Episodes

  • Ep 7 Bonus: Seventh Generation Exercise

    Ep 7 Bonus: Seventh Generation Exercise
    May 30 2024
    This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 7: “We Are a Part of a River of Time” deeper into your life. Jess will guide you through an adaptation of the Work That Reconnects exercise called “The Seventh Generation,” which she talks about in Episode 7. We recommend listening to the episode before doing this bonus. In this exercise, you will be invited to use your imagination and do some creative, guided role-playing with a friend, where one of you will speak as yourself, and the other will speak as a future being. For this exercise, you’ll need a friend and a place that is quiet enough for you to sit face-to-face and talk freely. We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    26 mins
  • Ep 7: We Are a Part of a River of Time

    Ep 7: We Are a Part of a River of Time
    May 30 2024
    Jess and Joanna explore the third phase of the spiral: Seeing with New Eyes. In this part of the spiral, the fog of our pain begins to lift off, and what comes in its place is a feeling of greater connection and belonging. Jess and Joanna talk about Deep Time, a way of understanding ourselves as a part of a long lineage of human and planetary history, and how our imaginations are an essential tool for “plugging back in” to the great web of life we’re a part of. In this episode: Discovering ways to truly feel our interconnection with all life, and how that profound reconnection transforms us Deep Time—slowing down and discovering a broader sense of ourselves in the world “Plugging in” to our part in the web of life to fuel our own work for the Great Turning Bonus Exercise: The Seventh Generation—connecting with those who came before and those who will come after us We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    31 mins
  • Ep 6: The H-Word

    Ep 6: The H-Word
    May 23 2024
    When it comes to the state of our world, the concept of hope can feel elusive. Joanna teaches Jess that the future may be uncertain, but that means that there’s still room for something beautiful to happen. This episode offers insights into embracing uncertainty, cultivating joyousness, and understanding the intricate interplay between hope, courage, and action. In this episode: “Active hope” is about acting in service of the future we hope for Whenever Jess asks about hope, Joanna talks instead about courage When hope eludes us, courage and our devotion to life remain steadfast We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    25 mins
  • Ep 5 Bonus: Breathing Through

    Ep 5 Bonus: Breathing Through
    May 16 2024
    This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 4: There is No Future if We Go Numb and Episode 5: This Pain Is Not for Nothing, deeper into your life. Both of these episodes are about the second phase in the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects, Honoring Our Pain for the World. This bonus is a recording of Joanna leading a meditation called Breathing Through, recorded at a retreat in 2006. In it, she’ll guide you to create space to acknowledge and honor the pain for the world that you carry without numbing or getting overwhelmed. All you’ll need for this bonus exercise is a place where you can close your eyes and relax. We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    13 mins
  • Ep 5: This Pain Is Not for Nothing

    Ep 5: This Pain Is Not for Nothing
    May 16 2024
    Now we get to what may be the toughest part of reckoning with our planet’s situation: dealing with numbness, grief, and despair. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the many crises around us, and natural to want to numb ourselves to the pain. Joanna and Jess speak with great vulnerability and candor about what it takes to navigate our darkest feelings—and the strength and beauty that can be found when we honor our pain. Trigger Warning: In this episode, we discuss suicide. In this episode: When it feels like our pain could swallow us whole, it helps to remember that all feelings come and go Desperation can take us to dark places, but we are more than our despair Numbness—Jess opens up about her familiar tactic for escaping pain Our pain becomes sacred when we allow it to deepen our connection with the world Bonus Exercise: Breathing Through We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    26 mins
  • Ep 4 Bonus: Breathing Through

    Ep 4 Bonus: Breathing Through
    May 15 2024
    This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 4: There is No Future if We Go Numb deeper into your life. This bonus is a recording of Joanna leading a meditation called Breathing Through, recorded at a retreat in 2006. In it, she’ll guide you to create space to acknowledge and honor the pain for the world that you carry without numbing or getting overwhelmed. All you’ll need for this bonus exercise is a place where you can close your eyes and relax. We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    13 mins
  • Ep 4: There Is No Future if We Go Numb

    Ep 4: There Is No Future if We Go Numb
    May 9 2024
    We recorded this conversation just after news broke of the Biden administration’s approval of the controversial Willow Project, opening up millions of wilderness acres in Alaska to new fossil fuel drilling. Jess captured in real time how Joanna processes the fresh outrage and sorrow of this insult to the planet from the very culpable powers that be. It’s a master class in being present with these feelings—feelings that can give rise to determination, courage, and recommitment to our shared purpose. In this episode: As the news of the Willow Project breaks, Joanna flows through outrage and sorrow The second step on the spiral: what does it mean to honor our pain, and how do we do it? Bonus Exercise: Breathing Through We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    22 mins
  • Ep 3 Bonus: Lovingkindness Meditation

    Ep 3 Bonus: Lovingkindness Meditation
    May 2 2024
    This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 3, “We Begin with Gratitude,” deeper into your life. In Episode 3, we talked about how in the Work That Reconnects we always start with gratitude, because it gives us the strength to speak the truth and act in service of life. Lovingkindness meditation is a simple and powerful way to feel and express our gratitude and love for our world. All you need to do this bonus exercise is a quiet place where you can meditate. We hope you’ll do this exercise with someone else, so that you can talk together about your experience after you finish. We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.
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    12 mins