One on One Nature Based
Guiding into Wholeness
"Jaime is reliable, motivated, honest, humble, and inspired."
~ Bill Plotkin, PhD, founder, Animas Valley Institute, author of Soulcraft
A Guide to Wholeness
This is a process to living a peaceful, wild and connect life. It is about building the supports for an unconditional sense of belonging to the living earth . The pace of the modern world can be maddening. I have spent most of my adult life apprentice to wholeness, to rites of passage processes, to learning how to remember to live and love in community.
I am evolving a way of supporting each other that is integrated, courageous, and collaborative. A lot of people are struggling with phases of depression, anxiety, a felt sense of not belonging, feeling too busy, stressed and not connected to their life force, their innate sense of wonder and creativity. I am offering the fruit of a simple life, connected to nature with self awareness as the foundation for claiming both a felt sense of belonging and kind, wild, aliveness.
At the heart of work is the task of maturing the ego—to shift from an ego-centric way of being to an eco-centric way of seeing, knowing, and acting. We do this work not just for ourselves, but for our families, our communities, and for all life and the generations yet to come.
A nature based path to wholeness means bringing together all of our capacities—the spiritual and the practical, the unseen and often ignored depths. I am interested to help people integrate three key areas:
1. Connection to Spirit
This is the capacity to access presence, non-dual awareness, the pattern that connects all things. Regardless of language, what matters is the embodied sense of belonging to life. We want to know what that feels like and have it be familiar so that when we get lost we can stop and reconnect with our inner compass.
This is our natural state that grounds us in something greater than ourselves, beyond belief systems or ideology.
2. The Everyday Self
While spiritual insight is essential, it’s of little use if we can’t relate to others, solve problems, or live well in community. This capacity includes the skill sets of :
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Learning to be confident
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Learning to use emotions as guides to show us our needs
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To become reacquainted with our capcity for intuition and imagination
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The ability to listen deeply, resolve conflict, and act with empathy
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Being comfortable both alone and with others
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Knowing how to participate in council, dialogue, and shared leadership
These are the foundational skills of a mature, capable adult—skills needed now more than ever.
3. Create a curiosity about the Underworld
Much of modern life keeps us living in a narrow band of experience. But there is more—layers we often ignore or avoid. This third capacity involves listening to our dreams, learning about our human shadow, the stuff we cound not handle as children that gets put in exile and has a uncomfortable habit of popping out when we want to love and be loved. I am talking about how myths and mythopoetry can change your life, lead you to encounters with archtypal forces that are powerful and at times helpful.
us
It is in this underworld territory that we begin to uncover our unique, nature-based gift—the soul essence that longs to be expressed in the world. This is the path to True Adulthood, Eldership, and ultimately, a life worth living.
This integration of spirit, self, and soul is not abstract. It is practical, grounded, and urgently needed in our time. Through this work, we begin to reclaim what it means to be fully human—capable of living with purpose, integrity, and in service to something greater than ourselves.
TESTIMONIALS
"ReWilding, apprentice to the Soul was not just a container for exploration, it was a remembering.A remembering of what it means to be human, to be held, to be undone. It was a space held by skilled faciliatators, where one was invited to play with the ideas of psyche, human development, archetypes, poetry, story, dance, lodge, and Soul. Jaime wove together a space and place for deep exploration.
It was, at times, confronting, as all the best and necessary journeys are. So much aroha for the Vision of Jamie and his team toward more whole humans, community, and world.
-Ben Clark, Outward Bound Instructor May 2025
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The ReWild Weekend for Men was a dynamic and engaging experience that initiated a deep dive into my inner fire, truth, ancient wisdom and my connection to nature. Jamie is a very experienced professional who embodies this work. He is an energetic facilitator who is able to bring his personal insight, reverence, and a lot of fun to empowerment, growth and connection.
September 2025
Ngā mihi
Stephen Evans
Principal - Hōhepa Hawkes Bay
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The kaupapa that Jaime has created is a very unique offering in an Aotearoa context. Jaime offers with humility a profoundly decolonial space. In the activist spaces that I spend a lot of time in, we often talk about the need for tauiwi (and especially Pākehā) New Zealanders to deal with our own inherited trauma and prejudice, but there are few examples of what this work might look like on a deep level. Jaime's mahi takes seriously questions of tauiwi identity, and relation to place, which are often trivialised - but which are necessary to deal with if we want any kind of just and ecologically reconnected future in Aotearoa.
