NEW PODCAST: We Are the Great Turning

April 25, 2024

The climate crisis is something we can no longer ignore. Yet in this time of global upheaval, how can we face our collective challenges with our hearts and integrity intact? We Are the Great Turning is a new 10-part series exploring the spiritual roots of the climate crisis and how to turn toward our heartbreak, honor it, be informed by it, and, in the process, transform our grief and anger into agency and action.

In our first episode, renowned activists Joanna Macy and Jess Serrante invite you into “a climate conversation that welcomes all of you,” discussing “standing afresh with what it’s like to live on Earth at this moment”; loving a world engulfed in crisis and separation; the Work That Reconnects—Joanna’s term for her multifaceted approach to global activism; why cheering each other up doesn’t help in the long run; embracing all of our feelings; the loneliness of “the unheard witness”; overcoming the “cultural amnesia of a hyper-individualist society”; and more.

Jessica Serrante is a coach, facilitator, and trainer who has been supporting activists in the climate movement since 2007. She has served on staff at organizations like Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network and worked with groups like Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. Her first encounter with Joanna’s work a decade ago changed her life, transformed her burnout, and led to a deep, abiding friendship. Jess is 35 and lives in Oakland, California.

Joanna Macy, PhD, is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology who has been working for peace, justice, and the preservation of life on Earth for seven decades. She is the creator of The Work That Reconnects, a globally celebrated framework of practices that has helped leaders and activists for decades to serve the healing of our world in a more powerful and effective way. Joanna is 95 and lives in Berkeley, California.

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NEW PODCAST: We Are the Great Turning

The climate crisis is something we can no longer ignore. Yet in this time of global upheaval, how can we face our collective challenges with our hearts and integrity intact? We Are the Great Turning is a new 10-part series exploring the spiritual roots of the climate crisis and how to turn toward our heartbreak, honor it, be informed by it, and, in the process, transform our grief and anger into agency and action.

In our first episode, renowned activists Joanna Macy and Jess Serrante invite you into “a climate conversation that welcomes all of you,” discussing “standing afresh with what it’s like to live on Earth at this moment”; loving a world engulfed in crisis and separation; the Work That Reconnects—Joanna’s term for her multifaceted approach to global activism; why cheering each other up doesn’t help in the long run; embracing all of our feelings; the loneliness of “the unheard witness”; overcoming the “cultural amnesia of a hyper-individualist society”; and more.

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Ep 5 Bonus: Breathing Through

This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 4: There is No Future if We Go Numb and Episode 5: This Pain Is Not for Nothing, deeper into your life. 

Both of these episodes are about the second phase in the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects, Honoring Our Pain for the World. This bonus is a recording of Joanna leading a meditation called Breathing Through, recorded at a retreat in 2006. In it, she’ll guide you to create space to acknowledge and honor the pain for the world that you carry without numbing or getting overwhelmed. All you’ll need for this bonus exercise is a place where you can close your eyes and relax.  

We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.

 

Ep 5: This Pain Is Not for Nothing

Now we get to what may be the toughest part of reckoning with our planet’s situation: dealing with numbness, grief, and despair. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the many crises around us, and natural to want to numb ourselves to the pain. 

Joanna and Jess speak with great vulnerability and candor about what it takes to navigate our darkest feelings—and the strength and beauty that can be found when we honor our pain. 

Trigger Warning: In this episode, we discuss suicide.

In this episode:

  • When it feels like our pain could swallow us whole, it helps to remember that all feelings come and go
  • Desperation can take us to dark places, but we are more than our despair
  • Numbness—Jess opens up about her familiar tactic for escaping pain
  • Our pain becomes sacred when we allow it to deepen our connection with the world
  • Bonus Exercise: Breathing Through

We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.

Ep 4 Bonus: Breathing Through

This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 4: There is No Future if We Go Numb deeper into your life. 

This bonus is a recording of Joanna leading a meditation called Breathing Through, recorded at a retreat in 2006. In it, she’ll guide you to create space to acknowledge and honor the pain for the world that you carry without numbing or getting overwhelmed. All you’ll need for this bonus exercise is a place where you can close your eyes and relax.  

We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.

 

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