The human heart generates an electrical field that measures 60 times greater than our brain with a magnetic field 5,000 times more powerful. Songwriters talk about our ability to “feel the vibrations” and this is measurably true. *

When heart cells are placed on a Petri dish some distance apart they vibrate individually. At a certain point when they are brought closer together they begin to vibrate synchronously. In the same way we must use the power of heart so that others can feel and resonate with our love for nature. This goes under the level of mind and words, which so often can become mired in ambition, anger and angst.

This is a message for those who have reverence for our environment, who know we need nature more than she needs us, and who respect all living things on our planet. We need to bring our hearts closer to those who regard life as simply a means to get more power and money.

First, we must prepare our hearts.

As the halls of power pay little or no heed to healing nature, disrespecting the very biological systems that keep us alive, our best resource for change is our own connection to nature deep within us.

We need to develop heart skills so we can direct our magnetic power with full force. The more people who learn to use heart as a tool for Mother Nature the better.

If you need help in preparing your heart and formulating plans for expressing yourself in ways that are safe and effective, consider coming to an Agency for Earth webinar.  You’ll find resources to help you connect with nature on the inside that will help you reach others in an effort to heal Mother Nature.

* Source: HeartMath.com

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We all trust our gut to some degree. If you are hiking high on a mountain, thousands of feet from the ground, and you look over the ledge and feel queasy, that’s not your mind—that’s your body, your gut speaking to you directly and firmly. Need proof Look over a ledge and see what your body tells you.

For more subtle occasions wouldn’t it be nice to take a course in how to listen to and trust your gut How about we create a quick outline for such a course right now We could name it something like Trusting Your Gut 101, or Was that Belch Intelligent (I was going to make a fart joke here but decided to hold it back).

Seriously though, a course on trusting gut instincts is just what the Doctor ordered. Check out this video by Gabor Matte M.D. who talks about how smart it is to listen to the messages from our body BEFORE they start shouting at you with serious illnesses like cancer or heart disease. Learning to trust the messages from our body is not just about preventing bad things from happening—many business people are good at listening to their gut and attribute this skill to guiding their companies to success. The latest neuroscience tells us there is a positive correlation between being grounded in your body and feeling a connection with Mother Earth.

A big part of the mindfulness movement centers around listening to the body. As a meditation teacher, QiGong instructor and NARM trained practitioner I’m in the process of developing a course in helping people trust gut instincts—for yourself and the planet. Stay tune for this groundbreaking course.

Trusting Gut Instincts: A preliminary outline

Here are four things you can do to connect with and start listening to your body so you will be better able to listen to and trust your gut:

1) Intent
Sincere intent is a magical thing. If you really want to connect in and start trusting your body it will happen. Remember this: the body has its own timetable and its own way of communicating. Allowing your mind to listen and to be guided by the body is not something we are taught in Western culture, quite the opposite actually. It will take time but if your intent is clear, you’ll pick up what your body is saying soon enough—on its schedule, not that of your mind.

2) Comfort
Paying attention to my own physical comfort is certainly not what I was taught, neither was paying heed to my deep mental, emotional or spiritual needs. When I start to relax I can feel the tension in and around my neck. This is a deep tension that is not easy to let go of, still just being aware of it helps me release a little of the stress. Are you aware of the needs of your spirit and emotions We are integrated units: body, mind, spirit, and emotions. Being aware of our comfort and needs in any one of these areas will help us be aware of these indicators in all of them.

3) Imbalances
Are you holding imbalances in your body When I am worried or upset I notice myself physically leaning in one direction or another. I have the habit of leaning forward, which for me is a way to try and power through a situation. This is great for when circumstances call for powering through, but these situations are far less in number than I have applied the technique. The old adage “if your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail” comes to mind. Our minds can get in ruts. Listening to our bodies is a creative act that can bring unexpected results, if only we have the wisdom to listen.

4) Viscera
Our guts (aka viscera: the organs of the central cavity of the body) are primary for our survival. In large measure the adaptations of skeletal structure, bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments, skin, mouth, ears, eyes and brain were created to serve our gut.

Dr. Aline LaPierre, who created NeuroAffective TouchTM, a body based psychotherapeutic modality talks about the various systems of the body and the corresponding differences in how these parts send signals to our brain. Our guts have a different signal strength, amplitude and wave frequency than muscles, tendons and ligaments, bones, skin etc.

Can you feel the difference between the signals coming from your gut and those of your musculature and bones Learning to distinguish these differences is a high art that pays huge dividends throughout our lives and in protection of the environment. Why Because our guts have our own best interests, our very survival, built into each signal that is sent to the brain.

Our brains get confused about what is important in our lives, which is why we forget that we need to care for our shared environment—which is the principle agent of our survival. So called “primitive” or “tribal” societies revere nature, life and spirit.

