Life & Work with KT Cryer

Today we’d like to introduce you to KT Cryer.

Hi KT, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Early in life, my soul was calling me to become a singer-songwriter. I practiced my vocal exercises and guitar chords every day for 8 years straight. I wrote my first album, recorded my first single (on Spotify), and performed numerous shows while traveling the world to discover that… I get totally drained from the spotlight. I watched as my fellow artist friends performed as if another energy took over their bodies, filling them with utter bliss, and I thought to myself… I am definitely in the wrong field.

Absolutely terrified at first, I let go of all I had worked so hard for and dove deep into the unknown. I learned to trust that I live in an unconditionally loving universe guiding me toward my true calling. I continued to follow my heart which led me to travel the world for three years! Ah, I discovered I was an explorer and an adventurer and also a pretty dang good life coach (for myself at the time). I was drawn to the most beautiful and remote parts of the tropics where I found a profound connection with nature. I spent countless hours meditating, doing breath work, and yoga underneath cascading waterfalls, on the rim of lava-spewing volcanoes, and wading in warm aquamarine oceans. I swam in geothermal lakes, dove through Avatar-esque bioluminescent waters, surfed the most beautiful waves on the planet, and I even accomplished my childhood dream of living with a tribe deep in the jungle.

I was home, in the natural world, and fell deeply in love.

At last, I found what makes me feel how my friends felt on stage – absolutely alive and connected to something greater than myself. While discovering these precious natural wonders, the veil was also being lifted from my eyes as I saw how far the shadow of industrial growth society reached. This illuminated that my purpose was to share my love for the more than human world and to help raise the consciousness of humankind. On a lucky Google search, I discovered an incredible emerging field called “Transpersonal Ecopsychology” and spent the next two years earning this Master’s degree. Transpersonal Ecopsychology is the study of humanity’s optimum potential, how to develop it, and how our intrinsic interconnection with the Earth is a part of that. As a life coach and retreat leader, I guide others toward reconnecting with their authentic selves, each other, and the natural world. These experiences have inspired me to now launch Back to Nature retreats, one on one coaching, and half-day immersive sessions to help others explore their own true nature.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’d like to answer this question from what I have discovered are our greatest collective challenges and lessons I’ve learned while traveling the world and seeing a first hand account of the environmental catastrophe humans have created on the planet. These challenges remain all too easy to disregard when one lives in urban society and does not witness the real life effects of this society on the natural world. The greatest challenge of our times lies in developed nations transcending our Western worldview that is tragically flawed in viewing nature as an inert mechanical thing to be exploited for our benefit. This has led us to where we are now which is in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, ocean acidification, plastic pollution crises, desertification, and global climate change. We as a species have a limited amount of time to achieve net-zero emissions before irreversible damage is done to our life support system, planet Earth. We all know these doomsday facts thanks to environmentalists who’ve been ringing the alarm for decades now, however not much is changing. Why is that? This is the greatest lesson I have learned. I believe that doomsday facts do not catalyze a revolution of human systems so necessary for our survival as a species because without an actual connection and intimate relationship with the natural world and without being in it long enough to discover one’s interconnection with it from an experiential place, we are not moved to protect it. Because we do not see nature as a part of ourselves and we do not enjoy its wonders enough to see and feel the intrinsic value nature holds our “impending doom” is but a theoretical concept, not an actual reality we experience in our day to day modern lives.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I create Back to Nature retreats for CEOs of companies and their teams that have pledged Net-Zero and help them achieve a level of consciousness that can innovate the solutions needed in order to meet this urgent and vital goal. A shift in identity will be required. Through providing a series of transpersonal experiences in a remote location in nature over a significant period of time my goal is to provide the conditions for a shift to occur from a Western individualistic identity to an ecological interconnected identity. I believe that it is this shift in consciousness that is the gateway to a new paradigm where systems of harmony can exist between humans and the natural world. This experience will open up the new perspectives needed in order to create or innovate systems of harmony between humans and nature that will move us in the direction of a carbon-neutral world.

In addition to these retreats curated solely for Net-Zero pledged companies, I offer:

Back to Nature retreats and experiences open to the public:

I provide curated nature immersion experiences to help you unplug from your fast-paced technological life and plug into nature’s rhythms to rejuvenate, connect in person with others, and revive your mind, body, and soul. I guide unique combinations of adventure activities in nature, mindfulness meditation, breath-work, journal prompts, council circles, and eco-talks that will help expand your consciousness and uplift your being.

One-on-One Coaching:

I provide you with a new framework, language, and skill for navigating your way to your optimum life. You will understand what brings you true happiness and be empowered with tools to create the life you have always wanted. My background in Transpersonal Ecopsychology combined with my training in mindfulness meditation, the law of attraction, council practice, and somatic experiencing help you to become aware of where you are and where you want to be, dissolving all the blocks standing in your way. We will work together to rewrite the script of your life, retrain your mind and habits, and carve a path toward your highest-self.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Go to the places the people you want to meet hang out whether thats in the real world or online and start forming relationships. Take initiative and introduce yourself, ask genuine questions, and come from your WHY which means come from a place that is connected to why you care so much about doing what you do not from a place of needing to get ahead.

Contact Info:

• Website:www.ktcryer.com/@catalinaislandretreat
• Instagram: @ktcryer
• Others: https://www.meetup.com/back-to-nature-retreats-coaching/