because deep connection doesn’t come from being told—it comes from being invited. The mentor’s true task is to create the conditions where the Earth can do the teaching. In a disconnected world, mentors become cultural weavers—repairing the web by helping others find their place in it. Their presence is subtle, but their impact echoes across generations.

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What It Might Look Like

Mentoring in this lineage is subtle, dynamic, and often invisible to the untrained eye. It begins long before the lesson—before the gathering even starts. The mentor has been to the land first. They’ve visited their own Sit Spot that morning. They’ve noticed which birds are active, where the wind is moving, and what stories the day might be holding. They arrive already in connection.

The mentor waits for the spark.

Instead of launching into instructions, the mentor watches the group arrive. A child kneels at a beetle trail. Another stares silently at the trees. Rather than redirecting attention, the mentor leans in: “What do you think that beetle’s doing?” or “Did you notice the silence just now?” They resist the urge to teach, and instead feed the ember of curiosity. This is the moment where connection begins.

They model without announcing.

The mentor might slowly crouch near a track, trace its outline, and whisper, “I wonder who came through here...” They don’t point it out. They don’t say, “Class, look here.” They offer it like bait on the wind—something to follow if you choose. If a child joins, they follow the mystery together. If not, that’s fine. The land is always offering another entry.

They guide through questioning, not telling.

A young person asks, “Is this plant edible?” The mentor responds, “Hmm... how would you find out?” They might point to a field guide, or a story, or their own memory. But they rarely answer outright. Not because they don’t know—but because the child learns more through the search. Their questions are doorways: “What’s the story here?” “Who else knows about this?” “What do you notice?”

They stay in rhythm with the natural learning cycle.

Rather than pushing through a schedule, the mentor adapts. They know when to energize, when to deepen, when to rest. After a burst of play, they might gather the group in quiet. After wandering, they circle for stories. They use the Flow Learning arc not as a formula but as a felt sense, reading the group and the land together.

They use stories to weave meaning.

At day’s end, the mentor might share a story—not about the lesson, but about something that echoes the day’s themes. Maybe it’s a tale about a fox who learned to listen, or a moment from their own childhood when they got lost and found. These stories plant seeds. The mentor doesn’t say, “See what I mean?” They let the story land, and trust it will root.

They track the learners like they track animals.

Good mentors observe patterns in behavior the way trackers observe trails. They notice when a child becomes quiet near water, or always lingers at the edge. They ask inwardly, “What’s this one drawn to? What’s shifting today?” Over time, this deep tracking allows the mentor to tailor invitations, challenges, and support for each individual’s unfolding journey.

They cultivate community and culture.

Mentors don’t work alone. They build the “invisible school”—a culture of stories, gratitude, shared songs, inside jokes, rites of passage. They help weave a web that holds not just learning, but belonging. They involve elders, parents, peers. Around the fire, they hold space for each voice. In this way, mentoring becomes culture repair.

They know when to disappear.

Sometimes the greatest teaching happens when the mentor is no longer present. A mentor may deliberately walk away to let a child track alone. Or pretend they didn’t hear a question so peers can answer. They might set up a challenge and then vanish behind a tree, watching only to ensure safety. Their absence becomes an invitation for growth.

They are mentored by the land.

Ultimately, what guides the mentor is not a lesson plan but relationship. They let the weather, the birds, the children, and their own instincts guide the day. They carry humility, not control. They are students too—always listening for what the forest is teaching. In this way, they walk the path they invite others to follow.

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Culture of Nature Connection

The Practice

Culture of Nature Connection refers to the collective atmosphere that surrounds and supports deep connection with the natural world. It is not created by one mentor, one activity, or one program—it arises when a group of people share common values of gratitude, awareness, storytelling, curiosity, and reciprocity with the Earth. The book describes this as a "village model," where mentoring is embedded in relationships across generations, and learning happens in songs, games, and daily practice, not just in lessons. It’s not enough to teach a child how to track; the culture must celebrate tracking, listen to stories of discovery, and model reverence for mystery.

Why does this matter?

A strong culture holds the connection long after the mentor has stepped away. It is the invisible net that catches moments of wonder and weaves them into belonging. In a world that normalizes disconnection—where speed, convenience, and control dominate—creating a living, breathing culture of connection is a revolutionary act. It’s what allows a single spark of curiosity to grow into lifelong relationship. It ensures that nature connection isn’t just a moment—it becomes a way of life. This is how cultural repair begins: through connection made visible, relational, and shared.

