CLEARING Teaching resources for ecology, sustainability and community


Coyote’s Teachings: Cultivating Awareness and Natural Connections


by Lindsay Letitia Huettman I am out in the foggy, wet Pacific Northwest winter with my 10-12 year-old homeschoolers’ program,


heading to an amazing place we call Elk Meadows. As we cross the meadow, we stop for a word of thanksgiving about the day and send the kids to their Sit Spots. The instructors also head out into the landscape, finding a place to rest and watch the morning wake under the goliath presence of Mount Si.


Life is revealed to all our senses in this temporary


silence. As a mentor, it helps to model to my genuine excite- ment at the small birds in the willow thicket while enduring the cold, damp earth that I rest upon. This is a great time for instructors; a sacred time to breathe and connect to the elements, earth and its creatures. It is also the time I invite Coyote to come out and do his secret, stealthy duty as the ul- timate mentor. During this peaceful space, Coyote brings me glimpses of the internal workings of my beloved students. If any of the students were looking my way, they would


see my attention on the meadow; my head turning to inter- pret bird calls. Perhaps they see my chest moving up and down, taking large gulps of the mist rolling off the Sno- qualmie River, and observe my eyes scanning the horizon, searching for elk on the forest edges. What they wouldn’t see


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is a part of my awareness is also listening to Coyote. Coyote observes my students while they watch the


morning unfold, in their own particular style. Jamie is looking at something very close to the ground. She’s totally engrossed, picking up a small stick with an indistinct insect, that she is goes cross-eyed trying to identify. Meron has a larger stick, tapping it somewhat quietly on the ground, fidgeting for many moments, until he sees a Red Tail hawk and falls under its hypnotic flight. Chris is still and silent, looking around for awhile. Bored, she rests her chin in her gloved hands and sighs. Coyote takes note of this-unobtru- sively, subtly, and even secretly. I smile, laugh and become curiously and keenly aware of the depth and wisdom of what Coyote shares with me. I add these observations to the cumulative reams of mental


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