Eco-Spiritual Facilitation
Training & Certification
Amplifying your journey to becoming a grounded, intuitive, and transformative facilitator of shared sacred spaces.
Facilitators: Dr. Heather Burns and Irene Elle Bailey
9 month training: January - September 2025
(virtual with in-person retreat)
Offered in collaboration with Alderroot Healing & Renewal
Do you feel called to design and facilitate transformative group experiences that invite and honor ecological and spiritual connection?
Whether you are a less-experienced or long-time facilitator, you can grow your capacity to be an intuitive and confident facilitator who makes a significant difference in people’s lives. In today’s world of increasing anxiety and disconnection, we need wise guides who can support healing and well-being on behalf of Life. In this training you will gather new perspectives, skills, and tools for growing your ability to facilitate groups in ways that support deep ecological and spiritual connection, and transformative change.
The Eco-Spiritual Facilitation Training & Certification Program is for practitioners and healers such as therapists & coaches, yoga & somatic teachers, and nature connection guides, who want to learn how to design and facilitate effective and transformative and inclusive group experiences that invite and honor ecological and spiritual connection.This could look like retreats, workshops, classes, rituals, group sessions, and other creative offerings.
The Eco-Spiritual Facilitation training and certification program will support your growth as a facilitator while also deepening your journey into ecological and spiritual connection.
In this training you will be invited to:
Root deeply into your own values and wisdom
Trust yourself and your connection to the earth
Deepen your capacity for mindful awareness, loving presence, and compassion
Learn an emergent ecological design process to support transformative change
Commit to eco-spiritual practices that support your growth as a facilitator
5 Core Tenets:
These tenets are foundational to our work.
Throughout the training we will be integrating these tenets into our learning.
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 rooted in recent research and wisdom from adult learning theories such as experiential, place-based, contemplative, and transformative learning, and is strongly informed by an understanding of Spiritual Ecology, New Science, Ecopsychology, Critical Theory, 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.
This facilitation training will not only offer new concepts and relationships but will model 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 limited to 16 participants so that you have the opportunity to build supportive relationships and connections within our learning community.
Gain clarity and confidence in your ability to hold transformative space for others, knowing that you have the tools and skills to be an intuitive and impactful facilitator of shared sacred spaces.
General Information
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Day Long Orientation and Workshop:
January 11 (10:00-4:00 PT / 1:00-7:00 ET)
Monthly Workshops:
Saturdays, February - June (1-4:00 PT / 4-7:00 ET)
February 8, March 8, April 12, May 10, June 14
Monthly Connection Sessions
Wednesdays, January - August (5:00-6:30 PT / 8:00-9:30 ET)
January 22, February 19, March 19, April 23, May 21, June 25, July 23, August 20
5-day In-person Retreat (Yachats, Oregon)
September 12-16, 2025
We will be camping and hosting our retreat at Temenos Forest Sanctuary, a private, beautiful, and sacred 5-acre forested property 2 miles north of Yachats. It is truly a spectacular place to camp and call home. The ocean is a 15 minute walk, mostly through the forest, and there are various creeks to enjoy on and around the property. This space offers itself for deep nourishment and calm. Alternate accommodations can be made (hotel/ airbnb) if you prefer not to camp but will be an additional charge.
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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 healing 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 is a non-religious training that welcomes people from all spiritual backgrounds.
You are invited to attend virtually from anywhere but will need to make arrangements to attend the in-person retreat in September.
