VISION QUESTS

Introduction

A vision quest is an extraordinary process during which one spends time alone in nature in a safe way. There, without distraction, one has the opportunity to re-connect not only with oneself but also with the great mystery of life. Most choose to fast during this time and this helps considerably to deepen the process.

A vision quest is a process which requires preparation. The preparation begins when you are accepted onto a vision quest and it continues when we meet up. We want to make sure that you are ready to go out on your own and that you have the necessary skills to keep yourself safe. After the preparation, you go out to be with yourself in the lap of nature. For most, this is a truly extraordinary time. Few ever have the opportunity to have such undisturbed solitude in their lives.

Safety is our first concern and, if you feel the need to come back in at any time during this solo period, you are very welcome to do so. Many come back at the end of this time wishing that they could have stayed out for longer.

When you return to the group, we help you to make sense of the experiences that you have had and taking the insights that you have gained, it is now up to you to integrate what you have discovered in your life back at home.

The period of time spent alone during the quest depends on the particular quest. On both the Five Day and Six Day Vision Quests, you spend 24 hours on your own and you are away for five and six days respectively. On the Ten Day Vision Quest you will spend a full four days and four nights alone and you will be away for ten days.

The origins the modern vision quest

The origins of the vision quest lie in the rituals of many aboriginal peoples ranging from the Celts of Europe to the native peoples of North America. In the North American tradition, adolescents were sent into the wilderness at a time when they were ready to enter true adulthood. There, without food, they would cry for a vision and, once they had been graced with that vision, they would return to sit before a council of elders. This council would then help them to make sense of their experience and out of that would come an understanding of the role that the person (now an adult) was going to play in the community.

This role would then be made public and the person would be welcomed into the community in a way that was deeply aligned with his or her own nature and the community saw to it that he or she felt a sense of belonging and acceptance. In this way, both the needs of the individual and the community were met in a profound way.

By undertaking the modern vision quest, we will not try to encourage you to be native North Americans but rather we will be helping you to be yourselves whilst learning from the wisdom of this aboriginal process. As Westerners we deeply need to re-connect with something that is very old and yet we also have to go forward to something that is new, something other than what we now have.

Why do people do vision quests?

People do vision quests for a variety of reasons. Many find it to be of great benefit to undergo this process at a time when they lack direction in their lives, or when they no longer feel fired up by their work, or when they just simply feel lost in some way.

A vision quest may also be of great help when one has just gone through major changes in one's life. Perhaps one has just graduated, started a new career, moved home or country, ended a relationship, arrived at middle age, lost a loved one, experienced the children leaving home, or retired. A vision quest is a very useful way of marking and coming to terms with these changes.

Safety

Safety is of paramount importance on all Ecotherapy Institute activities. We take good care of you and help you to take care of yourselves while you are out on your own. The areas chosen for the vision quests are different from those selected for the trails. We do not, for obvious reasons, use areas that have dangerous animals.

Is the vision quest a retreat?

In the past, we have called the vision quest many things - a healing retreat, an ecotherapy retreat, a restorative retreat, and so on and the vision quest is all of these things but the words sometimes cause difficulties. For example, the vision quest is definitely a 'retreat' in the sense that we retreat from our everyday lives but the difficulty with the word 'retreat' is that it often conjures up associations with other retreats such as some Buddhist retreats where there may be a profound retreat from others and the world. In contrast to such a Buddhist retreat, on a vision quest, there is a good deal of interaction with the others. In fact, we become a small community, eating together, listening to each other's stories, working together, and so on. It is only on the solo period that we retreat from others. Even then, we open ourselves to the nature around us. So, in some senses the vision quest is a retreat and in others it is not.

Am I expected to have a particular spiritual orientation?

The word 'retreat' also often conjures up notions of a particular spiritual tradition which may not be open to other spiritual traditions. It can, for example, be uncomfortable to be a Christian on a Buddhist retreat where the idea of God may be regarded as being an illusion.

On the vision quest, we take people's spiritual views very seriously indeed and we do not attempt to impose our own. In this sense, there is more freedom to discover your own perspective on a vision quest than there is on many traditional spiritual retreats. Consequently, you are welcome as a Christian, as a Moslem, as a Hindu and as a Jew. In fact you are welcome as an atheist or agnostic, too.

What are ecotherapists or ecosychologists?

We have often used the word 'ecotherapy' to describe our work. Unfortunately, the term 'therapy' can conjure up associations of conventional psychotherapy which is not what the vision quest is about at all. 'Ecotherapy' refers, in part, to the therapeutic benefit that we experience from intimate contact with nature and most, if not all people going through a vision quest will experience some (or even a great deal of) therapeutic benefit of this process..

How do I know whether or not a vision quest is for me?

In coming to a decision, it is very important that you listen to your 'gut feel.' If you have a deep sense that this is something that you have to do or that you are strongly drawn to doing then, even if you are nervous about it, it may well be the right thing for you. We would be happy to discuss your decision with you by telephone or by e-mail (see our contact details).