may 16-19 2024
Work that Reconnects
4-Day Immersion
with Lydia violet Harutoonian
experience Joanna Macy’s pivotal work
at the Ecology Retreat Centre
Hockley Valley
Mono, Ontario, Canada
In this four-day retreat, seasoned facilitator Lydia Violet Harutoonian, informed by her 15 years of dedicated study and co-facilitation with Joanna Macy, will lead an in-depth immersion in the “Work that Reconnects” (WTR). WTR is Joanna Macy’s experiential group work that has helped thousands find clarity of vision and emotional sanctuary while living through this precious and precarious moment on our planet.
For the last five decades, Joanna’s work has offered inspiration and guidance for living courageously in uncertainty. It maps ways into our innate vitality and determination to take part in the self-healing of our world.
Registration is now closed.
Each day we face the news of…
…climate chaos, political warfare, species extinction, and ecological and social suffering, and we are asked to reconcile these collective traumas with all that is breaking in our hearts. It is natural in our time to feel despair, overwhelm, and grief. Come learn and experience tools for transforming our grief, anger, paralysis, and fear into compassionate connection with our world and communities, knowing our place in the web of life, and motivation to act on behalf of life on earth.
Climate anxiety and ecological despair are real. They are on behalf of a world desperate for our collaboration in remembering our dignity and grace. It is here that we grieve the ongoing devastation of our world, and nourish our compass for the times ahead.
Join us at the gorgeous Ecology Retreat Centre for this nourishing and powerful immersion into the Work That Reconnects to gain new tools in navigating the current crisis – on a personal and planetary level.
Over the course of the weekend:
Lydia will cover “The Spiral” of the Work that Reconnects: moving through Gratitude, Honoring our Pain, Perceiving in New & Ancient Ways, and Going Forth. This roadmap provides psychological resourcing in challenging times.
Lydia also integrates community singing in her facilitation. Music can be an excellent way to support participants in integrating their internal and relational experiences. For many millennia, music, and specifically music made together in community, has been a crucial way we bolster ourselves in hard times. Music 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 does the homecoming of singing together.
For those interested in facilitating the Work that Reconnects:
The best way to learn how to facilitate the WTR is to be immersed in the WTR. To learn it from the inside.
This opportunity to participate in a 4-day workshop, moving continuously through the Spiral, is a powerful way to nourish yourself for skillful facilitation.
At this retreat, there will be an optional session for participants who are interested in facilitation, to offer some instruction and help you connect with one another. School for the Great Turning also offers ongoing online facilitator development workshops.
Your Facilitator
Lydia Violet Harutoonian
(she/her)
Lydia Violet is always joyously committed to sharing this work with others, conjuring integrity and deep emotional resources for our time. Lydia founded the School for the Great Turning, an online and in-person education organization that is dedicated to continuing the legacy of deep ecology elder and wisdom keeper Joanna Macy. After fifteen years of sustained study, mentorship, and co-facilitation of WTR workshops with Macy, as well as immersion in anti-oppression education and adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy, Lydia continues to facilitate workshops and help empower new facilitators. She is an Iranian-Armenian American dedicated to ancestral healing, reconciliation, and community liberation.
Meals & Accommodations
Meals
Meals are included in this retreat: dinner on Thursday; breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Friday and Saturday; and breakfast and lunch on Sunday.
The Ecology Retreat Centre's menus are guided by the availability of seasonal and wholesome foods that grow in abundance in The Hills of Headwaters region. The result is an assortment of delectable and original dishes.
Guests can always expect an extraordinary taste experience. Everything is homemade, with an emphasis on using locally sourced, seasonal and wholesome ingredients as much as possible.
ERC’s main fare is vegetarian. For our retreat, meat will be available with dinners. Many dietary needs, such as vegan, food allergies, gluten-free and dairy-free, can be accommodated.
If you have special dietary needs, please tell us your needs on the Registration Form after you sign up, and we will be in touch about what the ERC kitchen can accommodate. Dietary requests must be made no less than 7 days prior to the retreat.
Scholarships
We have 5 partial scholarships available for this retreat, as we would love to create as much access as possible. Priority will be offered to participants from systemically marginalized groups. Thank you to all who applied! All available scholarships have been awarded. We’re so grateful to all who donated to our scholarship fund to make this possible!