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What It Might Look Like

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Cultural repair

The Practice

Cultural repair is the process of healing the deep ruptures that have separated people from nature, community, and the old ways of learning. The invisible school is the container for this healing: an environment where nature connection is embedded into daily life through relationship, story, play, and mentoring. Unlike formal schooling, it doesn’t rely on curriculum or instruction—it thrives on culture. It’s invisible because its structure is organic, relational, and often unnoticed by outsiders, yet profoundly effective. It works through story told around fires, questions asked in the moment, and quiet modeling of how to listen to the land.

Why does this matter?

Coyote’s Guide frames cultural repair as necessary because many of us were raised in cultures that forgot how to raise humans in deep relationship with place and people. The invisible school is a model for remembering. It’s not built by one teacher, but through shared practice across generations: singing, wandering, tracking, tending, and listening together. Cultural repair restores the natural cycles of learning and belonging that once held our ancestors. It’s slow work, humble work, often unseen—but in every fox walk, every grateful word, every moment of wonder shared without explanation, a thread is rewoven into the great net of life.

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II. Foundations

This section grounds the mentoring journey in the inner qualities and learning patterns that support deep connection. The Attributes of Connection—such as quiet mind, empathy, and vitality—are not taught directly, but emerge through experience and relationship. The Natural Learning Cycle offers a map: from spark to integration, it honors how real learning unfolds. The Art of Questioning brings the mentor’s role into focus—not to provide answers, but to open doors through curiosity. And at the edges of it all is The Trickster—disrupting certainty, stirring laughter, and reminding us that challenge is an invitation to grow.

The Attributes of Connection

The Practice

The Attributes of Connection are the natural qualities that emerge in individuals who have been deeply and consistently mentored in nature. Rather than being taught directly, they grow through experience, story, routine, and relationship. The guide describes them as indicators that a person is becoming deeply connected to the land, to community, and to their own inner compass. These attributes include: Inquisitive Focus, Aliveness, Empathy, Quiet Mind, Inner Happiness, Common Sense, Strength and Vitality, Presence, Caring, and Being Truly Helpful.

These are not checklists. They are patterns of being—signs that someone has been shaped by a culture of nature connection. They matter because they point toward wholeness. In a disconnected world, where attention is fractured and relational depth is rare, these attributes offer a different way of being human: one that is grounded, curious, joyful, and attuned to both place and people.

Why does this matter?

Mentors use the Attributes of Connection not as goals to impose, but as reflections. They help us track the invisible: to notice what’s blossoming in a learner, to reflect on what needs more tending. They are not the destination, but evidence that the journey of connection is unfolding in right relationship.

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The Natural Learning Cycle

The Practice

The Natural Learning Cycle is a flow-based model of mentoring that reflects how learning actually unfolds in nature and in humans. Adapted and expanded from Joseph Cornell’s Flow Learning, this cycle invites mentors to attune not to rigid schedules but to the energetic and emotional rhythms of a group. The cycle moves through four phases: Inspiration, Awakening Enthusiasm, Focusing Attention, and Experience and Integration—sometimes called “Harvest.”

Rather than imposing lessons from the outside, the Natural Learning Cycle draws the learner inward, then guides them outward through curiosity, experience, reflection, and story. It honors mystery, movement, passion, and depth. A mentor following this cycle asks: What’s alive right now? What’s the energy of the group? Where is the thread of curiosity pulling us next?

Why does this matter?

This cycle matters because it frees both mentor and learner from the trap of content-driven teaching. Instead of pushing for outcomes, it asks us to trust the process. When we follow this cycle well, we don’t just deliver knowledge—we ignite wonder. We help build a culture where learning becomes a story that unfolds naturally, shaped by questions, place, and passion rather than predetermined goals.

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The Art of Questioning

The Practice

The Art of Questioning is at the heart of Coyote Mentoring. It’s not about quizzing for facts—it’s about sparking curiosity. A well-placed question can stir the imagination, awaken the senses, and pull a learner deeper into relationship with the natural world. As the guide reminds us, “Questions are the mentor’s most powerful tool,” and they’re used not to test but to invite discovery.

This approach reflects a core understanding: real learning is self-motivated. When mentors ask open-ended, timely, and mystery-rich questions, they help learners develop what the book calls “inquisitive focus.” These questions don’t have easy answers. They’re not meant to be resolved right away. Instead, they act like embers in the mind—glowing, smoldering, sometimes reigniting long after the moment has passed.

