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Katharine Burke

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I am a teacher, teacher trainer, deep ecologist, permaculturist and regenerative design practitioner. I am involved in the Work that Reconnects through the Small Earth Institute, whose aim is to nurture Earth appreciation and promote deep ecology initiatives in social systems, especially schools. I run wellness weekends at our permaculture farm, where the emphasis is wellness (wholeness) through deep time walks, through re-connection to nature and through the spiral and practices of The Work that Reconnects.

Audiences I work with

I teach high school, but I have taught all levels from elementary to college, and in my work right now I am targeting teachers and schools administration. I fervently believe if we can change the way teachers interact and connect with the Earth, we can help them bring the nourishment of the re-connected self, Earth awareness and Earth appreciation into schools and to children who can grow up re-connected.

Experience facilitating other events & workshops

What year did you begin facilitating the Work That Reconnects?
I have been a teacher trainer and facilitator for over 20 years, through the International Baccalaureate system, working in the Primary Years Program and now in the High School. When I began to awaken, I understood that I could use my many years experience in presenting workshops, training teachers, and coaching, to offer seminars, sessions, and workshops in what I have been calling Earth Appreciation or Earthfulness. For two years I have been offering wellness seminars (based on Earth re-connection)deep time walks, and teacher seminars at schools and at our home and farm, a two acre permaculture holding in Southern Norway. I use the Work that Reconnects practices of building appreciation (as described by Joanna Macey) in the beginning of every teacher seminar, deep time walk, or wellness session. In our wellness sessions I use the nature mandala. In this work (wellness sessions) I also include deep time walk, forest bathing, eating with intention, and an exercise in earth balance (feeling gravity points and deeply feeling our connection to earth as we move from a small round ball to extending limbs to hands and knees, all fours, finally on two feet) that I designed myself based on the balance work from a dancer friend of mine. In the teacher seminars I concentrate on how to model and nurture mindfulness and earth appreciation in children, following from our experience in the deep time walk and working with the sense and the elements (rock, water, air, earth, plant) I do an exercise I call Observe and Interact where we work with using all our senses to interact with something from nature we have brought back. I work with concepts of Nature as Mentor and Healer (my own terms, as far as I know) I use ideas from Stephan Harding, Dave Abrams, Joanna Macy, and am passionate about helping teachers, and then their students to develop and nurture the wider self that will reconnect them to earthfulness. The website for The Small Earth Institute is www.smallearthinstitute.com and my more personal blog is at REAP https://www.facebook.com/katharine.stavrinou My facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/dennelillejord/?fref=ts for The Small Earth Institute and https://www.facebook.com/katharine.stavrinou for myself. My twitter is @dennelillejord. Denne Lille Jord means This Small Earth in Norwegian. I speak both English and Norwegian, as well as Greek, having been born and grown up in the United States, married and lived in Cyprus, and now in Norway for the past 17 years.