Episode 02 with Norm Hann
Or, Listen On Apple Podcasts Here
Norm Hann has spent much of his adult life on the water. A professional stand-up paddleboarder, guide and expedition leader, he has competed and paddled around the world and now leads multi-day expeditions into some of the wildest and most remote places in British Columbia and beyond.
But that life began somewhat unexpectedly. Norm came west from Ontario to train as a wilderness guide and found himself in the Great Bear Rainforest. He couldn’t have known then how much that place, and the people he met there, would shape the life that followed.
His conservation work is featured in the award-winning documentary STAND.
Summary
In this conversation, Norm and I talk about his years guiding on the coast, his relationship with the Gitga’at community and adoption into the Raven Clan, discovering stand-up paddleboarding, and the 400-kilometre expedition he undertook when a proposed oil tanker route threatened the coastline he had come to love.
But much of our conversation is about something quieter: what happens when you spend enough time in a place to care deeply about what happens to it. We talk about the people who have influenced Norm, the pull of the natural world, and the choices he has made to build his life around what matters to him.
Episode Links
Instagram @instagram.com/normhann
Watch STAND, the award-winning documentary featuring Norm and the Great Bear Rainforest
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Traver Boehm and His Journey
03:03 Facing Fears and Life Transformations
06:01 The Dark Night of the Soul
09:07 The Power of Choice and Responsibility
12:04 The Dark Retreat Experience
15:06 The Importance of Human Connection
17:51 Lessons from the Dark Retreat
21:09 Emerging from Darkness and New Beginnings
38:15 The Epidemic of Loneliness
46:17 Facing Darkness: A Personal Journey
52:19 The Weight of Time in Solitude
01:00:28 Emerging from Darkness: Transformation and Growth
01:08:17 The Holy Ache: Connection and Authenticity