The hikers WAy
a pod-class for creative reclamation
find your art spark through guided episodes on-trail and at home.
entirely self-paced with live support.
this class is the
trail map
to uncover the rhythm
of your creative practice
Find your art’s unique beat at your own pace through 14 podcast-episode audio recordings, journaling prompts, and relevant resources in three secret websites. You will (re)build your practice, investigate your blocks, and transform what you discover out in nature to persistently bloom in your creativity.
what’s inside?
The Hikers Way is $120 $99 and includes:
14 podcast episodes (5-20 mins each) you can download to listen anywhere
Secure portals for each section with examples, summaries, and journaling prompts.
2 guided meditations to support difficult topics
2 live class recordings to go deeper
Human support, adaptation suggestions, and questions answered on Discord
A PDF worksheet to help you adapt the practices to a schedule that works for you.
"Mel is a fantastic guide to help handle the ups and downs of creativity. I definitely felt a lot of shame about my creativity struggles when I found them. It was very validating and healing to share my pain with another artist who understands. The emotional safety I received from them really helped me release the heaviness I felt around my identity as an artist.
- Kellie L. - 1-on-1 Creative Retreat Client
this class is 100% human-made by an artist with 13 years of teaching experience. NO AI was used in any part of the process.
What exactly will I learn?
Great question! the experience is broken up by weeks, but most of the cohort is taking it slow with one episode a week, making each “week” take roughly a month.
The pacing depends on your unique energy capacity and life
Week/cycle 1
In this section you’ll untangle myths about how our culture views artists, separate your art from productivity culture, and tune into the true intentions of your creative practice.
We will learn how to start hiking and be a good noticer
Ease into practicing our creative habit and adjusting expectations to meet our varied energy.
Find balance through rest and decompression
Address creative blocks
Build community
Meet cool local birds
Week/cycle 2
This section will guide you through overcoming self-criticism and the pitfalls of social media.
We will shift our practices in alignment with our inner maps, values, and intuition.
Collectively take a one-week break from social media and, if you use it AI
Learn to focus on savoringprocess over product
Reset our dopamine bank through accessing small joy and tiny goals
Learn how to identify more of what we see in nature
Uncover ways to make our phones into partners rather than thieves.
Week/cycle 3
The final section will be all about persistence and inner conflicts. We’ll dive deep into the depths of our shame, anger, and resistance while rewiring our relationship to big tech.
We will map our anger and opposition as useful tools for pointing us in the right direction
Investigate and confront our “shoulds”
Discuss our relationship to outer critics and the ways they impact the roots of our negative emotions around creativity
Build a foundation for persistence and sustained connection
the core principles
OF THE HIKERS WAY
this program is inspired by The Artists’ Way, but is for specifically for folks that book didn’t work for.
My own challenges with the original text were the rigid habit of Morning Pages that didn’t support the varying energy levels my chronic illness presents, the use of the word “God” as a queer and nonbinary person with religious trauma, and expectations of time that didn’t support my working class life. I acknowledge the original text as inspiration and shadow of this work. Here are the core principles to show the values driving my teaching philosophy and how this program can support you.
1. Creativity is a choice. A choice to turn away from our phones, our screens, and distractions and towards ourselves.
2. Time in Nature, observing the sculptures, sounds, and colors, of the natural world, provides endless inspiration.
3.Tuning into seasonal connections. Remembering that the earth waxes and wanes energy. This can feel like a real nervous system reset.
4. Creativity can feel like a method of production and/or rest. It is the intention we set when we begin that allows us permission to see creativity as an act of rest.
5. We have always been creative, but unwise elders, and a cultural devaluing of creative acts, have made the labor feel unworthy
6. Creativity might engage with a new or existing spiritual practice. Listen to yourself, feel into the comfort or discomfort around this.
7. We must rewrite the notion that we must be good in order for our creativity to have value. The doing is value. The persistence is where we will improve and find our voice.
8. Abandoning our creativity will result in a feeling of emptiness or in being unmoored.
9. The use of generative AI in place of our creative intuition is a corrosive act of creative death. Tech tools can empower us, but these destroy the intuitive impulse. Resist using generative AI whenever possible.
10. Creativity and intuition are linked This makes the practice seem threatening to the status quo. Especially for women, LGBTQIA+ folks, disabled folks, BIPOC folks, and other groups marginalized by the western power structures. Remember, creativity is a radical act.
tranform your pratice
on the trail
do any of these
sound familiar?!
“I used to make art all the time but then life just got too busy.”
