SUGGESTIONS for Beginning Trackers
Jim - A Routine of Introduction
Begin by taking some time to walk fluidly in the natural area you're in, wandering a little as it were, meanwhile shedding the busy mind and distractions by simply pushing them away as they present themselves. As you notice noise or activity, freeway sound, noisy hikers, etc., just push that into the background and maintain your attention to the subtlety around you. Introduce yourself to this place with a thankful heart and be open to what the place will teach.
Kelly - Be Playful
Play, trust the gut. We come from a far too rational and empirical a culture to track entirely intuitively and not feel like you’re insane. The backup of logic is grounding and reassuring.
Gary - Do Your Practical Tracking Work
You have to do the work. There may be people who have a special talent who can just step into the intuitive but I think these are few and far between. People like me have to do the work. I have to understand the animal, and know who the animal is and what it's about. And I think the indigenous cultures who use intuitive tracking, they lived with these animals, they depended on them for life. So when they were tracking in spirit, if you will, they were connected to that animal, they knew that animal. Most of us have to earn it.
Lori - Make The Switch
My job is very left brained, thinking and analytical work, so when I go tracking I have to find ways to make that shift to the intuitive. Actually, I use my sense of smell. I ask what did it smell like when the animal went through? It gets me out of my typical way of thinking, because with smell I can’t put a shape or number on it, it’s hard to define, it just is what it is. It helps me get into that frame of mind.