Laura Gunion
Laura believes that humans have tremendous potential, much of it hidden from our strategic and logical inquiries. As a mentor, guide, coach, and naturalist, it is both her privilege and responsibility to accompany others as they summon the courage to participate in these times from their true nature. She sees and notices thresholds, inviting people to consider the importance and beauty of things falling away and dying before something else comes into life. This is important, not only for ourselves, but also to create conditions that will benefit future generations. She insists on bringing the soulful and sacred into daily living. Her curiosity, acute listening, and precise questioning call people towards living boldly and courageously. Laura was profoundly shaped by relationships formed over 20 years at Wilderness Awareness School as a full-time instructor/mentor. Laura attended her first Animas program in 2006 where she was fascinated and perplexed by what she was experiencing, stoking the flames of curiosity that still burn brightly. She lives in the woods above Duvall, WA where she shares land with Bewick’s Wren, black bear, honey bees, raven, her husband, their cat, amazing neighbors, and many other wild ones.
Events with Laura Gunion
The Way of Council and the Art of Mirroring - February, 2026February 17 - 21, 2026
THE ART OF MIRRORING: There is an art to hearing a story as well as telling one. Mirroring is a collection of skills employed in receiving, embracing, and honoring each others’ stories. In mirroring, we neither project nor interpret but rather celebrate the magic of the story and the gifts of the One Who Bears the Tale. We help the storyteller glean-harvest-reap the jewels, the dark ones as well as those that sparkle. The Way of Council and the Art of Mirroring are invaluable practices on the descent to soul. Although much of the descent is solitary, gathering with others…
Into the Dark Womb - An Animas Quest for Women - April, 2026April 8 - 19, 2026
Women, do you hear a great love call singing within your bones? A call from the earth, the cosmos and the ancestors, asking you to fully inhabit your true place within the earth community and protect the web of life? We invite you to join us in Washington for a contemporary Western enactment of the ancient, pan-cultural vision fast ceremony and wilderness rite. This is a unique ceremonial gathering designed specifically and intentionally for women-identified humans seeking greater connection, depth, and clarity about life purpose and meaning. This Quest is intended to serve as a portal through which women might…
Fishing For Shadow - June 2026, BulgariaJune 9 - 13, 2026
I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught…….?????? Fishing for Shadow’s Dangerous Gifts is a newer offering that is preparatory, in some ways, for the Sweet Darkness intensive. We will explore Shadow — the hidden, deep, and dangerous realm of our psyches. The Shadow has sinister or negative aspects as well as positive or golden qualities. And it…
Wild Mind Shadow Training - June 2026, BulgariaJune 14 - 18, 2026
The Shadow is the hidden side of our psyches, with both its “positive” and “negative” aspects. The Shadow helps ensure our survival by keeping the lid on elements of our psyche – both negative and positive – that feel dangerous or unacceptable to our ego. But it can also impede our blossoming by keeping that lid on too tight or too long. Many of the psychological resources we need in order to co-create more fulfilling relationships are impounded in the dungeon of our psyche. The Shadow is not what we know about ourselves and don’t like (and perhaps keep hidden)…