A small group of people arrives at my studio in Rome carrying different things: a background in therapy, art, or education, or ecology. A longing they can’t quite name. A sense that something important is missing from their practice or their life – and a hunch that the Earth might have something to do with filling it.

The EarthPainting Facilitators Training Level 1 is an immersive three-day residential program in Rome, preceded and followed by online integration circles. It is designed for those who want to bring EarthPainting into their own work – as therapists, educators, artists, facilitators, community leaders, teachers, events leaders – and who want to understand the practice from the inside out.

No prior art training is required. What is required is the willingness to show up fully in relationship with nature.

What the training includes

Over three days in the studio, participants move through the full spectrum of the practice: the philosophy and methodology of EarthPainting as EcoArt, hands-on preparation of natural pigments and tools, facilitation techniques for indoor and outdoor circles, guidance on adapting the practice for different audiences – children, elders, people with disabilities, corporate groups, therapeutic contexts. Sacred ceremonies, intergenerational circles, land art, natural mandalas, ritual offerings.

A voice from the training

Among the voices that have come out of those training, one stands out for its depth and its beauty. Federica, a participant from Rome, wrote the following after completing the program. Her words are, in themselves, a description of what EarthPainting is:

“EarthPainting is learning to observe. To let yourself be held and rocked by beauty. To breathe at the rhythm of the Earth’s heartbeat. To listen with all your senses. To notice the magical perfection of nature.

It is gratitude for being an active part of the wonderful natural creation. It is slow attention. It is allowing yourself to feel everything – love, grief, connection, support, care – and to find, underneath it all, a deep sense of peace.

It is knowing and feeling that you are not alone. That you are always guided, if you wish, by a great Teacher who makes you a Master of yourself.

EarthPainting is learning to share. Learning to love diversity and uniqueness. To walk again on a soil that is alive, breathing, nourishing you with every step. To touch the Earth as a transformative experience. The simple touch becomes care. And it heals.

When you realize that every day, every instant, you receive everything that exists from the Earth, from Nature, from the cosmos – your heart feels filled with love. The same Love that nourishes you every day. And offering it back, returning it to the Earth, becomes simply natural. It couldn’t be any other way.

When you begin to feel that everything is Life – that Life is everywhere – you can no longer go back.

You don’t want to go back. A metamorphosis occurs.

EarthPainting is the essential magic of life.”

— Federica, participant, Rome

Not everyone arrives at EarthPainting through softness. Sometimes the practice meets you exactly where the resistance is. The training does not promise comfort. It promises truth. Domenico, a visual artist from Naples, found both:

“These days were precious – they held up a mirror to me. Not the vain part, but the deep one.

Through the practices, I had to accept – with anger and liberation – what I am and what I carry inside.

I remember the moment I looked at the palette of colors at the end of the training and finally recognized myself. Without fear. Without shyness. But with strength.

Through Nature I am. And this training allowed me to open my eyes.”

— Domenico, Visual artist, Ilustrator and Educator, participant, Rome

Who the training is for

Therapists and counselors looking for new somatic, embodied tools. Educators who want to bring ecology alive in classrooms and outdoor spaces. Artists seeking to deepen their relationship with natural materials and co-creative processes. Facilitators, teachers, ecologists and community leaders who want to guide others into meaningful connection with the land. Retreat organizers who want to offer something genuinely transformative. Anyone who has practiced EarthPainting and felt called to share it.

The training is held annually in Rome. International participants are welcome.

To learn about the next EarthPainting Facilitators Training → mariannecordier.studio@gmail.com