Vision • Community • Embodiment • Belonging
The Earthbody Institute
PARTICIPANTS
The Earthbody Institute programs are for:
Licensed clinicians, interns and counseling students, wellness and somatic practitioners, teachers, coaches, spiritual directors, health professionals, healers and anyone wanting to deepen their personal and professional connection with earth.
We welcome all humans of any gender identity, culture, race, religion, sexual orientation and economic circumstance.
PROGRAMS
Free Community Gatherings
Ecotherapy certificate programs
Land-based Immersion Trainings
Professional Ecotherapy Certification Program
Ecotherapy workshops open to all
CERTIFICATION
With the Earthbody Insitute Ecotherapy Certificate and Training Programs, students learn how to practice Ecotherapy indoors and out within professional, ethical and clinical guidelines, and how to integrate these learning into their professional work.
About the Earthbody Institute
The Earthbody Institute is an educational, professional and transformational training forum offering affordable opportunities for diverse populations to incorporate the principles and skills of Ecotherapy directly into their work.
We believe that the power of a sacred, Earth-honoring community can enhance each person’s unique gifts and catalyze their contributions towards the healing of our world.
Through our nature-based programs, we expand new practices for the mental health field and a wide range of allied professions (e.g. education, activism, coaching, ministry). We want those who are passionately interested in Ecotherapy to have access to this learning, and so offer: equity scholarships (for those who identify as people of color, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized populations), work-study positions, payment plans and free community offerings.
The origin of the Institute
As a nature-loving therapist, Ariana Candell recognized the therapeutic value of her time in nature, and developed techniques to make this same kind of recharging, balancing and inspiration available to others. This began in 2008 with a “Movement and Meditation in Nature” series to explore the healing integration of Dance Movement Therapy in connection with nature. The therapeutic results of this combination were so powerful that it became a foundation for developing her Somatic Ecotherapy approach.
This approach was further developed through Ariana’s John F. Kennedy University Ecotherapy seminars, “Dance your Earthbody” public workshops and individual therapy sessions, all in urban hillside parks. She discovered that people were thirsting for a mindful, embodied and sacred connection to the natural world, and that this engendered profound shifts in their experience of themselves and their lives.
Training and Certification
Ariana founded The Earthbody Institute to address the need for a step-by-step process to integrate Ecotherapy principles and practices into therapeutic work, and to empower professionals to practice Ecotherapy with skill and confidence.
Our trainings address three foundational areas:
- Cultivating a meaningful, personal reciprocal relationship with the natural world
- Understanding, practicing and developing a range of Ecotherapy skills
- Receiving and contributing to the growth of an Earth-honoring community
Vision for the Earthbody Institute
We highly value community, online and in-person, and offer many opportunities throughout the year to gather together in earth-honoring offerings. We welcome collaboration with community groups, educational programs, clinics, activists and individuals interested in hosting and developing Ecotherapy workshops and trainings.
of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.”
~ Buddha
“Important and creative work…”
“I would like to honor Ariana Candell for her important and creative work in bringing Ecotherapy to so many mental health professionals and others who believe, as we do, that being deeply connected to the rest of nature is a necessity for mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.”
~ Linda Buzzell, co-editor of “Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind”