about chris holland and wholeland

Who is Chris?

Chris Holland is a leading inspiration in the field of nature connection and creative outdoor learning for families, schools and businesses in the UK and increasingly worldwide. He has a BSc in Environmental Science, has been involved in outdoor learning for 20 years, and became a self employed educator in 2001. He is an author and prize winning photographer and a “world class” didgeridoo player too. Chris has many things in his teaching bundle including a natural talent for working with groups of people, telling stories, sharing bushcraft skills, foraging, creating environmental art and playing the didgeridoo. He feels very proud because his first book, a playful hands on nature connection guidebook called I love my World, “is a must” according to children’s laureate Michael Morpurgo.
Chris has created an online storytelling for outdoor learning Cours and his latest project, The Natural Musicians is at the creative edge of nature connection and musical composition.

Chris, why do you do what you do?

“Basically I did an environmental science degree, became interested in education and why people see themselves as separate from nature. I have then looked for ways reminding people, starting with children, families and then other groups that we are all connected inextricably from the rest of nature. in the hope that it will help people love self, each other and the environment in a more wholistic way, with more understanding and respect.”

Some of the benefits of the re-connecting with nature work I do include:

  • improved physical health, agility and mental wellbeing

  • increased self-esteem and self-reliance

  • learn new craft skills, attitudes and native intelligence

  • gain an understanding of the complex web of life

  • a developed connection to self, others and nature

  • increased empathy, passion & common sense

  • find things to eat in the wild & come into harmony with your being

  • feel at home, find your natural voice and talents

  • remember we are all part of the land, no better or worse than anything else we share the planet with…

This is a 2min rant for The Wildlife trusts about barriers to outdoor learning and one of my solutions!

Want to know a bit more? Read on:

I am an environmental educator, author, forager, a playful trainer, storyteller and keynote speaker, didgeridoo player, bushcraft teacher, wild swimmer, forest school leader, barefoot walker and land artist…and also a family man with a wife and three children, tow of them now adults.

Since 2001 I have been making a living from reminding people that we are part of the land, the nature we live among.

I published my first book, I LOVE MY WORLD in 2009 and devised THE NATURAL MUSICIANS system in 2012.

 So what do I do?

I cultivate the connections people have with nature, each other and themselves.

I am also passionate about helping teachers take learning outside and making it playful and “edge stretching”.

I take classes of children outdoors, train and mentor teachers in nature connection and natural flow learning.

I run a wild school for home educating families.

I run bushcraft and outdoor play camps for families, away days and team building for corporate groups, lead foraging events and stag do’s.

I tell stories and play music round camp fires, enjoy sneaking games, teaching skills and crafts in the woods.

I have also written and self-published a best selling nature connection guidebook that is considered “a must for all” by Children’s laureate Michael Morpurgo. It has sold over 15000 copies!

I try to get the right balance between work, family time and personal time.

I love it when someone lights up as they experience something wonderful. Birdsong lifts my heart and widens my perception.

I am grateful when morning sun warms my skin and for the many gifts a day brings. Please explore the site or sign up for a free sample of my book using the form opposite.

All the best,

Chris

Want to know more?

Guided by the principle of “learn to play, play to learn“, Chris Holland provides light hearted, yet serious, whole body learning, training and teambuilding experiences to help people reconnect with the land and all our relations. Chris sees himself as a nature connection specialist and is the author of the best selling book I love my World (see the link on the right?).

Wholeland was established in 2000 by Chris Holland to bring people, young and old, into a more meaningful, loving, respectful, joyous and spirited relationship with the earth, plants and animals from which the majority of our resources come, in the hope that this will help humans want to live in a more balanced and sustainable way. Chris has many things in his teaching bundle. Chris is a forest school leader, bushcraft teacher, an outdoor play and nature awareness facilitator, an environmental artist, musician and storyteller. Wholeland is based in East Devon, an area of outstanding natural beauty.

chris tinderbundle

What do you mean by ‘all our relations’? If you were to imagine you are sitting at the centre of a 3D spiders web, ‘all your relations’ would be the strands moving off from the centre to the edge. Those strands would be your ancestors, the stories you were told that formed the way you see the world around you, the plants and animals that become the food you eat, the strands are the energy cycles you are part of and they are also that blackbird you disturbed from its feeding as you walked down the path, the strands are also molecules in the air you breathe which have already been parts of an infinite number of creatures; your dreams, hopes and visions; your fears, regrets and nightmares; your internal and external political landscape, your social standing, in fact,  ‘all our relations’  means everything in the web of life were are affected by, and we affect, through our actions. Physically we are all made of air, water and earth, with the magical firey spark of life thrown in for good measure – something we share with every other thing or system on this planet. When we tug at any strand in the fabric of life we soon find that all things are connected and that we humans are very much part of life’s rich tapestry. Wholeland is about giving people experiences that remind them that they are part of that tapestry.

More about Chris and how he came to do what he does.

Chris was born in Sussex in the early 70’s, taken to Australia by his dad a few years later, only to go to Kenya with his mum when he was seven. He played alot outdoors, struggled on at a number of different schools in a number of different countries, felt very chuffed when he received an honours degree in Environmental Science,  and has been teaching, instructing and mentoring in and out of schools since 1993. He is finding ways of educating youngster in bushcraft and nature awareness through the national curriculum in schools, through play, through Forest School and by stealth! He likes teaching older folks too of course. He leads ‘expotitions’ along the River Otter and onto Dartmoor. He worked with Wildwise Environmental Education and Training from 2002-2010, and was the Earthwise Education Ranger at Otterton Mill during 2002.

Having been inspired by great nature educators such as Joseph Cornell, Tom Brown Jr, Jon Young, Gerald Durrell, Sir Richard Attenborough and his personal mentor for a while, Tom Schorr-Kon of Trackways in Sussex, Chris draws on extensive worldwide travelling and natural living experience and has developed a lively style of teaching that uses drama and games, stories and practical activities to share a wide range of concepts, skills, attitudes and behavioral qualities.

Learn to play, play to learn is now his moto. He tries to make all of the learning more memorable and embodied through play and laughter.

Chris has enjoyed playing the didgeridoo since his first meeting with one in a shop in Bath during 1992. He had been teaching in schools in Surrey for over two years before moving to Devon in 2000. He has performed and played with many musicians, from Paul Robertson of the Medici String Quartet to Hawkwind, from an Aboriginal dance troop in Coffs Harbour to Baka Beyond in Cheltenham. He was a founding member of the festival band Jabberwocky and has made a solo album called Fundijeri. He appeared on the main stage at Sidmouth Folk Festival in 2002 and performed for Eric Clapton in 2008. He has produced a solo didgeridoo album, Fundijeri, which you can listen to (and buy or course!) here

Chris is also trained first-aider, a Forest School Leader, and has studied self-heal herbalism with the Selfheal School of Medicinal Herbalism. He has also taught dance, yoga and p.e. at a Small School in Bath. He now lives near Seaton, East Devon. He decided to go self-employed and do what he does shortly after doing Thomas Schorr-kon’s Wilderness Philosophy Two class. The rest of the story is still unfolding…

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