•⁠ ⁠Where: Mangaroa Farms, Upper Hutt

•⁠ ⁠When: 28 Feb - 1 March, 09:00-17:00 on each day

•⁠ ⁠Kai: Tea & coffee included, please bring a dish to share for lunch, plus your own plates & cutlery

What and Why

Join Dr Saskia von Diest for an immersive workshop in Nature communication, hosted at Mangaroa Farms.

As the founder of Ecofluency, Saskia is delighted to bring her work to Aotearoa/ New Zealand for the first time.

In this 2-part weekend workshop, you'll rediscover the ancient skill that all humans have of communicating with Nature, using a wider range of sensory awareness.

This inherent ability, sometimes called intuitive or interspecies communication, is a capacity that all humans have, because we are Nature - many modern humans have just forgotten that. It is still practiced by indigenous cultures and spiritual traditions on every continent, and when we remember the magic and power of this birthright, it can help us embody greater health, humility, happiness and harmony in all of life’s relationships.

Whether you're a farmer, corporate leader, home-maker, butcher, baker or candlestick-maker, or live any other kind of human lifestyle, this is eco-socio-cultural repair on many levels, and is a tool for stitching both one's soul and the world whole again. With this, comes a sense of belonging, wisdom and grace, that benefits yourself, others and our beloved Earth.

Working with land in this way, we can reclaim our role as a keystone species in regenerating landscapes, not just restoring ecosystems as engineers, but as biodiversity artists.

This workshop is aimed to help you rediscover and experience this ability yourself, so that you have an embodied reference of how it feels, and take home skills that you can use in everyday life.

On Saturday, we'll cover the what, why and how of Nature communication. This will include activating the body as listening instrument, and the basic steps of how to communicate with Nature, which we'll practice with animals and plants on the farm who want to engage with us. We'll also touch on communication with those elementals who are responsible for weather (especially water and fire), and balance in a landscape, with particular focus on agricultural landscapes. What is exciting is that this skill can be integrated into daily life and applied to conversations with any aspect of Nature, from tiny flowers to towering trees, small insects to large animals, clods of compost to constellations of stars, in urban and rural environments.

The information we receive in dialogue with the more-than-human can both inform practical everyday decisions, and bring insights into our personal development and spiritual evolution.

So, on Sunday, we'll go deeper and explore how Nature communication brings deeper meaning to our lives. We might dialogue with animals who've passed on, meet a Nature ally who can support you in your journey going forward, open a conversation with your gut microbiome, or find other topics to focus that best suits the the group's needs.

On both days there will be time for sharing about your experience (optional) and for Q&A.

Advanced Animal Communication Workshop, Varnavas, Greece, November 2019

You can choose to join just Saturday's foundational workshop, or the Full Weekend at a discount for both days. And there are 3 ticket types, to help make this event accessible while honouring Saskia's time and costs. Donations are also very appreciated, to help fund the activism and pro bono work she does with Ecofluency.

Spaces are limited. No previous experience is required, just BYOB - bring your own beliefs!

The world of Nature is waiting - join the conversation!

Other Ecofluency workshops in Aotearoa/ New Zealand:

For more about Ecofluency, please visit ecofluency.org.

Contact info

Please send any questions to saskia@ecofluency.org

Presenter biography

Dr Saskia von Diest is the founder of Ecofluency, an award-winning organisation that offers education and consulting in the field of Nature communication. She is also involved in research and activism within this field.

An animal communication workshop during her PhD in Plant Pathology (2012) sparked her interest in how farmers use intuitive communication with Nature to inform practical management decisions. From 2014-2020, she held two postdoctoral fellowships, at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and at Coventry University, UK, to investigate intuitive farming as part of a wider new field of subtle agroecology. Throughout her postdoctoral years, she further developed her own understanding and practice in communicating with trees, animals, land, nature spirits and ancestors. She’s also trained as a Family Constellations facilitator, in Jikiden (Usui) Reiki, and in the Way of the Warrior Healer for psychic surgery.

In 2021, she founded Ecofluency, to offer consulting, teaching and coaching in Nature communication to individuals and organisations internationally, and to promote other human voices in this field. She is also a co-founder of the Organisation for Noetic Ecology, and a founding member of Nature’s Council.

With 15 years of experience in teaching and facilitating through various forms and in many countries, her passion now is creating opportunities for others to have their own experience of dialogue with non-human Nature. Through online and in-person programmes, her aim is to support people and organisations in reclaiming the power of these ancestral skills, for individual and collective transformation: ecofluency.org

Ecofluency immersion at Bodhi Khaya Nature Retreat, South Africa, October 2024

Service policy

Cancellation and refund:
- If we cancel the event for any reason, your booking(s) will be refunded in full.
- If we postpone the event for any reason, you will have the option of either a full refund, or a transfer of your booking(s) to the postponed event or a similar event.
- Refunds are not possible once the workshop begins.
- If you are unable to use your ticket(s) for any reason:
  - Ticket(s) are refundable up to 30 days before the event, OR
  - Ticket(s) can be exchanged for another in-person event of a similar length within the same year. To take advantage of this, please contact Saskia to request the exchange at least 7 days before the event, OR
  - You may transfer your booking(s) to a friend of yours. To do this, please contact me to provide contact details of the new ticket holder(s) at least 3 working days before the event so that I can give them any necessary details about the course.
  - No-shows without the above notice are not entitled to refunds, exchanges or transfers.

Workshop content is copyright of Saskia von Diest (c) 2026, all rights reserved.

Contact the host of Ecofluency workshop in Nature communication, at Mangaroa Farms