WORKSHOP INFORMATION
THE WORK THAT RECONNECTS
Workshops for creative change.
The 'Work that Reconnects' is a deep ecology practice developed by Eco-Philosopher, Joanna Macy. The aim of this work is to bring us into relationship with each other and with the self-healing powers of the web of life, to reclaim our lives, our communities, our planet, and to respond creatively to the collective crises that we face. This approach supports people to respond creatively to world crises rather than feeling overwhelmed or paralysed by distress. Rather than feeling afraid of our pain for the world, we learn how we can feel strengthened by it.
I offer a diverse range of workshops of 'The Work That Reconnects' (deep ecology processes). Adapted to the request of communities these workshops can be altered to daily or weekend workshops.
Deep Ecology is an ecological and environmental philosophy promoting the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, plus a radical restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas.
I. THE COUNCIL OF ALL BEINGS
Nature based performance practice for engaged action.
The Council of All Beings is a ritual practice to help end a sense of alienation from the Living Earth felt by many humans. This highly creative practice was created by John Seed and Joanna Macy, both pioneers and elders of deep ecology work around the world.
Many people intellectually realise that we are inseparable from Nature and that the sense of separation that we feel is illusory. The Council of all Beings enables us to engage with deep ecology to experience our interconnectedness with all beings through the web of life, in our hearts and our bodies.Through creative exercises we will practice letting go of the socially constructed, isolated self and take steps to come home to our inter-being with one another and all forms of life.
Through embodied practices we will retrace our steps through the human evolutionary journey and allow other life forms to speak through us. We will shed our solely human identification to feel deep empathy for the myriad species and landscapes of the Earth.
The Council of All Beings empowers us to act on behalf of the Earth and gives us clarity and direction for our lives and activities. Following the Council we will engage creative tools for practicing and promoting deep ecology in our daily lives.
What to expect:
Over the weekend we will enter a state of deep listening and deep creativity as a community. Using artistic expression to awaken our imagination, we will allow nature to speak through us and create with what we find there. In preparation for the ritual we will undertake: short nature walks and/or meditations, theatre and improvisation games, movement exercises as well as mask making to represent our chosen being. There will be safe space for emotions to be expressed and to be spoken in ways that empower us.
Once the ritual is complete, we will create an artistic response to what we have found. This may take the form of poetry, land art, or a site-specific installation.
It is encouraged that there be opportunities to meet again afterwards and continue with this deep ecological work coordinated by the hosting organisation or partner.
Who is it for:
-Artists
-Activists
-Educators
-Anyone engaged in questions around the environment and belonging
Requirements:
Minimum 8 people
Maximum 14 people
It is suitable for all age groups, though it can be tailored for specific age groups.
This workshop can be delivered over 1, 2 or 3 days and can be tailored to local concerns and
financial circumstance.
In urban environments, a contained space.
In the country-side, in nature, with sheltered space to hold gatherings.
Price is negotiable based on circumstance and available support.
However, to have a basic understanding of scale, my minimum fee for weekend facilitation €800.
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“Active Hope is not wishful thinking.
Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued . . . .
by some savior.
Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life
on whose behalf we can act.
We belong to this world.
The web of life is calling us forth at this time.
We’ve come a long way and are here to play our part.
With Active Hope we realize that there are adventures in store,
strengths to discover, and comrades to link arms with.
Active Hope is a readiness to discover the strengths
in ourselves and in others;
a readiness to discover the reasons for hope
and the occasions for love.
A readiness to discover the size and strength of our hearts,
our quickness of mind, our steadiness of purpose,
our own authority, our love for life,
the liveliness of our curiosity,
the unsuspected deep well of patience and diligence,
the keenness of our senses, and our capacity to lead.
None of these can be discovered in an armchair or without risk.”
― Joanna Macy
II. THE TRUTH MANDALA
As we exist in an age of uncertainty, every nation is being forced to confront its sense of identity, its values and its fears. How do borders affect who I am and how I am perceived? What is our relationship to one another and this land? What do we want for our collective futures?
Participants are invited to bring instruments or offerings for the
earth, for ancestors that hold us, for future generation and place them
upon the alter of Grief and Gratitude.
Who is it for:
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Artists
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Activists
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Educators
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Anyone engaged in questions around the environment and belonging
* This process is suited for people that are willing to speak up for what they care about and have already been doing some emotional work.
Requirements:
Minimum 10 people
Maximum 50 people
A safe, clean, comfortable space, in city or countryside.
A breakout space or a local framework for those who need support from their peers after
the ritual.
Price: In consideration to the community
“The refusal to feel takes a heavy toll. Not only is there an impoverishment of our emotional and sensory life, flowers are dimmer and less fragrant, our loves less ecstaticâ but this psychic numbing also impedes our capacity to process and respond to information. The energy expended in pushing down despair is diverted from more creative uses, depleting the resilience and imagination needed for fresh visions and strategies. ”
― Joanna Macy
Working from the assumption that the answers are in us, The Truth Mandala offers a space in which participants can find their truth and imagine their way forward in relationship to the confusing Brexit political project.
