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The Way of the Tracker: The Elephant Track

Boyd Varty - 21st August 2017

When you look at the image above, what do you see?

Perhaps you see a man standing in an odd position (I’m hiding a beer behind my back). Maybe you see the tree on the left of the frame that has had its head cut off or the odd shadow below it.

When I showed this image to my tracker friends and asked them what they saw they all answered as if I was asking a stupid question.

“The elephant track”

Podcast: What Being Stung by a Swarm of Bees Taught Me About Humanity

Boyd Varty - 10th August 2017

What if bees might be holding the key to an algorithm that could teach humanity how to create vast shifts in our collective consciousness? What if they are holding the key to how an individual can create waves of change through complex social structures. What if they teach us more than any creature about how deeply relational all life is. Well I learnt all of this…and then respect. Listen to my story on how being stung by hundreds of bees taught me all of this and more!

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Growling As a Way to Maintain Harmony

Boyd Varty - 6th August 2017

The monkeys in the camp are cheeky. They like to sit on the paths between the rooms and scare the guest as they walk past.  Mostly, it’s a game of intimidation- they advance on you and see if they can make you run away.

Many of the people around the camp have actually become afraid of them. Yet there are certain people the monkeys do not mess with.It can be quite interesting to notice when you walk in a group down the path who the monkeys choose as their mark.

I remember another time when I worked for a period …

Podcast: Synchronicity

Boyd Varty - 12th July 2017

What if your life were being composed by an aspect of your consciousness that you are not aware of?  Is this not what happens when we dream? What if we left moments and symbols in the dream of life to help us wake up to a deeper reality than what meets the eye? These moments might be what you could call synchronicity.

Synchronicity is a deeply meaningful and yet unlikely occurrence in time and space that forces you to wonder what the fabric of life is made of.  As a tracker one must first notice a deeper harmony in life …

Walking through Wildness

Boyd Varty - 7th July 2017

Walking through wilderness I am struck by the profound honesty of each sentient creature.

The place opens itself to scrutiny with nothing but sheer confidence. Nature’s power lies in an uncompromising and unashamed truth. Nature has no shameful secrets it needs to hide. And yet it is full of mystery.

You can be wild anywhere. Wildness is not the sole possession of the wilderness.  If wildness is connected to landscape it is most certainly the landscape of the body. For in this life, the body is the home of the spirit and it is the spirit that is the true …

Finding a True Yes

Boyd Varty - 3rd July 2017

One of the simplest and most powerful ways to break out of social constraints and be wilder is to find a genuine yes and a genuine no.

It’s so simple and yet it will break you out of all sorts of compliance and obligation.

There is a reason why, in courtroom dramas, the lawyer always says, “it’s a yes or no question.” There is simplicity to these two words that establish a direction without the spinning of elaborate stories. Saying no when you mean no will bring you to your integrity. Saying yes from deep within, before all the reasons …

The Way of Discovery

Boyd Varty - 1st July 2017

The way of discovery is fluid. The way of knowing is rigid.

The way of discovery invites. The way of knowing tells.

A tracker lives in immediate feedback loops of discovery.  Often when tracking fast they will simply walk rapidly on the line of the animal in small zigzagging patterns.  A track here: warmer…  Nothing here: colder…

They respond to the signs on the earth (or the absence of signs) making quick course adjustments as they move in pursuit of their quarry.

They are learning as they go. Giving themselves the space to try things and work through a process …

Trees of Being

Boyd Varty - 28th June 2017

There is a tree I know that has been teaching me about the power of presence. It’s an ebony tree with a thick black stem and dark limbs that flex into a thick canopy of evergreen leaves.

In stillness, the tree is uniquely itself.  It is elegant. It does not have a five-year plan. The tree does not need to look busy to feel valuable or important. It is not actively doing anything. Yet, the scope of what that tree achieves is quite remarkable.

The tree invites birds to its branches. Recently a giant eagle owl took to roosting in …

Into the Unknown

Boyd Varty - 26th June 2017

To be a tracker is to develop a relationship with the unknown.  Every time you come across a trail left by some elusive wild creature a question forms in the space between your eyes and the track, a question that is innate to every trail. The scope of unknown that lies ahead is unfathomable. The terrain is unknown, the animal’s movement, mood and whereabouts. Its presence on a vast landscape brings one to thoughts of needles and haystacks.

And yet, the tracker is inclined towards this. He is attracted by all the things he can’t know for within that evolution …

Boyd Varty Retreats

The Way of The Leopard

Boyd Varty - 22nd June 2017

The force of life moves a leopard.

I believe presence is the ability to meet life. It is the simple way that the very intelligence of life guides us in every moment.

Leopards live in this deep union with the unified field of intelligence. They don’t move…they are moved.

What I mean is that a leopard does not have a verbal mind. There is not the mental construction “I should get moving”. But rather the moment shapes them from a feeling, from stimuli – maybe an impala crosses their path. Maybe the day cools. Maybe shade beckons. The unfolding of …