Spiritual Ecology

The idea of a spiritual ecology—a sense of sacred relationship with the natural world—has roots in philosophy as well as lived experience. Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist and philosopher who coined the term “ecology,” believed that one set of natural laws shapes everything—matter, energy, and life itself. Influenced by Baruch Spinoza, a 17th-century Dutch philosopher who argued that God and…

Some of the most powerful encounters with other species are painful rather than joyful. Aldo Leopold, an American conservationist and author best known for A Sand County Almanac, once described shooting a mother wolf and watching the “green fire” fade from her eyes as she died. That moment changed him completely. After that, he no longer hunted wolves but fought…

There’s a story that floats around online about a trapper who became a wildlife defender because of two baby beavers. Curious whether it was true, I went looking and found an old essay about Grey Owl (whose real name was Archibald Belaney), a conservation writer and naturalist from the early 1900s who became well known for pushing people to protect…

I am a big fan of circles. If you have ever gathered with others in a spiritual circle, you know just how powerful circles can be. A circle holds sacred space, and in that space amazing things can happen. By incorporating circular movements into your yoga practice, you can create sacredness around you and within you. I have always loved…

One of my amazing childhood memories is of sitting on a rock at the edge of a pool watching hundreds of tadpoles squiggling and flashing in the spring sunlight. The pool was in the middle of a marsh, and every spring rainwater would fill that pool for the frogs. The marsh was on undeveloped land at the end of my…

Does your mind or heart race? Try a simple breath technique for centering and calming the nervous system. There are two methods for following your breath: focusing on a single point, such as the tip of your nose, and tracking the breath from the nose to the lungs and back. I guide you through both in the video and below.…