Course Outline

In this online course, consisting of 6x weekly webinars (via zoom), we will gain inspiration from compost, and the teachings of the lotus, who find their way from the mud and muck, to reach and bloom in the most beautiful way.  How do we transform self and world amidst the churning of global crisis, urgency, emergency, loss and grief? This workshop will weave together Joanna Macy's Work That Reconnects, mindfulness and modern psychology to move participants through despair, anxiety, grief to empowerment and alignment with the resilient, regenerative powers of life.

Session times are for Australian Eastern Time (Sydney, Canberra), and sessions will be recorded. However the power of this work is in the group processes and connection so please commit to making as many of the live sessions as possible. 

Course Structure

Week One: Landing & Grounding
Tue, Oct 27 @ 06:30-08:30 PM Australian Eastern Time

In our first session we get to know each other, learn the core concepts for the Work That Reconnects and plant our roots in gratitude and wonder.

Week Two: Tools for Nervous System Resourcing
Tue, Nov 03 @ 06:30-08:30 PM AEDT

This lesson will be facilitated by climate activist and registered psychologist Felicity. We will explore practical tools from psychology to help us better manage the emotional impact of living in these turbulent times. You will learn skills to help regulate your nervous system and build emotional resources.

Week Three: Moving Through Grief
Tue, Nov 10 @ 06:30-08:30 PM AEDT

In week three we will honour our pain for the world, and in so doing honour everything being lost to this world. We practice processing, digesting and metabolising our grief, both personal and collective. We hold space for the uncomfortable feelings of sadness, despair, anger or numbness in order to move through them so that they reveal their other side, a deep love for the world, a realisation of the preciousness of existence. No mud, no lotus.

Week Four: Compassion for Self and World
Tue, Nov 17 @ 06:30-08:30 PM PM AEDT

Felicity will share with us the results of her 20 year search for a key ingredient to positively change the world. You will learn about why developing self-compassion will not only help you to manage better emotionally but helps us collectively. You will also leave with tools to help boost your self-compassion immediately.

Week Five: Connecting with a Deeper Strength
Tue, Nov 24 @ 06:30-08:30 PM AEDT

In this workshop we explore strength, recovery and resilience through community and the work that reconnects part of the spiral process, 'Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes' where we gain new perspectives through widening our circle of identification, placing ourselves in deep time and opening to the strength of the earth.

Week Six: Staying with the Trouble and Offering Our Gifts
Tue, Dec 01 @ 06:30-08:30 PM AEDT

Here we tap into our personal power and fully show up in the world with what we have to give. This is the stage on the Work That Reconnects spiral process called 'Going Forth'. We are here for it all, anchoring to our purpose.

Pricing options

This course is available on a sliding scale. Please choose the payment option to suit your circumstances.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome!

    • Welcome!
  • 2

    Week One: Landing & Grounding

    • Week One Recording: Landing & Grounding

    • Week One Presentation

    • Week One Suggested Practice

    • Resources for Further Study
  • 3

    Week Two: Tools for Nervous System Resourcing

    • Week Two Recording: Tools for Nervous System Resourcing

    • Week Two Presentation

    • Supporting Documents

    • Guided Meditation: Regulate Stress (20 mins)

    • Guided Mindfulness of Breathing (10 mins)

    • Guided Mindfulness of Breathing (5 mins)

    • Suggested Practice
  • 4

    Week Three: Moving Through Grief

    • Recording: Moving Through Grief

    • Week Three Presentation

    • Further Resources

    • Suggested Practice #1: Design a ritual to give space to your grief/sorrow/anger/fear

    • Suggested Practice #2: Make space for joy, pleasure, rest, delight
  • 5

    Week Four: Compassion for Self and All

    • Recording: Compassion for Self and World

    • Week Four Presentation

    • Guided Meditation: Cultivating Loving-Kindness

    • Meditation: Self Compassion and the Climate Crisis

    • Metta Meditation Script

    • Self Compassion Scale

    • Scoring the Self Compassion Scale
  • 6

    Week Five: Connecting with a Deeper Strength

    • Recording: Connecting with a Deeper Strength

    • Presentation: Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes
  • 7

    Week Six: Staying with the Trouble and Offering our Gifts

    • Recording: Staying with the Trouble and Offering Our Gifts

    • Week Six Presentation

    • Social Justice Eco-System Map

    • Roles & Questions: Mapping Our Roles in the Social Justice Eco-System

    • The Collective Spell
  • 8

    Course Survey

    • Course Survey and Feedback

About the Facilitators

Anna is a yoga & mindfulness teacher and a facilitator of Joanna Macy’s the Work That Reconnects and Deep Ecology. The practices of the Work That Reconnects weave us back in to the web of life, expand our sense of self from ego to eco-identity and move us from despair to empowerment.

Felicity is a registered psychologist and climate activist with a lifetime love affair for all things nature, healing, evolution, consciousness and spirituality. She hopes to use her training to help individuals to manage climate grief and anxiety as well as assist them to feel empowered, hopeful and ready in co-creating our future.

About the Work That Reconnects

The Work That Reconnects is the work of our time, created by Joanna Macy and others it has emerged with the Deep Ecology movement. This body of practice aims to heal the separation between human and nature - the next big cognitive shift that needs to be made (or returned to) for the health of our planet. In the Work That Reconnects we align with the regenerative power of life. The Work That Reconnects spirals through four stages: Grounding in Gratitude, Honouring Pain for the World, Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes and Going Forth. Workshops generally contain a mixture of group processes, meditations, nature connection, deep time work and it has pulled me out of despair and helplessness to rest in a deeper hope many a time