Workshop FULL! From now on, all enrollments will be put on the waiting list. Thank you very much for your support!
Council of All Beings Two-Day Workshop
Background: Since the establishment of Partnership for Eco-Agriculture and the Conservation of Earth (PEACE) in 2013 she has been endeavouring to create an eco-community and practice sustainable farming in Nam Chung. We hope that our workshop participants and visitors can deepen their connections with nature and each other through various sustainability- and ecovillage-related educational activities. We believe that if we unite hand in hand our strengths and wisdom will bring much greater positive impact to Planet Earth, environment, community, and the individual.
This workshop is a continuation of the ‘Ecovillage and Sustainable Living Co-learning Programme’ that we organized in the summer of 2020. From autumn 2020 to summer of 2021, we had run 5 ‘colearning’ workshops and 2 reading groups to further our understanding of deep ecology. This workshop therefore is the first practice session of what we’ve learned.
You are cordially invited to a two-day residential workshop – the Council of All Beings – through which we will explore our interconnectedness with each other and share our common concern for the Earth.
The Council of All Beings is a workshop developed in the 1980s by environmental activists and deep ecologists Joanna Macy, John Seed and others to address the deepening sense of alienation from nature that many of us feel and to awaken the inner ecological self so that we can stay connected to voice for the Planet.
The workshop will take on a journey of reflection and self-discovery through a variety of experiential exercises, creative craft work, time in nature, ritual theatre, and culminating in the ‘Council of All Beings’. In the Council, each of us allows ourselves to be represented by a being in nature. We will speak from the perspective of another being and express how their livelihood and/or roles in nature have been influenced by human activities.
Date: Saturday & Sunday, 19-20 February 2022
Venue: PEACE Nam Chung
This workshop is for those who:
Have an interest in Deep Ecology
Want to explore the interplay between spiritual, body, art, and theatre practices
Want to experience a different way of connecting with nature
Care for the present and future well-being of the Earth, the human collective, and the other-than-human world
Workshop fee: Sliding scale between $400-700-1,000*
$400 provides financial support for those in need
$700 covers event costs
$1,000 subsidizes the workshop and participants in need of financial aid
Includes fees for the facilitators, venue, meals (4.5 meals incl. First day lunch + dinner; second day breakfast ingredients + lunch + afternoon tea), insurance, and accommodation. (Note: PEACE will provide ingredients and participants will make their own breakfast on the second day.)
*PEACE will provide ten subsidies of $300 per person in order to encourage enrollment to the workshop. However, you would still have to pay the difference for the workshop fee after subsidy. Limited quota and subsidies are not provided on a first come first served basis; PEACE will consider applications in a single batch, please think twice whether you actually NEED to apply for subsidies.
Deep ecology was first proposed by Norwegian ecological philosopher Arne Naess in 1973. Deep ecology proposes an ecological approach to understanding and dealing with environmental problems, thinking from the relationships between humans and nature as a holistic whole. Naess critiqued modern life and philosophical thoughts, as well as technocratic attempts to solving world problems. All lives on Earth are indispensable not because of their extrinsic value (e.g., useful for humans) but because of their intrinsic worthiness; they should have equal rights and opportunities to live and to thrive. Human disturbance to the natural environment has reached a threshold and gives rise to unprecedented habitat destruction and deterioration. Humans should step out of our anthropocentric perspective and stop thinking we are the dominant species on this Planet; in order to allow the enlargement of the ego-self to the ecological-Self. Thus, deep ecology leads us towards a totally different worldview — if we cease looking at the world from a mechanistic mindset and reckon our intimate connections with nature, we would be able to reflect on our way of living and our values; we would be able to think from the holistic point of view instead of the atomistic.
Reminders：
You should be able to participate on BOTH DAYS.
A workshop reminder email will be sent on Monday, 7 Feb 2022.
We provide vegetarian meals only.
You are advised not to come if you have travelled recently or if you are in close contact with persons who have contracted Covid-19.
Facilitator Bios
Amanda Yik, ICF Certified Professional Coach for Transformation, Certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide and Trainer, women’s circle facilitator, yoga, tai chi and mindfulness practitioner, traveller in the descent to the Soul. After an epiphany moment while sailing the beautiful waters of Sai Kung in 2007, Amanda heeded the call of the Earth. A windy, decade-long journey of homecoming ensued. Throughout this time, nature has been a constant source of strength, inspiration and healing. Amanda’s work is her offering to the mystery and sacredness of life on this beautiful planet, our common home.
Liane Mah, movement artist, somatic practitioner, nature’s faith keeper, has been passionately exploring embodied movement within and without and is particularly interested in the process of ‘rewilding’ modern society through the deepening of mind/body relationships. Her work is guided by somatic, psychology, neuroscience, deep ecology, and buddhism, while her love for nature informs her way of being. She hopes to share a chance for co-creation through collective learning, listening, and expressing. It is a process to connect with our inner and outer home, and an invitation to return to the essence of why connection matters.
