Active Hope and Green Tara during a Climate Crisis

This series is hosted by Paula Chichester and Margo van Greta, and shared by Jamyang. Click on the Book “here” link below to contact the organisers.

About
The Work That Reconnects and a Buddhist practice during a climate crisis online with Paula Chichester and Margo van Greta. From Wednesday 8 February 2023, in six weekly sessions.

Crisis
We live in an age of ever-increasing human and environmental crises —Rising prices of electricity, gas and food are very real and current threats. In other parts of the world, disasters from fires, hurricanes, floods and rising sea levels endanger lives and livelihood. Reports from scientists are more grim and serious than ever. The UN says we are past the point of no return. Are our political and economical systems really able to manage the complexities required to benefit all, not just the rich?

Can they adjust to what is required to save life on earth as we know it?

• How do we stay present to these realities?
• How do we deal with our anger, despair and frustration?
• How do we respond with resilience, wisdom, clarity and with our love?
• Is it possible for us to deploy more subtle agencies of change that can help the political/economic situation? We believe so.

Resources
Desperate times can also bring out the best in us. It can connect us with our strength, courage, and our zest for life. It can bring cooperation and co-creation.

Luckily we are also surrounded by support on many levels. We do not have to do this alone. Tried and tested methods have been developed over time to cultivate inner work which supports us in our lives.

We offer two complementary practices:

Active Hope/ The Work That Reconnects, is a set of practices developed by Author, Deep Ecologist and Buddhist practitioner Joanna Macy to build resilience for our challenging times. The Work that Reconnects helps people discover and experience their innate connections with each other and the self-healing powers of the web of life, transforming despair and overwhelm into inspired, collaborative action. We will move through the Spiral of Gratitude, Honouring our Pin for the World, Seeing with New Eyes, and taking Next Steps. This is experiential and interactive.

Green Tara meditation is a 2500 year old deity yoga that works with our body, mind and spirit to uncover our authentic sense of being, our deeper self that isn’t shackled by learned cognitive patterns that limit our capacity for love and empathy, inner wisdom, joy and strength. By first creating a personal environment of safety and connection, we then use our imagination, sound, breath and awareness to reframe our experiences so we can transform fears, delusions and issues of dignity and grace. Green Tara is especially known for manifesting change and creating positive causes and conditions in our outer world. So, this is a very good practice to do if we wish to create a more sane world.

Format

• Six weekly facilitated Online sessions of 1 ½ hour using Zoom.
• You receive integration practices to deepen at your own pace.

Dates: Wednesday February 8, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 15 2023

Time: 7.30-9pm GMT, 2023
(Europe 8.30-10pm; PST 11.30 am to 13.00pm; and EST 2.30pm to 4 pm)

Suggested Donation: £120 / £90 / £60 – sliding scale
There are 3 prices, in order to make this course available to all:
£120: Generosity price: to financially support those without the means to participate.
£90: Sustainable price: the regular price to sustain this course.
£60: Subsidised price, for those on low income and in need of financial assistance.
No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please donate what you can.

Facilitators
Margo van Greta is deeply inspired by the work of Joanna Macy. Margo met her in Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland where she has lived since 1991. She facilitates courses in Active Hope/The Work That Reconnects. She created Heartbeat Findhorn, Inner Work for Outer Action, facilitating the journey of spiritual deepening, resilience building and the transformation of consciousness.

Margo has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism since 1987, created Buddhist Group Togme Sangpo, teaches Discovering Buddhism and leads short retreats.

Paula Chichester began her interest in deep ecology when she volunteered at the Ecology Center of San Francisco Bay area in 1969 at the age of 16. After a decade of environmental activism and scientific study, she realised that our planetary ecological demise could not be solved solely by science or politics because the cause is rooted in the tragedy of human greed, fear and ignorance. She discovered that Buddhist body/mind practices could offer a remedy to this tragedy from the inside out. Inspired to heal inner pain for outer change, Paula delved deeply into all sorts of meditation/body/psychology study and practice for 50 years now. Paula now teaches meditation all over the world and lives in the Shetland Islands of Scotland.

How to join
Book here.