SGT Monthly Events
You are warmly invited to join any of our monthly events. As we go forth together in study and action, beauty-making and community connection, we would love to invite you into our community of Earth-tenders. We offer these events to feed body, mind, and soul.
Work that Reconnects Community of Practice
Somatic Practice and Support Group
Music As Medicine Community Sing
One-on-One
Thought Partnership Session with
Lydia Violet Harutoonian
Membership
Join our Community Platform for access to ALL of these events, every month!
$49 Per Month
Work that Reconnects Practice Circle with Lydia Violet
With
Lydia Violet
Wed, May 21
5:00 PM - 6:15 PM PDT
ONLINE
$25
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The "Work That Reconnects" (WTR) is a framework and set of practices developed by Joanna Macy, a scholar, environmental activist, and Buddhist practitioner. It is a holistic approach to personal and collective transformation that aims to address the ecological and social challenges facing humanity.
The Work That Reconnects is rooted in the belief that in order to create meaningful change in the world, we must first acknowledge and confront the pain and despair that arise from our current environmental and social crises. It provides a safe and supportive space for individuals to explore and express their emotions about the state of the world, while also fostering a sense of connection and empowerment.
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Elder and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy for the past 12 years, learning how we can metabolize climate despair, eco-anxiety, and community traumas into energy for resilience, action, and community healing. She founded and runs School for The Great Turning, in dedication to the work of Joanna Macy, and to create access to an education that supports the societal shift from an Industrial Growth Society to a Life-Sustaining Society. For 4 years Lydia has also run the Music As Medicine Project, combining traditions of community singing with Macy's "Work That Reconnects." Lydia has lead hundreds of groups in this work internationally, as well as conducted facilitator trainings and offered keynote addresses at conferences and festivals. Lydia is also an accomplished Iranian-Armenian-American multi-instrumentalist weaving together American roots and Iranian folk music traditions. With her live band she combines fiddle, banjo, and luscious harmonies to offer a soul-folk revival experience, bringing in a fresh wave of protest music. In the past year she has collaborated with world-renowned artists Climbing PoeTree, Rising Appalachia, and Lyla June. ♬
Somatic Practice and Support Group
With
Leilani Navar
Sun, April 6
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM PDT
ONLINE
$25
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This space is open to anyone who would like to gather with the community to learn and engage in somatic (body-based) practices for soothing and release. In these sessions, we explore a range of somatic (body-based) practices designed to cultivate a profound sense of safety, grounding, and empowerment. These include guided meditations, breathing exercises, gentle movement, body awareness explorations, and heartfelt group sharing, you'll tap into the depths of your own bodily sensations, emotions, and inner wisdom. Our circle is led by an incredible group of experienced facilitators, ensuring you receive the guidance and support you need along the way.
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This month, Leilani Wong Navar will facilitate movement practices for emotional wellness drawn from the deep well of traditional Chinese qigong and meditation. These practices are helpful for moving stuck energy related to the emotions happening in our personal lives as well as our pain for the world, and helpful for cultivating more capacity and resilience.While most of this session time will be dedicated to somatic practice, we will also have time for optional sharing about a current grief, anger, or other pain each of us experiencing. With those in our awareness, we can bring them into the movement practices for release and resourcing. We'll reflect together after the practices as well. For this session, you will need space to stand in, and a comfortable place to sit. If you need to practice lying down, sitting, or in stillness and using only visualization, all these practices are adaptable to those needs.
About LeilaniOur Assistant Director at School for the Great Turning and host of Turning Season Podcast, Leilani is also a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She has been practicing qigong, martial arts and meditation for over 20 years. These somatic practices are essential to her well-being and full participation in the Great Turning. In her clinical practice, Leilani supports people dealing with pain, disease, infertility, and stress, using acupuncture, herbal medicine, modern functional medicine, CranioSacral Therapy, and dreamwork. With groups, she facilitates the Work that Reconnects and teaches courses on practical wisdom from Chinese Medicine.
Music as Medicine Community Sing
With
KJ Song
Sun, May 4
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM PDT
ONLINE
$25
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The Music As Medicine Sunday Community Sing is a morning of song & sanctuary.
For many millennia, music, and specifically music made together in community, has been a crucial way we bolster ourselves in hard times. Music can mend our bones and pour in the grace. It can transform our exhaustion and help us feel more held as a part of the choir.
Just as it feels good to act in the companionship of others on behalf of life, so too is the homecoming of singing together.All are welcome! No music experience necessary.
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KJ Song is the queer, kinky queen of a cappella body-Gospel. A seasoned songcatcher and Voice Doula, KJ deeply understands the eroticism of singing and the harmonics of a life of devotion.
Defying stereotypes and belting through dogmatic Christian norms, KJ is at the forefront of inclusive Praise and Worship music. KJ is a proud member of the City of Refuge UCC Praise Ensemble, founder of the Queer Praise Choir and former co-director of WildChoir in Oakland. CA.
Let's get one thing queer... KJ is here to pray.
One-on-One
Thought Partnership Session with Lydia Violet
In these sessions, you can meet one-on-one with school founder Lydia Violet Harutoonian.
Feel free to bring in any questions you have about the "Work That Reconnects," projects you are working on, or anything else that feels relevant to seek thought partnership from Lydia about.
