Elijah Strongheart
Is a human deeply passionate about natural connections, relativity, communication, and our material world. He firmly believes that “a healthy and mature spirituality is grounded in an intelligent and complex materialism”. “The roots of all mystical traditions grow within a cultural substrate that interacts with and respects the rhythms of life begetting life through ecological understanding”. Elijah has worked with youth from many different socioeconomic backgrounds for 12 years, challenging him to stay humble and share the gift of ‘seeking the joy of living’. An avid rock climber and whitewater enthusiast, he
has led and guided youth and adults to interact with these natural elements across the U.S.A., Southeast Asia, and primarily; Western North Carolina. Elijah teaches Earthskills; tracking, creating, and playing.
A sculptor in many mediums with a strong emphasis in wood, he shares his perspective on the ubiquity of natural patterns via sculptures, and interpersonal connections. He believes that the crux of meaning and health lies within relationship; “the manner in which we relate” to the material, to each other, ourselves, and the mysterious. Elijah brings a balanced element of play to every appropriate occasion, which has been influenced by his work as a yoga teacher, aerial acrobat, acrobalancer, and studies of human and other evolutionary development.
With a passion for organizing relationships of meaning, he constantly studies communication models, the ancient art of storytelling, reading the signs of the environment, and the metaphors of language and gesture. “We all embody our ‘love of wisdom’; our philosophies, and we all have the opportunity to synchronize multiple philosophies accumulated in this improvisational research we call life. Coordinating and and balancing multiple models gifts us the the strength to integrate and transform our lives to support healthy ecosystems. This synchrony occurs both materially, and otherwise”.
