EcoSpiritual Leaders: Encounters with Wholeness
An Eight Week Online Course
April 20, 2023 – June 15, 2023 • This course has concluded
Asynchronous content offered via an online course platform called Thinkific
Registration for this course is now closed. Please contact Ash Temin at ash@thebtscenter.org with questions.
In this course we will engage our minds, bodies, and spirits in explorations of ideas and practices aligned with EcoSpirituality. We will move through four sections — Gratitude & Grief, Forest Bathing, EcoSpiritual Practices, and Creation Care. Each section will consist of two weeks. Every two weeks participants will engage in a bit of reading to pique our curiosity, watch a video to expand our understanding, experience embodied practice to connect us with nature, craft a prayer to nourish our spirits, complete an “invitation,” and participate in a conversation to collaborate in our interdependent growth. The anticipated time commitment outside of the live sessions is 2-3 hours per week, but you are welcome to spend as much time delving into the content as you desire.
The course will be divided into four sections:
- Part One: a season of gratitude & grief – exploring The Work That Reconnects by Joanna Macy
- Part Two: a season of wandering & wondering – introduction to Forest Bathing and Nature Therapy
- Part Three: a season for thresholds & thin places – creating contemplative and creative spiritual practices
- Part Four: a season for harvesting & sharing – synthesizing our learning and serving Creation
The material and practices in this course draw on various sources and types of contemplative, creative, and embodied practices to nourish our delight in the gift of creation and equip us to care for each other and the planet.
This course will consist of five live sessions as well as asynchronous learning activities and an optional half-day online retreat.
Live session (online) dates:
Thursdays, 1:00 – 2:30 pm Eastern
- April 20, 2023
- May 4, 2023
- May 18, 2023
- June 1, 2023
- June 15, 2023
Optional Retreat Day:
Saturday, June 3, 2023 • 12:00 – 3:00 pm Eastern (Online)
Course objectives:
- Strengthen resilience in the face of grief for a climate changed world
- Deepen connection with the divine presence in Creation
- Inspire faithful practices honoring the earth
- Embolden active hope for lasting change
If you’re curious about the course, or if you’re not sure if it is for you, please check out the conversation below between Kimberly Knight and Ash Temin for answers to some frequently asked questions.
Meet Our Facilitators
Kimberly "Hazel" Knight, M.Div
Course Guide
I hope that this offering will be one in which we can flourish and discern together how best to live into that fiercely tender calling on each of our lives. I’m here as a guide, honored to travel with you across an inner landscape, hoping to help you weave together overlapping strands of faith and a love for the natural world
Rev. Ash Temin
Course Host
Rev. Ash Temin is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who serves as the Communication Manager at The BTS Center. She also offers spiritual direction through her independent practice in Portland, Maine.