Created by Kathleen Rude
The Work That Reconnects is an interactive experience that is designed for group work. Its power to transform comes from the synergy and interplay inherent in connections with others. A challenge that many workshop participants experience is how to take the magic and inspiration of the workshop with them once they return to ordinary reality. How can they apply the spiral on an on-going basis, especially if they don’t have a community of practice? To help address this need, Kathleen Rude, a long-time WTR facilitator, has crafted a guided self-practice that makes the Spiral journey available any time.
The Guided Self Practice is a 40-minute experience of the Work That Reconnects spiral, moving through Gratitude, Honoring Our Pain, Seeing With New and Ancient Eyes and Going Forth. The practice offers rich visualizations and moving music that guide the listener into a profound experience of the Spiral. As in a workshop, the listener is given opportunities to express feelings, insights and imaginings. The listener is invited to speak responses out loud, write them down or respond in silence.
Kathleen has found that this practice can also serve as a way to introduce people to the Work That Reconnects. After sharing a brief introduction to the Work That Reconnects spiral, she has people go through the practice together as a silent meditation and then share their experiences together afterwards. There is a detailed guide for sharing this self- practice with a small group on her website.
The Guided Self-Practice can be used as a weekly or monthly practice or whenever you feel the need to be supported by the Spiral journey. This recording is the first in a series of guided self-practices of the Work That Reconnects that Kathleen is creating.
The Guided Self-Practice of the Work That Reconnects is available on CD and as a download from Kathleen’s website: www.GaiaWisdom.org/media.
“I am moved by Kathleen Rude’s Guided Self Practice. This inviting and effective recording will nourish the listener and help to keep the workshop experience alive and inspirational. This is a meditative resource I will certainly use to harvest the gifts of the Spiral. Kudos to Kathleen for bringing us these practices that honor listeners’ wisdom and process while beautifully providing the guidance for a transformative journey.” ~Joanna Macy
Kathleen Rude fell in love with the natural world as a young child and found her voice for environmental activism at age 10. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and an M.S. in Natural Resources. Kathleen began her career as an environmental writer. Her studies of indigenous spiritual practice eventually led her to become a shamanic practitioner, ceremonial leader and teacher. She is a senior facilitator of the Work That Reconnects, offering workshops and lectures throughout the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain Region. She is affiliated with the Joanna Macy Center at Naropa and is a Work That Reconnects Network Weaver. Building on the brilliance of WTR, Kathleen is developing a process for helping people be an effective force for change in their lives and in the world through the choices they make every day. She will detail this practice in her upcoming book, How To Be An Every Day Difference Maker. She is the author of the novel, The Redemption of Red Fire Women, a spiritual story of suspense and romance in the Colorado high country. www.GaiaWisdom.org