About Sam — Rooted Rites

A Lens of Community & Land- I believe that the future of healing is rooted in community and land. I believe that the return to authentic connection with the world around us requires us to acknowledge and express the full wild nature in our own selves. The imperative but daunting task of the human race right now is the climate crisis that we have created for ourselves- but saving the human race needs to come from a deep saving of ourselves first.

I am also in service to community. A soul-fulfilled self requires connection, belonging, and purpose to fully be whole. The place and people where we can be most truly known, and our gifts most greatly respected, is a place that we can be held accountable to carry forward our initiated soul-knowing selves into future generations of wholeness.

A Lens of Queerness- I define ‘Queerness’ as the radical pursuit and expression of our most authentic self-knowing of who we are, what our gifts are, and how we celebrate our full selves in community. As a queer guide, I am in that pursuit for our humanity- queer folk or not. I know that a whole society requires whole humans, and the survival of our planet is dependent on that, too.

A Lens of Restoration and Self-Knowing- I deeply believe that there is nothing “new” that we need to invent to restore our land, communities and selves to a place of centeredness and healing. Our bodies know what they need to heal if we learn to listen. Each body is capable of the type of deep listening, loving, and visioning necessary to know deeply who we are, and how we fit into the ecosystems we are a part of.

Philosophy

I have been a wilderness guide for 8 years, a rites of passage guide for 4 years, and now am celebrating 2 years in January of beginning Rooted Rites, a space where I have been able to offer my guidework and mentorship individually to folks of all ages as a way of supporting the integration process from threshold experiences. I am currently in the final year of the Somatic Experiencing 3-year practitioner training.

I am trained and working within the lineage of the School of Lost Borders, and facilitate rites of passage and wilderness solo experiences for both youth and adults. I spent 2 years working as a field guide and mentor for Legacy & Juniper Canyon Recovery Center, an adult 3-month recovery treatment program in rural Utah, where I gained a lot of experience supporting and guiding clients in acute need of support.

I have experience in and passion for working with queer folks; individuals, especially men, with histories of sexual trauma and discomfort with intimacy; youth and young adults looking to find and know themselves; folks recovering from shock trauma such as an accident, medical procedure, etc.; and individuals recovering from developmental trauma from childhood and adolescence.

I am a life-long dancer, a cultural explorer, and outdoor adventurer. I am a queer gender expansive gay man, and deepening into the practice of my ancestors through Earth- Based Jewish spirituality. I believe the collective liberation from toxic systems of structural power that is necessary for human survival begins with a re-meeting of our individual bodies and a re-recognition of these bodies as the same nature we so deeply need to heal and protect around us.

I come to this work in service to the unknown, the land, to our bodies, and to community. Through wholeness in being, authentic expression, ceremony, profanity, through wildness, and through darkness, through action, and through dance… I find my niche and joy for participation in serving this Earth.