Dartmoor Dreaming
Regenerating Rhythms
Ritual Herbs
Bones
Elemental Clowning
Regenerative Resistance
Living In Rhythm
An exploration of regenerative cyclical living.
Living in Rhythm is a radical reimagining of what it means to live life connected to the rhythms of the earth. It is understanding how remembering our belonging with the earth is part of the cultural and systemic transformation needed to protect all life on this planet.
Over 9 weeks we will explore the wheel of the year and cyclical living as a pathway towards post-growth and post-capitalist ways of being in relationship with ourselves, each other and the world. Each week we will explore a different direction of the cyclical map, it’s energies, qualities, it’s place within the whole and how this can support us within our lives and our activism.
This is a sanctuary to show up in exactly how you are; tired, alive, grieving, joyful. A space to begin unlearning and find out what pleasure and generative forces exist beyond the pathology of productivity.
We will explore:
Nature connection
The wheel of the year
Embodiment & somatics
Deep ecology
Rewilding
Earth-based spirituality and activism
Peer to peer learning.
This work has emerged out of the Design Science Studio, an educational and co-creative incubator in which 144 creative people around the world are developing projects to facilitate profound systems change toward a world that works for 100% of life. It also draws on the peer-led learning spaces of Enrol Yourself and has been inspired and influenced greatly by this powerful community of learners.
"Nature festivals such as those celebrating the solar equinoxes and solstice… align our social psychological lives with the rhythms of growth and decay, light and dark, outward turning and inward turning. By aligning our conscious selves with the rhythms and cycles of outer nature, we invite and support the embodied expressions of our souls, our inner nature." - Bill Plotkin, Soulcraft
The natural living systems around us are beautiful diverse processes that enable life to thrive. They are innately regenerative in the ways that they recycle and restore what is dead or dying.
When we look to the more than human world in the northern hemisphere we can see that the cycles of life embody a diversity of rhythms, from fallow time in Winter, new growth in Spring, blooming in Summer and harvesting/shedding in Autumn. The wild world does not continually bloom. Death and composting are essential parts of what enables life to continue thriving and regenerating.
However, as a culture we have forgotten this huge diversity of rhythms. We are stuck in a perpetual summer of constant economic growth, capitalism and productivity. We value and prioritise youthfulness over the wisdom and experience of elderhood. We create a culture of death phobia and avoidance of our grief. We attribute value and worth to those who are able to produce and give the most. Our culture has forgotten how to rest with over 12 million people burning out each year in the UK. All of this is and more has led us to what we now face: mass species extinction, climate breakdown, ecosystem collapse and huge biodiversity loss.
So many of us are committed to transforming these systems and finding new regenerative possibilities that protect all life on this planet, but so often we do so in a way that continues to perpetuate the same patterns and behaviours that feed these systems. So what if how we show up and embody our visions for the future is part of how we create change?
I believe that feeling our grief enables us to feel more of life. That resting creates more possibility. That joy and pleasure are essential parts of our ability to thrive. That our belonging and worth are not up for debate. That our lives are a cyclical journey towards elderhood. That cultural repair is part of systemic transformation.
That the more than human world is waiting for us to slow down enough to experience it’s profound beauty and wisdom.
Why does this matter?
"To make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." - Buckminster Fuller
Living In Rhythm
Over the course of 9 weeks we will deepen our connection to the seasonal rhythms of the year and explore how we can connect with nature to resource and sustain our work. We'll explore co-regulation with the natural environments accessible to us and build intimacy with the more than human world.
We'll foster connections between us as a learning community and create a mycelium of support and nourishment. We'll explore different regenerative themes and find ways to apply our learning in connection to the places we live.
This is not a course where you will methodically receive content and information to consume. It is instead a peer to peer learning space for enquiry, research and exploration into what can support us to create regenerative change both within and around us. The more you participate and engage with this process, the more you will discover and learn.
Who's it for?
Regenerative practitioners of the micro and macro. Revolutionaries, artists, organisers, visionaries, weavers, change-agents, activists, community builders, dreamers, edge-dwellers and all those in between and beyond.
