Healing Ourselves - Homecoming: A journey of reconnection

Natural History Institute

A full-day workshop at Thumb Butte that leads participants through gratitude and into mindfulness and connection with nature.

Thumb Butte Recreation Area

We live in challenging times. Looking around us, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the environmental and social crises currently threatening our world. How do we live without shutting down, giving up? When we come together and tap into our shared care for the natural world and each other, we actively deepen our sense of connectedness. This gives us the strength to move beyond business as usual, and beyond despair, to co-create fresh visions and tools for responding with courage and resiliency to the challenges before us. In this day-long workshop, participants begin by anchoring in gratitude. Together, we will create a safe place to honor our pain for the world and to connect with our fundamental resilience. What distresses us becomes our fuel for transformation. Seeing with new eyes, we come away nourished with greater clarity and strength. We find a fresh connection to our own inner resources and are inspired anew to act on behalf of a life-sustaining future. Co-facilitators Carol Russell and Grace Burford look forward to sharing with workshop participants this Work That Reconnects, pioneered by Joanna Macy and rooted in deep ecology, ancient wisdom, and systems thinking.P﻿articipants will meet at Thumb Butte Recreation Area at 8:30am. (NHI will cover parking). This day-long event will take place in and around the accessible Thumb Butte Pavilion, next to the restrooms. The WorkshopOur day together will begin with a welcome from Carol and Grace, as well as introductions all around, before we enter the spiral together.During our workshop we will move through the four stages of the Spiral Journey: Gratitude, Honoring Our Pain for the World, Seeing with New Eyes, and Going Forth. Grace and Carol will introduce each stage and offer ways to reflect on our experiences. For each of the four phases, we will engage in structured experiential activities that enable us to explore the ideas and aims behind each phase of the spiral—individually, in small groups, and all together. The Spiral begins with gratitude, because that quiets the mind and brings us back to ourselves and our profound appreciation for life on Earth. In honoring our pain for the world, and finding the courage to express it, we touch the immensity of our collective existence. Sensing the larger life within us, we begin to see with new eyes. We feel empowered by our innate belonging and our living connections. We have the vision and strength to go forth into actions that heal and transform, as we circle once again to gratitude for our renewed vitality.The interactive nature of the workshop activities nurtures a sense of mutual support in our group and with our natural setting as we navigate the challenges of our time. We aspire to work together to build the courage and resilience we will need to continue to open our eyes to these challenges without losing heart.Schedule8:30 a.m. WelcomeMorning: Gratitude and Honoring our Pain for the WorldMid-day: Contemplative lunch breakAfternoon: Seeing with New Eyes and Going Forth4:30 p.m.: Conclude—Returning to (and with) Gratitude

“What are you? What am I? Intersecting cycles of water, earth, air, and fire, that’s what I am, that’s what you are.” [from “Gaia Meditations” by John Seed and Joanna Macy, Thinking Like a Mountain. New Society Publishers, 1988]Grace Burford, Ph.D., brings to our workshop a lifetime of experience in Deep Ecology. In this approach to learning about ecological relationships, we integrate personal and scientific perspectives to deepen our human connections with the natural world and each other. Grace’s experience of Deep Ecology is enriched by her lifelong engagement with traditional Buddhist teachings and practices. She has this in common with Joanna Macy, who first developed the four-stage Spiral Journey model of practicing Deep Ecology in the 1980s. Since Grace met Joanna and participated in some of Joanna’s early workshops and facilitator trainings, she has led Deep Ecology community gatherings and has applied the Spiral Journey structure in her college and university courses. Grace sees this work as mutually beneficial for all beings in the interdependent web of life. She is delighted to share this healing experience with the Prescott community she has been part of for over 25 years.Carol Russell is a Prescott artist, architect, and facilitator. Having lived in Prescott for 43 years, she is steeped in the natural environment of Prescott. Her work as a painter, sculptor and architect has been informed by the land, the changing light, rain and drought, and the rich and varied community of life around us. Unsettled by the devastating global crises we are facing along with the increasing division between people, Carol has focused on creating opportunities for connection, mutual understanding, and resilience through workshops. She completed the Facilitation Training with the Work That Reconnects Network in 2021.

T﻿his workshop is part of our &quot;Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves&quot; series. Sign up for other events in the series on their Eventbrite pages, linked below.<h2>Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves</h2><h3>A reciprocal healing series from the Natural History Institute</h3>There is a growing awareness of the positive mental, physical, and physiological benefits that humans can reap from time spent in nature. Join the Natural History Institute in this new series where we ask: how can we heal ourselves in nature? And how can we, in all gratitude, work to heal the earth? Joined by a writer and philosopher, a local nonprofit, our partners at Prescott National Forest, and mindfulness leaders, we explore how to heal and how to give back. O﻿ther events in the series:4/12 - Gratitude - &quot;Gratitude is a Way of Life,&quot; a webinar conversation with philosopher and nature writer Kathleen Dean Moore. FREE.S﻿ign up here: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/586178705287" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.eventbrite.com/e/586178705287</a>5/13 - Healing the Earth - a volunteer erosion-control project in collaboration with Friends of the Verde River and Prescott National Forest. Participants will spend the morning helping to build loose rock structures and distributing seed balls. FREE.S﻿ign up here: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/586189367177" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.eventbrite.com/e/586189367177</a> 5﻿/17 - Reciprocal Healing - &quot;Natural History, Reciprocal Healing, and a Sense of Kinship,&quot; a speaker series talk by NHI Director Emeritus Tom Fleischner. FREE. S﻿ign up here: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/588345185287" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.eventbrite.com/e/588345185287</a>

Healing Ourselves - Homecoming: A journey of reconnection

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Healing Ourselves - Homecoming: A journey of reconnection

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