Why does this matter?

The art lies in timing, tone, and restraint. It takes skill to wait, to notice the right moment, and to know whether to plant a question quietly or toss it like a pebble into the stream of the learner’s awareness. When used well, questions can bypass resistance and open the door to deeper engagement, autonomy, and wonder. They’re a subtle way of tracking the learner’s unfolding path—and guiding it, invisibly, toward connection.

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The Role of The trickster

The Practice

The trickster is not just a character—it’s a way of being in the mentoring field. In Coyote Mentoring, the trickster (embodied by the figure of Coyote) represents playful disruption, gentle mischief, and unexpected wisdom. The Coyote doesn’t teach through explanation. He nudges, distracts, teases, and surprises. He invites learners to step off the trail and into the unknown—not to confuse them, but to help them discover their own capacities.

In many Indigenous and traditional stories, the trickster is both foolish and wise, chaotic and creative. In the mentoring context, the trickster challenges the need for control and certainty. He reminds us that growth often comes through laughter, humility, and surprise. As mentors, embodying the spirit of Coyote means knowing when to step aside, when to let the lesson come from the land, and when to playfully subvert expectations.

Why does this matter?

This role matters deeply in a system that often over-structures learning. Trickster mentoring makes space for the learner’s own adventure. It creates a culture where discovery isn’t always linear and where curiosity leads the way. In doing so, it keeps the learning alive, flexible, and full of possibility—true to the wild, unpredictable rhythms of nature itself.

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III. Core Routines of Deep Nature Connection

Core Routines are the heartbeat of Coyote Mentoring—a set of simple, repeatable practices that weave connection into daily life. They include Sit Spot, Wandering, Bird Language, Tracking, Thanksgiving, and more. Rather than curriculum “units,” they are enduring rhythms observed across land-based cultures. Practiced over seasons and years, they help develop the Attributes of Connection: quiet mind, empathy, vitality, and love for the Earth. Core Routines invite relationship, not just knowledge. They cultivate deep listening, curiosity, and belonging—laying the foundation for a regenerative culture rooted in attention, gratitude, and lived connection with the natural world.

Core Routines of Deep Nature Connection

The Practice

The Core Routines of Nature Connection are the living practices at the heart of Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature. They are not curriculum “units,” but enduring rhythms—woven into daily life—that cultivate awareness, curiosity, gratitude, and resilience.

These routines—such as Sit Spot, Expanding Our Senses, and Wandering—are designed to be repeated, adapted, and personalized. As the guide puts it, they are “simple, deep, and powerful.” Practiced over time, they nurture the attributes of connection: quiet mind, common sense, empathy, aliveness, and love for the Earth.

While the book outlines 13 Core Routines, the authors emphasize that the list is not exhaustive. “There are more core routines than those described here, and the number will grow as the work of nature connection continues to evolve.” Below you will find a few other routines that we have come across working with Forest School programs. IF you have others that are valuable to you, I would love to hear about them.

Some routines may become daily practices; others might emerge through the passions of your group. Let them ground your mentoring, but remain open to discovering new forms that arise through curiosity and place. The list is alive—just like the land it honors.

These routines don’t teach content—they invite relationship. Sit Spot is a place to return to, not to do something, but to notice what changes and what remains. Bird Language, Tracking, and Mapping hone perception and memory. Storytelling and Thanksgiving nourish culture and gratitude. Survival Living roots learners in humility and reverence for life.

The power of the Core Routines lies in their cumulative effect. Practiced over seasons and years, they form the foundation for a lifelong connection to place and community. For mentors, they are essential tools—quietly transformative, culturally regenerative, and deeply personal.

Why Does This Matter?

Core Routines are the daily rhythms that make connection stick. They turn fleeting experiences into lifelong relationships with place, pattern, and presence. These simple, repeatable practices help grow the Attributes of Connection—like quiet mind, empathy, and vitality. More than activities, they’re cultural patterns that root awareness in the land and build resilience over time. Practiced consistently, Core Routines become the living foundation of deep nature connection and cultural repair.

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What It Might Look Like

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Games, Practices, Story Prompts for the Core Routines

Expand the cards for a deeper look.

Sit Spot

A daily return to the same spot in nature, cultivating quiet mind, deep awareness, and connection through stillness, observation, and intimate familiarity with place.

