SOIL Compositions
Teachings, wisdom and philosophies.
The foundation of our curriculum.
Your online guide to integrated living.
The School of Integrated Living (SOIL) offers a distinctively broad curriculum of whole-life skills for a radically different and sustainable future. We embody the metaphor of the SOIL and think in terms of planting the seeds of change in the soil so that something inspired and real can take root and grow.
Looking for the resources for your learning journey?
Want to know more about the theoretical background for our offerings?
Our goal is to empower people to live a fully integrated life, to become fully alive humans, to be community members simultaneously held by and feeding the healthy village. We hope for this change to spiral outward, with each healthy village being held by and feeding a more healthy world.
We offer this summary to quickly introduce the wide range of philosophies, wisdom, and teachers that have influenced us. We acknowledge that these summaries do not do justice to the depth and complexity of many of these teachings and teachers. In the spirit of mentoring and lineage, we also acknowledge these powerful mentors and teachers we have learned from on our collective journey. You have shaped us. We are forever indebted to you.
These teachings are the foundational narratives which we use — mixed with our own collective and individual life experience, strengths, and wisdom — to create our program offerings. These people, concepts, and works are sometimes visibly and oftentimes invisibly woven into and upholding our curriculum from the root level.
The framework below is going to support a growing collection of essays, interviews, and other resources that will branch and grow over time.
Let’s take a tour together…
North West - Spiritual Ecology & Embodied Gratitude
Eco-Spirituality – Spiritual Polyculture – Holistic Birthing – Dagara Traditions – Rites of Passage – Coyote Mentoring
North - Regenerative Culture
Mutual Aid Societies – Restorative Justice – Ecovillages – Educational Tourism – Skill Sharing – Savings Pools – Intentional Community – Alternative Education
North East - Grief Tending & Conscious Dying
Home Funeral – Green Burials – Death Care – Grief Rituals – Positive Deathing – Ancestral Medicine – Death Doula
West - Thriving Relationships & Resilient Community
Non-Violent Communication – Village Living – Earthaven Ecovillage – Celebration, Songs and Stories – Compassion and Love – Restorative Justice – Family Dynamics
East - Welcoming Ourselves Home
Overview – Deep Ecology – The Work That Reconnects – The Great Turning – Ecofeminism – Sacred Economics – Becoming Native
South West - Personal Empowerment In Service to the Whole
Authentic Leadership – Empowered Activism – Earth Activism – Self-Love – Experiential Eductation – Community – Hearth Tending – Caring for Self & Others – Connection Practices
South - Creative & Responsible Living
Green Building – Regenerative Systems – Primitive Skill – Energy Alternatives – Three-Legged Stool – Anti-Racism – Herbal Medicine – Handmade Life – Permaculture
South East - Nature Connection
Academy of Forest Kindergarten Teachers – Eight Shields – Story Telling – Bird Language – Place-Based Education – Nature Schools
East - Welcoming Ourselves Home
Overview – Deep Ecology – The Work That Reconnects – The Great Turning – Ecofeminism – Sacred Economics – Becoming Native
South East - Nature Connection
Academy of Forest Kindergarten Teachers – Eight Shields – Story Telling – Bird Language – Place-Based Education – Nature Schools
South - Creative & Responsible Living
Green Building – Regenerative Systems – Primitive Skill – Energy Alternatives – Three-Legged Stool – Anti-Racism – Herbal Medicine – Handmade Life – Permaculture
South West - Personal Empowerment In Service to the Whole
Authentic Leadership – Empowered Activism – Earth Activism – Self-Love – Experiential Eductation – Community – Hearth Tending – Caring for Self & Others – Connection Practices
West - Thriving Relationships & Resilient Community
Non-Violent Communication – Village Living – Earthaven Ecovillage – Celebration, Songs and Stories – Compassion and Love – Restorative Justice – Family Dynamics
North West - Spiritual Ecology & Embodied Gratitude
Eco-Spirituality – Spiritual Polyculture – Holistic Birthing – Dagara Traditions – Rites of Passage – Coyote Mentoring
North East - Grief Tending & Conscious Dying
Home Funeral – Green Burials – Death Care – Grief Rituals – Positive Deathing – Ancestral Medicine – Death Doula
North - Regenerative Culture
Mutual Aid Societies – Restorative Justice – Ecovillages – Educational Tourism – Skill Sharing – Savings Pools – Intentional Community – Alternative Education