Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness (RDNA) Program
Sep 3 2010 17:00
US/Alaska
Why Take the the RDNA Program?
Watch this Video!
Applications are still accepted for RDNA 2010-11
RDNA Open House
Sunday, August 22nd, from 10:00 am–12:00 pm
Commonweal Garden, Bolinas
Creating Resilient Leaders and Community
Are you ready to build a more meaningful relationship with the earth, your community and yourself – and make clear your role as a community member and an integral part of the natural world? The Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness (RDNA) program is an advanced 9-month program that extends hands-on, skill based training to help you develop the leadership skills you need to bring sustainability and regenerative practices into your personal and professional lives. Through RDNA, you can learn to design powerful communities, regenerate ecosystems and facilitate positive community change.
Our instructors are fully engaged visionaries working in regenerative design, nature awareness, cultural mentoring and leadership. They bring the tools they have gathered through years of experience, working locally and around the world, to create resilient leaders, cultural systems and landscapes. They weave these tools together into the dynamic and lifestyle that makes up the RDNA program.
Using the teachings of regenerative design, nature awareness, 8 Shields Culture Mentoring and the Ecology of Leadership, RDNA offers a comprehensive exploration of where we came from, where we are now and where we are going.
RDNA Programs
The RDNA learning community is a village experience made up of three programs: RDNA Essentials, Native Eyes, and Cultural Mentoring. The three programs are interwoven and support each other to create a dynamic learning environment, rich in the curiosities and creative nature of each participant. The RDNA learning community is one of the only places applying all the practices described in Jon Young's Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature.
RDNA Essentials is the first step in the RDNA learning journey. This program will help you to restore your authentic connection to nature and re-invigorate a holistic understanding of what it means to tend and regenerate the landscape for the future generations. As an RDNA Native Eyes participant, you’ll move more deeply into the way of the Native Scout through advanced immersion in the “8 Shields” of holistic tracking. RDNA's Cultural Mentoring journey takes you through a rite of passage into community leadership and personal empowerment.
The links below lead to course curriculum, schedules, applications and fees.
RDNA Essentials Program
RDNA Cultural Mentoring Program
RDNA Native Eyes Program
RDNA Open Houses
Registration required for Open House events
To register please contact David Hage at 451-663-8785 or dave@weavingearth.com
Tuesday, August 17th, from 1:30–6:00 pm in Pescadero, CA
This Open House takes place during the Mind of Mentoring training. The afternoon will be
a chance to meet the RDNA staff and the current 2nd year students. Open House participants
will have the opportunity to sit in on one of Jon Young’s Cultural Mentoring lectures.
Sunday, August 22nd, from 10:00 am–12:00 pm in Bolinas, CA
The morning will be a chance to meet RDNA staff and explore the world of RDNA.
Open House guests also have the opportunity to join James Stark from 1:00-4:00pm
on a guided tour of the farm – come experience how Penny Livingston & James Stark’s
vision has manifested into this beautiful 17-acre permaculture farm and educational center.
General Information
Who Teaches the Program?
Where Will the Learning Take Place?
Who Should Take This Program?
What Do Your Grads Say?
Can I Get College Credit?
More Frequently Asked Questions
Who Teaches the Program?
The RDNA program designers oversee the program and facilitate selected classes.
Jon Young, emphasis on Nature Awareness, Bird Language and Cultural Mentoring
Nicole Young, emphasis on Nature Awareness, Bird Language and Cultural Mentoring
Penny Livingston-Stark, emphasis on Permaculture and Regenerative Design
James Stark, emphasis on the Ecology of Leadership
Our primary instructors facilitate RDNA course activities and provide continuous on-site guidance and instruction.
Learn more about members of the teaching team by clicking on their name.
Where Will the Learning Take Place?
The course takes place at two main locations throughout the year. These sites, and their surrounding areas, offer a comprehensive exploration and understanding of the varied ecosystems of northern California. These locations include:
Commonweal Garden in Bolinas, the primary demonstration site and educational center of the Regenerative Design Institute.
Venture Retreat Center in Pescadero, CA
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Who Should Take this Program?
Are you interested in getting to know the natural world around you as your neighbor? Do you want to take a deeper look into what makes us human? Do you believe the world needs hopeful and powerful leaders? Do you want to strengthen your ability to heal and design ecosystems and communities? Do you want to experience what life is like in a village-style mentoring and learning community? If so, then RDNA is for you!
To date, the RDNA Program has served individuals from 18 to 65 years old. They have come from urban, suburban and rural backgrounds. They have come with varied levels of life experience, from web designers to environmental educators. And they have traveled from around the corner or from across the globe to be here. All have come willing to spend three days of their week in community, in an outdoor setting, with a deep commitment to healing the earth, themselves, and their communities.
