Kinship with Rivers:  Orienting towards rivers as living, intelligent beings

Friday 4th September 11.40am-12.50pm

In his best selling book, Robert Macfarlane described rivers as alive, calling this ‘an ancient idea that changes everything’.  What could it mean for us, as individuals and as river advocates, to come into relationship with rivers as living kin?  How might it change our sense of identity and belonging to orient towards our river basin, rooting down in the patterns and flows of the places we inhabit?  

In this experiential workshop, we will begin the process of becoming ‘watershed disciples’ by learning the shapes of our rivers, their origins and destinations, the way we learn the lines of our lover’s face.  We will:

• make story-maps of our own waterways; 

• touch on the power of bioregionalism and legal personhood for rivers; 

• come together in confluence and sing a river offering.   

Touching on Kincentric Leadership's principles of sacredness, interbeing, animacy, belonging and place, we’ll ask what would change if we knew rivers as not just vital physical systems but also holders of meaning, awareness, presence and sense of home.  Come and enjoy a fun, creative workshop which will leave you with a deeper sense of love for your river basin, and a new sense of belonging and place.  

Dr Justine Afra Huxley:  Justine co-founded Kincentric Leadership and leads workshops and retreats on how to collaborate with a living, intelligent Earth, and how to lead and make decisions that enable all life to thrive, not just human life.  She holds a PhD in psychology, lives by River Lea and is in love with all things river.  She is a Director at a US foundation for regenerative work and also a Development Consultant for the Bushman Heritage Museum in South Africa. She was CEO at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London for many years and pioneered programmes at the intersection of ecology and peace-making. Justine authored 'Generation Y, Spirituality and Social Change', and co-authored 'Cocreating with a Living, Intelligent Earth'.