~ Synopsis of a prolonged immersion in extreme wilderness, and how it can transform a modern person. ~

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you let go of your life in the modern world and walked into vast wilderness mountains? Not for just weeks, or months, but with the intention to never return.

~ What I share here is from direct experience of doing just that.

I did not survive because I was skilled, or experienced, or had good gear.

As a teenager, I had none of those things when I walked into the northern Canadian Rockies alone.

Imagine being in silence for months and months, with no human contact? Just pristine nature, shimmering steams, wildlife, and valleys, hills, and mountains that seem to go on forever.

How would that change a modern person? Would you like to hear a young woman’s story of how extreme wilderness changed her? I believe this is a kind of archetypal story of what would happen to any human who allowed themselves enough time for the wilderness to transform them.

In this way, the ‘I’ of this story is the ‘you’. The you that wanted to immerse but for many reasons were not able to. ~

~ Months turned into a year and half in a couple of remote wilderness areas before I eventually returned to civilization.

My strongest desire walking into the wilderness was to merge into nature and live life on Life’s terms.

Nothing in the modern world made sense to me. Schools, religions, TV, cars, buildings, teachers, curriculums, concrete, parents, it all felt wrong.

I wanted to understand what it means to be human and why I am here on this crazy planet. It seemed utterly ridiculous to me that I did not know how to survive in the wild on my own planet. All of that motivated me to keep going forward ever deeper into the wilderness.

I was not courageous, I was absolutely terrified. Nevertheless, something within me trusted the wilderness, so I persevered into mosquito land, and not knowing when a grizzly might show up.

I also wanted to have direct connection with the supreme intelligence that created this creation. Whatever kind of intelligence that created snow capped mountains, glistening glacial lakes, herds of caribou, eagles, forests, flowers, and galaxies must be some kind of a beautiful, majestic, exquisite, grand intelligence.

In the first months of wilderness immersion, my emotions were especially agonizing.

I also felt disconnected from nature. It was as if I was looking at nature from the outside, like from a car window. I yearned to be inside of it. I wanted to be part of the harmony and beauty of the mountains. But how?

I had no protection, no weapons, not even bear spray in those days. My sense of vulnerability was pretty overwhelming . In my mind there was no option to return to civilization, no matter how scared or vulnerable I felt, no matter how physically challenging it was.

In the first months of immersing into untouched mountains, valleys, forests, and tundra… memories of my past haunted me.. my emotions were nearly unbearable. I eventually realized I was going through some kind of an emotional detox from a traumatized childhood.

But I struggled to be present walking along what felt like sacred ground of creation. My body kept me going. I marveled at the endurance of the human body. I had been a long distance runner and a long distance swimmer, so I had the physical endurance to handle being in the elements all the time and walking all day, every day with a heavy pack, for months and months on end.

Every few weeks I returned to the last inhabited place at the edge of the grand mountainous wilderness. A tiny indigenous village had a small general store. I packed as much as I could carry, and went right back out. I rationed enough food to last 2-3 weeks at a time. But I wanted to release my last attachments to the store. I had little money left, and at some point I’d have to figure out how to survive without money.

Yes, I had encounters with grizzly, I had encounters with wolves. I had some close calls and several brushes with death in all kinds of ways. Plus, I had ND a couple of times. (These stories are in my book.) Here I am focusing more on what happens to a modern teenager who goes into the wilderness and comes out the other side a year and a half later. What would happen to anyone who let go of the modern world and hung in through extreme discomforts, fears, inner turmoil, and close calls.

The wilderness was entirely unknown territory. I never knew, at any moment, when some kind of threat might show up. I never even knew if I would wake up alive in the morning.

I asked the Creator of this existence, “Where are the indigenous people that live the old ways? Would they teach me how to survive in these mountains?”

I had no expectations that my prayers would be answered. I did not even know if God existed for sure.

Walking all day, every day, under the majestic peaks, along the swampy muskeg, following glistening rivers, viewing exquisite beauty in every direction was definitely exhilirating at times, but even with that, I had only brief fleeting moments of reprieve from emotional agony.

But, somehow, I had an instinctual knowing that the wilderness would heal me and make me whole. I had no doubt about that. So, I kept going.

Something was wrong with me, but I did not know what it was or how to fix it. I was making great efforts to establish a positive frame of mind, but the emotions made it really tough to just feel ok.

What astonished me was that after about 3-4 months of being immersed in the wild, rugged beauty, my consciousness was sorting out the confusion and pain of my past on its own accord. I discovered that there is an order to consciousness within itself. If we just give our mind some space and quiet it will actually heal itself, it will establish coherency and clarity within itself. At the same time, the nature of the mind, if given enough quiet space will also come into coherence with the bigger reality. T

When we are forced to survive in the wilderness, our faculties are sharpened. Our perceptions are sharpened. Intuition is sharpened. Dreams are more lucid. We can hear, feel, and see in ways we never imagined possible.

