Brian Stafford left his 20-year career as a psychiatrist to become a wilderness guide and agent of human and cultural transformation. He completed the intensive training as a psycho-spiritual wilderness guide with the Animas Valley Institute, and now guides individuals to the place they most long and fear to go – their soul place and purpose. He now guides primarily in Ojai, California. In this episode he shares:

How he made the dramatic transformation from psychiatrist to wilderness guide
How his wife reacted to his shift in values, focus and lifestyle
How our ego can grow to support our soul’s embodiment in our lives, according to Bill Plotkin
The power of rites of passage



Saint Animal. 
by Chase Twichell

Suddenly it was clear to me -
I was something I hadn't been before. 
It was as if the animal part of my being


had reached some kind of maturity that gave it
authority, and it had begun to use it.

I thought about death for two years.
My animal flailed and tore at its cage
till I let it go. I watched it

drift out into the easy eddies of twilight
and then veer off, not knowing me.

I'm not a bird but I'm inhabited by a spirit
that's uplifting me. It's my animal, my saint,
my soldier, my flame of yearning,

come back to tell me
what it was like to be without me.
Links:

Learn more about Brian and his journeys into the wilderness at

http://eco-psyche-artistry.com/ and http://wildernessismedicine.org/

Connect with Brian on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/EcoPsycheArtistry

Learn more about Bill Plotkin and the Animas Institute http://www.animas.org/