“I tried reading The Artists Way, but the idea of writing morning pages didn’t resonate, or some other aspect of that book didn’t work for me”
“Anytime I try to follow typical productivity advice about habits and sticking to them, I fall off after a few weeks.”
"There doesnt seem to be any destination for my art or creativity. That makes it hard to find reasons to do it.”
no shame.
These are all
notes from my journal
I’m Mel (they/them), a queer, nonbinary adventure artist, and I designed The Hikers Way to help nature-loving creative human beings like me return to their craft, investigate old “shoulds”, and rework their relationship with technology to be a partner, not a thief.
“Common advice about rigid habits and routines don’t work for me. I’ll try other people’s methods, but I don’t stick to them.”
“I went to art school, but then I lost my motivation or meaning to make.”
“I know my phone is getting in the way of my time to spend practicing my craft, but I am longing for community and hope to find it on social media”
while recording
the hiker’s way,
I talked through my process of writing a totally new version of The Artists’ Way on TikTok and people got hyped!
SURE, IT’S a podcast class
you can listen to out in nature
As a recovering academic, I didn’t want to give you assigned readings or laundry lists of assignments Life is busy, and time spent outside in nature rarely has access to the internet, for good reason!
The Hikers Way has three sections you can listen to over three weeks, three months, or longer. Each section has a homepage where you can listen and download podcast episodes for when it works for your schedule.
With busy humans in mind, each episode has:
simple quick notes about everything mentioned
an easy list of journaling prompts
short recaps of any assignments to focus on
That way you can tap into the class at anytime and come back after breaks if you need to without feeling lost or that you need to start over.
ok, but can you explain what
a pod-class is?
i tested the program myself
AND RECOVERED MY MUSIC PRACTICE!
You can read this little blog I wrote to track my process going through The Hikers Way, Live with the first cohort in the Fall of 2025.
You’ll see how I adapted to energy levels and held myself accountable to reach my goal of writing a song!
"this was a really great way to both cultivate our curiosity for nature/birding and to reconnect with creativity. I really liked listening to the podcast while hiking and being forced to sometimes take a break from my weeks in order to go explore around and touch the grass, as one would say. It did help building a regular creative practice, be it small or bigger.”
- Hikers Way Participant (Fall 2025)
hold up, I still have questions.
-
This pod-class is all about cultivating a soft approach to hiking. Athleticism is not a requirement. As a facilitator, I have a spinal injury with major mobility limitations.
I do not teach hiking as a sport, but instead a way of intentionally and joyfully walking in nature without a destination or time goal in mind.
I understand you may have accessibility needs or concerns. Our secret Discord channel is a great place to discuss adaptations. My own disabilities often make traditional hiking painful or impossible, but time out in nature on a nice bench is still within my reach.
Our goal is to take gentle, intentional time in nature, as the source of inspiration and clarity. Being outside will help reveal intuitive knowledge that has been brewing beneath the surface.
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There are no live classes in the Hikers Way 2.0! Everything is self-paced, on your own schedule.
Once you’re on the Discord server, you might want to join one of our free monthly Creativity Clubs to build community and meet new humans with aligned values!
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Absolutely not!
Mel Mitchell-Jackson is not in any way a mental health professional. Simply an art educator with a unique process.
The goal of this program is to help you regain the time and hone the purpose you need for your creativity and unique art. Plus, i want to help you overcome blocks that I went through on my own journey.
Working with a licensed therapy professional is so valuable and incredibly important if you are struggling with any mental health condition.
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You bet, happy to support you. I made this class as someone who is Audhd but recognize different folks have different abilities!
Transcripts can be made available for any of the podcast episodes upon request.
If you need additional support or assignment modifications due to your unique needs, please reach out at persistentbloom@gmail.com
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No, not at all. This is something totally different.
While this program was originally inspired to be an alternative to The Artist’s Way, it is completely different and written for 2025, not 1991.
I have rebuilt inspired strategies that actually worked for me and I think will work for you too.
If you want to purchase the original text and support Cameron as an author, please do! The book had a big influence on me but my critiques of the systems informed my decision to redesign them rather than just facilitate the original text.
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Unfortunately, no sorry there are no refunds on online classes. Purchases are final sale! You can read my full shop policies here!
If you are super unsure, snag Cycle Zero of The Hikers Way first!
I recommend watching videos on my Youtube Channel first to see if my teaching/presenting style resonates with you if you are having doubts about signing up.
Also, feel free to check out my live class offerings over hereto sign up for a live workshop!
Hear from former Students & Retreat Participants
have i earned your trust?
join the pod-class :)
