Meet Chris Morasky | Co-director and Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Morasky and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I have a unique approach to what I teach and a lifetime of study. I’m an anomaly everywhere, but especially in Los Angeles. My programs are mentorships in ancient skills and deep nature connection, and that’s a doorway to better understand who you are, the path to your best life, and how that also benefits nature and your community.

I’m a wildlife biologist who has lived Stone Age, homesteaded along the most remote mail route in the lower 48 states, lived in a tipi for 6 years, and had the benefit of many teachers of ancient skills. I’ve been teaching now for 39 years and I’ve reached thousands of students.

There are a lot of nature programs, but there are no mentoring programs here with an instructor with my background.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Because my work is mentoring, it draws on my life experiences. I’ve spent countless hours refining lost skills like hide tanning, bow making, basketry, foraging, Stone Age hunting and even dugout canoe building. I’ve made fishing line with my hair and caught trout. I built 2 earthlodges in the style of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes and the biggest was thirty-six feet in diameter. I had nearly 100 people in there drumming, singing and dancing one evening.

But my journey has not been easy. Learning ancient skills has often been slow, lacking information, humbling, and sometimes life threatening. I ruined the first 4 deer hides that I tried to tan. I was so lacking in food during one high elevation Stone Age trip in Oregon that if I walked 100 yards, I had to rest halfway. On that trip I was burning through 7,000-10,000 calories per day and I couldn’t forage enough food to keep up with that. Another time, I nearly died during a snowstorm in Idaho when I couldn’t start a fire-by-friction using the local materials.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles is remarkable in that we explore the ocean and mountains in a single day. Some of my favorite activities involve diving at night for spiny lobster. In the black water, I use a flashlight to illuminate a small area as I search, but everything outside that circle of light is completely unknown. It’s an opportunity to lean into the edge of fear, while also experiencing awe and humility.

Another magical experience is hiking into the Angeles National Forest before dawn to watch the sun rise over our city. It’s a beautiful way to get perspective. Looking down over 12 million people, my perch 1,000 feet or more above will undoubtably be solitary or just me and a friend. Surrounding ourselves with the scents of black sage and coastal sagebrush and being serenaded by bird song while watching the city wake up stretches our humanness. We ponder all of the myriad ways to experience this life, all of the nearly forgotten lessons of past harmonious cultures, and all of the possibilities of the future.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout to mom, who assures me that all of her gray hair came from my shenanigans. I grew up catching all sorts of snakes , turtles, frogs, fish, bugs and even raccoons. Most of them eventually got loose in the house.

Website: www.wisdomkeepers.us

Instagram: chris_morasky and wisdomkeepers.us

Facebook: Chris Morasky and Wisdom Keepers School