This is a Q & A for the premiere of the show LEGEND OF MICK DODGE in NAT GEO. In the following lines, a suposed Mick Dodge answer a few questions of his fans an curious ones. source
www.reddit.com.
My name is Mick Dodge. 25 years ago
I began to step out of shoes and follow my feet and allow the earth to teach
and lead me towards the middle path, middle earth. Ask Me anything (self.IAmA)
My short bio: Yoish! Thank
you for all your questions, but i am tired of landing my fingers on this
computer and and looking at this screen and need a long run in the mountains.
If you have more questions: Follow your feet and the earth will teach.Yoish! I
am Mick Dodge- barefoot sensei. For my entire life I have been stepping in and
out of the wild and the tame. I now live in the Olympic mountains. When in the
wild I sleep in tree stumps and live with the land. *My Proof:https://twitter.com/NatGeoChannel/status/420639642916892672
My Life in the Hoh Rainforest is featured in a new series" The Legend
of Mick Dodge", which premiers tonight on the National Geographic Channel.
[–]cadenhead The description for one of the episodes says that you became so desperate
for a decent meal that you looked through elk feces hoping to find larvae eggs.
How did they taste, and what are some of the more unusual things you've had to
eat in the forest?Final del
formula
Yoish! No i was not going to eat elk shit. I was trying to get the camera
crew to eat it.
You're off the grid - How did they find you?
Yoish! Jenny and Michele of interchange media found me on Whidbey Island
living in a tent sharing the earth gym practices, and then two years ago i
returned to the Hoh River Valley my teacher and set up a earth gym for people
to come and train. It was the band of women at the Olympic Mountains Earth Wisdom
Circle that set up all the modern support to connect me in.
What does
Yoish! mean?
Yoish! Yoish, is a word that my sensei taught me in Okinawa. It can mean
many things. It helps me focus. If i am going to pick up a heavy stone and lift
it. I use the word "yoish" to focus my attention and effort. then
when i am in the game of life and need to get a grip on the moment. I can say
"YOISH"deep inside me and ground with the moment.
If someone had to live in the wild for 2 weeks but could only bring 3
survival items, what 3 items would you recommend?
Yoish! Knowledge, Skills and desire. They are the three pillars of
training.
I just moved to Colorado to find work and move my mate and my 3 kids here.
It's pretty wild here in the foothills of the rockies. My transmission broke today. Could
you elaborate?
What is your favorite thing about living in the woods?
Yoish! Discovering the ways to use physical training to nurture our nature
and release the rapture, landing the muscles minding into the heart of matter
and earth is matter
Does it get scary sleeping alone at night and have you ever been woken up
by some animal visitors?
Yoish! The most scary animal are two legged creatures.
i always
hated penguins
How do you
internet?
Yoish! I walk my way to my base camp. Turn on the computer and do you what
you do. Though we are having a hell of a time trying to figure out how to do
this now.
What do you usually eat out there?? Bugs??
Yoish! I eat food, some times insects, some times pizza. I run three
terrains in the earth gum and have explored how to eat in all these terrains.
How long did it take your feet to get used to going barefoot? I walked home
a few days ago with no shoes on and they were sore for days after.
Yoish! It has taken sixty two years. I am still following them. I just
follow them and find my own rhythm, endurance, strength and balance in landing
the earth.
Do you miss human companionship?
Yoish! Not at all i have lots of companionship.
How about a significant other? Does that person live with you and travel
with you?
I see your ads on TV all the time! How did National Geographic find and
approach you? By the way,
your beard is awesome. :)
You gave up on modern live. Did you also step away from women/sex or have
there been "encounters"?
Yoish! I having been stepping "in and out" of modern living and
the wild for sixty two years, all of us have. It is a rhythm "in and
out" and "out and in". The key word is the word "and",
which tracks and sounds into the word "land". So i land my soles in
the three terrains, the walls of the city, through the open fenced lands up
into the gated wild and back again, seeking middle earth.
Have you seen or heard a Bigfoot?
Yoish! Absolutely, i have seen big foot. Though we call him big toe and he
lives over in the seattle and comes out once and awhile.
Do you really brush your teeth with a pinecone? I just have to know.
Yoish! When i am out on long training quest, absolutely. When i get back
down to my stashes around the walls of the city. I have a tooth brush there. I
often use cedar sticks also.
What's the worst you've had to endure in the wild?
Yoish! Endurance is one of those physical qualities that have been my
training goal. How to endure long journeys. How to endure the cold. In the city
walls the most challenging thing for me to endure is the "boredom".
The mountain taught me that boredom is two words. "Boring and Dum".