Dreams were more prophetic. I had dreams of flying through the immense mountains, and soaring over lush river valleys. I had dreams of turning into animals. The dreams taught me how animals live, how they hunt, how they perceive and feel, and how they communicate. And then those dreams flowed into real life situations when crossing paths with those animals.

Epiphanies arose among the trees, the meadows, swampy muskeg, and the higher mountain ridges. Revelations about life were unveiled through the brilliant oranges, reds, and yellows of the summer hillsides spanning for hundreds of miles of wilderness.

Long quiet days of walking for weeks, months, and seasons was what it took for me to more deeply behold the grand beauty and harmony of life. I was being digested by nature. I was becoming what I was immersed in. It was dreaming me and shaping me. It was guiding me and healing me. After hundreds of miles passing under my boots, I was finally learning to merge with nature.

Immersed in the natural order of life, it became obvious what was off or wrong about the modern world. I could see through the programming and conditioning of schools and of TV. I could view my parents with more understanding and compassion as they too were victimized by the system.

In the mountains, I knew I was right where I was suppose to be. I did not want to be anywhere else.

It was a great relief to be away from modern humans. I was happy to trade the risk of grizzlies and wolves rather than the stress of humans.

I was scared pretty much all the time and had no one to talk with. I noticed that when I spoke out loud to Great Spirit, those were the moments when the emotional agony lifted. A kind of order and relationship began to shape itself around my conversations with the Supreme Intelligence animating all of Creation. Or who knows, I may have been communicating with a loving angel. I honestly do not know. Nevertheless, it was epic, it was very real, and profoundly inspiring.

I decided to formalize my conversations and only speak when my mind was clear and sincere about what to say or ask. I made it sacred and it became sacred. I spoke with nature as well, and this, over time, developed into deep intimate relationship that had an asking, and responding kind of order that became obvious and began to blow my mind.

The responses in my conversations with Creator came through nature, the wind, the birds, dreams, and how everything was unfolding according to my prayers. As said, the epiphanies of realizing there was an omnipresent, loving intelligence listening to me was absolutely mind-blowing.

Divine communications came in a silent language and landed as grand epiphanies about life, about the modern world, about conditioning, about the nature of nature. With hyper-vigilance, and an instinctual trust, I kept forging ahead into the thick of mosquito territory, further into grizzly country, moose country, and wolves territory.

In time, I did find the indigenous people I had been praying for. Through a serious of truly miraculous events, I landed a cook position for a hunting outfit. I was flown over the mountains on a float plane and landed in the SW Ruby Range of NW Territories, hundreds of miles from the nearest road, and ended up working with 2 First Nation hunting guides, Albert and Skookum, along with 15 pack horses, and a malamute wolf-dog named Kluane.

These hunting guides knew the mountains like their great grandparents. To me that was the coolest thing ever. I was paying attention to everything and wanted to learn everything.

Being with Albert and Skookum, and Kluane, who became my furry companion, made me feel completely safe. It was a dream come true to travel hundreds of miles through some of the most pristine mountains on Earth with people that knew how to live and survive in these mountains.

I observed how they worked and was always looking for ways I could help but not be in the way. I got in the way a couple times, but learned to hang back on certain tasks. And I also tried to master my designated chores and responsibilities which kept me busy most of the time anyways.

All my inner pain had vanished once I joined their hunting party. Finally, I felt happy and light-hearted and was excited about every moment. Albert and Skookum were also light-hearted, playful, mischievous, and teased me a lot. My awkward naievety and ignorance were a constant source of entertainment for the 2 First Nation men who grew up in the wilderness.

But I also felt their genuine care and respect underneath the teasing. Our lifestyle in the wilderness bonded us in a ways not possible in the modern world. I trusted them. Even with a language barrier, communications were simple, clear, and easy.

Unfortunately, our time together was only for a few months. When winter came, the hunting season was over, the snows were blowing us out of the mountains and into the lower elevations. And they were going to their villages for the winter. I especially missed Kluane, my furry companion, who had protected me and saved my life many times. Being only 19, It took a lot of inner courage and strength for me to move on without my 3 wilderness companions and the horses.

However, a deeper shift had transpired within myself, where gratitude, awe, wonder, and excitement became my inner companions rather than the emotional agony and confusion I had entered the wilderness with. I could muster up the adventurous spirit and find excitement for the next wilderness area I would immerse into.