Healing our relationship to earth, to spirit, to our own ancestry, to our bodies - re-embodying ourselves - is not easy mahi to facilitate. I was very impressed with the way Jaime facilitated the group. His mix of poetry, song, and humour kept our group of very different personalities grounded and open, even through experiences which were very challenging for some of us. It was also very important to have Bill and Lois present as our elders for the week. They brought a different wairua to the space and I'm very grateful for their openness and generosity of spirit.
I'm looking forward to seeing the Centre grow over the years, and to join you all on future kaupapa.
Ngā mihi,
James Tremlett
Who is Walking Beside You?
Jaime’s journey is one of resilience, deep listening, and a lifelong commitment to personal
transformation. Born in 1973 into a bewildered and often challenging family environment,
Jaime grew up in the midst of industrial growth, consumerism, and societal pressures to
conform. Like many, he carries both gratitude for what was given and wounds from what was
missing. As a teenager, he felt lost—confused by his changing body and the powerful forces
of nature rising within him. His father, carrying unspoken wounds of his own, struggled to
express love and manage anger. Their home was a mix of love, arguments, and
misunderstanding—a reflection of so many families navigating their own unspoken histories.
Yet, something inside Jaime kept him moving forward. He found solace in nature—climbing,
walking, and seeking refuge in wild places. It was in the mountains, surrounded by the
wisdom of the land, that a seed of healing began to grow.
A Lifelong Learner and Guide
Jaime graduated with a degree in Social Work and moved to Aotearoa (New Zealand), where
he trained with Dr. Gillian Tasker to teach Holistic Health and Outdoor Education. His
passion for authentic growth led him to the New Zealand Rites of Passage Foundation, where
he has volunteered for over 20 years. Through this work, Jaime has witnessed the power of
life transitions—rites of passage not just for teenagers but for people of all ages. As he says,
“Rites of passage don’t create the journey—they mark it. Mystery is what carries us forward,
and to meet that mystery, we must do the inner work.”
A Path of Inner Work
Jaime’s own inner work took him through years of Vipassana meditation, and later, deep
study with Tarchin Hearn at the Wangapeka Retreat Centre. He became the Resident
Practitioner at a monastery for three years, completing over a year of guided retreats and
seven months of solitary retreat. These experiences were far from easy—they demanded
honesty, courage, and the willingness to face his wounds. They also revealed to him a path
toward wholeness.
Along the way, Jaime earned a Master’s Degree in Education, focusing on transformative
learning practices. He spent six years training in Open Floor movement, learning how to truly
inhabit his body after years of living “top-heavy” in his mind. He discovered the importance
of embodiment, playfulness, and joy—elements that now flow through the retreats and
programs he leads.
Teaching, Guiding, Creating
Since 2010, Jaime has been leading retreats and long-term learning programs, combining
movement, ritual, creativity, and deep psychological work. He co-founded the School of
Immeasurable Wisdom and Compassion and Bodhi Seeds, offering residential retreats in both
Aotearoa and Brazil—some lasting up to three months. He has also collaborated extensively
with teachers like Geordie Jahner, diving into the creative arts as a path of meaning-making
and empowerment.
In 2018, Jaime’s journey led him to the work of Bill Plotkin and the Animas Valley Institute.
What began as curiosity became a deep exploration of nature-based soul work. Jaime now
hosts Animas Valley retreats in New Zealand and continues to study and train in these
profound, earth-centered practices.
Nature as Teacher
Jaime believes that true personal growth is not just about meditation or self-
improvement—it’s about finding our wildness, reconnecting with the earth, and remembering
how to live as mature, authentic humans in right relationship with all life. Nature, he says,
knows how to grow us into who we are meant to be—if we pause long enough to listen.
The Work He Offers
Jaime is passionate about working with both young people and adults who are asking life’s
big questions:
How do I live well?
How can I contribute meaningfully to this time of great change?
How do I move beyond survival strategies to live a life of wholeness and purpose?
His work is about maturing the ego, cultivating self-knowledge, and finding ways to serve
life itself. The journey of growth never truly ends—but there comes a time when our
experience and inner work allow us to give back. Jaime is here to walk alongside you on that
path.