To date, the RDNA Program has served individuals from 18 to 65 years old. They have come from urban, suburban and rural backgrounds. They have come with varied levels of life experience, from web designers to environmental educators. And they have traveled from around the corner or from across the globe to be here. All have come willing to spend three days of their week in community, in an outdoor setting, with a deep commitment to healing the earth, themselves, and their communities.
“I've grown more fully into myself, and have felt a major shift in my own passion for learning and zest for life. Looking into the eyes of my peers, I see this same inspiration reflected in them.”
– RDNA '05 graduate
What Do Your Grads Have To Say?
“RDNA offered me the opportunity to deepen my relationship with the natural world and myself. Using sustainable living practices and native technologies, I began to sense a way of being in the world that, previous to RDNA, I did not know existed.”
– Bethany, RDNA 2005-06
“RDNA has been such a great experience. I can't thank everyone enough. I feel so blessed and so gifted to have been in this program."
– Graduate, RDNA 2007-08
"Sometimes I flip through my notebook from class and I am just blown away all over again by all the wisdom and deep teachings we were exposed to in that program. Definitely the best thing I've done in my life up to this point."
– Lydia, RDNA 2005-06
“Trust the program and trust that in every moment there is an opportunity to learn...You are the one who makes it happen. If you take one little step, your teachers – human, nature and spirits – take big steps toward you. Take this opportunity for yourself and for this planet.”
– Greet, RDNA 2007-08
“It is awesome to truly feel how my awareness has grown over the past years, and how I can use it where ever I go and whatever I am doing.”
– Graduate, RDNA 2007-08
“I have learned a lot about mentoring and put skills or methods into my body that I could not have imagined. I also felt changes in my body that I could not have imagined. I grew in ways I did not know I could."
– Graduate, RDNA 2007-08
"I'd hate to meet the person who wouldn't benefit from this program. When there's a better school out there you'll be too old to care...If a better program ever manifests, it will be founded by a graduate of this one. It's a good thing you make so many friends here 'cause you may lose some to jealousy.
At the end of every week your friends will bug you to tell them all you've learned. It works better than therapy and it's cheaper too."
– Julian, RDNA 2005-06
"I walked into this program as part of a culture that is increasingly disconnected from nature, one that views nature and humanity as separate entities, pitted against one another. We’re inundated with information and distractions in our modern world that magnify this void, and the cost not only effects our environment, but also our opportunity to truly be a human being and live a full, balanced existence in harmony with all around us. This program has provided me the tools to not only be a better steward of the environment, but to realize my potential as a person."
– Zach, RDNA 2005-06
"This year’s program was the transition I needed to go from having a sense of interest in permaculture and nature, to being grounded in the experience. I now have a strong conviction to follow this path."
– Isaac, RDNA 2005-06
"I have always considered myself an outdoorsy person, a nature lover. After one year of RDNA I have a whole new relationship with nature. Now when I walk outside I feel a part of the outdoors, and not only am I still a sincere nature lover, I am able to love everything! P.S. RDNA rocks!"
– Dave, RDNA 2005-06
Can I Get College Credit?
Beginning in Fall '08, RDNA Students will be eligible to earn a BSc or MSc through registering concurrently with Gaia University International Read More.
More Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where do people live while they are taking the program?
At this time, we do not have any on-site housing available. Participants have chosen to live in various locations throughout the Bay Area. When housing opportunities arise among our friends and collaborators, we share that information with new and returning students.
Are there any scholarships or work trade option available?
There are none available at this time. We are pursuing funding and donations to offer scholarships in the future.
Can I pay my tuition via a payment plan?
RDI offers the following payment plan for participants unable to pay in full before the start of the course:
$5000 paid by July 31, 2010
First half of remaining tuition paid by November 1, 2010 (plus $25 admin fee)
Final half of remaining tuition paid by February 1, 2011 (plus $25 admin fee)
RDNA participants agreeing to a payment plan submit post dated checks for all payments. RDI keeps the checks on file until the payment date.
Please contact our office to arrange a payment plan.
Will I need to study outside of class time? Is there time to work outside of the program?
Participants engage in weekly assignments (home play), designed to enhance the richness of the RDNA curriculum. The quantity and focus areas are co-created between each participant and RDNA staff. Participants are also encouraged to do home reading in relation to the weekly curriculum topics.
Some participants choose to work during the program, and others focus soley on their RDNA studies. The kinds of jobs that various participants have held include work in NGOs, restaurants, education, landscaping, self-employment, or any part-time work that is flexible to the RDNA schedule. Local work opportunities are passed through the RDNA list serves.
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