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Expanding Our Sense

Using games and challenges to awaken dormant senses, this routine trains wide-angle vision, deep listening, and touch, enhancing awareness, empathy, and responsiveness outdoors.

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Mapping

Creating maps from memory fosters spatial awareness, storytelling, and orientation, helping learners understand patterns of movement and relationship across a known landscape.

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Questioning and Tracking

This routine develops curiosity and attentiveness through asking questions, following animal signs, and noticing subtle clues—nurturing the art of observation and the spirit of inquiry.

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Listening for Bird Language

Birds speak the language of the landscape. Learning to listen reveals hidden stories, predator movements, and a deeper connection to the pulse of place.

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Animal Tracking and Sign

Following tracks and signs teaches awareness, patience, and storytelling—helping us read the land’s invisible stories and understand animals’ patterns, choices, and presence.

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Wandering

Wandering is aimless exploration with intention. It invites discovery, encourages awareness, and opens the door for mystery, surprise, and spontaneous connection with nature.

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Journaling

Journaling captures memory, observation, and feeling—shaping a personal record of connection, learning, and discovery. It blends drawing, writing, and reflection in nature.

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Survival Living

Practicing ancient skills—like shelter, fire, and wild foods—builds confidence, gratitude, and resilience. It connects learners to ancestral memory and the essentials of living with the Earth.

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Mind’s Eye Imagining

Imagination becomes a tool for connection. Visualizing animal movements, journeys, and landscapes nurtures empathy, memory, and a deep sense of story and belonging.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the daily act of expressing gratitude—for the land, the day, and each other—building humility, joy, and a culture of connection and reciprocity.

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Storytelling

Storytelling weaves memory, experience, and imagination into meaning. It deepens connection, builds community, and helps learners integrate their discoveries into living narratives.

Tracking Natural Cycles

By observing seasonal rhythms, moon phases, tides, and migrations, learners begin to align with the deeper patterns of nature and their place within them.

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Story of the day

A daily storytelling ritual where experiences are shared, reflected upon, and made meaningful—nurturing memory, awareness, connection, and the art of cultural learning.

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Exploring Field Guides

A hands-on practice of using field guides to identify plants, animals, and tracks—building curiosity, pattern recognition, and respectful relationship with the living world.

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Animal Forms

Embodied play through imitating animal movement—awakening awareness, empathy, agility, and sensory learning by becoming fox, deer, heron, or raccoon in the landscape.

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IV. Mentoring in Action

This section brings the principles of Coyote Mentoring into living practice. Here, mentoring becomes invisible—not through absence, but through presence that guides without controlling. We look for the subtle Attributes of Awareness that signal deepening connection in a learner: wide-angle vision, spontaneous gratitude, unprompted curiosity. Games and Activities become doorways, not just for fun, but for stretching awareness and deepening relationship. Storytelling emerges as a powerful teaching form—encoding experience in a way that resonates, sticks, and transmits. Altogether, this is where mentoring shifts from theory to culture—lived, playful, relational, and deeply rooted in the unseen.

The Art of Invisibility

The Practice

The Art of Invisibility is the subtle craft of guiding without overt direction. In the Coyote Mentoring tradition, invisibility does not mean absence—it means being present in a way that doesn’t interrupt. A mentor who has mastered invisibility can support learning without becoming the center of it. Rather than correcting or explaining, the invisible mentor nudges curiosity, places challenges in the learner’s path, and trusts the natural unfolding of awareness.

Why does this matter? Because real learning, especially in nature, often happens best when children feel ownership of discovery. When mentors step back—watching, listening, and offering only what’s needed—space opens for the learner’s own questions, insights, and surprises. This approach fosters independence, self-motivation, and deep confidence. It invites the child to become a tracker of their own learning.

Why does this matter?

The invisible mentor also builds trust. Their presence feels safe and spacious, never controlling. They tune to the learner’s edges without taking over. As Coyote’s Guide reminds us, the goal is not performance, but transformation. Invisibility allows that transformation to emerge naturally, in its own timing, from within the learner rather than from pressure outside.

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Attributes of Awareness in Learners

The Practice

In the Coyote Mentoring model, awareness is not just the ability to notice—it’s a way of being. Over time, nature connection cultivates specific, recognizable attributes in learners. These attributes are signs that the routines, questioning, and mentoring are taking root. They’re not skills to be assessed, but qualities to be gently observed—like the ripening of fruit or the return of birds in spring.

