As we begin the new semester and academic year, many IN4RF members have experienced exciting new changes. From starting new positions at new universities, traveling across the country to new locations, we settle to catch up on all the inspiring new projects thriving in great company. Congratulations to Dr. Kent Williams for a new position teaching the Business and Sustainable Society course, at Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Also, Dr. Yasmin Abdou, assistant professor at University of Prince Edward Island, Cairo Campus, shared an experience applying the Deep Time Walk approach. Facilitated by Hellen Hettinga at SULEVIAE, Paris-France, Yasmin recalled:
An Unusual Request
It started with an unusual request.
I asked my Sustainable Business students to leave their phones in a basket and prepare to “walk through time.” They looked puzzled — a few laughed — but soon curiosity began to replace confusion. Little did they know that what began as a short campus walk would turn into one of the most grounding learning moments of the semester.
Planting the Seed
Earlier that week, I had worried whether this activity would land at all. After all, a Deep Time Walk — a reflective, storytelling-based journey through Earth’s 4.6 billion-year history — isn’t a typical exercise in a business course. But I wanted them to experience sustainability not just as a concept or a case study, but as a felt relationship with the planet.
To prepare them, I explained what the Deep Time Walk (DTW) is, showed a video of how it’s done, and asked them to come with open minds. By the time the day arrived, they were genuinely intrigued.
Stepping into Deep Time
Our session took place at the University of Prince Edward Island’s Egypt Campus (UPEI Cairo)and was designed and co-facilitated by Hellen Hettinga, a systemic coach and certified DTW facilitator who joined us online from Paris. We began in the classroom, where Hellen guided a short meditation and took the students through the first two “Earth Stations,” encouraging them to move their feet in place as they stood. Then we stepped outside.
We walked about 500 meters across campus until we found a shaded spot under the trees — our setting for the Ocean Earth Station, chosen intentionally because water scarcity is one of Egypt’s most pressing environmental challenges. As I read the script and the group engaged in the activity, the air grew quiet; even the usual background chatter of campus life seemed to fade.
Reflections from the Walk
When the walk ended, I asked the students to share how they felt. Their responses surprised me:
“We wish the walk was even longer and that we stayed out in nature.”
“I had a headache all day, but the moments we spent in the garden were magical. I felt healed for a few moments.”
“It was really nice not having our phones — it made us live in the moment more and connect to each other.”
“The activity made us reflect on the grandeur of the universe.”
Some even linked these reflections to spiritual ideas, realizing that sustainability is not just about systems, but about values.
A Taster of Deep Time
This session was only a taster of a full Deep Time Walk, which normally spans 4.6 kilometers — with each meter representing one million years of Earth’s history. Over the course of 18 “Earth Stations,” participants experience the planet’s 4.6 billion-year evolution through embodied storytelling and reflective and playful activities. Originally developed by Dr. Stephan Harding and Sergio Maraschin at Schumacher College, a Deep Time Walk is about creating conditions for a transformative deep experience and deep questioning. It invites learners to step into deep time and to experience our entanglement with all life through an immersive head-heart-body approach,rather than a purely cognitive understanding of the impact of humanity’s presence on Earth.
Regenerative Learning in Practice
By experiencing even a fraction of that journey, students began to see sustainability differently. A Deep Time Walk is more than an educational exercise; it’s a regenerative learning practice. It restores our sense of connection, slows our pace, and allows learning to emerge from reflection rather than rush. It reminds us that teaching sustainability isn’t about adding more content — it’s about creating the conditions for students to feel the interdependence that defines life on this planet.
From Conference Connection to Classroom Collaboration
Hellen and I first met at the IBE ReGloMi conference, where the theme — and the energy — centered on collaboration. That spirit of co-creation inspired us to bring a Deep Time Walk experience into my Sustainable Business course. What began as an idea exchanged at the conference has now grown into a small but promising seedling: an innovative learning experiment within the course.
Learnings from the Experience
What worked particularly well was asking students to leave their phones behind, which helped them stay focused and connect more deeply with one another, the environment, and themselves. The guided meditation set the tone beautifully, allowing them to slow down and become present. They loved going outside, walking, and later sitting on the grass for the activity. The reflective sharing that followed — as they discussed how the experience made them feel — was one of the most meaningful parts of the session.
What We Would Do Differently
Next time, we’ll allow for more time outdoors, since that was the students’ favorite part. We may also include a partially translated script. While the students are bilingual, they sometimes connect more deeply when able to relate meanings to religious or cultural ideas expressed in Arabic. Incorporating both languages could help bridge these worlds more intentionally.
An Invitation to Educators
Based on the students’ feedback, I’ll definitely be repeating it. But perhaps the real success was not in how smoothly the session went, but in how it made us pause — long enough to remember that sustainable business begins not with profit margins, but with humility before the planet that makes all enterprise possible.
If you’re an educator looking to bring this kind of embodied, reflective learning into your own teaching, I encourage you to visit the Deep Time Walk website DTW Education Training Pathway
to explore their training and facilitator certification programs. It’s an inspiring resource for anyone seeking to cultivate deeper ecological awareness — in students and in themselves.
Thank you Jasmin, for sharing your story and for inspiring us all at our last check-in session. Also, thank you everyone in the IN4RF team who have continued to support our efforts to create opportunities for students and teachers to pursue innovative approaches to regenerative thinking pedagogies. We are in the planning stages to continue student exchange possibilities and provide events and experiences like the Deep Time Walk Yasmin has shared with us, so get in touch if you would like to join.
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