About
Josh Lane
Author · Nature Connection Mentor · Visionary Guide
I'm the author of Conscious Nature: The Art and Neuroscience of Meditating in Nature (Nautilus Book Award, Gold Medal, 2020), and I've spent 25 years guiding healers, practitioners, trackers, and visionary leaders into deep, sacred relationship with the natural world.
This work found me before I found it.
The beginning
The outer landscape
and the inner landscape
were not separate.
At fourteen, a meditation practice found me — and a lifelong inquiry into the intersection of inner life, consciousness, and the natural world began. By the time I encountered the tracking and nature connection lineage of Tom Brown Jr. and Jon Young, something clicked into place: the outer landscape and the inner landscape were not separate territories. They were the same territory, read by different senses.
That recognition has been the animating principle of everything since.
I've always been, at heart, an endlessly curious mystic. I want to know what's actually happening — in the forest, in the body, in the invisible currents that move between things. And I want to help others develop that same quality of living attention, because I believe it's one of the most important capacities a human being can cultivate — for themselves, and for the world they serve.
Over twenty-five years, that inquiry has taken me deep into several living traditions — each one a different doorway into the same essential practice of paying attention to what's real.
Photo by Virginia Dunn Photography
Roots
The lineage
Deep nature connection & holistic tracking
Grandfather Stalking Wolf · Tom Brown Jr. · Jon Young
The root lineage of this work traces to Grandfather Stalking Wolf (Nuacano), a Lipan Apache elder and seer who wandered the Americas for sixty years, distilling universal spiritual truths found across cultures and testing everything he learned in the wilderness. Through the Way of the Coyote, he passed this understanding to Tom Brown Jr. — the tracker, author, and founder of the Tracker School, who passed in 2024. Tom's programs and teachings found me as a teenager, bringing me real hope and igniting the passion and commitment to walk this path that has guided my life ever since.
I was personally mentored by Jon Young (founder of Wilderness Awareness School and Connection 1st, and author of Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature — one of the foundational texts of the modern nature connection movement). Jon grew up down the road from Tom Brown, and was his first student. I'm currently co-authoring a book with Jon on Coyote Mentoring to transmit these principles to the next generation of guides, healers, and leaders.
I was also deeply shaped by the teachings of the late Lakota elder Gilbert Walking Bull, who modeled a deep spiritual connection with the land and what is possible when we focus with the fullness of our being upon supporting healing in this world.
Qigong & internal arts
The living body as landscape
My qigong and internal arts training runs through Lee Holden / Santa Cruz Chi Center (Five Elements Qigong, Universal Tao internal alchemy), including in-person sessions with Grandmaster Mantak Chia and Grandmaster Yang, Jwing-Ming. I trained intensively for six years at the Santa Cruz Tai Chi Natural Health Club in the Chen Pan Ling form Tai Chi, and for four years with Hawksbrother (apprentice of B.P. Chan, Tai Chi Farm) in Yang-style Tai Chi and classical qigong.
Contemplative & inner worlds
The inner currents
My contemplative and "inner worlds" training has led me to explore extended practices weaving through Raja Yoga, Hermetic Qabalah, Taoist energy meditation, and modern systems that focus on energy clearing and repatterning techniques. My emphasis is on understanding and embodying core principles which underlie the varying techniques, which gives me a larger view that ties together nondual and shamanic approaches.
The work
Depth work that weaves
threads of connection
"What is the pattern that connects the crab to the lobster and the primrose to the orchid, and all of them to me, and me to you?"
Gregory Bateson
What I offer is not just a collection of nature activities or wellness techniques. It's a coherent path — one that weaves bird language, wildlife tracking, sensory awareness, sit spot practice, qigong, inner tracking, and visionary practice into a single living inquiry.
Coyote Mentoring is an inquiry-based, transformational approach to supporting deep bonding and connection with the Earth, enlivening the senses and sparking meaningful engagement with Nature's mysteries. It is the heart of everything I teach.
