Eco-Spiritual Facilitation Training
A five month training for people on a spiritual journey who feel called to guide others.
Gain new skills and confidence as a facilitator while deepening your connection to earth & trust in yourself.
June 2026 - october 2026
live & virtual / Personal & profound
Expertly facilitated small group learning circles, earth-based practice sessions,
& 1-1 eco-spiritual coaching to support your learning journey.
Open to all.
We begin June 10th.
Cost: $1,495 ($295/month)
Who you are…
You facilitate groups (or you want to), but aspire to be more confident, especially when it comes to integrating spirituality or nature-connection into your facilitation. You may show up nervous and unsure, either shrinking or taking up too much space as a facilitator. You wish you had more skills and trust in yourself to guide others. You long to consistently embody eco-spiritual values and practices. You'd like to have more tools and more trust in your skills so that you can be a confident facilitator in your current work or in the work you are dreaming of and growing into.
We believe that you can grow your trust and confidence as an eco-spiritual facilitator
with our compassionate guidance, a foundation of eco-spiritual practices,
and new eco-spiritual facilitation tools.
Can you learn facilitation in a virtual training?
Yes! We facilitate engaging virtual learning circles that will help you learn eco-spiritual facilitation tools and apply what you are learning.
Our sessions are:
Participatory~ We all have lived-experience to share and we invite your insights and wisdom
Experiential~We learn best by practicing and trying new things
Relational~ We learn better when we know and care about each other
Reflective~We offer guidance and space for reflecting deeply on what we are learning
Place-based~ We offer practices so that you can connect with the land where you live, cultivating a personal connection with the earth
Practice oriented~We invite you to practice eco-spiritual facilitation in your community and to bring your reflections and questions back to the learning group
Personal~We offer monthly 1-1 coaching sessions where we can support your needs individually and offer in-depth relational support
Invitational~We offer invitations to develop regular personal eco-spiritual practices at home that will ground you in earth-partnership and support your confidence
This training offers you…
More capacity to trust yourself so that you can guide from a more authentic and confident place
New earth-based practices and rituals that strengthen your connection to earth and spirit so that you feel grounded as a facilitator
More confidence and ease in your facilitation style so that you can design and guide meaningful workshops, retreats, and other sacred group experiences
A greater capacity for mindful awareness and loving presence, so that you can meet these times with greater stability and compassion
A toolkit of ec0-spiritual facilitation skills so that you feel effective and confident in your facilitation role
Small supportive community of peers and mentors doing the work alongside you to enrich your journey going forward (group size will be 6-12)
Eco-spiritual coaching for personalized guidance for your eco-spiritual facilitation journey
Eco-spiritual facilitation certificate to add your resume and website
In today’s world, where uncertainty and disconnection have become pervasive, the need for wise and compassionate facilitators has never been greater. As individuals and communities grapple with uncertainties, anxiety, and a sense of isolation, we can cultivate grounded steadiness and hold anchoring spaces.
Facilitators—whether we are coaches, healers, teachers, nature-based guides, leaders, or care givers—can serve as weavers of wisdom and re-connection to the web of Life.
Eco-spiritual facilitation is an invitation to create spaces where people feel truly welcomed, seen, held together, and empowered to honor their inherent connection to earth's wisdom.
Whether you are a long time facilitator or just beginning, you can gain confidence and learn new tools for holding space, fostering deep listening, and cultivating experiences that deepen relationships, honor grief, and invite joy, wonder, curiosity, and gentleness.
Are you ready to become the confident and skilled facilitator you are meant to be?
Maybe you've stayed on the sidelines, thinking you don’t have enough to offer, or not trusting that you have valuable gifts to share. You've questioned whether you are worthy or really have the confidence to guide others. You think that you're not ready enough, that maybe you’ll be more ready at some later time.
But there may also be a whisper and tug inside you to step into a deeper connection to earth and spirit. You are curious about learning new tools for guiding others. And you want to feel more confident and courageous, more grounded through the prevailing uncertainties of our time. You want to move toward meaningful work that feels more aligned with who you are. You are excited and curious about the possibility and decide not to let fear or nervousness get in the way of this new journey.
It's okay to feel on the edge of being ready. You are welcome just as you are. We each have gifts to offer this unfolding story and your gifts are welcome and needed.
As a participant in this training, we'll invite you into a welcoming and gentle small group learning circle where we'll meet you just where you are. We'll guide you toward eco-spiritual practices and tools that will deeply support you and those you hold space for. We'll provide monthly 1-1 coaching guidance so that you receive the personalized support you need and don't ever feel lost along the way. We'll help you move easefully toward becoming a more confident, trusting, and skillful facilitator.
