deep ecology
practices for awakening and resilience in a changing world
“The work that reconnects helps us transform despair into constructive action.” – Joanna Macy Source: Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy (with Chris …
It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of philosopher, mentor, teacher, activist and visionary, Joanna Macy. Joanna died peacefully at her home in Berkeley on July 19, 2025, at age …
[ Pat has been has been facilitating Deep Ecology and the Work that Reconnects workshops, and giving talks, trainings and webinars in a number of countries over some 40 years. She’s a plantswoman, …
Joanna Macy (1929-2025) was a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. Born in Los Angeles, she earned her PhD and spent five decades developing the Work That Reconnects, a …
Eshana is a pioneer in the field of ecopsychology, and has been facilitating deep ecology workshops and the Council of All Beings since the mid-1990’s. She even wrote her PhD about it! As a director …
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 …
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022 AT 2:30 PM – 4:45 PM UTC+10 
“An enduring classic of the environmental movement, Joanna Macy’s poetic, groundbreaking call to action is poised to inspire a new generation“ …
Our Philosophy page describes Arne Naess’s call for “therapies which heal our relations with the widest community, that of all living beings”, and notes that the processes answering …
The challenges we face can be difficult to even think about. Climate change, pandemic uncertainty, extreme inequality, economic upheaval, and mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of …
Everything ported into the “Honouring Our Pain for the World” section of this site — the Truth Mandala, the Mourning — has one direct ancestor: Joanna Macy’s Despair and Empowerment …
Rather than offering its own analysis of causes and solutions for the crises of our time, the Work That Reconnects invites us to take a fresh look at what we see happening around us. The model of …
From Coming Back to Life by Joanna Macy & Molly Brown (2nd ed., 2014, Chapter 10). Full instructions and further resources at the Work That Reconnects Network — the primary home for Joanna’s …
Gratitude as a Revolutionary Act (Joanna Macy, 2006) is a training video made as a companion to Coming Back to Life, for facilitators — both those new to this work and those more experienced — wanting …
Paraphrased summary of Chapter 6 of Coming Back to Life (Joanna Macy & Molly Brown, 2nd ed., 2014). Full teaching points at the Work That Reconnects Network — the primary home for Joanna’s …
From World as Lover, World as Self (Joanna Macy, Parallax Press, 1991). For more of Joanna’s own telling and context, see the Work That Reconnects Network’s page on this prophecy — the …
By Joanna Macy, Ph.D. Written for The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Full source page: rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/Joanna Macy.htm. The Council of All Beings is a communal ritual in which …
This is Joanna Macy’s own version of tonglen, the Tibetan Buddhist practice of breathing in suffering and breathing out ease. In her written instructions for it, she describes the exercise as …
Joanna Macy’s Truth Mandala, reproduced from Coming Back to Life (Macy & Brown, 1998). The dominant “Honouring Our Pain for the World” practice in current use — see also The …
A facilitation script by John Seed, shared with permission as part of the Council of All Beings process he developed with Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming and others. Usually run as an opening/bonding …
Transcribed by Chris Lehman from the Council of All Beings workshop at Northern Pines Lodge, Maine, USA, 24–25 October 1992, and reproduced here as the numbered sequence in which John gives them over …
A facilitation note by John Seed, drawing directly on Joanna Macy’s Despair and Empowerment work. These days the Truth Mandala, is usually used, but the Carin of Mourning can be a useful …