The Earth is Talking: Are You Listening?

The Berne Podcast with Dr. Sam Berne

In this episode, I interview Doug Conwell, founder of Earthwalks, Which Explores the ancient cultural and earth wisdom traditions of the American Southwest and Mexico through guided journeys and service activities.

For more information, contact Doug: www.earthwalks.org. E-mail: [e-mail]

For even more from Dr. Sam, check out his new exclusive membership where you get access to my content and resources, new information, articles, videos, webinars: https://drsambernesmembership.com/

Keywords

Earthwalks, Doug Conwell, geomancy, listening to the earth, indigenous cultures, Celtic traditions, Chaco Canyon, personal transformation, retreats, community service

Summary

In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Sam Berne interviews Doug Conwell, the founder of Earthwalks, exploring themes of geomancy, indigenous cultures, and personal transformation through nature. Doug shares his journey from urban life to discovering the wisdom of the earth, emphasizing the importance of listening to nature and the experiences that shape our understanding of the world. The discussion also highlights the significance of Chaco Canyon and the retreats Doug leads, fostering community and connection with the earth.

Takeaways
• Doug Conwell founded Earthwalks to connect people with nature.
• Geomancy involves listening to the earth’s energies.
• Listening to the earth can be practiced anywhere, even in urban settings.
• Indigenous cultures offer profound insights into nature and spirituality.
• Personal initiations are essential for growth and transformation.
• Chaco Canyon is a vital site for understanding earth energies.
• Retreats provide a space for deep connection and healing.
• Community engagement is a key aspect of Doug’s work.
• The blending of indigenous and Celtic traditions enriches spiritual practices.
• Nature holds immense wisdom that can guide our lives.

Sound Bites
• “There’s so much wisdom in the earth.”
Chapters
00:00Introduction to Earthwalks and Doug Conwell
02:55Exploring Geomancy and Listening to the Earth
05:59Indigenous and Celtic Traditions: A Juxtaposition
09:04Personal Initiations and Transformative Experiences
11:32The Significance of Chaco Canyon
14:52Leading Retreats and Community Engagement

Sam Berne (00:02)
Hey everyone, it’s Dr. Sam and I’d like to welcome you to another podcast. So we have a great show today. I’ve invited a really special guest. He’s been a longtime friend Doug Conwell and you guys need to know about Doug. He’s an amazing person. He does a lot of different things service in the community, but he started this.

guess he started this process many years ago called Earthwalks and I went on one of his retreats in Chaco Canyon last September and it was life-changing for me. And so I wanted to bring him on and I wanted to introduce him to the community. So Doug, welcome to the program. Give us a little bio so that people can get to know who you are.

Doug Conwell (01:03)
Sure, happy to do that. Originally from Colorado, Sam, from Denver. Born in Denver. My family moved from there to Texas and I lived on the border in El Paso for sixth grade through college and got a really good dose of the Mexican culture, which I just adore. And was in the military in the army for a couple years and came back to Colorado thinking it was home.

And it was for a while, but this huge, relentless urban development that John Denver used to sing about, and he was promoting it while he was decrying it, sort of got to me and I realized that I was hearing a call elsewhere. And that call actually got into a book called The Spirit That Wants Me. It’s an anthology of different writers, and I’m one of them that’s in it.

The you know, is the spirit of this region where we’re living here in Santa Fe, the Four Corners region. But I moved to Santa Fe almost 50 years ago, about 47, 47 years ago, to actually go to massage school while I was getting my master’s degree in criminal justice and public administration. I was on a track to be wearing the American noose, which is called a necktie, and go up the ladder and…

Little did I know I had a lot of changes in store for me. So that’s what happened. I started hearing that call and you know, earth energies, earth mysteries, all of those things were kind of new to me. Finding out about this word called geomancy, divining with earth energies. We were in massage school and we were dealing with our earth bodies and the energies within our…

our earth bodies, which you talk about so much, Sam, and you deal with your clients. That’s so important, I know, vital. And I found out, I think it was probably while I was in massage school, about this thing called geomancy. And ended up exploring that whole area of lay lines, sacred geometry, sacred architecture, sacred sites. Definitely Chaco was one of those.

