For a long time, I have been exploring how we can stay present and resilient in the face of the crises we face without falling into a state of permanent shut down. While my work in Nature Connection has always provided me with a vital anchor, I know that it doesn’t always affect everyone in the same way.
This search led me to The Work That Reconnects, and I undertook my first course as a participant back in 2022. It was then that I realised that the remedy to despair isn’t just action; it is action in community.
Specifically, it is the act of stepping out of our local bubbles and into a global conversation about what it means to be alive during this time of The Great Turning.
Why Do we Need to Go Global?
I live in white, middle-class Winchester (did you know it was the original capital of England?) and really miss the diversity in my old corporate work for a global organisation. I worked in an office with people on work placements from all over the world, had virtual meetings with colleagues in different countries pretty much daily and was lucky enough to travel quite a bit to Malaysia as well as to a few European countries.
Getting to experience these different ways of everyday life broadens your horizons and helps you see and understand different outlooks on life. It helped me learn a lot about people in different cultures and languages. For example, I can now tell where someone is from by their name and also know how to pronounce it. That might not seem like a lot, but it’s something I’m quite proud of.
I knew I was lucky to experience all this through work, but I don’t think I realised how much I’d miss it when I left. Since setting up Adore Your Outdoors in 2019, I’ve done most of my work face to face in the Hampshire area, and I’ve been struck by the lack of diversity.
Additionally, so many are stuck at home with mobility or other health issues that prevent them from getting out and about. So far, they’ve been unable to join in with my events, so this online offering provides a community for people who might otherwise feel isolated and unwelcome. They get the chance to explore their feelings with others, again who they would never have had the opportunity to meet, otherwise.
So, running The Work That Reconnects workshops and spiral journeys online helps me and my participants connect with people from outside our own areas, countries and even continents.
How Does the Connection with Others Help?
Connecting with people from different walks of life and corners of the globe offers a unique kind of healing. When we step into a digital circle with others, several shifts begin to happen:
- From Personal Burden to Shared Belonging: We quickly realise that our suffering is not a personal failure, and nor does it need to remain a private burden. Seeing others from entirely different cultures share the same heartache for the Earth confirms that we are not alone. In these spaces, a feeling of togetherness emerges that transcends physical distance. This unity acts as a powerful antidote to the business-as-usual narrative of competition and separation, proving that our pain is actually a sign of our deep, collective connection to the web of life on Earth.
- Developing a Planetary Perspective: I absolutely love chatting with people from places I will probably never visit. Meeting those with different life experiences through The Work That Reconnects allows us to move beyond our habitual ways of thinking and hear first-hand accounts of how the living Earth is changing in other lands. This stretches our horizons, allowing us to see with different perspectives, as we listen to the wisdom and resilience found in communities across the world.
- Cultivating Collective Courage: Witnessing the commitment of others – often in the face of far greater challenges than our own – sparks a specific kind of bravery. When we see a global community showing up to “be the change”, our individual will to act is strengthened. We cannot solve the climate crisis alone, but our combined efforts create a force for change that transcends borders and empowers us to keep going, even in the face of adversity.
The Power of the Like-Hearted Circle
I have seen the power of this firsthand through the community of practitioners we have built during our Forest Bathing Guide Training. Long after the certifications are handed out, the community continues to meet monthly. For many of us – who tend to be highly sensitive, deep thinkers – these circles have become a vital sanctuary. Often, the people we love most in our “everyday” lives – our families, friends or neighbours – aren’t always able to hold space for the big, heavy questions we carry about the state of the world. Having a dedicated space where you don’t have to explain yourself or tone down your concern for the Earth is transformative. It allows us to share from the heart with others who truly understand, providing a level of support and psychological safety that is hard to find elsewhere.
How Do You Make Connections in The Work That Reconnects?
When moving through the Work That Reconnects, you journey through a spiral, traditionally comprising 4 stages:
- Gratitude
- Honouring Our Pain
- Perceiving in New and Ancient Ways (previously Seeing with New and Ancient Eyes)
- Going Forth.
After we’ve set agreements to create a ‘safe container’ (confidentiality, non-judgement, respect, active listening), we move through a series of carefully selected exercises in each stage.
These stages are often spoken and done in pairs or very small groups, peeling the layers back with deep dives into specific issues. We also often use open sentences structured with alternate shares of 2–3 minutes and active listening as opposed to debate, interruption or two-way chit chat.
Open Sentences Practices
An example of an open sentence used during Honouring Our Pain is, “To be alive now in this time of global crisis, what is hard for me is…”.
So, in this case, person A reads the sentence out load and answers for 2 mins while person B listens. There’s a pause that lasts up to 30 seconds before they switch roles. They then repeat with the next sentence.
This means whoever is speaking can speak from the heart without fear of being interrupted or challenged, showing their true and whole selves. Because they won’t be interrupted, they are also given the space to feel into what they’re feeling and trying to formulate into words, so they can work through and express their thoughts, feelings and emotions spontaneously.
Other Practices
We also do whole group activities, a mix of meditation, creative and movement-based exercises, with a chance to then share nuggets with the entire group afterwards to collectively weave our individual stories and experiences back together.
Because of the safe and respectful container, there’s no judgement or shame, and we are allowed – in fact encouraged – to fully feel our complete despair, disgust, fear, anger or hatred, which is what we need to do in order to work through it and come out the other side with hope.
So much of our life is spent avoiding these big emotions.
This is the place to let them out.
This openness and vulnerability lead to a deep respect and sense of gratitude for other the group members and facilitator.
Conclusion
Stepping into a spiral journey is an act of courage. It requires us to stop running from our big, uncomfortable emotions and instead use them as a compass to find our way back to one another. By opening ourselves up to voices from across the globe, we don’t just broaden our minds; we soften our hearts.
We move from a place of singular, heavy despair to a state of collective, active hope.
We are far more resilient when we are woven together. Whether you are joining from across the street in Hampshire or from across the ocean, your voice is a vital part of this rich tapestry. Together, we can hold the weight of the world, find the gifts within the struggle and begin the necessary work of going forth into a life-sustaining future.
Getting Involved with The Work That Reconnects
If this has piqued your interest you can find out more here: https://adoreyouroutdoors.co.uk/theworkthatreconnects/
You’ll find the full details of the 8 week course I run there. Plus dates for the next free 90-minute taster experiences so that you can try before you commit.
