Case Study II of Lifesong Wilderness Adventures

Mary Ames says, “I grew up on Long Island in New York, and I had no nature background at all. I started mushroom foraging with some friends about four years ago, and every time I went out, I was so scared,. My friends were always walking off trail and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so scary.’”

It was essentially fear that brought me to look for this training - I didn't want to be afraid anymore.
– Mary Ames

Mary did a lot of research, trying to find the right survival school. “I was afraid  survival school wouldn't really be tailored for women, afraid that I would be quiet and hanging back, and not really participating.

But when I came to Mark's page, one of the first things that I saw was that Someone talking about how she was the only woman in the camp but it was great. I felt like ‘this is exactly what I'm looking for! She felt safe. I'm going to do that!’?

For Rainer Bergmann, this training is more of a returning to his roots: “I'd always been playing in the woods
as a kid – I built forts and chased animals around, ate bugs, and fantasized of living off the land like all
the books that I'd been reading.

After a while, though, everybody said you had to cut your hair and go to
school and get a job and a mortgage. So that's what I did, and that kept me in the city. Now I'm retired, kind
of picking up where I left off so long ago.”

“We've known Mark for…oh, goodness, over 20 years?” says Meg Durbin, “Our sons have taken many courses with him and even been volunteer staff in his courses. We were so impressed with how much our sons appreciated the time they spent with him and we just thought it was our time to try it out.”

PRACTICAL SKILLS. Rainer adds, “Anybody that's looked into survival classes can very quickly find
themselves in a bigger type of organization that might not be what they're after. Here, there's no ‘gung ho’,
paramilitary edge that might be intimidating. At the same time, it's not some kind of Kumbaya fantasy
wilderness experience. It's very practical.”

It's a challenge, but it's a challenge that can be met. Mark will guide you to the place you want to go.
- Rainer Bergmann

“First Circle camp is for people who don't have any experience in the wilderness”, Mary agrees, “but it really is a survival program. We learned how to make fire with friction, how to carve with a knife, build a shelter, make cords out of nettle plants, purify water … all of these things that I thought were so unobtainable, but you can learn them in five days!

Mark makes it easy – and fun. We’ll be walking in the woods, and he'll say, ‘Oh, does anybody know what this plant is?’ And there might be one person who knows what kind it is. It’s super exciting, but it’s also very, very elemental: ‘Don't eat that.’ Or ‘What do you smell? What do you feel? Really, like, getting like, intimate with nature to discover what it is.”

I thought I was going to struggle, but the hardest day was leaving. Getting in the car on the last day? I cried! That was the hardest part.
- Mary Ames

ACCESSIBILITY. Meg, whose sons were ‘9 or 10’ when they started training with Lifesong, feels that Mark’s focus on meeting people where they are at is important: “Even if you're someone who really doesn't like being outside or if you’re scared of sleeping in a tent or something, if that's how you started but your intent was to challenge yourself and get over those fears, you could do First Circle Camp. Mark’s very gentle with people who are different levels of experience.”

Absolutely, agrees Mary, “First Circle was the first time I had ever camped by myself. I never had slept in a tent alone. And I was so nervous especially for the first night. But by that first night, Mark had made me feel so safe, and I was so excited to start on that journey, that when it was time for sleep, I was just fine.”

Absolutely, agrees Mary, “First Circle was the first time I had ever camped by myself. I never had slept in a tent alone. And I was so nervous especially for the first night. But by that first night, Mark had made me feel so safe, and I was so excited to start on that journey, that when it was time for sleep, I was just fine.”

“I've taken Mark’s First Circle camp then I did that one again as a volunteer.” Says Rainer, “I did Introduction to Animal Tracking and the Winter Survival course - now I'm getting ready to do part of that one, again.

The best part is observing yourself growing and learning - beyond your comfort level and beyond your skill level. And that’s because Mark has this program worked out to where it lets that happen.

He's been doing this for over 30 years now, so he's kind of got it figured out so the structure of this training builds on itself. I'm seeing progress, and I'm excited about what's ahead of me in this journey.”

If all you had was the desire, but you really had never camped or anything, you could still make it through.
- Meg Durbin

ABOUT MARK. “One of the main things is spending time with someone who has a tremendous comfort and respect for nature.” Meg points out, “Mark is such a unique person, with such a wide range of experience on various aspects of wilderness awareness and survival - any time you spend time with him is time well spent because of what you learn in terms of practical knowledge, but also, just his way of being in nature.

“Mark is what makes the difference this course.” agrees Rainer. “The skills that you learn are probably similar with other training - there's lots of ways to make a bow, drill, fire, and lots of different people that can teach you that, but they're not all the same.

What impresses me most is how Mark can just very patiently sit back and watch you do it the wrong way, until you remember to do it like he told you. And he's very encouraging without being overly pedantic or gung ho. He’s this really dedicated, serious, kind and gentle man, and he makes it easy and accessible, to gain a real connection with the woods.”

“I can get really down on myself,” says Mary, “and it can be difficult for me to learn. But Mark would come in and just be like, ‘Okay, so this is what I'm going to teach you…’ and if I wasn’t getting, he would listen, and say ‘I see what you're saying.’ Then come at it from a different direction until it was clear.”

CONFIDENCE. “You can get by camping in the woods with a certain skill set, but it's a lot more fun if you have more skills to draw upon,” Says Rainer.

“Now I’m out in nature thinking “Do I know where I am? Could I make a fire right now? Could I survive in this instant? And if the answer is no to any of that, well, then you ask yourself, ‘Well, okay, what do I need to go further than this?’”

Believing in yourself is huge, agrees Mary, “In my opinion, if you want to learn how to connect your mind, body and soul. This is the place for you. Even just lessons like having a positive outlook, - that seems very, very small. But when you've been trying to make a friction fires for 20 minutes, and you’re getting so angry, Mark will say ‘Hey, what are you learning right now?’

And it turns out, I can do some really amazing things! Mark taught us looking at the ground that you're walking on, being able to make a bowl that you could eat out of, being able to nourish yourself in the middle of nowhere. I am able to navigate the outdoors and feel like I'm a steward of the Earth. It feels so nice to know that I can participate in nature and be symbiotic with it.