Interview with Mario Garcés: training and learning in the middle of nature

Mario Garcés creates training courses that take place in natural settings in the Benasque Valley.

When we talk about training, we often assume that everything is limited to transmitting knowledge through words. This conception of learning, however, leaves out many of the elements that come into play when it comes to internalizing meaningful lessons; the context and the way in which we interact with the environment as we learn matter as much or more than what teachers say.

This is something that coach and trainer Mario Garcés knows well.who regularly leaves the landscapes of the Meseta (he lives in Majadahonda) to accompany his clients to the natural landscapes of the Benasque Valley to conduct outdoor training programs in the Heart of the Pyrenees.

These personal development courses focus on improving fundamental psychological skills, such as regulating emotions and understanding complex situations, and take advantage of the unique environment of the Aragonese Pyrenees to achieve truly meaningful learning. To learn more about this initiative, we interviewed Mario Garcés.

Mario Garcés' proposal: training in the middle of nature

In these lines we talked to Mario Garcés to find out more about the way he conceives training and personal development programs in natural environments.

This trainer, who has dedicated himself to research in the field of affective neuroscience, emphasizes the need to understand the importance of emotions and their link with nature.

Why did you decide to start using natural spaces for courses and personal development activities?

Throughout our history as a species, we have grown and developed in direct and permanent contact with nature. This relationship has shaped us as we are, with our abilities and skills, both physical and psychological.

But, at a given moment, human beings separated ourselves from nature and turned it into something external and distinct from us, something to be controlled and subdued, something that could be exploited.

We are already seeing the consequences of this break with our origins in the form of climate change, plastic pollution, but also in the form of loneliness, stress, depression and substance abuse of all kinds.

So, when what we want is to learn to recover the balance with ourselves, as a prerequisite to recover it as a society, a good first step is the return to the origin, to nature.

What are the activities you design for these events based on? What is different about them?

Nature offers us many opportunities to generate and explore vital metaphors, very useful to understand the concepts I intend to convey.

These metaphors are at the heart of all the simple activities we do in nature during the training. They allow participants to connect with basic but very deep ideas and to ask questions about themselves and their relationship with their living environment.

You are probably used to working with a wide variety of people, but in general... what is the profile of those who seek to take these courses? What are their objectives?

The people who come to my courses in nature are usually people between 30 and 55 years old who are looking for something more than recipes. They want to understand, and many times address autonomously, intense life situations or fundamental questions that allow them to grow and develop as more "awakened" and happier people.

What they value most is the fact that I speak to them from my own personal experience, which is very broad and intense, something that makes up my personal brand. Many participants also appreciate my extensive research experience which, combined with a rich life experience, gives them a very enriching and rare double vision in this type of courses.

And related to the previous question, in what way do natural spaces facilitate reaching these personal development goals?

Let's take the mountain as an example. When you go into the mountains all your senses are sharpened, the spaces open up, you breathe better, you see the sun, the sky, the forest, you get your body going, you eliminate toxins.

All the problems are left behind, down there in the city or town where you live. The effort becomes a personal challenge; you fight against your own limitations.

There, no one but you can be responsible for moving forward or stopping. That forces you to take responsibility for your own decisions and leads you to learn how to make better decisions or how to take responsibility for the ones you have already made.

But it also helps you to find your own rhythm, different from that of others whom we often try to imitate, while you feel that everything in that environment, all that nature surrounds you and accompanies you in this work of self-discovery.

You are currently doing these courses in the Benasque Valley, in the Aragonese Pyrenees. Why there, precisely?

The Benasque Valley has been my home for almost 15 years. It is a glacial valley carved between the two largest massifs of the Pyrenees, and it is difficult to access, which makes it a natural oasis, the "Hidden Valley".

Moreover, I know it very well, which allows me to customize the activities in a dynamic way, according to the different characteristics of the different groups. This knowledge makes it easier for me to generate those metaphors that we are looking for as a fundamental part of the training.

What other element makes your courses different?

The main element is that my goal as a trainer is to make people more capable and independent in dealing with their own lives. As an example, part of the training is aimed at teaching participants the fundamental knowledge to be able to do simple activities in nature on their own.

Thus, I teach them to measure times, to recognize a trail, to interpret clouds or to measure effort. My goal is not that they come to a course every time they want to grow, but that they feel able to incorporate nature as their own personal development tool, making their own what I have initially taught them. This is also true for the more mental techniques, thus gaining autonomy at all levels.