Connection 1st

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 (2013), and Coyote's Guide to Connecting to 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.

Sarah is a Wildlife Tracker, Interspecies Communicator, and Nature Connection Facilitator. For over 25 years, Sarah has been practicing ways of deepening connection with self and nature through psychoeducation, neuroscience, somatics and energy awareness. Greatly informed by over 20 years as a professional Massage Therapist and Bodyworker, her studies and practice include Interpersonal Neurobiology, Polyvagal Theory, Somatic Trauma Integration, Emotional Clearing, Craniosacral Therapy, Chakra-work, Traditional Chinese Medicine Meridians and Five Elements theory. She has studied wildlife tracking through Shikari Tracker Mentoring with Jon Young and Josh Lane, Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School, and Cybertracker Conservation. She is a graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and studied Interspecies Communication with Anna Breytenbach and Wynter Worsthorne. She currently offers Wildlife Tracking courses, pathways for applying neuroscience and energy awareness to nature connection practices, and co-facilitates online programs for deep nature connection at Living Connection 1st.

Nate Summers has been a student of, practitioner of, and teacher of Qigong, Chinese Medicine, Internal Martial Arts and Natural Healing Arts for over two decades. He is the author of Primal: Why We Long to Be Wild and Free and Awakening Fire: The Essential Guide to Flame, Ignition, and Wood. Nate has served as a faculty member at the Wilderness Awareness School, the Desert Institute of Healing Arts, and the Asian Institute of Medical Studies. Nate has taught survival skills, ethnobotany, herbal medicine and natural movement to people all over the country and all over the world. He specializes in helping people move like animals, travel invisibly, and turn themselves into forest ninjas.