Testimonials

If you have ever lusted after some unknown, toiled over where you are at in your life, looked at the world sideways and still not understood it, then the Animas Valley Institute may provide you some avenues through which to look at it all. I cried when I read Soulcraft because I felt that finally there was some place and some people who understood my life’s struggles. Prodded by my reading to investigate further I took a Vision Fast with AVI. The experience was beautiful and harsh and mysterious and through the rollercoaster of thought, visceral experience, and emotion of it all I felt an incredible support from the guides, the nutritious food, the amazing landscape. I am still lusting after unknowns, toiling over where I am at in my life, and looking at the world sideways but my perspective has broadened, my toolkit has grown, and I feel deep gratitude to the wise, thoughtful, and passionate teachings that AVI has opened to me. If you are serious about engaging the wild, passionate, and soulful self Animas Valley programs will responsibly, deeply, and skillfully help you light that powderkeg!

– DJ, Yearlong Participant

How do I describe an experience that has been one of the most profound awakenings of my life? I came away from the Underworld Journey Vision Fast aware of the extraordinary array of possibilities that exist for me to live my life more fully in connection and service to others and the universe at large. I had moments that ranged from ecstasy to despair, weeping and wailing to joyful tears and incredible curiousity. I felt yearnings so deep the roots of them appearing to come from a place beyond knowing. This Vision Fast is not for the faint of heart – it is for those who want to delve into the depths of their being not knowing the outcome, willing to travel into the dark nights and find the beauty there.

– SM, Underworld Journey participant

After years of spiritual practice, which has helped awaken my expansive experience of Spirit, the Soulcraft practices I learned from the gifted guides and community, and embodied during the Soulcraft Intensive, have added a complimentary deepening of my sense of Self through encountering Soul in all its mystery. What greater gift is there?

– Anonymous

Working with soul on the land and with such experienced guides is about as real as a spiritual journey can get. This has been a profound that has begun, I have no doubt, a life- shifting and perhaps shattering chain of internal and external events. With gratitude I recommend Animas.

– Anonymous

This program was one of the most shifting depth experiences I’ve participated in. I am deeply grateful for the Guides and the space created. A wonderful work of artistry that impacted my life greatly.

– Anonymous

The program came actually in the perfect moment, absolute synchronicity. It was extremely insightful to dive even deeper into this dark and foggy state I’ve voluntarily been in since some time. Deepening my relationship with my subtle perception, dream work, wanderings and nature have created new threads that in a way are whispering which step to take next. I’m extremely grateful for having had the chance of taking this program.

– Anonymous

Courting the Muse-Beloved was an incredibly rich and delightfully juicy program for me! The guides were deeply present to each person’s process, and created a space of trust, acceptance and openness which allowed me to fully embody my experience and safely share with the group. I met my muse in the most unexpected and truly remarkable way, and have continued to embrace and tend this lovely creature in my soul wanderings. I appreciated the wide range of ages and backgrounds of the other participants, all of whom brought themselves fully to the program and helped shape the wild community we created together on the land for a time. Animas programs have been an extremely valuable investment — the work has transformed my life. I’m so grateful to Bill Plotkin for his genius in writing the books that enlighten my soul.

– Anonymous

The Soulcraft Intensive Online cracked open my relationship with the natural world and reintroduced me to my true self, my soul seeds. It helped me identify when sub-personalities are at play and approach them from a place of wholeness. I felt safe and supported along the way, and so closely connected with every member of the group, despite being online. The guides did a wonderful job at speaking to their own experience and affirming what the journey can look like, and offered invitations that helped me deepen into my truths and longings. I felt a huge shift in my sense of trust in the greater unfolding of things and left the course feeling calm and excited to step onto the vast plain in front of me, no longer only terrified. I’m so grateful for the container that was created to safely explore from, for the practices I will continue using, and the community I will stay in touch with.

– Anonymous

My Vision Fast provided an undeniable, life altering and life affirming, delicious shift in perspective. Soulcraft insights and the experiential sense of belonging to and being of this beautiful Mama Gaia world have been influencing how I spend my time on almost a daily basis since (over 1.5yrs ago now)! There is so much transformation, beauty, hope, love and play on this path. The Animas programs and guides are inspired and create a sacred space where alchemy of all wild and magical sorts transpire! I wish that everyone could go on an Animas Quest, that it was one of our collective rituals, the world would be a more joyful, peaceful and soul-full place!

-Pakhi Chaudhuri, Pediatrician, Durango, Colorado

Our two quest guides were brilliant – expert and deeply trustworthy. Now, six months hence, the quest experience abides. It continues to deepen my sense of calling, driving a rich stream of moments of clear insight along with provocative new questions, and a deep well of courage and resolve to live into my soul’s true purpose. I fully expect this will continue. For all of this I am grateful.

-Steve Kennedy, MSW, Writer and Retired Educator, Colorado

The Soulcraft seminar with Bill Plotkin is some of the deepest and most profound work I have ever experienced. I am still in awe of the results that can be achieved when you enlist the collective unconscious and Mother Nature to guide you to your core. Bill and his crew are the ultimate facilitators for this process.

-Anita Sholiton, Marketing Director, Anchor Point Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah

My experience with Animas was profound. I left my quest feeling deeply connected with the Earth and with my own heart, soul, and sense of purpose. It was one of the most significant turning points in my life, my second birth.

-Patti Rieser, Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Durham, North Carolina

The great wisdom and nurturing from my quest guides and fellow questers helped me lay effective plans for the shape of my new life. I am still awed by the guides’ great power and gentleness.

-Leonie FitzGerald, ecologist, Edinburgh, Scotland

My Animas Quest and subsequent Soulcraft experiences, so skillfully and lovingly crafted by Bill and co-guides, transformed my life. Each time, I have returned to my home and work with a deeper sense of gratitude for both, and an openness to experiencing life more wholeheartedly than I thought possible.

-Joe Woolley, Director, Biomedical Division, Glaxo SmithKline, Durham, North Carolina

It was hard to tell exactly when dawn came. I looked up and saw a crack in the clouds and the light pouring through. My heart cracked open. The earth, the sky, the rain, the silvery light, the trees, the great mystery in my heart and in everything they all said, “Love is all that matters, and you are here to welcome the dawn.”

-Liz Maxwell, Episcopal Minister, New York, New York