Autumn Wisdom in Practice
A live online, small group coaching programme
Each customised programme is designed to give you a sense of what connecting to nature means to you, and to deepen that connection to enhance your well-being. There is no right or wrong way - your experience is unique to you and the season and happenings in nature. I am here to guide and support you to find your way.
My approach to Nature Connection is much more than learning about nature. It is learning with nature, co-working with what Mother Earth shares with us. - it is a respectful relationship where we explore and learn to respond to what is happening in nature.
This means that, because every season is different, every programme is different, and this is your opportunity to develop your own unique nature connection practice, to support your well-being.
It is learning to observe, to listen, to become curious, to engage in reciprocity and, ultimately, to understand that we are not separate observers of nature — we are participants within it.
The Autumn Wisdom 2026 Programme
There is a wonderful, particular wisdom held within Autumn - it doesn't have the exuberance of Spring, nor the fullness of Summer. Instead Autumn is quieter, more reflective. A season that invites us to notice what is changing, what is being released, what remains; and what might be waiting in the darkness. Autumn asks us to listen differently.
This September, I am inviting you to join me for a 2-month online journey into deep nature connection focused on the energy that Autumn brings.
At the heart of our journey will be two very different more-than-human teachers: Rosemary and Bat.
We will spend time co-working with each of these beings through curiosity, meditation, reflection, observation, felt experience and nature connection.
This isn't about simply learning about a plant or an animal, it is about exploring what happens when we begin to really engage with them, to develop a sense of relationship.
Rosemary - the wisdom of remembrance
Rosemary has long held associations with remembrance, protection, memory and clarity, but beyond the folklore and symbolism lies the living plant itself.
What happens when we slow down enough to encounter Rosemary as a being in their own right? What might they invite us to remember? What can we notice through our senses, our felt experience and our relationship with the plant?
Rather than treating Rosemary as something to be studied or used, we will explore what it means to listen to Rosemary and learn with them.
Bat - the wisdom of the unseen
A creature of darkness, extraordinary sensory perception, navigation and communication. Bat invites us into a world that cannot always be understood through our dominant human senses.
So what happens when we become curious about a being whose experience of the world is so different from our own?
Perhaps Bat can teach us something about listening differently, about sensing what cannot immediately be seen; about navigating uncertainty, and becoming comfortable with the unseen.
Our intention is not simply to gather information about Bat, but to explore what it means to enter into a more respectful and reciprocal relationship with another species.
And then we enter the threshold... Samhain
Alongside our work with Rosemary and Bat, there will be a six-week Curiosity Assignment exploring death, beginning as Autumn deepens, and accompanying us towards Samhain - the ancient Gaelic festival at the end of October.
Death is something we often find difficult to talk about, and yet spend time in nature and we discover that death is everywhere.....the fallen leaf, the dead tree returning to soil, the animal whose body becomes nourishment for another, the seed disappearing into darkness, the continual transformation of living matter.
Nature doesn't separate death from life in quite the way that we as humans often do. Our exploration will coincide with the timing of Samhain, the ancient threshold in the turning of the year associated with endings, ancestors, darkness and the movement between worlds. So rather than approaching death as something frightening or abstract, I want to invite you to become curious. What does death mean within an ecosystem? What happens after something dies? Where does life go? What can other species teach us about mortality? And how might our own relationship with death change when we begin to recognise ourselves as part of a much larger ecological cycle?
This isn't about finding definitive answers, it is about learning to ask better questions, because curiosity can change our relationship with the world.
2 months online Programme: Deep Nature Connection
Plant Wisdom of Rosemary
Animal Wisdom of Bat
Curiosity assignment exploring death
Meditation and reflection
Weaving science with animistic understanding
Begins Tuesday 1st September 2026, Limited places, £225 for full course Book your place here
How the Programme works
My Seasonal Wisdom programme, like all my courses, is designed to help you understand and experience nature connection and give you insight into how co-working with nature's energies and cycles can benefit you.
During live webinars, hosted on Zoom, I will guide you on how to develop your connections with the plant and animal or bird we are co-working with.
You will be sent my own Plant and Animal essences by post, for you to take daily over a certain period, and which can deepen your connection to your own needs and the world around you.
I recommend you use a journal to note how you feel as you take these essences – the effects may be subtle or dramatic, but often very different to what you expected!
Curiosity and autecology
Autecology is the study of a species' life history, behaviour and adaptation. In my nature connection programmes I invite you to be curious and explore all aspects of the plant and animal that we are co-working with, to deepen your connection with this particular form of life that exists alongside you on this Earth.
You will be given guided instruction on how to develop a practice of observation and deepen your sense of perception to really feel a sense of communication with this other ‘being’.
Throughout the Seasonal Wisdom programme we encourage you to share photos and findings on the community WhatsApp group - a closed group, sharing only amongst fellow students.
Coaching
In online coaching sessions you will have the opportunity to get guidance and feedback on how to develop your connection to nature in a way that suits your circumstances as you continue through this Programme. These take place over Zoom and are an opportunity for you to raise any questions you may have, to express what you are experiencing, or to ask for guidance on any aspect of the programme.
The full schedule, including dates and times for all Zoom sessions, will be provided at the Seasonal Wisdom Introductory meeting.
During the programme there is always the option to ask for more 1:1 guidance from either Dr Karen or coach Steph (additional charge applies).
Meditations
Curiosity Assignments
Plant/Animal Essences
Guided Journeying
Live Coaching Calls
My Way of Life
My name is Dr Karen Stead‑Dexter
I live in Somerset, UK, and connecting with nature is an integral part of my life and well-being.
When you join my Seasonal Wisdom in Practice programmes, you join me and a small group of like-minded people to learn and develop living in synchronicity with nature's cycles.
I will introduce you to, and guide you in, my personal practices developed over 30 years and drawn from teachings I have been honoured to receive from my teachers. This way of life, in tune with Nature and her cycles, is vital to my health and happiness. They are the best form of 'self-care' I can give myself.
I invite you to give yourself the same care and attention too.
I adapt each programme to the unique energies and teachings of the season, co-working with the plant and animal (or bird) who calls to me at that time.
Groups are kept small (max. 15 people) to allow everyone time to ask questions so if the opportunity to deepen your connection with nature and your relationship with yourself is calling to you, I invite you to join us.
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