Thus, I came to discover over and over, the divine principle of, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive,’ as a true principle of reality. After all, I had prayed for protection, I prayed to learn how to live on life’s terms, I prayed to learn from the indigenous, I prayed to be part of nature rather than observing it from the outside, I prayed to find a way to stay in the wilderness, and I prayed to have direct communication with Great Spirit ..and all of it was answered and received in incomprehensible, miraculous ways.

But then once I had the NDEs, that exploded my consciousness into a whole other level. Then my belief became an absolute knowing that an Almighty Loving Intelligence is real, it is omnipresent, it is protective, and hears our prayers.

Because the miracles were so immense, and because I found a quiet empowerment in the wilderness, I gathered the inner courage to move on without my companions, knowing I could never be separated from Source.

Living in the elements 24/7 for a many, many moons, I eventually learned that the nature of nature heals. The nature of nature balances. The nature of nature reveals the mysteries of life and death. The nature of nature harmonizes, it grows and evolves with us and through us. It responds to our gratitude, to our love, and communicates with us all the time.

The deeper insights I learned in the wilderness may sound cliche, yet the difference of intellectually knowing and experientially knowing are worlds apart.

For example, I learned that animals, trees, plants, streams, birds, the sun, the sky, and even the planets, are all conscious and quite intelligent. It is interconnected and it communicates with all aspects of itself. Modern language in a way, splits reality. What Life hears and how Life communicates is through frequency or quality of energy. Is our heart sincere, are we respectful, are we humble? This is what nature and animals pick up from us. Nature reads into depths of our consciousness just by feeling the way we walk.

I discovered that the intelligence of nature is far more sensitive than humans can imagine.

Decoding this primordial language can happen within long periods of uninterrupted quiet, tracking every thought, every prayer, every dream, and observing how Life responds with no other influence.

I’m sure I was quite dense and only able to pick up on a tiny fraction of how nature, or the invisible Loving Presence was trying to communicate with me.

Because divine consciousness animates all of life, we cannot really separate God from Nature, as pure Nature is an exquisite and perfect expression of our Creator God.

After many seasons of deepening into the wilderness, eventually I came to a feeling of communion with the wilderness. I finally merged inside of it and became part of it. Just to glimpse our symbiotic relationship with nature was epic.

I learned that the majesty and beauty and harmony of nature is a reflection of our own souls. That every part of nature is a part of us.

When I eventually returned to civilization, back in the 1970’s, family and friends looked at me sideways when I tried to share my NDEs, no one had reference points to Earth changes, consciousness changes, or some kind of evolutionary shift. This further distanced me from people and deepened my recluse nature.

Thus, I always had to live on the edge of the wilderness for balance and sanity. Nor did I ever watch TV since I returned to civilization. I was still subject to quite a bit of conditioning like everyone else. The difference was that I had a reference point outside of the matrix.

I learned what it means to be human, in relationship with nature, in relationship with Creator. The wilderness gave me glimpses of what humans are capable of. I came to understood the evolutionary nature of our existence. I learned what conditioning is verses the natural mind present and attuned with nature.

We have been co-existing and evolving with nature for eons, could it be that we need our relationship with nature to take the next steps of our evolutionary process together? Or, perhaps all that we may need is respect and gratitude for our Earth and our nature relatives?

Nature is hungry for our appreciation, for our love, for our protection and blessings. It can thrive without us, but when we bring love into the field, nature responds so beautifully and loves us back in all kinds of sweet ways. Our gratitude completes the circle of life.

Any human being who allowed themselves a year and a half of wilderness immersion would come out entirely transformed.

Fast forward 50 years:

I feel that one of the most important lessons for humanity is not living in harmony with nature. We went along with the matrix, forgetting natural laws, universal principles, and divine law. And perhaps learning the hard way is also within the higher order of evolution.

From an elder’s perspective, from a soul perspective, we can rest assured that the balance of life will be restored, and we will return to the natural order. It is inevitable and the way that nature evolves.

~I must offer a disclaimer here and emphasize that it is very dangerous and seriously life threatening to attempt to go into the wilderness, especially alone! Experience, skills, and excellent gear are absolutely required. Our Earth is out of balance in this time. With the ice melting and the Earth’s magnetic fields in flux, and with our climate being controlled , the animals are confused and more scared and more unpredictable. For many reasons, it is more dangerous now than it was 50 years ago. Personally, I do not want to go too far out there, especially alone.

We can restore our sense of connectedness with life within ourselves where ever we are. In fact, we are nature, we are inseparable from nature. We can also adventure within our own homes through reading, audios, music, or nature videos, or taking walks in natural settings. The inner quiet of a meditative practice is an excellent way to find that connectedness with life and to restore the natural mind right at home.

My friends, be safe.

With all my love,

Omi ~ Marta