In this training you will learn…
How to cultivate and commit to eco-spiritual practices that expand your connection to spirit and anchor you in earth-trust
How to weave tools like contemplative practices, storytelling, ceremony, and micro-rituals into your facilitation
How to use your intuition to respond to participants when facilitating, how to hold space for the emotional needs of a group, and to guide with a trauma-informed lens (welcome, safety, choice, connection)
How to facilitate with spaciousness, wisdom, and presence, knowing how to accept paradox and non-closure, and how to guide with a light touch
How to create meaningful invitations that are aligned with you are and your unique facilitation style
How to actively cultivate confidence in yourself as a facilitator
Core Tenets:
These tenets are foundational to our work and will be integrated into our learning throughout the training.
Relationship & Interbeing: Our learning and lives are rooted in interconnected relationships. We can learn to trust that when our path is rooted in interbeing, we have access to intuition, earth wisdom, and deeper knowing. We are committed to creating inclusive relational spaces rooted in healing justice.
Mindful & Compassionate Awareness: Our approach to our work and ourselves recognizes the need for our loving attention, presence, and compassion in a distracted and overwhelmed world.
Ecological Wisdom: We work in partnership with the earth and access wisdom directly from the natural world. Emergent ecological design, ritual, and seasonal connection are tools in this unfolding relationship.
Transformative & Experiential Learning: The learning we guide is participatory, intuitive, emergent, and holds possibility for transformative change. We use tools such as invitation, reflection, and embodied & sensory experience to enhance learning.
Inherent Wholeness: We believe everyone is inherently whole and deserves to uncover and remember wholeness. We cultivate experiences that deepen relationships, honor grief, and invite joy, playfulness, curiosity, and creativity.
This training is for you if you want to...
Cultivate your capacity to trust yourself, allowing intuition and wisdom to guide you and your work
Be in a small supportive learning community with others who are exploring their spiritual paths and facilitator roles
Receive support through 1-1 eco-spiritual coaching so that your learning is personalized and amplified
Expand your personal well-being and groundedness through eco-spiritual practices
Hold sacred spaces for others, with skill and confidence
Learn practical and proven tools for facilitating eco-spiritual learning
Integrate more self-reflection and spiritual growth into your life
Move beyond our dominant cultural norms, dismantle systems of oppression, and live and work with more trust, confidence, and creativity
“This Eco-Spiritual Facilitation Training opens a foundation of skills for those who are passionate about creating inclusive spaces that forge greater trust in ourselves and are led by the guiding wisdom of Nature. The skills learned can and will apply to your personal lives as well, instilling you with a priceless toolkit of learnings that will forge a greater relationship with the land, presence in your relationships, and intimate depth to your life experience.”
How we learn together....
Because we believe that learning is relational and happens best through experience and practice, you'll get to participate in expertly facilitated eco-spiritual learning circles with a small group of like-hearted participants. And because we know that each participant has their own unique challenges, we offer personalized coaching guidance so that you'll be able to show up to facilitate with more confidence and joy.
This training models eco-spiritual facilitation, providing a clear experience of what it feels like and looks like to be an eco-spiritual facilitator. You will also receive a toolkit of practices and have opportunities to practice what you are learning. This training will be small enough to provide the space to build supportive relationships and deep connections within our learning circle.
This training is rooted in research and wisdom from adult learning theories such as contemplative, experiential, and transformative learning, and is strongly informed by an understanding of Spiritual Ecology, New Science, Ecopsychology, Critical Theory, Relational Forest Therapy, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Ceremony, and Rites of Passage work. Additionally, our decades of practical experience as transformative educators and facilitators inform and guide this training.
Gain confidence in yourself and in your ability to hold space for others, knowing that you have the skills to be an intuitive and impactful co-spiritual facilitator
What's in the eco-spiritual toolkit? (specific tools you'll learn for eco-spiritual facilitation)
Micro rituals
Facilitation structure: Openings (helping people feel welcome, grounded and present) and Closings (making meaning together)
Storytelling & deep listening
Ceremony
Contemplative practices
Medicine walks & how to listen to the land for guidance and wisdom
The language of invitation & how to create invitations
Intuitive responses and holding spaciousness while facilitating
“This training was insightful, empowering, and a real confidence boost. I’m very excited to take what I have learned, to broaden and grow my own personal practice as well as my facilitation practice.”
“Through everyday rituals, interconnected presence, and surrendering to the art of slowing down, I have been able to be more present in my professional and personal life. I have learned simple, tangible skills with big returns - such as learning to listen when asking the land (and ourselves) for guidance.”
General Information
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All sessions offered live on Zoom.
