Wisdom Keepers School

22/04/2025

Friday Field Trip - Griffith Observatory

Dear Wild Ones, This Friday we're exploring the lovely Fern Dell trail on our way to Griffith Observatory! Our hike begins in the cool shade along a little stream with exotic ferns and lots of other exotic plants. There's even turtles in the creek! As we climb up to the Observatory, we'll have a gre...

31/10/2024

I've spent so many days and nights in the Sierras this year. Stillness.

22/10/2024

Special 4 Session Apprentice of the Wild program is on my website now! Thursdays starting November 7. Pasadena area. Please let your friends know :)

Nature is our foundation, but it's not enough to just play in it or even to identify the beings that live there. Did you know:

Raven's flight tells you where a bobcat is hiding.
Mugwort makes your dreams more lucid.
Roasted CA bay nuts taste like coffee and chocolate.

Each class is a mix of exploration, discovery, story, game and skill/craft. Students learn patience, empathy, awareness, close observation, stillness, and gratitude... all while having fun and making friends!

Join us! We are all Apprentices of the Wild.

Days: Thursdays Time: 10am - 2pm Ages: 7+ (Children 5+ can attend with a supervising adult. Parents and siblings under 5 are also welcome free of charge) Location: Pasadena Dates: 4 weeks (November 7, 14, 21 and December 5) Cost: $280 (charter funds accepted) Instructor: Chris Morasky Welcome to App...

27/09/2024

Q: Do you have any spiritual practices like meditation?

I've spent many years living in wilderness and I still do a deep dive every year to recalibrate from the busy sensory overload of the city of LA where I now live. My experiences have shown me that Nature is the foundation and my greatest teacher. And, it's easy to be a guru living in a cave. It's harder to be "enlightened" when in traffic, on social media, and in realtime interaction with humans that, like me, grew up in a dysfunctional society.

I've done vision quests, various ceremonies, dance, music, guided meditations from the Self Realization Fellowship, Ho' Oponopono, etc. My experience is that whatever worked before cannot be relied upon to heal the next layer of trauma/disconnection/limiting belief. So, my practices including meditation are continually changing. In reality, I don't have any practices that I return to again and again besides connection with Nature and stillness.

My general approach is to make life a moving meditation. How do I move and speak and type with grace? How can I be more present? How is my posture tied to my thoughts and feelings? How can I be connected with everything even when in the middle of a huge city?

I lean into my edges, cultivate curiosity, and do my best to dismiss ego. It's a journey.

What do you do that helps you along your path to wholeness?

Pics: (1) Stone Age trip in the mountains of Oregon.
(2) Making a new friend.

10/09/2024

Where are our elders and what have the old people done with them?

05/09/2024

Are you suffering from nature deficit disorder? How about societal dysfunction?
We need a dose of nature in our daily lives, even if it is just stepping outside and consciously feeling the sun and breeze. Connection.
We also need deep connection with members of our community every day. Interaction that involves looking into another person's eyes, smiling, and hugs that last 15 seconds or more (studies have shown that 8 "good" hugs per day are needed to keep our "feel good" hormones, like oxytocin, at optimum levels).
These are basic needs that have evolved within us through more than a million years of living in close communities in nature. We have many other instincts that tie in to our not-so-long-ago ways of living, such as tending a fire, climbing trees, building shelter, hide and seek, sneaking up on someone, collecting stones and pretty objects, gift giving, and much more.
All of these instincts are expressed by children and some continue into adulthood, though perhaps modified a bit (gifts of flowers and pretty seashells are replaced by flowers, chocolates and a card).
When we do what comes natural to us, we feel more human, more relaxed, more fulfilled, more alive, more loved and connected. The extent to which people often feel lost in today's society can be traced to a disconnection with natural ways of doing and a lack of loving interaction with friends and nature.
There is a truth of who we are that can only be understood through doing what we've always done and being who we've always been.
What are you doing today to nourish your primal self, your inner wild child?

11/05/2024

Today's advice: Smile and feel happy. Do not wait until you feel happy to smile.

06/05/2024

We live in a culture that functions as a machine to churn out adolescent "adults." It's not just men, it's everyone, but the adolescence of men is encouraged to be aggressive, dominating, and potentially violent.

Be the Man.
Show them who's boss.
Wear the pants in the relationship.
Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
Real men don't cry.
Etc.

I'm not suggesting that men receive a "get of out jail FREE" card. Every man can and must do better, myself included. We all have the responsibility for ourselves, our loved ones, our community, our ancestors, and our planet to unravel and reweave all of the beliefs and behaviors that society and family imposed upon us without our consent, when we were little and trusted the adults around us to teach us what we needed to know.

And, we shouldn't blame men for the path they've been set upon.

We absolutely should hold them accountable for the times they choose to not listen, not heal, not make the essential paradigm shift from predator to protector. But this is a hard change. What we learned in childhood is foundational, and most of it becomes subconscious.

Children are meant to be raised within a loving community. It takes a village, right? Raised by adults fully invested in the child's happiness, safety and success. Raised with cultural practices that encourage humility, accountability, amends, service, courage, empathy and right relationship. Raised with the mentorship of elders. In pre-agricultural societies, this was the norm. For 99.9% of the time that we've been upright, this is how we lived. This kind of culture naturally produces whole humans without much effort.

So, if we want the collective population of men to be kind, protective, open-minded, and cooperative, we need to change the culture boys grow up in. Until then, it will be the rare man that succeeds in doing the hard work of healing the damage that our current culture has inflicted upon him.

By all means, hold men accountable. Encourage their healing. But until we change the culture and raise up a new generation of whole men, the bear will often be the better date.

21/04/2024

Teaching ancient skills while overlooking Whoville and recalling that the big lesson there was that kindness, sharing and community are better than having more stuff.

16/04/2024

From a recent class in LA while wearing my special "Naturalists Are Super Awesome" T-shirt 🙂

16/04/2024

There once was a Chris named Morasky
To the Wilderness he held a passkey
As he said with a smile
After walking for miles
If you'd like to learn too simply ask me 🤣

From my friend, Ken Jenkins.

10/04/2024

This is a salt spoon I made a handful of years ago from manzanita heartwood. This is the most wee little spoon I've made.