“Nature literacy is the founding tenant of meaningful engagement with nature or meaningful immersion in the natural environment”
Toby Cowern is a wilderness survival and bushcraft expert, tour leader and outdoor coach. He joins us for this podcast from the northern reaches of Sweden.
Toby shares his backstory and how his time in the Reserve Armed Forces and interest in wilderness survival skills lead him to the world of coaching and, ultimately, coaching in the great outdoors. His military background also serves as a unique lens into understanding how we deal with trauma and how being immersed in natural environments can promote meaningful connections with nature.
We also discuss a theme that has become quite common amongst our podcast guests, that is the client’s belief that they need permission to spend time outdoors and participate in outdoor coaching.
Toby also shares the details of some of the courses he runs in Sweden, such as Nature Literacy, and the research that has gone into designing and creating these courses.
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Our guest
Toby’s unique fusion of teaching background, risk management qualifications, military training and outdoors experience allows him to deliver Nature Based experiences and training of the highest calibre.
Based in Scandinavia, and frequently working deep inside the Arctic Circle, Toby holds expertise in Extreme Cold Weather Wilderness Survival Skills but has also travelled extensively to deliver immersive nature experiences internationally.
When not teaching or studying aspects of seasonally led practices, Toby also deals with Management and Coaching Consultancy as well as running various highly applied camps and seminars, aimed at managing, and reducing stress both at individual and organisational level.
Toby is also passionate about using immersive nature engagement to help promote positive reconnection with the natural environment (‘Rewilding Yourself’) and tapping into the powerful personal development and growth that can be attained from this.
In his spare time Toby is also an on-call firefighter, infantry soldier and community support volunteer.