Specifically we invite:
Forest Therapy and other nature guides
Mindfulness and Meditation Teachers
Therapists
Life and Creative Coaches
Yoga and Qigong teachers
Somatic Practitioners
Acupuncturists
Plant medicine guides
Artists
Energy Workers
Herbalists
Doulas
Social justice & climate activists
Conservation and restoration leaders
Spiritual leaders
Anyone that wants to bring an eco-spiritual approach to their facilitation work
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Attend all or most of the group learning sessions and actively participate
Attend the orientation and culminating retreat
Track your personal eco-spiritual practices for a minimum of 25 hours
Observe other eco-spiritual facilitators for a minimum of 8 hours
Design a new eco-spiritual offering
Practice facilitating at least one eco-spiritual offering
Craft an eco-spiritual facilitator statement that highlights your values and practices
This training is for you if:
You are a values-based practitioner or guide who would like to feel more confident facilitating groups and integrating ecological and spiritual learning
You want to deepen your connection to yourself and the earth, and learn how to skillfully facilitate learning and healing in partnership with the earth
You want to learn to facilitate transformative adult learning that inspires meaning and invites change
You want to move beyond our dominant cultural norms, dismantle systems of oppression, and live and work with more ease, curiosity and creativity
You want to expand your capacity to trust yourself and what you are offering, allowing intuition and wisdom to guide your work
You would like to learn practical and proven methods for designing and facilitating transformative eco-spiritual learning that prioritizes the sacred
You are open to self-reflection, growth, and deep learning
You would like to learn with others in a process that is emergent, supportive, and deeply relational
You are able to commit time and space to your learning and growth as an eco-spiritual facilitator. This includes attending our sessions regularly and committing to your own personal practices and reflection.
You want the flexibility of virtual learning and can commit to a relational learning process with fixed meeting times and a culminating in-person retreat
Format and Timing:
This 9 month training begins with a day-long virtual retreat on January 11, 2025 and culminates with a 5 day in person retreat September 12-16, 2025 (on the Oregon Coast). Each month from January to September there will be 2 participatory virtual sessions; one 3 hour Saturday session and one 90 minute Wednesday session per month (see below for specific dates). We expect people to participate as fully as possible and understand that you may need to miss a session. Due to the participatory nature of the sessions, we will record as much as possible.
Virtual sessions are designed to be participatory, meaningful, and relational. These sessions will include check-ins, contemplative practices, earth connection practices (on screen and with invitations to go off screen and come back), small group activities, reflective journaling, and more.
Each month we focus on a specific theme with content that aligns with the season and guides us into deeper knowing and ability in our eco-spiritual facilitation practice. Every month you will receive new facilitation tools, resources, and reflective and contemplative practices to support your learning.
Meet Your Facilitators:
Dr. Heather Burns (she/her) has been a scholar and facilitator of eco-spiritual learning for 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 personal mentorship.
Heather holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership in Sustainability, an MA in Women Studies and Adult Education, and BA in Psychology. She was the director of the Leadership for Sustainability Education graduate program for many years and has published numerous articles on transformative and eco-spiritual learning. She 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 reconnection 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.
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 and pup. She brings her whole self to this work for the benefit of all beings.
Cost:
$3950 - 5450 (sliding scale)
~ Application fee: $250 ~
This fee is applied towards total cost and is refundable within 30 days if either you or us decide the training is not the right fit.
Once accepted into the program, you have 2 weeks to secure your spot by paying a $500 deposit.
If you need a payment plan, please let us know.
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Payments, Refund, & Cancellation Policy:
Full payment is due 60 days before the training start date (or at the time of registration if the training will start in less than 60 days).
Cancellation received 90 or more days before training start date: Full refund minus $200 administrative fee
Cancellation received 60-90 days before training start date: Refund of 25% of amount paid.
Cancellation received 59 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.
Payment Plans:
We offer payment plans for no extra charge.
For those in need, we are able to offer a few payment plans that are billed monthly throughout the training. Priority will be given to folks with financial need who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, trans, queer, disabled, or single parents.
* Please email us for options and set up a plan that works for you.
Offered in collaboration with Alderroot Healing & Renewal
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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2025 Themes, Dates, & Times
January: Rooting in relationship and interconnection
Together we will begin to build our learning community and understand how eco-spiritual learning experiences can be opened and nurtured. We will begin committing to the process of deepening into earth relationship and interbeing, and begin developing micro-rituals for earth connection. We will deeply observe our current knowledge and practice of facilitation, and start to develop a toolkit for our unique eco-spiritual facilitation journey. We will learn about transformative learning theory and what it means to facilitate transformative eco-spiritual learning.