Among these attributes are: a quiet mind, keen senses, empathy for all life, curiosity without end, strong memory, resilience, common sense, aliveness, and deep love for the Earth. These are not traits that can be taught through lecture or reward. They emerge organically through time in nature, deep listening, and relational mentoring.

Why do they matter? Because these attributes point to something deeper than knowledge—they reveal connection. A child who moves silently through the woods, who stops to notice a change in birdsong, or who gently places a worm back in the soil is showing us that connection is alive. The mentor’s role is to recognize and nurture these qualities, not through praise or testing, but through invisible support and consistent routines that allow awareness to bloom.

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Games and Activities for the Field

The Practice

Games and activities in Coyote Mentoring are not mere diversions or ways to fill time—they are carefully chosen cultural tools. When crafted with intention, a game can teach invisibly, challenge just enough, and anchor a lesson in the body. Whether it’s an energetic running game, a sensory challenge, or a storytelling circle, each activity can be a doorway into connection.

In the field, well-designed games awaken the senses, ignite laughter, build group cohesion, and stretch awareness. Activities often mirror animal behavior, explore elements of survival, or draw from traditional play rooted in land-based cultures. As Coyote’s Guide emphasizes, the best games blend mystery, fun, and subtle mentoring. “If it’s not fun, they won’t come back,” the book reminds us—and fun here is not entertainment, but alive engagement.

Why does this matter?

Why does this matter? Because joy is a connector. Movement builds memory. And play creates safety. When children are fully engaged through their whole bodies and senses, they’re open to learning that sticks—without it being overt. Games are also a mentor’s tool for teasing out awareness, offering challenge, and balancing the group’s energy in dynamic, regenerative ways.

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Storytelling as Teaching

The Practice

In nature-connected culture, story is not just a way to entertain—it is the primary means of teaching. In the Coyote Mentoring tradition, storytelling carries knowledge, preserves memory, encodes routines, and weaves community. It is how core routines are remembered, mysteries are passed on, and cultural patterns take root.

Coyote Mentors tell stories from their own experience—moments of surprise, awe, failure, or humor. These are not lectures wrapped in narrative; they’re real-life accounts, rich with sensory detail and humility. As the guide says, “Story is a powerful teacher,” because it bypasses resistance, stirs emotion, and invites listeners to place themselves inside the learning.

Why does this matter? Because when a child hears a story that sparks wonder, or reflects their own journey, they remember. They connect. They see. Storytelling builds a bridge between experience and meaning. It’s how invisible mentoring takes shape, and how a culture of nature connection stays alive.

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V. Going Deeper: Culture and Continuity

Cultural Mentoring and Village Building

The Practice

Cultural mentoring reaches beyond individual learning—it’s about building a whole village of connection. In the Coyote Mentoring model, learning doesn’t happen in isolation or solely through instruction. It happens in the context of relationship, rhythm, and shared responsibility. As the guide teaches, “It takes a village to raise a mentor,” and likewise, it takes many mentors—formal and informal—to raise a child into their full gifts.

Village-minded mentoring weaves together generations, roles, and layers of support. Elders offer story and wisdom. Teens step into leadership. Peers challenge and reflect. Younger ones spark joy and wonder. Cultural mentoring isn’t hierarchical—it’s relational. It creates a web of belonging, where each person holds a thread.

Why does this matter?

Why does this matter? Because nature connection isn’t sustainable when carried alone. If it lives only in a single mentor or a program, it fades. But when a whole community learns to listen, question, witness, and celebrate, connection becomes culture. The child doesn’t just learn about nature—they learn who they are within it.

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Long-Term Vision: Regenerative Culture

The Practice

At its heart, Coyote Mentoring is not just a teaching method—it’s a blueprint for regenerating culture. It asks: What would it look like if connection to nature, to each other, and to self were the foundation of everyday life? This long-term vision moves beyond individual awareness toward cultural transformation. Regenerative culture is not a static destination—it is a living, evolving practice that reweaves human life back into the fabric of the Earth.

Why does this matter?

As Coyote’s Guide explains, this path is about creating “a culture where the routines of deep nature connection are alive, visible, and shared across generations.” It’s about continuity. Not just in skills, but in values: empathy, gratitude, reverence, curiosity, play. This vision includes elders and infants, grief and celebration, survival and song.

