Third Nature Summer Camp Weekend
Something beautiful happens in anticipation of Third Nature Summer Camp Weekend. Occuring every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend, the Third Nature team creates a safe container for the authentic self realization of each participant in a conscious, loving, supportive community.
They gather individuals interested in the conscious co-creation of better possibilities for the world through each of their unique entrepreneurial endeavors. Being surrounded by people who are changing the world for the better in interesting and aligned ways to who they are and what lights them up is a rush of inspiration, transformation and creativity unparalleled by any other experience I’ve known.
It does wonders to have role models and a peer group that illuminate what could be possible while having full belief and support in whomever you choose to be. The people and the activities make space for authentic self-expression, from their constant phrase, “Choose your own adventure” to their transformational workshops, AMAs, and invitation into childlike play in the metaphorical sandbox of summer camp activities.
Awareness and movement practices from Sarah Joy Gaines’ Joyflow, which is a combination of yoga, breath work, meditation, and ecstatic dance, to Brian Helfman’s gratitude circle in nature, to Alexis Helfman’s meditative drawing experience primed each morning with an embodied centeredness through which to be more grounded and intentional with the day ahead.
Everything is optional in these experiences, and you could really flip a coin between each offering and still get massive takeaways, even if you just relax by the water and find someone to chat to in deep and complex conversation. One of the greatest assets in this weekend is the group of people they gather each year, being the most interesting and phenomenal people to talk to and open up possibilities with.
Jake Fishbein’s workshop, How To Be Unstoppable, helped people to directly face their limiting beliefs and fight those blocks back, developing greater self-trust and assertiveness in bringing their highest purpose, alignment and commitment into being.
Glyvolner Gabriel and David Nebinski’s interactive podcast and Ask Me Anything, Getting Volner-able, was an inspirational mind and heart-expanding illumination on the importance of vulnerability in becoming who you could be and having the courage to be honest, real, and choose authenticity, alignment and expression rather than suppressing all the light and magic we could be just to meet the standards and expectations of a culture that can be very shaming, restrictive and oppressive. The words of Lao Tzu reverberated in my ears after the laughter, tears, and insights flowed through this session: “When I let go of who I think I am, I become who I could be.”
Debra Cooper’s Ask Me Anything on How to Craft, Tell, and Sell Your Story to Land Your Dream Career helped each participant find their truest passion and connect every experience they’ve had since childhood to that passion as a reinforcer of the story that sets one apart from the rest.
Sarah Joy Gaines and Jake Fishbein’s Rewild Yourself broke down the harmful social construct of the gender binary and gave people the medicine of wild and free expression of whatever they have been told or expected not to express depending on which reproductive system they were born with. We truly came away with the blissful understanding of oneness and wholeness with our human equals and our shared wildness.
Third Nature’s Constellations experience allowed us to drop a group of people directly into our mind and into our lives by creating a three-dimensional representation of the elements of our lives, whether that be our priorities or the things that take up the most time and energy in our lives, and assign them to five people, one of which representing ourselves, and directing the other four to act as how those priorities or aspects of our lives feel to us in our day-to-day routine. Being able to see our lives from new perspectives, and being able to move and shift those pieces, even the ones we regularly thought were unmovable, allowed us to see the possibilities of what could be, and hearing the perspectives of the people who represented different parts of our lives illuminated important insights and shifts that would be valuable to us.
There were also so many opportunities for summer camp fun: the lake, pool, campfire, karaoke, bachata class, basketball, tennis, beach volleyball, pickle ball, relay race, etc. The power of play was a multiplier of connection, integration, joy, and celebration throughout the weekend, and a great way to connect with our inner child energies as we dreamed up with full belief all that could be possible.
Third Nature taught me what support is. Support is witnessing, understanding, and empowering people to explore and choose through awareness and conscious intention what exactly they would like to embody, create and experience to be the most authentic, joyful, peaceful, purposeful and impactful person they can be in each given moment. Cultivating vulnerability and compassion and holding space for each other to lift off the blocks preventing each other from their fullest expressions and greatest visions in creating the world they want to live in. It’s truly the place for people who believe in a better world to connect with and support one another co-create these beautiful visions with one another.
On my way up to Third Nature Summer Camp weekend, and on my way back, the words “I love you,” “My wish for you is to find a vision that is so beautiful that it makes you choke up with tears of joy just to think about it,” and “reconnection with nature and regenerating a beautiful future for this world is possible” resonated so much more brightly and vividly than they ever had before. I can’t wait to go back.
Interested in Third Nature’s offerings?
They have another Summer Camp experience Labor Day Weekend
They have free Conscious Conversations online very Friday
And to stay in touch with and get to know them better, here is their Website and Instagram
