White Pine Adult Programs: 6 Pathways
Our Pathways philosophy represents four major lifetime journeys. As opposed to a course, a Pathway is a commitment, a passion, an obsession.
White Pine Wilderness Academy offers multiple classes for each Pathway throughout the year. A student can focus on one Pathway or multiple Pathways depending on their time, interest and skill. Pathways are taught by experienced instructors, all with decades of experience.
The 6 Pathways
North Pathway: Inner Tracking
Why Inner Tracking? To confront the darkest parts of ourselves. To commit to the evolution of ancestry, community and place. To become a mindful leader.
Class Full
East Pathway: Herbalism & Foraging
Why Herbalism and Foraging? Having the knowledge to step outside in any season to grab a handful of wild edible plants is empowering. If you are a survivalist or person of the outdoors this is essential knowledge.
Southeast Pathway: Move Primal
Why Move Primal? Our bodies are tools. Through this foundation of movement comprehension, strength, play and fighting, we train our bodies to be warriors.
Southwest Pathway: Quest Survival
Why Quest Survival? If you examine hundreds of case studies across history; from Native America to collapse scenarios around the globe, a common thread emerges: Stagnation is death.
West Pathway: Sacred Hunt
Why The Sacred Hunt? To provide for yourself and community. To become an integral part of the wilderness.
Mentors’ Pathway: Shikari
The Shikari Pathway is a one-of-a-kind immersion into all of White Pine’s core skills, techniques, and philosophies. It is an expression of our honored lineage to the ancient Shikari Trackers of India, passed down to our founder Matt by his grandfather Ernie Shull.
We Stay Free.
Pathways Philosophy
Pathways in Traditional Societies
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For traditional societies these Pathways were sacred guilds, filled with ceremony, sacrifice, and prohibition. This was not only essential for the preservation of information in an oral tradition, it also ensured the holistic integration of generations of hard earned knowledge.
Integration of Western and Traditional Cultures.
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At White Pine we are a part of a global Indigenous Skills/ Nature Connection Revolution. Our goal is to integrate the scientific, technological, ecological and cultural advancements of Western and Traditional cultures. We do this out of a sense of urgency that humans have to connect to the earth. Humbly, with the guidance of Elders we forge our own path. We are not Lakota, we are not European, we are not American. We are modern people with ancient DNA creating new Human Pathways.
Pathways in Practice
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To foster the flourishing of culture around each of the Pathways we encourage students to return. For those who have been on the Path for some time, we offer increasingly complex curriculum as well as volunteer and mentorship roles. At the center of the Pathway Philosophy sits the Elders, those who have walked down each of the directions to mastery and returned. Here in the center, the fire of ancient wisdom still burns.