Web of Life

Recently I had a student come to class and I could see she felt so down in spirit about the news. 

“I just wish I could wrap so many people in a big protective hug,” she lamented.

Her concern and awareness of the suffering of others was a pain that threatened to overwhelm her.

I shared with her something I first learned from Joanna Macy’s teachings and the Work that Reconnects:

The pain is an invitation.

The pain is an invitation to realize we are not small and alone. We are part of a wonderous web of life. 

When we try to block out the pain, that also shuts down our receptivity to all the support, beauty, and joy that is part of this web of life.

Nice idea, but how do we feel it?

For years Joanna Macy’s work was a beacon in my life, showing me a perspective I longed to inhabit yet struggled to reach. 

After taking a deep dive in qigong healing, one day I returned to Joanna Macy’s work and realized I had finally integrated ideas I had been straining to understand.

We are unshakable when we know things with our whole being.

I want to help you feel resilient, strong, and imaginative especially in the face of challenge. That’s why I’m creating a series of qigong-based interpretations of some of the foundational exercises from the Work That Reconnects. 

The first video is called Web of Life. The concept of the Web of Life creates a context for the sorrows and joys of the world. 

Part of what I like about the Web of Life image is that it’s more tangible than abstract terms like interbeing. 

Click to join me in a 16 minute Web of Life qigong practice. 

I hope this meditation will awaken your confidence in the Web of Life sustaining you and all of us through these transformative times. 

Love,

emily

What is the Work that Reconnects?

The Work That Reconnects is a collection of concepts and practices created to support those who are aware of the many complex challenges in the world and who may feel overwhelmed, burnt out or isolated. The Work provides a progression through the natural path of emotions by calling and acknowledging them from a place of re-connection with ourselves, each other and the world. – From the Work that Reconnects Network.