Tracking Connections Podcast
Hosted by Jon Young, Sarah Fontaine, and Aidan Young
Ep 45 ~ Brush Your Teeth with a Plant: Alexis Burnett on Core Routines, Mentoring, and Nature Connection
May 7, 2025
How do the Core Routines transform us, and what are a few easy ways to get started?
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Episode Description
Hosted by Jon Young, Sarah Fontaine, and Aidan Young
"Nature doesn’t judge. It just invites you to show up and be yourself."
In this wide-ranging conversation, we’re joined by Alexis Burnett—naturalist, tracker, herbalist, and founder of Earth Tracks in Ontario, Canada. Alexis takes us on a journey through three decades of nature connection, beginning with a longing for deeper meaning after high school and leading to a life of wilderness mentoring, community building, and raising a family rooted in the rhythms of the land.
We explore Alexis’s learning journey, early influences from indigenous elders and mentors, and the humble beginnings of Earth Tracks, born out of curiosity, commitment, and a deep love for the land. Along the way, Alexis shares the transformative power of long-term mentoring, the quiet magic of gratitude circles, and the importance of routines like sit spot, tracking, and plant observation—simple practices that create space for awe, healing, and purpose.
Whether you’re new to nature connection or decades into the journey, this episode is a rich reflection on what it means to walk a path that’s guided not by goals, but by listening, presence, and the willingness to follow what calls.
Connect with Alexis
Visit Earth Tracks to learn more about Alexis' programs and join his newsletter. Alexis also has a great blog on his website.
Follow Earth Tracks on Facebook or Instagram
About Alexis Burnett
Alexis Burnett is a Naturalist, Tracker, Herbalist, Wilderness Skills Practitioner and Canoe Guide from Orangeville, Ontario. He currently resides in the Owen Sound area with his two children, spending his days tracking, wild-crafting and running his Outdoor School and Wilderness Canoe Tripping company, Earth Tracks. Alexis is lead guide for the wilderness canoe trips and head instructor for all the programs and classes. He is committed to mentoring and teaching others the skills that help us to re-connect with the natural world in an ancient and powerful way. By learning from nature through immersion and direct experience we begin to see and more importantly ‘feel’ the inter-relation of all things in the natural world. And from here we can begin to understand the important role that we all can play in protecting and preserving the Earth for future generations.
Alexis has been practicing wilderness skills, engaging in herbal studies, pursuing naturalist/tracking studies, and guiding canoe trips for over 20 years, learning from people and organizations such as Tom Brown Jr., Jon Young, renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, Wild Rose College and many others. Alexis teaches classes for people of all ages both for Earth Tracks as well as through various organizations. Some of these workshops have focused on such topics as Wilderness Survival/Bushcraft, Wildlife Tracking, Wild Crafting and Foraging, Herbal Studies, Naturalist Skills and Nature Connection Programming for children and adults. He is a leader in this field and his very diverse background coupled with his experience and skills allows him to offer a unique approach to teaching and mentoring.
Alexis is one of the original stakeholders and main facilitators for the Art of Mentoring program that takes place in Ontario each summer. He has worked tirelessly to help nurture and grow the nature connection community in Ontario. He has also helped create the Bird Language leaders program in Ontario, the first of its kind in Canada. Through these initiatives and many others Alexis continues to push his own edges and train new leaders who continue to pass on these skills and mentor others in Deep Nature Connection.
Certifications & Experience:
- Sponsor and main facilitator for Bird Language Leaders Ontario
- Dominion Herbal College
- Wild Rose College of Natural Healing
- Graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program – Wilderness Awareness School (2006)
- Has attended many classes (20+) at Tom Browns Tracker School (1999-2006)
- Completed an internship at The Tracker School (2005)
- Graduate of the Herbal Apprenticeship Program with Rosemary Gladstar at Sage Mountain (2006)
- Level IV Track and Sign – Wildlife Tracking Certificate – Cyber Tracker International 2013
- Art of Mentoring – Facilitator within the AOM and an Ontario Stakeholder
- Diploma in Wildlife and Forestry Conservation Program
- Ground Search and Rescue Certificate – Search and Rescue British Columbia 1998
- Wilderness First Responder
- Wilderness First Aid
- Bronze Cross – National Lifesaving Academy
- SRT 1 – Swift water Rescue Technician
Our next episode will release on May 21, 2025.
The transcript for this episode is available here.
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About Our Hosts
Jon Young
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 Fontaine
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.
Aidan Young
Aidan is a musician, naturalist, and mentor. Over the past 20+ years, he has mentored hundreds of musicians, including over a dozen that went on to top music schools, performed on stage over a thousand times, mentored youth and adults in nature connection, including Kamana services, and guided people on their creative paths as a personal mentor. He is a graduate of the Kamana Program and experienced in the Shikari Tracker Training Program, has served on several Art of Mentoring acorns, helped produce The 512 Project, plays guitar, bass, piano, and mandolin, sings, and writes songs. He currently offers music lessons and personal mentoring and lives in Los Altos, CA with his wife Mystical and their three children.