Chris Moeller

Q: Why do you work in wilderness therapy?
A: Over the past 15 years, I have had the opportunity to live and work in diverse and amazing “wilderness” settings. During this period, I’ve learned more about myself and grew more quickly when I was in close contact with nature. Most of my greatest awakenings arose during moments of quiet openness in nature. These moments have guided me to look for a way to share the natural world with others.

Q: What do you believe our students need?
A: I feel people in general, and our students in particular, need a safe space to reconnect with their inner light through the mirror of the natural world. In part, this comes about by allowing them to push their limits and have successful experiences. As they push through and exceed their boundaries, they learn they are capable of more than they thought possible. They also recognize there are certain boundaries which are important for them to learn and respect. Part of my goal as a guide is to communicate and teach boundaries and hold a mirror up for the students to recognize when they are crossing these boundaries and the consequences of their choices.

A sense of empowerment is vital to obtain forward growth. Choice and accountability to self are a large part of this feeling. Helping students understand and experience how every choice has a negative or positive consequence is a first step. This is learned first in easier more natural experiences which nature provides. These lessons can then be applied to life and reflecting on how we always have a choice even when it feels like, “I have to do…”

Q: Why do you think the wilderness works?
A: Mother Earth is a caring, compassionate healer and treats everyone and everything the same without concern for race, choice of religion, two or four legged beings etc. It is through a relationship with Mother Earth that I can truly learn to be present and not judge myself or others. She leads by example and teaches me through natural consequences which are the same for me as everyone and everything else around me. I am reduced from my super ego to a part of everything. Equanimity and non-judgment are central to the lessons I am constantly learning in the wilderness.

Q: What are your unique gifts, experiences that help our students?
A: Throughout my wilderness experience, I have been through many trying climates and adventures. These challenges have fostered a love for the difficult moments and expanded my comfort zone. The more comfortable I feel in the wilderness, the better I am able to assist others through their own hard times. My love for and comfort in the wilderness aid in my calm demeanor and sense that everything will work out as it should.

Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I love to play PELT with our students, which is a fun hacky sack game similar to pig in basketball. On my time off, I love to work on my land with my family. We are just starting to develop our land and create a vision for our homestead. I am also very interested in primitive living skills such as fire by friction, shelters, wild foods, tracking, etc. It seems like a former life now but I am an avid river runner and scuba diver.

Q: Who has been your greatest inspiration and why?
A: This is a really hard question for me. I have been struggling to come up with someone who is my greatest inspiration and mentor and I have been unable to name one. Many people have touched me in different ways at different times of my life. Some have taught me about caring for others, service, skills, laughing but I am unable to really name a mentor. While talking this over with my wife, I realized this is one reason why I want to mentor youth. I feel like I have never had a mentor and the lack of mentors and elders in my world has been hard to deal with at times. I wish I had an elder to go to for counsel and guidance. Someone to help me stay focused and push me when I am stuck. I am hoping that in a small way I can help to mentor people at Open Sky.

Q: What is a defining moment in your life that has led you to where you are today?
A: Just before I started my PhD program, I was visiting a friend in New Hampshire. While walking in the White Mountains I was struck by the beauty of moose calls at night. I quickly decided that I had to see and learn more about the moose clan. I tried to follow tracks but quickly realized I didn’t even know which way they were walking! My friend suggested I take a tracking class and as it turned out there was one nearby the following week. I had a week before I started work so I signed up and headed to the course the next day. The course opened a new world to me. I dropped out of graduate school and began to live a life closer to the earth. While I am not currently in moose country, I am ever grateful for the impact they have had on my life.

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