We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shannon Jarvis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shannon, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful work I’ve done isn’t one project, it’s how I move across everything I’m part of. My work doesn’t separate people, land, or wildlife-Care is continuous.
For the past two years I’ve volunteered weekly with WildCare Oklahoma logging over 300 hours in direct care. It’s quiet precise work tending injured and orphaned animals-stabilizing what’s in front of me without overreaching. It requires presence and restraint. You don’t impose, You support what the system is already trying to do.
That same orientation is built into my work. Through Whispers of the Cispus the land is not a backdrop, it’s a collaborator. A portion of that work gives back supporting stewardship and creating access for children who otherwise would not be able to attend outdoor education at the Cispus. It’s not an add on It’s part of the design.
This is what makes it meaningful. I don’t take from the field without giving back to it. Whether I’m holding a group in the forest or tending an injured animal, the approach is the same-stabilize, support, and leave the system better than I found it
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a field regulator. I work through sound, presence, and environment to stabilize the systems people are operating inside. When the field stabilizes people regulate naturally, clarity returns, and what’s true becomes visible.
I didn’t come into this through training, I was formed by it. Early responsibility forced internal authority. Land shaped my baseline. Threshold environments like the salt mine and my home forest confirmed the work.
I don’t perform transformation.
I hold conditions where it happens.
My work is structured across a clear ecosystem. Entry happens through immersive experiences like Seeds of Light 650 feet underground, and Whispers of the Cispus in the forest. From there, I work more directly with facilitators and leaders who hold others through smaller containers and private advisory. The focus is always the same-increase capacity, refine precision, and stabilize the field they are responsible for.
I don’t solve problems in the way most people expect. I don’t add more tools or information. I reduce noise. I stabilize the environment so people can actually use what they already have. This is where most work breaks down. Too much input not enough coherence.
What sets me apart is restraint and discernment. I don’t use client experiences as content. I don’t name show or imply who I work with. This work is held with discretion. Because of that, the people I work with can actually be seen without being exposed.
What I’m most proud of is the integrity of the work. It holds whether it’s one person or a group. It holds in a forest or 650 feet underground. It holds without performance.
What I want people to know is simple. Change the field and everything responds. I don’t ask people to become something else. I create conditions where they can recognize what is already there and lead from it without force.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
One moment that illustrates my resilience happened the first time I went 650 feet underground into the salt mine.
I am claustrophobic.
Everything in my body said no.
I went anyway.
There was a moment down there where the fear didn’t disappear but it stopped leading. The space opened. My system adjusted. I could feel the environment instead of reacting to it.
I remember thinking I would bring my crystal singing bowls down there one day. Not an idea but a KNOWING.
Years later that became Seeds of Light.
Resilience for me has never been about pushing through or forcing outcomes. It’s about staying present inside environments that would normally shut people down and allowing something else to reorganize.
That pattern has repeated across my life. I’ve been placed in situations that required me to find stability without external support.
Early responsibility forced that.
The land reinforced it.
The work is the result of it.
Now I hold those same kinds of environments for others. Not by removing the pressure but by stabilizing the field so they can meet it without shutting down.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Yes. My work is driven by a single directive-stabilize the field so people can function in what’s true.
Most people try to fix themselves or others by adding more tools, more information, more effort.
That creates noise.
I’m interested in what happens when the environment itself is coherent.
When the field stabilizes people regulate naturally.
They stop performing.
They stop forcing.
They become precise.
That same orientation drives how I give back. I don’t separate my work from philanthropy. I volunteer weekly with WildCare Oklahoma in direct care stabilizing injured and orphaned wildlife. It’s the same work in a different form-support what is already trying to recover without overreaching.
Through Whispers of the Cispus a portion of what I create is directed toward land stewardship and funding access for children to attend the Cispus Learning Center who otherwise would not have that opportunity.
These environments matter.
Early relationship with land changes how people regulate and how they lead.
It’s not separate from the work.
It’s part of the field I’m holding.
The directive stays the same-change the field and everything responds.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://silverapple.pneumacollective.com/whispers-of-the-cispus/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn_1nxkSNQspQlcQf1-OGgw3cEM39lYgKb6ulCQTs58omrgV3a99UDqCB00So_aem_CKVGlsndhLWTElwOOoimXg
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uyulala_1111/
Image Credits
Stefan Glazer, SNG Photography