Practices for Awakening & Resilience in a Changing World

November 2/3 – December 7/8, 2023

With Inna Alex, Skye Cielita Flor & Miraz Indira

This workshop series is a result of extensive collaboration between seven experienced Deep Ecology facilitators: Eshana Bragg, Inna Alex, Patrick Anderson, Br. Tenzin, Skye Cielita Flor, Miraz Indira and John Seed.

The Nov/Dec 2023 course will be facilitated by Inna Alex, Cielita Flor & Miraz Indira.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

We live in challenging and deeply uncertain times, where the words ‘climate emergency’ and ‘sixth mass extinction’ have hit the mainstream, and predictions of near-term social, economic and environmental collapse cause great concern for a growing number of people of all ages. The sickness of our culture has become hard to deny, and many of us feel alone as we hold within us the weight of the world. So many of us are also expressing a longing to come into a deeper connection with each other, to live meaningful lives and to feel returned to the circle of belonging within the wider Earth community.

There is also a growing desire to participate in a collective shift towards a regenerative and sustainable culture, what Joanna Macy calls, the Great Turning. In this body of work, we see the root cause of these converging crises to be the pervasive illusion of separation between humans and the rest of the natural world. By learning to recognize our interconnectedness we invite the spontaneous healing of the psyche and by extension, of the systems that were born from the deep split within us. We also come to understand the inseparability of personal, cultural, and ecological healing.

Engaging the transformative power of communal ritual, process, dialogue, poetry and music- we will create a foundation of radical gratitude, to honour and transmute the grief we are carrying for the Earth and our global family, explore new ways of seeing these difficult times, and seek meaningful ways to respond. There are many hard things to face in our world today, but our pain is a sign that we are fully alive and connected to the web of life. If we want to contribute to a better world we must be willing to acknowledge and metabolize our fears and sorrows into inspiration, strength, and deeper purpose. Only then can we bring forward our unique gifts and shine a light into this dark night of the soul of humanity.

COURSE STRUCTURE & TIMING

This course goes for 6 weeks and entails weekly facilitated 2 hrs zoom sessions plus pre-recorded presentations and home practices (also around 2 hrs per week), and an optional 1-on-1 deepening with a buddy.

Online zoom sessions: For New Zealand and Australia, zoom sessions happen each Friday for 2 hours (from 9-11am AEDT; 11am-1pm NZDT) starting on 3 November 2023. For participants in the US, the timing for the online sessions is on Thursdays, starting 2 November (from 3-5pm PDT, 6-8pm EDT). Please note, for American timezones, from Week 2 the timing will be 2-4pm PST, 5-7pm EST.

Pre-session recordings and links to home practices for the following week will be emailed out by Friday following each session. It is important you choose to commit about 2 hrs each week to exploring the pre-recorded presentations and home practices.
The buddy system will be set up in Week 1. Suggestions of how to use this will be provided, while it is fully up to you to make of it what serves you best.

Session Overview

Week 1: 2/3 November – Introductions and Overview
Week 2: 9/10 November – Coming from Gratitude
Week 3: 16/17 November – Honouring Our Pain
Week 4: 23/24 November – The Cosmic Walk
Week 5: 30 Nov / 1 Dec – The Council of All Beings
Week 6: 7/8 December – Going Forth
Note: The first date is for participants in the US, the second date for Australia and New Zealand.

ABOUT YOUR FACILITATORS

▪︎ Inna Alex is a passionate deep ecology facilitator, community organizer, and sustainable living educator. Her earth-based lifestyle in Tui Community, New Zealand, has provided her with many practical skills in permaculture living, organic gardening, healing foods, group facilitation, relationship and women’s work. Inna is the main facilitator of InnaEvolution, offering events that deepen connection for positive action in our world. She also works with the Tui Balms workers’ co-operative as well as in environmental & permaculture education with Earthcare Education Aotearoa.

▪︎ Skye grew up on a farm in South Africa and spent her early years immersed in wildlife conservation and rehabilitation before going on to work as a wilderness guide. She then spent 5 years living in the Peruvian Amazon jungle where she was immersed in the study of traditional folk medicine (curanderismo) with her indigenous Shipibo teachers of the Mahua-Lopez lineage, and co-facilitated healing retreats with her partner Miraz. She moved to Melbourne 5 years ago where she first encountered Deep Ecology through the workshops of John Seed and has been a passionate student and co-facilitator of this work ever since. https://deepearthdreaming.world/about/

▪︎ Miraz has co-facilitated group work with Skye for a number of years, in the form of healing retreats in Peru and deep ecology immersions and workshops in Australia. He has a background in corporate law, dispute resolution, counselling and plant medicine. He feels that there is something in this deep ecology stuff that is: true… like bird song or plant roots as they push up through the concrete… that this body of work is a kind of medicine for the ‘crisis of perception’ underlying the great unravelling of our age. https://www.cicadiadepthperception.org/?page_id=133

COURSE FEE

Concession: $250
Standard: $350
Solidarity: $450

Sincere applicants will not be turned away due to a lack of funds. We are offering one scholarship spot for activists. Please email skye.indira@googlemail.com if you feel you should receive this spot.

The course fee is due within 3 days of registering for the course via bank transfer or paypal (details will be sent out in your registration confirmation).

Register here: https://forms.gle/TnFRg7LDfLRBrayt8

CANCELLATION POLICY

Full refund minus a $50 admin fee, if canceling more than 7 days before the commencement of the course.
No refund if canceling within 7 or less days of the course starting.

CREATING ABUNDANCE FOR POSITIVE ACTION

1/4 of the proceeds of this course will be donated to the Rainforest Information Center (RIC) and their affiliated working group, MRAG, in their efforts to protect Old Growth Rainforest in Australia and Ecuador*

ABOUT THE RAINFOREST INFORMATION CENTRE (RIC) AND MELBOURNE RAINFOREST ACTION GROUP (MRAG)

The Rainforest Information Centre is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of the Earth’s remaining rainforests in partnership with the indigenous people and local communities who depend on them. https://www.rainforestinformationcentre.org/

MRAG (Melbourne Rainforest Action Group) is a grassroots working group affiliated with the Rainforest Information Centre (RIC). It was formed in 2018 as a response to RIC’s call out for support in growing a campaign to save Ecuador’s megadiverse rainforests in the Amazon and Western Andes from swathes of mining concessions, mostly held by Aussie companies and unscrupulous billionaires including BHP Billiton, FMG (Twiggy Forrest) and Gina Rinehart. If one single mine goes ahead, thousands of critically endangered species are at risk of extinction. These companies are also trampling on the rights of local and indigenous people living within their concessions. MRAG’s small team of volunteers have taken on the bulk of the work on the campaign. As well as fundraising to support Ecuadorian communities impacted by mining, MRAG conducts research and writes reports and media releases, all of which can be found at: https://rainforestactiongroup.org/

Deep Ecology: 6 Week Online Course