In our modern society we’ve done a grand job of developing our ability to think intellectually, which has led to disastrous results for our environment. If we don’t want to wreck this planet completely we need to pay attention to the wisdom of our bodies, which are connected to the ground we walk on.

Trusting Gut Instincts: The language of the body

Becoming conversant in the language of the body is required in order to be able to trust what it says and evolve past the disconnection we’ve come to think of as “normal.” Stay tuned for that course in trusting your gut! If you have a moment take a look at my upcoming workshop: Our Biggest Environmental Problem is Disconnection from our own Inner Nature. You can read about it here. If you like what you see you can sign up here.

Agency for Earth (AFE) is dedicated to making our environmental knowledge base and eco-education programs a neuroscience-informed space. Helping people trusting gut instincts is a good way to do this. Check our website to see when the next educational workshop will be or give us a call about your next eco-education project.

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Our Biggest Environmental Problem is Disconnection from our Inner Nature

If you want to know how we humans care for ourselves, just look at how we treat the environment. We show a staggering disregard for biological systems and our own intrinsic nature. In the words of neuroscientist and author Dr. Bruce Perry* our society is “biologically disrespectful.”

The parallel between how we treat ourselves and the environment means the cure needs to be a deeply personal journey. Learning to be respectful of our own biology, emotions, and spirit will help us heal our environment in ways we cannot now conceive. This science-based journey to help you access your deep inner nature will be led by Jeffrey Schmidt, Cofounder of Agency for Earth.

What you will come away with

• The five ways we cope with being raised in a culture of biological disrespect and how you can rise above these mechanisms
• An explanation of the psychological basis of (climate) denial and the best strategies for addressing this blockage
• A special section on how to create impactful communications and behavior change for your sustainable programs
• A powerful neuroscience-based technique to help you stay centered in the midst of a crucial decision or hot debate
• A foundation of thought and practices that will help you trust your gut instincts for the cause of sustainability and personal wellbeing
• How to bring the power of mind/body integration into your life so you can feel the jump-for-joy feeling of being more alive

Who should come
Environmentalists, Environmental Program Managers, Sustainability Coordinators, Executive Directors and Outreach Coordinators for NGOs and nonprofits, Mayors, City Managers, County Supervisors

Not using the latest neuroscience to build sustainability
is like using a hand saw to construct your house.

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More Powerful Tools Are Available!

When
Saturday, April 16, 2016
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Where
Agency For Earth
1003 Gravenstein Hwy North
Sebastopol CA 95472

Cost
Before 4/1/16: $129
After 4/1/16: $159
Scrumptious organic snacks served!

Registration
EventBrite: http://bit.ly/22cja5Q

* Senior Fellow of the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston, Texas and an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. A clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences.

Address this one core issue to help every aspect of our society become sustainable

Power tools for environmentalists

Agency for Earth Seminar

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Disconnecting from who we really are which leads to why we treat the environment poorly

Here is what we know on a scientific, neurobiological level: There are two impulses deep inside of us that go in opposing directions: 1) our need for nurturing and abiding connection 2) our need to individuate and become our own unique person. This is important: when we are very young and cannot fend for ourselves, our number one priority is to stay connected with our caregivers. Connection is quite literally a matter of life or death. We’ll do just about anything to stay in connection. If in our early years we are presented with a situation where our caregivers are neglectful or demonstrate outright abuse, we will absolve our abusers of wrongdoing and turn ourselves into the bad one just so we can maintain our life-giving connection.

Psychologists call this splitting

At some level blaming and shaming ourselves is the price most of us pay to survive. This is the reason we have a pandemic of shame in Western culture. Once these habits are learned they are very difficult (but not impossible) to change. The hardest habits to kick are those learned at a preverbal age. Let me say again, for those people who want to change badly enough, the methodologies exist to alter even preverbal patterns. When we perform the life saving act of “splitting” we are in fact disconnecting from our true nature, and this splits us off from our connection with Mother Nature, which is why we treat the environment poorly.

Splitting goes a long way toward explaining what is known as “the human condition,” a subject that has been pondered by humans for centuries. Finally, here in the West we are seeing some real advances of understanding in this area, and none too soon. We need to change the way we treat ourselves, and the planet. Trauma-informed eco education and behavior change programs are essential to this effort. The roots of early adverse or traumatic experiences reside deep within us as adults, hidden from our conscious minds. On the surface our trauma might appear as a reactive habit pattern that’s difficult to change. It’s hard to change “issues” when you don’t know the extent of the problem, can’t see how deep the root goes. See my Blog on Trusting Gut Instincts.

Trauma-informed environmental programs

Jane Middelton Moz, talks about the importance of trauma-informed schools and care-giving systems. Why It’s about effectiveness. When teachers and caregivers don’t understand where acting-out behavior comes from, it’s much harder to deal with. It’s also about compassion. When teachers and caregivers realize the pain that is underneath these behaviors, it’s much easier to respond with the type of compassion that spurs people to look deep inside so they will change their own behavior.