This course will be hosted online in 2021 and so is available for folks internationally however it will be informed and guided by the cyclical rhythm of the Northern Hemisphere, but you are welcome to participate with the intention to adapt the wheel to the cyclical rhythms in your own bioregion or hemisphere.
The course in more detail:
Here is a breakdown of the different elements of the course.
You will need roughly 5 hours per week to dedicate to this journey.
Weekly learning session - Each Monday evening we will gather to root ourselves into a different theme and explore the different elements of the cycles through movement, discussion, journaling, embodiment and other exercises.
Buddy sessions - Each participant will be paired with someone else on the learning journey to connect with and work through some prompts, tasks or journaling questions together.
Medicine walk/sit spot - As part of the learning journey you are asked to dedicate at least 1 hr a week to a walk in nature (without any technology) or to a sit spot in nature. More information will be provided at the beginning of the journey.
Mentoring session - Each participant will have one mentoring session with Alana towards the beginning of the journey to outline learning objectives and intentions for the 9 weeks.
Learning Journal - A specially designed playbook to support you in your practice and enquiry over the 9 weeks.
Dates
The course will be hosted on Mondays from 6.30 -8.30pm with an optional integration session two weeks after the final session.
East: Spring Equinox- 7th June
South East: Beltane - 14th June
South: Summer Solstice - 21st June
South West: Lammas - 28th June
West: Autumn Equinox - 5th July
North West: Samhain- 12th July
North: Winter Solstice- 19th July
North East: Imbolc - 26th July
Integration - 9th August
Investment
20 hrs of learning, ritual and community
8 hrs medicine walks / sit spot
8 hrs for buddy 1-2-1 call
1 hr mentoring session
Cyclical Learning Journal
Cost
Tier 1 - Supporter: £600
Tier 2 - Standard: £450
Tier 3 - Low Income £300
Facilitator:
Alana is an artist, facilitator, learning designer, regenerator, ritualist and activist committed to expressing life to its fullest capacity through creativity and facilitation. More recently she has been exploring what it means to become a doula to systems change through the intersections of ritual, community, spirituality, learning and creativity. She weaves embodiment, cyclical wisdom, pleasure, grief and artistry into the spaces she holds, drawing on her lifelong curiosity in leading groups. Since 2016 she has run an array of creative retreats including The Warren where she creates experiences for people to explore their creative gifts through community, connection and many practices inspired by theatre & dance. She is co-director of The Living Projects, a regenerative land based learning community in Devon, a Host Mentor with Enrol Yourself and a member of the Buckminster Fuller Design Science Studio 2020.
Training & Learning:
Design Science Studio with Buckminster Fuller Studio & HabRitual
2021/2022 Bringing It Home Apprenticeship
2019/2020 Bringing It Home with Rebecca Card and Peter Cow
The Learning Marathon - Enrol Yourself
Soul and Grief Apprenticeship with Azul Valerie Thome
Practical Animism with Daniel Foor
Pause Apprenticeship with Toni Spencer
BA(hons) Physical Theatre
Apprenticeship of Circus
Training with Anna-Helena Mclean (Moon Fool)
The Dance of Likeness with Studio Matejka (Poland)
What is regenerative cyclical living?
Regenerative Cyclical Living is a way of describing a practice or pathway towards building an Ecological Civilisation that embodies diversity, balance, life cycles, fractal organisation and symbiosis.
It means cultivating a deep connection to nature and seeing our interdependence. It means learning to understand the cyclical processes of nature when we grow food and look after the land, from soil regeneration to the water cycles. It means honouring the cycles and the passing of time through the seasons, embodying the lifelong journey of humans towards Elderhood and valuing the place of Elders in our culture. It means honouring death, dying and grief as essential parts of regeneration and seeing our connection to the earth and the cyclical rhythm of nature as an essential part of systemic transformation.
For me within this Regenerating Rhythms work it has become a combination of practices that bring me closer to the cyclical rhythm of life, including:
The celtic wheel of the year
The 8 shields map
Deep nature connection
Astrology and tracking the moon
Menstrual cycle awareness
Grief Tending
Regenerative land management and agriculture
If you want to find out more, these two articles speak deeply to this work:
Is nature's wisdom the map for repairing our culture?
What Does An Ecological Civilization Look Like?