Earth Spirit Dreaming: Shamanic Ecotherapy Practices - Elizabeth E. Meacham 2020

From Environmental Theory to Earth-Connecting Practices
Everything Is Connected: A Brief Introduction to Visionary Environmental Thought
Introduction

My approach to ecopsychology, and ecotherapy, centers on developing mindfulness of our interconnection with all of life. We know from the prolific work of many authors and practitioners, including a large body of quantitative research, that mindfulness heals. We know intuitively, and through a growing body of studies, that time in nature heals. Through combining environmental thought with mindfulness and other spiritual practices, we can learn to focus and to become present to the everything of which we are a part. The ecological self of deep ecologists, the wild self of ecofeminists, the ethic of care for the Earth of environmental philosophers or the relational self of participatory thinkers: all these notions of experience support expanding our sense of self through self-development.

My own brand of ecopsychology weaves the threads of environmental thought into practices that can re-indigenize Western minds. The following chapters embed my eco-spiritual processes within the broader context of environmental thought. I utilize mindfulness, through meditation and ritual, to bring the thinking of visionary environmental thought into the realm of experience. Sensitivity to our connections with Earth systems is the underpinning of an ethical relationship with Earth. The psycho-spiritual orientation that grows with the development of our Earth senses can impact individual and group actions at every level. By learning to honor the Earth as sacred, we come to feel in our bones that we are part of something greater than ourselves. Thus, living into the idea that everything is connected becomes a way of life that can fundamentally alter the underpinning belief structures of Western civilization.