Over 25 years, I've guided healers, therapists, trackers, leaders, and spiritual practitioners through this process — individually, in groups, on university campuses, and across every continent via distance mentoring. The work meets each person where they are. The path, however, goes somewhere specific.
The practices are specific. The path is coherent. And the destination is a quality of presence, purpose, and belonging that ripples outward into everything you do.
"The past three months have been the most transformative of all my life. Everything you're teaching isn't just about Nature or the Elements. You can quite literally use it in everything in life.
Madelaine C.Mentoring Participant
Credentials & training
25 years of study,
lineage, and practice
Mentoring & teaching
- Founder, Conscious Nature (2019) — providing mentoring, training, and resources for a global community of practitioners
- Lead Mentor and Instructor, Shikari Tracker Training Program (2006–2019) — in-person and distance mentoring
- Lead Mentor and Instructor, Two Coyotes Wilderness School (1999–2002)
- Co-creator, Bird Language Leaders curriculum and training program
- Hampshire College — facilitated an annual wilderness Orientation Program for incoming students (2001–2005)
- Earth living skills mentor, Deep Wilds & Vermont Wilderness School Camps (1998–2005)
- Provides Leadership Development Skills for high school students in New York's Hudson Valley
- Distance mentoring clients served on every continent
Lineage & nature connection training
- Personally mentored by Jon Young (founder, Wilderness Awareness School and Connection 1st; author, Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature)
- Student of Tom Brown Jr.'s Tracker School (since 1998)
- Student of the late Lakota elder Gilbert Walking Bull
- Co-author (in progress): Coyote Mentoring book with Jon Young
Qigong & internal arts
- Qigong Practitioner, Lee Holden / Santa Cruz Chi Center — Five Elements Qigong, Universal Tao internal alchemy
- In-person sessions with Grandmaster Mantak Chia and Grandmaster Yang, Jwing-Ming
- Six years intensive training, Santa Cruz Tai Chi Natural Health Club — Chen Pan Ling form Tai Chi
- Four years intensive training with Hawksbrother (apprentice of B.P. Chan, Tai Chi Farm) — Yang-style Tai Chi and classical qigong
Coaching & psychology
- Certified Professional Life Coach (CPC), Coach Mindset
- Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP), The Flourishing Center, New York
- Rapid Reprogramming™ Certified Provider, Thoughtwork Institute (created by Dianah Johnson)
Find me
Follow the work
Substack
Earth Mystic
Stories, meditations, and field notes on the art of coming home to the Earth — exploring visionary practice, sensory awakening, and the living conversation between inner and outer nature. Published weekly.
earthmystic.substack.comYouTube
Conscious Nature
Guided meditations, nature awareness practices, and teachings on deep nature connection, bird language, qigong, and visionary practice.
youtube.com/@consciousnaturecoach@consciousnaturecoach
Field notes, practice moments, and glimpses of the living world that shapes this work.
instagram.com/consciousnaturecoachIf you've read this far,
you already know.
If this is where you are, you're exactly who this work is for. The best next step is simply to begin.
I work with a small number of people at a time.
If the timing feels right, I'd love to hear from you.
consciousnature.net · Deep nature connection & visionary mentoring
Full bio
Josh Lane is the author of Conscious Nature: The Art and Neuroscience of Meditating in Nature (Nautilus Book Award, Gold Medal, 2020) and a nature connection mentor with 25 years of experience guiding healers, practitioners, trackers, and visionary leaders into deep relationship with the natural world. Trained in the direct lineage of Tom Brown Jr. and Jon Young (founder of Wilderness Awareness School and Connection 1st) — and currently co-authoring a book with Young on Coyote Mentoring, Lane works at the intersection of bird language, wildlife tracking, qigong, visionary practice, and inner tracking.
He holds a Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology from The Flourishing Center and is a Rapid Reprogramming™ Certified Provider. He has mentored clients on every continent and publishes weekly on Substack at earthmystic.substack.com.
One-line bio
Josh Lane is the Nautilus Award-winning author of Conscious Nature and a nature connection mentor who has spent 25 years guiding healers, leaders, and trackers into sacred relationship with the living Earth.