Jane is the Director of the Middelton Moz Institute in Vermont and Washington, is well known worldwide for her work in healing multi-generational grief and trauma in individuals and families, and has more books and credentials than I can comfortably ask people to read in this Blog. You can view her article on trauma-informed schools and care-giving systems here.

In addition to trauma-informed schools and care-giving systems we need to have trauma-informed eco education and behavior change programs. This will be the next level of wisdom on why we treat the environment poorly, and how we can make these programs more effective and cost efficient.

Agency for Earth is dedicated to making environmental programs a neuroscience and trauma-informed space. Check out our next educational workshop or give us a call to schedule a speaking event, group seminar or to help you plan your next eco-education or behavior change project.

The post Why we treat the environment poorly appeared first on Agency For Earth.

The delta sunflowers, tall totems of cheer, extend wide arms for the small yellow finches to land and search for seeds enriching their fall diet.

Bees are plentiful and dedicated to food foraging at the pale blue-violet rosemary flowers.

Zinnias signal butterflies with their color and fragrance providing the perfect flat-landing pad. Monarchs and swallowtails are just two of the beautiful butterflies that can be seen drinking nectar through their long tongues which work like straws.

6:15 and the last visitor of the day is the hummingbird hovering at the red salvia blossoms. This super-active bird requires lots of nourishment; it’s up early and the last one seen dining. The Salvia genus is well known for its bright flowers, rich nectar and this year it has been our drought-tolerant hero.

The Wonders a Habitat Garden Brings

Our backyard was once a dull rectangle of grass until I read the delightful book The Habitat Garden Book by Nancy Bauer. This small 56-page guide changed our way of landscaping to one that brought so much life and joy in the form of beauty, birds, butterflies and beneficial insects.

With wildlife habitat disappearing so fast, any little parcel of habitat gardening makes a difference to local wildlife, especially when it’s part of a growing web of life repeated throughout a neighborhood. It’s the environmentally friendly way to relate to the landscape.

Fall is a good time to begin planning a habitat garden, even just add a few native plants to your site. Native plants have evolved with native creatures and are best suited to your land and climate. Another great resource to help you provide the essentials for a wildlife-friendly garden is National Wildlife Federations’ web page on Gardening for Wildlife: http://www.nwf.org/how-to-help/garden-for-wildlife/create-a-habitat.aspx?s_subsrc=Web_Content_CWH_GardenSite_Main_3

The post Who’s Visiting the Habitat Garden? appeared first on Agency For Earth.

A vast amount of evidence, however, shows that behavior shifts do not occur this way. It is no longer enough to simply educate about vital issues like water supply protection, toxic waste disposal and healthy habits.

To affect environmental change, you have to proactively bring forward campaigns that result in new, measurable changes in individual behavior.  At Agency for Earth are pleased to be part of the movement that helps take environmental programs to the next level. Behavior change programs like Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) are key to this effort.

You can be a change agent if you prepare adequately and let the public help you. The five key steps in a Community-Based Social Marketing campaign lay the groundwork:  1) identify one or several behaviors that will bring about the environmental benefit you are seeking 2) do accurate research to find the barriers and benefits of these behaviors 3) devise a strategy to accentuate the benefits and mitigate the barriers 4) conduct pilot programs to test your campaign 5) if your pilot was successful implement broadly.

About the Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) process

In stage one if you choose a behavior with little impact you won’t get much benefit for the money you are spending. In stage two you must capture the true and real barriers and benefits to the behaviors you are trying to have people take on. Step three is critical because if you don’t have good strategies to address barriers and benefits your program will likely fail. Step four is necessary (at least highly recommended) because you want to test the assumptions underlying your strategies in the real world. Of course step five puts all your hard work into practice.

About step three—developing strategies: many people today know about asking people to make a commitment to take on environmentally beneficial behaviors. The temptation is to select a behavior and then go immediately to this powerful tool. Please remember that if you do not do a good job of identifying real-world barriers and benefits to this behavior you might be setting your program up for failure. Also, while commitments are powerful they are by no means the only behavior change tool at your disposal.

Go Beyond the “Low Hanging Fruit”

In many cases changing behavior in a widespread manner is possible. Programs like CBSM provide a scientific process to achieve these goals. When it comes to affecting public adoption of proactive conservation habits, for example in the case of California’s extended drought, where much of the low-hanging fruit has already been picked, science-based programs like CBSM become even more critical.

Agency for Earth networks with environmental protection managers seeking to launch more effective, successful campaigns and programs. We partner with leading research firms, to deliver sound marketing campaigns that produce not only new public habits, but new shared values and renewed commitment.

The post Community-Based Social Marketing: A Scientific Approach to Behavior Change appeared first on Agency For Earth.