On November 29th, I headed North on I-85 towards Waretown, New Jersey for the
Tom Brown Tracker School of Nature Awareness, Survival, and Tracking and the two classes I
had up there. The little pamphlet I got from the Tracker school mentioned something
about the class starting on Monday, but the date said November 29th. Woops. I
missed orientation. No biggie though. Nothing was really done that evening.
I arrived sometime around 2 am. I sat myself down in the room after breakfast
that following morning and the guy to my left turned out to be someone I knew from TAG
Trackers, a group I formed in Atlanta to get people together of like mind. Jim
showed up for a TAG Tracker Weekend. I didn't recognize him at first since he had
cut his hair! But it was a pleasant surprise to spend time with him that
week. We had a great time together and both experienced some incredible things. I'd
like to get into some details about what happened in the class. However, I want to
make a short description of what it is that these "Philosophy" classes are all
about. Tom Brown has about 4 different "branches" in his school (Tracking,
Survival, Awareness/Philosophy, Scout). Awareness/Philosophy is really a
misnomer. "Spirituality" would be a better term. What some people
are able to do during and after the classes is VERY hard for some people to believe.
The things Tom's students are able to do defies logic. These skills begin
with simple meditation and progress towards some pretty strange stuff which I'd rather not
go into here. If you are interested in reading more, check out the THINK page I created
on this.
Inbetween classes, I hung out at the Tracker School's primitive camp in the
middle of the Pine Barrens and helped tear down the Thunderdome (large shelter) to put up
an army tent to replace it. A good five days of physical labor... nice after
spending a week in heavy duty meditations. We removed a bunch of brush as well in
preparation for a burn. Every now and then in the evenings, caretaker Rick led a few
very powerful sweat lodges. It was a great time.
Before heading back to Atlanta, I had the opportunity to take a class with
"Ninja" Joe Lau to learn the Bamboo Fire Saw. It took me about 7 tries,
but it eventually got a coal. Afterwards, I headed out to Baltimore, to visit my old
college roomie Dan. We did basically nothing... and it was wonderful for both of us.
After all the meditation and energy work, things can be really draining. And
Dan had just finished another semester of medical school. We both desperately needed
the break. Finally, I headed for Atlanta. |

The Giant Peach (where is James?)
Thunderdome nearly destroyed

Philosophy Class at the Citta Scout Reservation, Tracker School
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My friend Jim Jammin' on his finger piano
Check out his album and web site: www.ancienthand.com
The army tent to take Thunderdome's place

Visiting Dan and Carpals (cat) in Baltimore
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