Challenge #33 – Self Care: Spending Time on the Land

This month we offer a reminder of how essential self care is while we are doing the work we do – holding space for change in our communities. We invited Raven Davis to speak at Coworking Canada, and to issue this challenge to our Coworking IDEA and Banff Retreat participants.

The October IDEA Challenge invites us to celebrate the land as a source of inspiration, healing, and connection. By integrating the land into our daily lives, we can promote its protection, decolonization, community building, and personal growth.

The journey begins with the intention to embrace the earth’s offerings and to foster a harmonious relationship with the land that sustains us. Through this challenge, we can become stewards of the land and, in turn, nurture a more sustainable and fulfilling life.

The concept of a “challenge” can sometimes be overwhelming, leading us to question how we’ll find the time, and what we’ll gain from it. However, embracing this ‘challenge’ to spend time on the land offers numerous rewards.

Spending time on the land provides an opportunity to reconnect with nature, which can be both restorative and inspirational. It’s also a chance to reflect, recenter, and recharge, fostering balance and personal well-being. Moreover, incorporating the land into our daily lives can lead to a deeper understanding of its importance and the role it plays in our history, culture, and environment.

Finding time to be on the land can be as simple as scheduling moments for mindful walks, picnics, or self-care in natural settings. Ultimately, the benefits of this challenge can extend to your mental and physical health, personal growth, and will create a stronger bond with the land, making the effort well worth it.

Challenge Steps:

Print out a lunar cycle calendar to track your journey through this challenge. Mark the times you can access the land and how you plan to incorporate it into your daily life. Setting intentions, such as mindful walks, picnics, or simply sitting by the water, can help you use the land for relaxation and rejuvenation.

The land provides a wealth of healing plants and herbs. Research and identify 2-3 plants that resonate with your well-being goals. Learn how to responsibly harvest and use them for natural remedies. This knowledge connects you more deeply with the land’s gifts.

Lastly, dedicate some time to the land without any obligations. Visit with the sole purpose of taking care of yourself, whether that’s meditation, journaling, or simply enjoying the beauty of nature. This self-care on the land nurtures your physical and mental health.

Raven Davis is an Anishinaabe, 2-Spirit, multidisciplinary artist, educator, mediator, and human rights speaker whose mother is from Treaty Four, Manitoba. Davis was born and raised in Michi Saagig Territory, Toronto, Ontario. Davis weaves their passions for land-based and archival research, with calls to action, healing, and works embodied by lived and intergenerational experience. A parent of three sons, Davis works within the mediums of performance, movement, visual arts, and sound/media. Davis fuses narratives of colonization, race, gender, disability, transformative justice, abolition, pleasure, and 2-Spirit/Indigiqueer identity in their work. Davis’ performance practice bravely embodies their relationship to colonial systems, police and medical violence, systemic oppression, complex histories, and most importantly equitable, regenerative, thriving, and community-centered art and futures.

The October 2023 IDEA Challenge was sponsored by Coworking Canada.
The online edition of the Coworking Canada Unconference takes place November 8th, 2023.
Join us online to hear more from Raven Davis.