For thousands of years, Tribal Nations have leaned on an understanding that everything is connected to keep themselves healthy and their communities successful. But western culture has lost or, worse, purposefully ignored the wisdom of those teachings — and it hasn’t made us exceptionally healthy and happy.

In their new book The Seven Circles, indigenous wellness advocates Thosh Collins and Chelsey Luger lay out seven interconnected principles for pursuing whole-life health. In this episode of Humans Outside Chelsey and Thosh dive into the “land” principle and use indiegnous cultural teachings to show us how spending time outside and connecting with the land can have whole-life benefits.

[2:42] Thosh Collin’s favorite outdoor space

[3:01] Chelsey Luger’s favorite outdoor space

[3:42] How Chelsey and Thosh learned the value of spending time outside

[7:22] A caveat on “indigenous” wellness

[10:37] What are the seven circles of wellness?

[17:38] Looking at the circles as an interconnected ring

[20:17] All about connecting with the land

[27:30] Why we have to learn to be connected to the land

[31:26] What we spend time with shows what we value

[35:51] How the land circle interacts with the other circles

[40:53] The stages of understanding the circles

[46:29] Thosh and Chelsey’s favorite outdoor moments

You probably know Amy is a runner. But do you know why? The story goes back to a really tragic military deployment, trying to know what to say or do when so many of your friends’ husbands don’t come home to their families and worrying that yo, too, could get The Knock any day.

Listen to this episode to learn why Amy sees running as a path to honoring the fallen while working to live an inspired life.

[:45] It’s hard to remember what I was like in the before time (not those before times)

[1:00] Before I was outdoorsy

[1:43] The story begins with a baby and a sad goodbye

[2:20] When things got real

[3:00] The problem of not knowing what to do

[3:44] The very first email invite

[4:16] Finding something to do

[5:20] The act and power of movement

[6:00] Upcoming bonus episode

[6:17] How I honored through movement this week

On the one hand is time management — using steps to get the most out of every hour. On the other hand is energy and having the bandwidth to get it all done. So what happens when you’re great at time management but always find yourself energy poor? You’ve got time to do everything you need to do, but lack the energy to get around to the things you want to do. Instead you feel rushed at best, or simply exhausted at worst.

In her new book Tranquility by Tuesday author and time management expert Laura Vanderkam lays out nine guidelines that she has found make a measurable difference in how satisfied people feel about how they spend their time. In this episode she digs into two of the nine and gives tips on how we can make them work for us.

[3:39] Laura Vanderkam pretty much just writes books for me

[4:50] Laura’s favorite outdoor space

[7:13] What is tranquility?

[9:37] What are the ‘Tranquility by Tuesday’ rules?

[12:44] Why is ‘three times a habit?’ And what does that mean?

[17:28] Intensity vs. consistency

[21:00] All about ‘one big adventure, one little adventure’

[24:15] There are no adventure police

[27:00] We’re back to intentionality again

[30:30] Overcoming inertia

[33:57] ‘Police the muscle’

Amy’s pretty used to eating her words by now, which is why she’s not at all ashamed to admit that she said she’d never, ever ski and now she kind of loves it — especially when we’re talking Nordic skiing.

But this week’s first ski of the year showed that skiing has brought a totally expected benefit: it’s taught her to actually look forward to winter. Never underestimate the power of anticipation.

[:46] I’m OK with eating my words even if it’s a fail

[1:10] My “never ski” proclamation was totally legit

[1:58] Yes, we’re blaming this on Luke

[2:58] Why wanting and action are not the same.

[3:55] What happened when I actually tried

[4:11] The power of anticipation

[5:05] A recent ski season win

There’s a real push and pull. On the one hand, many women want to head outside solo and have amazing adventures alone. On the other hand, doing so can feel like a huge safety risk, especially when we hear about the major tragedies some women encounter doing things that should be perfectly safe.

So what should you do? Stay home? Only head out with friends and family?

Nicole Snell, a safety expert and owner of Girls Fight Back who specializes in self-defense in the outdoors, has a different idea. In this episode she shares her best tips and tricks to empower you to get into nature solo while also staying safe.

[4:06] Nicole Snell’s favorite outdoor space

[4:52] How Nicole became someone who likes to go outside

[7:16] How she got into self-defense

[14:05] Why people (often women) feel unsafe alone outside

[20:12] What self-defense tools should people use?

[26:54] What we mean when we say “use your words.”

[28:55] Why she didn’t say “I’m sorry”

[31:57] The role of intuition

[37:41] How to make the outdoors more safe for everyone

[41:10] Top three tips for self-defense in nature

[44:41] Nicole’s favorite outdoor memory

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