In 2020 the NL team got together on Zoom for a Christmas party. One of our trainers, Courtney White, guided us in a very robust and super competitive scavenger hunt. I’ll spare you most of the details, but, basically, The Jobe family won. Just sayin’ *shrug shoulders*.
I’m fairly certain we left our friendly competition in the dust when we were the first to find “poop” in our house. As it turns out, Cooper had coprolite in his bathroom. Petrified poop won the game! It really was fun. Truly.
Since we couldn’t be in-person.
At Interconnected 2020, our first online conference, we connected through movement and music at the beginning of each day and through Fireside Chats (with an actual fire on our end) each evening. Each of us made nature mandalas in our little part of the world and shared pictures of them with each other. Our entire community went to great lengths to connect through the distance. It really was amazing.
Since we couldn’t be together in-person.
In 2021, at our Love and Grief conference, which was also online, I remember several powerful moments of intense connection, where with tears in our eyes, we felt deep in our bones that we were attended to. We knew that we were not alone. We held grief in one hand and love in the other, and we were changed. It, truly, was beautiful.
Since we couldn’t be together in-person.
Fast forward to 2023, our most recent in-person experience, the NL Sacred Landscapes conference. Imagine 75 people walking silently at dusk, some with lanterns, some with drums, some sprinkling cornmeal and tobacco or anointing oil as they moved. Our intention was to christen our community in our new home at the NL Headquarters and to bless the land that holds us.
We began by listening to Mary Oliver play the kalimba – a sound we not only heard but felt vibrate throughout our entire body. A vibration that can’t be felt online, and that has been shown to have all kinds of physical and emotional benefits.
As we walked, we could hear each other’s steps, breath, the rhythmic friction of our clothes. The science of biological entrainment tells us that our hearts began to beat in rhythm with one another. Our brain waves began to dance in tandem. We certainly didn’t need science to tell us about the powerful energy exchange occurring, but science does happen to support our experience.
It was palpable – it was powerfully felt and no words were needed.
Because we were together in person.
As we came upon the Back Forty at the NL Headquarters, the sun was setting as we watched the silhouette of our horses running across the top of the hill. We all stopped and watched in silence – a thin moment I will never forget. Never. My words don’t do it justice. The pictures don’t even come close to capturing what that moment was like, but those who were there feel it now.
We were changed.
Because we were together in person.
That moment was transcendent and transformative – it is a moment I will continue to come back to throughout my life. We were connected. With each other. To the ground on which we walked. With the sky. The trees. The horses.
This kind of connection changes us. It just does. There is a lot of science to support what happened in that moment, but we didn’t need an explanation because we had an experience.
At the top of the hill we did a calling of the directions to set up a sacred space (within us and around us) to do sacred work. We took a moment to look at each other – mirror neurons firing, co-regulation creating a tremendous amount of safety and nurture, our social neural networks lit up like crazy (if we must employ a bit of science to explain the magic of the moment) – we took a moment to really see our tribe, our people, the people doing this world-changing, legacy building work.
My body is still buzzing as I recall our time together, in person.
As we walked the rest of the way home, I could hear people sniffling or openly weeping. We were together. Research suggests what we already know to be true – being physically together simply can’t be replaced online. It just can’t. Our physical bodies need each other to survive, to grow, and to heal. My heart needs your heart – literally – and yours needs mine.
Research shows that if we are within 6 feet of each other our hearts will start to beat in rhythm. My eyes need your eyes. When we are physically together, eye contact affects our pupils and field of vision which affects our nervous system. My nervous system needs your nervous system, the electromagnetic field of your body, to regulate. It’s how our bodies work. My brain needs your brain. When we are within about 6 feet of each other, our brain waves begin to entrain. Mirror neurons fire like mad when we communicate face-to-face – it’s not the same online.
In a very physical sense, we need each other.
I am so thankful for zoom and online learning. Truly. It has made NL so much more accessible. It has provided a way for us to disseminate so much more information, but research shows that it can’t replace face-to-face interactions. It CAN powerfully augment them. It is certainly a powerful alternative when in-person experiences are not possible.
Online learning has made it more feasible for us to focus on the experience you get when you take the time to be with us, because you have already learned foundational information online. I love and deeply appreciate online learning, and I believe we can embody what we learn online.
Embodied online learning is a practice. That said, most of the time some in-person experiences are necessary to move beyond practice to embodiment – we must all wisely choose which experiences we will do while being held by the energy of place and person.
Nowadays, we CAN be physically together.
Place matters. We prepared a place for you. People matter. We are thrilled to serve you, be with you, and walk with you.
This year we want to make it possible for you to be with us, in person, at your NL home. When you register before December 31st at midnight for an in-person training in 2024, onsite lodging at the NL HomePlace Inn will be included in your registration fee.
We hope to be with you in 2024.
Welcome Home.
Check out our winter and spring 2024 calendar here.
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