Dates:
1/11 Saturday, 10:00am-4:00pm PST
1/22 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30pm PSTFebruary: Trust
Together we will explore the connection between wisdom and trust, learning how to be a host and holder of eco-spiritual spaces. We will lean into trust practices and understand how to set strong intentions, let go of control, and how to trust the more-than-human world and the process of emergence. We will learn to cultivate body wisdom and intuition, and how to facilitate with greater confidence, allowing courage to support us as we navigate imperfection and discomfort, and create new offerings. We will also learn best practices for facilitating participatory and experiential learning and will identify specific practices that we can integrate in our facilitation journey. We will also consider the role of collaborative facilitation in our work and what this might look like in our offerings.
Dates:
2/8 Saturday, 1:00-4:00pm PST
2/19 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30 PSTMarch: Intuition and Wisdom
Together we will learn how to cultivate listening to our own inner knowing and the wisdom of the more-than-human world. We will remember how mystery, magic, and synchronicity have always guided life and how
re-embering can support our capacity to be grounded and to make wise design decisions in our facilitation process. We will learn body-based spiritual practices for cultivating intuition and regulating our nervous systems so that we can support group containers from a place of calm and confidence. We will learn to weave contemplative practices, ceremony, and ritual into our facilitation journey.Dates:
3/8 Saturday, 1:00-4:00pm PST
3/19 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30 PSTApril: Joy, Wonder & Spaciousness
Together we will open to awe, beauty, and wonder and will cultivate joy practices that can support us. We will explore how to hold space in groups for both joy and grief, and how to lean into joy without bypassing the painful realities of the world. We will learn the language of invitation, and practices of play and spaciousness as tools that we can integrate into our offerings. We will explore how place-based learning can strengthen our relationship to the earth as we weave in wonder and joy.
Dates:
4/12 Saturday, 1:00-4:00pm PST
4/23 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30 PSTMay: Emergence
Together we will learn how to use an emergent ecological design process to design and facilitate eco-spiritual learning experiences. In this emergent process we will deeply observe, imagine and envision, and begin to shape new offerings or re-shape current offerings. We will practice trust, embodiment, intuition, and interconnection as we design. We will offer each other feedback and guidance, and honor our unique gifts and creations. We will learn how to use this design tool to craft rich eco-spiritual learning experiences. We will also learn the practice of medicine walks and how to receive guidance from the earth that can support our emergent design and practice of eco-spiritual facilitation.
Dates:
5/10 Saturday, 1:00-4:00pm PST
5/21 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30 PSTJune: Authenticity
Together we will deepen our clarity about who we are as facilitators and guides. We will develop more confidence about how and why we facilitate by grounding into our authentic approach. We will understand the Way of the Guide and will create clear intentions and commitments about our facilitation craft. Together we will re-visit and explore the nature of transformative learning over time, and how tapping into our own authentic style and purpose as facilitators can support the transformative learning process in our offerings.
Dates:
6/14 Saturday, 1:00-4:00pm PST
6/25 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30 PSTJuly: Practice and Integration
Together we will move into integrating and practicing what we have been learning. Using the emergent ecological design process, each of us will design an offering that we would like to bring into the world. We will share our designs and receive observations and reflections from the learning community. Each person will have the opportunity to schedule a 60 minute mentoring session with Heather or Irene during July or August for guidance in this emergent ecological design process.
Date:
7/23 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30 PST
*only one meeting this month to allow for more integration time
August: Practice and IntegrationTogether we will continue to integrate and practice what we have been learning. Using the emergent ecological design process, each of us will design an offering that we would like to bring into the world. We will share our designs and receive observations and reflections from the learning community. Each person will have the opportunity to schedule a 60 minute mentoring session with Heather or Irene during July or August for guidance in this emergent ecological design process.
Date:
8/20 Wednesday, 5:00-6:30 PST
*only one meeting this month to allow for more integration timeSeptember: Harvest, Nourish and Moving Forward with Intention
Together we will gather for an in-person retreat where we will reflect on our learning in this program while being held by the earth and each other. With deep time in the forest and by the ocean, this retreat will offer nourishment and renewal, and will invite us to practice slowness, spaciousness, rest, and ritual. At this retreat, we will map and share our journeys of eco-spiritual facilitation, and each person is invited to practice facilitating an eco-spiritual learning experience. We will also set clear intentions for our continued work as facilitators, and will hold a completion ceremony.
