Living Connection 1st
Deepen Your Connection with Nature, Other People and Yourself
We offer Online Learning, Facilitation Pathways, and the opportunity for consistent connection in our Online Village.
We are Born to be Connected...
We evolved as a social species intrinsically connected to nature and to each other.
Modernity has moved our awareness away from this reality, and our lives rarely reflect our innate, earth-based rhythms or our natural way of being in relationship.
As a whole, we are suffering from disconnection, distanced from our natural way of being, and many of us are struggling to find our way back to fully experiencing deep, natural connection.
The Pathway Home...
Find your way back to deep connection
Nature provides the map to our reconnection and we can follow this path to discover our own true nature. Our Natural Mind awakens, bringing us more peace, love, joy, and purpose.
Our Offerings...
Connection 1st concepts, principles and practices emerge from our natural design as humans living with the Earth.
Our offerings are accessible, with ever-deepening layers of embodied understanding through lived experience.
We offer unique and time tested opportunities to discover profound and ever deepening connection with nature, other people, and oneself.
There are several avenues for engagement available including free content, self-paced and live online learning, naturalist and advanced holistic tracking training, a facilitator path, and our Online Village.
Click below to learn more!
Connection 1st Principles are based on the life work of Jon Young who, inspired by his own nature connected life from a very young age, has developed these clear pathways to support everyone to experience deep connection with nature, other people and oneself, and to pass it forward into the future generations.
About Jon
Jon Young is a deep nature-people-self connection researcher, mentor, naturalist, wildlife tracker, author, workshop leader, consultant and storyteller. Jon has been mentored in deep nature connection by his own grandmothers, Tom Brown, Jr. and a host of elders and experts.
As a leader in the field of nature-based community building over 40 years, Jon’s research into the impact and significance of nature on mentoring, human intelligence, spirituality, well-being and development has influenced tens of thousands of people worldwide.
Jon has authored and co-authored several seminal works on nature connection and connection mentoring, including What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World (2012), and Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature (2007).
Jon has appeared in numerous documentaries including The Animal Communicator (2012). In 2016, he received the Champion of Environmental Education Award for his innovative work, which has inspired positive developments in the field, and fostered the growth of the nature connection movement on a global level.
“Jon Young is a nature storyteller with all ten fingers plugged directly into Mother Earth. As a master tracker Jon has dedicated his life to following animals and mentoring countless young people in this ancient art form, a gift so desperately needed in this time of separation from our planet.”
Craig Foster, producer, My Octopus Teacher, and author, My Amphibious Soul
“Jon shares a nearly-forgotten wisdom that connects us back with our ancient human legacy of deep sensory relationship with the Earth, at a time when this remembrance is more critical than ever. These practices can change your life. I should know…I was that disillusioned kid who grew up playing video games in the suburbs, looking for something more...my life changed when I found Jon, who later mentored me in the same way that Tom Brown had mentored him. This approach helped me go from failing high school biology one year to being an A+ student in AP Environmental Sciences the next, because my passion and curiosity lit up and became unstoppable. My teachers couldn’t believe I was the same student. It’s been 27 years and I haven’t looked back since. Don’t hesitate, you’ll be amazed at the depth of connection and wonder that opens when you bring these skills into your life.”
Josh Lane, author, Conscious Nature: The Art and Neuroscience of Meditating In Nature
“Jon Young is the most inspiring and effective nature connection mentor I have ever worked with. He magically uses storytelling and his lifelong passion for tracking to change people’s lives through his powerful experiential teachings. ”
Nicole Apelian, Ph.D., author of The Forager's Guide to Wild Foods
Stay in Touch...
Contact us at [email protected]