Wild Spirals: Ecotherapy & the Work That Reconnects

Event Overview

In this course, we will explore Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects (WTR) through an ecotherapeutic lens to help us better face the ecological realities of our day, develop psycho-emotional resilience, and deepen our Earth-based skills when supporting others. In particular, we will investigate how the therapeutic application of the WTR Spiral, at individual and communal levels, helps move through apathy, despair, and ecoanxiety into the wild, self-healing dimensions of life’s web.

Either for personal inspiration, community empowerment or to support your client’s journey, the WTR provides a solid, compassionate framework out of which a renewed sense of who we are and who we might become emerges. This fresh perspective often brings about an enlarged sense of purpose and direction, as well as newly available psycho-emotional resources nurtured by a sense of belonging to Earth’s community.

The course integrates group work, theoretical sessions, meditation, consultations, ritual, work at home, and Earth reconnection practices for self-discovery and healing. All this within a compassionate atmosphere that invites the openness and determination needed to enter into a more fulfilling relation with the living Earth, within and without, so that we may better tend our own communities and clients.

What will you learn?

• Analyze the foundations, development, and ecopsychological significance of Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects (WTR).
• Evaluate the psychological impacts of the ecological crisis through an ecotherapeutic lens, and relate these states to broader ecopsychological theory.
• Apply the WTR Spiral in individual, group, or community contexts to facilitate emotional regulation, resilience-building, and ecological belonging in a culturally sensitive manner.
• Demonstrate familiarity with Earth-connection practices that support self-discovery, healing, and relational attunement with the more-than-human world.
• Reflect critically on one’s ecological identity, sense of purpose, and role within Earth’s community to better serve clients and communities.
• Identify and synthesize key ethical, cultural, and ecological considerations in facilitating WTR-based offerings, including a coherent ecotherapeutic approach.

Who’s the Course For?

Everyone interested in deepening their own nature reconnection practices and service, as well as health care and counseling professionals, teachers, coaches, and wellness practitioners interested in incorporating the theory and practices of the Work That Reconnects in beneficial ways to clients or patients.

People of any gender identity, culture, religion, sexual orientation, and economic circumstance are welcome.

About the Teacher

Adrián Villaseñor Galarza

Associate Professor in the East-West Psychology Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), Adjunct Professor at Naropa University, and founder of the Bioalchemy Institute and The Work That Reconnects Latin America. An integral/transpersonal ecopsychologist, international facilitator, ritualist, author, and contemplative practitioner passionate about human transformation in service to the living Earth. He has trained in contemplative psychotherapy (USA), transpersonal psychology and family constellations (Spain, USA, Mexico), ritual and shamanism (Mexico, USA, Peru, Colombia), as well as in contemplative traditions, especially yoga and Tibetan Buddhism (USA, India, China).

The lineages of beauty, wisdom, and compassion that he has honored since his teens guide his work, which integrates Eastern and Western teachings of liberation, systemic-transpersonal developments, Earth wisdom, and ecopsychology, resulting in an elemental framework for self-discovery, healing, and regenerative action (click here to learn more).