🌿 Learning Circles: Explore foundational concepts and learn new tools and practices
2 Wednesdays per month:
11:00-12:30 PST (sessions will be recorded in case you have to miss)Dates:
- June 10 & 24
- July 8 & 15
- August 5 & 19
- Sept 9 & 23
- Oct 7 & 21
🌿 Monthly Eco-spiritual Practice Sessions: outside and land-based (Gather briefly on Zoom for an invitation for practice, go outside & offline, then return briefly for sharing experiences)
1 Saturday per month:
10:00-12:00 PST (sessions will be recorded in case you choose not to attend live)Dates:
- June 13
- July 11
- August 8
- Sept 19
- Oct 10
🌿 Monthly 1-1Coaching Sessions: Individualized support for your journey (on Zoom)
Meet with Irene or Heather for a supportive 1-1 coaching session at a time that works for you.
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An approach to life rooted in relationships, interconnectedness, reverence, and wholeness. A deep awareness of ourselves as ecological and spiritual beings. A reverence for the magic and mystery of spiritual experience rooted in earth connection. A trust in process and unknowns, in the unfolding of life. Eco-Spirituality has been part of the human experience since the beginning of time. An Eco-Spiritual lens offers a healing response to the climate crisis and other challenges we currently face together.
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A facilitator is someone who eases the way for others, who supports a growth or learning process. The word facilitate comes from the Latin facilis, for "easy." It means to make something easier or more likely to happen. A facilitator may serve in the role of guide, teacher, mentor, coach, healer, or anyone who creates and supports spaces of ease and possibility for others.
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This training welcomes people from all spiritual backgrounds. You may attend virtually from anywhere.
Specifically we invite:
Forest Therapy and other nature guides
Life and Creative Coaches
Yoga and Qigong teachers
Somatic Practitioners
Plant medicine guides
Mindfulness and Meditation Teachers
Artists
Energy workers
Herbalists
Death and birth doulas
Social justice & climate activists
Therapists
Conservation and restoration leaders
Anyone who wants to bring an eco-spiritual approach to their facilitation work
This training is for you if you are:
A values-based practitioner or guide who would like to feel more confident facilitating groups
Wanting to deepen your connection to yourself and the earth, and learn how to skillfully facilitate learning and healing in partnership with the earth
Curious about how to facilitate transformative adult learning that inspires meaning and invites change
Needing the flexibility of virtual learning. You are able to commit to a relational learning process with fixed meeting times or make time to review missed classes
Looking for ways to commit time and space to your personal learning and growth
Wanting to connect with like-hearted others in a learning process that is emergent, supportive, and deeply relational
A nature or forest therapy guide, an organizational facilitator, a garden-based or wilderness guide, an outdoor educator, a healer, a coach, a teacher, or leader on a spiritual path
Format and Timing:
Each month there will be 2 weekday participatory learning circle sessions for focusing on key concepts and skills (on Zoom). There will also be 1 Saturday eco-spiritual practice session per month (meeting on screen with invitations to go outside/off screen and come back later to share). You'll also meet on Zoom once a month with either Heather or Irene for 1-1 coaching.
Learning circles: 2 Wednesdays a month: 11:00-12:30pm (PST)
June 10 & 24, July 8 & 15, Aug 5 & 19, Sept 9 & 23, Oct 7 & 21- Recorded in case you can't make it to all sessions.
Eco-spiritual practice session: 1 Saturday a month: 10:00am-12:00pm (PST)
June 13, July 11, Aug 8, Sept 19, Oct 10 - Recorded in case you can't make it to all sessions.
Coaching: 1 hour a month, flexible
We want you to participate as fully as possible and also understand that you may need to miss some sessions.
We will record all group sessions and share the recordings.
Virtual learning circles are designed to be participatory, meaningful, and relational. These sessions will include check-ins, contemplative practices, earth connection practices, small group activities, somatic practices, reflective journaling, discussion, and more.
Each month we focus on a specific theme with learning that guides us into deeper knowing and skill in our eco-spiritual facilitation practice. Every month you will receive new tools and practices to support your learning and add to your toolkit.
Themes:
🌱 June: Rooting in relationship & opening to trust
🌱 July: Connecting to intuition & earth wisdom
🌱 August: Cultivating confidence & authentic practices
🌱 September: Holding spaciousness & invitation
🌱 October: Integrating imagination & reflection- moving forward with intention
“Irene has a great way of making a gathering feel warm, welcoming and easy. Time with Temenos groups makes me feel connected to myself, to others, and to nature... the perfect reset and check in with myself, to notice how I am feeling, and where my energies are being spent.”