Dates:
9/12- 9/16, 2025 -
Day-long orientation session- virtual (January)
Monthly 3 hour Saturday sessions- virtual (February-June)
Monthly 90 minute Wednesday connection sessions- virtual (January-August)
A 5 day in-person retreat (September) with camping & food
One 60-minute individual mentoring session with Heather or Irene during July or August
Monthly reading and video resources
Monthly practices and invitations to deepen earth connection and integrate learning
On-line platform for resources & communication
Ecological Design Workbook
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Yes, this training is also for experienced facilitators who would like to learn to facilitate transformative eco-spiritual experiences and get more grounding in effective and meaningful adult 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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This training will support you in learning how to put less energy into fear and worry and how to cultivate more rootedness and trust in Life. You will gain 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 and self-care and compassion to support your inherent wholeness and stability.
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Yes, we have experience crafting and facilitating meaningful 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 design and facilitate workshops, retreats, rituals, classes, and other group gatherings that support eco-spiritual learning and transformative change. 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 session one Saturday a month (3 hours) and a once a month Wednesday evening connection session (90 minutes). There is also a day-long virtual orientation (January 11), and an in-person culminating 5 day retreat on the Oregon Coast (September 12-16).
In order to fully receive the benefits of this training, you are invited to make space in your life for about 1-2 additional hours a week of reading/videos, reflection, and contemplative earth connection practices that will help you integrate what you are learning.
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We ask that you commit to adding all the sessions to your calendar and to attending as many sessions as possible. Although we will record sessions, they are highly participatory and there will be personal reflections and breakout room discussions that will not be included in the shared recordings. We highly encourage you to attend as many classes as possible to get the most out of the experience.
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Certification as an eco-spiritual facilitator. Add to your resume, social media, and website as a credential
Earth-based and spiritual practices that support you and your facilitation work
Creative & effective facilitation tools and learning theory to guide your work
A clear ecological design process for creating new offerings
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. In July and August there is specific focus on, and support for, applying your learning by designing and implementing a new eco-spiritual offering in your home community. You will also be invited to design and create a short eco-spiritual offering for each other at our culminating in-person retreat. These opportunities will help you practice what you are learning and will offer opportunities for reflection and response. We will encourage you to practice and apply what you are learning throughout the training.
In-Person Retreat Details
Dates: September 12-16, 2025
Location: Yachats, Oregon
We will be camping at Temenos Forest Sanctuary, a private, beautiful, and sacred 5-acre forested property 2 miles north of Yachats. It is truly a spectacular place to camp and call home for a few days. The ocean is a 15 minute walk, mostly through the forest, and there are various creeks to enjoy on and around the property. This space offers itself for deep nourishment and calm. You will likely go home having the land and its inhabitants wedged deeply into your heart.
What is included:
All food
Private forest location to camp (option to stay nearby in a hotel/Airbnb for an additional cost)
Sacred space to explore and wander
Sound & energy healing session
Opportunities for deep connection to self, community, & the natural world
What is not included:
Travel to and from the retreat (Central Oregon Coast)
Camping gear
Alternate accommodations if you prefer not to camp (hotels and other nearby accommodations are available). This must be arranged individually but please reach out for suggestions.
Testimonials
“Thank you for creating this shared learning experience that touched me deeply and constantly transforms my understanding of life and what our relationship with this earth could look like." -Noppawan
“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.” -Stefanie
"Thank you, a million times thank you, thank you.
Each class was so personal for me but also just as special in the community building. I feel connected to the land, I feel connected to these people, and I feel connected to myself. Thank you for fostering so much growth." -Skyler
"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." -Camila
“I have been to a few retreats with Temenos Rising and every time, I leave thinking "I need to do this more often!" 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. These retreats are the perfect reset and check in with myself, how I am feeling, and where my energies are being spent.” -Amy