Climate workshop: a primer
Looking at climate change is fraught on many levels. With good reason, we are attached to our way of life: travel, restaurants, shopping, easy access to resources and information are a few aspects of modern life enjoyed by major segments of the western population. And while these things negatively impact climate, any serious discussion of giving up the only way of life most of us have known is shocking, frightening, and anger-inducing, to name a few responses.
Such is the dilemma in creating a platform for experiencing the grief, rage, hopelessness, confusion, numbness, and sadness at the loss of habitat, species, access to water, soil, and air, and even economic and political stability we face as we burn excessive carbon and increase the planet’s temperature. Humans are the cause and the ones emotionally impacted and threatened by climate change.
But this workshop is NOT about guilt tripping, shaming, finger-pointing, or committing to an ascetic life. Instead, it is about:
• saying yes to life
• cultivating a sense of wonder about our human experience
• admitting what scares us
• growing compassion for ourselves, our ancestors, and our progeny
• allowing for anger and sadness to inform us and possibly even create clarity
• gathering with other caring individuals for comfort and support
Facing the reality of climate change requires emerging from a kind of foggy denial, honing intellectual honesty, and developing the moral courage to face difficult realities. It requires wisdom, compassion, support, and community, which is where YOU come it.
Together we can begin to find our voices, come alive, and foster compassion. Your presence in simple exercises that gently explore the power of each heartbeat and the potential of each pair of hands creates a field of hope, courage, belief, and trust in one another to facilitate what Joanna Macy calls the Great Turning.
What we love is threatened. The peril is unprecedented but the potential has never been greater. We are the first people alive who can peer back in time 14 billion years to the beginning of the known universe and grasp the entire sweep of existence. That’s a lot of information and a lot of power. Let’s learn together to bear our responsibility and develop our capacity to respond to the greatest call of our lifetimes. Visit the Perennial Yoga Sacred Activism webpage or my Mindfulness and Integrative Approaches specialties page to learn more.