Land Listening Circles
Building Relationship
As settlers on colonized lands, we can have a difficult time knowing how to connect with the lands that we live with in a meaningful and respectful way. Dominant culture focuses on how lands can be used for our benefit whether it is clearing land for a new condo, dumping our pollutants into it or even using it to make us feel good.
The qualities of these relationships are abusive and neglectful. They also limit our opportunity to build meaningful relationships with the lands and the more than human relationships in our community.
Potential benefits of participating in these circles are building relationships that honor the inter-subjective, interdependent nature of the Universe and our relationships, gaining powerful allies, building community and healing. An opportunity to hear from our relations on how to address personal and communal issues we face today.
The Details
What this is…
An opportunity to build relationships and community
Listening to the land/water and sharing our experiences together
Sharing grief and joy, to be in the messiness of our relationships
A space to express our relationships with words, tears, laughter, song, art, dance, etc.
What this is not…
A space to use the land to spiritually bypass the painful historical and ongoing impacts of colonization.
A space to use cultural appropriation
Putting expectations on the land to show up in a way that’s just on our terms
A standard meditation practice of just working with our own minds