Your Facilitators:
Irene Elle Bailey (she/her) is a designer and facilitator of nature connection and mindfulness offerings that support the remembering that we are intimately and inseparably connected to all life. As a creator of spaces for cultivating trust, courage, intuition, and wisdom, Irene has supported hundreds on their path to living a more connected, authentic, and joyful life. Over the past 20 years, she has worked with numerous environmental and sustainability education programs. She is the founder and director of Temenos Rising where she shares retreats, workshops, forest bathing walks, and mentorship, all held in deep relationship with the natural world.
Irene holds an MS in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University and is a certified Forest Therapy Guide with the Association for Nature and Forest Therapy. She has trained with the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies as a Buddhist Eco-Chaplain and continues to train in ceremony and rites of passage work with the School of Lost Borders.
Irene believes wholeheartedly in the transformation and deep healing that is possible when we allow the more than human world to be a wise teacher and cultivate a felt sense of interbeing. Irene supports the creation of safer spaces in the natural world so that others can get the healing and nourishment they deserve to live well.
Irene calls the Oregon coast home where she enjoys hiking, hanging out with big trees, surfing, practicing meditation, foraging for mushrooms and seaweed, and taking romps with her partner, son, and pup.
Dr. Heather Burns (she/her) has been a scholar and facilitator of eco-spiritual learning for over 20+ years as a university professor and through her business, Alderroot Healing & Renewal. She holds space for transformative healing and wholeness rooted in relationships and interbeing. She has extensive experience teaching others how to design and facilitate eco-spiritual and sustainability learning, and she is an experienced designer and facilitator of participatory, experiential, contemplative, and transformative learning experiences. Over the years, she has deepened her intuitive facilitation skills through guiding retreats, forest therapy experiences, courses in spirituality and deep ecology, and 1-1 coaching & mentorship.
Heather holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership in Sustainability, an MA in Women Studies and Adult Education, and a BA in Psychology. She was a tenured professor and the director of the Leadership for Sustainability Education graduate program for 15 years. She has published dozens of articles on transformative and eco-spiritual learning and is the author of the book Transformative Sustainability Pedagogy: Designing and Facilitating Eco-Spiritual Learning.
Heather is also a certified forest therapy guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, a Reiki master, and a certified permaculture designer. Heather believes that we all need mindful support and inclusive spaces of gentle care and guidance as we struggle in these times of climate crisis and crumbling social systems. She knows healing is supported by remembering our connection to the living earth and by truly feeling our sense of belonging in this wise beautiful world. She supports finding renewal and joy in learning to listen to our bodies, and in direct re-connection to our spirits, the more than human world, and each other.
Heather calls Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest her home. She finds joy in her daily contemplative practices, tending her large polyculture garden, forest wandering, and ocean and river swimming. She is also an avid reader, writer, and creative designer of eco-spiritual experiences.
“Heather shows up so authentically and vulnerably to every class, it is infectious. Her teaching not only helps you see and understand the world better but helps you see and understand yourself better.”
Included in this Training:
10 guided weekday learning circle sessions (Live Virtual + Recorded)
5 guided Saturday outdoor eco-spiritual practice sessions (Live Virtual + Recorded)
5 individual & personalized hour long coaching sessions (Virtual)
Suggested monthly eco-spiritual practices to guide your learning
A library of resources to support your learning including an Ecological Design Workbook (written by Dr. Burns)
What’s App community for connection between sessions
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To honor the time and effort dedicated to this training, we’ve established the following cancellation policy.
Cancellation received 30 or more days before training start date: Full refund minus $50 administrative fee. Cancellation received 30 days or less before training start date: We will not be able to offer any refund.
* There are no refunds available once the training program starts. -
We offer payment plans for no extra charge.
You can choose a monthly payment plan for the 5 months of the training.
Inclusivity:
We ask that all participants be committed to the ongoing learning and awareness of how white supremacy negatively impacts all life, especially Black and Brown people. In an effort to support an inclusive space, we know this work, this dismantling of systemic oppression, is essential to sharing healing spaces and to supporting the collective liberation for all beings.
