Spiritual Ecology Community of Practice #5: Personal Practice

“Practicing is to live your daily life according to the perennial principles of harmony, humility and love.” – Satish Kumar, Earth Pilgrim

// What do you practice on a daily basis and how do these rituals or personal practices support you in your work in the world? How do they (re)connect you to the sacred?

// The deeper I’m diving into this question of how to live a life well lived and contribute to a positive change in society, the more I realise that there is so much within this thing called ‘everyday life’. I cannot separate the work I’m doing ‘out there in the world’ with what is inside my fridge, the clutter (or none) on my desk or how fit and rested my body feels. It is all connected. And if I want to show up as courageously as I can and make the biggest possible impact, personal practices are essential.

// In this 5th Spiritual Ecology Community of Practice we’ll dive into this topic of Personal Practice, because I think it is an important one. I will share a bit about my story with personal practice. We will of course practice – meditation, writing, walking as a way of reconnecting with nature – and will look at what potentially blocks you from picking up a practice.

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” Eddie Cantor

*** Practicalities ***
Date: Thursday November 21
Time: 19:30 – 21:30. Doors open at 19:00. Kindly allow yourself some time to arrive. Tea and cookies will be ready 🙂
Cost: The evening is donation based (suggested donations 5 – 30 euro).
Maximum 20 participants.
With a big thank you to de Ceuvel for offering their space.

***BACKGROUND***
What is Spiritual Ecology?

For me, Spiritual Ecology is about living in a peaceful, kind relationship with yourself, others, and the Earth. As such, it can mean a radical shift from the status quo. A shift that requires great bravery.

We have developed a highly dysfunctional society that is based on continuous economic growth at the expense of the Earth and its many life forms, including human lives. This system is more oppressive for some than for others, and ultimately harms everyone. From how I have been introduced in this work, Spiritual Ecology brings together environmental injustice with social injustice. In the words of Martin Luther King:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

To shift to a regenerative society, I think we need to

• work with ourselves and our own awareness
• build relationships with others (perhaps even outside of ‘your bubble’) and
• reconnect with Earth and find ways to be in service to life

This Community of Practice is a place to practice and learn together. To grow our ‘muscles’ of resilience, compassion and warriorship.

*** This Community of Practice ***
It is my aim to create a space that welcomes all identities, recognises that everyone is on spectrums of privilege and oppression and to hold space for people to express what it’s like to have these experiences. I would like it to be a space where we can hold difficult conversations, allow all emotions to be present, and support our own and each others’ learning process. You are very welcome to join.

Possible themes to explore in the next months: relationship self and nature, race, power, privilege and oppression, self care, vulnerability and courage, nature connection exercises, warriorship, resilience and personal practices.

Looking forward seeing you there,
Maaike
founder Bright Future Lab