Accommodation
Located within the breathtaking beauty surrounding the Hockley Valley, Ecology Retreat Centre provides access to over 200 acres in a lovely rural forest setting. With open meadows, babbling brooks, forest trails and a wonderful, peaceful energy, the ERC offers a beautiful setting for the Work that Reconnects.
Accommodation choices include:
Shared bedroom with 3 single beds
Shared bedroom with 2 bunk beds (4 beds total)
5 private rooms are available for an additional charge of $225 Canadian (total for all 3 nights)
All lodging choices include shared washrooms.
We will ask about your access needs and roommate preferences in the Registration Form.
Accessibility
We will be meeting in the Creekside Room, which is ADA accessible. Accessible lodging is available.
We will ask you to share any access needs you have on the Registration Form and communicate about how we can accommodate those needs.
“
I left feeling so energized and uplifted.
I found there to be a collective honesty and authenticity. I loved Lydia's emphasis on song and music, the somatic practices that supported us, the sense of community that got woven so organically and easily.”
— Esmé McAvoy, mindfulness and ecology workshop facilitator, Cali, Colombia
Cost & Registration
We ask for your commitment to attend all 4 days, because this is a cohesive program meant to be experienced in full. We'll be moving around the Spiral of the Work that Reconnects over the course of 4 days.
Registration deadline: April 25, 2024
Registration includes the Work that Reconnects Immersion, plus all meals and lodging at the retreat center. Choose your lodging option:
4-person Bunk Bed Room
Pay In Full
$670
(estimated $900 Canadian)
Sold Out
Payment Plan
$168
(estimated $227 Canadian)
for 4 months
Sold Out
3-person Lodge Room (single beds)
Pay In Full
$725
(estimated $975 Canadian)
Sold Out
Payment Plan
$182
(estimated $244 Canadian)
for 4 months
Sold Out
Private Room
Pay In Full
$835
(estimated $1125 Canadian)
Sold Out
Payment Plan
$209
(estimated $282 Canadian)
for 4 months
Sold Out
“
This is an exciting moment to be in partnership with Lydia as she brings her important work farther out into our world.
In these leaden times her artistry, energy, and wisdom ignite love for life in people of all ages and backgrounds.
JOANNA MACY, BERKELEY, CA
I have seen repeatedly how the visionary combining of her music with the Work The Reconnects (WTR), has released cultural creativity in vital response to the cultures of fear and ignorance spreading in our land. Here participants find honesty and strength, as well as spirited community, for facing our current crises head-on.
These qualities are the essence of what the WTR generates, and as root teacher of that work I rejoice that Lydia is an outstanding and trustworthy facilitator. With her understanding of its theoretical foundations and her skill in guiding practices, the music she interweaves serves to strengthen the Work, while weaving its own magic of joy, praise, and resiliency. Supported by the healing fortitude of music, everyone has a place in the choir.
I believe Lydia’s mission will serve to inspire positive change for years to come. Her near-decade of studying and co-leading workshops with me have forged her into an invaluable resource for our society. I love to think of all the lives that will be changed and communities enriched by the tours and programs she will provide.”
Schedule
Thursday
May 16th
4-6pm
Arrival at Ecology Retreat Centre
6-7pm
Dinner
7:15-9pm
Introductions to each other
Introduction to the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects
Friday
May 17th
8-9:15am
Breakfast
9:30am-12pm
Rooting in Gratitude, Resourcing in These Times
Teaching from the WTR - The 3 Stories of Our Time
Rooting in Gratitude Group Experiential
12:30pm-1:30pm
Lunch
2:30-5:30pm
Teaching from the WTR - Honoring Our Pain
Honoring Our Pain Group Experiential
Integration
6-7pm
Dinner
7:30-9pm
Community Song Circle (Optional)
Saturday
May 18th
8-9:15am
Breakfast
9:30am-12pm
Seeing With New/Ancient Eyes
Deep Ecology Teaching
Deep Ecology Group Experiential
12:30-1:30pm
Lunch
1:30-3pm
Free time/Nature Connection
3-5:30pm
Deep Time Teaching
Deep Time Experiential
6-7pm
Dinner
7:15-9:30pm
Group Arts & Music Share & Deep Ecological Celebration
Sunday
May 19th
8-9:15am
Breakfast
9:30am-12pm
Going Forth Teaching
Going Forth Experiential
Closing Circle
12:30-1:30pm
Lunch
OPTIONAL
2-4pm
WTR Facilitators Connection Session
