“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Teachers: Lin Wang Gordon, Jon Aaron
The purpose of this course is to nurture climate resilience through learning about meditation practices and Buddhist philosophy, and to cultivate wisdom by directly working with the Earth through volunteering at an urban farm.
As the climate crisis intensifies, life as we’ve come to know it, is in the midst of massive change and upheaval. While facing impermanence has always been part of the Buddhist teachings, how do we hold this with the particular intensity of climate change? How do we face our anxiety, fear, anger, grief, guilt, and overwhelm with compassion and wisdom, and cultivate a sense of resilience? What are our individual and collective responses? Where do we fit into what Joanna Macy has called The Great Turning?
Over the six months of this course, we will discover how our embodied Buddhist practices can help us face difficult emotions with compassion and how that impacts our response to the crisis. We will explore healing and cultivating compassion, wisdom, resilience, equanimity through our meditation practices. Embracing the climate crisis is as much a spiritual, sacred path as healing from our personal crisis. We will explore diverse voices who have been thinking through the responses – a diversity that includes gender, race, and age – to provide a wide range of perspectives. We will also engage in nature-based meditation practices – integrating wisdom from our natural environment into our practices and understanding.
Just as important as embodied practices, we will reconnect to the Earth directly through our hands-on volunteering at an urban farm. We will partner with The Battery Park Urban Farm and volunteer from the planting season through harvest time (May to October) during our monthly daylong classes. The Battery Park Urban Farm provides education to 5,000 students each year, and the produce grown is either used during educational programs or donated to hunger relief organizations in NYC such as Coalition for the Homeless. We will get to know the seasons and elements through connections with soil, water, plants and to learn about regenerative practices. The urban farm and perennial garden staff will cover topics such as composting, crop planning, seed saving, weeds and pest management, and perennial plants.
To create a mutually supportive program, while we will be getting rich experiential learning and education from the staff, we are there to provide public service and volunteer to assist the staff with what they need throughout the season. Through direct experiential learning, we will cultivate an intimate connection with the Earth, and understand the intricate web of ecosystems.
The course will include six daylong-retreats, ongoing small groups and regular readings. This is an in-person course, with the intention to build and nurture community throughout the course.
The 6 course dates are:
- Sat. 5/18
- Sat. 6/22
- Sat. 7/20
- Sat. 8/10
- Sat. 9/21
- Sat. 10/19
The daylong will be from 10am-4pm for each class. The structure of the day will likely be the following but subject to change depending on the actual conditions of the urban farm.
- 10 – 12pm – Group meet and volunteering
- 12 – 1pm – Group lunch and community building
- 1 – 4pm – Nature meditation and ecodharma practices
Due to the limited volunteering space at the urban farm, this course has a maximum number of 18 participants. If you sign up for this course, please make sure that you can commit to at least 5 out of 6 meeting dates, otherwise, please leave the space for others to sign up.
We welcome participants with all levels of physical abilities, however, please know that most of the volunteering roles will require working on the soil, watering, weeding, and so forth. There would be only a couple of roles that may be designed for physical limitations.
Location:
The Battery Park will be under construction in 2024 to build climate resilience along its waterfront. Depending on the actual condition of the month, we may hold the afternoon classes at The Governors’ Island.
The outdoor classes will take place regardless of weather conditions unless it is dangerous weather. It will be our practice to work with a wide variety of conditions.
Teacher(s): Lin Wang Gordon, Jon Aaron
Maximum number: 18
Lin Wang Gordon 