And with a friend of mine, we started leading small groups of people, just kind of exploring the area. And then I went on to develop Earthwalks as it is today. Lots of other things along the way, but that’s sort of brief aspect.

Sam Berne (03:36)
Yes.

Well, you know, it’s something we share in common and I don’t talk about this that much but you know, the divining with the earth energies, you know, going to a nature spot and really listening and I know when you facilitated the group that was a really big part of developing people’s awareness on listening and listening to the earth because there’s so much wisdom in it and

Can you speak a little bit more about geomancy? What it is and you know that process that you facilitate around listening to the earth?

Doug Conwell (04:21)
Certainly, you know, it really is more of a, like you said, a listening meditative experience. But I remember years ago here in Santa Fe, an Australian Aboriginal woman was in town as a guest of somebody and she said what their people do is to go out on the land and lay down and feel the earth, you know, from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet. And when they need to kind of release whatever anxiety or stress that they’ve got, they breathe in to

head, let that breath travel down through their whole body and through their spine and down into the earth, giving thanks to the earth for taking those, you know, that stress and transforming it, neutralizing it. So there’s so much written on this. People can certainly access all of that. But the goal that I think Earthwalks and I have for this kind of experience is really a listening goal.

but it’s one that you can use when you’re in the parking lot at McDonald’s. Okay? Yes, it’s important. You absolutely need to go on retreats to amazing places like Chaco Canyon, a World Heritage site where it’s free of cell phones and asphalt and traffic and all of that kind of a thing. But once you have begun to listen, you can go back into a place like McDonald’s, you know, in the parking lot.

and you start looking at things much more carefully. It’s a process of looking to at the details around you, not just taking things for granted. you know, there are a lot of…

Sam Berne (05:59)
Yeah, I, you know, I’ve I’ve experienced that a lot in both in New Mexico and in Hawaii and you know, the indigenous culture is such a big part of well, what you spotlight and I was wondering if you could talk about the relationship between the indigenous the Celtic because I know that’s part of your background.

and some of the shamanic traditions. That would be a great juxtaposition. So what do you have to say about?

Doug Conwell (06:35)
Well, I didn’t know much about that before I moved to Santa Fe, moved to New Mexico. I think that’s why I moved here, was to learn from the continuing indigenous cultures here in this region. And then I found out, yes, there are similar ways of accessing that information inside ourselves and in nature in my own background, as you said.

Sam Berne (08:35)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it’s really critical. Another thing that I’m taking about is this idea of initiation and we all go through initiations all the time and you had an experience. You shared with me about being at Bear Mountain. Where is Bear Mountain and what happened to you? Yeah.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

Wow.

Sure. So we’re here with Doug Conwell. He’s founder of Earthwalks and he’s involved in a lot of different healing processes. He runs retreats and he’s just a spectacular human being. I hope you guys check out his website. I’ll certainly put all that in the notes and contact him if you’re interested.

So we’re coming down to the end, but I wanted to ask you about Chaco Canyon and why people should know about Chaco.

So how can people learn more about it? What are some resources, you know about that you could, you know, point people to?

Okay.

That’s great. And you also take people to Chaco. Tell us a little bit about… Say again? Sure.

Mm-hmm. So I know you lead groups there. Tell us a little bit about, you know, the process in terms of taking people and what you do and things like that. Yuri.

Yes. Yes. Yeah, what what are some of the things that you you spotlight when you take people on on a trip like what I know you do it like once a year and you know, you have phenomenal people that are attracted. I mean, it’s such a great dynamic group.

Can you talk a little bit about the, yeah.

Very good.

Yes. Yeah, that is. So how do people get in touch with you, Doug?

And I will put your website and that email address on the show notes at the beginning so that people can refer to that and we will be putting this out on a video on YouTube and my website and then it will go through Apple and Spotify. So we’ll we’ll get the word out for you and I want to thank you for your

generosity of spirit coming on today and I look forward to celebrating with you in the future. So take good care and thanks for being on.