It’s been a couple of weeks since I completed my first Vision Quest in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico and while I am still trying to fully digest the experience, I have been thinking a lot about the concept of the Stonepile as it relates to Natural Courage.

The stonepile buddy system was used during the solo portion of the vision quest. This safety system required each person visit a stonepile erected in a place midway between our respective camps. Even though we would never see each other, daily we would leave a sign that we were okay. If a sign was not left then steps would be taken to find out if you were all right or if a search was required.

In many of my wilderness travels I have noticed these manmade stonepiles. The people of the North call them Inuksuk’s. These piles of stone were markers of boundaries, trails, hunting grounds, food caches and sources of water; they indicated safety, respect and care for community. Ironically, now our cities are full of stone and concrete but I am not sure how much they have to do with our human community.

In my little community of fellow questers, the stonepile was one of our survival lifelines and became an important function of daily life during the solo portion of the quest. I knew my stonepile buddy had my back, as I had his. This sense of responsibility to community was a little foreign to me since I usually prefer the outskirts of a group.

So in my mind, the secret of the stonepile seemed to be, stay connected while doing your own thing. As Sparrow, our quest leader would explain, it is the minimum requirement for being in community. For me, this has been a big ‘ah ha’. On the one hand I crave solitude and am committed to a nature based lifestyle but on the other hand I yearn to belong and be part of something. The lesson of the stonepile summed it all up for me … keep doing what I love to do but build in more natural courage stonepile buddies.

There are many similiar benefits between stonepile buddies, community and coaching. Having good support systems during times of transition is extremely important. Thanks to this vision quest, I have begun to explore new territory, new pathways and new ways of living. While I still search for more community involvement I am grateful for the  support I receive from my mentors, coaches and my new ‘virtual’ stonepile buddies.

On this quest I found the courage to face myself, alone in nature and throughout the process I learned many things … I look forward to sharing more about community, becoming less young and living life each day with natural courage.

So to all the new and old stonepile buddies out there … please don’t worry I will be going off line for a couple of weeks while I apply some quest learnings to my Natural Courage Coaching Practice.