What to expect:
The Truth Mandala is a one day process which uses group exercises and exercises in pairs in order to give voice to complex emotions and experiences. Together, the group will move through 4 exercise phases: Gratitude, Honouring our pain, Seeing with new eyes and Going forward. This is an open process that holds space for participants to travel through emotions and experiences connected to shifting borders and relation to this land; this process:
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gives voice to complex emotions and experiences;
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allows participants to find new empathetic approaches to emotions of fear and grief around the present and future of this polity and land on this planet;
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refocuses attention on the existing tools we have to go forward with a sense of belonging and connection;
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allows participants to imagine a roadmap for their courage and compassion.
III. LETTER FROM THE FUTURE
As we exist in an age of uncertainty, every one is being forced to confront their sense of identity, values and fears. What does it mean to be human now? How do borders affect who I am and how I am perceived? What is my relationship to others and the land I belong to? What do we want for our collective future?
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give voice to actions made today and the effect they may have on future lives;
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understand and embody opposing and diverse views to open the mind to progressively larger contexts;
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find new empathetic approaches to emotions of fear and grief around the present and future of our land on this planet;
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reconnect to the possibilities of our imaginations and creative action.
As part of this process work, participants will be invited to write a letter from the future. For example, a letter could be from a future great-grand daughter to a present great- grand-mother, in which she shares what happened on earth and remembers the role that her ancestor played in shaping the future as she experienced it. Once complete, these letters will be transformed into a simply-staged performance for an invited audience.
Who is it for:
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Artists
-
Activists
-
Educators
-
Anyone engaged in questions around the environment and belonging
Requirements:
Minimum 8 people
Maximum 14 people
It is suitable for all age groups, though it can be tailored for specific age groups.
In urban environments, a theatrical or transformable space.
In the country-side, in nature, with sheltered space to hold gatherings.
Working from the assumption that the answers are in us, this performance workshop designed to address questions surrounding borders, identity and belonging.
What to expect:
‘Letter from the Future’ is a one day process and performance workshop resulting in a theatrical sharing for invited members of the wider community.
The workshop draws on theatrical games, The Work That Reconnects and ‘on-your-feet’ writing techniques in order to:
IV. SEVENTH GENERATION
A deep time ritual
This 60 minute ritual allows us to see the time we are in within a larger time frame, including that of a human being of the 7th Generation in the future, roughly two centuries from the present. It takes seriously the words of eminent radiologist Sister Rosalie Bertell: “Every being who will ever live on Earth is here now. Where? In our gonads and ovaries and in our DNA.”
This practice serves well as the sole experiential component of a short workshop or evening gathering.
What to expect:
People sit in pairs facing each other silently and oriented in the same directional axis, as in E-W or N-S. Those facing in one direction, say West, identify as their present-day self. Those in front of them who are facing the opposite direction, say East, will identify as a human of the seventh generation in the future. These roles are not interchangeable, and are to be determined swiftly and clearly. Be sure all know what role they’re in.
I ask people to grant two assumptions for the purpose of this ritual. The first assumption is that there will be humans living on Earth two hundred years from now. Even if you have come to believe otherwise, please grant that assumption for the purpose of this ritual. In order for present and future beings to meet across two centuries, we must go to a “point outside of time.” We travel there by the power of our intention and our moral imagination.
"..You present-day people choose to see the person before you as a human of the seventh generation. And you future ones know that the person before you lives back in the year _____. You have something to say to them and to ask; this will be spoken in my voice and taken as coming directly through your own heart-mind. You present-day one will then answer out loud, while the future one listens in silence..."
The word “ancestor’ refers to all people of preceding generations and is not limited to one’s own genetic line.
This questioning and answering happens back and forth between present time beings and future generations.
Who is it for:
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Artists
-
Activists
-
Educators
-
Anyone engaged in questions around the environment and belonging
Minimum 8 people
Maximum 20 people
Requirements:
It is suitable for all age groups, though it can be tailored for specific age groups.
In urban environments, a theatrical or transformable space.
In the country-side, in nature, with sheltered space to hold gatherings.
IV. WIDENING CIRCLES
Change makers want to be able to express their views about an issue clearly, even passionately. At the same time for their own understanding, they need to grasp differing and opposing perspectives on this issue. This exercise helps to do both. And in the process it loosens the grip of self-righteousness, opening the mind progressively larger contexts and to widening circles of identity.
What to expect:
A 60 minute process people sit in groups pf three or four. They are asked to pick a. particular issue or situation that concerns them. Each person is asked to speak about their issue from four different perspectives. From their point of view, their feelings about this issue. From a perspective of a person holding the opposing views on this issue, introducing themselves and speaking as this person. From a viewpoint of a nonhuman that is affected by this issue. Lastly, in the voice of a future human that is affected by these choices made now on this issue.
After this is shared through each member of the group, the people share what they learnt.
It is recommended to do this process in a playful, expressive way, this way the participants can really be imaginative with the characters they choose to play out.
Who is it for:
-
Artists
-
Activists
-
Educators
-
Anyone engaged in questions around the environment and belonging
Minimum 8 people
Maximum 30 people
Requirements: It is suitable for all age groups, though it can be tailored for specific age groups.
In urban environments, a theatrical or transformable space.
In the country-side, in nature, with sheltered space to hold gatherings.
"The central purpose of the Work that Reconnects is to help people uncover and experience their innate connections with each other and with the systemic, self-healing powers of the web of life, so that they may be enlivened and motivated to play their part in creating a sustainable civilization."