The Trails of Awareness Project is a unique experiential education program that utilizes the natural world as a place of learning, growth, and inspiration through nature awareness. The project offers mentoring programs, workshops, camps, presentations and expeditions that seek to educate and promote ancient connections to the natural world. These attributes are facilitated through nature awareness training, primitive and wilderness living skills, survival, music, native lore, natural movement exercises, storytelling, the art of tracking, and presentations on cultural and natural history from modern field ecological and indigenous perspectives.

Our mission statement:

We are committed to promoting and facilitating  real connections to the earth, community, and self through the experiences and tools of Ancient Technology Education, Nature Awareness Mentoring, Cross Cultural Learning, and Outdoor Adventure Expeditions. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
       Ancient Technologies Education refers  
       to  prehistoric   handicrafts and  
       pre- industrial technology. Primitive 
       skills are those skills relate to living off  
        the land, often using handcrafted tools
       made from naturally gathered  
       materials.Examples of primitive  
       skills include: gathering and foraging  
       native plants and animals for food,  
       skinning and preparing game, basketry 
       and pottery,  constructing shelters,and   
       fire-making. 







Cross Cultural Learning- A  field of study that
looks how people from differing cultural  
backgrounds communicate, relate to one
another, and learn in similar  and  different
ways among  themselves. Trails of  Awareness emphasizes  the importance of learning
from different cultures in order to gain an
outside perspective  about the meaning
of self, community, the land. Trails has
worked with a variety of indigenous
elders and teachers that live in
accordance to their original instructions
that were developed from having a strong
sense of place. 

                                                                                                                                                                  

   
  Nature Awareness: Connecting to  our 
  students to nature by expanding  
  and developing all of the
   body and the minds senses.  Achieving 
   greater awareness of  
   surroundings,landscape  
   features,  plants, animals, tracks, etc. ,These 
   can be cultivated by a Trails of Awareness
   mentor, sit  spot routine exercises and    
   nature  journal's  etc. 





Outdoor Adventure Expeditions: It generally implies an  educational  or recreational activity that is exciting and physically challenging. Adventure recreation can be any number of   leisure pursuits, i.e, canoeing, kayaking,  pirogueing, hiking, or backpacking












                                                                           

                                                                           

Greetings from The Trails of Awareness Project
 
As the year draws closer to an end, The Trails of Awareness Project/ White Crane Canoes & Pirogues would like to send our special thanks to all our supporters, participants, guest elders/ instructors and all the volunteers that made this year a great success. This year we saw the construction of our Mississippian Winter House( nearing completion), a survival village, guided canoe tours of our regions ecological treasure, The Cache River, numerous adult and youth programs involving the four key components of The Trails programs involving cross cultural learning, outdoor adventure, ancient technologies, and nature awareness mentoring.  We still have several programs available to the public before the year ends so you’re not too late to join us in the spirit of learning through direct experience and cultivating real connections to self, community and the land. Attached is a calendar for the remaining programs of the year and our additional programs for the beginning of next year. If you have an interest in attending an event, having your own event created or volunteering to assist us in the completion of the winter house, please feel free to contact us at 618.201.4090 or trailsofawareness@gmail.com

 

Sincerely

Mark Denzer

Executive Director

The Trails of Awareness Project