So run through the boredom, dodge it and step into the organic organizing
reality of movement in the moment.
I have two questions for you.
- In a recent interview I read that you used to
teach the practices of the Earth Gym. What is the Earth Gym?
- In that same interview you were asked about what
you do when you're sick. You said that you have developed a close
relationship with fire to use in healing. What are some of the ways that
you use fire to heal yourself?
Yoish! I have been exploring physical fitness all my life. The earthgym for
me consist of three terrains, the modern city world, the open fenced lands and
the gated wild. So i run these three terrains learning how to create a training
hall in each of these three terrains. Movement and habits are formed in
habitat. So it has been my "sole purpose" to use physical training to
remember, recover and restore my soles to running life with rapture.
In that same interview you were asked about what you do when you're sick.
You said that you have developed a close relationship with fire to use in
healing. What are some of the ways that you use fire to heal yourself?
Yoish! One of the ways i use fire is sweats. Another way is to dance with
the fire. I often find that when i get a bit weak, run down. That a good dance
with the spirit of fire, pulls me back into the "rapture".
How long did it take you to grow that beard?
twenty
generations
Have you ever missed the "modern" world? Where do you expect to
be in 5 years?
I am always missing it, dodging it. After all i am a Dodge.
What do you enjoy most about your lifestyle?
Have you ever come close to dying (of hunger, wild animals, weather, etc.)
and if so what were the circumstances?
Yoish! One of the things that the earth has taught me about hunger, is to
run, go on foot and just keep moving, the hunger pains take a back seat. It was
amazing how long that i could go on foot and not eat the way that i had learned
in domestication.
Hi, Mick. I'm a weekend adventurer that spends a lot of time in the city
for work. What advice can you offer to someone looking to build practical
outdoor survival skills without being totally immersed in the lifestyle?
Also, what is your favorite hobby?
Thanks for
the AMA.
Yoish! Follow your bare soles. The first thing that happens when you step
out of shoes, or the shoe box is you have to "pay attention". Then
comes "acceptance", learning to accept the habitat and the habits
that you have. These two steps, attention and acceptance form into a stride of
awareness, and the first thing that you need to be aware of is "shoe
salesman" and you are your own best show salesman.
What tools do you use in your day to day woodland tasks and which is the
most useful?
Yoish! I use sticks to leverage my bones and pull me out of chronic
conditions formed from domestication. I use ropes to hang in trees and hang the
sad and mad in life. When you hang up side down gravity will pull the grin
back. My grandfather taught me that. I also use stones to grip and ground into
the embrace of the the earth, and i use sacks, to sack and stuff the knowledge
and skills that i learn in the gated wild, learn in the walls of modern living
and learn in the open fenced lands.
surely you are observing everything around you every day ... what changes
have you seen in the forest ?
Yoish! Not far from my base camp are some "stump lands", cut
down, maybe ten years ago to feed the desire of the modern world. I train in
these stumps lands, learn how to grow and heal with them, find the ways to help
them grow back. I go into the old growth forest to get a feel what they can
become again.
what a positive and beautiful answer - lesson learned !
Hey there Mick Dodge!
Has there ever been a point in your life that you've regretted being a
barefoot sensei?
Yoish! The word "sensei" is a japanese word, my sensei in okinawa
taught me that it means "one foot ahead". We are all sensei in
something. We all have things to share. The word share tracks into the word
"care", and when you care about something in your life, gathering the
knowledge and skills that you stick in your sack, or your cup, and then
"share" it. Knowing when to share and when to empty your sack or cup
and learn from others is the meaning of "sensei" to me.
I'll be following The Legend of Mick Dodge. I'm really interested.
Thank you for replying! :)
What made you want to live in the wild and is there anything you really
miss while you are there?
Yoish!
Freedom
What would you say has been your most meaningful experience in your life?
Yoish! I have them every day how to fit my bare soles into the gated wild
and how to fit them into the modern world and finding the balance the middle
path and have a good time while doing it.
The beard, how big is it and how long did it take to grow?
Yoish! It is as big as it is and has taken many generations.
I just made a post regarding my intention to do something similar to you,
and was shown this - uncanny. What would be your most important piece of advice
to an aspiring adventurer?
Yoish! Stand in your bare soles, take two fingers place them at the corner
of your mouth, push your mouth up into a grin, and then get on with it. You
have a primal body memory in you, all of us do, go on the adventure and release
it. Then share
with others what you discover.
Life without sneakers is a life I do not want to live
Yoish! I know what you mean. I often wear socks, mocks, hand crafted foot
wear that fits the shape of my feet. But the sneakiest way to get around is the
bare soles.
You are
adorable.