FAQs
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Rooting in relationship and opening to trust
Together we will get to know each other and explore ways that we can welcome and nurture eco-spiritual learning. We will set intentions for our personal eco-spiritual practices, and will start to develop our eco-spiritual toolkit. We will learn how to create micro-rituals that support our connection to earth, and we will cultivate contemplative trust practices that allow us to be more confident hosts and holders of eco-spiritual spaces.Connecting to intuition & earth wisdom
Together we will learn how to listen to our inner knowing and the wisdom of the more-than-human world. We will learn to nurture our body wisdom and intuition so that we can facilitate with greater confidence, allowing courage to support us as we navigate imperfection and discomfort. We will remember how mystery, magic, and synchronicity have always guided life and how re-membering can support our capacity to be grounded and to make wise design decisions as we facilitate. We will learn body-based spiritual practices for nourishing ourselves, cultivating intuition, and regulating our nervous systems so that we can support group containers from a place of calm and confidence.Cultivating confidence & authentic practice
Together we will deepen our clarity about who we are as facilitators and guides. We will learn how to develop more confidence by grounding into our authentic approach and purpose, and telling our own stories. Together we will learn how to consistently approach facilitation with calm, courage, and confidence, knowing we are developing the groundedness and tools to be successful space-holders. We will explore how to authentically weave in contemplative practices, such as ceremony and ritual as part of our facilitation.Holding spaciousness & invitation
Together we will explore how to hold spaciousness for groups so that learning and relationships can unfold naturally. We will also learn how to hold space for both joy and grief, and how to lean into joy and play without bypassing the painful realities of the world. We will learn the language of invitation, and how to skillfully create and integrate invitations into our offerings. We will also learn the practice of medicine walks and how to receive guidance from the earth that can support our confidence and our abilities to hold eco-spiritual spaces.Integrating imagination and reflection
Together we will engage with imagination as a tool to grow our facilitation capacity, and to create or re-shape how and what we facilitate. We will reflect on and weave together our authentic practices of trust, embodiment, intuition, and confidence as we integrate our learning. We will reflect on our specific learning in this training, map and share our learning journeys in eco-spiritual facilitation, and set clear commitments about our facilitation craft going forward. -
2 monthly weekday learning circle sessions (90 mins each)
1 monthly 2 hour Saturday eco-spiritual practice sessions- (virtual+outside)
5 60-minute personalized 1-1 coaching session with Heather or Irene
Monthly practices and invitations to deepen earth connection and integrate learning
A library of reading , video, and audio resources
What's App community for connecting with each other between sessions
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Yes, this training is also for experienced facilitators who would like to get more grounding in effective and meaningful eco-spiritual learning strategies. This training also offers the space to gather with other facilitators in a supportive learning community. If you would like to talk more about if this training is a good fit for you, please schedule a short exploration call with us.
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In this training you will learn how to put less energy into fear and worry, and how to cultivate more rootedness and trust in Life. You will gain tools and practices that support a deeper connection to the earth and to your own intuition and wisdom. We recognize that the development of eco-spiritual facilitation is grounded in the personal experience and growth of the facilitator. You will be invited to cultivate courage, confidence, and trust alongside practices of mindful awareness, self-care, and compassion to support your inherent wholeness and stability.
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Yes, we have experience crafting and facilitating meaningful and participatory eco-spiritual learning in virtual spaces. Relational and spiritual learning practices can be cultivated anywhere and we can show you how. Our virtual sessions will be rooted in relationship, participation, co-creation, and presence. You will also be offered specific land-based and embodied spiritual practices that support learning beyond our virtual learning spaces.
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This training will help you to confidently facilitate workshops, retreats, rituals, classes, and other group gatherings that support eco-spiritual learning. You may integrate this into your current work within an organizational setting or in your own business. This training may also offer you the ability to create and lean into new career possibilities.
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You are invited to participate as fully as possible in order to support the learning container and community. Plan to attend a live virtual learning circle two week-days each month (90 minutes each) and one Saturday a month (2 hours). All sessions are offered live via Zoom. In order to fully receive the benefits of this training, you are invited to make space in your life for about 1 additional hour per week of reflection and contemplative earth connection practices that will help you integrate what you are learning.
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We encourage you to attend as many sessions as possible to get the most out of the experience. We will record and share all the sessions so if you are unable to attend you can still engage with the learning.
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Certification of completion. Add to your resume, social media, and website as a credential
Earth-based and spiritual practices that support you and your facilitation work
A toolkit of creative & effective facilitation tools to guide your work
Trust and confidence in your eco-spiritual facilitation craft and unique style
An abundance of new resources for eco-spiritual facilitation
A community of committed eco-spiritual facilitators
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This training is designed for you to apply what you are learning through direct application to your life and work. And, you will be invited to design and facilitate an offering (in your community or workplace) based on what you are learning in this training. We'll support you in this process through 1-1 coaching. You'll also be invited to share about your facilitation experience in our learning community, and to receive feedback and reflection.
“One of the most nourishing, peaceful, reflective, and connected weekends I’ve had in years. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I am so thankful for the wisdom of the teachers, the delicious food, and the opportunity to practice being vulnerable, to slow down, and to connect with the land.”