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Cultural repair

The Practice

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II. Foundations

The Attributes of Connection

The Practice

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The Natural Learning Cycle

The Practice

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The Art of Questioning

The Practice

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The Role of The trickster

The Practice

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III. Core Routines of Deep Nature Connection

Core Routines of Deep Nature Connection

The Practice

Why Does This Matter?

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Games, Practices, Story Prompts for the Core Routines

Expand the cards for a deeper look.

Sit Spot

A daily return to the same spot in nature, cultivating quiet mind, deep awareness, and connection through stillness, observation, and intimate familiarity with place.

-Open for More

Expanding Our Sense

Using games and challenges to awaken dormant senses, this routine trains wide-angle vision, deep listening, and touch, enhancing awareness, empathy, and responsiveness outdoors.

-Open for More

Mapping

Creating maps from memory fosters spatial awareness, storytelling, and orientation, helping learners understand patterns of movement and relationship across a known landscape.

-Open for More

Questioning and Tracking

This routine develops curiosity and attentiveness through asking questions, following animal signs, and noticing subtle clues—nurturing the art of observation and the spirit of inquiry.

-Open for More

Listening for Bird Language

Birds speak the language of the landscape. Learning to listen reveals hidden stories, predator movements, and a deeper connection to the pulse of place.

-Open for More

Animal Tracking and Sign

Following tracks and signs teaches awareness, patience, and storytelling—helping us read the land’s invisible stories and understand animals’ patterns, choices, and presence.

-Open for More

Wandering

Wandering is aimless exploration with intention. It invites discovery, encourages awareness, and opens the door for mystery, surprise, and spontaneous connection with nature.

-Open for More

Journaling

Journaling captures memory, observation, and feeling—shaping a personal record of connection, learning, and discovery. It blends drawing, writing, and reflection in nature.

-Open for More

Survival Living

Practicing ancient skills—like shelter, fire, and wild foods—builds confidence, gratitude, and resilience. It connects learners to ancestral memory and the essentials of living with the Earth.

-Open for More

Mind’s Eye Imagining

Imagination becomes a tool for connection. Visualizing animal movements, journeys, and landscapes nurtures empathy, memory, and a deep sense of story and belonging.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the daily act of expressing gratitude—for the land, the day, and each other—building humility, joy, and a culture of connection and reciprocity.

-Open for More

Storytelling

Storytelling weaves memory, experience, and imagination into meaning. It deepens connection, builds community, and helps learners integrate their discoveries into living narratives.

Tracking Natural Cycles

By observing seasonal rhythms, moon phases, tides, and migrations, learners begin to align with the deeper patterns of nature and their place within them.

-Open for More

Story of the day

A daily storytelling ritual where experiences are shared, reflected upon, and made meaningful—nurturing memory, awareness, connection, and the art of cultural learning.

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Exploring Field Guides

A hands-on practice of using field guides to identify plants, animals, and tracks—building curiosity, pattern recognition, and respectful relationship with the living world.

-Open for More

Animal Forms

Embodied play through imitating animal movement—awakening awareness, empathy, agility, and sensory learning by becoming fox, deer, heron, or raccoon in the landscape.

STUDY GUIDE Coyote’s Path: Mentoring as Nature Connection

About Coyote Mentoring

I. Introduction & Vision

Who is Coyote?

What Is Nature Connection—and Why It Matters

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

The Role of the Mentor

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

Culture of Nature Connection

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

Cultural repair

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

II. Foundations

The Attributes of Connection

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

The Natural Learning Cycle

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

The Art of Questioning

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

The Role of The trickster

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

III. Core Routines of Deep Nature Connection

Core Routines of Deep Nature Connection

The Practice

Why Does This Matter?

What It Might Look Like

Games, Practices, Story Prompts for the Core Routines

IV. Mentoring in Action

The Art of Invisibility

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

Attributes of Awareness in Learners

The Practice

What It Might Look Like

Games and Activities for the Field

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

Storytelling as Teaching

The Practice

What It Might Look Like

V. Going Deeper: Culture and Continuity

Cultural Mentoring and Village Building

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

Long-Term Vision: Regenerative Culture

The Practice

Why does this matter?

What It Might Look Like

Recommended Reading & Source List

Where This Work Comes From

More Writing

Related Topics

Related Resources

Would Love to Hear From You!

STUDY GUIDE Coyote’s Path: Mentoring as Nature Connection

About Coyote Mentoring

I. Introduction & Vision

Who is Coyote?

What Is Nature Connection—and Why It Matters

The Practice

Why does this matter?