The Work That Reconnects
What is The Work That Reconnects about ?
The Work That Reconnects helps transform despair and apathy into constructive, collaborative action. Its aim is to connect with each other and with all life. This deep connection allows participants to simultaneously feel love and awe for life alongside the pain and the wounds of the world, toward ourselves and our fellow species. The Work That Reconnects gives space and voice to those frightening feelings of pain, numbness, rage, sadness and fear without the need to turn, run away, gloss them over, or be paralyzed by them. Helplessness gives way to an inner freedom and new perspectives from which motivation springs forth, along with a capacity to engage in a collective healing process for the earth. The work that reconnects is permeated by a deep love and care for all life. If you facilitate this process you should be able to connect with this as a foundation.
The Work That Reconnects follows a spiral sequence, flowing through four stages: beginning with gratitude, honoring our pain for the world, seeing with fresh eyes, and finally, going forth. Each stage comprises a certain quality and intention, that can be carried forward with different kinds of experiential exercises. Though Joanna Macy offers a wealth of suitable exercises, she encourages facilitators to find their own style and make use of their creativity to best suit their audience. Here we feature a combination of Joanna Macy’s method, along with others linked in this toolbox.
The spiral can be repeated several times in a workshop or just once; the process can vary from several hours to a whole month.
Audience
Is participant experience relevant for The Work That Reconnects ?
Requirements
Online
It was originally designed purely for face-to-face settings. Blended and fully online learning is possible, but needs extra attention to ensure participants feel safe, held, and connected. The use of breakout rooms for pairs or three-way sharing can be particularly useful, followed by feedback to the group to ground the experience. While in breakout rooms, prompt questions, instructions to switch speakers, and time-checks can be given. Writing prompts can also be incorporated to blend exercises and avoid entirely screen-based sessions. It’s worth considering if the honouring our pain phase is better to be held in a face-to-face setting to make sure no one is overwhelmed by feelings of grief, fear, anger, outrage, guilt, or a sense of powerlessness without being able to avail of support while in a delicate state.
project
author(s)
ERASMUS +
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. Find more information about the program and its goals here: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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